New study warns limited carbon market puts 20 percent of tropical forest at risk
... ... The stu...MIT creates 3-D images of living cell
... The technique, described in a paper published in the Aug. 12 online edition of Nature Methods, could be used to produce the most detailed images yet of what goes on inside a living cell without the help of fluorescent markers or other externally added contrast agents, said Michael Feld, director of MIT's George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory and a professor of physics.<...X-ray images help explain limits to insect body size
... ... The basis of this gigantism is thought to lie in the insect respiratory system. In contrast to vertebrates, where blood transports oxygen from the lung to the cell, insects deliver oxygen directly through a network of...Scientists show that mitochondrial DNA variants are linked to risk factors for type 2 diabetes
... According to the Centers for Disease Control, 7% of the U.S. population has diabetes, and 90-95% of those cases are c...Smithsonian scientists show differing patterns of rainforest biodiversity
... Most previous research has focused on diversity hot spots, such as upland rainforests in the foothills of the Andes, where steep gradients in elevation, temperature, rainfall a...Experiment suggests limitations to carbon dioxide 'tree banking'
... These results from the decade-long Free Air Carbon Enrichment (FACE) experiment in a Duke University forest suggest that proposals to bank extra CO2 from human activities in such trees may depend on the vagar...In limiting life span, study finds booming bacteria innocent
... Its a surprise, said John Tower of the University of Southern California. Even though the flies were accumulating so much bacteria and a robust immune response to that bacteria, its not limitin...MIT study: Maturity brings richer memories
... In the August 5 advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, the MIT team reports that children rival adults in forming basic memories, but adults do better at remembering the rich, contextual details of that information. The MIT study provides new insights into how children learn that are not only theoretically important, but could also inform practical learning in everyday settings....MIT team building robotic fin for submarines
... The propeller-driven submarines, or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), currently perform a variety of functions, from mapping the ocean floor to surveying shipwrecks. But the MIT team hopes to create a more maneuverable, propeller-less underwater robot better suited for military tasks such as sweeping mines and inspecting harbors-and for that they are hoping to mimic the action of the b...MIT model could predict cells' response to drugs
... In addition, the model could help test the effectiveness of drugs for a wide range of diseases, including various kinds of cancer, arthritis and immune system disorders, according to Douglas Lauffenburger, MI...Smithsonian's National Zoo researchers use electronic eggs to help save threatened species
... The telemetric egg, placed in the nest after the mother has laid her eggs, contains sensors that record temperatures on four quadrants of the eggs surface as well as in the eggs interior. Motion detectors record how freque...Smithsonian Fragmentation Project threatened by Amazon Colonization Plan
The Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, one of the most important long-term research efforts in the Amazon, is imperiled by new colonization proposed by the Brazilian federal agency SUFRAMA, according to a commentary in the July 26, 2007 journal Nature, co-authored by William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and Regina Luizo of Brazils National Insti...Back to the future: Mastodon extends the time limit on DNA sequencing
In a new paper in the open access journal PLoS Biology, Michael Hofreiter from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and colleagues from Switzerland and the United States, announce the sequencing of the complete mitochondrial genome of the mastodon (Mammut americanum), a recently extinct relative of the living elephants that diverged about 26 million years ago. The s...MIT IDs link between brain tumor proteins
... ... Now, MIT scientists have uncovered a connection between two prot...... ... A study conducted by the Army in 2004 found that one in eight soldiers return...MIT, BU team builds viruses to combat harmful 'biofilms'
... ... The work, reported...MIT tool determines landslide risk in tropics
... Devised originally for Baguio City, Philippines--a city that averages five typhoons annually and holds the world record for most precipitation received in a 24-hour period (46 inches on July 14-15, 1911)--the risk rating system relies on data commonly available in developing countries. The engineers use information...MIT researchers reverse symptoms in mice of leading inherited cause of mental retardation
... ... The mice were genetically manipulated to model Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), the leading inherited cause of mental retardation and the most common genetic cause of autism. The condition, tied to a mutated X chromosome gene called fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene, c...The BBVA Foundation commits 2.4 million euros to research in Ecology and Conservation Biology
The BBVA Foundation approves funding for 12 major research projects in Ecology and Conservation Biology, with a total allocation of 2.4 million euros.... Among the projects selected in the 4th BBVA Foundation Call for Research Proposals we can single out a scientific study into the impact of climate change on populations of shorebirds (birds living mainly in coastal or wetland areas on marshes,...Pregnancy nausea/vomiting may indicate lower risk of breast cancer
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It may not seem so at the time, but women who suffer through morning sickness during their pregnancies actually may be fortunate.... ... Those women may have a 30 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer later in life than mothers-to-be who experience nine nausea-free months, a new study by epidemiologists at the University at Buffalo suggests.... ... Although the exa...Study identifies 5 genetic themes key to keeping stem cells in a primitive, flexible state
... Now, a team of Canadian scientists has identified 1,155 genes under the control of a gene called Oct4 considered to be the master regulator of the stem cell state. A comprehensive molecular definition of stem cells is emerging: according to this research, stem c...MIT researchers build tiny batteries with viruses
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- MIT scientists have harnessed the construction talents of tiny viruses to build ultra-small "nanowire" structures for use in very thin lithium-ion batteries....... By manipulating a few genes inside these viruses, the team was able to coax the organisms to grow and self-assemble into a functional electronic device....... The goal of the work, led by MIT Professors Angela Belche...Smithsonian scientists connect climate change, origins of agriculture in Mexico
New charcoal and plant microfossil evidence from Mexicos Central Balsas valley links a pivotal cultural shift, crop domestication in the New World, to local and regional environmental history. Agriculture in the Balsas valley originated and diversified during the warm, wet, postglacial period following the much cooler and drier climate in the final phases of the last ice age. A significant dry p...Some forest birds can survive in agricultural countryside with limited habitat conservation
... ... The study was conducted in Costa Rica at...MIT researchers probe bones' tiny building blocks
... ... The researchers' up-close-and-personal look at bone probes its fundamental building blocka corkscrew-shaped protein called collagen embedded with tiny nanoparticles of mineralat the level of tens of nanometers, or...MIT-led team uncovers malaria mechanism
... By knocking out the gene for a parasite protein called RESA (ring-infected erythrocyte surface antigen), the researchers found that the protein, transferred from the parasite to th...Drought limits tropical plant distributions, scientists at the Smithsonian report
Drought tolerance is a critical determinant of tropical plant distributions, researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama report in the journal Nature, May 3. In a novel coupling of experimental measurements and observed plant distributions across a tropical landscape, drought tolerance predicted plant distributions at both local and regional scales. This mechani...MNI researchers find a new role for mitochondria in cellular copper regulation
Copper is an essential part of our lives. From copper pipes and wires - to important copper-containing proteins in the body, copper is necessary for healthy growth and neurological development. Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University are studying how copper is processed in our bodies and its distinct role in early development. Their findings, published in a rece...Wellcome Trust and GlaxoSmithKline announce partnership to target drug-resistant hospital infections
... GSK has received a 4 million award from the Trust to accelerate development of compounds for the treatment of Gram-negative bacteria which are becoming increasingly resistant to multiple antibacterials. GSK will make a matching co...... The consortium brings together a unique combination...Smithsonian hosts Polar Science Symposium to celebrate International Polar Year 2007-2008
... The symposium, which is also supported by the National Science Foundation, will present research findings by Smithsonian scholars and their collaborators from Arctic and Antarct...... Piotr Marszalek and his colleagues have conducted single-molecule force spectroscopy measurements on viral DNA, which show the unraveling of the DNA doub...Crane hatching marks a first for Smithsonian's National Zoo
... ... "This is a great milestone for the Smithsonian's National Zoo and for this species," says Paul Tomassoni, the Zoo's curator of birds. Destruction of its native wetland habitat in south-central Africa has dramatica...MIT model helps researchers 'see' brain development
... ... By applying computer graphics techniques to brain images collected using magnetic reso...Blood sugar's manufacture limited by building blocks' supply
... The study found that mice deficient for KLF15, a member of the so-called Krppel-like family of transcription factors, become severely lacking in the blood sugar glucosea primary energy source for the body and the sole source for the brainafter a period of overnight fasting. The researchers traced that deficiency back to an inability to produc...Alternative-fuels pioneer receives first-ever $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (April 2, 2007) Your car could soon become a vegetarian thanks to a process for cost-effectively converting cellulosic biomass, such as grass, wood, wheat and rice straw, into ethanol that can be used for fuel. When it does, it will be due to inventors such as Lee Lynd, professor of engineering and adjunct professor of biology at Dartmouth College, and co-founder of Mascoma Cor...MIT device draws cells close -- but not too close -- together
... Now MIT researchers led by Sangeeta Bhatia, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and Brigham and Women's Hospital, have solved the problem with a novel device. The work promises to allow researchers to perform ce...MIT's ocean model captures diversity of underwater forests
... This model of the ocean is the first to reflect the vast diversity of the invisible forests living in our oceans-tiny, single-celled green plants that dominate the ocean and produce half the oxygen we breathe on Earth. And it does so in a way that is consistent with the way real-world ecosystems evolve according to the principles of natural selection. <...... ... "In the future, controlling the activity patterns of neurons may enable very specific...A research team led by William Laurance, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, will be honored for their "Outstanding Paper in Landscape Ecology" by the International Association of Landscape Ecologists in Tucson, Ariz. April 12. Co-author Susan G. Laurance will accept the award on the teams behalf.... The paper, entitled "Rapid decay of tree-community compos...