Earth Science World receives 2004 Scientific American.com Web Award
...3000 fully indexed images and nearly 20,000 images being indexed, the Earth Science World ImageBank represents a valuable educational resource. With over 3.25 million images downloaded to date, the ImageBank is a prime resource of the geologic community to the public. Earth Science World also includes...Novel biotoxin being studied for use in opioid withdrawal
... in the initial Chinese trials that it is also now being evaluated for clinical use in the treatment of refractory cancer pain. "The results from this Phase IIa trial in patients on methadone should be known in 2005. "The study is going well. I expect early next year to know whether this works out or not....How the sea urchin grows new spines
...-sharp tip, they grow back within a few days after being broken off. Now, a team of scientists at the Weiz...cules that are dissolved in liquid, sugar and salt being the most familiar examples, the team of Profs. Lia Addadi and Steve Weiner, of the Institute's Struc...Plant pathologists offer soybean rust identification and management tips
...two types of lesions--tan and red lesions with tan being the most severe. The appearance of brown spots on soybean leaves is the first sign of infection. When the leaf is turned over, a plant infected with soybean rust will have raised pustules with rust spores inside. As rust severity increases, premature...Random gene activation helps ulcer bug escape immune system
...are because characteristics of the segments of DNA being combined make them technically difficult for the bacteria to splice together. In addition, the BabB gene has a built-in genetic feature that allows the gene to turn on and off irregularly as the bacteria reproduce. "The BabB gene has a highly repetit...New protein structure may aid in design of therapeutics for autoimmune disease
...ne reaction. Currently, several PKC inhibitors are being used in clinical trials for various types of cancer and diabetes-related retinopathy. "This structure provides a starting point for the rational drug design of high potency inhibitors of the catalytic activity of PKCΘ for use as potential......tudy of some 2,000 diabetics with haptoglobin 2-2, being conducted in northern Israel, is expected to corroborate Dr. Levy's findings. "If this larger study confirms our findings, the public health implications will be huge. Vitamin E would represent an inexpensive and safe way to reduce the risk of c...New bulls may revive the Texas state Bison Herd
...If the population is expanding and more babies are being born than old ones are dying, the average would actually decrease. "We, as geneticists, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department as wildlife managers, had a concern that something wasn't going right. The managers were doing everything they could,...Low-carb diet during pregnancy improved triglycerides, fat metabolism in offspring
...ups born to mothers on the standard diet), despite being fed the same standard high-carb/low-fat diet post weaning. They also expressed significantly greater levels of the hepatic proteins CD36, CPT-1 and PPARα, which help with fatty acid oxidation. The results of the study "A high unsaturated fat,...... has led directly to a patented system that is now being rolled out to stem gun violence on the streets of Chicago and Los Angeles. The engineer is Theodore Berger, director of the USC Center for Neural Engineering whose life's work has been deciphering the way in which nerve cells code messages to each ot...Studies suggest promising new directions for gallstone treatment
...es supersaturated with cholesterol, which is still being pumped into the bile under control of another metabolic pathway. This supersaturation causes the cholesterol to precipitate as crystals, which, under conditions created by the chemical imbalance, can form gallstones. The subsequent change in biochemi...Are animals as irrational as humans?
...nal, or consistent across contexts, as a result of being motivated by self interest or, in the case of animals, reproductive success. Yet many studies report that when making decisions people often take shortcuts, using cognitive heuristics that may lead to economically irrational decisions, with similar c...Census of Marine Life - Discoveries and Highlights 2004: Scientists add 4m+ records, 13,000 species
...New Zealand, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa) being formed to advance the world's "information seaway." A meeting of the CoML International Scientific Steering Committee will follow in Paris, Dec. 1 to 3. Though still under construction, the $9.5 million Ocean Biographic Information System (OB...Hamilton, ON, Nov. 22, 2004 Imagine being able to see or taste sounds, as well as hearing them. Sound like science fiction? For some people, it's reality. This blending of the senses occurs in a rare condition called "synesthesia." In this condition, a stimulus, such as sound, creates a r...Studies in Royal Society journals include stress in birds and depletion of medieval fish stocks
...ving to find food (ie kill or maim) while avoiding being killed by predators. We show that food and predators together affect measures of chronic stress in song sparrows. These inseparable effects on the individual's physiology provide a link between the well-known effects of food and predators on behavi...Isotron licenses ORNL cancer treatment technology
...rmal lives." Sandler envisions the treatment being useful for treating many of some 260,000 combined cases of prostate cancer, cervical cancer, brain tumors and melanomas. ...Finding could improve safety of stem cell transplants
...rsity of Georgia. When embryonic stem cells are being coaxed toward becoming brain cells that could be t... that can be combined with those methods currently being used to further reduce the chances of teratoma formation and make stem cells extremely safe," Dr. Co...Psychological stress and disease: UCSF-led study suggests connection
... the oxidative stress. Moreover, the perception of being stressed correlated in both the caregiver and cont...cross both groups who had the lowest perception of being stressed. The highest-stress group also had significantly decreased telomerase activity and higher o...Improved molecular switch could serve as sensor, medical tool
...ions on the maltose binding protein, both proteins being long chains of amino acids that can be thought of as long ribbons. In the new process, the team joined the two natural ends of the beta-lactamase chain to create one continuous molecular loop. Then, they snipped this "ribbon" at random points before ...University of Texas at Austin researchers identify drug-tolerance mechanism in flies
...to the organic solvent recovered more quickly from being knocked out by the drug than flies that were first-timers. The flies that developed tolerance also had increased activity of the slo gene. The gene produces the surface protein, which helps stimulate signaling between nerve cells in the brain. Gen...