Columbia University scientist wins 2004 Nobel Prize
...C. Bollinger. "Dr. Axel's groundbreaking research solves the puzzle of how we translate the sensations around us into knowledge that is key for our survival and quality of life." "Dr. Axel's work is among the most important discoveries of the past 50 years, providing insights regarding how individual...Lag-3 gene dampens immune responses by controlling regulatory T-cell function
...mmune system responses from running out of control solves a mystery that has puzzled researchers since the gene was discovered 14 years ago. A report on this discovery, from investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and The Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, is published in the October issue o...New system reduces risk of burns during interventional X-rays
...is occurring at the same time." "Our system solves that problem," said Wobschall. Through electronic sensors, the system tracks the position of the X-ray gantry and patient table, and thus, the location of the X-ray relative to the patient to determine the radiation exposure at the patient's ...Free radicals and fertilization: Study reveals egg protection secret
...shed in the current issue of Developmental Cell , solves a century-old biology riddle. In most animals, such as sea urchins, fish, mice and humans, only one sperm fertilizes an egg. If multiple sperm fuse with the egg, a process known as polyspermy, the embryo will die. So the fertilized egg quickly create...UCSD discovery shows how embryonic stem cells perform 'quality control' inspections
...ne publication of the journal Nature Cell Biology, solves the longstanding mystery of how embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to divide an unlimited number of times and differentiate to make all of the cell types in the body, are able to avoid duplicating cells that have sustained genetic damage....Where bacteria get their genes
...a member of UA's BIO5 Institute. The research also solves a long-standing evolutionary puzzle. Many scientists have argued that drawing traditional family trees does not make sense for bacteria, because their genomes represent a mix of genetic material from their parental cells and from other species of bac...Scientists discover how plants disarm the toxic effects of excessive sunlight
...ional fossil fuels. "By understanding how biology solves this problem, we can fine-tune the design of these systems to minimize the harmful effects of singlet oxygen and enhance energy production." Reactive oxygen also plays an important role in human, animal and plant health, because it is often used as a...Study shows how retinoic acid enters a cell's nucleus
...many other proteins that don't have an NLS, and it solves a mystery that has been in the literature for a long time," Noy says. "It explains a basic mechanism of how this protein, CRABP-II, gets into the nucleus, where it can act to suppress tumors." CRABP-II is a member of a group of proteins called intra...NRL develops self-cleaning 'smart' fabrics
...ules on contact during the degradation process, it solves the problem of potentially dangerous and expensive remediation measures. The NRL coating is actually an ultrathin, layered, composite film (500nm) containing enzymes that actively degrade chemical toxins. Compared to other degradation methods, the e...New U. of Colorado polymer has applications for dentistry, electronics, automobiles
...apts to the new conditions. We think this process solves a significant problem in polymer science." Scott said the original concept for the polymer was followed by intense research by faculty and students in CU-Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science. "It only took about one second to come u...Human embryonic stem cells have the potential to develop into eggs and sperm in the laboratory
...logy today (Monday 20 June) that the research also solves the practical and ethical problems associated with obtaining human samples of primordial germ cells (PGCs), which are the ancestral cells that eventually form eggs and sperm (gametes). "Investigating the mechanisms of human primordial germ cell and g...Invasive parasite destroying fish species
...sity and the Weymouth Laboratory in England. "This solves a mystery that fisheries researchers have been studying for decades, about why sunbleak minnows have been disappearing from Europe, where they were once quite common," said Michael Kent, a professor of microbiology and director of the Center for Salm...'Smart' nanoprobes light up disease
...und to their molecular targets." Rice's technology solves this longstanding problem by using emissive nanoparticles called quantum dots that give off light in the near-infrared (NIR), a rare portion of the spectrum that has no background component in biomedical imaging. Near-infrared light also passes harml...Research shows where brain interprets 'pitch'
... discovery of a pitch-processing area in the brain solves an age-old mystery of auditory research." According to Wang, pitch's importance to humans is found in facilitating our ability to follow a sequence of sounds we would recognize as "melodic" and combinations of sounds we identify as harmony. As a resu...It's a bug's life: MIT team tells moving tale
... the glass. The larva of the waterlily leaf beetle solves the same problem a different way. The sluglike creature simply arches its back, creating menisci at each end. The effect has the same end result, propelling the larva up the slope. Bush and Hu got involved in this work because they wanted to explain ...Navigating the brain for sense of direction as paradigm for higher cognitive functions
... turns out that the humble laboratory rat probably solves navigational problems about as well as we do," she adds. Sharp and her collaborator Shawnda Turner-Williams measured the electrical firing of 51 individual cells in the medial mammillary nucleus of five rats' brains "to our knowledgethe first record...ASU grant to explore DNA based computing
...lculations simultaneously. A traditional computer solves problems one at a time using long strands of 1s and 0s, but Frasch's parallel computer will use DNA to make all the calculations at once, dramatically increasing the speed at which it can solve problems. Frasch expects a working prototype of the comp...Normal chromosome ends elicit a limited DNA damage response
...protect the integrity of chromosomes. This finding solves for the first time an important question that has long puzzled scientists. The natural ends of chromosomes look just like broken strands of DNA that a cell's repair machinery is designed to fix. But mending chromosome ends, or telomeres, would set th...UF, Columbia scientists closer to new cancer detection method
...om the other molecules," Tan said. "This technique solves the problem caused by background signals from both the probe and the biological fluids where the proteins reside. We have engineered a molecular switch that turns on the fluorescence." The probe's green fluorescent burst lasts little more than a bill...Study in Royal Society journal on link between creativity and mating success
...ent when the ant fails to protect. Thus, evolution solves the problem of cooperation by letting plants hire ants under a 'piecework' payment scheme that resembles many human employment contracts. Contact: Mr DP Edwards, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, NORWICH, NR4 7TJ Biology Lett...