Pond Scum Could Restore Vision
The latest issue of the journal Neuron details how scientists at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Pennsylvania College of Optometry have used gene-transfer technology to partially restore vision in otherwise blind mice. The mice in the experiment had been genetically bred to lose rods and cones, the light-sensitive cells in the […]
Climate Musings Spark Religious Brouhaha
It must have been a slow day at the lab when researchers at Florida State University (FSU) decided to put a new slant on the New Testament account of Jesus walking on water in the Sea of Galilee. In theJournal of Paleolimnology, FSU Professor of Oceanography Doron Nof explains that Jesus probably walked on an […]
Wonky Waves Allow Cancer Cells To Spread
Science may be closer to understanding how cancers metastasize (move, spread and grow away from their primary site) in the human body, if findings published in the current edition ofCancer Research prove to be correct. Metastasis has proven to be the most troublesome facet of cancer treatment, but this may change now that researchers have […]
MINOS Project Detects Ghostly Particles Changing “Flavor”
In an experimental first, an international team of scientists has managed to observe the all but massless neutrino particle transform from one “flavor”, or type, to another. The researchers say that their observations may better our understanding to how galaxies were formed and even explain the origin of the particles that comprise all matter in […]
Solitons Observed In A Solid
An international team of researchers say they have observed evidence of solitary vibrations (solitons) in a solid. The scientists, from Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Argonne laboratories, and the Institute for Transuranium Elements in Germany, write about their discovery of random localized vibrations in a three dimensional solid in Physical Review Letters. The Scottish scientist […]
World’s Fish Stocks Face New Danger
Much of the debate about the world’s fish stocks has focused on over-fishing, but a more insidious threat has largely gone unnoticed until now. A study by researchers from City University in Hong Kong raises new concerns about vast areas of the world’s oceans, known as “dead zones,” that lack sufficient oxygen to sustain most […]
Rats Showing Some Backbone After Stem Cell Treatment
Building on the University of California’s spinal repair stem cell research from last year, a group of researchers from the University of Toronto has also managed to repair damaged spinal cord tissue, this time in rats. The new research, appearing in The Journal of Neuroscience, could eventually lead to pioneering treatments for humans with spinal […]
Plants’ Capacity To Soak Up Carbon Limited
Plants do much less than previously thought to soak up carbon dioxide, say Bruce Hungate of Northern Arizona University and Kees-Jan van Groenigen of the University of California Davis. Their paper, appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that plants are limited in their capacity to clean up excess carbon dioxide […]
Primordial Soup-In-A-Cup
The beginning of life on Earth is a hotly contested area of science (not to mention religion); with current theories focusing on how RNA (ribonucleic acid)-like molecules developed into a more complex form of RNA-based life, which then transformed into cellular life based on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and proteins. Now, an acceleratedin vitro experiment shows […]
Not So Fast Einstein!
A quantum theory of gravity could be within reach, as scientists funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) report measuring the gravitational equivalent of a magnetic field. Presenting their results at a one-day conference at ESA’s European Space and Technology Research Center (ESTEC) in the Netherlands earlier this month, the scientists involved said that under […]