Promising HIV Vaccine Strategy Identified In Monkey Studies
Vaccines designed to trigger an immune response to a small HIV protein called Tat could be a promising way to fend off the virus, intriguing new data suggest. According to a report in this week’s journal Nature, “killer” T cells targeted to the Tat protein can effectively contain simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the monkey version […]
Himalayan Ice Reveals Climate Warming
Ice cores drilled through a glacier more than four miles up in the Himalayan Mountains have yielded a highly detailed record of the last 1,000 years of earth’s climate in the high Tibetan Plateau. Based on an analysis of the ice, both the last decade and the last 50 years were the warmest in 1,000 […]
Lung Function May Predict Long Life Or Early Death
How well your lungs function may predict how long you live. This finding is the result of a nearly 30-year follow-up of the association between impaired pulmonary function and all causes of mortality, conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo. Results of the study appear in the September issue of Chest. The UB researchers […]
Warming Trend Seen In Late Freeze, Early Thaw
A 150-year record of freeze and ice breakup dates for lakes and rivers in such far-flung locales as Wisconsin and Japan chronicles a recent climate warming trend in the Northern Hemisphere, say researchers in the 8 September issue of the international journal Science. The study, conducted by an international research team and led by John […]
Primordial Meteorite In A Class By Itself
A chemical analysis of a rare, uncontaminated 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite that fell to Earth earlier this year shows that its composition sets it apart from other meteorites found on Earth, giving scientists a glimpse of the solar system that has not been seen before. The findings, when added to other studies of the meteorite, may […]
Intensive Exercise Is Bad For Your Lungs
“There is nothing like sport to improve your breathing!” people often say. Yet this is one piece of advice many top athletes must wish they never listened to, as there is no longer any doubt that an alarming proportion of them experience quite the opposite effect: too much training is actually bad for their breathing. […]
Successful Use Of Drugs To Extend Lifespan
In a collaborative effort, scientists have for the first time successfully increased normal life span in the nematode worm C. elegans through the use of drugs that augment the organism’s natural antioxidant systems. As reported in the September 1, 2000 issue of Science, it appears that oxidative stress is a major determinant of life span […]
Deadly For Bacteria, Great For Consumers
“Electrolyzed water” – produced by applying an electrical current to a very dilute saltwater solution – kills bacteria on fresh produce more effectively in some cases than heat or water containing chlorine, according to a research report presented here today at the 220th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. […]
Brief Exposure To Nicotine Makes Lasting Mark
Brief exposure to low levels of nicotine, as little as that provided by a single cigarette, can cause lasting changes in the brain’s “reward” areas, report two University of Chicago scientists in the August 2000 issue of the journal Neuron. The finding is a major advance in understanding the process of nicotine addiction. The researchers […]
Quake Risk On Berkeley Fault Overrated
A new model of the northern Hayward Fault in California’s San Francisco Bay Area suggests that a major earthquake along that portion of the fault may be less likely than previously suspected, according to a report in the 18 August issue of the journal Science. The Hayward fault is one of the major branches of […]