flash science

New Imagining Technique Could Lead To Better Antibiotics And Cancer Drugs

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:19:30 +0000

A recently devised method of imaging the chemical communication and warfare between microorganisms could lead to new antibiotics, antifungal, antiviral and anti-cancer drugs, said a Texas AgriLife Research scientist. The new article was published Nov. 8 in Nature Chemical Biology. It describes a technique developed by a collaborative team that includes Dr. Paul Straight, AgriLife Research [...]

Antarctica Glacier Retreat Creates New Carbon Dioxide Store; Has Beneficial Impact On Climate Change

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:19:29 +0000

Large blooms of tiny marine plants called phytoplankton are flourishing in areas of open water left exposed by the recent and rapid melting of ice shelves and glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula. This remarkable colonisation is having a beneficial impact on climate change. As the blooms die back phytoplankton sinks to the sea-bed where it [...]

Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy Restores Walking Ability In Rats With Neck Injuries

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:19:29 +0000

The first human embryonic stem cell treatment approved by the FDA for human testing has been shown to restore limb function in rats with neck spinal cord injuries — a finding that could expand the clinical trial to include people with cervical damage. In January, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration gave Geron Corp. of Menlo [...]

NASA Reproduces A Building Block Of Life In Laboratory

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:19:23 +0000

NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing pyrimidine exposed to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life. Pyrimidine is a ring-shaped molecule made up of carbon and nitrogen and is the basic [...]

Star Trek-like Replicator? Electron Beam Device Makes Metal Parts, One Layer At A Time

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:19:22 +0000

A group of engineers working on a novel manufacturing technique at NASA`s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., have come up with a new twist on the popular old saying about dreaming and doing: "If you can slice it, we can build it." That`s because layers mean everything to the environmentally-friendly construction process called Electron Beam [...]

Physician Bias Might Keep Life-saving Transplants From Black And Hispanic Patients

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:18:39 +0000

Physician bias might be the reason why African Americans are not receiving kidney/pancreas transplants at the same rate as similar patients in other racial groups. Dr. Keith Melancon, director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Georgetown University Hospital and associate professor of surgery at Georgetown University Medical Center, and colleagues explore this phenomenon in the [...]

Computer Scientists Work To Strengthen Online Security

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:18:39 +0000

If you forget your password when logging into an e-mail or online shopping Web site, the site will likely ask you a security question: What is your mother`s maiden name? Where were you born? The trouble is that such questions are not very secure. More people than you may think will know your answers. And if [...]

Kidney Function Decline Increases Risk Of Heart Failure And Premature Death

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:18:39 +0000

Declining kidney function is linked to a higher risk of heart failure, heart attack, peripheral arterial disease, and early death in individuals with or without kidney disease, according to a pair of studies appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The findings indicate that poor kidney function may raise [...]

Past Climate Of Northern Antarctic Peninsular Informs Global Warming Debate

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:18:37 +0000

The seriousness of current global warming is underlined by a reconstruction of climate at Maxwell Bay in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic Peninsula over approximately the last 14,000 years, which appears to show that the current warming and widespread loss of glacial ice are unprecedented. "At no time during the last 14 thousand years [...]

Blood Test Identifies Women At Risk From Alzheimer`s

mokosam@gmail.com (more:flashscience.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:18:36 +0000

Middle-aged women with high levels of a specific amino acid in their blood are twice as likely to suffer from Alzheimer`s many years later, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. This discovery this could lead to a new and simple way of determining who is at risk long [...]