Volume 5, Number 50 December 11, 2006

Physical sciences and technology Type Ia supernovae Global warming Carbon nanotubes Microfluidic devices Black holes Earthquakes High-temperature superconductors Nanowire memory Water on Mars Laser wakefield accelerators Warming oceans and phytoplankton Solar cells Virtual reality and learning Extrasolar planets Production of hydrogen by photooxidation of water Hydrogen storage Axions DNA nanotechnology Nanotechnology Ancient climate change Faster optical networking Evidence for mantle plumes Quantum cryptography DNA logic circuits High-density magnetic memory chips High-density 3-D optical storage system Life sciences Stem cell biology Sex and behavior in fruit flies Clues to the evolution of sex Protein-DNA binding Gendered division of labor Organ regneration in newts Virus mass determination RNA crosstalk Mechanism of forgetting Cancer biology Mouse brain genomic atlas Consolidation of memory during sleep Microbe metabolism using radiolysis Telomerase, life span, and cancer Development of gustation and Wnts Olfaction Evolution of altruism Master regulatory protein Conservation of myogenesis in evolution Cooperation, reputation, and punishment Origin of the Krebs cycle Oxygen and the evolution of complex life Nucleosomal DNA flexibility Evolutionary developmental biology Synaptic plasticity Formation of long-term memory in fruit flies Riboswitches Stem cell biology Systems biology model of the phagosome Heterochromatin Development of patterning Recent instance of human evolution Health and medicine Cancer Stem cell therapy for Parkinson's disease Cancer vaccines Computer simulation of tumor growth Medical nanotechnology Gene therapy Antibiotics targeting riboswitches Avian flu Relapses in autoimmune diseases Stem cells Oxytocin AIDS Alzheimer's disease Cholesterol regulation Antiviral drugs for influenza Cocaine's method of action Omega-3 fatty acids Diabetes Control of nicotine's effects on the brain Cytokine storm produced by antibody drug Obesity drug targeting CB1 receptor Bioengineered heart muscle Antibiotics targeting bacterial folate production Caloric restriction and the immune system Use of RNAi in gene therapy

Type Ia supernovae

1. December 4, 2006 - Astronomers Study Shape Of Stellar Candles

Global warming

1. December 4, 2006 - 2006 unusually warm, but not hottest year
2. December 4, 2006 - Experts worry warmer Earth will slash farm yields
3. December 4, 2006 - Europe's warmest autumn in 500 years
4. December 5, 2006 - Southern Ocean Could Slow Global Warming - also here
5. December 5, 2006 - Alps warmest in 1,300 years as "winter" sets in - also here
6. December 6, 2006 - New Study: Alps Warmest in 1,300 Years - also here , here
7. December 6, 2006 - Alps Said to Be at Warmest in Centuries
8. December 9, 2006 - Antarctica works as living global warming laboratory
9. December 10, 2006 - Antarctic biologists fish for climate change clues

Carbon nanotubes

1. December 4, 2006 - Carbon Nanomaterials May Disperse More Widely In Waterways
2. December 5, 2006 - Nanotube-Infested Waters Created in the Lab

Microfluidic devices

1. December 4, 2006 - Print-and-Peel Method Creates Microfluidic Devices

Black holes

1. December 4, 2006 - How to feed a black hole
2. December 5, 2006 - NASA Telescope Sees Black Hole Munch On A Star - also here, here, here, here, here
3. December 5, 2006 - NASA telescope sees black hole gulping remote star - also here
4. December 6, 2006 - Whole Black Hole Meal Observed
5. December 7, 2006 - Black hole seen devouring star in best detail yet
6. December 7, 2006 - No matter their size black holes 'feed' in the same way - also here

Earthquakes

1. December 5, 2006 - Powerful Earthquakes Can Be Detected Within Two Seconds

High-temperature superconductors

1. December 5, 2006 - 'Stripes' And Superconductivity: Two Faces Of The Same Coin?

Nanowire memory

1. December 5, 2006 - Nanowire memory could write data faster

Water on Mars

1. December 6, 2006 - Water Still Flows In Brief Spurts On Mars, NASA Images Suggest
2. December 6, 2006 - Water flows on Mars
3. December 6, 2006 - Water could be flowing on Mars today
4. December 6, 2006 - Water flows on Mars, before our very eyes
5. December 6, 2006 - Martian Gullies Show Traces of Flowing Water within the Past Decade
6. December 6, 2006 - Changing Mars Gullies Hint at Recent Flowing Water
7. December 6, 2006 - Water 'flowed recently' on Mars
8. December 6, 2006 - Strongest Proof Yet of Water Flow on Mars
9. December 6, 2006 - New Evidence Found for Water on Mars
10. December 6, 2006 - Scientists: Photos suggest recent water on Mars
11. December 6, 2006 - Evidence Shows Water Flows on Mars
12. December 7, 2006 - Spacecraft Fleet Zeroing In On Martian Water Reserves
13. December 7, 2006 - Flowing Mud on Today's Mars?
14. December 7, 2006 - Is this water on Mars?
15. December 7, 2006 - Signs of liquid water add to "life on Mars" debate
16. December 7, 2006 - Water has been flowing on Mars within past five years, Nasa says
17. December 7, 2006 - Scientists believe they found evidence of recent water on Mars
18. December 8, 2006 - NASA Images, White Sands Features Support A Wetter Mars - also here, here
19. December 13, 2006 - Best Evidence Yet for Recent Water on Mars

Laser wakefield accelerators

1. December 6, 2006 - Table-top particle accelerator created
2. December 6, 2006 - "Tabletop" Particle Accelerator Boosts Electrons to Stable Energies

Warming oceans and phytoplankton

1. December 6, 2006 - NASA Data Reveals Climate Warming Reduces Ocean Food Supply - also here, here
2. December 6, 2006 - NASA Data Reveals Climate Warming Reduces Ocean Food Supply - Related Multimedia
3. December 6, 2006 - Warming oceans produce less phytoplankton
4. December 6, 2006 - Global warming will stifle oceans: scientists
5. December 6, 2006 - Global Warming Blues
6. December 6, 2006 - Warmer climate means less plankton, big problems for ocean populations
7. December 7, 2006 - Global Warming Is Reducing Ocean Life, Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide - also here
8. December 8, 2006 - Global warming will reduce ocean productivity, marine life - also here

Solar cells

1. December 6, 2006 - Super-skinny solar cells soak up the sun
2. December 7, 2006 - New World Record Achieved In Solar Cell Technology - also here
3. December 8, 2006 - Superefficient, Cost-Effective Solar Cell Breaks Conversion Records

Virtual reality and learning

1. December 6, 2006 - Virtual Reality Can Improve Memory -- Perhaps Too Much - also here

Extrasolar planets

1. December 6, 2006 - Planet-detector nears its launch

Production of hydrogen by photooxidation of water

1. December 6, 2006 - Unprecedented Efficiency In Producing Hydrogen From Water - also here

Hydrogen storage

1. December 7, 2006 - Invention Could Solve 'Bottleneck' In Developing Pollution-free Cars - also here

Axions

1. December 7, 2006 - Long the Fixation of Physicists Worldwide, a Tiny Particle Is Found

DNA nanotechnology

1. December 7, 2006 - DNA Strands Weaved into High-Complexity Logic Circuits and Multiple "Robot Arms"
2. December 8, 2006 - Nanoscopic 'robot arms' built from DNA
3. December 8, 2006 - Chemists Create 'Nanorobotic' Arm To Operate Within DNA Sequence - also here

Nanotechnology

1. December 7, 2006 - Scientists Learning To Create Nanomaterials Based On Micro-algae Patterns - also here

Ancient climate change

1. December 7, 2006 - Ancient Climate Change May Portend Toasty Future - also here
2. December 8, 2006 - Global warming of the future is projected by ancient carbon emissions

Faster optical networking

1. December 7, 2006 - Data transport via fibre-optic network could be faster still

Evidence for mantle plumes

1. December 7, 2006 - Hotspots or Not? Isotopes Score One for Traditional Theory - also here

Quantum cryptography

1. December 8, 2006 - Distance no worries for spooky particles

DNA logic circuits

1. December 8, 2006 - Researchers Create DNA Logic Circuits That Work In Test Tubes

High-density magnetic memory chips

1. December 8, 2006 - Breakthrough In Magnetic Devices Could Make Computers More Powerful - also here

High-density 3-D optical storage system

1. December 10, 2006 - Researcher's 3-D Digital Storage System Could Hold A Library On One Disc

Stem cell biology

1. December 4, 2006 - Molecular 'Marker' On Stem Cells Aids Research, Suggests New Therapies - also here

Sex and behavior in fruit flies

1. December 4, 2006 - With Fruit Fly Sex, Researchers Find Mind-body Connection

Clues to the evolution of sex

1. December 4, 2006 - New Clues To How Sex Evolves - also here, here

Protein-DNA binding

1. December 5, 2006 - Gene-bender proteins may sway to DNA - also here, here
2. December 5, 2006 - Stretch a DNA Loop, Turn Off Proteins - also here

Gendered division of labor

1. December 5, 2006 - Gendered Division Of Labor Gave Modern Humans Advantage Over Neanderthals - also here

Organ regneration in newts

1. December 5, 2006 - Newts Regrow Hearts: Scientists Reveal Molecular Details Of Regeneration In Amphibians - also here

Virus mass determination

1. December 5, 2006 - Weight Determination Of Individual Viruses With A Miniature Ion Trap - also here

RNA crosstalk

1. December 5, 2006 - Peering Into The Shadow World Of RNA: Crosstalk May Control The Genome

Mechanism of forgetting

1. December 5, 2006 - Controlling confusion: Researchers make insight into memory, forgetting - also here, here

Cancer biology

1. December 5, 2006 - How mammals fuel milk production may have implications for cancer
2. December 10, 2006 - Evolution and the workaround

Mouse brain genomic atlas

1. December 6, 2006 - Genomic atlas of the mouse brain revealed

Consolidation of memory during sleep

1. December 6, 2006 - Researchers Investigate Communication Between Memory Areas

Microbe metabolism using radiolysis

1. December 6, 2006 - Natural Radioactivity Could Provide Microbes In The Deep Biosphere With Vitality

Telomerase, life span, and cancer

1. December 6, 2006 - Blame Our Evolutionary Risk of Cancer on Our Body Mass - also here, here

Development of gustation and Wnts

1. December 6, 2006 - Researchers Discover Initial Steps In Development Of Taste - also here, here

Olfaction

1. December 7, 2006 - Rogue theory of smell gets a boost
2. December 12, 2006 - Vibrating Odor Molecules? Rogue Theory May Help Explain Sense Of Smell
3. December 15, 2006 - Is Sense of Smell Powered by Quantum Vibrations?
4. December 22, 2006 - The quantum nose

Evolution of altruism

1. December 7, 2006 - Why altruism paid off for our ancestors
2. December 7, 2006 - Love Thy Neighbor Evolved Out of Vicious Competition

Master regulatory protein

1. December 7, 2006 - From A Lowly Yeast, Researchers Divine A Clue To Human Disease - also here, here

Conservation of myogenesis in evolution

1. December 7, 2006 - Evolutionary insight into myogenesis

Cooperation, reputation, and punishment

1. December 7, 2006 - When reputation matters, punishment may be reduced to the extreme cases

Origin of the Krebs cycle

1. December 8, 2006 - Nature's Jump-Starter
2. December 12, 2006 - New Insights Into The Origin Of Life On Earth - also here

Oxygen and the evolution of complex life

1. December 8, 2006 - Oxygen boom fuelled explosion of complex life
2. December 8, 2006 - Oxygen burst seen before the birth of complex life
3. December 10, 2006 - Solving Darwin's Dilemma: Oxygen May Be The Clue To First Appearance Of Large Animals - also here

Nucleosomal DNA flexibility

1. December 8, 2006 - First Molecular Simulation Of A Long DNA Strand Shows Unexpected Flexibility - also here, here, here

Evolutionary developmental biology

1. December 8, 2006 - Male Pregnancy: Genetic Archaeology Offers Clues To Gender-bending Mystery

Synaptic plasticity

1. December 8, 2006 - Structure Essential For Brain Remodeling Identified

Formation of long-term memory in fruit flies

1. December 8, 2006 - Tracing The Formation Of Long-term Memory - also here

Riboswitches

1. December 8, 2006 - Artificial RNA ligands differentiate between on and off states of riboswitches - also here, here

Stem cell biology

1. December 10, 2006 - Detailed 3-D Image Catches A Key Regulator Of Neural Stem Cell Differentiation In Action - also here, here

Systems biology model of the phagosome

1. December 10, 2006 - Researchers Create Model Of Key Immune-system Component

Heterochromatin

1. December 10, 2006 - Regulating the nuclear architecture of the cell - also here, here

Development of patterning

1. December 10, 2006 - Embryonic patterning makes the feathers fly - also here, here

Recent instance of human evolution

1. December 10, 2006 - Study Detects Recent Instance of Human Evolution
2. December 11, 2006 - African Adaptation to Digesting Milk Is "Strongest Signal of Selection Ever"
3. December 11, 2006 - Milk Tolerance Evolved More Than Once
4. December 11, 2006 - Lactose Tolerance in East Africa Points to Recent Evolution

Cancer

1. December 4, 2006 - Tumor Growth Computer Model Sets Stage For Customized Cancer Treatment
2. December 5, 2006 - Medium-sized Polyps Yield Significant Number Of Advanced Adenomas And Cancer
3. December 5, 2006 - New hope for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia
4. December 6, 2006 - Novartis anti-leukemia drug works for 5 years, study says
5. December 7, 2006 - Protein-based Tumor Biomarker Predicts Breast-cancer Survival - also here
6. December 7, 2006 - Researchers Discover Unique Marker To Identify Breast Cancer Protein
7. December 7, 2006 - Does Too Much Protein In The Diet Increase Cancer Risk?
8. December 7, 2006 - 'Erectile Dysfunction' Drugs Heighten Natural Anti-cancer Activity - also here
9. December 7, 2006 - Does too much protein in the diet increase cancer risk?
10. December 8, 2006 - Natural Protein Stops Deadly Human Brain Cancer In Mice - also here, here
11. December 8, 2006 - 5-year Study Shows Gleevec's Potency Against Chronic Myeloid Leukemia - also here
12. December 8, 2006 - Infectious Disease Researchers Develop Basis For Experimental Melanoma Treatment - also here, here
13. December 8, 2006 - Blood Pressure Drugs Could Help Halt Pancreatic Cancer Spread - also here
14. December 8, 2006 - T-beta-RIII joins the fight against breast cancer
15. December 8, 2006 - New biomarker predicts effectiveness of breast cancer drugs - also here
16. December 9, 2006 - Pro-vitamin E Shown To Be Active Against Breast Cancer Cells - also here

Stem cell therapy for Parkinson's disease

1. December 4, 2006 - Parkinson's Approach With Stem Cells A Promising First Step - also here
2. December 7, 2006 - Transplanted Brain Cells Hold Promise For Parkinson's Disease - also here, here

Cancer vaccines

1. December 4, 2006 - 'Super' Enzyme May Lead Way To Better Tumor Vaccines - also here, here

Computer simulation of tumor growth

1. December 4, 2006 - Math model predicts cancer behavior

Medical nanotechnology

1. December 4, 2006 - Multifunctional Nanoparticles Image and Treat Brain Tumors
2. December 5, 2006 - Roche unveils new nanotech diagnosis tool
3. December 5, 2006 - Nano-implant measures tumor growth, treatment

Gene therapy

1. December 4, 2006 - Gene Therapy For Erectile Dysfunction Shows Promise In Clinical Trial

Antibiotics targeting riboswitches

1. December 4, 2006 - Switching Bacteria Off May Be Possible with New Class of Antibiotic

Avian flu

1. December 4, 2006 - How Bird Flu Could Come to America
2. December 4, 2006 - Scientists Criticize Bird Flu Search - also here, here
3. December 5, 2006 - CDC seeks bird flu diagnostic tests
4. December 7, 2006 - New Research Predicts US Entry Of H5N1 Avian Influenza - also here
5. December 7, 2006 - Avian flu vaccine developed for poultry
6. December 10, 2006 - Experts Puzzle Over Halt of Bird Flu - also here

Relapses in autoimmune diseases

1. December 5, 2006 - Molecule Linked To Autoimmune Disease Relapses Identified - also here

Stem cells

1. December 5, 2006 - One-off Treatment To Stop Back Pain -- Using Patients' Own Stem Cells
2. December 8, 2006 - Aggressive Stem Cells Might Improve Transplant Outcome - also here

Oxytocin

1. December 5, 2006 - New research suggests oxytocin's potential for treatment of two core autism symptom domains

AIDS

1. December 5, 2006 - HIV-1 kills immune cells in the gut that may never bounce back - also here
2. December 6, 2006 - Early HIV Treatment Fails To Restore Memory T Cells - also here
3. December 7, 2006 - Malaria May Fuel Spread Of HIV In Sub-Saharan Africa - also here
4. December 7, 2006 - Scientists say malaria fuels AIDS spread in Africa - also here
5. December 7, 2006 - Study Says Malaria Helps Spread HIV - also here, here

Alzheimer's disease

1. December 5, 2006 - Scientists develop a new way to target Alzheimer's disease - also here
2. December 6, 2006 - Study finds certain drugs cut Alzheimer's
3. December 6, 2006 - Cats Can Succumb To Feline Alzheimer's Disease - also here
4. December 6, 2006 - Cats Can Get Alzheimer's: Study - also here

Cholesterol regulation

1. December 6, 2006 - Why did a promising heart drug fail?

Antiviral drugs for influenza

1. December 6, 2006 - Protein could be potential target for new flu drug
2. December 7, 2006 - Flu virus shows twist in tail
3. December 10, 2006 - Protein's Tail May Be Flu Virus's Achilles Heel

Cocaine's method of action

1. December 6, 2006 - Molecular Mechanism of Cocaine High Revealed
2. December 7, 2006 - Cocaine High Caused By Interference In Neuronal Receiving Stations

Omega-3 fatty acids

1. December 6, 2006 - Does Omega 3 Protect Against ADHD? - also here

Diabetes

1. December 6, 2006 - Research Yields New Insights Into The Cause Of Diabetes - also here
2. December 8, 2006 - Obese diabetics at high risk for kidney disease
3. December 8, 2006 - 'Diabetes Gene' May Be Linked To Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Control of nicotine's effects on the brain

1. December 6, 2006 - New research identifies gene important for nicotine's effects on the brain - also here

Cytokine storm produced by antibody drug

1. December 7, 2006 - Horror clinical trial in test tube recreation

Obesity drug targeting CB1 receptor

1. December 8, 2006 - Obesity drug advances in trials

Bioengineered heart muscle

1. December 8, 2006 - Growing Heart Muscle: Rapid 3-D Cell-growth Technique Produces Pulsing, Organized Tissue - also here, here

Antibiotics targeting bacterial folate production

1. December 8, 2006 - Researchers find new chink in a "superbug's" armor

Caloric restriction and the immune system

1. December 8, 2006 - Restricting Calories Boosts the Immune System - also here

Use of RNAi in gene therapy

1. December 10, 2006 - Researchers Developing Molecular Delivery Vehicles For Genetic Therapies

Copyright © 2006 by Charles Daney, All Rights Reserved