The National Science Foundation (NSF) congratulates the 2009 Nobel laureates, particularly those who have received NSF funding over the years: Jack W. Szostak, who shared the prize in physiology or medicine; Thomas A. Steitz, who shared the prize in chemistry; and Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson who earned the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel 2009.
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When Professor Joel Levine’s team genetically tweaked fruit flies so that they didn’t produce certain pheromones, they triggered a sexual tsunami in their University of Toronto Mississauga laboratory. In fact, they produced bugs so irresistible that normal male fruit flies attempted to mate with pheromone-free males and even females from a different species - generally a no-no in the fruit fly dating scene. The study, published in the Oct.
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Each of the 6.7 billion people on Earth has a signature body odor - the chemical counterpart to fingerprints - and scientists are tracking down those odiferous arches, loops, and whorls in the “human odorprint” for purposes ranging from disease diagnosis to crime prevention. That’s the topic of an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.
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Economy-minded consumers who want protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays - but rather not pay premium prices for sun-protective clothing - should think blue and red, rather than yellow. Scientists in Spain are reporting that the same cotton fabric dyed deep blue or red provide greater UV protection than shades of yellow. Their study, which could lead to fabrics with better sun protection, is scheduled for the Nov.
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The “vegetable lamb” plant - once believed to bear fruit that ripened into a living baby sheep - produces substances that show promise in laboratory experiments as new treatments for osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease. That’s the conclusion of a new study in ACS’ monthly Journal of Natural Products. Young Ho Kim and colleagues point out that osteoporosis is a global health problem, affecting up to 6 million women and 2 million men in the United States alone.
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Our brains, it turns out, are eco-friendly. A study published in Science and reviewed by F1000 Biology members Venkatesh Murthy and Jakob Sorensen reveals that our brains have the amazing ability to be energy efficient. Brain cells generate and propagate nerve impulses, or action potentials, by controlling the flow of positive sodium and potassium ions in and out of the cells. Re-establishing the ion equilibrium after an action potential requires energy.
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Specific cells within the immune system could help explain why younger people are more susceptible to variant CJD, scientists believe. Patients diagnosed with variant CJD are, on average, 28 years old but it has been unclear why older people are not as affected by the disease.
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Modern tissue engineering developed at the University of Michigan could improve the function of prosthetic hands and possibly restore the sense of touch for injured patients. Researchers presented their updated findings at the 95th annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. The research project, which was funded by the Department of Department of Defense, arose from a need for better prosthetic devices for troops wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Nearly 200 undergraduates and faculty from more than 40 academic institutions in North America will gather Oct. 23-24 in Knoxville for the first annual Undergraduate Research Conference at the Interface of Biology and Mathematics sponsored by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS).
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A team of scientists, led by a biomedical engineer at The University of Texas at Austin, have demonstrated - for the first time - that mathematical models created from data obtained by DNA microarrays, can be used to correctly predict previously unknown cellular mechanisms. This brings biologists a step closer to one day being able to understand and control the inner workings of the cell as readily as NASA engineers plot the trajectories of spacecraft today.
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