Researchers have made an important step towards the use of adult stem cells to repair damaged tissue. University of Manchester scientists report that they have uncovered a messaging system that instructs adult stem cells to contribute to tissue repair in response to chemical signals in the body.
As useful as nanotubes may be, the process of making them may have unintentional and potentially harmful impacts on the environment. Carbon nanotubes are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair, yet stronger than steel and more durable than diamonds. They conduct heat and electricity with efficiency that rivals copper wires and silicon chips, with possible uses in everything from concrete and clothes to bicycle parts and electronics.
Detection of a fraud attempt in sample taking for a DNA analysis is modifying forensic scientists' action protocol: It will be compulsory for the donor to wash his mouth out before a witness. The fraud attempt took place in a paternity test, when the donor mixed his own saliva with that of someone else's. Faced with the evidence, the suspect admitted that, shortly before the sample taking, he put someone else's saliva into his mouth from a little container.
Why do bone cells colonize glass scaffolding? One researcher says it's like seeding a fishing environment by throwing an old Christmas tree into the water. The submerged tree provides good pockets of cover for all kinds of fish. But this isn't really a discussion about aquatic habitats. The scientist is trying to explain why human bone cells would want to colonize medical scaffolding made out of glass fibers. "Nature abhors a void," he says. "And the body likes certain kinds of glass."
Researchers have identified a gene that is responsible for the division and movement of marrow-derived, blood-forming stem cells, a finding that could have major implications for the future of bone marrow and blood cell transplantation.
Early studies show that a new mucosal vaccine against anthrax has the potential to provide military personnel with more effective and efficient protection against a "popular" bioweapon, according to a new study. With the new vaccine, researchers sought to take two steps at once, fine-tuning its ingredients and delivering it by nose spray instead of injection.
Researchers were able to control heart muscle function in a new way after discovering the previously unknown role of two enzymes in heart muscle contraction. Although in the early stages, the research provides fresh knowledge of how heart muscle functions and also holds early potential as a treatment for various heart diseases—including congestive heart failure—that is possibly less taxing on the heart than current regimens.
The same team of astrophysicists that cracked the computer code simulating two black holes crashing and merging together has now, for the first time, caused a three-black-hole collision. Scientists have simulated triplet black holes to test their breakthrough method that, in 2005, merged two of these large mass objects on a supercomputer following Einstein's theory of general relativity.
High cholesterol levels are considered to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease including stroke. Therefore, many cholesterol lowering drugs have been developed by pharmaceutical companies in recent years. One class of these drugs, statins, has been found to reduce the incidence of stroke and progression of Alzheimer's disease when prophylactically administered.
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Two plants that were thought to have been extinct since the late 1800s have been rediscovered in far northern Australia, according to an official report released on Saturday.
Ben Goldacre: After poring through all the relevant documents, I can only say that decisions on additives appear to be entirely random Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:07 pm
As religious objections to the embryology bill mark the latest skirmish between faith and reason, Simon Jenkins and Richard Harries confront their differences head-on Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:05 pm
Letter: I sincerely hope I'm not the only one who's at least slightly worried about this mad scientist Peter Higgs and his 'Genesis machine' Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:05 pm
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Friday told officials to beef up Russia's space program and speed financing of a new cosmodrome in the Far East to keep the nation's leading role in space, Russian media reported.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow on Friday feted Laika, a plain stray dog which became famous half a century ago as the first living creature from Earth to fly into space.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday may fine Florida Power & Light Co $130,000 after security officers at the company's Turkey Point nuclear power plant near Miami were found sleeping on the job.
Video Wayne McGregor's latest work, Entity, explores the connection between the brain and movement. We went exclusively behind the scenes with the choreographer and his team to find out about the ideas that inspired the piece Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 Apr 2008 | 2:49 pm
BERLIN (Reuters) - German lawmakers voted on Friday to ease restrictions on stem cell research although the approved changes did not go as far as many scientists had hoped.
Scientists develop a technique that reveals biodiversity hotspots, which they say will help protect vulnerable species. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 2:08 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A rare and primitive frog living in a remote Borneo stream has no lungs and apparently absorbs oxygen through its skin, researchers reported on Wednesday.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China is preparing an arsenal of rockets and aircraft to protect the Olympics opening ceremony from rain, hoping to disperse clouds before they can drench dignitaries at the roofless "bird's nest" stadium.
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Scientists have found a cluster of spruces in the mountains in western Sweden which, at an age of 8,000 years, may be the world's oldest living trees.
The public won't take kindly to having Phorm thrust upon them when there are no obvious consumer benefits Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 Apr 2008 | 12:21 pm
The German parliament votes to ease restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, after a heated debate. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:37 am
Scientists have used pioneering technology to examine in minute detail one of the world's richest biodiversity "hot spots" and identify habitats that, if conserved, will protect the greatest number of species Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 11 Apr 2008 | 11:33 am
