Cells have devised many structures for transporting molecular cargo across their protective borders, but the nuclear pore complex, with its flower-like, eight-fold symmetry, stands out. Monstrously large by cellular standards, as well as versatile, this elaborate portal controls access to and exit from the headquarters of the cell, the nucleus. In research published June 4 in Cell, Rockefeller University scientists have uncovered crucial steps in the dynamic dance that dilates and constricts the nuclear pore complex -- the latest advance in their ongoing efforts to tease ...

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite flew over Hurricane Blanca in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and gathered infrared data on the storm that was false-colored to show locations of the strongest thunderstorms within the storm. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite or VIIRS instrument aboard the satellite gathered infrared data of the storm that was made into an image at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The image was false-colored to show temperature. Coldest cloud top temperatures indicate higher, stronger, thunderstorms within a tropical cyclone. Those are typically ...

For being so small, fruit flies have had a large impact on genetic research. Thomas Werner, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University, has bridged the miniscule and the massive in an effort to better understand the mechanisms behind several unique features of fruit fly genes. Over the past week, several studies that Werner co-authored have been published in PLoS ONE, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Nature Education. All are linked by Drosophila--a genus of fruit flies--and the insights that fruit fly genetics ...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- When it comes to the three-horned dinosaur called the Triceratops, science is showing the ancient creatures might have been a little more complex than we thought. In fact, their teeth were far more intricate than any reptile or mammal living today. Biological Science Professor Gregory Erickson and a multiuniversity team composed of engineers and paleontologists content that the Triceratops developed teeth that could finely slice through dense material giving them a richer and more varied diet than modern-day reptiles. Erickson and the team ...

As the ocean absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) released by the burning of fossil fuels, its chemistry is changing. The CO2 reacts with water molecules, lowering the ocean's pH in a process known as ocean acidification. This process also removes carbonate ions, an essential ingredient needed by corals and other organisms to build their skeletons and shells. Will some corals be able to adapt to these rapidly changing conditions? If so, what will these coral reefs look like as the oceans become more acidic? In addition to laboratory experiments that simulate future ...

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- June 5, 2015 -- Staphylococcus aureus -- better known as Staph -- is a common inhabitant of the human nose, and people who carry it are at increased risk for dangerous Staph infections. However, it may be possible to exclude these unwelcome guests using other more benign bacteria, according to a new study led by scientists representing the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), the Statens Serum Institut, and Milken Institute School of Public Health (SPH) at the George Washington University. The study, published today in the AAAS journal ...

BOSTON (June 5, 2015) - A daily sugar-sweetened beverage habit may increase the risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HRNCA) at Tufts University report today in the Journal of Hepatology. The researchers analyzed 2,634 self-reported dietary questionnaires from mostly Caucasian middle-aged men and women enrolled in the National Heart Lunch and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Framingham Heart Study's Offspring and Third Generation cohorts. The sugar-sweetened beverages on the questionnaires ...

BOSTON (June 5, 2015) -- A joint position statement outlining when, how and what type of Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSME/S) should be delivered to patients is being released today at the American Diabetes Association's 75th Scientific Sessions. The statement is also being published online concurrently in Diabetes Care, The Diabetes Educator and the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The statement -- written by representatives of the American Diabetes Association, American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) and the Academy of ...

Scientists have defined the smallest, most accurate thermometer allowed by the laws of physics -- one that could detect the smallest fluctuations in microscopic regions, such as the variations within a biological cell. The research, involving mathematicians at The University of Nottingham and published in the latest edition of the journal Physical Review Letters, focuses on the sensitivity of thermometers made up of just a handful of atoms and small enough to exhibit distinctive 'quantum' features. Devising sensitive and practical nano-scale thermometers would represent ...

Honest behavior is much like sticking to a diet. When facing an ethical dilemma, being aware of the temptation before it happens and thinking about the long-term consequences of misbehaving could help more people do the right thing, according to a new study. The study, "Anticipating and Resisting the Temptation to Behave Unethically," by University of Chicago Booth School of Business Behavioral Science and Marketing Professor Ayelet Fishbach and Rutgers Business School Assistant Professor Oliver J. Sheldon, was recently published in the Personality and Social Psychology ...

This news release is available in German. Most magnetic materials have a structure that is somewhat more complicated than a commercially available domestic magnet: they not only have a north and south pole, but a variety of sectors, often only a few nanometres in size, in each of which the magnetic axis points in a different direction. These sectors are referred to as domains. Over the past few years, Manfred Fiebig, Professor for Multifunctional Ferroics at ETH Zurich, has been studying the walls between adjoining domains in certain materials. "The inner workings of ...

When a woman becomes pregnant or is planning a pregnancy, one of her first decisions is where she will deliver her baby. With options ranging from birthing centers to small community hospitals to regional health networks to academic medical centers, the decision can be confusing. The question, especially for a woman with a low-risk pregnancy, is "What is the likelihood that something could go wrong?" Research on this topic has been published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The research was conducted by Valery A. Danilack, MPH, PhD, postdoctoral ...

Researchers from the UAB and the University of Nottingham, in an article published today in Physical Review Letters, have fixed the limits of thermometry, i.e., they have established the smallest possible fluctuation in temperature which can be measured. The researchers have studied the sensitivity of thermometers created with a handful of atoms, small enough to be capable of showing typical quantum-style behaviours. The researchers characterised these types of probes in detail, devices which could provide an estimation of the temperature with a never before seen precision. ...

June 5, 2015 - Young infants who can "resettle" themselves after waking up are more likely to sleep for prolonged periods at night, according to a video study in the June Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. "Infants are capable of resettling themselves back to sleep by three months of age," according to the study by Ian St James-Roberts and colleagues of the University of London. They add, "Both autonomous resettling and prolonged ...

Nanofibers -- polymer filaments only a couple of hundred nanometers in diameter -- have a huge range of potential applications, from solar cells to water filtration to fuel cells. But so far, their high cost of manufacture has relegated them to just a few niche industries. In the latest issue of the journal Nanotechnology, MIT researchers describe a new technique for producing nanofibers that increases the rate of production fourfold while reducing energy consumption by more than 90 percent, holding out the prospect of cheap, efficient nanofiber production. "We have ...

One mystery of birds' flight is solved! The elegance of birds' flight, their seemingly effortless aerial turns and the softness of their landing, have been envied by many people. From countless observations, it has been known that the birds use a small group of feathers, called "the alula", a thumb-like structure that is present at the bend of the wing, in slow and steep flight such as landing. Why do they use it? How the tiny feathers can help them land softly? A recent article published in Scientific Reports says that the secret is a small vortex of air that is formed ...

Researchers from Uppsala University, together with colleagues at University College Dublin, have studied the dynamics of active swarms using computer simulations and experiments on unicellular algae. The team not only found full analogy of the active motion in a field to magnetic hysteresis but also managed to quantify the controllability of the swarm and identify the signatures of collective behavior of the active agents. Active motion of living organisms and artificial self-propelling particles has been an area of intense research at the interface of biology, chemistry ...

Dublin, June 4th 2015 - Biochemists from Trinity College Dublin have devised a new technique that will make the difficult but critical job of blueprinting certain proteins considerably faster, cheaper and easier. The breakthrough will make a big splash in the field of drug discovery and development, where precise protein structure blueprints can help researchers understand how individual proteins work. Critically, these blueprints can show weaknesses that allow drug developers to draw up specific battle plans in the fight against diseases and infections. Professor ...

Eye contact plays a crucial role when people initiate interaction with other people. If people look each other in the eye, they automatically send a signal that their attention is focused on the other person. If the other person happens to look back, the two will be in eye contact, and a channel for interaction is opened. Eye contact is thus a powerful social signal, which is known to increase our physiological arousal. Previous research has suggested that eye contact triggers patterns of brain activity associated with approach motivation, whereas seeing another person ...

Extremely poor vision can be caused by strabismus in early childhood or by a displaced optical axis. Amblyopia is caused not by organic damage to the eyes but by the brain incorrectly fitting together the images the eyes provide. As a result, the ability to see an object in sharp focus is severely limited. This occurs in more than one in 20 of the German population, as Heike M. Elflein et al. show in a recent original article in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112(19): 338-44). The authors' study analyzed the visual acuity of over 3200 individuals ...

As a result of their work, teachers suffer psychosomatic disorders such as exhaustion, fatigue, and headaches more frequently than other occupational groups. This has been shown by Klaus Scheuch et al. in a recent review article in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2015; 112(20): 347-56), in which they analyze the health of teachers and the frequency of their illnesses. In the study, teachers had healthier cardiovascular systems than the general population: they were more physically active (approximately 75% of teachers versus 66% of the general ...

This news release is available in Spanish. Alaitz Aizpurua, a lecturer at the UPV/EHU, maintains that "the highly widespread belief that memory deteriorates as one approaches old age is not completely true. Various pieces of neuro-psychological research and other studies show that cognitive loss starts at the age of 20 but that we hardly notice it because we have sufficient capacity to handle the needs of everyday life.This loss is more perceptible between 45 and 49 and, in general, after the age of 75, approximately." The deterioration does not tend to be either uniform ...

A new study published in the June 15th Oceanography journal finds that effective fisheries reform strategies are more than a pipe dream: they exist and they work. In fact, rights-based fisheries management can change the lives of small-scale fishermen and coastal communities around the world. "Solutions for recovering and sustaining the bounty of the ocean: combining fishery reforms, rights-based management and marine reserves," just published online in Oceanography shows that combining marine reserves with spatial rights-based fisheries management can provide synergistic ...

Powerful people respond quickly to unfair treatment when they are the victims, but they are less likely to notice injustice when they benefit or when others are victimized, according to new research published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. In four experiments, participants who were primed to think of powerful situations perceived unfair treatment more quickly when it affected them and were more likely to take action to avoid disadvantageous situations than powerless people. The study findings didn't differ for men or women. Most of the participants ...

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have discovered that bats living in a city are less likely to move from tree to tree in brightly lit areas, according to research published online today (5th June 2015) in the journal Global Change Biology. To maintain high biodiversity in cities, wildlife must be able to move between patches of habitat, which are often separated by paved surfaces, buildings and roads. The bats studied in this experiment emerge in the evening from their roosts, often within residential housing areas, to feed on small insects in gardens, streams ...