It has long been known that, in the form of free ions, silver particles can be highly toxic to aquatic organisms. Yet to this day, there is a lack of detailed knowledge about the doses required to trigger a response and how the organisms deal with this kind of stress. To learn more about the cellular processes that occur in the cells, scientists from the Aquatic Research Institute, Eawag, subjected algae to a range of silver concentrations. In the past, silver mostly found its way into the environment in the vicinity of silver mines or via wastewater emanating from the ...

Imagine a user who intends to send $2 to a friend through PayPal. Embedded malware in the user's laptop, however, converts the $2 transaction into a $2,000 transfer to the account of the malware author instead. Researchers at Georgia Tech have created a prototype software, Gyrus, that takes extra steps to prevent malware from sending spam emails and instant messages, and blocking unauthorized commands such as money transfers. Current protection programs might recognize the original user's intent to send email, transfer money or engage in other transactions, but cannot ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Using the surface forces apparatus and an atomic force microscope, researchers at UC Santa Barbara have taken a molecular approach to myelin membrane interactions, leading to insights into demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. Their research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. For a healthy nervous system, axons — the long projections of our nerve cells that run throughout our bodies — must be properly insulated. Much like conventional power cords need electrical insulators around the conducting ...

Adult stem cells and cancer cells have many things in common, including an ability to migrate through tiny gaps in tissue. Both types of cells also experience a trade-off when it comes to this ability; having a flexible nucleus makes migration easier but is worse at protecting the nucleus' DNA compared to a stiffer nucleus. Nuclear proteins that regulate nuclear stiffness are therefore thought to control processes as diverse as tissue repair and tumor growth. In a study published in the Journal of Cell Biology, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have shown ...

Despite international agreements on climate protection and political declarations of intent, global greenhouse gas emissions have not decreased. On the contrary, they continue to increase. With a growing world population and significant industrialization in emerging markets such as India and China the emission trend reversal necessary to limit global warming seems to be unlikely. Therefore, large-scale methods to artificially slow down global warming are increasingly being discussed. They include proposals to fertilize the oceans, so that stimulated plankton can remove ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study comparing siblings who were fed differently during infancy suggests that breast-feeding might be no more beneficial than bottle-feeding for 10 of 11 long-term health and well-being outcomes in children age 4 to 14. The outlier was asthma, which was associated more with breast-feeding than with bottle-feeding. The study also included an analysis of outcomes across families of different races and socioeconomic circumstances for comparison purposes, and those results matched other studies suggesting that breast-feeding's benefits to children ...

Many U.S. counties have incorporated electronic voting technology, largely in response to well-publicized challenges related to older mechanical and punch-card models. Although these updated systems have solved some usability problems, they present a new set of issues for voters unfamiliar with the technology. A new study published in Human Factors examines how smartphone-based voting systems can be incorporated into the current large-scale election process. "Current electronic voting systems have numerous issues - from usability and accessibility to security to the ...

Every second, your computer must process billions of computational steps to produce even the simplest outputs. Imagine if every one of those steps could be made just a tiny bit more efficient. "It would save precious nanoseconds," explained Northeastern University assistant professor of physics Swastik Kar. Kar and his colleague Yung Joon Jung, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, have developed a series of novel devices that do just that. Their work was published recently in the journal Nature Photonics. Last year, the ...

Boulder, Colo., USA – The Geological Society of America's top journal, Geology, displays its multidisciplinary best in this latest posting. Earth science disciplines covered include geoarchaeology, climatology, invertebrate paleontology, sedimentology, geomorphology, seismology, planetary geology, geochemistry, glaciology, plate tectonics, mineralogy, and environmental and medical geology. Locations include Mars; Earth's moon; India; the Tibetan Plateau; the Saskatchewan River; L'Aquila, Italy; the Antarctic; Australia; the Andes; the San Andreas fault system; and Kume ...

WASHINGTON D.C. Feb. 25, 2014 -- A Chinese-U.S. research team is exploring the use of metamaterials -- artificial materials engineered to have exotic properties not found in nature -- to create devices that manipulate sound in versatile and unprecedented ways. In the journal Applied Physics Letters, the team reports a simple design for a device, called an acoustic field rotator, which can twist wavefronts inside it so that they appear to be propagating from another direction. "Numerous research efforts have centered on metamaterial-based devices with fascinating wave-control ...

We live surrounded by polymers and today, rather than come up with new polymers, there is a tendency to modify them in order to obtain new applications. Carbon nanotubes have excellent mechanical properties, are very tough, very rigid, and what is more, they conduct electricity. "The problem with them is that they get dispersed, in other words, it's very difficult to get them to blend with polymers," explained Iñaki Eguiazabal, a member of the Polymer Technology Group. That is why it is essential to come up with methods that will enablethe carbon nanotubes to have a ...

MADISON, Wis. – Cleaning up oil spills and metal contaminates in a low-impact, sustainable and inexpensive manner remains a challenge for companies and governments globally. But a group of researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is examining alternative materials that can be modified to absorb oil and chemicals without absorbing water. If further developed, the technology may offer a cheaper and "greener" method to absorb oil and heavy metals from water and other surfaces. Shaoqin "Sarah" Gong, a researcher at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) ...

Phase 2 trial results published in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggests the potential for Glycerol Phenylbutyrate (GPB) to reduce hepatic encephalopathy episodes in patients with cirrhosis, with a safety profile similar to placebo. Patients with hepatic encephalopathy experience neuropsychiatric symptoms that may range from mild confusion to coma. There is conflicting evidence on the link between elevated blood ammonia and hepatic encephalopathy. Poorly-absorbable disaccharides and antibiotics ...

COLLEGE PARK, MD--Wireless sensor-based irrigation systems can offer significant benefits to greenhouse operators. Advances in sensor technology and increased understanding of plant physiology have made it possible for greenhouse growers to use water content sensors to accurately determine irrigation timing and application rates in soilless substrates. The wireless sensor systems provide more accurate measurements of substrate moisture than qualitative methods, and can save irrigation water, labor, energy, and fertilizer. The authors of a report published in HortTechnology ...

Researchers have devised a way of making tiny holes of controllable size in sheets of graphene, a development that could lead to ultrathin filters for improved desalination or water purification. The team of researchers at MIT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and in Saudi Arabia succeeded in creating subnanoscale pores in a sheet of the one-atom-thick material, which is one of the strongest materials known. Their findings are published in the journal Nano Letters. The concept of using graphene, perforated by nanoscale pores, as a filter in desalination has been proposed ...

ATHENS, GA--Managing the quality and quantity of freshwater resources is one of the most serious environmental challenges of the 21st century. Global population growth and increasing urbanization have resulted in increased competition for water resources among domestic, industrial, and agricultural users. Challenged to find ways to manage irrigation needs while recognizing the limitations of freshwater resources, many commercial horticulture operations are showing increased interest in the use of wireless sensor networks (WSN)--technology designed to both monitor and control ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Instances in which parents kill their children may seem so horrifying and tragic that they defy explanation. Published scientific and medical research, meanwhile, doesn't offer much epidemiological context to help people understand patterns among such heinous crimes. A paper in the March edition of the journal Forensic Science International provides the first comprehensive statistical analysis of filicide in the United States, drawing on 32 years of data on more than 94,000 arrests. The study also explores possible underlying psychiatric ...

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University have discovered how byproducts in the form of small fatty acids from two bacteria prevalent in gum disease incite the growth of deadly Kaposi's sarcoma-related (KS) lesions and tumors in the mouth. The discovery could lead to early saliva testing for the bacteria, which, if found, could be treated and monitored for signs of cancer and before it develops into a malignancy, researchers say. "These new findings provide one of the first looks at how the periodontal bacteria create a unique microenvironment in the oral cavity ...

Maternal death rates represent the single largest health discrepancy between developed and developing populations, with nearly all - over 99% -- maternal deaths worldwide occurring in developing countries and over half of them in sub-Saharan Africa countries. Eliminating maternal mortality, which is defined as the deaths related to pregnancy, would result in a gain of over a half year (0.6 years) in life expectancy worldwide, according to a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is published February 13 in PLOS ONE. Over ...

Using tiny particles designed to target cancer-fighting immune cells, Johns Hopkins researchers have trained the immune systems of mice to fight melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. The experiments, described on the website of ACS Nano on February 24, represent a significant step toward using nanoparticles and magnetism to treat a variety of conditions, the researchers say. "Size was key to this experiment," says Jonathan Schneck, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pathology, medicine and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Cell Engineering. ...

Igor Efimov, PhD, at the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis and an international team of biomedical engineers and materials scientists have created a 3-D elastic membrane made of a soft, flexible, silicon material that is precisely shaped to match the heart's epicardium, or the outer layer of the wall of the heart. Current technology is two-dimensional and cannot cover the full surface of the epicardium or maintain reliable contact for continual use without sutures or adhesives. The team can then print tiny sensors onto the membrane ...

Tuberculosis is a major global problem, affecting 2 billion people worldwide and causing an estimated 2 million deaths annually. Western countries are once again tackling the disease, with recent outbreaks in Los Angeles and London. The rise of drug-resistant TB, called a "ticking time bomb" by the World Health Organization, and the high cost of fighting the disease highlight the need for new approaches to treatment. In findings published in the March 1 issue of the Journal of Immunology, UCLA researchers investigating the role of nutrients in helping the immune ...

Montréal, February 25, 2014 – A team led by Jean-François Côté, researcher at the IRCM, identified a ''conductor'' in the development of muscle tissue. The discovery, published online yesterday by the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), could have an important impact on the treatment of muscular diseases such as myopathies and muscular dystrophies. "For several years, we have been studying myogenesis, a process by which muscles are formed during embryonic development," says Jean-François Côté, PhD, Director of the Cytoskeletal Organization ...

LIVERPOOL, UK – 26 February 2014: A University of Liverpool researcher has shown that thoughts of suicide, sexual difficulties and emotional numbness as a result of anti-depressants may be more widespread than previously thought. In a survey of 1,829 people who had been prescribed anti-depressants, the researchers found large numbers of people – over half in some cases – reporting on psychological problems due to their medication, which has led to growing concerns about the scale of the problem of over-prescription of these drugs. Psychologist and lead researcher, Professor ...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2014 – Researchers at IBM have set a new record for data transmission over a multimode optical fiber, a type of cable that is typically used to connect nearby computers within a single building or on a campus. The achievement demonstrated that the standard, existing technology for sending data over short distances should be able to meet the growing needs of servers, data centers and supercomputers through the end of this decade, the researchers said. Sending data at a rate of 64 gigabits per second (Gb/s) over a cable 57 meters long using a type ...