In a dark, starless patch of intergalactic space, astronomers have discovered a never-before-seen cluster of hydrogen clouds strewn between two nearby galaxies, Andromeda (M31) and Triangulum (M33). The researchers speculate that these rarefied blobs of gas -- each about as massive as a dwarf galaxy -- condensed out of a vast and as-yet undetected reservoir of hot, ionized gas, which could have accompanied an otherwise invisible band of dark matter. The astronomers detected these objects using the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at the National ...

SEATTLE – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington scientists have identified a class of immune cells that reside long-term in the genital skin and mucosa and are believed to be responsible for suppressing recurring outbreaks of genital herpes. These immune cells also play a role in suppressing symptoms of genital herpes, which is why most sufferers of the disease are asymptomatic when viral reactivations occur. The discovery of this subtype of immune cells, called CD8αα+ T cells, opens a new avenue of research to develop a vaccine ...

(Baltimore, MD) – In new findings published on May 8, 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine (Epub ahead of print), researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute reveal the discovery of the cause – a genetic mutation that occurs before birth – of Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) and port-wine stain birthmarks. SWS is a rare disorder affecting approximately one in 20,000 births, while port-wine birthmarks are more common, affecting approximately one million individuals in the United States. "This is a complete game changer for those with Sturge-Weber syndrome and the ...

In biology, we often think of natural selection and survival of the fittest. What about survival of the luckiest? Like pioneers in search of a better life, bacteria on a surface wander around and often organize into highly resilient communities, known as biofilms. It turns out that a lucky few bacteria become the elite cells that start the colonies, and they organize in a rich-get-richer pattern similar to the distribution of wealth in the U.S. economy, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA, Northwestern University and the University of Washington. The study, ...

OAKLAND, Calif., May 9 — Breast cancer patients who say they have people with whom they have a good time, or have "positive social interactions" with, are better able to deal with pain and other physical symptoms, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published today in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. "This study provides research-based evidence that social support helps with physical symptoms," said lead author Candyce H. Kroenke, ScD, MPH, staff scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. "Social support mechanisms matter in terms of physical ...

Scientists have developed a new Red List system for identifying ecosystems at high risk of degradation, similar to the influential Red List for the world's threatened species. The team carrying out the research was convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and led by Professor David Keith, of the University of New South Wales and the NSW Office of Environment. The study, which illustrates how the framework for risk assessment applies to 20 ecosystems around the world, including eight in Australia, is published today in the Public Library of Science ...

Amsterdam, May 9, 2013 - New engineered spider protein could be the start of a new generation of anti-venom vaccines, potentially saving thousands of lives worldwide. The new protein, created from parts of a toxin from the reaper spider, is described today in the Elsevier journal Vaccine. The researchers behind the study, from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil, say that the engineered protein may be a promising candidate for developing therapeutic serums or vaccines against other venoms. Reaper spiders, or brown spiders, are a family of species found ...

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Duke University have identified genetic mutations that appear to underlie a rare but devastating syndrome combining reproductive failure with cerebellar ataxia – a lack of muscle coordination – and dementia. In a paper that will appear in the May 23 New England Journal of Medicine and is receiving early online release, the investigators describe finding mutations in one or both of two genes involved in a cellular process called ubiquitination in affected members of five unrelated families. "This study highlights, ...

(Edmonton) Just when dinosaur researchers thought they had a thorough knowledge of ankylosaurs, a family of squat, armour plated, plant eaters, along comes University of Alberta graduate student, Victoria Arbour. Arbour visited dinosaur fossil collections from Alberta to the U.K. examining skull armour and comparing those head details with other features of the fossilized ankylosaur remains. She made a breakthrough that resurrected research done more than 70 years ago. Arbour explains that between 1900 and 1930 researchers had determined that small variations in the ...

A comprehensive five-year study by University of Calgary ecologists – which included monitoring the activity of wolves, elks, cattle and humans – indicates that two accepted principles of how ecosystems naturally operate could be overshadowed by the importance of human activity. "Understanding the significance of the impact that humans have on ecosystems is a critical component in formulating long-term and effective conservation strategies," says principal investigator Marco Musiani. "Our results led us to believe that ecologists have underestimated the impact of humans ...

While the impact of climate change on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet has been widely studied, a clear understanding of the key process of iceberg production has eluded researchers for many years. Published in Nature this week, a new study presents a sophisticated computer model that provides a fresh insight into the impact of climate change on the production of icebergs by Greenland glaciers, and reveals that the shape of the ground beneath the ice has a strong effect on its movement. Over the past decade, ice-loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet has been accelerating, ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. -- The latest research from a Kansas State University chemical engineer may help improve humidity and pressure sensors, particularly those used in outer space. Vikas Berry, William H. Honstead professor of chemical engineering, and his research team are using graphene quantum dots to improve sensing devices in a twofold project. The first part involves producing the graphene quantum dots, which are ultrasmall pieces of graphene. Graphene is a single-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms and has superior electrical, mechanical and optical properties. The second ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Studies of human mobility usually focus on either the small scale — determining the origins, destinations and travel modes of individuals' daily commutes — or the very large scale, such as using air-travel patterns to track the spread of epidemics over time. The large-scale studies, most of which are made possible by the vast data generated and collected by new technologies like sensors and cellphones, are very good at describing the big picture, but don't provide much detail at the individual level. Smaller-scale studies have the opposite characteristic: ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Anyone who has seen pictures of the giant, red-hot cauldrons in which steel is made — fed by vast amounts of carbon, and belching flame and smoke — would not be surprised to learn that steelmaking is one of the world's leading industrial sources of greenhouse gases. But remarkably, a new process developed by MIT researchers could change all that. The new process even carries a couple of nice side benefits: The resulting steel should be of higher purity, and eventually, once the process is scaled up, cheaper. Donald Sadoway, the John F. Elliott Professor ...

Researchers have discovered a technique for controlling the sensitivity of graphene chemical sensors. The sensors, made of an insulating base coated with a graphene sheet--a single-atom-thick layer of carbon--are already so sensitive that they can detect an individual molecule of gas. But manipulating the chemical properties of the insulating layer, without altering the graphene layer, may yet improve their ability to detect the most minute concentrations of various gases. The finding "will open up entirely new possibilities for modulation and control of the chemical ...

URBANA – Bioenergy crops, such as Miscanthus and switchgrass, appear to be promising resources for renewable energy, but these new crops did not come with a manual on how to measure details on their sustainability impacts. Jody Endres, University of Illinois professor of energy and environmental law and chair of the Council on Sustainable Biomass Production (CSBP) says standards are needed so farmers, ethanol producers, and others in the biofuels industry will all be on the same page here in the United States as well as in Europe and Brazil. Endres believes that three ...

Researchers at Michigan State University have identified a test that can determine which children with malaria are likely to develop cerebral malaria, a much more life-threatening form of the disease. The screening tool could be a game-changer in resource-limited rural health clinics where workers see hundreds of children with malaria each day and must decide which patients can be sent home with oral drugs and which need to be taken to hospitals for more comprehensive care. "Rural health workers have to make these decisions with very little objective data, and the consequences ...

During the late Pleistocene, a remarkably diverse assemblage of large-bodied mammals inhabited the "mammoth steppe," a cold and dry yet productive environment that extended from western Europe through northern Asia and across the Bering land bridge to the Yukon. Of the large predators--wolves, bears, and big cats--only the wolves and bears were able to maintain their ranges well after the end of the last ice age. A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, suggests that dietary flexibility may have been an important factor giving wolves ...

From powerful computers to super-sensitive medical and environmental detectors that are faster, smaller and use less energy — yes, we want them, but how do we get them? In research that is helping to lay the groundwork for the electronics of the future, University of Delaware scientists have confirmed the presence of a magnetic field generated by electrons which scientists had theorized existed, but that had never been proven until now. The finding, which is reported in the journal Nature Communications, expands the potential for harnessing the "spin" or magnetic properties ...

ANN ARBOR---An international team of physicists has found the first direct evidence of pear shaped nuclei in exotic atoms. The findings could advance the search for a new fundamental force in nature that could explain why the Big Bang created more matter than antimatter---a pivotal imbalance in the history of everything. "If equal amounts of matter and antimatter were created at the Big Bang, everything would have annihilated, and there would be no galaxies, stars, planets or people," said Tim Chupp, a University of Michigan professor of physics and biomedical engineering ...

WASHINGTON- A George Washington University biologist and a team of researchers have created the first large-scale evolutionary family tree for every snake and lizard around the globe. The findings were recently published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. Alex Pyron, the Robert F. Griggs Assistant Professor of Biology in GW's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, along with researchers from the City University of New York and Arizona State University, detail the cataloguing of 4,161 species of snakes and lizards, or squamates. "Squamates include all lizards ...

Social media has revolutionized the way in which people and businesses interact, and it is taking on a growing role in the health care industry. A new UCLA study looking at the use of social media among plastic surgeons found that roughly half of these specialists use social media tools. Plastic surgeons have been leaders among medical specialists in the development of interactive websites to promote their practices and educate patients, said the study's principal investigator and senior author, Dr. Reza Jarrahy, an associate clinical professor of plastic and reconstructive ...

Since polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are produced through industrial processes or activities, it is assumed that people living in industrial cities will have higher concentrations of these toxic chemicals in their blood than people in rural communities. Researchers at the University of Iowa say this isn't the case. In a paper published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, scientists report that mothers and children in East Chicago, Ind., and Columbus Junction, Iowa, had only subtle differences in their PCB blood levels. This analytical paper is the first ...

New research reveals that Solanaceae—a flowering plant family with some species producing foods that are edible sources of nicotine—may provide a protective effect against Parkinson's disease. The study appearing today in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, suggests that eating foods that contain even a small amount of nicotine, such as peppers and tomatoes, may reduce risk of developing Parkinson's. Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder caused by a loss of brain cells that produce dopamine. Symptoms ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- "Eternal flames" fueled by hydrocarbon gas could shine a light on the presence of natural gas in underground rock layers and conditions that let it seep to the surface, according to research by geologists at the Department of Geological Sciences and the Indiana Geological Survey at Indiana University Bloomington. A little-known but spectacular flame in Erie County, N.Y., is the focus of an article in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology, co-authored by Agnieszka Drobniak, research scientist with the Indiana Geological Survey, and Arndt Schimmelmann, ...