MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (August 23, 2012) – University of Minnesota Medical School and Masonic Cancer Center researchers have partnered with geneticists from Genentech, Inc., to discover how some proteins may cause the development of some forms of colon cancers. The proteins – part of R-spondin family – normally help activate cell proliferation during embryonic development. Now, University of Minnesota researchers have discovered that when two types of R-spondins – RSPO2 and RSPO 3 – are reactivated in adults through certain gene mutations, they can signal cells to restart ...

When it comes to applications like standoff sensing — using lasers to detect gas, explosives, or other materials from a safe distance — the laser's strength is of the utmost importance. A stronger and purer beam means devices can sense danger more accurately from a greater distance, which translates into safer workers, soldiers, and police officers. Northwestern University researchers have developed a new resonator that creates the purest, brightest, and most powerful single-mode quantum cascade lasers yet at the 8-12 micron range, a wavelength of great interest for both ...

The worst drought to hit the United States in at least 50 years does have one benefit: it has created the smallest "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico in years, says a Texas A&M University researcher who has just returned from gulf waters. Oceanography professor Steve DiMarco, one of the world's leading authorities on the dead zone, says he and other Texas A&M researchers and graduate students analyzed the Gulf Aug. 15-21 and covered more than 1,200 miles of cruise track, from Texas to Louisiana. The team found no hypoxia off the Texas coast while only finding hypoxia near ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., August 23, 2012 — Members of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover ChemCam team, including Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists, squeezed in a little extra target practice after zapping the first fist-sized rock that was placed in the laser's crosshairs last weekend. Much to the delight of the scientific team, the laser instrument has fired nearly 500 shots so far that have produced strong, clear data about the composition of the Martian surface. "The spectrum we have received back from Curiosity is as good as anything we looked at on Earth," ...

Cambridge, Mass. – August 23, 2012 – Applied physicists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created an ultrathin, flat lens that focuses light without imparting the distortions of conventional lenses. At a mere 60 nanometers thick, the flat lens is essentially two-dimensional, yet its focusing power approaches the ultimate physical limit set by the laws of diffraction. Operating at telecom wavelengths (i.e., the range commonly used in fiber-optic communications), the new device is completely scalable, from near-infrared to terahertz ...

Singapore, August 24, 2012 – Using a mixture of gold, copper and platinum nanoparticles, IBN researchers have developed a more powerful and longer lasting fuel cell material. This breakthrough was published recently in leading journal, Energy and Environmental Science. Fuel cells are a promising technology for use as a source of electricity to power electronic devices, vehicles, military aircraft and equipment. A fuel cell converts the chemical energy from hydrogen (fuel) into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen. A fuel cell can produce electricity continuously ...

Humans inherit more than three times as many mutations from their fathers as from their mothers, and mutation rates increase with the father's age but not the mother's, researchers have found in the largest study of human genetic mutations to date. The study, based on the DNA of around 85,000 Icelanders, also calculates the rate of human mutation at high resolution, providing estimates of when human ancestors diverged from nonhuman primates. It is one of two papers published this week by the journal Nature Genetics as well as one published at Nature that shed dramatic ...

LOS ANGELES (Embargoed until 10 a.m. EDT on Aug. 24, 2012) – When aggressive, malignant tumors appear in more than one location in the brain, patient survival tends to be significantly shorter than when the disease starts as a single tumor, even though patients in both groups undergo virtually identical treatments, according to research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Research Institute. "We've known that certain independent factors, such as age at diagnosis, amount of residual tumor after surgery, and the patient's functional status are useful ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- A long-standing mystery in biology about the longer lifespans of bigger creatures may be explained by the application of a physical law called the Constructal Law (www.constructal.org). What this law proposes is that anything that flows -- a river, bloodstream or highway network -- will evolve toward the same basic configuration out of a need to be more efficient. And, as it turns out, that same basic law applies to all bodies in motion, be they animals or tanker trucks, says Adrian Bejan, the J.A. Jones Professor of mechanical engineering at Duke and ...

For biology researchers, the complex world of molecular proteins – where tens of thousands of atoms can comprise a single protein – may be getting clearer with the help of a new soft, transparent, and squishy silicone model they can hold in their hands. Its advantage over traditional computer and solid models is that it is mostly transparent and easy to manipulate, which will help researchers more intuitively understand protein structures, positions, and interactions. The models will enable researchers to quickly and collaboratively see, touch, and test ideas about molecular ...

Cancer metastasis, the escape and spread of primary tumor cells, is a common cause of cancer-related deaths. But metastasis remains poorly understood. Studies indicate that when a primary tumor breaks through a blood vessel wall, blood's "stickiness" tears off tumor cells the way a piece of tape tears wrapping paper. Until now, no one knew the physical forces involved in this process, the first step in metastasis. Using a statistical technique employed by animators, scientists created a new computer simulation that reveals how cancer cells enter the bloodstream. The researchers ...

There are many reasons why it is important to be able to identify farm animals, horses and small companion animals. Unique identification marks are essential for ensuring the correctness of breeding programmes, for preventing the spread of disease and for eliminating the possibility of deceit in competitions or when animals are sold. The traditional method of marking larger farm animals relies on branding with hot irons or on ear-tagging but this is deemed inappropriate for use on dogs and cats, which are identified by the implant of a microchip transponder. Until recently, ...

Astrocytes are cells that have many functions in the central nervous system, such as the control of neuronal synapses, blood flow, or the brain's response to neurotrauma or stroke. Reduces brain tissue damage Prof. Pekny's laboratory together with collaborators have earlier demonstrated that astrocytes reduce the brain tissue damage after stroke and that the integration of transplanted neural stem cells can be largely improved by modulating the activity of astrocytes. Generation of new neurons In their current study, the Sahlgrenska Academy researchers show how astrocytes ...

This press release is available in Spanish. Researchers headed by Maria Macias an ICREA researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and Joan Massagué, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, have identified a new molecular mechanism that plays a crucial role in the control of the activation of certain genes associated with cancer. Through detailed structural and biochemical studies, the researchers identified a key domain present in a family of proteins called Smads, whose ...

Physicists from the University of Southampton were among the first researchers to use the new high magnetic-field beamline at Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron facility, to search for 'hidden magnetic states'. If found, they will provide important confirmation of a theoretical model, which could have important applications in magnetic data storage. Diamond's new I10 Beamline for Advanced Dichroism Experiments (BLADE) beamline, which has 300,000 times the strength of the earth's magnetic field, is providing them with the tools for the search. The beamline ...

A study enjoying Spanish participation has analysed the theatre demand of society according to the socioeconomic status of the different types of the viewing public. The results were that the theatre is not just enjoyed by the intellectual classes. While they do prefer drama, the working class opts for comedy and the wealthier are swayed by reviews. Theatre arts are loss-making services that require subsidies to stay afloat. This type of practice has frequently come under fire as it is thought that theatre is consumed mainly by society's economic elite. A study published ...

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite, known as TRMM has been monitoring the rainfall rates within Tropical Storm Isaac as the storm entered the eastern Caribbean Sea. After becoming a tropical storm in the central Atlantic on August 21, Isaac continued tracking westward and entered the eastern Caribbean early on the evening of Aug. 22 with the ill-defined center passing just south of Guadeloupe in the Leeward Islands. Since becoming a tropical storm, Isaac has shown little change in intensity, but the National Hurricane Center expects that to change ...

NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of Tropical Storm Tembin after it made a quick track across southern Taiwan and re-emerged over the open waters of the Philippine Sea. On Aug. 24 at 05:15 UTC (12:15 a.m. EDT), NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Tropical Storm Tembin and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured a visible image of the storm after it had crossed southern Taiwan and re-emerged into the waters of the Philippine Sea. After Tembin interacted with the land, the storm's eye was no longer visible. The storm has also become ...

Yards with plants that mimic native vegetation offer birds "mini-refuges" and help to offset losses of biodiversity in cities, according to results of a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE. "Native" yards support birds better than those with traditional grass lawns and non-native plantings. Researchers conducted the study through the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, one of 26 such sites around the globe in ecosystems from coral reefs to deserts, from forests to grasslands. "To a desert ...

VIDEO: Dr. Carmen Dybwad speaks to the media about the release of IPAC-CO2 Research Inc.'s 2012 national survey on Public Awareness and Acceptance of CCS in Canada, which found that only... Click here for more information. Regina, August 15, 2012 – Only two per cent of Canadians believe climate change is not occurring, a new important survey released today by IPAC-CO2 Research Inc. concluded. The survey comes on the heels of Alberta Premier Alison Redford's recent push for ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The same type of microwave oven technology that most people use to heat up leftover food has found an important application in the solar energy industry, providing a new way to make thin-film photovoltaic products with less energy, expense and environmental concerns. Engineers at Oregon State University have for the first time developed a way to use microwave heating in the synthesis of copper zinc tin sulfide, a promising solar cell compound that is less costly and toxic than some solar energy alternatives. The findings were published in Physica Status ...

VIDEO: Bin He, a biomedical engineering professor in the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering and senior author of the study, discusses his research on a new type of... Click here for more information. A team of University of Minnesota biomedical engineers and researchers from Mayo Clinic published a groundbreaking study today that outlines how a new type of non-invasive brain scan taken immediately after a seizure gives additional insight into possible ...

Dr. Peter Morrell, skin doctor in Beaumont, has received training to successfully perform Mohs Micrographic surgery to treat skin cancer. Mohs Micrographic Surgery offers the highest cure rate among treatments for skin cancer. "I'm glad to be able to offer Mohs Micrographic Surgery at our practice. I believe it is the most effective way to treat skin cancer and offers many advantages over other treatment methods. I look forward to continuing to treat my patients with this technique," said Dr. Morrell, dermatologist in Beaumont. Mohs surgery involves Dr. ...

Dr. Thomas Johnson, dentist in Orland Park, is excited to be featuring a new patient page as a part of his practice's comprehensive dental website. The page is offered to make it easy for new patients to learn about and find Dr. Johnson's practice. "I'm happy that we are able to offer new patient services on our website. I believe that we offer a great level of service at our practice and that any new patients will be more than satisfied with their experience here. I'm looking forward to treating any patients that decide to come in and visit us for the first time," ...

Dr. Michael Grasso, dentist in Chesterfield, is excited to be offering online new patient resources on his practice's comprehensive dental website. He hopes these services make it simple and easy for patients to learn about and locate his practice. "I'm glad that our practice is able to provide services to new patients on our website. I strongly believe that we offer tremendous service at our practice and any new patients will be more than satisfied with their experience with us. I look forward to treating any patients that decide to come in and visit us for the ...