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- Hardy little space travelers could colonize Mars, space station research shows that
- Using speed of video game processors to improve cancer patient care
- New insights into bacterial substitute for sex
- Electronic nose sniffs out prostate cancer using urine samples
- Crocodile tears please thirsty butterflies and bees
- Regenerative medicine approach improves muscle strength, function in leg injuries; Derived from pig bladder
- Robots may need to include parental controls
- Students devise concept for Star Wars-style deflector shields
- How a fish can fry: Scientists uncover evolutionary clues behind electric fish
- New analysis of seven ant genomes reveals clues to longer life spans associated with sociality
| Hardy little space travelers could colonize Mars, space station research shows that Posted: 02 May 2014 09:02 AM PDT In the movies, humans often fear invaders from Mars. These days, scientists are more concerned about invaders to Mars, in the form of micro-organisms from Earth. Three recent scientific papers examined the risks of interplanetary exchange of organisms using research from the International Space Station. |
| Using speed of video game processors to improve cancer patient care Posted: 02 May 2014 05:12 AM PDT The speed of video game processors are being used to promote research that is aimed at improving patient care, a new study says. In recent years, video game processors, known as graphic processing units, or GPUs, have become massively powerful as game makers support increasingly elaborate video graphics with rapid-fire processing. Now medical researchers are looking to these GPUs for inspiration. One practical application is reducing the time required to calculate the radiation dose delivered to a tumor during proton radiotherapy, for example. The faster video processors can reduce the time of the most complex calculation method from 70 hours to just 10 seconds. |
| New insights into bacterial substitute for sex Posted: 01 May 2014 04:26 PM PDT Bacteria don't have sex as such, but they can mix their genetic material by pulling in DNA from dead bacterial cells and inserting these into their own genome. New research has found that this process -- called recombination -- is more complex than was first thought. The findings could help us understand why bacteria which cause serious diseases are able to evade vaccines and rapidly become drug-resistant. |
| Electronic nose sniffs out prostate cancer using urine samples Posted: 01 May 2014 01:56 PM PDT We may soon be able to make easy and early diagnoses of prostate cancer by smell. Investigators have established that a novel noninvasive technique can detect prostate cancer using an electronic nose. In a proof of principle study, the eNose successfully discriminated between prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) by "sniffing" urine headspace (the space directly above the urine sample). Results using the eNose are comparable to testing prostate specific antigen (PSA). |
| Crocodile tears please thirsty butterflies and bees Posted: 01 May 2014 04:59 AM PDT A butterfly and bee were most likely seeking scarce minerals and an extra boost of protein. On a beautiful December day in 2013, they found the precious nutrients in the tears of a spectacled caiman relaxing on the banks of the Río Puerto Viejo in northeastern Costa Rica. |
| Posted: 30 Apr 2014 11:30 AM PDT Damaged leg muscles grew stronger and showed signs of regeneration in three out of five men whose old injuries were surgically implanted with extracellular matrix derived from pig bladder, according to a new study. Early findings are from a human trial of the process as well as from animal studies. |
| Robots may need to include parental controls Posted: 30 Apr 2014 10:31 AM PDT Older adults' fears that companion robots will negatively affect young people may create design challenges for developers hoping to build robots for older users, according to researchers. Companion robots provide emotional support for users and interact with them as they, for example, play a game, or watch a movie. Older adults reported in a study that while they were not likely to become physically and emotionally dependent on robots, they worried that young people might become too dependent on them. |
| Students devise concept for Star Wars-style deflector shields Posted: 30 Apr 2014 06:14 AM PDT If you have often imagined yourself piloting your X-Wing fighter on an attack run on the Death Star, you'll be reassured that University of Leicester students have demonstrated that your shields could take whatever the Imperial fleet can throw at you. |
| How a fish can fry: Scientists uncover evolutionary clues behind electric fish Posted: 29 Apr 2014 03:48 PM PDT Take a muscle cell, modify it over millions of years, and you end up with an exciting and literally shocking evolutionary result: the electric fish. The authors of a new study speculate that the down-regulation of the Scn4aa gene leads to quicker evolution and adaptation. Electric fish have evolved several times in varying levels of complexity. By emitting and sensing weak electrical signals, the fish have bypassed the usual means of communication, such as with sounds and visual signals, and go directly to electrical signals. This allows them to quietly "talk" to each other in the dark so that most predators can't eavesdrop. |
| New analysis of seven ant genomes reveals clues to longer life spans associated with sociality Posted: 29 Apr 2014 03:48 PM PDT Researchers have tried to uncover which genes could be involved in ant-specific adaptations, notably in relation to the evolution of complex social systems and division of labor. Using a combination of state-of-the-art evolutionary tools, the paper examines signatures of positive selection on a phylogeny of seven ants and compares these signatures with those detected in other insect datasets composed of 12 species of flies and 10 species of bees. This design allowed the authors to identify molecular patterns unique to ants, compared to flies and bees. |
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