A long-standing medical discussion about how transplanted organs survive in a new body has received provocative new evidence from Mayo Clinic research. It shows a donated kidney survives in a new body by turning on a protective mechanism to shield it from the hostile environment of the patient’s immune system. The results are published in this month’s American Journal of Transplantation.

Says Mark Stegall, M.D., head of the transplant team that studied kidney genes’ response

In B science fiction movies, a terrible force often pushes the Earth off its axis and spells disaster for all life on Earth. In reality, life would still be possible on Earth and any Earth-like planets if the axis tilt were greater than it is now, according to Penn State researchers.

“We do not currently have observations of extrasolar planets, but I imagine that in the near future, we will uncover some of these small planets,” says Dr. Darren M. Williams, assistant professor of physics and

A First Step Toward Robots the Size of a Grain of Sand

Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have developed minute grains of silicon that spontaneously assemble, orient and sense their local environment, a first step toward the development of robots the size of sand grains that could be used in medicine, bioterrorism surveillance and pollution monitoring.

In a paper to be published in September in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which will

New study reveals knowledge of object concepts is less inborn than acquired

The question of how and when we develop our knowledge of object behavior – such as knowing that when a ball rolls behind a sofa, that it is likely to roll out the other side – is an ongoing puzzle in cognitive science. Previously, scientists had thought that infants learned to understand this concept through manual exploration. However, subsequent research indicated that infants developed an understanding of

Repairing our roads when and where it is needed was the goal for EUREKA project GEOSECMA-PMS. The project team created a complete software ’’toolbox’’ for municipalities and road authorities to assist them in the maintenance of roads and streets, thereby providing a safer, more comfortable ride for the public and savings for local government.

Hans-Goeran Wilhelmsson, chief executive of KORDAB, lead partner in the project, says the results have benefited citizens as well a

As Mars makes its closest approach in almost 60,000 years, two Australian astronomers have used the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii to look for signs that the planet once had liquid water – and so may have hosted life.

Dr. Jeremy Bailey of the Anglo-Australian Observatory and the Australian Centre for Astrobiology (ACA) at Macquarie University in Sydney, and Sarah Chamberlain, a PhD student at the ACA, have produced what is Bailey says is “perhaps the sharpest image of Ma