Purdue University scientists investigating osteoporosis in laying hens have shown that a noninvasive tool can monitor birds’ bone strength and aid in discovering genetic information about bone disease in chickens.

Lack of calcium in chickens’ food and lack of exercise can leave hens with brittle bones, said Patricia “Scotti” Hester, a professor in Purdue’s Department of Animal Sciences. In addition, eggshell production leaches calcium from hens’ bones. Hester and her research team found th

Liquid crystals are most recognized in the form of liquid crystal displays (LCDs)—found in everything from digital watches to notebook computers and flat-panel desktop monitors. But liquid crystals are far more talented than that. In the August 1 issue of the journal Science, for example, University of Wisconsin chemical engineer Nicholas Abbott reported a big step toward using them in flexible, inexpensive “smart-paper” displays, and in ultra-sensitive detectors for biomolecules or toxic chemicals.

Highway travelers view much of the Midwest as little more than barren flatlands. The formation of the region and its rich soils, especially tall grass areas that seemingly should support diverse forests, however, have long fascinated scientists. Newly available, long-term climate data now say the area is the product of weather extremes.

Compared with adjacent regions, the tall-grass area of the plains endures more frequent periods of severe drought, more lightning strikes and subsequent fir

It may be small, its habitat harsh, but a newly discovered single-celled microbe leads the hottest existence known to science. Its discoverers have preliminarily named the roughly micronwide speck “Strain 121” for the top temperature at which it survives: 121 degrees Celsius, or about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Announcing Strain 121’s record-breaking ability to take the heat in the August 15 issue of the journal Science, researchers Derek Lovley and Kazem Kashefi write, “The upper

Today, (August 14th), sees the start of data collection on the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) detector, situated in the Soudan iron mine, Minnesota, USA. UK particle physicists, working within an international collaboration, will use the MINOS detector to investigate the phenomenon of neutrino mass – a puzzle that goes to the heart of our understanding of the Universe.

Neutrinos are pointlike, abundant particles with very little mass. They exist in three types or ‘flavour

A New Tool for Biology and Medicine

La Jolla, CA. August 14, 2003—Henry Ford revolutionized personal transportation by introducing an unusual car design onto the auto market and by embracing factory mass production of his “Tin Lizzie.”

Now a team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and its Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology in La Jolla, California is introducing revolutionary changes into the genetic code of organisms like yeast that allow these cel