Asymmetric bodies fuel arguments over ecological risk.
Birds with one foot bigger than the other are showing signs of stress, say Belgian ecologists. The study backs the controversial idea that measuring body asymmetries could signal that a species is at risk.
Researchers at the University of Antwerp measured the feet of taita thrushes from three remaining pockets of their native forest in Kenya. Those from the most disturbed area showed eight times more difference between t
The effectiveness of many potentially powerful treatments including drug therapy, gene therapy and cancer chemotherapy is often reduced because it can be difficult to target the treatment exactly where it will be most effective. One of the problems is that it is frequently difficult for drugs, as well as DNA and other biological molecules, to pass through the membranes of the targeted cells. Electroporation (EP), which involves the application of electrical pulses directly to the tissue to be treated
Using the equations of quantum mechanics, which normally govern the bizarre physics that occurs at tiny atomic scales, has enabled geophysicists to answer a much larger-scale question – what the Earth`s core is made from. At the Condensed Matter physics conference on Tuesday 9 April, part of the Institute of Physics Congress in Brighton, Prof Mike Gillan and Dr Dario Alfe from University College London will describe how their research has revealed not only the likely composition of the Earth`s core,
New research on steroid hormone action in the human colon and kidney could pave the way for novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of hypertension and diarrhoea.
Prof Brian Harvey at University College Cork has been studying how the hormones oestrogen and aldosterone produce rapid changes in the transport of salt and water through human intestines and kidneys. Human beings have two main organs that regulate the body’s salt and water balance (effectively blood pressure) – the kidney and
Scientists have discovered that plant leaves activate defence mechanisms against plant eating insects within twenty seconds of an insect walking across them. Dr Alan Bown will be presenting the results of his footsteps research at the Society for Experimental Biology conference on Tuesday 9 April.
Dr Bown and colleagues studied the effects of insects traipsing across leaves, observing the chemical responses in the leaves over time. Ten seconds after larvae had crawled across the leaves, supe
Ticks spread a greater variety of diseases than any other blood-feeding creature, including mosquitoes. Now scientists are developing vaccines that prevent ticks from digesting the blood of their animal or human victim, according to research presented today (Monday 08 April 2002) at the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology at the University of Warwick.
“A new solution to controlling tick-borne diseases is to develop vaccines against the ticks and not the microbes that cause
Although Mars is currently a cold, dry planet, geological evidence suggests that liquid water existed there around 3 to 4 billion years ago. Where there is water, there is usually…
A new paper unravels the mysteries of a bizarre physical state known as the pseudogap, which has close ties to the sought-after state called high-temperature superconductivity, in which electrical resistance…
Researchers from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have been able to initiate a controlled movement in the very heart of an atom. They caused the atomic nucleus to…
5-formylcytosine activates genes in the embryonic development of vertebrates. The team of Professor Christof Niehrs at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in Mainz, Germany, has discovered that a DNA…
Research led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has studied the migratory movement of groups of cells using light control. In processes such as embryonic development, wound healing…
Brigham researchers develop strategy to improve immunotherapy by helping T cells penetrate and kill tumor cells. Fighting cancer is exhausting for T cells. Hostile tumor microenvironments can drain their mitochondrial…
… that can harvest energy at room temperature. Researchers have succeeded in developing a framework for organic thermoelectric power generation from ambient temperature and without a temperature gradient. Researchers have…
The global use of lithium-ion batteries has doubled in just the past four years, generating alarming amounts of battery waste containing many hazardous substances. The need for effective recycling methods…
A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is providing new insights into how next-generation electronics, including memory components in computers, breakdown or degrade over…
… shape-shift into versatile robots. Scientists at MPI-IS have developed electrically driven robotic components, called HEXEL modules, which can snap together into high-speed reconfigurable robots. Magnets embedded along the outside…
The AQT quantum computer, featuring 20 qubits based on trapped-ion technology, is now operational at LRZ’s Quantum Integration Centre (QIC), making it the first of its kind in a computing…
The CHAI joint project aims to optimize corrosion management in ports and waterways. The federal state of Schleswig-Holstein is funding the CHAI research project with a total of 900,000 euros….