A team including researchers at the Total Defense Research Institute, NBC Defense, in Umeå, Sweden, and the Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, are publishing in this week’s issue of Science new findings that show that the protein Ymt is of crucial importance for the capacity of the plague bacterium to survive and spread the plague via flea vectors. Professor Åke Forsberg and visiting researcher Dr. Peter Cherepanov are studying the properties that enable the plague bacterium Yersinia
The pressure on the environment of building during the past 5000 years can be observed clearly from the air. In a recent lecture at the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), aerial photographer and concrete specialist Christopher Stanley illustrated the evolution of construction and its lasting impact, from stone circles to skyscrapers.
Stanley’s lecture ‘Managing the environment: a perspective from land, air and sea’ followed the presentation of the 2002 SCI Environment Medal in recognition o
Major new research examining the use of virtual surgery could revolutionise the way surgeons are trained in the future.
Experts use to believe that virtual reality, which allows trainee surgeons to feel and see exactly what they would if they were in the operating theatre, may help improve surgical skills, but it hadn’t been proved – until now.
The innovative research, by world experts from Yale University and Queen’s University Belfast, has shown that surgeons who trained o
An international team of researchers leaded by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona have found experimental evidence that the various manifestations of fear in animals are influenced by a specific place or region within the genome. The results, published in the latest edition of Genome Research, were obtained with rats, but the scientists suspect that this research will facilitate an understanding of genetic characteristics and conditioning factors related to fear in humans.
Demonstrating t
Findings from the Anthrax Vaccine Expert Committee (AVEC) do not suggest a high frequency of medically important adverse events associated with anthrax vaccination
Between March 1998 and March 2002 525,000 US military personnel were vaccinated against anthrax. In the case of an outbreak, this vaccine could be extended to civilians, as occurred in December 2001. The Anthrax Vaccine Expert Committee (AVEC), a civilian panel of physicians and scientists set up to monitor the safety of vaccinati
Biotech human breast milk growing but not bottled.
Genetically modified (GM) rice carrying a protein from human breast milk could be used to enhance infant formula, researchers hope. But at present, the protein would not gain approval for use in the United States.
Nutritionists agree that breast milk is best for a baby; infant formula is not as nourishing as the real thing. So for mothers unable to breast-feed, the biotech industry is engineering crops or animals to make huma
For the first time, EPFL researchers have exclusively observed molecules participating in hydrogen bonds in liquid water, measuring electronic and nuclear quantum effects that were previously accessible only via theoretical…
Replacing organic solvents with molten salt lets researchers grow “previously unimaginable nanocrystals”. The type of semiconductive nanocrystals known as quantum dots are both expanding the forefront of pure science and…
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) imaging instruments on three sun-orbiting observatories have captured sequences of comet C/2023 A3, known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, as it passed between the Earth and the Sun…
Scientists have found an alternative way to produce atoms of the superheavy element livermorium. The new method opens up the possibility of creating another element that could be the heaviest…
DNA method improves capacity and efficiency for digital archives, ASU researchers say. As the digital world expands, scientists are exploring DNA’s remarkable capacity to store data, converting this ancient molecule…
Researchers at Constructor University make crucial breakthrough in cell research. It is a breakthrough in cell research that’s poised to open up new possibilities in the fight against diseases. In…
Polaritons are coupled excitations of electromagnetic waves with either charged particles or vibrations in the atomic lattice of a given material. They are widely used in nanophotonics because of their…
Quantum materials are changing the way we think about the behaviour of electrons and opening the way to powerful new technologies. In high school science class, we learned that plugging…
… and thermal post-treatment of flexible ultra-thin glass. Ultra-thin glass offers great potential for modern high-tech applications. Despite its superior properties compared to polymer films, the material has not yet…
New photonic processor offers promising solution to complex computational problems. As technology advances, the limitations of conventional electronic computers are becoming increasingly apparent, especially when tackling complex computational challenges. NP-complete…
Nursing care robots, autonomous driving, digital twins: all of these high-tech applications will play an essential role for the new 6G mobile communications standard. The first commercial 6G networks are…
An innovative all-of-computing approach offers the potential for sustainable cloud computing applications to address urgent energy needs. Some computing challenges are so big that it’s necessary to go all in….