Age at Onset and Inflammatory Cells Define Patient Subsets, Guide Treatment
People who develop asthma as children may have a different disease than those who develop it as an adult. A study in the January issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology adds to the growing body of evidence that asthma is not a single disease, but a group of syndromes with different origins and biological characteristics. The research team, led by Sally Wenzel, M.D., a pulmonologist at National
New findings pose a challenge for cold dark matter theory
“The universe is always more complicated than our cosmological theories would have it,” says Nigel Sharp, program officer for extra-galactic astronomy and cosmology at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Witness a collection of new and recently announced discoveries that, taken together, suggest a considerably more active and fastmoving epoch of galaxy formation in the early universe than prevailing theories had called for.
Microscopic Mojave Desert plants growing on the underside of translucent quartz pebbles can endure both chilly and near-boiling temperatures, scavenge nitrogen from the air, and utilize the equivalent of nighttime moonlight levels for photosynthesis, a new study reports. The plants, which receive enough light through the pebbles to support photosynthesis, could offer a model for how plants first colonized land, as well as how they might have evolved on Mars, said the scientists who performed the stud
At a press briefing in London today, Professor Colin Pillinger (Open University), Beagle lead scientist, and Dr Mark Sims (University of Leicester), the mission manager, congratulated their colleagues at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the successful landing of the Spirit rover on Mars.
“I’d like to give congratulations to NASA and the Spirit team for getting the lander down safely,” said Professor Pillinger. “We wish them every luck.”
Adding his congratulations, Mark Sims said,
A team of scientists has discovered bacteria in a hole drilled more than 4,000 feet deep in volcanic rock on the island of Hawaii near Hilo, in an environment they say could be analogous to conditions on Mars and other planets.
Bacteria are being discovered in some of Earths most inhospitable places, from miles below the oceans surface to deep within Arctic glaciers. The latest discovery is one of the deepest drill holes in which scientists have discovered living organisms encas
Biologists unravel part of the mystery behind disappearance of shell material
Chitin, the Earths second-most abundant biological material, is a major component in the flurry of skeletal debris discarded daily by crustacean creatures in the worlds oceans. If left undisturbed, this tough insoluble material, a cousin to cellulose, would pile up on the oceans floor and wreak havoc with marine ecosystems. Fortunately, armies of bacteria act as chitins cleanup crew,