Curated News: Nature (journal)

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Released: 7-Jan-2015 1:00 PM EST
Researchers Make New Discoveries In Key Pathway For Neurological Diseases
Georgia State University

A new intermediate step and unexpected enzymatic activity in a metabolic pathway in the body, which could lead to new drug design for psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, has been discovered by researchers at Georgia State University.

Released: 6-Jan-2015 11:00 AM EST
'Iron Sun' Is Not a Rock Band, but a Key to How Stars Transmit Energy
Sandia National Laboratories

Creating the conditions of the sun, researchers for the first time have been able to experimentally revise figures used by theorists to define iron's key role in passing sunlight from the sun's core to its radiative surface.

Released: 5-Jan-2015 10:00 AM EST
Epigenomics Analysis Reveals Surprising New Clues to Insulin Resistance
Beth Israel Lahey Health

In studying the cellular structure and function of insulin, a research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has uncovered previously unknown steps in the development of insulin resistance, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes.

Released: 5-Jan-2015 9:25 AM EST
New Technology Focuses Diffuse Light Inside Living Tissue
Washington University in St. Louis

New research from the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis reveals for the first time a new technique that focuses diffuse light inside a dynamic scattering medium containing living tissue.

Released: 4-Jan-2015 3:00 PM EST
Scientists Tap Tree Genomes to Discover Adaptation Strategies
Virginia Tech

A team of scientists has sequenced whole genomes from 544 unrelated trees of the same species. An August 2014 study identified gene sequences from Populus trichocarpa, to understand how trees adapt to different climates.

Released: 23-Dec-2014 11:00 AM EST
SLU Researcher Discovers a Way to Control Internal Clocks
Saint Louis University Medical Center

Researchers hypothesize that targeting components of the mammalian clock with small molecules like REV-ERB drugs may lead to new treatments for sleep disorders and anxiety disorders. It also is possible that REV-ERB drugs may be leveraged to help in the treatment of addiction.

Released: 22-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST
Piezoelectricity in a 2D Semiconductor
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

A door has been opened to low-power off/on switches in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectronic devices, as well as ultrasensitive bio-sensors, with the first observation of piezoelectricity in a free standing two-dimensional semiconductor by a team of researchers with Berkeley Lab.

18-Dec-2014 3:00 PM EST
Diverse Autism Mutations Lead to Different Disease Outcomes
Columbia University Irving Medical Center

People with autism have a wide range of symptoms, with no two people sharing the exact type and severity of behaviors. Now a large-scale analysis of hundreds of patients and nearly 1000 genes has started to uncover how diversity among traits can be traced to differences in patients’ genetic mutations.

19-Dec-2014 10:30 AM EST
Coral Reveals Long-Term Link Between Pacific Winds, Global Climate
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

New research indicates that shifts in Pacific trade winds played a key role in twentieth century climate variation and are likely again influencing global temperatures. The study, led by NCAR and the University of Arizona, uses a novel method of analyzing coral chemistry to reveal winds from a century ago.

19-Dec-2014 10:50 AM EST
Scripps Research Institute Scientists Uncover New, Fundamental Mechanism for How Resveratrol Provides Health Benefits
Scripps Research Institute

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that resveratrol, the red-wine ingredient once touted as an elixir of youth, powerfully activates an evolutionarily ancient stress response in human cells. The finding should dispel much of and controversy about how resveratrol really works.

19-Dec-2014 10:00 AM EST
Researchers Discover New Genetic Anomalies in Lung Cancer
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

By analyzing the DNA and RNA of lung cancers, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that patients whose tumors contained a large number of gene fusions had worse outcomes than patients with fewer gene fusions. In addition, the researchers identified several new genetic anomalies that occur in lung cancer, including in patients with a history of smoking.

Released: 19-Dec-2014 1:00 PM EST
First Direct Evidence that a Mysterious Phase of Matter Competes with High-Temperature Superconductivity
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists have found the first direct evidence that a mysterious phase of matter known as the "pseudogap" competes with high-temperature superconductivity, robbing it of electrons that otherwise might pair up to carry current through a material with 100 percent efficiency.

Released: 18-Dec-2014 1:00 PM EST
Physicists Characterize Electronic, Magnetic Structure in Transition Metal Oxides
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

An international team of scientists, led by physicists at the University of Arkansas, has characterized the electronic and magnetic structure in artificially synthesized materials called transition metal oxides.

Released: 18-Dec-2014 11:30 AM EST
Stunning Zinc Fireworks When Egg Meets Sperm
Argonne National Laboratory

First images of molecular fireworks that pinpoint the origin of the zinc sparks. Zinc flux plays a central role in regulating the biochemical processes that ensure a healthy egg-to-embryo transition, and this new unprecedented quantitative information should be useful in improving in vitro fertilization methods.

Released: 18-Dec-2014 11:00 AM EST
Team Develops ‘Cool’ New Method for Probing How Molecules Fold
Scripps Research Institute

Collaborating scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California San Diego have developed a powerful new system for studying how proteins and other biological molecules form and lose their natural folded structures.

Released: 18-Dec-2014 10:00 AM EST
Crown Ethers Flatten in Graphene for Strong, Specific Binding
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A team led by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has discovered a way to dramatically increase the selectivity and binding strength of crown ethers by incorporating them within a rigid framework of graphene. Strong, specific electrostatic binding of crown ethers may advance sensors, chemical separations, nuclear-waste cleanup, extraction of metals from ores, purification and recycling of rare-earth elements, water purification, biotechnology, energy production in durable lithium-ion batteries, catalysis, medicine and data storage.

16-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST
Peer-Reviewed Report: Clearing Tropical Rainforests Distorts Earth’s Wind and Water Systems, Packs Climate Wallop Beyond Carbon
ClimateFocus

A new study released today presents powerful evidence that clearing trees not only spews carbon into the atmosphere, but also triggers major shifts in rainfall and increased temperatures worldwide that are just as potent as those caused by current carbon pollution. Further, the study finds that future agricultural productivity across the globe is at risk from deforestation-induced warming and altered rainfall patterns.

Released: 17-Dec-2014 3:00 PM EST
Switching to Spintronics
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Berkeley Lab researchers used an electric field to reverse the magnetization direction in a multiferroic spintronic device at room temperature, a demonstration that points a new way towards spintronics and smaller, faster and cheaper methods of storing and processing data.

15-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST
Scientists Open New Frontier of Vast Chemical ‘Space’
Scripps Research Institute

Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute have invented a powerful and extraordinarily robust method for joining complex organic molecules that can be used to make pharmaceuticals, fabrics, dyes, plastics and other materials previously inaccessible to chemists.

16-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST
Multiple Allergic Reactions Traced to Single Protein
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Johns Hopkins and University of Alberta researchers have identified a single protein as the root of painful and dangerous allergic reactions to a range of medications and other substances. If a new drug can be found that targets the problematic protein, they say, it could help smooth treatment for patients with conditions ranging from prostate cancer to diabetes to HIV.

Released: 16-Dec-2014 11:00 AM EST
Carbon-Trapping 'Sponges' Can Cut Greenhouse Gases
Cornell University

In the fight against global warming, carbon capture – chemically trapping carbon dioxide before it releases into the atmosphere – is gaining momentum, but standard methods are plagued by toxicity, corrosiveness and inefficiency. Using a bag of chemistry tricks, Cornell materials scientists have invented low-toxicity, highly effective carbon-trapping “sponges” that could lead to increased use of the technology.

15-Dec-2014 4:00 PM EST
New Technology Directly Reprograms Skin Fibroblasts For a New Role
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Researchers have discovered a way to repurpose fibroblasts into functional melanocytes, the body's pigment-producing cells. The technique has immediate and important implications for developing new cell-based treatments for skin diseases such as vitiligo, as well as new screening strategies for melanoma.

9-Dec-2014 11:00 PM EST
Past Global Warming Similar to Today's
University of Utah

The rate at which carbon emissions warmed Earth’s climate almost 56 million years ago resembles modern, human-caused global warming much more than previously believed, but involved two pulses of carbon to the atmosphere, University of Utah researchers and their colleagues found.

12-Dec-2014 4:10 PM EST
Molecular “Hats” Allow in vivo Activation of Disguised Signaling Peptides
Georgia Institute of Technology

When someone you know is wearing an unfamiliar hat, you might not recognize them. Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are using just such a disguise to sneak biomaterials containing peptide signaling molecules into living animals.

12-Dec-2014 11:00 AM EST
Joslin Discovery May Hold Clues to Treatments That Slow Aging and Prevent Age-Related Chronic Disease
Joslin Diabetes Center

In a study published today by Nature, researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center used a microscopic worm (C. elegans) to identify a new path that could lead to drugs to slow aging and the chronic diseases that often accompany it—and might even lead to better cosmetics.

Released: 15-Dec-2014 8:00 AM EST
Signaling Mechanism Could Be Target for Survival, Growth of Tumor Cells in Brain Cancer
UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern Medical Center neurology researchers have identified an important cell signaling mechanism that plays an important role in brain cancer and may provide a new therapeutic target.

   
Released: 10-Dec-2014 1:00 PM EST
Breakthrough Solves Centuries-Old Animal Evolution Mystery
American Technion Society

Researchers have developed a method for spying on the activity of every gene within a cell at once. The breakthrough allows them to determine the order in which the three layers of cells in animal embryos evolved. Other applications include cancer research.

10-Dec-2014 10:00 AM EST
Dragonflies on the Hunt Display Complex Choreography
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

Researchers at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus have used motion-capture technology to reveal new insight into the sophisticated information processing and acrobatic skills of dragonflies on the hunt.

10-Dec-2014 10:00 AM EST
Dragonflies on the Hunt Display Complex Choreography
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

Researchers at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus have used motion-capture technology to reveal new insight into the sophisticated information processing and acrobatic skills of dragonflies on the hunt.

Released: 10-Dec-2014 5:00 AM EST
Brain Inflammation a Hallmark of Autism, Large-Scale Analysis Shows
Johns Hopkins Medicine

While many different combinations of genetic traits can cause autism, brains affected by autism share a pattern of ramped-up immune responses, an analysis of data from autopsied human brains reveals. The study, a collaborative effort between Johns Hopkins and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, included data from 72 autism and control brains.

Released: 8-Dec-2014 5:00 PM EST
Turning Biological Cells to Stone Improves Cancer and Stem Cell Research
Sandia National Laboratories

Near-perfect replications of human and animal cells enables improved study of certain cancers and stem cells, as well as the creation of complex durable objects without machinery.

Released: 8-Dec-2014 3:30 PM EST
Study May Help Slow the Spread of Flu
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An important study conducted in part at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory may lead to new, more effective vaccines and medicines by revealing detailed information about how a flu antibody binds to a wide variety of flu viruses.

Released: 8-Dec-2014 2:00 PM EST
New Research Offers Explanation for Titan Sand Dune Mystery
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

A team of researchers has now shown that winds on Titan must blow 50 percent faster than previously thought in order to move that sand.

Released: 8-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST
IU's DiMarchi Lab Sees Another Success on Path to Cure Adult-Onset Diabetes, Obesity
Indiana University

A new treatment for adult-onset diabetes and obesity developed by researchers at Indiana University and the German Research Center for Environmental Health has essentially cured lab animals of obesity, diabetes and associated lipid abnormalities through improved glucose sensitivity, reduced appetite and enhanced calorie burning.

4-Dec-2014 11:00 AM EST
McMaster Researchers Identify Hormone That Reduces Calorie Burning and Contributes to Obesity, Diabetes
McMaster University

Brown adipose tissue, widely known as brown fat, is located around the collarbone and acts as the body’s furnace to burn calories. It also keeps the body warm. Obese people have less of it, and its activity is decreased with age. Until now, researchers haven’t understood why.

5-Dec-2014 11:00 AM EST
University of Tennessee Research Offers Explanation for Titan Dune Puzzle
University of Tennessee

Research led by Devon Burr, an associate professor in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at UT, shows that winds on Titan must blow faster than previously thought to move sand. The discovery may explain how the dunes were formed.

5-Dec-2014 2:00 PM EST
Genetic Errors Linked to Aging Underlie Leukemia That Develops After Cancer Treatment
Washington University in St. Louis

New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis challenges the view that cancer treatment in itself is a direct cause of a fatal form of leukemia that can develop several years after chemotherapy or radiation.

Released: 8-Dec-2014 10:00 AM EST
Commentary Calls for New ‘Science of Climate Diversity’
Cornell University

There is cloud hanging over climate science, but one Cornell University expert on communication and environmental issues says he knows how to help clear the air. In the December issue of Nature Climate Change, Jonathon Schuldt, assistant professor of communication, argues that only by creating a “science of climate diversity” can climate science and the larger climate change movement overcome a crippling lack of ethnic and racial diversity.

7-Dec-2014 5:00 AM EST
Unusual Electronic State Found in New Class of Unconventional Superconductors
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Scientists have discovered an unusual form of electronic order in a new family of unconventional superconductors, giving scientists a new group of materials to explore to understand ability to carry current with no energy loss.

25-Nov-2014 11:00 AM EST
Gravity--It’s the Law Even for Cells
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

The average animal cell is 10 microns across but why? Princeton bioengineers take their story of gravity in cells one step further at ASCB, describing how cells manage to support thousands of membrane-less compartments inside the nucleus

Released: 4-Dec-2014 1:30 PM EST
Rattled Atoms Mimic High-Temperature Superconductivity
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An experiment at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory provided the first fleeting glimpse of the atomic structure of a material as it entered a state resembling room-temperature superconductivity – a long-sought phenomenon in which materials might conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency under everyday conditions.

Released: 4-Dec-2014 1:30 PM EST
Rattled Atoms Mimic High-Temperature Superconductivity
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An experiment at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory provided the first fleeting glimpse of the atomic structure of a material as it entered a state resembling room-temperature superconductivity – a long-sought phenomenon in which materials might conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency under everyday conditions.

Released: 4-Dec-2014 8:00 AM EST
Mouse Model of Human Disease Still Good, but Significant Differences Exist
Penn State Health

Scientists at Penn State College of Medicine, working alongside an international team of researchers, have produced the most complete encyclopedia of functional elements in the mouse genome to date and compared it to the human genome. The findings, published recently in Nature, uphold the mouse model of human disease, but pinpoint important differences in gene expression that will guide future health research.

3-Dec-2014 5:00 AM EST
Technology Breakthrough Reveals Cellular Transcription Process
Universite de Montreal

“This new research tool offers us a more profound view of the immune responses that are involved in a range of diseases, such as HIV infection. At the level of gene transcription, this had been difficult, complex and costly to do with current technologies, such as microscopy” - Dr. Daniel Kaufmann, University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre

   
Released: 3-Dec-2014 3:00 PM EST
Weizmann Institute Scientists Find a 3D Compass in the Brain
Weizmann Institute of Science

In a first, Prof. Nachum Ulanovsky’s lab has identified the neurons that help us know where we’re going. Working with bats, which move in three dimensions, the team found that bats’ brains contain a sort of 3D compass, enabling them to orient themselves in space. They believe that the brains of non-flying mammals – including humans – also have the compass.

Released: 3-Dec-2014 3:00 PM EST
Weizmann Institute Scientists Find a 3D Compass in the Brain
Weizmann Institute of Science

In a first, Prof. Nachum Ulanovsky’s lab has identified the neurons that help us know where we’re going. Working with bats, which move in three dimensions, the team found that bats’ brains contain a sort of 3D compass, enabling them to orient themselves in space. They believe that the brains of non-flying mammals – including humans – also have the compass.

1-Dec-2014 3:00 PM EST
World’s Fastest 2-D Camera May Enable New Scientific Discoveries
Washington University in St. Louis

A team of biomedical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Lihong Wang, PhD, has developed the world’s fastest receive-only 2-D camera, a device that can capture events up to 100 billion frames per second.

2-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST
Solving a Long-Standing Mystery, Scripps Research Institute Scientists Identify Principal Protein Sensor for Touch
Scripps Research Institute

A team led by biologists at The Scripps Research Institute has solved a long-standing mystery in neuroscience by identifying the “mechanoreceptor” protein that mediates the sense of touch in mammals.

   
2-Dec-2014 9:00 AM EST
Peptide Shows Great Promise for Treating Spinal Cord Injury
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve scientists have developed a new chemical compound that shows extraordinary promise in restoring function lost to spinal cord injury. The compound allowed paralyzed muscles to activate in more than 80 percent of the animals tested. The study appears in the Dec. 3 journal Nature.

Released: 2-Dec-2014 1:40 PM EST
How to Stop the Spread of HIV in Africa
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences

To stop the spread of HIV in Africa, researchers at UCLA, using a complex mathematical model, have developed a strategy that focuses on targeting “hot zones,” areas where the risk of HIV infection is much higher than the national average.



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