Curated News: Nature (journal)

Filters close
Released: 28-May-2015 4:05 PM EDT
Physicists Conduct Most Precise Measurement Yet of Interaction Between Atoms and Carbon Surfaces
University of Washington

Physicists at the University of Washington have conducted the most precise and controlled measurements yet of the interaction between the atoms and molecules that comprise air and the type of carbon surface used in battery electrodes and air filters — key information for improving those technologies.

Released: 27-May-2015 3:05 PM EDT
Invisible Helpers of the Sea: Marine Bacteria Boost Growth of Tiny Ocean Algae
University of Washington

Just as with plants on land, a common species of ocean diatom grows faster in the presence of helpful bacteria.

27-May-2015 9:05 AM EDT
Global Climate on Verge of Multi-Decadal Change
University of Southampton

A new study, by scientists from the University of Southampton and National Oceanography Centre (NOC), implies that the global climate is on the verge of broad-scale change that could last for a number of decades.

27-May-2015 1:00 PM EDT
Hubble Video Shows Shock Collision Inside Black Hole Jet
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered for the first time a rear-end collision between two high-speed knots of ejected matter from a supermassive black hole. This discovery was made while piecing together a time-lapse movie of a plasma jet blasted from a supermassive black hole inside galaxy 3C 264, located 260 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo.

Released: 27-May-2015 12:45 PM EDT
Spiraling Laser Pulses Could Change the Nature of Graphene
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A new study predicts that researchers could use spiraling pulses of laser light to change the nature of graphene, turning it from a metal into an insulator and giving it other peculiar properties that might be used to encode information.

Released: 26-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
A New Kind of Wood Chip: Collaboration Could Yield Biodegradable Computer Chips
University of Wisconsin–Madison

In an effort to alleviate the environmental burden of electronic devices, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers has collaborated with researchers in the Madison-based U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) to develop a surprising solution: a semiconductor chip made almost entirely of wood.

Released: 26-May-2015 9:05 AM EDT
Carbon Nanothreads From Compressed Benzene
Department of Energy, Office of Science

The thinnest possible linear thread that still retains a diamond-like structure was created by the extreme compression and decompression of the common chemical benzene. The threads may have outstanding mechanical and electronic properties. Further, the synthesis method opens up possible variations that could lead to new materials.

22-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
DNA Double Helix Does Double Duty in Assembling Arrays of Nanoparticles
Brookhaven National Laboratory

In a new twist on the use of DNA in nanoscale construction, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators put synthetic strands of the biological material to work in two ways: They used ropelike configurations of the DNA double helix to form a rigid geometrical framework, and added dangling pieces of single-stranded DNA to glue nanoparticles in place.

22-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Engineering Phase Changes in Nanoparticle Arrays
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have just taken a big step toward the goal of engineering dynamic nanomaterials whose structure and associated properties can be switched on demand. In a paper appearing in Nature Materials, they describe a way to selectively rearrange the nanoparticles in three-dimensional arrays to produce different configurations, or phases, from the same nano-components.

22-May-2015 11:00 AM EDT
One Step Closer to a Single-Molecule Device
Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science

Columbia Engineering professor Latha Venkataraman has designed a new technique to create a single-molecule diode, and, in doing so, she has developed molecular diodes that perform 50 times better than all prior designs. Venkataraman’s group is the first to develop a single-molecule diode that may have real-world technological applications for nanoscale devices.

22-May-2015 2:40 PM EDT
Removing Mutant p53 Significantly Regresses Tumors, Improves Cancer Survival
Stony Brook University

Removing accumulated mutant p53 protein from a cancer model showed that tumors regress significantly and survival increases. This finding, by an international team of cancer researchers led by Ute Moll, MD, Professor of Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, is reported in a paper published advanced online May 25 in Nature.

22-May-2015 2:40 PM EDT
Removing Mutant p53 Significantly Regresses Tumors, Improves Cancer Survival
Stony Brook University

Removing accumulated mutant p53 protein from a cancer model showed that tumors regress significantly and survival increases. This finding, by an international team of cancer researchers led by Ute Moll, MD, Professor of Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, is reported in a paper published advanced online May 25 in Nature.

25-May-2015 9:00 AM EDT
Researchers Unveil New Gene Subgroup in Prostate Cancer
University Health Network (UHN)

Prostate cancer researchers have drawn a molecular portrait that provides the first complete picture of localized, multi-focal disease within the prostate and also unveils a new gene subgroup driving it.

Released: 22-May-2015 9:05 AM EDT
This Slinky Lookalike “Hyperlens” Helps Us See Tiny Objects
University at Buffalo

It looks like a Slinky suspended in motion. Yet this photonics advancement – called a metamaterial hyperlens – doesn’t climb down stairs. Instead, it improves our ability to see tiny objects.

Released: 21-May-2015 2:05 PM EDT
Researchers Watch Protein 'Quake' after Chemical Bond Break
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists for the first time have precisely measured a protein’s natural “knee-jerk” reaction to the breaking of a chemical bond – a quaking motion that propagated through the protein at the speed of sound.

Released: 21-May-2015 9:05 AM EDT
Precision Nanobatteries by the Billions
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Extremely small batteries built inside nanopores show that properly scaled structures can use the full theoretical capacity of the charge storage material. The batteries are part of assessing the basics of ion and electron transport in nanostructures for energy storage.

Released: 21-May-2015 7:15 AM EDT
Shining Light on the Fleeting Interactions of Single Molecules
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Scientists devised a way of directly detecting and visualizing biomolecules and their changing association states in solution by measuring their size and charge characteristics while confined in a single-molecule trap.

Released: 21-May-2015 5:05 AM EDT
X-ray Laser Used to Produce Movies of Atomic-Scale Motion
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Atoms and the electrons that hold them together store energy in their electronic bonding structure and in their atomic vibrations. X-ray laser scattering techniques have been used to measure and track the transfer of energy from one atomic-scale storage mode to another.

Released: 20-May-2015 2:05 PM EDT
Scientists Discover Origins of the Lymphatic System
Weizmann Institute of Science

In a first, the Weizmann Institute’s Dr. Karina Yaniv and a team of scientists have determined how the lymphatic system develops in the embryo … and grown lymphatic cells in the lab. Using zebrafish, they showed that the cells originate in a vein niche that harbors angioblasts. Besides solving this century-old puzzle, their work can shed light on disease.

19-May-2015 1:00 PM EDT
Supernova Hunting with Supercomputers
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Using a "roadmap" of theoretical calculations and supercomputer simulations performed by Berkeley Lab's Daniel Kasen, astronomers observed a flash of light caused by a supernova slamming into a nearby star, allowing them to determine the stellar system from which a Type Ia supernova was born. This finding confirms one of two competing theories about Type Ia supernovae birth.

19-May-2015 3:10 PM EDT
New Class of Swelling Magnets Have the Potential to Energize the World
Temple University

A new class of magnets that expand their volume when placed in a magnetic field and generate negligible amounts of wasteful heat during energy harvesting, has been discovered.

Released: 19-May-2015 7:05 AM EDT
Nanobionics Supercharge Photosynthesis
Department of Energy, Office of Science

A new process has been developed for spontaneously incorporating and assembling carbon nanotubes and oxygen-scavenging nanoparticles into chloroplasts, the part of plant cells that conduct photosynthesis. Incorporation enhanced electron flow associated with photosynthesis.

Released: 18-May-2015 1:05 PM EDT
Exposure of U.S. Population to Extreme Heat Could Quadruple by Mid-Century
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

U.S. residents' exposure to extreme heat could increase four- to six-fold by mid-century, due to both a warming climate and a population that's growing especially fast in the hottest regions of the country, according to new research by NCAR scientists.

15-May-2015 11:00 AM EDT
Computing at the Speed of Light
University of Utah

Utah engineers have developed an ultracompact beamsplitter — the smallest on record — for dividing light waves into two separate channels of information. The device brings researchers closer to producing silicon photonic chips that compute and shuttle data with light instead of electrons.

15-May-2015 9:30 AM EDT
Lend me Your Superior Temporal Sulcus! NYU Researchers ID Part of the Brain for Processing Speech
New York University

A team of NYU neuroscientists has identified a part of the brain exclusively devoted to processing speech, helping settle a long-standing debate about role-specific neurological functions.

15-May-2015 1:45 PM EDT
Climate Change Altering Frequency, Intensity of Hurricanes
Florida State University

Climate change may be the driving force behind fewer, yet more powerful hurricanes and tropical storms, says a Florida State geography professor.

15-May-2015 11:00 AM EDT
Brain Scans Reveal That Birds of a Feather Do Flock Together
Virginia Tech

In a study using functional magnetic resonance imaging, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists found that our inherent risk-taking preferences affect how we view and act on information from other people.

   
15-May-2015 11:00 AM EDT
Microchip Captures Clusters of Circulating Tumor Cells - NIH Study
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Researchers have developed a microfluidic chip that can capture rare clusters of circulating tumor cells, which could yield important new insights into how cancer spreads. The work was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Released: 18-May-2015 11:00 AM EDT
Research Community Comes Together to Provide New “Gold Standard” for Genomic Data Analysis
Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

New results provide an important benchmark for researchers, helping to define the most accurate methods for identifying somatic mutations in cancer genomes.

Released: 18-May-2015 7:05 AM EDT
Bringing Order to Defects: Making Way for Oxygen to Move
Department of Energy, Office of Science

A new metal oxide was discovered whose atomic structure includes highly ordered arrays of missing oxygen atoms. This structure allows oxygen ions to move through the material quickly and easily at low temperatures.

Released: 14-May-2015 7:05 AM EDT
Every Bite You Take, Every Move You Make, Astrocytes Will Be Watching You
Universite de Montreal

Chewing, breathing, and other regular bodily functions that we undertake “without thinking” actually do require the involvement of our brain, but the question of how the brain programs such regular functions intrigues scientists. Arlette Kolta, a professor at the University of Montreal’s Faculty of Dentistry, has shown that astrocytes play a key role. Astrocytes are star-shaped glial cells in our brain. Glial cells are not neurons – they play a supporting role.

Released: 13-May-2015 1:05 PM EDT
Two Large Hadron Collider Experiments First to Observe Rare Subatomic Process
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)

Two experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, have combined their results and observed a previously unseen subatomic process.

11-May-2015 4:05 PM EDT
Brain Compass Keeps Flies on Course, Even in the Dark
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

If you walk into a dark room, you can still find your way to the light switch. That’s because your brain keeps track of landmarks and the direction in which you are moving. Fruit flies also boast an internal compass that works when the lights go out, scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus have discovered. Their findings suggest that dissecting how fruit flies navigate through the world could help researchers understand how humans and other mammals perform similar tasks.

Released: 13-May-2015 9:05 AM EDT
Faster, Smaller, More Informative
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT

A new technique invented at MIT can measure the relative positions of tiny particles as they flow through a fluidic channel, potentially offering an easy way to monitor the assembly of nanoparticles, or to study how mass is distributed within a cell. With further advancements, this technology has the potential to resolve the shape of objects in flow as small as viruses, the researchers say.

Released: 11-May-2015 5:05 PM EDT
Ice Core Dating Determines Climate Change Begins in Arctic
South Dakota State University

Scientists at South Dakota State University analyzed a half-mile slice of Western Antarctica ice core to help determine that climate change begins in the Arctic and moves southward, according to chemistry professor Jihong Cole-Dai of the SDSU Ice Core and Environmental Chemistry Lab. Since 2006, the SDSU research team have been part of a National Science Foundation project to uncover the secrets within the 2-mile long Western Antarctica Ice Sheet Divide ice core.

5-May-2015 2:05 PM EDT
Disrupting Cancer Pathway Could Enhance New Immunotherapies
University of Chicago Medical Center

Understanding how to overrule a signaling pathway that can cause treatments to fail in metastatic melanoma patients should help physicians extend the benefits of recently approved immunity-boosting drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors to more patients.

7-May-2015 6:00 PM EDT
Odd Genetic Syndrome Suggests Increased Resistance in Blood Vessels Could Cause High Blood Pressure
University of Utah Health

The culmination of two decades of research, a new study reveals the genetic causes of a curious, rare syndrome that manifests as hypertension (high blood pressure) accompanied by short fingers (brachydactyly type E). Six, unrelated families with the syndrome come from across the globe – United States, Turkey, France, South America, and two from Canada – yet share mutations that cluster in a small region of phosphodiesterase 3A (PDE3A). Functional studies imply the mutations change resistance of blood vessels, an underappreciated mechanism for regulating blood pressure. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, suggest new directions for investigating causes of hypertension in the general population.

8-May-2015 12:05 PM EDT
Repurposed Anti-Cholesterol Drug Could Improve Treatment-Resistant Anemias
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA), a rare inherited bone marrow failure syndrome is typically treated with glucocorticoids that cause a host of often dangerous side effects. Using a mouse model, Whitehead scientists have determined that combining the drug fenofibrate with glucocorticoids could allow for dramatically lower steroid doses in the treatment of DBA and other erythropoietin-resistant anemias. These promising results are the foundation for a clinical trial that will begin soon.

Released: 11-May-2015 11:00 AM EDT
A Climate Signal in the Global Distribution of Copper Deposits
University of Michigan

Climate helps drive the erosion process that exposes economically valuable copper deposits and shapes the pattern of their global distribution, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Idaho and the University of Michigan.

Released: 11-May-2015 5:05 AM EDT
New Population Genetics Model Could Explain Finn, European Genetic Differences
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

A new population genetics model developed by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health could explain why the genetic composition of Finnish people is so different from that of other European populations.

Released: 7-May-2015 2:05 PM EDT
Alzheimer Protein's Structure May Explain Its Toxicity
University of Illinois Chicago

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have determined the molecular structure of one of the proteins in the fine fibers of the brain plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. This molecule, called amyloid beta-42, is toxic to nerve cells and is believed to provoke the disease cascade.

   
Released: 7-May-2015 11:55 AM EDT
Smarter, Cheaper Technologies Offer Improved Point-of-Care Medicine
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

New paper and flexible polymer substrates were combined with special sensing devices for rapid and accurate detection of HIV and other pathogens for point-of-care medicine in remote areas, where there is minimal diagnostic infrastructure and a lack of trained medical technicians.

5-May-2015 2:05 PM EDT
New Stem Cell May Overcome Hurdles for Regenerative Medicine
Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Salk Institute scientists discover new type of stem cell that could potentially generate mature, functional tissues

   
Released: 6-May-2015 12:05 PM EDT
A Better Way to Build DNA Scaffolds
McGill University

A new technique to create long strands of DNA could make it more economical to assemble DNA nanostructures for applications such as smart drug-delivery systems, according to a research team led by McGill University chemistry professor Hanadi Sleiman.

Released: 4-May-2015 11:45 AM EDT
U of A Researcher and Alumnus Find Evidence of Briny Water on Mars
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Data collected on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover and analyzed by University of Arkansas researchers indicate that water, in the form of brine, may exist under certain conditions on the planet’s surface.

Released: 4-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Scientists Dramatically Improve Method for Finding Common Genetic Alterations in Tumors
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have developed a significantly better computer tool for finding genetic alterations that play an important role in many cancers but were difficult to identify with whole-genome sequencing. The findings appear today in the scientific journal Nature Methods. The tool is an algorithm called CONSERTING, short for Copy Number Segmentation by Regression Tree in Next Generation Sequencing.

   
Released: 4-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Discovery Could Help Reverse Glucocorticoid Resistance in Some Young Leukemia Patients
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Researchers led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified a mechanism that helps leukemia cells resist glucocorticoids, a finding that lays the foundation for more effective treatment of cancer and possibly a host of autoimmune diseases. The findings appear online today in the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

1-May-2015 12:05 PM EDT
Defects in Atomically Thin Semiconductor Emit Single Photons
University of Rochester

Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that defects on an atomically thin semiconductor can produce light-emitting quantum dots. The quantum dots serve as a source of single photons and could be useful for the integration of quantum photonics with solid-state electronics - a combination known as integrated photonics.

Released: 4-May-2015 9:05 AM EDT
Mutations in Two Genes Linked to Familial Pulmonary Fibrosis and Telomere Shortening
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified mutations in two genes that cause a fatal lung scarring disease known as familial pulmonary fibrosis.

Released: 29-Apr-2015 6:05 PM EDT
UT Southwestern Scientists Identify Key Receptors Behind Development of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have discovered that a certain class of receptors that inhibit immune response are crucial for the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common acute leukemia affecting adults.



close
3.18741