UPTON, NY — As part of the quest to form perfectly smooth single-molecule layers of materials for advanced energy, electronic, and medical devices, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that the molecules in thin films remain frozen at a temperature where the bulk material is molten. Thin molecular films have a range of applications extending from organic solar cells to biosensors, and understanding the fundamental aspects of these films could lead to improved devices.
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To combat the obesity epidemic, the National Institutes of Health is encouraging diverse scientific investigations through a new Strategic Plan for NIH Obesity Research.
Montreal, March 31, 2011 – Anyone who's ever used an electric or gas lawnmower knows how pushing the device can cause tingling hands. This side-effect is caused by motor vibrations and comes with the turf for people who cut grass for a living.
Workers who employ handheld power tools in the mining, forestry, manufacturing and services sectors can also be exposed to large levels of vibrations in their hands and upper arms. Such vibrations are not without consequence.
Do the principles of quantum mechanics apply to biological systems? Until now, says Prof. Ron Naaman of the Institute's Chemical Physics Department (Faculty of Chemistry), both biologists and physicists have considered quantum systems and biological molecules to be like apples and oranges. But research he conducted together with scientists in Germany, which appeared recently in Science, definitively shows that a biological molecule – DNA – can discern between quantum states known as spin.
In recent years, bed bug infestations have become increasingly common in Swedish homes. There are two different species of bed bug that suck blood from humans – the common bed bug and the tropical bed bug. Increased foreign travel has meant that tropical bed bugs frequently accompany travellers to Sweden.
Although the green toad (Bufo viridis) can today be found all over Central Europe, Asia, Africa, and even on the Balearic Islands, it became extinct in the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the Early Pleistocene (1.1 million years ago). This has been demonstrated by an international research study, with Spanish participation, which has discovered the first green frog fossil in Murcia.
Explaining climate change risk to non-scientists – citizens and politicians - has not been as effective as it should be, according to a new collaborative research paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change this week.
Despite much research that demonstrates potential dangers from climate change, public concern has not been increasing. One theory is that this is because the public is not intimately familiar with the nature of the climate uncertainties being discussed, and as such it does little to support decision-making and change behaviour.
PITTSBURGH, March 31 – More than twice as many lungs and nearly 50 percent more kidneys could be recovered for transplant operations if intensive care physicians were to work with organ procurement organization (OPO) coordinators to monitor and manage donor bodies after brain death has occurred, according to an analysis by UPMC and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine physicians that is now in the online version of the American Journal of Transplantation.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Eating fewer, regular-sized meals with higher amounts of lean protein can make one feel more full than eating smaller, more frequent meals, according to new research from Purdue University.
Children suffering from extreme social anxiety are trapped in a nightmare of misinterpreted facial expressions: They confuse angry faces with sad ones, a new Emory University study shows.
"If you misread facial expressions, you're in social trouble, no matter what other social skills you have," says Emory psychologist Steve Nowicki, a clinical researcher who developed the tests used in the study. "It can make life very difficult, because other people's faces are like a prism through which we look at the world."
A study of nearly 600 patients with severe non-inflammatory respiratory disease has found that a significant percentage also suffered from anaemia, according to the April issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.
A team of scientists in the United Kingdom and the United States has warned that the native fauna and unique ecology of the Southern Ocean, the vast body of water that surrounds the Antarctic continent, is under threat from human activity. Their study is published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
A new signaling pathway, which is important for the regulation of the immune response and inflammation, was discovered by an international team of scientists led by prof Ivan Dikic from the Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. The scientists studied the involvement of ubiquitin, a universally present signaling protein in the cell. In today's issue of the scientific journal "Nature" the scientists report a novel type of modified ubiquitin chains involved in regulation of various processes within the cell.
DES MOINES, Iowa (March 30, 2011) – Dieters trying to stick to their diets, may want to look no further than lean protein, according to two studies published in the prestigious journal Obesity1,2. Including protein, such as lean pork, in three daily meals could reduce late-night desires to eat, increase feelings of fullness and decrease distracting thoughts about food, according to the research.