Culture

Having discovered how a lowly, single-celled fungus regulates its version of cholesterol, Johns Hopkins researchers are gaining new insight about the target and action of cholesterol-lowering drugs taken daily by millions of people to stave off heart attacks and strokes. Their work appears in the December issue of Cell Metabolism.

In humans, statin drugs inhibit an enzyme, HMG-CoA reductase, to lower blood cholesterol. What's not as well understood are the multiple layers of control for the enzyme, especially the regulatory protein Insig.

We regularly hear reports that laser printers release pathogenic toner dust into the ambient air. How much of it can we believe? What kind of particles do the printers really emit, and in what quantities? Researchers at the Fraunhofer Wilhelm Klauditz Institute WKI in Braunschweig are investigating this question in collaboration with colleagues from Queensland University of Technology QUT in Brisbane, Australia. The results are surprising: Contrary to numerous reports, laser printers release hardly any particles of toner into the air.

PITTSBURGH— A recent Carnegie Mellon University CyLab survey of corporate board directors reveals a gap in board and senior executive oversight in managing cyber risks.

Based upon data from 703 individuals (primarily independent directors) serving on U.S-listed public company boards, only 36 percent of the respondents indicated that their board had any direct involvement with oversight of information security.

The survey also said that cybersecurity issues need to be seen as an enterprise risk management problem rather than an IT issue.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--- Software deadlocks are the Catch-22s of the computer world. These common bugs can freeze the machine when different parts of a program end up in an endless cycle of waiting for one another as they access shared data.

University of Michigan researchers developed a new way around this problem with a controller that can anticipate and prevent situations that might cause deadlock.

Their controller is called Gadara. It's a plug-in that operates using feedback techniques similar to those that give us cruise control in cars and thermostats in heating systems.

BINGHAMTON, NY -- By discovering the meaning of a rare mineral that can be used to track ancient climates, Binghamton University geologist Tim Lowenstein is helping climatologists and others better understand what we're probably in for over the next century or two as global warming begins to crank up the heat — and, ultimately, to change life as we know it.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – In the race for bioengineered crops, sequencing the genome could be considered the first leg in a multi-leg relay. Once the sequence is complete, the baton is passed forward to researchers to identify genes' functions. A draft sequence of the soybean genome is now available, and the complete genome will be available soon. Taking the next step in a new study, University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Plant Group researchers have demonstrated the applicability of a genomic tool for identifying gene function in soybeans.