In research that could help control contamination from the radioactive element uranium, scientists have discovered that some bacteria found in the soil and subsurface can release phosphate that converts uranium contamination into an insoluble and immobile form.
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The Open Access journal PLoS Pathogens has published an article detailing research that identifies a new retrovirus in the tissue of human prostate tumors. The paper reports that the researchers detected the new virus more frequently in men with mutations in both their copies of RNASEL than in those with at least one normal copy.
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Nobody completely understands superconductors. So fathom how James S. Schilling, Ph.D., led a team that makes the phenomenon work better. Schilling, a professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, collaborated with recent doctoral graduate Takahiro Tomita and scientists at Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory to determine whether one region in superconductors, called grain boundaries (GB), are oxygen deficient. Such oxygen deficiency impairs superconductor performance.
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Researchers have known for years that the enzyme MMP-9 plays a key role in the spread of colorectal cancer. Now, scientists at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia have found out how the enzyme helps initiate the process, known as metastasis. Their discovery of a new molecular mechanism by which MMP-9 promotes cancer spread may provide a new target at which to aim anti-metastasis drugs.
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Virginia Tech chemistry researchers have made a discovery about how ozone degrades organic surfaces such as biological surfactants and polymeric coatings.
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Think twice before you blithely swat, stomp, curse or ignore insects, says Cornell University entomologist John Losey, who co-authored a study that shows the dollar value of some of those insect services is more than $57 billion in the United States annually. The research appears in the journal BioScience today (April 1).
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Researchers have identified a new test case that could be used for evaluating extraterrestrial samples for evidence of life. The new test could ultimately allow the use of simpler analytical instrumentation on future space missions.
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Mayo Clinic researchers have uncovered a new cellular secret that may explain how certain cancers move and spread — a feature of cancers that makes treatment especially difficult. If the mechanism that drives cancer movement — also called metastasis — can be understood well enough to manipulate it, new and better treatments can be developed for patients with metastatic cancers.
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A new series of measurements — the next step in evolution of criteria to determine more accurately the efficiency of supercomputers — has rated Sandia National Laboratories’ Red Storm computer the best in the world in two of six new categories, and very high in two other important categories.
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Mayo Clinic researchers report that the expression of two novel genes within the tumors of women with early stage breast cancer may allow identification of women who are and are not at risk for early relapse or cancer-related death.
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