International Polar Year expeditions attempting to navigate through the treacherous, ice-infested waters of the Arctic Ocean will be able to access the latest ESA Envisat satellite radar images of the ice conditions surrounding their vessel.
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Inducing senescence in aged cells may be sufficient to guard against spontaneous cancer development. It was previously unknown whether cellular senescence or programmed cell death — apoptosis — was the more important safeguard mechanism for suppressing tumours arising from dysfunctional telomeres.
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On the evening of 25 March 2007, the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator (MAD) achieved First Light at the Visitor Focus of Melipal, the third Unit Telescope of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). MAD allowed the scientists to obtain images corrected for the blurring effect of atmospheric turbulence over the full 2×2 arcminute field of view. This world premiere shows the promises of a crucial technology for Extremely Large Telescopes.
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Scientists from Harvard and the University of Pittsburgh have shown for the first time that anti-inflammatory effects of CO originate within cells’ own molecular engines, mitochondria. Specifically, mitochondria react to low levels of CO by releasing chemical signals that reduce or shut down the body’s inflammatory response, raising possibilities for development of new anti-inflammatory therapies, one of which may be low levels of inhaled CO.
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Thousands of people with liver and kidney disease die every year from too much ammonia in their blood, and scientists from the US and Japan have found a possible solution. They report that a protein which excretes ammonia through pufferfish gills is similar to human Rh blood proteins. By targeting these proteins, new treatments will help people with damaged livers and kidneys remove toxic ammonia from their bloodstream.
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Scientists call for better forecasting methods in predicting how climate changes will impact the earth’s plant and animal species. They have reported eight ways to improve biodiversity forecasting in the BioScience article, “Forecasting the Effects of Global Warming on Biodiversity.”
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Humans share many genes and cellular pathways with creatures that have remarkable powers of regeneration. Activating these sleeping systems of renewal in humans to treat disease is the center of a new multidisciplinary research effort.
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How does a virus, such as HIV or bird flu, make the cells within a human body work for the benefit of the virus? Researchers at the University of Copenhagen shed new light on this question.
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ESA’s Rosetta and NASA’s New Horizons are working together to observe Jupiter. A preliminary analysis of the data from Rosetta’s Alice ultraviolet spectrometer indicates that the data quality is excellent and that good science is expected to follow.
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Japanese researchers have developed a new material that very effectively removes volatile organic compounds as well as nitrogen- and sulfur oxides from air at room temperature. Their system involves a highly porous manganese oxide with gold nanoparticles grown into it.
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