Archive for May, 2007



Soils Offer New Hope As Carbon Sink

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
The huge potential of agricultural soils to reduce greenhouse gases and increase production at the same time has been reinforced by new research findings. Trials of agrichar — a product hailed as a savior of Australia’s carbon-depleted soils and the environment — have doubled and, in one case, tripled crop growth when applied at the rate of 10 tons per hectare. Agrichar is a black carbon byproduct of a process called pyrolysis.
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Building Our New View Of Titan

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
Two and a half years after the historic landing of ESA’s Huygens probe on Titan, a new set of results on Saturn’s largest moon is ready to be presented. Titan, as seen through the eyes of the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe, still holds exciting surprises, scientists say.
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Endocrine Researchers To Discuss Gene That May Be Linked To Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
Researchers will discuss a gene that appears to play a role in the development of polycystic ovary syndrome, the most common endocrine disorder among reproductive-age women, at upcoming meetings.
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When HIV And Liver Disease Co-exist

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
Since successful antiretroviral therapies have made HIV a treatable condition, more HIV patients who are also infected with hepatitis B or C are experiencing the progression of their liver disease.
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VA Tops Private Hospitals In Infection-control Study

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers are more likely than non-VA hospitals to follow recommendations for preventing bloodstream infections associated with central venous catheters, says a survey of more than 500 US health care centers. The results appear in the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
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How To Rip And Tear A Fluid

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
In a simple experiment on a mixture of water, soap and salt, researchers have shown that a knife-like object slides through the mixture at slow speeds as if it were a liquid, but at faster speeds rips it up as if it were a rubbery solid. The research provides new insights into how such materials, which share properties of everyday materials like blood, switch from being like a solid to being like a liquid.
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Scientists Achieve Atomic Spectroscopy On A Chip

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
Researchers have performed atomic spectroscopy with integrated optics on a chip for the first time, guiding a beam of light through a rubidium vapor cell integrated into a semiconductor chip.
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Math Illuminates How Brain Learns To Move Our Muscles

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
A team of biomedical engineers has developed a computer model that makes use of more or less predictable “guesstimates” of human muscle movements to explain how the brain draws on both what it recently learned and what it’s known for some time to anticipate what it needs to develop new motor skills.
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Cells Re-energize To Come Back From The Brink Of Death

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
The discovery of how some abnormal cells can avoid a biochemical program of self-destruction by increasing their energy level and repairing the damage, is giving investigators insights into a key strategy cancer cells use to survive and thrive.
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Protein Marker For Prostate Cancer Survival Identified

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
Medical researchers have identified a protein that is a strong indicator of survival for men with advanced prostate cancer. The C-reactive protein, also known as CRP, is a special type of protein produced by the liver that is elevated in the presence of inflammation.
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