Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Temperature Materials Laboratory are helping diesel engine and parts manufacturers develop technologies to meet tough new emissions regulations that go into effect in 2007.
University of Pennsylvania alumni Ralph J. Roberts and his son Brian L. Roberts have pledged $15 million to help create the first-of-its-kind proton therapy center for the treatment of cancer.
Lufthansa Airlines is the first carrier to purchase the passenger version of the Boeing Co.’s updated 747 in a deal that will breathe new life into the aircraft that made its first flight in the skies over Everett 37 years ago.
Low doses of the drug mifepristone shrink uterine fibroid tumors and greatly improve the quality of life in women who suffer from pain and heavy bleeding, according to a University of Rochester study published in the December Obstetrics and Gynecology journal.
Virginia Tech researchers used novel methodology and the university’s System X supercomputer to carry out what is probably the first simulation that explores full range of motions of a DNA strand of 147 base pairs, the length that is required to form the fundamental unit of DNA packing in the living cells — the nucleosome. Contrary to a long-held belief that DNA is hard to bend, the simulation shows in crisp atomic detail that DNA is considerably more flexible than commonly thought.
A key enzyme that cuts short our cellular lifespan in an effort to thwart cancer has now been linked to body mass.Until now, scientists believed that our relatively long lifespans controlled the expression of telomerase — an enzyme that can lengthen the lives of cells, but can also increase the rate of cancer.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are closer to understanding how the sense of taste develops. They have pinpointed a molecular pathway that regulates the development of taste buds. Using genetically engineered mice, they discovered that a signaling pathway activated by small proteins called Wnts is required for initiating taste-bud formation. They have also determined that Wnt proteins are required for hooking up the wiring of taste signals to the brain.
Millions of working fathers and mothers are less productive at work due to concerns about what their children are doing in the after-school hours, according to a new study released today by Catalyst, the leading nonprofit research and advisory organization working to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work. The report, entitled “After-School Worries: Tough on Parents, Bad for Business,” was conducted in cooperation with the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.
Geology topics of interest include: Two New Zealand supervolcanoes that erupted only days or weeks apart; remarkably detailed K-T boundary evidence from the tropical Atlantic’s Demerara Rise supporting a single impact event; and human impact on continental erosion and sedimentation.
The December issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine carries specific conclusions and recommendations on how the medical community can harness the power of molecular imaging and therapy to manage diseases and improve the quality of life for patients. “Shaping the Future: The 2006 SNM Molecular Imaging Summit” provides the first-ever look at molecular imaging’s potential — as seen by medical professionals, scientists, industry representatives, and funding and regulatory officials — in a special expanded section of the society’s flagship journal.