How does a child learn that the stress is on the second syllable of giraffe, and on the first of zebra? Is it memory, the structure of the word itself or clues provided by the sounds in the word?
Scientists have created novel “spintronic” devices that could point the way for the next generation of more powerful and permanent data storage chips in computers. Physicist at the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Leeds have discovered a way to precisely control the pattern of magnetic fields in thin magnetic films, which can be used to store information.
Delft University of Technology PhD candidate Maaike Kroon has developed a sustainable and inexpensive production method for the chemical industry. This method combines reactions and separation processes, does not produce chemical waste and uses much less energy. After just two years of PhD research, she will receive her doctorate degree based on this research subject on December 11. Maaike Kroon (25) is regarded as an exceptionally talented young researcher.
Researchers in the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and their colleagues in the WHO Global Laboratory Network have developed a new tool for pathogen surveillance and discovery — the GreeneChip System. The GreeneChip is the first tool to provide comprehensive, differential diagnosis of infectious diseases, including those caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites.
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.
Not everyone enjoys a murder mystery with a surprise ending, new research suggests. People who have lower levels of self-esteem prefer crime and detective stories that confirm their suspicions in the end, while those with higher self-esteem enjoy a story that goes against expectations.
Overweight black Americans are two to three times more likely than heavy white Americans to say they are of average weight — even after being diagnosed as overweight or obese by their doctors, according to a study led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers.
It may look like mistletoe wrapped around a flexible candy cane. But this molecular model shows how some proteins form loops in DNA when they chemically attach, or bind, at separate sites to the double-helical molecule that carries life’s genetic blueprint.
“Nanoscale science and engineering promise to be as important as the steam engine, the transistor, and the Internet, and have the potential to revolutionize all other technologies” according to Neal Lane, former science advisor to US President Bill Clinton. “But that outcome is not guaranteed.”Dr. Lane made his remarks today at a Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies event at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
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.