Santa Barbara
It turns out that older men chasing younger women contributes to human longevity and the survival of the species, according to
Scientists working at the leading edge of bionanotechnology, are using assembly and folding principles of natural RNA, or ribonucleic acid, to build beautiful and potentially useful artificial structures at the nano-scale. Possible applications include the development of nanocircuits, medical implants, and improved medical testing.
In an interdisciplinary endeavor, a team of researchers in physics and biology have made a discovery at the nanoscale level that could be instrumental in the production of miniaturized materials with many applications. Dubbed a ''living necklace,'' the finding was completely unexpected. This discovery could influence the development of vehicles for chemical, drug, and gene delivery, enzyme encapsulation systems and biosensors, circuitry components, as well as templates for nanosized wires and optical materials.
A team of researchers lreport that, from desert to rainforest, during drought conditions, the maximum rain use efficiency (RUEmax), or effective productivity of plant growth per unit of precipitation converges to a common value. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the International Biological Program (IBP) began to study how water affects productivity in different ecosystems. It was not until this current group of scientists pooled long-term data in a workshop at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at University of California, Santa Barbara that the scope and similarity of productivity in all ecosystems was seen.
For years, researchers have examined climate records indicating that millennial-scale climate cycles have linked the high latitudes of the Northern hemisphere and the subtropics of the North Pacific Ocean. What forces this linkage, however, has been a topic of considerable debate. Did the connection originate in the North Pacific with the sinking of oxygen-rich waters into the interior of the ocean during cool climate intervals, or did it originate in the subtropical Pacific with the transfer of heat between the ocean and the atmosphere?
Cinnamon may be more than a spice -- it may have a medical application in preventing and combating diabetes. Cinnamon may help by playing the role of an insulin substitute in type II diabetes, according to cellular and molecular studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Cinnamon itself has insulin-like activity and also can potentiate the activity of insulin," said Don Graves of UCSB. "The latter could be quite important in treating those with type II diabetes. Cinnamon has a bio-active component that we believe has the potential to prevent or overcome diabetes."
"Nature was nano before nano was cool," stated Henry Fountain in a recent New York Times article on the proliferation of nanotechnology research projects. No one is more aware of this fact of nature than Dan Morse of the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research groups have been studying the ways that nature builds ocean organisms at the nanoscale for over ten years. They have studied the abalone shell for its high-performance, super-resistant, composite mineral structure. Now they are now looking to learn new biotechnological routes to make high performance electronic and optical materials.
An article in the August 15 issue of the journal Science warns against the human exploitation of coral reef ecosystems around the world, noting that these "ecosystems will not survive for more than a few decades, unless they are promptly and massively protected from human exploitation."
This warning comes out of a study of 14 coral reef ecosystems around the world conducted by a team of scientists organized by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). The Center is affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara and funded by the National Science Foundation.
Imagine that your doctor, using a small hand-held sensor, could detect from a drop of your blood if you carry the gene for cystic fibrosis, or whether or not you have HIV. Or on the battlefield, a soldier could wear a small sensor that detects the smallest amount of anthrax in the air. In the food industry the same type of sensor could check for the DNA signature of salmonella.
One of the hottest nutritional supplements, currently manufactured by fermentation only in Japan, may eventually be synthesized in the United States thanks to research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Bruce H. Lipshutz, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSB, has developed a way to prepare coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ10 ) that he calls "short and sweet." His method is patented and he is already talking to U.S. companies regarding potential commercialization. The process is economically competitive, using transition metal catalysts along the way, such as inexpensive nickel and cobalt complexes.
Scientists at the Center for the Study of Macular Degeneration at the Neuroscience Research Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara have found a link between the brain plaques that form in Alzheimer?s disease and the deposits in the retina that are associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is a disease that leads to loss of central vision and affects 5 to 10 percent of the population over age 60.
It might be 500,000 years or five years, but the Central Valley of Costa Rica will definitely experience major volcanic activity again, according to Phillip B. Gans, professor of geology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He presented a study of volcanic rocks of Costa Rica in his recent talk at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.
Scientists have found new evidence indicating that during periods of rapid climate warming methane gas has been released periodically from the seafloor in intense eruptions. In a study published in the current issue of the journal Science, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs and colleagues Laura Hmelo and Sean Sylva of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) provide a direct link between methane reservoirs in coastal marine sediments and the global carbon cycle, an indicator of global warming and cooling.
Researchers have provided "proof of concept that quantum spin information can be locally manipulated using high-speed electrical circuits," according to an abstract of their paper being published on the "Science Express" website. The findings are significant because they demonstrate a solid-state quantum logic gate (i.e, control mechanism) that works with gating technologies in today's electronics, today's computers. This research also moves esoteric spin-based technologies of spintronics and quantum computing from the futuristic closer to within reach of present-day possibilities.
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and Defense MicroElectronics Activity (DMEA) along with three University of California campuses have established a new Center for Nanoscience Innovation for Defense, to get university advances in the nanosciences into defense contractors' hands as soon as possible.
