Quantcast

‘Electric’ fish shed light on ways the brain directs movement

Scientists have long struggled to figure out how the brain guides the complex movement of our limbs, from the graceful leaps of ballerinas to the simple everyday act of picking up a cup of coffee. Using tools from robotics and neuroscience, two Johns Hopkins University researchers have found some tantalizing clues in an unlikely mode of motion: the undulations of tropical fish.

New compound shows promise in halting HIV spread

A new compound has shown promise in halting the spread of HIV by preventing the virus from replicating. Developed by Temple University researchers, 2-5AN6B could someday work as an effective treatment for HIV especially in conjunction with current drug treatments. Their work is published in the January issue of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.

Study tests oral insulin to prevent type 1 diabetes

Researchers have begun a clinical study of oral insulin to prevent or delay type 1 diabetes in at-risk people, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today. Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, an NIH-funded network of researchers dedicated to the understanding, prevention, and early treatment of type 1 diabetes, is conducting the study in more than 100 medical centers across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Fudge Ripple Composite May Replace Depleted Uranium

Armor-piercing projectiles made of depleted uranium have caused concern among soldiers storing and using them. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory are close to developing a new composite with an internal structure resembling fudge-ripple ice cream that is actually comprised of environmentally safe materials to do the job even better.

Blood-Cell-Sized Memory Device Beats Industry Estimates for Computing Capacity

Credit: Jonathan Green, John Nagarah and Habib Ahmad, California Institute of Technology Researchers have created an ultra-dense memory device the size of a white blood cell that has enough capacity to store the Declaration of Independence and still have space left over. The accomplishment represents an important step toward the creation of molecular computers that are much smaller and could be more powerful than today’s silicon-based computers.

Natural fibre may help take extra pounds away

It sounds almost too good to be true, but Dr. Raylene Reimer, a researcher at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Kinesiology, believes she may have found an important weapon in the war against obesity. Reimer and her colleagues are launching the first human trials anywhere to assess a promising natural fibre, which has already been shown to be effective in tests involving genetically obese rats.

Sore Loser

Upon hearing President Bush’s latest attempt to elevate politics over science, Galileo would be turning in his grave. (Or not turning at all, were the Inquisition still in play.)

Brain analysis confirms ancient ‘Hobbit’ a separate species

After the skeletal remains of an 18,000-year-old, “Hobbit”-sized human were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, some scientists thought that the specimen must have been a pygmy or a microcephalic. Not so, said Dean Falk, a paleoneurologist at Florida State University’s anthropology department, who, along with an international team of experts, created detailed maps of imprints left on the ancient hominid’s braincase and concluded that the so-called Hobbit was actually a new species closely related to Homo sapiens. Now after further study, Falk is absolutely convinced that her team was right.