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Tool makes search for Martian life easier
RICHLAND, Wash. — Finding life on Mars could get easier with a creative adaption to a common analytical tool that can be installed directly on the robotic arm of a space rover.
In a recent paper published online in the journal Planetary and S…
A second pathway for antidepressants
Using a unique and relatively simple cell-based fluorescent assay they developed, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC), Berkeley have ide…
Tiny channels carry big information
They say it’s the little things that count, and that certainly holds true for the channels in transmembrane proteins, which are small enough to allow ions or molecules of a certain size to pass through, while keeping out larger objects. Artificia…
Scorpion has welcome sting for heart bypass patients
A toxin found in the venom of the Central American bark scorpion (Centruroides margaritatus) could hold the key to reducing heart bypass failures, according to research from the University of Leeds.
The study, published online in Cardiovascular Re…
Bioelectrical signals turn stem cells’ progeny cancerous
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass.–Biologists at Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences have discovered that a change in membrane voltage in newly identified “instructor cells” can cause stem cells’ descendants to trigger melanoma-like growth in p…
Breakthrough: With a chaperone, copper breaks through
Information on proteins is critical for understanding how cells function in health and disease. But while regular proteins are easy to extract and study, it is far more difficult to gather information about membrane proteins, which are responsible f…
Channeling efforts to fight cystic fibrosis
PHILADELPHIA – The lab of Kevin Foskett, PhD, the Isaac Ott Professor of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has found a possible new target for fighting cystic fibrosis (CF) that could compensate for the lack of a…
Scientists identify molecules involved in touch and other mechanically activated systems
LA JOLLA, CA — September 2, 2010 — Scripps Research Institute scientists have identified two proteins with potential to be important targets for research into a wide range of health problems, including pain, deafness, and cardiac and kidney dysfu…
European satellite reaches orbit – from total loss to full recovery
In the late afternoon of Friday 31 January, a final trim manoeuvre nudged the Artemis satellite into its assigned position in geostationary orbit, completing a most remarkable satellite recovery operation which has lasted 18 months.