Search This Blog

Saturday, August 20, 2011

SCIENCE UPDATES

1.Growth of Cities Endangers Global Environment, According to New Analysis
The explosive growth of cities worldwide over the next two decades poses significant risks to people and the global environment, according to a meta-analysis published August 19 in PLoS ONE.
2.Virus Uses 'Swiss Army Knife' Protein to Cause Infection 
In an advance in understanding Mother Nature's copy machines, motors, assembly lines and other biological nano-machines, scientists are describing how a multipurpose protein on the tail of a virus bores into bacteria like a drill bit, clears the shavings out of the hole and enlarges the hole.
3.Spoilt Food Soon a Thing of the Past?
Unwanted bacteria, yeasts and moulds can cause major problems for the food industry as well as consumers. Norwegian researchers have developed new methods to identify potential sources of contamination.
4.Four-Year-Olds Know That Being Right Is Not Enough
As they grow, children learn a lot about the world from what other people tell them. Along the way, they have to figure out who is a reliable source of information. A new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that when children reach around 4 years, they start noticing whether someone is actually knowledgeable or if they're just getting the answers from someone else.
5. New Treatment Approach for Alzheimer's Disease: Researchers Plan to Use Specialized Cells of the Immune System
A research team at Charité -- Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Universitätsklinik Freiburg has documented how the immune system can counteract the advancement of Alzheimer's disease. In a newly published paper, they showed that certain scavenger cells in the immune system, called macrophages, play a key role in this context. Furthermore, they were able to demonstrate how special cell-signaling proteins, called chemokines, mediate the defense process.
6. Nature Reaches for the High-Hanging Fruit: Tools of Paleontology Shed New Light On Diversity of Natural Plant Chemicals
In the first study of its kind, researchers have used tools of paleontology to gain new insights into the diversity of natural plant chemicals. They have shown that during the evolution of these compounds nature doesn't settle for the 'low-hanging fruit' but favours rarer, harder to synthesise forms, giving pointers that will help in the search for potent new drugs. 

No comments:

Post a Comment