Cornell University
Some are cylindrical, some look like a double sandwich and some are continuous three-dimensional cubic structures. All are generated by a class of designer macromolecules that could lead to improvements in solar-cell and fuel-cell technology, as well as advances in ultra-miniaturization of electronic devices.
These synthesized molecules self-assemble themselves into structures with dimensions on the order of ten nanometers, an unusual process that mimics nature's most fundamental system of organizing living tissue. (One nanometer is about the width of three silicon atoms).
Our bodies have such great capacity to heal, it's hard to imagine that we naturally manufacture a product in our immune system that can endanger our own DNA and provide a biological footstep to cancer. But this is precisely the case. Researchers have found that a naturally occurring enzyme called activation-induced deaminase is a ''genome destroyer'' that can initiate the DNA damage contributing to some B cell cancers, including Burkitt's lymphoma.
If brain size is proportional to body size in virtually all vertebrate animals, Cornell University biologists reasoned, shouldn't eye size and body size scale the same way? While they failed to find a one-size-fits-all rule for eyes, what they learned about the 300 vertebrates they studied helps to explain how animals evolved precisely the orbs they need for everyday life.
Scientific findings from the NASA rover Spirit's first three months on Mars will be published Friday, marking the start of a flood of peer-reviewed discoveries in scientific journals from the continuing two-rover adventure. Researchers using Spirit's toolkit of geological instruments from early January into April read the record from rocks and soils in the rover's landing area and found a history of volcanic blanketing, impact cratering, wind effects and possible past episodes of scant underground liquid water. Evidence for the water comes from mineral alteration in the veins, inclusions and coatings of some rocks. Eleven reports with 120 collaborating authors from around the world lay out details in the Aug. 6 issue of the journal Science.
Scientists have uncovered the genes that enable plants to interact with beneficial soil dwelling fungi and to access phosphate delivered to the roots by these fungi -- a first step, they say, toward enhancing the beneficial relationship for crop plants , while reducing fertilizer use and phosphate pollution in the environment.
Studies have shown that overweight and obese mothers are significantly more likely to quit breast-feeding their infants sooner than do healthy-weight mothers. An important reason why is the weaker biological response that heavier women have to their babies' suckling, according to a study conducted by researchers at Cornell University and Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, N.Y.
A new study suggests that higher-than-normal amounts of a selenium-containing enzyme could promote type 2 diabetes. The researchers found that mice with elevated levels of the antioxidant enzyme develop the precursors of diabetes at much higher rates than did control mice.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has named the first six fellows of its new Discovery Corps: a pilot program that is exploring innovative ways for scientists to combine their research expertise with service to society as a whole. The initial group will undertake projects that range from preventing corrosion in Baroque-era organ pipes, to training retirees to work with kids in science classes, to attracting undergraduates to seek careers in science and technology.
Just as low-carbohydrate diets are trimming the American waistline, more judicious use of hydrocarbon-based fossil fuels would reduce U.S. energy consumption by 33 percent and save consumers $438 billion a year by 2014, according to a new analysis by ecologists. They found the most fat for trimming -- with the best potential for major energy savings -- in the transportation, residential heating and cooling, industrial and food-production sectors. Energy conservation and implementation of energy-efficient technologies also would allow significant savings in the production and use of chemicals, paper and lumber, household appliances, lighting and metals, the analysis showed.
Among women who are not anemic, only those with tissue-iron deficiencies can benefit from taking iron supplements, concludes a new study by nutritionists. ''Supplementation makes no difference in exercise-training improvements in women with low iron storage who are not yet tissue-iron deficient or anemic.'
An extra beer or glass of wine during a workday lunch or happy hour may seem harmless. But a new Cornell University study shows that when alcohol consumption in and around the workplace increases, so does the risk of harassment of women by male co-workers. The study points to the dangers of workplace cultures that tolerate drinking and offers lessons to both workers and employers.
More than half the urban teenagers surveyed in a study by a Cornell University researcher say they feel disconnected from their community. The reasons for this come, in part, from feeling discriminated against by unknown adults on the streets, in businesses and by the police. The young people also report feeling disconnected from their schools. The older the students, the less connected they say they feel.
Scientists examining what NASA's Opportunity is showing them about Mars rocks are seeing into the past, and what they're seeing indicates water once flowed there. The outcrop right next to where Opportunity landed holds evidence that the rocks have spent time drenched in liquid water. Members of the Mars Exploration Rovers' international science team presented that evidence to news reporters at NASA Headquarters in Washington on March 2. "Liquid water once flowed through these rocks. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. "We've been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion."
NASA officials are set to make a major announcement Tuesday regarding findings on the planet Mars. Speculation is that the agency will reveal that the Mars Rover has found evidence the red planet was once a lush, water-rich world. Dr. Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator, Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters, will make opening remarks. Panelists will include: Professor Steve Squyres, Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Principal Investigator, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Professor John Grotzinger, MER science team geologist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.; Dr. Benton C. Clark III, MER science team member and Chief Scientist of Space Exploration, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Astronautics Operations, Denver; Dr. Joy Crisp, MER Project Scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; and
Dr. Jim Garvin, Lead Scientist for Mars and the Moon, NASA Headquarters.
People lie, research has shown, in one-fourth of their daily, social interactions. But according to Cornell University communications researchers, people are most likely to lie on the telephone. In fact, the researchers say, phone fibbing is even more likely than when people use e-mail, instant messaging or even speak face-to-face. "Some psychologists did not expect this. Lies makes us feel uncomfortable, and you would think we should be using media to reduce that discomfort, but that's not the case," says Jeff Hancock, Cornell assistant professor of communication.
