How Cells Age The Universal Mechanism Of Aging

Parallels between mice and yeast uncover a potentially universal aging mechanism
The SIRT1 protein long associated with age-related disease, clusters around chromosomes in the nucleus of a mouse cell. In young organisms, SIRT1 effectively doubles as a gene-expression regulator and a DNA repairer. But when DNA damage accumulates—as it does with age—SIRT1 becomes too busy fixing broken DNA to keep the expression of hundreds of genes in check. This process is so similar to what happens in aging yeast that its discoverers believe it may represent a universal mechanism of aging... [more]
Source : Technology Review

Pedometers For Roman Carriages

Rome carriage horses to get 'black boxes' for a more stable life
Under plans drawn up by Rome city council, all horses will be equipped with pedometers the equine equivalent of a taxi meter, which will also work as a kind of black box. It will tell how many hours a horse has worked and whether the obligatory breaks have been observed. Horses would also be fitted with microchips recording the animal's identity, age and history... [more]
Source : Timesonline

Ethics And The Military Robots

Robots On The Battlefield
In the heat of battle, their minds clouded by fear, anger or vengefulness, even the best-trained soldiers can act in ways that violate the Geneva Conventions or battlefield rules of engagement. Now some researchers suggest that robots could do better. “My research hypothesis is that intelligent robots can behave more ethically in the battlefield than humans currently can,” said Ronald C. Arkin, a computer scientist at Georgia Tech, who is designing software for battlefield robots under contract with the Army... [more]
Source : Newyork Times

Rain-making bacteria in the atmosphere identified

Atmospheric microbes that may influence the water cycle
Bacteria and biological cells are the most efficient ice-forming catalysts in precipitation from locations around the globe. The formation of ice in clouds is important in the processes that lead to snow and rain. Ice nucleating bacteria – which have been referred to as “rain-making bacteria” – may be significant triggers of freezing in clouds and influence the water cycle. Most known ice-nucleating bacteria are plant pathogens, which are basically germs that can cause disease and freezing injury in plants... [more]
Source : Louisiana State University

Grow your own ograns - First transplant of a whole organ grown in lab

A 30-year-old Spanish woman has made medical history by becoming the first patient to receive a whole organ transplant grown using her own cells. Experts said the development opened a new era in surgery in which the repair of worn-out body parts would be carried out with personally customised replacements... [more] & [more] & [more]



Source : Independent & Timesonline & Telegraph

Kangaroo genes linked to humans

The first detailed map of the kangaroo genome has revealed "great chunks" of the human genome, proving that humans are more closely related to roos than previously thought. Unveiled by Australian researchers, the kangaroo genome has about 20,000 genes. It will allow scientists to trace back 150 million years to when the kangaroo shared an ancestor with humans... [more] & [more]
Source : The Age & The Australian

Wind and Sun Power the Ricoh Eco Friendly Billboard on Times Square

Powered by 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels, the sign is expected to save $12,000 to $15,000 per month in electricity costs. Ricoh, an office equipment and document storage supplier, estimates the sign will also keep 18 tons of carbon out of the environment. he billboard will be lit by floodlights rather than light-emitting diodes.
It won't have a backup generator, so it could go dark during a long period with little wind or sun... [more]


Source : IHT

Researchers discover the origin of Shar Pei dogs wrinkles

A group of researchers have discovered the origin of the mucinosis present in Shar Pei dogs, a hereditary disorder responsible for the characteristic wrinkles found in this breed. The genetic alteration in this breed which multiplies the activity of an enzyme responsible for an excessive production of hyaluronic acid, a substance which gathers under the skin and produces wrinkles. Understanding this molecular mechanism will give way to new reproduction programmes aimed at improving the health of these animals. It also will be used to learn more about human disorders such as Familial Mediterranean Fever or mucinosis, and to gain more knowledge on the ageing process... [more]
Source : Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

United Nation Asian skies poisoned by clouds of pollution

A noxious cocktail of soot, smog and toxic chemicals is blotting out the sun, fouling the lungs of millions of people and altering weather patterns in large parts of Asia according the United Nations. The byproduct of automobiles, slash-and-burn agriculture, wood-burning kitchen stoves and coal-fired power plants, these plumes of carbon dust rise over southern Africa, the Amazon basin and North America but are most pronounced in Asia, where so-called atmospheric brown clouds are dramatically reducing sunlight in many Chinese cities and leading to decreased crop yields in swaths of rural India... [more]
Source : IHT

Time-Reversed Sound Waves Locate Defects, Predict Earthquakes

Retrace your steps. It's a good way to find lost items: your glasses, your keys the TV remote. It can also be a good scientific way to find things. The Los Alamos geophysicist heads a team that uses time reversal—a technique that relies on the ability of waves to retrace their steps to their source—to find defects inside mechanical parts or to locate the sources of earthquakes deep underground. Time reversal is quite different from most techniques that use waves as locators. Time reversal achieves this great advantage over other wave-locator methods by using the information contained in all of the waves that reach a sensor during the recording interval, including waves of different types, waves that come directly from the source, and waves reflected from boundaries... [more]
Source : Los Alamos National Laboratory

Umbilical Cord Blood May Help Build New Heart Valves

New heart valves using stem cells from their umbilical cord blood
In the future, babies with heart defects may receive new heart valves created from cells in the blood from their umbilical cords, saved at birth. These valves could grow and change shape as a child develops, avoiding the need for repeat surgeries to replace outgrown valves from animal or human donor tissue or artificial valves... [more]

Source : American Heart Association

Tequila can turn into diamonds

Scientists Turn Tequila into Diamonds
The key to the surprising discovery is tequila's ratio of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, which lies within the "diamond growth region." The resulting diamond films could have inexpensive commercial applications as electrical insulators, say researchers. Originally, the scientists were experi,menting with creating diamonds from organic solutions such as acetone, ethanol, and methanol. They found that diluting ethanol in water resulted in high quality diamond films. The scientists then noticed that the ideal compound of 40 percent ethanol and 60 percent water was similar to the proportion used in tequila... [more] & [more]
Source : Physorg & CERN Courier

The dangers of nanocosmetics

Safety fears over nanocosmetics
Cosmetics containing tiny "nano" particles are being used widely despite unresolved issues surrounding their safety, a consumer watchdog warns. Many skin care products, including sunscreens and wrinkle creams, contain this technology to make them easier to apply and invisible on the skin, at the moment, consumers cannot tell which products use nanomaterials as many fail to mention it... [more] & [more]

Source : Telegraph & BBC

Left handed people are more prone to inhibition

Left-hand people 'more inhibited'
Left-handed people are more prone to inhibition and anxiety according to new behavioural research published by the University of Abertay Dundee. “In left-handers the right half of the brain is dominant, and it is this side that seems to control negative aspects of emotion. In right-handers the left brain dominates... [more]
Source : University of Abertay Dundee

Spain to let jobless defer mortgage payments

Spain: unemployed homeowners and some retirees could postpone payment of half their monthly bill for two years
Faced with an economy that is slipping into recession and the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, the Spanish government to allow out-of-work homeowners to defer mortgage payments. The Spanish government will underwrite the deferred payments, which may be spread over 10 years... [more]
Source : IHT

Tissue engineering with new scaffold mending broken hearts

New scaffold approach could engineer cardiac and other tissues
Broken hearts could one day be mended using a novel scaffold developed by MIT researchers and colleagues. The idea is that living heart cells or stem cells seeded onto such a scaffold would develop into a patch of cardiac tissue that could be used to treat congenital heart defects, or aid the recovery of tissue damaged by a heart attack. The biodegradable scaffold would be gradually absorbed into the body, leaving behind new tissue... [more]
Source : Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Men 'better than women at detecting infidelity'

Men score significantly better to detect cheating wife
Men are better at detecting infidelity than women but tend to suspect their female partners even when they are faithful, a study has found. Scientists interviewed 203 heterosexual couples about their infidelities in confidential questionnaires and found that although men were more likely to have cheated on their wives or girlfriends, with 29 per cent admitting to at least one affair compared to 18.5 per cent of the women, they were also more likely to detect infidelity... [more]
Source : Independent

Dogs can read emotion in human faces

Dogs 'may be able to read their owner's minds
Dogs are the only animals that can read emotion in faces much like humans, cementing their position as man's best friend, claim scientists. Research findings suggest that, like an understanding best friend, they can see at a glance if we are happy, sad, pleased or angry... [more]

Source : Telegraph

Symphonia globulifera tree contains genetic imprints of rain forests under climate change

How living fossil tree will react to future environmental change
A "living fossil" tree species is helping a understand how tropical forests responded to past climate change and how they may react to global warming in the future. Symphonia globulifera is a widespread tropical tree with a history that goes back some 45 million years... [more]
Source : University of Michigan

FTE Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth

The flux transfer event
A magnetic portal open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away. Tons of high-energy particles may flow through the opening before it closes again, It's called a flux transfer event or FTE a.k.a. a "flux transfer event connecting sun and earth [more]
Source : Science@NASA