Tech

Researchers at Queen's University have helped produce a new archaeological tool which could answer key questions in human evolution.

The new calibration curve, which extends back 50,000 years is a major landmark in radiocarbon dating-- the method used by archaeologists and geoscientists to establish the age of carbon-based materials.

It could help research issues including the effect of climate change on human adaption and migrations.

A team of scientists from Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has embarked on a major new project to unravel the secret lives of cancer cells that go dormant and self-cannibalize to survive periods of stress. The work may help produce new cancer therapies to stem changes that render cancer cells dangerous and resistant to treatment.

LIVERMORE, Calif. - Through Laboratory soil cleanup methods, residents of Bikini, Enjebi and Rongelap Islands - where nuclear tests were conducted on the atolls and in the ocean surrounding them in the 1950s - could have lower radioactive levels than the average background dose for residents in the United States and Europe.

New Rochelle, NY, February 11, 2010—Clinical testing and development of novel therapies based on advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine that will one day enable the repair and replacement of diseased or damaged human muscle, bone, tendons, and ligaments depends on the availability of good animal models.

Researchers at Queen's University suggest that policy makers examine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions implications for energy infrastructure as fossil fuel sources must be rapidly replaced by windmills, solar panels and other sources of renewable energy.

Their recommendations could be used to help policy makers restructure renewable energy production in a way that will optimize greenhouse gas emission reductions.

FAIRFAX, Va. – Do physicians provide more services to Medicare patients to make up for lower Medicare fees? With almost 42 million people enrolled in Medicare in the United States in 2008, it's a question that could have a very costly answer.

Type-2 diabetes, an increasingly common complication of obesity, is associated with poor impulse control. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine suggest that neurological changes result in this inability to resist temptation, which may in turn exacerbate diabetes.

Kidney dialysis patients often need repeated procedures, such as balloon angioplasty, to open blood vessels that become blocked or narrowed at the point where dialysis machines connect to the body. These blockages can impact the effectiveness of hemodialysis, a life-saving treatment to remove toxins from the blood when the kidneys are unable to do so.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Diamonds and gold may make some hearts flutter on Valentine's Day, but in a University at Buffalo laboratory, silver nanoparticles are being designed to do just the opposite.

Venison from the Sonnwald Forest, Tahitian vanilla, orange blossom salt – Johann Lafer uses only the finest ingredients in the dishes he prepares. The Austrian star chef also chooses the best-quality equipment for his Table d'Or cookery school in Guldental near Bad Kreuznach. The dining area boasts a special technological highlight. A 70-inch Full-HD-display which can be operated just by pointing a finger.

Neurotoxins from cone snails and spiders help neurobiologists Sebastian Auer, Annika S. Stürzebecher and Dr. Ines Ibañez-Tallon of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, to investigate the function of ion channels in neurons. Ion channels in the cell membrane enable cells to communicate with their environment and are therefore of vital importance.

Troy, N.Y. – At this very moment, tens of thousands of home computers around the world are quietly working together to solve the largest and most basic mysteries of our galaxy. Enthusiastic and inquisitive volunteers from Africa to Australia are donating the computing power of everything from energy-guzzling decade-old desktops to sleek new netbooks which would otherwise be in sleep mode to help computer scientists and astronomers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute map the shape of our Milky Way galaxy.

Scott & White Memorial Hospital vascular surgeons Clifford Buckley, M.D., and Ruth Bush, M.D., performed one of the nation's first implants of a Next Generation Conformable GORE TAG Thoracic Endoprosthesis device for the treatment of a traumatic aortic transection as part of a national clinical trial. The goal of the trial is to gain insight into using thoracic endografts for patients with traumatic aortic transection (tear) as a less invasive alternative to major surgery.

SAN FRANCISCO—February 10, 2010—Although the Department of Veteran Affairs is rolling out treatments nationwide as fast as possible to adequately provide for newly diagnosed PTSD patients, there are still significant barriers to veterans getting a full course of PTSD treatment. The study is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress.

University of Adelaide researchers in Australia are finding new ways to block the movement of cells in the body which can cause autoimmune diseases and the spread of cancer.

Led by Professor of Immunology Shaun McColl, the researchers have identified molecular "receptors" on the surface of cells which are involved in helping cells migrate to sites where they can cause disease.

"A number of diseases like cancer and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and arthritis, involve the inappropriate migration of cells," says Professor McColl.