Dear Reader ,
Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for week 06:
FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice
Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show that use of a drug in mice appears to quickly reverse the pathological, cognitive and memory deficits caused by the onset of Alzheimer's. The results point to the significant potential that the medication, bexarotene, has to help the roughly 5.4 million Americans suffering from the progressive brain disease.
Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil
(PhysOrg.com) -- In 2010, Svante Pääbo and his colleagues presented a draft version of the genome from a small fragment of a human finger bone discovered in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. The DNA sequences showed that this individual came from a previously unknown group of extinct humans that have become known as Denisovans. Together with their sister group the Neandertals, Denisovans are the closest extinct relatives of currently living humans.
New power source discovered
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and RMIT University have made a breakthrough in energy storage and power generation.
Physicists 'record' magnetic breakthrough
An international team of scientists has demonstrated a revolutionary new way of magnetic recording which will allow information to be processed hundreds of times faster than by current hard drive technology.
A quantum connection between light and motion
(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists have demonstrated a system in which light is used to control the motion of an object that is large enough to be seen with the naked eye at the level where quantum mechanics governs its behavior.
Physicists build highly efficient 'no-waste' laser
A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that funnels all its photons into lasing, without any waste.
Soraa LED light may dim 50-watt halogen rivals
(PhysOrg.com) -- Soraa, a Fremont, California company founded in 2008, this week launched its first product, a light that uses LEDS (light emitting diodes). The "Soraa LED MR16 lamp" is the "perfect" replacement for traditional halogen lamps, according to the release. The company says it is an ideal replacement for 50-watt halogen because the Soraa product delivers better beam and light quality. Soraa LED lamps use 75 percent less energy, deliver 10x lamp life, and produce higher quality light than halogen lamps, according to the company.
Explained: Sigma
It's a question that arises with virtually every major new finding in science or medicine: What makes a result reliable enough to be taken seriously? The answer has to do with statistical significance -- but also with judgments about what standards make sense in a given situation.
Navy to begin tests on electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher
The Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program will take an important step forward in the coming weeks when the first industry railgun prototype launcher is tested at a facility in Dahlgren, Va., officials said Feb. 6.
ESO team succeeds in linking telescopes at Paranal Observatory into giant VLT
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers working as part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at the Cerra Paranal Mountain Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile, have succeeded in virtually connecting all four main Unit Telescopes (UTs) at the site, completing a project ten years in the making. Connecting the telescopes together virtually allows for the creation of a single virtual mirror that allows researchers to capture images from space as if all of the telescopes were in fact one giant telescope with a mirror 130m in diameter. Combined, the telescopes are known as the Very Large Telescope (VLT).
Anonymous briefly knocks CIA website offline (Update 2)
The website of the Central Intelligence Agency was briefly inaccessible on Friday after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have knocked it offline.
Small modular reactor design could be a 'SUPERSTAR'
(PhysOrg.com) -- Though most of today's nuclear reactors are cooled by water, we've long known that there are alternatives; in fact, the world's first nuclear-powered electricity in 1951 came from a reactor cooled by sodium. Reactors cooled by liquid metals such as sodium or lead have a unique set of abilities that may again make them significant players in the nuclear industry.
Solar start-ups set new efficiency records
(PhysOrg.com) -- Although Alta Devices and Semprius make different types of solar panels, both start-ups have been breaking records in the past few days. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Alta Devices announced that its solar panels have achieved an efficiency of 23.5%, which has been verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as the highest solar panel efficiency to date. And Semprius, based in Durham, North Carolina, has announced that its concentrated solar panels have achieved an efficiency of 33.9%. Unlike traditional solar panels, concentrated solar panels use lenses to concentrate sunlight at intensities of up to 1,000 suns.
Hydrogen from acidic water: Researchers develop potential low cost alternative to platinum for splitting water
A technique for creating a new molecule that structurally and chemically replicates the active part of the widely used industrial catalyst molybdenite has been developed by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). This technique holds promise for the creation of catalytic materials that can serve as effective low-cost alternatives to platinum for generating hydrogen gas from water that is acidic.
Why are there so few fish in the Earth's oceans?
(PhysOrg.com) -- A Stony Brook University researcher has found that, contrary to popular belief, there are not plenty of fish in the sea.
Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy
For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, a compound derived from this extract's bioactive ingredient, could be used to treat many autoimmune disorders as well. Now, researchers from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine have discovered the molecular secrets behind this herbal extract's power.
Short fasting cycles work as well as chemotherapy in mice
Man may not live by bread alone, but cancer in animals appears less resilient, judging by a study that found chemotherapy drugs work better when combined with cycles of short, severe fasting.
A mitosis mystery solved: How chromosomes align perfectly in a dividing cell
Although the process of mitotic cell division has been studied intensely for more than 50 years, Whitehead Institute researchers have only now solved the mystery of how cells correctly align their chromosomes during symmetric mitosis.
Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly
(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads to a reduction in several maladies often associated with aging, such as osteoporosis, stroke and cognitive impairment. But until now, according to the authors of a new study on its benefits, no such studies have been undertaken to determine if regular tea drinking provides other benefits, such as a reduction in functional disabilities. Because of this, a research project was undertaken by a team from Tokyo’s Graduate School of Medicine, and they have found that older people who drink more green tea tend to have less functional disabilities than do those who don’t. They have published their findings in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
To perform with less effort, practice beyond perfection
Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study.
This email is a free service of PhysOrg.com
You received this email because you subscribed to our list.
If you no longer want to receive this email use the link below to unsubscribe.
http://www.physorg.com/profile/nwletter/
You are subscribed as jmabs1@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment