news 2013

Yale researchers have discovered a targeted way to make proteins not generally found in nature by expanding the information encrypted in the genetic code. Working with bacteria, the Yale team rewrote most of the genetic instructions that encode all 20 amino acids - the building blocks of any protein - to create a specific, 21 st amino acid, researchers report in the January 2014 issue of the journal Angewandte Chemie.

As many as one in four women prisoners in England and Wales self-harm every year, with women in prison four times more likely to self-harm than men. The findings come from the largest ever study of self-harm in prisons led by Dr Seena Fazel and Professor Keith Hawton from the University of Oxford. The researchers examined the prevalence of self-harm in all prisoners in England and Wales between 2004 and 2009 and the results are published in the medical journal The Lancet .

New analysis shows that policies addressing energy consumption and technology choices individually can play an important part in reducing emissions. Discussions on curbing climate change tend to focus on comprehensive, emissions-focused measures: a global cap-and-trade scheme aimed at controlling carbon, or a tax on all carbon emissions.

South Pole Telescope scientists have detected for the first time a subtle distortion in the oldest light in the universe, which may help reveal secrets about the earliest moments in the universe's formation. The scientists observed twisting patterns in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background—light that last interacted with matter very early in the history of the universe, less than 400,000 years after the Big Bang.

UAlberta team says discovery of "mummified" dinosaur head crest offers new insight into dino appearance, behaviour. Artist's conception showing the newly discovered fleshy crest atop the head of an Edmontosaurus (Image: Julius Csotonyi) University of Alberta scientists have unearthed an exceptionally well-preserved fossil that yields new clues about the appearance and behaviour of duck-billed dinosaurs.

13 Dec 2013 University of Manchester scientists have helped demonstrate that long, structurally well-defined ribbons of graphene can be made. Writing , researchers used different characterisation techniques, including Raman spectroscopy - led by Dr Cinzia Casiraghi and her group - to confirm that these ribbons, called GNRs, are structurally well-defined and have excellent charge-carrier mobility.

A unique international study has found that the grammatical structures of language can influence children's early understanding of numbers. The joint research between the University of California at San Diego, UCL, King Saud University, University of Nova Gorica and Massachusetts Institute of Technology looked at the importance of language in the development of young children's understanding of numbers in Saudi Arabia, Slovenia and United States.

13 Dec 2013 Research by a University of Manchester scientist has been included in the top 10 breakthroughs in physics in 2013, as judged by Physics World magazine. Dr Roman Gorbachev was highly commended for research he and his team carried out the first measurement of Hofstadter's butterfly in a solid-state system.

A molecule containing a noble gas has been discovered in space by a team including astronomers from Cardiff University. The find was made using a Cardiff-led instrument aboard Europe's Herschel Space Observatory. The molecule, argon hydride, was seen in the Crab Nebula, the remains of a star that exploded 1,000 years ago.

Physics World honour latest accolade for IceCube Collaboration scientists, including a team from UAlberta. IceCube Collaboration scientists toast the completion of their Antarctic particle detector in December 2010. Now they have a new reason to cheer. (Photo: Chad Carpenter. IceCube/NSF) It's not every day that one has a hand in creating a new scientific field that could vastly improve our understanding of the universe.

Noble gas molecules have been detected in space for the first time in the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant, by astronomers at UCL. Watch a video explaining the findings Led by Professor Mike Barlow (UCL Physics & Astronomy) the team used ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to observe the Crab Nebula in far infrared light.

13 December 2013 Everyone has their own theory about how to best relieve the pain of a jellyfish sting, however a team of University of Sydney researchers has examined a host of often-used methods to determine which is the most effective. Their research, published in the Cochrane Library this week, has revealed that the best way to relieve the pain of a sting is not vinegar as commonly thought, but hot water immersion.

An international team of astronomers has measured for the first time the abundance of phosphorus created in a supernova explosion - a vital clue to understanding how life in the universe is possible. The team's observational results show that phosphorus is 100 times more abundant in the remains of a supernova than elsewhere in the galaxy, confirming that massive exploding stars are the crucibles in which the element is created.

UAlberta researcher lends expertise to discovery of biomarker that can pinpoint risk more than a decade before diabetes sets in. Peter Light lent his expertise to an international research team that discovered a simple blood test could pinpoint patients at risk of developing diabetes. Medical researchers with the University of Alberta played an important role in a Massachusetts General Hospital-led discovery that a blood test could pinpoint those at risk of developing diabetes—more than 10 years before the onset of the disease.

Millions of pounds are being spent to protect bats from disturbance by building development and renovations, however a lack of follow-up monitoring makes it difficult to tell whether conservation efforts are effective. Researchers from the University of Bristol Mammal Research Unit found that between 2003 and 2005 an estimated £4.3 million was spent by developers in England to provide new homes for displaced bats, but less than 20 per cent of sites were monitored afterwards for their impact on bat populations.

University of Washington Posted under: Health and Medicine , News Releases , Research , Science , Technology Scientists have discovered a second code hiding within DNA. This second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions contained in DNA and interpret mutations to make sense of health and disease.

New gene-editing system enables large-scale studies of gene function. Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, which identified nearly 20,000 protein-coding genes, scientists have been trying to decipher the roles of those genes. A new approach developed at MIT, the Broad Institute, and the Whitehead Institute should speed up the process by allowing researchers to study the entire genome at once.

A research team from The University of Nottingham has helped uncover a second rare genetic mutation which strongly increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease in later life. In an international collaboration, the University's Translational Cell Sciences Human Genetics research group has pinpointed a rare coding variation in the Phospholipase D3 (PLD3) gene which is more common in people with late-onset Alzheimer's than non-sufferers.

Professor Jay Hinton: "These findings show that salmonella goes through a complex choreography of different stages while infecting different parts of our bodies” Scientists have used a new method to map the response of every salmonella gene to conditions in the human body, providing new insight into how the bacteria triggers infection.

Sleep, or the lack of it, seems to affect just about every aspect of human physiology. Yet, the molecular pathways through which sleep deprivation wreaks its detrimental effects on the body remain poorly understood. Although numerous studies have looked at the consequences of sleep deprivation on the brain, comparatively few have directly tested its effects on peripheral organs.