science wire

Cambridge, Mass. November 25, 2009 - A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate tumors in mammals, scientists report this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The new approach, pioneered by bioengineers and immunologists at Harvard University, uses plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and implanted under the skin to reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack tumors.

A new exhibition and commentary from UCL researchers demonstrate the wide-reaching ramifications of Darwin's evolutionary theory, published 150 years ago today in On the Origin of Species .

New research at the University of Birmingham on Darwin's Origin of Species, first published in 1859, 150 years ago today, has uncovered the moment when Darwin saw that his thought had changed the world forever. Barbara Bordalejo, of the University's Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University, today published online her Variorum Edition of Darwin's Origin.

DarwinTunes: take part in an experiment to find out if culture evolves by natural selection Imperial researchers to track the evolution of music online %0A " By Danielle Reeves Monday 23 November 200

A pioneering new research centre which will use advanced techniques in computing and robotics to unlock the secrets of the brain is set to open at the University of Birmingham in 2010. The centre for Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics (CN-CR) will discover more about how the brain learns, ages and recovers from severe injuries and degenerative or developmental neurological disorders.

20. Freiburg i.Br. Universität Freiburg DFG Approves New Collaborative Research Center on "Control of Cell Motility in Morphogenesis, Tumor Invasion, and Metastatic Spread" Freiburg, 20.

November 20, 2009 — Standing by the poster that represented research from their team at the Diabetes Research Institute, Miller School researchers Margarita Nieto, M.D.

PA 297/09 A charity with close links to The University of Nottingham is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a symposium at the Royal Society in London.

A professor from the University of Sheffield has been awarded a grant of almost £25,000 by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to carry out research into incurable neuromuscular conditions.

The UCLA Stroke Center at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center will be part of a new stroke-certified hospital system that has the potential to greatly improve response times, treatments and overall outcomes for those who suffer a stroke in Los Angeles County.

Rector of Imperial College London Sir Roy Anderson to return focus to international research and advisory career; Sir Keith O'Nions is Acting Rector from 1 January 2010 - %0A " For immediate release

A national research unit which brings together academics and clinicians to conduct novel research into the management of hearing loss and tinnitus officially opens this month.

BERKELEY — Meiosis – the pairing and recombination of chromosomes, followed by segregation of half to each egg or sperm cell – is a major crossroads in all organisms reproducing sexually. Yet, how the cell precisely choreographs these chromosomal interactions is a long-standing question. Chromosome motion can be directly observed by microscopic imaging of worms expressing fluorescent fusion proteins.

Press release Links: Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.

UCL's Andrew Hayward is to lead a £2.1m project examining the symptoms, prevention and treatment of the 2009 H1N1 influenza strain, known as swine flu, as part of a major collaboration announced today.

PA 287/09 When the Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched later this month 4,000 microscopic worms will be onboard. Their mission — to help experts in human physiology at The University of Nottingham understand more about what triggers the body to build — and lose — muscle. The worms are bound for the International Space Station (ISS) where they will experience the same weightless conditions which can cause dramatic muscle loss in astronauts.

?Self-manufacturing pill? wins students international prizes Imperial College London students win a clutch of prizes at the 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Gold medal Imperi

PhD student Irma'T. Kurniawan discusses the surprising motivations for sporting performance in the latest issue of Opticon1826 . Next time you watch a heavy weight lifting tournament, tell the person next to you not to boo the person that he doesn't want to win. A study recently published shows that modifying someone's arousal level can influence their force production.

One current and one former student from UCL have represented the UK at the prestigious International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in South Korea.

Message to UCLA administrative officers, deans, department chairs, directors, vice chancellors and faculty of the medical echool and medical sciences from Scott Waugh, executive vice chancellor and p

Cambridge, Mass. November 4, 2009 - Colonies of army ants, whose long columns and marauding habits are the stuff of natural-history legend, are usually antagonistic to each other, attacking soldiers from rival colonies in border disputes that keep the colonies separate. But new work by a researcher at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen shows that in some cases the colonies can be cooperative instead of combative.

BERKELEY — After a late night of texting, instant-messaging or updating Facebook, it’s hardly surprising that many teenagers show up groggy for school.

Cambridge, Mass. October 29, 2009 - Biologists have shown that independent but similar molecular changes turned a harmless digestive enzyme into a toxin in two unrelated species - a shrew and a lizard - giving each a venomous bite. The work, described this week in the journal Current Biology by researchers at Harvard University, suggests that protein adaptation may be a highly predictable process, one that could eventually help discover other toxins across a wide array of species.

Argentine ants in their native habitat engage in inter-colony warfare, keeping their numbers in check. In introduced ranges, these ants are often genetically similar, allowing them to form supercolonies. Researchers have now isolated and synthesized chemicals used by Argentine ants to distinguish friend from foe.

27. Bern - SNF As Baudelaire and Proust were well aware, sensory perception and emotions are intimately linked.

The UCL Genetics Institute (UGI) will be holding a public seminar to mark its launch on 11 November.

BERKELEY — The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded the University of California, Berkeley, $15.7 million over five years to allow physical scientists and engineers to open a new front in the war on cancer.

A team of geneticists has recently proposed a set of standards designed to elucidate the quality of publicly available genetic sequencing information.

Press Release Media coverage The first UCL Venture Research Fellowship has been awarded to Nick Lane, UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment.

University of Illinois psychology professor Joshua Gulley and his colleagues found that amphetamine use in adolescence can lead to long-term impairments in memory. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer CHAMPAIGN, lll. Rats exposed to high doses of amphetamines at an age that corresponds to the later years of human adolescence display significant memory deficits as adults - long after the exposure ends, researchers report.

Ironing out the genetic cause of hemoglobin problems Gene associated with hemoglobin regulation identified in new research - %0A " Imperial College London News Release Under strict embargo for 18&per

Student biologists take tropical trip to the rainforest Third-year students enjoy Imperial's first field trip to Uganda %0A " By Danielle Reeves Tuesday 13 October 2009 Having your packed lunch stole

UCL is co-ordinating a project to help young researchers develop careers in cardiovascular engineering.

The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council and published , appears to show improved connectivity in parts of the brain involved in making movements necessary to catch the balls. 'We tend to think of the brain as being static, or even beginning to degenerate, once we reach adulthood,' says Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg of the Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, who led the work.

The University of Oxford has released some sample Oxford questions - direct from the tutors who conduct the's - to provoke thought and help explain the reasoning behind even the most odd-sounding questions.

Cambridge, Mass. October 8, 2009 - Scientists have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of the human genome, paving the way for new insights into genomic function and expanding our understanding of how cellular DNA folds at scales that dwarf the double helix. In a paper featured this week on the cover of the journal Science, they describe a new technology called Hi-C and apply it to answer the thorny question of how each of our cells stows some three billion base pairs of DNA while maintaining access to functionally crucial segments.

UCL and Yale University have formed an alliance to improve global health through scientific research, clinical and educational collaboration.

The University of Plymouth is to showcase its pioneering marine and environmental expertise to one of the world’s most influential research funding bodies.

BERKELEY — The bulk of the work for which Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and John Szostak won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine took place at the University of California, B

PA 259/09 A pioneering project to make our green vegetables even better for us has been launched by scientists at The University of Nottingham. The research will underpin future technological developments in agriculture that could help fight a looming food security crisis. 'Greens' like cabbages and broccoli are a well-known part of a healthy diet but they don't contain as large an amount of key minerals as they might, according to the lead scientist on the project, Associate Professor of Plant Nutrition, Dr Martin Broadley.

PA 255/09 Avian influenza (H5N1), rabies, plague, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), and more recently swine flu (H1N1) are all examples of diseases that have made the leap from animals to humans.