Tiny

Tiny particles could solve billion-dollar problem

New research from Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology finds that nanoparticles of gold and palladium are the most effective catalysts yet identified for remediation of one of the nation's most pervasive and troublesome groundwater pollutants, trichloroethene or TCE. The research, conducted by engineers at Rice and the Georgia Institute of Technology, w...

Tiny scaffolding allows stem cells to become working fat cells

Researchers here have used a new microscopic, three-dimensional scaffolding to coax mouse stem cells to transform themselves into fat cells, and then to function identical to how fat cells naturally do in the body. While other studies have previously grown fat cells, or adipocytes, in the laboratory, those cells never completely functioned in the same way they do in normal tissue. They fai...

Chemicals in tattoo inks need closer scrutiny

As tattoos have grown in popularity, so have complaints of adverse side effects associated with both their application and removal. A new study, done by chemistry students at Northern Arizona University, looked at the chemical composition of a variety of tattoo inks to better understand their potential health risks. The findings, presented today at the 229th national meeting of the Americ...

To control germs, scientists deploy tiny agents provocateurs

Aiming to thwart persistent bacterial infections and better control group behaviors of certain microorganisms, scientists are creating artificial chemicals that infiltrate and sabotage bacterial "mobs." Reporting the work here today (March 13) at the 229th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry professor Helen Blackwell described the o...

Researchers feed tiny pills of RNA to planarians to identify genes essential for regeneration

University of Utah researchers-feeding microscopic pills of RNA to quarter-inch long worms called planarians-have identified many genes essential to understanding a biological mystery that has captivated scientists for hundreds of years: regeneration. In pinpointing the genes, the U School of Medicine researchers have established the planarian as a genetically sound model for human biolog...

Nanoparticles, nanoshells, nanotubes: How tiny specks may provide powerful tools against cancer

They're but a tiny speck, existing in a variety of forms: particles, tubes, shells, even a soccerball-like shape. They also share a common prefix: "nano," connoting their size, a billionth of a meter or roughly 25-millionth of an inch. Today, cancer researchers are exploring the potential of such nanostructures to exquisitely target cancer cells without harming surrounding tissue, and to...

Once given 'no respect,' cells' tiny RNAS take driver's seat

Ribonucleic acid, or RNA, has long been thought to be important only to translate a gene's DNA into the proteins that are cells' workhorses. But new evidence shows that tiny bits of RNA not used to make proteins actually play central roles in normal biology and in the development of cancers. "Scientists have known for a few years that production of these tiny RNAs, known as microRNAs, is o...

Virus uses tiny RNA to evade the immune system

In the latest version of the hide-and-seek game between pathogens and the hosts they infect, researchers have found that a virus appears to cloak itself with a recently discovered gene silencing device to evade detection and destruction by immune cells. The report by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers in an article published in the June 2, 2005, issue of Nature may be the...

Tiny avalanche photodiodes target bioterrorism agents

After the anthrax attacks in the United States in 2001 the threat of a larger and more deadly bioterrorism attack -- perhaps from smallpox, plague or tularemia -- became very real. But the ability to detect such biological agents and rapidly contain an attack is still being developed. In a significant finding, researchers at Northwestern University's Center for Quantum Devices have demonst...

Tiny roundworm's telomeres help scientists to tease apart different types of aging

The continual and inevitable shortening of telomeres, the protective "caps" at the end of all 46 human chromosomes, has been linked to aging and physical decline. Once they are gone, so are we. But there are more ways than one to grow old. Researchers at Salk Institute for Biological Studies demonstrate for the first time that the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans succumbs to the trials of...

Tiny polyps gorge themselves to survive coral bleaching

Certain species of coral have surprised researchers by showing an unexpectedly successful approach towards survival when seriously bleached. The discovery, derived from experiments on coral reefs in Hawaii , provides new insights into how these tiny animals face a multitude of environmental threats. The report by Ohio State University resear...

Scientists discover interplay between genes and viruses in tiny ocean plankton

New evidence from open-sea experiments shows there's a constant shuffling of genetic material going on among the ocean's tiny plankton. It happens via ocean-dwelling viruses, scientists report this week in the journal Science. Conducted by biological oceanographers Sallie Chisholm and her colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the research is uncovering a new facet of evo...

Tiny RNA molecules fine-tune the brain's synapses

Non-coding regions of the genome ?those that don't code for proteins ?are now known to include important elements that regulate gene activity. Among those elements are microRNAs, tiny, recently discovered RNA molecules that suppress gene expression. Increasing evidence indicates a role for microRNAs in the developing nervous system, and researchers from Children's Hospital Boston now demon...

MIT researchers build tiny batteries with viruses

MIT scientists have harnessed the construction talents of tiny viruses to build ultra-small "nanowire" structures for use in very thin lithium-ion batteries. The goal of the work, led by MIT Professors Angela Belcher, Paula Hammond...

Tiny shock absorbers help bacteria stick around inside the body

Bacteria have hair-like protrusions with a sticky protein on the tip that lets them cling to surfaces. The coiled, bungee cord-like structure of the protrusions helps the bacteria hang on tightly, even under rough fluid flow inside the body, researchers report in the journal PLoS Biology. A group of researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle and ETH Zurich in Switzerland have...

On the track of tiny larvae, a new model elucidates connections in marine ecology

A computer model newly developed by researchers combines ocean current simulations and genetic forecasting to help scientists predict animal dispersion patterns and details of the ecology of coral reefs across the Caribbean Sea. The work is reported by Heather M. Galindo and Stephen R. Palumbi of Stanford University, and Donald B. Olson of the University of Miami, and appears in the August 22nd i...

Tiny airborne particles are a major cause of climate change

A scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and his colleagues caused a storm in the atmospheric community when they suggested a few years back that tiny airborne particles, known as aerosols, may be one of the main culprits causing climate change ?having, on a local scale, an even greater impact than the greenhouse gases effect. Attempts to understand how these particles influence clouds ha...

Tiny bones rewrite textbooks

Small but remarkable fossils found in New Zealand will prompt a major rewrite of prehistory textbooks, showing for the first time that the so-called "land of birds" was once home to mammals as well. The tiny fossilised bones - part of a jaw and a leg - belonged to a unique, mouse-sized land animal unlike any other mammal known. They were unearthed from the rich St Bathans fossil bed, in th...

Ferns provide model for tiny motors powered by evaporation

Scientists looked to ferns to create a novel energy scavenging device that uses the power of evaporation to move itself---materials that could provide a method for powering micro and nano devices with just water or heat. "We've shown that this idea works," said Michel Maharbiz, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and principal investigator in the group that b...

Tiny Tampa Bay fish key to evolution of immune system

Armed at first with nothing more than boots, a screen and a bucket, scientists studying a tiny primitive fish that makes up 70 percent of the biomass in Tampa Bay now say they have found the "missing link" marking the point in evolution that led to the development of the modern-day human immune system. The inch-long spineless fish, called a lancelet, produces a key immune system protein th...

Tiny clue reveals new path toward heart disease

Geneticists have discovered a new gene that may put individuals at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The identification of the gene, called kalirin, implicates a biological mechanism never before linked to cardiovascular disease, according to the Duke researchers who led the study. Further study of this new clue could lead to novel ways to treat or even prevent the disease...

Despite their heft, many dinosaurs had surprisingly tiny genomes

They might be giants, but many dinosaurs apparently had genomes no larger than that of a modern hummingbird. The researchers, at Harvard...

Row over study puts Korea's scientific community under scrutiny again

This week's BMJ investigates a bitter row over a scientific paper that is putting Korea's scientific community under scrutiny once again. The dispute has pitted a young Korean doctor, Jeong Hwan Kim, against Kwang Yul Cha, a fertility specialist and one of the most powerful players in the country's struggle for biotech supremacy, writes journalist Jonathan Gornall. It is also threatening t...

Common cancer gene sends death order to tiny killer

The research team identified a tiny bit of genetic code, a microRNA called miR-34a that participates in p53's uncanny ability to kill cells likely to become malignant because of damaged genes in...