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How to directly sequence small genomes without library preparation

Can greatly reduce DNA consumption and the time it takes to generate sequencing data from small genomes
December 12, 2012

genome

For the first time, researchers have sequenced DNA molecules without the need for the standard pre-sequencing workflow known as library preparation.

Using this approach, the researchers generated sequence data using considerably less DNA than is required using standard methods, even down to less than one nanogram of DNA; 500 times less DNA than is needed by standard practices.

Libraries are collections of DNA fragments derived from… read more

Topics: Biotech

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Toxic interaction in neurons that leads to dementia and ALS

December 12, 2012

Theoretical model illustrating how misregulation of human SORT1 splicing affects PGRN levels (credit:

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida have uncovered a toxic cellular process by which a protein that maintains the health of neurons becomes deficient and can lead to dementia.

The findings shed new light on the link between culprits implicated in two devastating neurological diseases: Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which afflicts physicist Stephen Hawking.

There… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Eyewire: a citizen science quest to map the connectome

December 12, 2012

J cell (credit: Eyewire)

It’s time to mobilize a global community of citizen neuroscientists to trace the 3D structure of J Cells and understand how retinal connectomes relate to visual perception. — Eyewire

MIT’s Seung Lab has released EyeWire, which will enlist “citizen scientists” to to map the 3D structure of neurons by analyzing nanoscale brain images using web browsers and mobile devices.

“They will trace… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Social Networking/Web/Education

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New optical tweezers trap specimens just a few nanometers wide

Could allow for studying individual proteins and unraveling them
December 11, 2012

This illustration shows the new aperture design (left) with two layers of silver separated by another of silicon dioxide. The structure focuses light in a novel way to trap particles smaller than ever before. The focused beams are shown in the illustration on the right. (Credit: Stanford School of Engineering)

A technique known as optical trapping uses beams of light as tweezers to hold and manipulate tiny particles. Stanford researchers have found a new way to trap particles smaller than 10 nanometers — and potentially down to just a few atoms in size — which until now have escaped light’s grasp.

To grasp and move microscopic objects, such as bacteria and the components of living cells, scientists can harness… read more

Topics: Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

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US needs new deep-space Agency, Apollo astronaut says

December 11, 2012

harrison-schmitt-apollo17-astronaut-moonwalk

The U.S. should create a new agency dedicated to manned exploration of the moon, Mars and other destinations in deep space, says former Apollo astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Space.com reports.

Schmitt suggests the new agency be called the National Space Exploration Administration.

The new deep-space agency should “stay young, and develop a management structure that is not so hierarchical — that is actually a… read more

Topics: Space

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Brain cells made from urine

December 11, 2012

neurons_from_urine

Some of the waste that humans flush away every day could become a powerful source of brain cells to study disease, and may even one day be used in therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

Scientists have found a relatively straightforward way to persuade the cells discarded in human urine to turn into valuable neurons, Nature News reports.

The method uses ordinary cells present in urine, and transforms… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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The many maps of the brain

December 11, 2012

spatial_maps

Your brain has at least four different senses of location — and perhaps as many as 10 — and each is different, according to new research from the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The brain has a number of “modules” dedicated to self-location, they found. Each module contains its own internal GPS-like mapping system that keeps track… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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How to focus light at the nanoscale

New light-focusing device may lead to radical improvements in hard drives, microscopes, and communications
December 11, 2012

(credit: Young-Hee Lee)

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) engineers have created a device that can focus light into a point just a few nanometers (billionths of a meter) across — an achievement they say may lead to next-generation applications in computing, communications, and imaging.

The Caltech device complements IBM’s just-announced “silicon nanophotonics,” which allows for the integration of different optical components side-by-side with electrical circuits on… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology

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IBM ‘silicon nanophotonics’ breakthrough integrates optical and electrical circuits

Light pulses can move data at blazing speeds to help solve bandwidth limitations of servers, datacenters and supercomputers
December 10, 2012

ibm_silicon_nanophotonics_chip

IBM announced today a major advance in the ability to use light instead of electrical signals to transmit information for future computing.

The breakthrough technology — called “silicon nanophotonics” — allows the integration of different optical components side-by-side with electrical circuits on a single silicon chip using, for the first time, sub-100nm semiconductor technology.

Silicon nanophotonics takes advantage of pulses of light for communication and provides… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Electronics | Internet/Telecom | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Silver nanocubes make super-light-absorbers

December 10, 2012

silver_nanocubes

Microscopic metallic cubes could unleash the enormous potential of metamaterials to absorb light, leading to more efficient and cost-effective large-area absorbers for sensors or solar cells, Duke University researchers have found.

Metamaterials are man-made materials that have properties often absent in natural materials. They are constructed to provide exquisite control over the properties of waves, such as light.

Creating these materials for visible light… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science

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When the first stars blinked on

The very first stars may have turned on when the universe was 750 million years old
December 10, 2012

An artist's rendering of the quasar 3C 279 (credit: European Southern Observatory)

Researchers at MIT, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of California at San Diego have peered far back in time, to the era of the first stars and galaxies, and found matter with no discernible trace of heavy elements, such as carbon and oxygen.

To make this measurement, the team analyzed light from the most distant known quasar, a galactic nucleus more than… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Space

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Seeing in color at the nanoscale

Berkeley Lab scientists develop a new nanotech tool to probe solar-energy conversion
December 10, 2012

A new microscopy tool promises to revolutionize nanoscale imaging. Left, a design schematic of the "campanile" microscopy tip. Right, an electron micrograph of the tip and, inset, the UC Berkeley campanile bell-tower for which it is named. (Credit: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)

A new microscopy tool from researchers at the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) delivers exquisite chemical details with a resolution once thought impossible.

The team developed the tool, which they call a “campanile,” to investigate solar-to-electric energy conversion at its most fundamental level, but their invention promises to reveal new worlds of data to researchers in all walks of nanoscience.… read more

Topics: Energy | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Breakthrough: compound generated by low carb/low-calorie diet blocks effects of aging

Discovery suggests way to protect cells from damage caused by oxidative stress
December 10, 2012

salad

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have identified a novel mechanism by which a type of low-carb, low-calorie diet — called a “ketogenic diet” — could delay the effects of aging: the compound  β-hydroxybutyrate (βOHB), a “ketone body” that is generated during a prolonged low-calorie or ketogenic diet.

Blocking oxidative stress

While ketone bodies such as βOHB can be toxic when… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity

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Graphene towers promise ‘flexi-electronics’

The 3D ‘monoliths’ --- grown between forming ice crystals --- add elasticity to the super-strength and conductivity of graphene sheets
December 10, 2012

graphene_towers

It can support 50,000 times its own weight, springs back into shape after being compressed by up to 80%, and has a density much lower than most comparable metal-based materials.

It’s a new superelastic, 3D form of graphene developed at Monash University that can even conduct electricity, paving the way for flexible electronics, Nature News reports.

The researchers adapted an industrial technique called freeze casting to… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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Get ready for ads that follow you from one device to the next

December 10, 2012

(Credit: Drawbridge)

To make advertising pay as audiences move over to mobile devices, Drawbridge is using statistical methods that rely on anonymous data to track people as they move between their smartphones, tablets, and PCs, MIT Technology Review reports.

Drawbridge works by looking at the cookie data that comes with a request from a mobile or desktop browser or app to an ad exchange, and using its… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Internet/Telecom

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