The complete genome sequence of the chicken has been published.
The chicken is the closest relative of mammals sequenced so far, and should provide a crucial point of comparison in studies of mammalian evolution.
The number of chicken genes is similar to that of mammals, but the chicken genome appears to contain a smaller amount of repetitive “junk” DNA. Comparison of the chicken and human genomes reveals about… read more
Excitement among researchers on aging has picked up in the last few years with the apparent convergence of two lines of inquiry: single gene changes and the caloric-restriction diet.
Sand-grain-sized sensors that can measure ambient light and temperature, linked to a wireless network, could help conserve energy, say researchers at UC Berkeley.
Each room in an office building might have hundreds or thousands of these “motes,” which would tie into a central computer that regulates energy usage by turning off lights and air conditioning/heating in empty rooms.
A physicist at Lebedev Institute in Moscow suggests that if all dark matter is black holes, they would likely pass through the asteroid belts in our galactic backyard.
Since a meter-sized primordial black hole can have the mass of the Earth, it would need only to pass near an asteroid to knock it out of a safe orbit and towards our planet.
University of Toronto researchers have developed a technique to accurately monitor the level of individual exons (coding segments of DNA) used to produce different mRNAs.
Monitoring the production of mRNA in more detail will help understand diseases in which out-of-control RNA splicing is involved and will suggest new treatments.
Sensors that can detect volatile organic compounds present in the breath of lung-cancer patients (and for certain other ailments, such as liver failure), using an array of small, inexpensive gold nanoparticles, have been developed by Israel Institute of Technology researchers.
Clinical trials are expected within two or three years.
Ethical questions need to be asked now before we enter the brave new nanoworld, says Bill Joy.
Nanotechnology and information technology developments raise ethical issues regarding protecting intellectual property, privacy, moral rights and responsibilities of machines; and blur the distinction between “real” and “virtual” reality, points out
Numerous hacks from the Far East look like concerted attacks against U.S. military installations, but nobody’s saying for sure.
Is the United States under attack again?
The year’s hottest consumer electronics products and technologies premiering at CES include TiVoToGo, a new service feature that lets users transfer their recorded television shows onto laptops; a new streaming service that lets subscribers remotely access their digital media files from their home PCs — and even watch live television — on gadgets with Internet connections; and Wi-Fi access via cell phones.
Within a year, manufacturers expect to sell the first OLED (organic light-emitting diode) sheets that one day will illuminate large residential and commercial spaces.
OLEDs create uniform, diffuse light across ultrathin (.07 inch) sheets of material that eventually can even be made to be flexible.
Glucose meters can be used as simple, portable, inexpensive meters for a number of target molecules in blood, serum, water or food, researchers at the University of Illinois have found.
To use glucose meters to detect a target other than glucose, the researchers coupled them with a class of molecular sensors called functional DNA sensors. Functional DNA sensors use short segments of DNA that bind to specific… read more
A wheeled police robot that makes many tactical decisions on its own during potentially dangerous bomb-disablement or other law enforcement missions has been unveiled by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories.
The Wolverine robot hardware was developed at Northrop Grumman’s REMOTEC unit; Sandia Labs added software.
The Wolverine now incorporates some of the most challenging and commonly needed robotic tools and behaviors in police work, such… read more
A new Firefox plug-in identifies the language used on a web page and automatically provides a translation to the user’s preferred language, with Google Translate used if translations are not available.
Scientists are taking the first steps toward creating alternative life forms — organisms that use a genetic code different from the one used by all other creatures on earth.
Scientists hope that such organisms can be used to study biochemical processes in new ways and to produce new medical or electronic materials that cannot now be made by living things.
The research goes well beyond current genetic engineering, which… read more
Stanford University School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues have identified two new proteins that make up the telomerase complex–the protein conglomerate that maintains cells’ genetic material–providing potential new targets for cancer treatments.
Studying telomerase has been difficult because it’s available only in small quantities and no technology was sensitive enough to detect it at minute levels.
To get around the quantity problem, the researchers chopped it into… read more