"Science" Roundup

by **stickdog99** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:18 pm

<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20060927-19005500-bc-us-virus.xml">www.sciencedaily.com/upi/...-virus.xml</a> 1918 Spanish influenza virus is studied NEW YORK, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've found mice infected with the 1918 influenza virus show a strong immune system response that fails to protect against death. The research team was led by Assistant Professor of Microbiology Christopher Basler of New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital. The team wanted to determine why the virus, which killed up to 40 million people, was so lethal. In the study, researchers infected one group of mice with a reconstructed 1918 influenza virus and a second group with benign human influenza. The mice infected with the 1918 virus showed a rapid and potent immune system response, yet the animals developed severe lung disease and died. The mice infected with the more benign viruses developed a less strong immune response, but fewer animals died. <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060925143523.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/rele...143523.htm</a> Bird Flu Vaccine Additive May Stretch Supply Researchers have achieved an effective immune response to an avian influenza vaccine with doses as low as one-quarter of the norm when they added a chemical mixture known as MF59. The research is published in the November 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. MF 59 is an adjuvant--a substance that increases the immune system's ability to respond to a stimulus. For this research, the investigators used inactivated H9N2 influenza vaccines--not the H5N1 virus currently feared as a potential pandemic strain. However, the study does suggest that if the feared pandemic comes to be, adjuvants might be used to extend the vaccine supply. Furthermore, the authors note, H9N2 is itself a pandemic threat. <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060926075110.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/rele...075110.htm</a> Using Computers To Sort Out Facts From Opinions What are newspapers around the world saying about the latest speech by President George W. Bush? More importantly, how much of what they are saying is factual and how much opinion? And down the line, are some of the opinions being presented as if they were facts? A new research program by a Cornell computer scientist, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Utah, aims to teach computers to scan through text and sort opinion from fact. The research is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has designated the consortium of three universities as one of four University Affiliate Centers (UAC) to conduct research on advanced methods for information analysis and to develop computational technologies that contribute to national security. Cornell will receive $850,000 of $2.4 million in funding provided for the consortium over three years. "Lots of work has been done on extracting factual information -- the who, what, where, when," explained Claire Cardie, Cornell professor of computer science, who is one of three co-principal investigators for the grant. "We're interested in seeing how we would extract information about opinions." Cardie is an expert on "information extraction," in which computers scan text to find meaning in natural language. Computer programmers and science fiction fans know that computers are usually very literal and demand that information be presented according to rigid rules. Humans, on the other hand, are capable of understanding that "Please pass the salt," "May I have the salt," "Hey, is there any salt down there?" and "Yuk, this really needs salt" all mean much the same thing. Cardie's computer programs try to bridge the gap by identifying subjects, objects and other key parts of sentences to determine meaning. <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060926171119.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/rele...171119.htm</a> Intelligent Aircraft Fly, Cooperate Autonomously The U.S. military depends on small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to perform such tasks as serving as "eyes in the sky" for battalion commanders planning maneuvers. While some of these UAVs can be easily carried in a backpack and launched by hand, they typically require a team of trained operators on the ground, and they perform only short-term tasks individually rather than sustained missions in coordinated groups. MIT researchers, in collaboration with Boeing's advanced research and development arm, Phantom Works, are working to change that. They have developed a multiple-UAV test platform that could lay the groundwork for an intelligent airborne fleet that requires little human supervision, covers a wide area, and automatically maintains the "health" of its vehicles (for example, vehicles anticipate when they need refueling, and new vehicles launch to replace lost, damaged, or grounded ones). <a href="http://www.moondaily.com/reports/New_Lunar_Meteorite_Found_In_Antarctica_999.html">www.moondaily.com/reports...a_999.html</a> Many researchers believe that Apollo visited some of the most unusual and geochemically anomalous regions of the Moon, and lunar meteorites, knocked off the surface of the Moon by random impacts, give us samples that are more representative of the Moon as a whole. <a href="http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Gaseous_Microbes_From_The_Abyss_999.html">www.terradaily.com/report...s_999.html</a> Normally, ethane and propane are known as typical products of fossil fuel generation at elevated temperatures and pressure, without direct involvement of microbes. In the PNAS article, the team argues that microbes played a key role in the formation of these hydrocarbons. "Sediments contain organic material (the fossil remnant of oceanic plants and animals)," Hinrichs explains. "This material, a key ingredient in the carbon cycle, is the major food used by the deep biosphere. During its decomposition by microbes, acetate--the ionic form of acetic acid--is formed. We think that bacteria use hydrogen to convert acetate into ethane. Addition of inorganic carbon and hydrogen provides a route to propane." In support of their hypothesis for a biological origin of the gases, the researchers point to several clues: "First, the sampling locations are remote from reservoirs of oil and natural gas, so that this source can be eliminated," Hinrichs says. "Moreover, the abundance of stable isotopes of carbon are markedly different from those in gases formed at high temperature," adds co-author John Hayes, a geochemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). <a href="http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7854314">www.economist.com/busines...id=7854314</a> Dr Venter sees synthetic biology as a source of new energy-generating technologies—and he has the backing of America's Department of Energy to prove the point. He has also found numerous genes for versions of rhodopsin. In vertebrates this protein is found in retinal cells, where it transduces the energy of light into a nerve signal to the brain. What it is doing in so many bacteria is not known, though one possibility is signalling how deep they are in the ocean as a consequence of how dark it is. <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Champagne_Supernova_Challenges_Ideas_about_How_Supernovae_Work_999.html">www.spacedaily.com/report...k_999.html</a> Researchers say the surprisingly high mass of SNLS-03D3bb has opened up a Pandora's box on the current understanding of Type Ia supernovae and, in particular, how well they might be used for future precision tests of the nature of the mysterious "dark energy" responsible for the acceleration of the cosmic expansion. Current understanding is that Type Ia supernova explosions occur when the mass of a white dwarf approaches 1.4 solar masses, or the "Chandrasekhar limit." This important limit was calculated by Nobel laureate Subramanyan Chandrasekhar in 1930, and is founded on well-established physical laws. Decades of astrophysical research have been based upon the theory. Yet somehow the star that exploded as SNLS-03D3bb reached about two solar masses before exploding. <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Scientists_Detect_New_Kind_Of_Cosmic_Explosion_999.html">www.spacedaily.com/report...n_999.html</a> Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite have detected a new kind of cosmic explosion. The event appears to be a precursor to a supernova, which is expected to reach peak brightness in one week. Scores of satellites and ground-based telescopes are now trained on the sight, watching and waiting. Amateur astronomers in the northern hemisphere with a good telescope in dark skies can also view it. The explosion has the trappings of a gamma-ray burst, the most distant and powerful type of explosion known. Yet this explosion, detected on February 18, was about 25 times closer and 100 times longer than the typical gamma-ray burst. And it possesses characteristics never seen before. "This is totally new and unexpected," said Neil Gehrels, Swift principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This is the type of unscripted event in our nearby universe that we hoped Swift could catch." The explosion, called GRB 060218 after the date it was discovered, originated in a star-forming galaxy about 440 million light-years away toward the constellation Aries. This is the second-closest gamma-ray burst ever detected, if indeed it is a true burst. The burst of gamma rays lasted for nearly 2,000 seconds; most bursts last a few milliseconds to tens of seconds. The explosion was surprisingly dim, however, suggesting that scientists might be viewing the event slightly off-axis. Yet this is just one explanation on the table. The standard theory for gamma-ray bursts is that the high-energy light is beamed in our direction. <a href="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/913/5">sciencenow.sciencemag.org...2006/913/5</a> Relics of ancient viral infections are scattered throughout the genomes of many organisms, including humans. The DNA that a virus leaves behind can disrupt genes or cause cancer, but sometimes it does a body good. Take the case of the sheep's placenta: Without a gene from the endogenous Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (enJSRV), the organ doesn't develop properly and pregnancies fail, according to a new study. The findings indicate that such viruses may have played an important role in the evolution of the placenta.

"Science" Roundup

"Science" Roundup

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