science news

Mammalian fatty acid synthase is one of the most complex molecular synthetic machines in human cells. It is also a promising target for the development of anti-cancer and anti-obesity drugs and the treatment of metabolic disorders. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have determined the atomic structure of a mammalian fatty acid synthase. Their results have just been published in Science magazine.

SEPTEMBER 1958THE CREATIVE PROCESS-- “The most remarkable discovery made by scientists is science itself. The discovery must be compared in importance with the invention of cave-painting and of writing. Like these earlier human creations, science is an attempt to control our surroundings by entering into them and understanding them from inside. And like them, science has surely made a critical step in human development which cannot be reversed. We cannot conceive a future society without science. --Jacob Bronowski” [More]

Nanofair 2009 brings together science and industry in Dresden on May 26th and 27th. Nanotechnology is certainly one of the future-looking technology and research fields of the 21st century. ...

Working to ensure the safe use of nanomaterials is the basis of a new Rice study funded by the National Science Foundation. Led by Pedro Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor and chair of the Civil ...

As humans, we have a very intuitive concept of time, and of the differences between the past, present, and future. But, as scientists Edward Feng of the university of California, Berkeley, and Gavin Crooks of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory point out, science does not provide a clear definition of time.

As an intelligent romp through the realms of science, mythology, religion and hope about the universe around us, Spore both provokes and amuses.

Victoria and New South Wales have put aside their competitive interstate rivalry to collaborate on a stem cell research project, as announced by Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings and NSW Minister for Science and Medical Research, Verity Firth.

AP - Smog, soot and other particles like the kind often seen hanging over Beijing add to global warming and may raise summer temperatures in the American heartland by three degrees in about 50 years, says a new federal science report released Thursday.

In a collaborative study at the university of California, San Diego, investigators from neurosciences, chemistry and medicine, as well as the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) have investigated how proteins involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease interact to form unique complexes. Their findings explain why Alzheimer's patients might develop Parkinson's, and vice versa.

(Virginia Tech) Innovative work on a new type of heart stent sensor is earning Nakhiah Goulbourne, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award of $400,000. The focus of Goulbourne's research is the development of specific models and experiments to describe what happens to a human artery equipped with a stent that has a unique type of in situ polymer strain-sensing device.