news from the lab

Physics/Astronomy - 3.02
Black holes: Giving life as well as dealing death
Adapted from a news release issued by the Royal Astronomical Society Friday 3 February 2012 Astrophysicists looking through the Hubble Space Telescope have identified a black hole that appears to be helping new stars to form amongst its encircling gas clouds.

Medicine/Pharmacology - 3.02
Looking healthy is more attractive than manliness
Having a healthy skin colour is more important in determining how attractive a man is to women than how manly they look. These are the findings of a study carried out by researchers in the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.

Physics/Astronomy - 3.02
Surface of Mars an unlikely place for life after 600 million year drought, say
Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet's surface, according to researchers who have been carrying out the painstaking task of analysing individual particles of Martian soil.

Business/Economics - Sport Sciences - 3.02
Media portrayal of race in sports reveals biases in corporate world
University Park, Pa. - The U.S. may have its first black president and the Fortune 500 its first black female chief executive, but African American CEOs account for a mere one percent of the chiefs of those 500 largest companies.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Life Sciences - 3.02
’Goldilocks’ gene could influence TB treatment
Tuberculosis patients may receive treatments in the future according to what version they have of a single ‘Goldilocks' gene, says an international research team from King's College London, Oxford University, Vietnam and the USA.

Environmental Sciences - 2.02
Big trees boost city life
New research from The Australian National University has revealed for the first time the role large trees play in sustaining biodiversity and bird life in urban environments. The study, led by Karen Stagoll, a PhD candidate in the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society, examined large eucalypt trees in small suburban parks across Canberra.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Chemistry - 2.02
A silver bullet to beat cancer?
The internet is awash with stories of how silver can be used to treat cancer. Now, lab tests have shown that it is as effective as the leading chemotherapy drug - and may have fewer side-effects. Results from the study at the University of Leeds, published in Dalton Transactions , show that particular silver compounds are as toxic to cancer cells as the platinum-based drug Cisplatin, which is widely used to treat a range of cancers.

Life Sciences - Medicine/Pharmacology - 2.02
Researchers identify peptide that inhibits replication of hepatitis C virus
Researchers from UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a cell-permeable peptide that inhibits a hepatitis C virus protein and blocks the viral replication that can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis.

Life Sciences - Administration/Government - 2.02
Research into possible Woodchester wild cat finds no cat DNA on deer
University of Warwick and National Trust : Research into possible Woodchester wild cat finds no cat DNA on deer Extensive DNA tests by experts at the University of Warwick on two deer carcasses found in Gloucestershire have not found any indication of a big cat presence.

Physics/Astronomy - Electroengineering/Microtechnics - 2.02
Graphene electronics moves into a third dimension
Wonder material graphene has been touted as the next silicon, with one major problem – it is too conductive to be used in computer chips. Now scientists from The University of Manchester have given its prospects a new lifeline.

Life Sciences - Earth Sciences - 1.02
Mouse to elephant? Just wait 24 million generations
Scientists have for the first time measured how fast large-scale evolution can occur in mammals, showing it takes 24 million generations for a mouse-sized animal to evolve to the size of an elephant. Research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS) describes increases and decreases in mammal body size following the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

History/Philosophy - 1.02
Archaeologists discover unique ’wing’ shaped building
A unique ‘wing' shaped building discovered close to the ancient capital of the Iceni in Norfolk is mystifying archaeologists. A building without obvious parallel in Roman Britain or the rest of the Roman Empire — that is how archaeologists at The University of Nottingham have described the discovery south of the Roman site of Venta Icenorum, which is known today as Caistor St. Edmund, in Norfolk.

Medicine/Pharmacology - 1.02
Diabetes – A difficult riddle to solve
Type 2 diabetes has increased at an explosive rate in recent dec- ades and is today one of the most prevalent chronic diseases threat- ening people’s health around the world. The greatest increase has been seen in countries such as India and China, as well as in the Middle East.

Life Sciences - 1.02
Brain size bigger if you have more friends
Researchers are suggesting that there is a link between the number of friends you have and the size of the region of the brain - known as the orbital prefrontal cortex - that is found just above the eyes.

Life Sciences - Psychology - 1.02
Could brain size determine whether you are good at maintaining friendships?
Researchers are suggesting that there is a link between the number of friends you have and the size of the region of the brain – known as the orbital prefrontal cortex – that is found just above the eyes.

- 23.01
Why men ’exhibit warrior tendencies’

- 22.01
Common mechanism of hypertension