Proteins By Design

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090323154349.htm
Biochemists from the University of Pennsylvania have used design and engineering principles in order to build a protein from scratch. This protein was built to transport oxygen to the brain and the peripheral nervous system. No one has ever created a protein with its main function being to carry oxygen. To build this protein , these biochemists had to start with three amino acids to get the design in the protein that they wanted. Since heme and oxygen degrade in water, the scientists had to design exteriors of the helix that would repel water. Then, the team had to use chemical tests to prove that their protein did actually capture oxygen, and when it did bind to the iron heme molecule, the reaction took place and there was a color change from dark red to scarlet, almost identical to natural neuroglobin. Dutton, part of the team says, "Using the bound oxygen to do chemistry will be like adding the wheels. Our approach to building a simple protein from scratch allows us to add on, without getting more and more complicated.”

Ice Cubes in Space

In late 2004 and 2005, two large icy bodies where discovered at the fringes of the solar system. The two moons have surfaces unlike most Kuiper Belt objects. They are made of nearly pure crystals. The larger moon is called Hi'iaka and the smaller is called Namaka. Both moos are two small to have gone under any heating prossess that might have caused the heavier elements to sink to their cores. Micheal Brown of the Califronia Institite of Techhnology in Pasadena, who codiscovered the moons, said, "These things could be, essentially, ice cubes." He feels that the two moons were chipped off the surface of the dwarf planet Haumea, due to a cataclysmic event. Hawaiin mythology has said that Hi'iaka and Namaka are both the duaghter so of Haumea, the goddess of fertility. Brown commented sayd that they are indeed offspings of the dwarf planent.
In the next couple of years namaka will travel across different sections of Haumea. This will tell researchers the exact shape and size of the moons. Finally, on July 2, 2009, Namaka will pass in front of Hi'iaka revealing various new information about both bodies.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/42280/title/Ice_cubes_in_space

Stem Cell Research: New Way To Make Stem Cells Avoids Risk Of Cancer

The team of researchers reports that it has created induced human pluripotent stem (iPS) cells completely free of viral vectors and exotic genes. By reprogramming skin cells to an embryonic state using a plasmid rather than a virus to ferry reprogramming genes into adult cells, the Wisconsin group's work removes a key safety concern about the potential use of iPS cells in therapeutic settings.The new method, which is reported in March 26 in the journal Science, also removes the exotic reprogramming genes from the iPS equation, as the plasmid and the genes it carries do not integrate into an induced cell's genome and can be screened out of subsequent generations of cells. Thus, cells made using the new method are completely free of any genetic artifacts that could compromise therapeutic safety or skew research results, according to the Science report.

The new work was conducted in the laboratory of James Thomson, the UW-Madison scientist who was the first to successfully culture human embryonic stem cells in 1998 and, in 2007, co-discovered a way to make human-induced pluripotent stem cells. Thomson, a professor in the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, is also the director of regenerative biology for the Morgridge Institute for Research, the private, nonprofit side of the new Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery at UW-Madison. "We believe this is the first time human-induced pluripotent stem cells have been created that are completely free of vector and transgene sequences," says Thomson. The new study was led by geneticist Junying Yu, the Wisconsin researcher who, with Thomson, co-discovered a method for reprogramming adult skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, the master cells that arise at the earliest stages of development and that ultimately develop into all 220 cell types in the human body.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090326141547.htm

A Polymer Coating That Can Heal Itself Thanks to UV Light http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/science/17obheal.html?ref=science

For years scientists have been trying to develop a self-healing polymer for use on cars, furniture and other objects, which, like skin, after a crack or scratch occurs quickly heals itself. Many believed that the answer was to embed paints with microspheres that when broken in the act of a scratch or crack, chemicals flow from the tiny spheres into the void. Biswajit Ghosh and Marek W. Urban of the university of Southern Mississippi have come up with another approach, which incorporates not a sphere but a ring-shaped chemical, oxetane, that is incorporated in the polyurethane polymer. Another compound in the polymer, chitosan, forms cross-links at the laces where the oxetane breaks, healing the scratch. Given that the last of your car scratches receives plenty of UV light, which is used as energy to reform broken bonds, and has this amazing type of paint, that scratch could disappear before the next time you drive it. No more annoying and unsightly scratches!!!!

Undersea Volcano Erupts Off Tonga Coast

On March 18, an undersea volcano erupted off the coast of Tonga shooting clouds of smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet into the sky above the South Pacific ocean. This volcano was one of the many undersea volcanoes in an an area where up to 36 undersea volcanoes are clustered. It has been said that it was a very significant eruption, on quite a large scale. The undersea volcano has sent smoke and steam 13 miles into the atmosphere. There was no sign the offshore eruption posed any danger to residents, he said, with trade winds blowing gas and steam away from the island. Residents said the steam and ash column first appeared on Monday morning, after a series of sharp earthquakes were felt in the capital, Nuku'alofa. A similar eruption like this had occurred in the same area in 2002.

http://news.aol.com/article/undersea-tonga-volcano/386757

Waking up dormant HIV

http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/22822/Waking_up_dormant_HIV.html

HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy) has emerged as an extremely effective HIV treatment that keeps virus levels almost undetectable; however, HAART can never truly eradicate the virus as some HIV always remains dormant in cells. But, a chemical called suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), recently approved as a leukemia drug, has now been shown to 'turn on' latent HIV, making it an attractive candidate to weed out the hidden virus that HAART misses. the researchers examined whether SAHA had any effect on HIV latency. They found that SAHA could indeed stimulate latent HIV to begin replicating, which exposes the infected cell to HAART drugs. SAHA could activate HIV in both laboratory cells as well as from blood samples taken from HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy. Most importantly, this successful activation was achieved using clinical doses of SAHA, suggesting toxicity will not be a problem.

E.P.A. Proposes Tracking Industry Emissions

The Environmental Tracking Industries Emissions (E.P.A) proposed a rule requiring a broad range of industries to tally and report their greenhouse gas emissions.The proposal would require about 13,000 factories, power plants and other facilities to report their emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other gases that are linked to global warming according to the climate scientists. The E.P.A. says that the rule, promulgated under the Clean Air Act, would account for 85 percent to 90 percent of the country’s emissions of heat-trapping gases, excluding small manufactures.“This is the foundation of any serious program to cap and reduce global warming pollution,” said the policy director for the climate center at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The E.P.A. estimated that the cost to industry would be $160 million in the first year, then fall to $127 million a year. Manufacturers would be required to report emissions from the vehicles they make. Automobile Manufactures are saying that theirorganization was still reviewing the proposal, but that the reporting requirement was not new for the automobile industry.“E.P.A. already knows the carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles,” a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said, “because E.P.A. measures grams per mile of CO2 from automobiles.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/washington/11epa.html?_r=1&ref=science

http://www.brightsurf.com/news/headlines/43684/Teenage_stress_has_implications_for_adult_health.html

Teenage Stress has Implications for Adult Health

Links have now been made between stress in the teenage years and later development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It has been proven that even the healthiest of teenagers are experiencing stress and inflammation during their adulthood. Fights with peers have been declared powerful predictors that lead to such immense stress. No matter how often these stresses occur, they can still impact teenagers greatly.

From a teenager's point of view, stress takes up a big part of our lives. Our mind is always filled with thoughts regarding other subjects when we should be focusing on the task at hand. Both physically and mentally we are all tired and could use a break. To know that all this stress could quite possibly affect us in our adulthood is frightening. With more research and study, hopefully the overall stress of everyone can be limited to a minimum amount not only for our own sanity but our personal health. 

The article could have shown more examples and provided more information. I felt as if i was getting the same information over and over again when i actually wanted to learn something new. The topic was well presented and proved the point but a lack of information suggests that there is more research to do. 

Testing times for Chameleon chromium

A new standard for chemical testinghas been developed for a carcinogenic chromium salt. US scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have issued a new reference material that will help envionmental scientists detect the cancer causing pollutant more accurately in soil samples. This new eference will provide a benchmark for high qualit chemical measurnments needed to guide cleanup efforts. Reprocessed chromium waste contians compounds of both trivalent and hexavalent forms of Chromium. In the 40's and 50's this waste was dumped on sites all over the US. They now all require cleanup. Cleanup efforts are confused by the ambiguous chemistr of chromium. Its ions interact with organic carbon and iron in the soil and are affected by soil pH. The result of this is that the higher VI or lower III oxidation state may be present at different levels. This may pose significent threas to health do to leaking into ground water through environmental exposure. To aid in reducing uncertainty surrounding these important measurements. Scientist have prepared and assigned certified values for standard reference material. The standard reference material will allow investigators to calibrate their analytical equipment and so identify safe or contaminated sites much more precisely.

http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/spotlight/issue69/testing_times_chameleon_ch.html