BiotechMashup

Neurobiologists have discovered information about how the brain processes sound that challenges previous understandings of the auditory cortex. Their research shows our brains are a lot more chaotic than previously thought, and that this might be a good thing.

Researchers have discovered a new mechanism controlling aging in white blood cells. The research opens up the possibility of temporarily reversing the effects of aging on immunity and could, in the future, allow for the short-term boosting of the immune systems of older people.

(Georgetown University Medical Center) A Georgetown University Medical Center professor says the voluntary action taken by two research teams to temporarily halt work involving the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 is "laudable."

In March, the Messenger spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury to become that planet's first orbiter. The tiny craft is providing a wealth of new information and some surprises. For instance, Mercury's surface composition differs from that expected for the innermost of the terrestrial planets, and Mercury's magnetic field has a north-south asymmetry that affects the interaction of the surface with charged particles from the solar wind.

(Carnegie Institution) In March, the Messenger spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury to become that planet's first orbiter. The tiny craft is providing a wealth of new information and some surprises. For instance, Mercury's surface composition differs from that expected for the innermost of the terrestrial planets, and Mercury's magnetic field has a north-south asymmetry that affects the interaction of the surface with charged particles from the solar wind.

(Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council have discovered a new mechanism controlling aging in white blood cells. The research, published in the September issue of the Journal of Immunity, opens up the possibility of temporarily reversing the effects of aging on immunity and could, in the future, allow for the short-term boosting of the immune systems of older people.

Scientists have sequenced the genome of a major fungal disease that affects barley and other cereal crops, a breakthrough that could lead to significant advances in our understanding of how plant diseases evolve. The research suggests that parasites within the genome of the fungus help the disease to adapt and overcome the plant's defenses.

A blast of the brightest X-rays ever detected from beyond our Milky Way galaxy's neighborhood temporarily blinded the X-ray eye on NASA's Swift space observatory earlier this summer, astronomers now report. The X-rays traveled through space for 5-billion years before slamming into and overwhelming Swift's X-ray Telescope. The blinding blast is by far the brightest light source ever seen in X-ray wavelengths at cosmological distances.

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