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rssApples unpeeled: Proteome response to wounding
Date: Oct 1, 2013
Author: Steve Down
The effects of wounding on the proteins in Golden Delicious apples has been studied by European scientists to help find ways of stimulating defence mechanisms in the fruit to reduce postharvest losses.
Read MoreSense and sensibility: Olfaction and anxiety
Date: Oct 1, 2013
Author: David Bradley
US researchers have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to prize open the lid of the olfactory black box and to take a sniff, not at how odour evokes emotions, but at how emotions such as anxiety can "rewire" the brain so that our perception of particular scents changes, perhaps giving the smell of a lover's hair the odour of freshly discarded socks at times of stress.
Read MoreCatalytic carbenes: UV and the metal connection
Date: Oct 1, 2013
Author: David Bradley
A team of scientists led by University of Wisconsin-Madison chemist John Berry has developed a technique that lets them freeze the action in a reaction catalysed by a dirhodium carbene complex long enough during a critical step so that they can see the fine details of the mechanism using UV spectroscopy and other techniques.
Read MoreSmarter drugs: Raman IV
Date: Oct 1, 2013
Author: David Bradley
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is about to make computerized smart systems that deliver drugs to hospital patients intravenously that much safer. Smart IV systems can deliver precise volumes at a precise rate, but they lack a critical ingredient to ensuring that the patient is not inadvertently harmed: they cannot know what concentration of drug has been added to the system nor can then confirm that it is even the correct drug being delivered.
Read MoreFat: It's an infrared issue
Date: Oct 1, 2013
Author: David Bradley
A near-infrared fluorescence imaging probe that binds to brown adipose vasculature and emits skin-penetrating fluorescence that can be picked up from the outside by a highly sensitive camera can be used to distinguish between "good" and "bad" adipose (fat) tissue.
Read MoreNanotube forestry: X-rays see trees
Date: Oct 1, 2013
Author: David Bradley
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used by Cambridge scientists to follow the interaction of metals involved in fertilising the growth of carbon nanotube forests. The insights it offers could open up a new approach to boosting forest density and lead to novel electronic systems.
Read MorePlant dynamics: NMR offers cellular clues
Date: Oct 1, 2013
Author: David Bradley
Researchers in the USA have used dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy on what they describe as a super-sensitive instrument to locate precisely where a protein binds to plant cell walls, reveal a process that loosens the cell walls and thus explains how plants can grow. The research might ultimately lead to more abundant biomass crop yields for renewable energy.
Read MoreJournal Highlight: Challenges in the analysis of heterogeneous pottery by LA–ICP–MS: A comparison with INAA
Date: Sep 30, 2013
Author: spectroscopyNOW
A pilot study assessing the use of LA–ICP–MS to analyse the clay matrix in pottery revealed the challenges of the technique for highly heterogeneous materials.
Read MoreJournal Highlight: Use of diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy and HPLC–UV–SPE–NMR to identify undeclared synthetic drugs in medicines illegally sold as phytotherapies
Date: Sep 30, 2013
Author: spectroscopyNOW
The advantages and limitations of DOSY and HPLC–UV–SPE–NMR for identifying the components of a formula illegally marketed in Brazil as a herbal medicine have been examined.
Read MoreJournal Highlight: Optimization of lipid production for algal biodiesel in nitrogen stressed cells of Dunaliella salina using FTIR analysis
Date: Sep 30, 2013
Author: spectroscopyNOW
A study of the rates of growth and lipid accumulation in Dunaliella salina showed that the trade-off between lipid content, growth rate and cell density needs to be considered for optimisation of lipid productivity for biodiesel.
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