A fast cell sorter shrinks to cell phone size
University Park PA (SPX) Sep 24, 2015 -
Commercially available cell sorters can rapidly and accurately aid medical diagnosis and biological research, but they are large and expensive, present a biohazard and may damage cells. Now a team of researchers has developed a cell sorter based on acoustic waves that can compete with existing fluorescence-activated cell sorters and is an inexpensive lab on a chip.
"The current benchtop ce ...
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How to find out about the human mind through stone
Basque Country, Spain (SPX) Sep 25, 2015 -
Laterality is the preference of human beings for one side of our bodies; being left-handed or right-handed, for example, or having a preference for using one eye or ear or the other. In the view of the geologist and primatologist Eder Dominguez-Ballesteros, "lateralised behaviour in humans may in some way have been reflected in their technological products, in particular, in the things they made ...
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Nearly half of US seafood supply is wasted
Baltimore MD (SPX) Sep 25, 2015 -
As much as 47 percent of the edible U.S. seafood supply is lost each year, mainly from consumer waste, new research from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) suggests.
The findings, published in the November issue of Global Environmental Change, come as food waste in general has been in the spotlight and concerns have been raised about the sustainability of the world's seafo ...
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Flowing electrons help ocean microbes gulp methane
Pasadena CA (SPX) Sep 22, 2015 -
Good communication is crucial to any relationship, especially when partners are separated by distance. This also holds true for microbes in the deep sea that need to work together to consume large amounts of methane released from vents on the ocean floor. Recent work at Caltech has shown that these microbial partners can still accomplish this task, even when not in direct contact with one anothe ...
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Synthesizing how molecules formed at dawn of life on Earth
Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Sep 25, 2015 -
Researchers from the Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC), with support from the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Service of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) have developed a method for synthesising organic molecules very selectively, by assembling simple molecules and using an enzyme from E. coli (FSA: D-fructose-6-phosphate aldolase), which acts as a biocatalyst.
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Oil inches lower on Caterpillar, weak jobs report
New York (UPI) Sep 24, 2015 -
A gain in weekly U.S. unemployment claims and cost-cutting from heavy machine company Caterpillar pushed crude oil prices lower in early Thursday trading.
Brent crude oil prices opened trading in New York relatively unchanged from the previous session to $47.76 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark for crude oil prices, lost about three tenths of a percent to open the ...
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EIA expects slump in upstream investmentsw/
Washington (UPI) Sep 24, 2015 -
Investment in the exploration and production side of the oil and gas sector could flirt with historic lows if oil prices remain depressed, a U.S. brief said.
"Low oil prices, if sustained, could mark the beginning of a long-term drop in upstream oil and natural gas investment," a brief from the federal Energy Information Administration said.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benc ...
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