Archive for May, 2007



NASA-funded robotic sub finds bottom of world’s deepest sinkhole

A robotic vehicle designed for underwater exploration plunged repeatedly into the depths of Mexico’s mysterious El Zacatón sinkhole in late May, finding its previously undiscovered bottom 318 meters below the surface and generating a sonar map of its inner dimensions. The vehicle employed autonomous navigation and mapping systems developed by Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.

Lessons from the orangutans: Upright walking may have begun in the trees

By observing wild orangutans, a research team has found that walking on two legs may have arisen in relatively ancient, tree-dwelling apes, rather than in more recent human ancestors that had already descended to the savannah, as current theory suggests.

Moths mimic sounds to survive

In a night sky filled with hungry bats, good-tasting moths increase their chances of survival by mimicking the sounds of their bad-tasting cousins, according to a new Wake Forest University study.
Published in the May 29 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study is the first to definitively show how an [...]

Cytomegalovirus exacerbates atherosclerosis through an autoimmune mechanism

A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Verona and the Institute G. Gaslini in Genova, Italy, confirms the pivotal role played by Cytomegalovirus infection in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.

New designer lipid-like peptide with lipid nanostructures for drug delivery systems

Scientists from Institute of Biophysics and Nanosystems Research (IBN), Austrian Academy of Sciences and of Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA report the study of “Tuning Curvature and Stability of Monoolein Bilayers by Designer Lipid-Like Peptide Surfactants” in the May 30th issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE. Their findings [...]