Latest Brookhaven National Laboratory Stories
New research may be able to explain why men are more capable of watching what they eat than women. Women's brains are at fault, researchers said in their report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."There is something going on in the female," lead researcher Gene-Jack Wang, of Brookhaven National Laboratory, told the Associated Press. "The signal is so much different."He and his colleagues compared the results of positron emission tomography (PET)...
Mechanistic details revealed through unique light source techniqueUsing two simultaneous light-based probing techniques at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, a team of researchers has illuminated important details about a class of enzymes involved in everything from photosynthesis to the regulation of biological clocks.The interdisciplinary team has a broad interest in flavoproteins, which were first discovered in the 1930s and derive from riboflavin, or...
Findings may explain faster action with implications for toxicity and therapeutic useScientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have determined the atomic-level structure of a third subtype of botulinum neurotoxin "” a deadly toxin produced by certain bacteria that causes the disease botulism, and is also used in cosmetic and therapeutic applications such as reducing wrinkles and calming a hyperactive bladder. The detailed structure, published online...
"˜Striped' material offers more clues to high-temperature superconductivityScientists studying a material that appeared to lose its ability to carry current with no resistance say new measurements reveal that the material is indeed a superconductor "” but only in two dimensions. Equally surprising, this new form of 2-D superconductivity emerges at a higher temperature than ordinary 3-D superconductivity in other compositions of the same material. The research, conducted in part at the U.S....
Measurements taken by air, land, and sea will improve climate modelingDuring October and November 2008, some 150 scientists from 40 institutions in eight nations "” including scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory "” will take part in an international field experiment designed to make observations of critical components of the climate system of the southeastern Pacific. Because elements of this system are poorly understood and poorly...
ANN ARBOR, Mich., PASADENA and BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Today marked the first-ever attempt to circulate a beam of subatomic particles around the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a gigantic particle accelerator spanning the French-Swiss border. The event represents a major milestone along the path towards a new understanding of the fundamental nature and origins of the universe. When the LHC officially begins its experiments, multiple terabytes of data per second will flow out...
An effective antidote for botulinum toxin, one of the world's most feared biological weapons, is being developed.A single gram of the poison can kill hundreds of thousands of people, according to defense experts.Botulism from food poisoning affects many people each year, however, a different form of the toxin, known as botox, is used in cosmetic ways to relax wrinkles in the face.Researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, and the United States Army Medical Research Institute...
Increasingly popular recreational drug, salvia, shows rapid uptake, short duration in animalsBrain-imaging studies performed in animals at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory provide researchers with clues about why an increasingly popular recreational drug that causes hallucinations and motor-function impairment in humans is abused. Using trace amounts of Salvia divinorum - also known as "salvia," a Mexican mint plant that can be smoked in the form...
Accelerator physicists correct beam scattering, increase collision rates of speeding particlesImagine trying to catch up to something moving close to the speed of light - the fastest anything can move - and sending ahead information in time to make mid-path flight corrections. Impossible? Not quite. Physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a particle accelerator at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, have achieved this tricky task - and the results...
Brain-imaging study may explain why some continue to eat, despite full stomachsUPTON, NY -- Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have found new clues to why some people overeat and gain weight while others don't. Examining how the human brain responds to "satiety" messages delivered when the stomach is in various stages of fullness, the scientists have identified brain circuits that motivate the desire to overeat. Treatments that target these...
