Natural Sciences
U-M updates innovation web site
The "Innovate!" web site has been launched as a refreshed version of the innovation economy site that has existed for the last 18 months. The new site also features a series of vignettes on faculty and student innovators and entrepreneurs. Read more
Alternate form of DNA reported
DNA, the marvelous double helix-shaped molecule of life, has an alter ego it switches to on occasion, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of California, Irvine. "We show that the simple DNA double helix exists in an alternative form—for one percent of the time—and that this alternative form is functional," said Hashim M. Al-Hashimi, the Robert L. Kuczkowski Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biophysics at U-M. "Together, these data suggest that there are multiple layers of information stored in the genetic code." The findings were published online Jan. 26 in the journal Nature. [Read more...]
Mercury “fingerprinting” provides new insights into San Francisco Bay contaimination
Mercury contamination, a worldwide environmental problem, has been called "public enemy No. 1" in California's San Francisco Bay. Teasing out all of the possible sources of contamination was not possible in the past, but with the use of a mercury "fingerprinting" technique, researchers from the University of Michigan, the University of California, Davis, and the San Francisco Estuary Institute, have identified the main sources of mercury in bay floor sediments and shown that small fish near the base of the food web acquire their mercury from those sediments. "Without a clear answer to what was responsible for mercury in fish in San Francisco Bay, we needed a way to trace its origins," said Joel Blum, who is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Geological Sciences and a professor of ecology at U-M. "This is the first study to track mercury directly from source to sediment to food web." [Read more...]
Monitoring single bacteria without a microscope
With an invention that can be made from some of the same parts used in CD players, University of Michigan researchers have developed a way to measure the growth and drug susceptibility of individual bacterial cells without the use of a microscope. The new biosensor promises to speed treatment of bacterial infections, says Raoul Kopelman, who is the Richard Smalley Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry, Physics and Applied Physics and a professor of biomedical engineering, biophysics and chemical biology. [Read more...]
Nine university scientists and engineers named AAAS fellows
Nine University of Michigan faculty members are among 503 newly elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), who are honored for their distinguished efforts in advancing science, AAAS announced today. U-M faculty honored are: Kon-Well Wang, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Stephen P. Timoshenko Collegiate Professor; Joel Blum, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Geological Sciences and a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Lee Hartmann, a professor in the Department of Astronomy; Lori Isom, a professor in the departments of Pharmacology, and Molecular and Integrative Physiology, as well as director of the Program in Biomedical Sciences at the U-M Medical School; Farnam Jahanian, chair of computer science and engineering and the Edward S. Davidson Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Anna Mapp, a professor in the Department of Chemistry; Adam Matzger, a professor in the Department of Chemistry as well as a professor of macromolecular science and engineering in the College of Engineering; and John Montgomery, a professor in the Department of Chemistry; Melanie Sanford, professor in the Department of Chemistry. [Read more...]
The universe’s most massive stars can form in near isolation, new study finds
New observations by University of Michigan astronomers add weight to the theory that the most massive stars in the universe could form essentially anywhere, including in near isolation; they don't need a large stellar cluster "nursery." This is the most detailed observational study to date of massive stars that appear (from the ground) to be alone. The scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to zoom in on eight of these giants, which range from 20 to 150 times as massive as the Sun. The stars they looked at are in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that's one of the Milky Way's nearest neighbors. Their results show that five of the stars had no neighbors large enough for Hubble to discern. The remaining three appeared to be in tiny clusters of ten or fewer stars. [Read more...]
Ice-age reptile extinctions provide a glimpse of likely responses to human-caused climate change
A wave of reptile extinctions on the Greek islands over the past 15,000 years may offer a preview of the way plants and animals will respond as the world rapidly warms due to human-caused climate change, according to University of Michigan ecologist Johannes Foufopoulos and his colleagues. The Greek island extinctions also highlight the critical importance of preserving habitat corridors that will enable plants and animals to migrate in response to climate change, thereby maximizing their chances of survival. [Read more...]
Generating matter and antimatter from the vacuum
Under just the right conditions—which involve an ultra-high-intensity laser beam and a two-mile-long particle accelerator—it could be possible to create something out of nothing, according to University of Michigan researchers. "We can now calculate how, from a single electron, several hundred particles can be produced. We believe this happens in nature near pulsars and neutron stars," says Igor Sokolov, an engineering research scientist who conducted this research along with associate research scientist John Nees, emeritus electrical engineering professor Gerard Mourou and their colleagues in France. [Read more...]
Three faculty receive presidential awards
Three U-M researchers are among the 85 recipients of the current year's Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the nation's highest honor for professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The faculty members are Haoxing Xu, assistant professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology; Jerome Lynch, associate professor in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and Shelie Miller, assistant professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment. [Read more...]