In this week`s Nature, Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) scientists report a technological advance in the study of gene expression and regulation in the genome`s three-dimensional folding and looping state through the development of a novel technology. The technology is ChIA-PET (Chromatin Interaction Analysis using Paired End Tag sequencing). Chromatin is a complex combination of DNA and protei...

NASA`s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has taken and received its first images of the Moon, kicking off the year-long mapping mission of Earth`s nearest celestial neighbor. The LROC imaging system, under the watchful eyes of Arizona State University professor Mark Robison, the principal investigator, consists of two Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs) to provide high-resolution black-and-white ...

A Geographic Information System (GIS)-driven digital map of past and predicted malaria outbreak hotspots has been used in India as part of a national control program. Researchers describe the creation of the GIS and its implementation in the malaria-stricken Madhya Pradesh region. Aruna Srivastava and her team from India`s National Institute of Malaria Research worked with colleagues from the Nati...

Mapping the billions of connections in the brain is a grand challenge in neuroscience. The current method for mapping interconnected brain cells involves the use of room-size microscopes known as transmission electron microscopes (TEMs). Until now the process of mapping even small areas of the brain using these massive machines would have required several decades. Research teams at the Universit...

Despite the striking aromatic differences between coffee, peppermint, and pine, a new mapping of the nose`s neural circuitry suggests a haphazard patchwork where the receptors for such disparate scents are as likely as not to be neighbors. Inexplicably, this seemingly random arrangement is faithfully preserved across individuals and even species, with cells that process the same scent located in p...

Picture this: an accurate map of a large underground oil reservoir that can guide engineers` efforts to coax the oil from the vast rocky subsurface into wells where it can be pumped out for storage or transport. Researchers in MIT`s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have developed technology that can generate such a map, which has the potential to significantly increase the amount ...

During the past 20 years, researchers have identified thousands of cell protein interactions, with the ultimate goal of inventorying all that occur within cells of various organisms – a comprehensive catalogue known as the interactome. Such information will be critical to understanding the basic mechanics of cellular life, and how malfunctions in these processes contribute to cancer. Unfortu...

Researchers at Southern Methodist University in Dallas are pioneering the use of spatial statistical modeling to analyze brain scan data from Persian Gulf War veterans, aiming to pinpoint specific areas of the their brains affected by Gulf War Syndrome. Richard Gunst, Wayne Woodward and William Schucany, professors in SMU`s Statistical Science Department, are collaborating with imaging specialists...

How best to map ‘boreal’ or northern forest with spaceborne radar is the focus of an ESA campaign currently underway in northern Sweden. By answering this question, the campaign addresses one of the key objectives of the candidate Earth Explorer BIOMASS mission. BIOMASS is one of six candidate Earth Explorer missions that has just completed assessment study and will be presented to the...