Invitation

NewScience team invites all science and technology enthusiasts to submit their ideas and throughs on how science and technology can be used to improve our world.

We hope to attract interest among Australian educational institutions (both staff and students) in primary, secondary and tertiary education sector.

“We are proud to announce the release of NewScience website and hope our project will grow into a dynamic and vibrant community and act as a bridge between the young generations and the scientific and academic communities”

Dejan Petrovic

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Branches of science

There are many branches of science which concentrate themselves on the many areas of discovery. The majority of sciences end in -ology which is a suffix meaning “the study of”.

The larger fields of science can be broken down into smaller and smaller areas of study.

Despite the many branches of science, they all gather information in similar ways. The scientific method is a way to organize and standardize the method of data gathering during experiments. This makes it easier to replicate experiments which adds credence to the initial results.

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How the Brain Can Increase Lifespan

senior citizensAging is one of the few things that human beings can not control. The signs of advancing age are always clear; graying hair, wrinkles and maybe lower energy levels. If a research conducted by the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York is proved to be credible, then people with a phobia for aging can have a sigh of relief. According to this research, there is a particular part of the human brain that is mainly responsible for the aging process. Turning this part of the brain off guarantees an additional 20 years of active life for any person.

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Morephone – A revolutionary smartphone

Morephone MorePhone is a brand new type of smartphone, which has many features. One of these includes the fact that the shape-changing phone folds / curls up upon the user receiving a call (including video calls)

Students and researchers from Human Media Lab (HML) at Queen’s University  have developed a revolutionary type of new smartphone called “MorePhone”. This unique phone can morph it’s own shape allowing users to receive a silent, yet visible alert of any incoming phone calls, video calls, email or text message.

Graduate, Riek Vertegaal (Computing Department), director from the Queen’s University, has helped develop the flexible and durable “Paperphone” and “PaperTab”. Riek Vertegaal states that this is another leap in the ever-changing direction of newly developed interaction techniques introduced by smartphones, The MorePhone is based on a thin film. This has been a very large breakthrough as it one of the first proper physical breakthroughs in today’s growing nano technology.

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Bamboo Family Tree mystery finally solved after 5 millenniums

BambooFor over 5 millenniums, scholars have studied the bamboo plant: its growth patterns, its peculiar flowering cycles, how it interacts with other plants in its environment, its usage and potentials. The relationship among the lineage of bamboo, termed “tribes”, was not clearly ascertained, until now. But a recent paper published in the journal of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution unearths the past history of bamboo with the help of DNA analysis, proves the most compelling evidence of the long evolutionary history, to date.

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The Predictability of Evolution

evolutionEver since Charles Darwin put forth his theory of evolution,there have been numerous debates on the subject from both religious and scientific angles. While religion heavily relies on facts documented in holy books, propagators of the evolution theory use empirical evidence to validate their case.

A study conducted by Stanford University suggests that long-term evolution is predictable. The study was conducted based on the principle of survival for the fittest. In this study,the scientists explain how certain conditions have led a certain bird to develop a particular type of beak. The increased competition for food and the need to crack seeds have necessitated the development of a particular type of beak in the bird. The fact that the beak has changed(evolved) to make the bird more adaptable in the new environment, affirms the point that evolution is predictable.

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New Scientific Perspectives on Genetically modified Animals

Genetically modified pigsJapanese researchers of the Riken Research Institute, Japan, created a mouse from a dead cell frozen for 16 years. The bio-tech research meets a new important and innovative goal thanks to a group of Japanese scientists, who were capable to create clones from mice which have been frozen in the course of 16 years. The Japanese scientists inform public opinion they have used adjusted techniques of a previous method. This research was started by the team research of Teruhiko Wakayama, a famous scientific researcher.

Fresh Data on DNA Research From Japan

Fresh data on DNA research are nowadays presented in the report “SNCT at the nerve centre for Developmental Biology (CDB), Kobe, Japan. With the same technique that had be used to clone the sheep Dolly, the Japanese scientists , in a study recently published in the “Cell Stem Cell” Journal, have found a way able to produce clones indefinitely and to get healthy clones of mice that can live under normal conditions.

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Epigenetics Reveals Environmental Adaptability Of Plants In Different Parts Of The World

flowerScientists working for the Salk Biological Studies Institute have succeeded in identifying diverse epigenomic patterns that actually help plants to adapt themselves to different environments. This could also come in handy in crop production and study of diseases that affect humans.

Scientists at the Biological Studies Institute at Salk have recently identified epigenomic diversity patterns which not only increase the capability of a plant to adapt itself to different environments but also result in better crop production as well as help in the study of diseases that affect humans.

The issue of Nature dated March 6 has published findings that point to the fact that the epigenomic makeup of plants is as diverse as the environment in which they grow. This is in addition to the genetic diversity that is characteristic of plants found all over the world. Epigenomics is defined as the study of chemical markers and their patterns which serve as a regulatory layer over and above DNA sequence. Based on the habitat where the plants grow, the differences in epigenomic patterns result in their adapting to their environments rapidly.

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Genes are the Key to Coral Conservation

coralCorals can be coralled to be tougher ocean tenants if their genes are altered to withstand tougher sea conditions. In a study published on Biomed Central’s BMC Genetics, it is revealed that water temperature and clarity has a correlation to immunity and response genes of reef-building coral variations. This information from the open access journal is vital in rebuilding or conserving reefs that are affected by climate change in terms of odd weather occurrences, drastic change in land use and heightened sedimentation.

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Ketchum’s Claims over the Hybrid Bigfoot

bigfootOwing to the disbelief of many scientists on the existence of Bigfoot, Dr. Melba Ketchum of DNA Diagnostics in Nacogdoches, New Mexico does not seem to quit her research. She is a vet and having found the genetic material corresponding to the ape-like creature in North America, Ketchum decided to imprint her findings in a journal that she herself bought called DeNovo.

Most of the reputed scientists do not believe that Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch exists. They are skeptics who ward off the tracks encountered by people as false interpretations. But the newly determined amateurs like Ketchum are hell bent on taking the samples discovered like hair, flesh, voice recordings, blood and fur further for investigation.

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Breakthrough Discovery Of New Microbial Enzymes

fossil fuelsIt is high time that we find a replacement for the traditional fossil fuels with other suitable and renewable energy. The world is anxiously waiting and watching to hear more about what the scientists have to say about their latest new protein probes, which are reported to have helped them to discover the most excellent microbial enzymes, which will break down cellulose and help to convert the biomass into biofuels like ethanol.

This is going to be a landmark discovery as the new protein probes will make it possible to come up with the most excellent biomass to biofuel production enzymes that we can find in nature. It is from the stop working of the primary component of the energy enriched constituent of plant substance, the cellulose, which helps to turn biomass into biofuels. The Cellulose, a polysaccharide, or, in other words, is made up of “different kinds of sugars” which are closely packed together. In order to make biofuels production possible from the cellulose, the different sugars have to be broken to be further processed like fermenting them to make ethanol. Since breaking of these closely bonded sugars is not easy the best agent for this task is a group of microbe-generated enzymes known as Glycoside Hydrolases or even it is termed as GHs.

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Storing data using DNA

Data storing using DNAThe world is filled with a lot of digital data a fact that makes the whole process of storing and archiving such information quite challenging. Scientists have estimated that there is about 3000 billion bytes worth of data in the world which makes the process of storing and archiving such data very difficult. It is worth noting that technological advancement has not clearly helped in storing such information hence there is a need to find a safer more effective way of storing these crucial information lest we lose them.

The hard disk has indeed done wonders in the whole process of information storage and archiving but although it has done wonders, it often has a lot of draw backs. A major drawback of the hard disks is that it is quite expensive to store information using hard disks since it requires constant supply of electricity in order to store the information. This can be very costly in the long run. Other devices such as the magnetic tape that does not require any form of electricity to store data is often limited by the number of years it can store data. It is well known that the magnetic tapes are capable of storing data for less than a decade hence making them quite unreliable when it comes to storing data for a long period of time.

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Obtaining solutions for puzzles without a picture

DNAThere are a number of difficult problems in the genomics field. Among these problems is that involving the assembly of moderately short DNA “reads” to come up with full chromosomes. Apparently this shouldn’t be a problem anymore as it has been solved by a group of computer and genome scientists. An algorithm has been created that can quickly create “virtual chromosomes” without any past information regarding the genome’s organization. All this is according to the paper newly published in the National Academy of Sciences’ events.

Short fragments in thousands are created by next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. The NGS are powerful sequencing methods for DNA that was developed approximately 15 years back. For species that have got genetics that has been studied widely, the NGS fragments can be organized and ordered using the accessible information.

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Differences in microbes may contribute to differences in wine grapes

wine grapesDifferent microbes can create differences in wine grapes even if it is in one particular vineyard. The choice of the ideal wine may soon depend on more than simply having knowledge about which vintage and chateau are perfect. According to a research done by Mathabatha Setati and colleagues from the Stellenbosch University in South Africa and which was published on December 26, 2012 in PLOS ONE, an open access journal, there may be fluctuations of flavor in samples of grapes obtained from different tanks because of differences in microbes found on grapes even on separate parts of one particular vineyard.

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DNA repair mystery solved by Professor Taekjip Ha’s team

DNAThe fundamental concept of growth is cell division. New cells develop as older cells divide into two. This process is repeated continuously at a regulated speed. The first step in cell division is to produce a copy of DNA present in the parent cell. There are certain special proteins that are responsible for opening the complex DNA strands while new strands are created by copying those untwined strands. If there is a break in the procedure then the copying process stops and this creates a chance for the entry of new molecular changes.

For many years scientists have tried to understand the true work pattern of one such repair protein known a RecA. This protein helps to repair a DNA strand by matching the strand patterns of a DNA. Scientists knew the effects of RecA but they were struggling to understand the actual means by which this repair was achieved. This group of scientists claimed that they had found an answer to this question. It is supposed to portray various new facts about DNA repair.

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New Discoveries of the Mosquito’s Immune System

MosquitoIt’s long been known that mosquitoes are the vector of deadly diseases such as malaria. But it’s also been the conventional wisdom amongst scientists that the mosquito was a relatively inert carrier of those diseases: It was thought that the mosquito had a relatively unsophisticated immune system of its own, and that the disease microbes were merely along for the ride.

This view is changing, however, in light of recent research into the mosquito’s immune system. Scientists are discovering that the tiny insect has an immune system that is considerably more sophisticated than has been imagined previously. The immune systems of most creatures, including humans, rely upon antibodies. These antibodies are able to target and attack the microbial agents that cause infection. The mosquito does not generate these antibodies. Instead, they have evolved different ways of attacking the germs that cause diseases. In fact, the mosquito is capable of attacking even the malaria parasite.

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How Algae Can Get energy

single-celled green algaeSince the beginning of modern day science, it has been a well-known fact that the only way plants and algae make energy or food is through the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis involves the use of sunlight to synthesize carbon dioxide and water to make raw carbohydrates, which is their source of energy. A new discovery has shown that there could be other ways that plants make this vital energy.

A biological research team at Bielefeld University in Germany, headed by Professor Dr. Olaf Kruse has for the first time confirmed that the plant ‘Chlamydomonas reinhardtii’, a type of green algae, not only photosynthesizes but can alternatively draw energy from other plants directly.

Professor Dr. Olaf Kruse‘s research team cultivated the very minute ‘Chlamydomonas reinhardtii’ in an environment deprived of the very vital carbon dioxide. Over time they observed that these single-celled green algae adapted to this life threatening situation by starting to draw already made energy from the nearby vegetable glucose.

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Latest discovery of a brain gene that distinguishes us from apes

scientist doing researchScientists have come up with fresh evidence which will help a great deal in solving one of the biggest mysteries in life – what contributes to our humanity.

A worldwide group of researchers have identified a new gene which makes it possible to make clear the evolution of humans from chimpanzees. The researchers say that the gene, which is referred to as miR-941, seems to have been of great importance in the process of development of the human brain and it may give details regarding how humans came to know the skills of using tools as well as language. The scientists have pointed out the fact that this is the initial time that a new gene that is exclusive to humans and not found in apes has been found to be of a significant role in the body of humans.

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Advantages of Chocolate Genome Research for All

chocolateGuiltinan is a famous plant molecular biologist. He is currently working as a professor of Horticultural. He has been studying the methods to improve the corps and better farming in his lab from the very beginning of his career. He was also a big wheel in the process of analyzing the Criollo variety genome of the The obromo cacao plant which is used as a key ingredient in the development of high quality chocolate. He conducted all his experiments at the famous research center known as the International Cocoa Genome Sequencing Consortium and they have been very successful and have shown some excellent results and has become instrumental in the development of unique breed of cacao plant. They have deeply studied the Genome Sequencing Program and the computer clusters at the Penn State University and other foreign institutions.

Here, it should be mentioned that despite the immense popularity of chocolate in all the corners of the world, the cacao plantation is not considered to be a famous and well paid business because it is too difficult to grow. The region of West Africa is the leader in cacao plantation and approximately 70% of the chocolate comes from this region. However, the cacao cultivators in this region are surprisingly poor and work in small farms which are hardly able to deal with their daily needs. Now, discussing a little about the chocolate, this sweet stuff is made from Criollo variety of cocoa plant which is a dried and fully fermented fatty seed. Cocoa butter and cocoa solids are extracted from the seed which serve as the base of chocolate.

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