Studying structures created by nature can lead to new man-made materials. Case in point, researchers at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego are taking clues from seahorse tails in an effort to create a more flexible robotic arm.
By Lynne Friedmann Biologists at UC San Diego have identified eight genes — never before suspected of having a role in healing — that spring into action when a wound occurs. The discovery was made in the laboratory fruit fly Drosophila, which serves as an experimental model because many of the genes that regulate a Drosophila’s [...]
A new research vessel will be named R/V Sally Ride, in honor of the former UC San Diego faculty member who was the first American female astronaut and the youngest American to fly in space.
Teaching computer science below the college level is difficult, because of few qualified instructors for students in elementary to high school. So, a computer scientist at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego and his graduate students set out to reach students outside of the classroom. The result is CodeSpells; a video game designed to keep children engaged while they cope with the challenges of learning programming.
Industrial chemists working toward new drugs, as well as organic chemistry students, have a unique new resource to guide them through chemical challenges. A trio of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has created the first fully interactive advanced organic chemistry textbook. A decade in the making, “The Portable Chemist’s Consultant: A Survival Guide for Discovery, Process, and Radiolabeling” is available as an iTunes download (http://bit.ly/13W4aOc). In contrast to traditional print books that have simply been converted to electronic form, this textbook was created from the ground up exclusively for tablets using Apple software.
The same sort of mathematical model used to predict which websites people are most apt to visit shows promise in mapping how lung cancer spreads in the human body.
Employing a sophisticated system of mathematical equations known as a Markov chain model, researchers found that metastatic lung cancer does not progress in a single direction from primary tumor site to distant locations, which has been the traditional medical view. Instead, they found that cancer cell movement around the body likely occurs in more than one direction at a time.
The same sort of mathematical model used to predict which websites people are most apt to visit shows promise in mapping how lung cancer spreads in the human body. Employing a sophisticated system of mathematical equations known as a Markov chain model, researchers found that metastatic lung cancer does not progress in a single direction from primary tumor site to distant locations, which has been the traditional medical view. Instead, they found that cancer cell movement around the body likely occurs in more than one direction at a time.
Students who work together and interact online are more likely to be successful in their college classes, according to a study by a computer scientist at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. Analyzing 80,000 interactions between 290 students in a collaborative learning environment for college courses, the major finding was that a [...]
Cancer cells need food to survive and grow, and the food they rely upon most is glucose. This has led to attempts to kill cancer cells by blocking access to this energy-rich sugar. Surprisingly, glucose-starved tumors don’t die but continued to grow and become more aggressive.
Understanding the interaction of proteins and enzymes is key to discovering and advancing treatments for diseases. Unfortunately, conventional light microscopes cannot clearly show objects as small as single molecules and electron microscopy cannot be effectively used with living cells.
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