Study of Magnitude 8.7 Earthquake Lends New Insight into Post-Shaking Processes Data collected from instruments in the field during the magnitude 8.7 Nias-Simeulue earthquake of March 28, 2005, are fueling a new understanding of the basic mechanisms controlling slip on faults, and are providing improved estimates of regional seismic risk. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12874.html.
Physicists Devise New Techniques for Detecting Heavy Water Scientists have created a new method for detecting heavy water, using a tiny optical device called a microresonator. The process is 30 times more sensitive than any other existing method and is good news for those concerned about the proliferation of nuclear weapons, because heavy water is typically found wherever someone is trying to control nuclear chain reactions. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12865.html.
Study of Embryonic Sea Lampreys Provides New Insight into the Evolution of Vertebrates Biologists have found that the same family of genes responsible for the facial development of lampreys, the most primitive of all vertebrates with a backbone and the closest approximation to the common ancestors of all vertebrates, is also responsible for the formation of the pharynx and parts of the jaw in humans. The discovery provides new information about the early evolution of life. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12860.html.
Biologists Uncover New Details of How Neural Crest Forms in the Early Embryonic Stages Biologists have found precursors to the neural crest--an area in embryos where stem cells build structures that form parts of the nervous system and the bones and cartilage of the skull--surprisingly early in development. The discovery could lead to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms in embryonic development and to therapeutic interventions when development goes awry and produces deformities such as cleft palate. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12849.html.
Aerospace Engineers and Biologists Solve Long-Standing Heart-Development Mystery Biologists and engineers have found that the human embryonic heart doesn't pump the way we were taught it did. Instead, blood flows through it by a dynamic suction action, similar to the action of the mature left ventricle. The findings could lead to new treatments of heart diseases that arise from congenital defects. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12845.html.
Letters and Symbols Originated Across Cultures to Mimic Natural Scenes, Study Says A new study suggests that the shapes of letters and symbols used throughout history by the world's many cultures may have arisen to take advantage of the way human vision has evolved to see common structures and shapes in nature--things we are good at seeing. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12837.html.
Hubble Space Telescope Obtains Best-Ever Size Measurement of Xena; Still Larger Than Pluto Data from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal that Xena, the so-called "tenth planet," is about 5 percent larger than Pluto--and the most reflective planet in the solar system. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12832.html.
Caltech Researchers Create New Proteins by Recombining the Pieces of Existing Proteins Using computational tools to analyze protein structures and pinpoint locations at which the proteins can be broken apart and then reassembled like Lego pieces, engineers and scientists have created a large number of proteins with similar structures that are nevertheless very different in sequence. This new mastery over protein construction will someday lead to breakthroughs in medicine and pharmaceuticals. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12825.html.
Fluid Mechanics Experts Come Up with New Test for Heart Disease Researchers have devised a new index for cardiac health based on a simple ultrasound test. The new diagnostic tool allows clinicians to search for very early signs of heart disease. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12829.html.
Caltech Physicists and International MINOS Team Discover New Details of Why Neutrinos Disappear Physicists have observed the disappearance of muon neutrinos traveling from a lab site in Illinois to a particle detector in Minnesota. The observation is consistent with an effect known as neutrino oscillation, in which neutrinos change from one kind to another, and reveals that neutrinos are not massless, as had previously been thought. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12824.html.
Researchers Determine How Plants Decide Where to Position Their Leaves and Flowers Biologists combining state-of-the-art imaging and mathematical modeling have discovered how the plant hormone auxin helps plant cells communicate to determine the position of new flowers and leaves. http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12821.html.
### Kathy Svitil (626) 395-8022 [email protected]
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