Computer scientists at the University of Washington have developed software that is incorporated in new technology allowing television audiences to instantaneously see how air flows around speeding cars.

The algorithm, first presented at a computer graphics conference last August, was since used by sports network ESPN and sporting-technology company Sportvision Inc. to create a new effect for racing coverage.

Bones are typically thought of as calcified, inert structures, but researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have now identified a surprising and critically important novel function of the skeleton: they’ve shown for the first time that the skeleton is an endocrine organ that helps control our sugar metabolism and weight and, as such, is a major determinant of the development of type 2 diabetes.

The research demonstrates that bone cells release a hormone called osteocalcin, which controls the regulation of blood sugar (glucose) and fat deposition through synergistic mechanisms previously not recognized. Usually, an increase in insulin secretion is accompanied by a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

It may not be inhaled into the lungs, but smokeless tobacco exposes users to some of the same potent carcinogens as cigarettes. In the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, researchers at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center report that users of smokeless tobacco are exposed to higher amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines -- molecules that are known to be carcinogenic -- than smokers.

Smokeless tobacco, also known as oral snuff, is a variant on chewing tobacco that users suck on by slipping it between their cheeks and gums.

When most people look at a window they see solid panes of glass but to physicists it isn't so simple. Window glass has always been a puzzle but an Emory University research team led by physicist Eric Weeks has found another clue.

Weeks has devoted his career to probing the mysteries of "squishy" substances that cannot be pinned down as a solid or liquid. Referred to as "soft condensed materials," they include everyday substances such as toothpaste, peanut butter, shaving cream, plastic and glass.

Scientists fully understand the process of water turning to ice.

A nuclear physicist from Florida State University collaborated with other scientists from the United States, Japan and England in an experiment that illustrated how the “normal” rules of physics don’t apply for some unstable elements.

Kirby W. Kemper, the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Physics and vice president for Research at FSU, took part in an experiment at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, a national user facility located at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. In the experiment, Kemper and his colleagues found that the structure of atomic nuclei of one radioactive isotope in particular -- magnesium-36, or Mg-36 -- is odd and unexpected.

“Ten years ago, complicated experiments like this one were a dream,” Kemper said.

Computer scientists from UC San Diego have developed a way to generate images like smoke-filled bars, foggy alleys and smog-choked cityscapes without the computational drag and slow speed of previous computer graphics methods.

“This is a huge computational savings. It lets you render explosions, smoke, and the architectural lighting design in the presence these kinds of visual effects much faster,” said Wojciech Jarosz, the UC San Diego computer science Ph.D. candidate who led the study.

The long-held belief that plant-eating insects in tropical forests are picky eaters that stay “close to home” – dining only on locale-specific vegetation – is being challenged by new research findings that suggest these insects feast on a broader menu of foliage and can be consistently found across hundreds of miles of tropical forestland.

These findings have significant implications related to the sustainability and conservation of these globally-important areas.

Michigan State University scientist Anthony Cognato and graduate student Jiri Hulcr were part of an international team that conducted this groundbreaking research, the results of which are described in the Aug.ust 9 online issue of the journal Nature.

Reductants, sometimes referred to as antioxidants, are elements or compounds that easily give up an electron to become “oxidized,” while oxidizing agents readily accept electrons. In the body, such oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions are integral to the release and storage of energy. Many cellular pathways are also sensitive to the prevailing redox condition.

Despite the popular notion that antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, offer health-promoting benefits by protecting against damaging free radicals, a new study in the August 10 issue of the journal Cell reveals that, in fact, balance is the key.

“Terra Firma -- A Journey from Migrant Farm Labor to Neurosurgery” chronicles Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Alfredo Quinones’ amazing journey from illegal immigrant, migrant farm worker to prominent Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon and brain cancer researcher. The compelling story will appear in the August 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Quinones’ remarkable odyssey began at a small family-owned gas station in a poor rural Mexican town. With more faith in his abilities than in his opportunities in his village, Quinones entered the United States illegally with almost no money or knowledge of English. Once inside the country, he managed to find employment pulling weeds in the cotton and tomato fields outside Fresno, Calif., and working as a welder for the railroads.

Scientists with the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA were able to produce from human embryonic stem cells a highly pure, large quantity of functioning neurons that will allow them to create models of and study diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, prefrontal dementia and schizophrenia.

Researchers previously had been able to produce neurons - the impulse-conducting cells in the brain and spinal cord - from human embryonic stem cells. However, the percentage of neurons in the cell culture was not high and the neurons were difficult to isolate from the other cells.