Sunday Newscape Magazine

University of Iowa researchers have shown that a protein channel helps nerve sensors in blood vessels keep blood pressure in check. Without the protein channel, known as ASIC2, the sensors are unable to send the brain the signals it needs to properly control blood pressure.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have announced plans to create a demonstration broadband communications network for the nation’s emergency services agencies using a portion of the radiofrequency spectrum freed up by the recent transition of U.S. broadcast television from analog to digital technologies.

Does it matter if nature solves the same problem multiple ways? A NSF-supported study of lizard populations in White Sands, New Mexico has helped researcher Erica Rosenblum of the University of Idaho begin to answer that question. Published December 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the article describes genetic differences between lizards found in habitats that contain white or dark soils.

Some geologic faults that appear strong and stable, slip and slide like weak faults. Now an international team of researchers has laboratory evidence showing why some faults that 'should not' slip are weaker than previously thought. Their findings are detailed in this week's edition of the journal Nature.