Scientists gain understanding of self-cleaning gecko foot hair

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) ? Imagine the money you'd save if you bought a roll of duct tape and could use it over and over again without having to toss it in the garbage after one use. Wall-climbing robots, bioadhesives or other sticky substances can benefit greatly from a recent discovery about the self-cleaning and reuse abilities of a gecko's foot hair by a University of Akron graduate student-researcher and his partners.

Their work was published in the June 13 edition of Interface, the Journal of the Royal Society.

The sticky yet clean attribute of this discovery is the gecko toe pad and its ability to repeatedly attach and detach to a surface.

Researchers Shihao Hu, a UA mechanical engineering student, and biologist and recent UA graduate Stephanie Lopez-Chueng of Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and their team discovered that the clue to a dynamic self-cleaning mechanism in gecko setae, or microscopic foot hair, is achieved through the hyperextension of their toes.

"The analysis reveals that geckos have tiny sticky hairs on their toes called setaes, and due to the attaching and detaching mechanism caused by the rolling and peeling motion of their toes as they walk, they release the dirt particles leaving their feet clean," Hu says. "The dynamic hyperextension effect of its natural toe peeling increases the speed of the cleaning to nearly twice as fast as previously perceived."

Partners in the study included Hu; Lopez-Chueng; Dr. Peter Niewiarowski, interim director, UA Integrated Bioscience Ph.D. program; and Zhenhai Xia, University of North Texas, Materials Science and Engineering.

The findings, published in the article, "Dynamic Self-Cleaning in Gecko Setae via Digital Hyperextension," show that a gecko-inspired adhesive can function under conditions where traditional adhesives do not, possibly inspiring new applications in space or water exploration tools or in common items like duct tape or other products that use sticky properties.

"Through biomimicry, a gecko-inspired adhesive can function under conditions where traditional adhesives do not, such as in a vacuum, outer space or under water," Niewiarowski says. "More broadly, a gecko-inspired adhesive would be able to bind materials together very strongly yet also release very easily. Imagine a tape that binds things together securely like duct tape yet can also be removed and reused over and over again like a post-it note."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Akron. The original article was written by Marisha Daniels.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. S. Hu, S. Lopez, P. H. Niewiarowski, Z. Xia. Dynamic self-cleaning in gecko setae via digital hyperextension. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 2012; DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2012.0108

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Head Start: Scientists Trace a Wiring Plan for Entire Mouse Brain

News | Mind & Brain

The first images from a rodent research project that has set out to map the whole mouse brain are now publicly available

By Saswato R. Das ?| June 20, 2012?|

WIRING DIAGRAM: A single mouse brain imaged by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory at light-microscope resolution. It produces about a terabyte (1 trillion bytes, or 1000 GB) of data. Image: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

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One of the items high on the big science project to-do list is to devise a wiring diagram for the human brain. Its 100 billion neurons and the hundreds of trillions of connections among these cells consign this goal and the specifics of achieving it to the long-term bin. A first step, though, is a complete diagram of the mouse brain.

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in Long Island, N.Y., have started making public detailed images of mouse brain circuitry, releasing on June 1 the first installment of about 500 terabytes. The goal of the effort, called the Mouse Brain Architecture Project (MBA), is an entire rodent brain wiring plan that would represent the first such mapping of the circuits of a vertebrate brain.

"Current knowledge of brain circuitry is incomplete," says Jonathan Pollock, chief of genetics and molecular neurobiology research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The lack of knowledge about neural circuitry has led to recognition by the scientific community of the need map the brain at the macro-, meso- and microscopic scale."

The MBA complements other efforts, such as the National Institutes of Health's Human Connectome Project and the ALLEN Brain Connectivity Atlas. Pollock says that because the mouse serves as a general model for mammal genetics, the knowledge gleaned could help in the study of diseases such as Alzheimer's, autism, schizophrenia, depression and addiction. In recent years researchers focusing on mammalian brains have placed much attention on individual synapses, connection points between neurons, using electron microscopy. This approach is too complex and currently impractical for application to the whole mouse brain

"I wanted an approach that could pragmatically approach the architecture of the whole nervous system. Our project utilizes tracer injections to delineate the wiring diagram of the whole brain," says Partha Mitra, a bio -physicist at CSHL and the leader of the project.

The CSHL researchers use four injected tracers to delineate the circuitry. Two of these are "classical" tracers?choleratoxin subunit B and biotinylated dextran amines. Additionally, there are two viral tracers?the adeno-associated virus and a modified version of the rabies virus.

The project produces high-definition images (each image is approximately one billion pixels) of mouse brain sections. Each brain is represented in some 500 images, with each image showing an optical section through a 20-micron-thick slice of brain tissue. Information from other data sources publicly available over the Internet are added to the images and everything is made available to neuroscientists as well as interested members of the general public at http://mouse.brainarchitecture.org. The site can be used as a "virtual microscope" to look inside a mouse brain, with the ability to zoom in to show individual neurons and their processes. Users have access to a multi-resolution viewer that allows them to progress from the front of each brain to the back and follow in 3-D the actual neuronal pathways.

Mitra says the intention was to share data with the community, akin to how the astronomy data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey was made publicly available. "I come from a physics background where open distribution of results prior to publication via a preprint archive (arXiv) has been standard practice for a long time and predates the current growth in open-access journals," he says. Because it can take months?sometimes years?to get a paper published in a journal, he prefers an approach where "scientific communications can be made much more directly and quickly by posting data and results on the Web as they become available."

Mitra's team intends to provide tutorial materials that would allow any curious person to engage with data on the Web site. They have already put up one tutorial so far on major brain pathways, using one of the myelin stained brains displayed on the site. "This is a good entry point to thinking about the overall connectivity structure of the brain," Mitra says. "During the Renaissance," he notes, "artists carried out detailed studies of anatomy, and they were able to do this because the structures were visible to the naked eye. The same is not true for neurons; however, with the virtual microscope that we are providing, it should be possible even for the layperson to engage in some degree of neuroanatomical study. We will be working on tools to enable this further."

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LeBron captures his first championship as Heat win NBA Finals

MIAMI ? These used to be the moments that suffocated LeBron James. End of a game, the world watching, everyone expecting greatness. A TV camera would catch James sitting on the bench, gnawing on his fingernails during a timeout. He'd take the court, and the ball ? and the game ? would find their way into his large hands. Too often, he'd give them both to a teammate. The pressure, the responsibility to live up to his enormous talent, was too much for him to shoulder.

No longer is James haunted by his demons. He embraces these moments now, and as the final seconds ticked off the clock late Thursday, James was finally free of the burden he had carried for so long. Finally, the world could call him a champion.

LeBron James wrapped up his first NBA title. (AP) James had walked off the court a few minutes earlier, the Miami Heat's 121-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder long since secure. He dominated these NBA Finals, and he saved his best for last with a 26-point, 13-assist, 11-rebound triple-double performance. James hugged his teammates and coaches, screamed and waved his arms. No more doubts. He owned his elusive title.

"It's about damn time," James said after accepting the Finals MVP trophy from Bill Russell. "It's about damn time."

He had come into this with people questioning whether Kevin Durant had surpassed him as the game's greatest player, with the Heat cast in the unfamiliar role of underdogs. Oklahoma City's victory in Game 1 fanned those sentiments. It turned out to be the only jolt the Heat needed.

James took hold of this series in Game 2 and he never let go. He was the league's best player this season, and he was the greatest player on the floor in these Finals. The Thunder never had an answer for him. Not Durant, not anyone. From the moment James threw down a thunderous dunk to open Thursday night, the message was clear:

No more waiting. This night, this season, belonged to him.

"My dream has become a reality now," James said, "and it's the best feeling I ever had."

[Video: Who will follow Anthony Davis as the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft?]

James coronation came only after he showed the depth of his greatness. He barreled through the Thunder early then spent much of the rest of the night picking them apart with his precision passes. Each time, the Thunder started to steady themselves, James found an open shooter. Mike Miller, who made seven of his eight 3-pointers. Shane Battier. Mario Chalmers. By the middle of the third quarter, the game ? and the series ? was out of OKC's reach.

"It was a storybook season for him," Durant said.

Miami's journey through these playoffs was a test in resilience. They trailed in every series but their first. In each, they were led back by James. Dwyane Wade had deferred to James this season, given him control of the Heat, and James accepted the responsibility.

No athlete has been more scrutinized, and that's why no NBA championship has ever felt so fulfilling for one player. James has become an athlete for our times, delivered onto the world's stage as a high school senior, wealth and celebrity finding him well before maturity. He's grown up before us, teenager to global star, Akron to South Beach, his flaws and failures just as compelling a story as his successes.

Drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, James seemed destined to someday deliver his hometown the championship it so craved. He took the Cavs to the Finals in 2007, but was gone in four games, swept by the San Antonio Spurs. Four years later, James decided he'd had enough, the burden to carry Cleveland by himself too great. So he left. LeBron James enjoys the spoils of victory, his first NBA title in three trips to the Finals. (AFP)

James' free-agent courtship was unlike any other in the sport's history. He had been raised in front of cameras, his life chronicled in 140-character tweets, and he announced his decision, fittingly enough, in a narcissistic televised special titled "The Decision." "I'm taking my talents to South Beach," James said, giving his generation one of its iconic phrases.

[Related: Painful ending for Kevin Durant, Thunder]

In signing with the Heat, James joined two other stars from his draft class, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, in a free-agent haul that seemed to signal a transfer of power in the NBA. Miami treated the trio as royalty, parading them on a stage bathed in smoke and lights, the type of celebration usually reserved for championships, not signatures. James played to the moment, promising to win multiple championships. "Not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven," he crowed.

The moment cemented James as one of the greatest villains in sports. James said he willingly accepted the role, that he was content to be the man in black, a target for critics and opposing fans alike. In truth, he wasn't strong enough to handle the contempt.

Unlike Michael Jordan and some of the NBA's other great champions, James didn't arrive with an indomitable spirit. He had to learn to develop one, and his first season in Miami provided quite the lesson. Favored to win the title, the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the Finals as James flitted around the perimeter and shrunk in the series' biggest moments.

[Also: Imagine a U.S. soccer team with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and other top athletes]

James never looked so young afterward. On the same stage in which he celebrated Thursday's coronation, he pouted and tried to mock his critics, his insecurities pouring out in front of the world.

Deep down, James knew he needed to change. He shut himself off to the world for two weeks after the series, and the year since has been one of introspection. He found a mentor in Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon. He began reading more, including at his locker before games. He turned off his cell phone before the playoffs. He blocked out the distractions and did everything, it seemed, to put his mind at ease.

"It took me to go all the way to the top and then rock bottom basically to realize what I needed to do as a professional athlete and as a person," James said.

So on the eve of his first championship, James surprised no one when he announced: "I feel comfortable."

[Slideshow: Miami celebrates its second title]

Throughout this postseason, James has sustained his aggressiveness like never before. He's taken the ball into the post and attacked from different angles. No floating this year. He unleashed an epic 45-point performance with the Heat facing elimination against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, and he dominated the Thunder in this series.

James always needed a championship to validate his greatness. It probably won't change everyone's perception of him, but it will help, as will the way in which James has carried himself this season. He's displayed a level of humility and openness he'd rarely shown.

A year ago James walked out of this same arena defeated and mocked. As the roar fell down upon him late Thursday, he unfurled his long arms and unburdened himself of all that pressure, all that unfulfilled promise. He was a champion, at last.

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Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, Wife of Miami Heat Star, Arrested on Child Abduction Charges

Dwyane Wade is currently battling the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals.

But the elite shooting guard was faced with an obstacle far greater than guarding Kevin Durant this weekend, when his estranged ex-wife attempted to kidnap the former couple's two children.

A rep for the Cook County Sheriff's Office has confirmed that Siohvaughn Funches-Wade was arrested for allegedly trying to abduct the boys, saying in a statement:

"Siohvaughn Funches-Wade was charged with two counts of attempted child abduction, two counts of unlawful visitation interference and one count of resisting arrest."

She posted $10,000 bond and will appear in court again this August.

Dwyane - who is dating actress Gabrielle Union - has legal custody of the children and will reportedly use this incident to limit Siohvaughn's visitation rights, considering it's not even her first foray into seriously shady behavior.

In the past couple years, Siohvaughn has sued Union for causing emotional distress and also accused Wade of giving her a STD.

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Tea Drinkers At Higher Risk Of Prostate Cancer

Tea drinkers are at greater risk of developing prostate cancer. Researchers from the University of Glasgow have found that people who drink more than seven cups of tea per day are at higher risk of developing prostate cancer. They discovered this when they conducted a study on more than 6,000 men between 1973 and 2007.

"Most previous research has shown either no relationship with prostate cancer for black tea or some preventive effect of green tea," the BBC quoted Dr Kashif Shafique, researcher at the of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow, as saying."We don't know whether tea itself is a risk factor or if tea drinkers are generally healthier and live to an older age when prostate cancer is more common anyway."

During the study, the researchers had tracked the health conditions of more than 6,000 men aged between 21 and 75 over a period of 37 years. They found that 318 men had developed prostate cancer within this period.

Among the 318 men, most had consumed more than seven cups of tea every day. This clearly proved that people who drink more than seven cups of tea are at 50 percent higher risk of developing prostate cancer compared to men who took less than three cups of tea.

Researchers claim that even if heavy tea drinkers do not consume alcohol or they maintain perfect weight, they are at high risk of developing cancer.

?"We found that heavy tea drinkers were more likely not to be overweight, be non-alcohol drinkers and have healthy cholesterol levels. However, we did adjust for these differences in our analysis and still found that men who drank the most tea were at greater risk of prostate cancer." Dr Shafique told Press Association.

"There has been much interest in the preventive effects of green tea on prostate cancer risk; however, we found a harmful effect of black tea on prostate cancer risk. The association between tea intake and prostate cancer should be investigated in prospective epidemiological studies in relation to different compositions of tea," he concluded.

Prostate cancer is the cancer that starts in the prostate gland. This form of cancer is most common in men who are above 70. Prostate cancer is rarely found in men younger than 40.

In 2009, nearly 40,800 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK. Among them, nearly 10,700 men had died from prostate cancer in 2010, according a Cancer Research UK report.

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Samsung Making Enterprise Push With ?SAFE? Galaxy S IIIs

BlackBerrys may still be the corporate device of choice, but that won't be the case for much longer if Samsung has anything to say about it. Starting in July, Samsung?s Galaxy S IIIs will sport the company?s SAFE (Samsung Approved For Enterprise) branding in an attempt to ingratiate their shiny new Android handset with business types and IT admins. These enterprise-friendly devices will find their way to all five of the carriers that will sell the Galaxy S III (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular).

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