Disruption of neurotransmission in Drosophila mushroom body blocks retrieval but not acquisition of memory

Surgical, pharmacological and genetic lesion studies have revealed distinct anatomical sites involved with different forms of learning. Studies of patients with localized brain damage and work in rodent model systems, for example, have shown that the hippocampal formation participates in acquisition of declarative tasks but is not the site of their long-term storage. Such lesions are usually irreversible, however, which has limited their use for dissecting the temporal processes of acquisition, storage and retrieval of memories. Studies in bees and flies have similarly revealed a distinct anatomical region of the insect brain, the mushroom body, that is involved specifically in olfactory associative learning. We have used a temperature-sensitive dynamin transgene, which disrupts synaptic transmission reversibly and on the time-scale of minutes, to investigate the temporal requirements for ongoing neural activity during memory formation. Here we show that synaptic transmission from mushroom body neurons is required during memory retrieval but not during acquisition or storage. We propose that the hebbian processes underlying olfactory associative learning reside in mushroom body dendrites or upstream of the mushroom body and that the resulting alterations in synaptic strength modulate mushroom body output during memory retrieval.     

Magnetic carbon

The discovery of nanostructured forms of molecular carbon has led to renewed interest in the varied properties of this element. Both graphite and C60 can be electron-doped by alkali metals to become superconducting; transition temperatures of up to 52 K have been attained by field-induced hole-doping of C60 (ref. 2). Recent experiments and theoretical studies have suggested that electronic instabilities in pure graphite may give rise to superconducting and ferromagnetic properties, even at room temperature. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of strong magnetic signals in rhombohedral C60. Our intention was to search for superconductivity in polymerized C60; however, it appears that our high-pressure, high-temperature polymerization process results in a magnetically ordered state. The material exhibits features typical of ferromagnets: saturation magnetization, large hysteresis and attachment to a magnet at room temperature. The temperature dependences of the saturation and remanent magnetization indicate a Curie temperature near 500 K.     

Haemoglobin C protects against clinical Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Haemoglobin C (HbC; beta6Glu --> Lys) is common in malarious areas of West Africa, especially in Burkina Faso. Conclusive evidence exists on the protective role against severe malaria of haemoglobin S (HbS; beta6Glu --> Val) heterozygosity, whereas conflicting results for the HbC trait have been reported and no epidemiological data exist on the possible role of the HbCC genotype. In vitro studies suggested that HbCC erythrocytes fail to support the growth of P. falciparum but HbC homozygotes with high P. falciparum parasitaemias have been observed. Here we show, in a large case-control study performed in Burkina Faso on 4,348 Mossi subjects, that HbC is associated with a 29% reduction in risk of clinical malaria in HbAC heterozygotes (P = 0.0008) and of 93% in HbCC homozygotes (P = 0.0011). These findings, together with the limited pathology of HbAC and HbCC compared to the severely disadvantaged HbSS and HbSC genotypes and the low betaS gene frequency in the geographic epicentre of betaC, support the hypothesis that, in the long term and in the absence of malaria control, HbC would replace HbS in central West Africa.     

Thin-film thermoelectric devices with high room-temperature figures of merit

Thermoelectric materials are of interest for applications as heat pumps and power generators. The performance of thermoelectric devices is quantified by a figure of merit, ZT, where Z is a measure of a material's thermoelectric properties and T is the absolute temperature. A material with a figure of merit of around unity was first reported over four decades ago, but since then-despite investigation of various approaches-there has been only modest progress in finding materials with enhanced ZT values at room temperature. Here we report thin-film thermoelectric materials that demonstrate a significant enhancement in ZT at 300 K, compared to state-of-the-art bulk Bi2Te3 alloys. This amounts to a maximum observed factor of approximately 2.4 for our p-type Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattice devices. The enhancement is achieved by controlling the transport of phonons and electrons in the superlattices. Preliminary devices exhibit significant cooling (32 K at around room temperature) and the potential to pump a heat flux of up to 700 W cm-2; the localized cooling and heating occurs some 23,000 times faster than in bulk devices. We anticipate that the combination of performance, power density and speed achieved in these materials will lead to diverse technological applications: for example, in thermochemistry-on-a-chip, DNA microarrays, fibre-optic switches and microelectrothermal systems.