Tracey Peake

Apr 23, 2013

Bartonellosis: Diagnosing a Stealth Pathogen

NC State professor of veterinary internal medicine Ed Breitschwerdt has spent the last couple of decades working with Bartonella, bacteria historically associated with “cat scratch disease.” Bartonella is increasingly recognized as a cause of persistent intravascular infection that can result in severe health effects. Research from Breitschwerdt’s laboratory and others has led to the discovery of… 

Apr 16, 2013

Cretaceous Cold Cases No. 1: A Case With Legs

This is the first post in a series called “Cretaceous Cold Cases” in which the science of taphonomy, or prehistoric forensics, is explained and exemplified by fascinating cases from the files of Terry “Bucky” Gates, a research scientist with a joint appointment at NC State and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Summer, 2001. It… 

Apr 15, 2013

NC State Researchers Predict Active Hurricane Season for 2013

Researchers at North Carolina State University forecast an above-average hurricane season for 2013. 2013 should see 13 to 17 named storms forming in the Atlantic basin, which includes the entire Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, according to Dr. Lian Xie, professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences (MEAS), and collaborators… 

Apr 10, 2013

College of Veterinary Medicine Open House Slated for April 27

What: North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine’s annual open house will explore the One Health concept with special exhibits and discussions on the connection between animals, the environment and people. The open house features more than 30 exhibits, opportunities to get up close with various animals large and small, special demonstrations, and chances… 

Apr 10, 2013

New Flu Review

The new strain of avian flu – known as H7N9 – has only been on scientists’ radar for a couple of weeks, but that’s been long enough to raise some questions.  NC State epidemiology expert Barrett Slenning, who spends a lot of time looking at the ways in which pathogens transfer from animals to people, was… 

Mar 19, 2013

Supernova Photo of the Day and Cool New Findings

The image above is of the Kepler supernova remnant, first discovered in 1604, and one of only a few Type Ia supernovas known to have exploded in the Milky Way galaxy. Its proximity and its identifiable explosion date make it an excellent object to study. In a new study, researchers from NC State have found that… 

Mar 14, 2013

Researchers Create Nanoscale Spinning Magnetic Droplets

Researchers have successfully created a magnetic soliton – a nano-sized, spinning droplet that was first theorized 35 years ago. These solitons have implications for the creation of magnetic, spin-based computers. Solitons are waves, localized in space, that preserve their size and momentum. They were first observed in water. Solitons composed of light have proved useful… 

Mar 13, 2013

Foundations of Carbon-Based Life Leave Little Room for Error

  Life as we know it is based upon the elements of carbon and oxygen. Now a team of physicists, including one from North Carolina State University, is looking at the conditions necessary to the formation of those two elements in the universe. They’ve found that when it comes to supporting life, the universe leaves… 

Feb 28, 2013

New Species of Plant-Eating Dino Was Lunch for Prehistoric Crocs

Sometimes, the fossil record gives us some really exciting insights into prehistoric life – including grisly details of prehistoric death. Paleontologists have found evidence not only of a new species of herbivorous, or plant-eating, dinosaur, but also that these dinosaurs were preyed upon by the prehistoric forebears of crocodiles. Seventy-five million years ago, southern Utah… 

Feb 21, 2013

Researchers ‘Nanoweld’ by Applying Light to Aligned Nanorods in Solid Materials

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a way to melt or “weld” specific portions of polymers by embedding aligned nanoparticles within the materials. Their technique, which melts fibers along a chosen direction within a material, may lead to stronger, more resilient nanofibers and materials. Physicists Jason Bochinski and Laura Clarke, with materials scientist… 

Feb 21, 2013

Talkin’ ‘Bout Regeneration

Incontinence. It’s one of those embarrassing topics we try to ignore, alluding to it only via delicately worded Depends commercials or drug advertisements featuring people made entirely out of plumbing. But it is a problem, and not just for people. In fact, urinary incontinence is an issue in almost 20 percent of spayed female dogs,… 

Feb 15, 2013

Force is the Key to Granular State-Shifting

Ever wonder why sand can both run through an hourglass like a liquid and be solid enough to support buildings? It’s because granular materials – like sand or dirt – can change their behavior, or state. Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that the forces individual grains exert on one another are what… 

Jan 31, 2013

Researchers Find Evidence of Geological ‘Facelift’ in the Appalachians

How does a mountain range maintain its youthful, rugged appearance after 200 million years without tectonic activity? Try a geological facelift – courtesy of the earth’s mantle. Researchers from North Carolina State University noticed that a portion of the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina near the Cullasaja River basin was topographically quite different from… 

Jan 23, 2013

Cross Trainers

In the future, biologists and mathematicians will work together to model disease growth. In the present, NC State students are already doing it. 

Jan 16, 2013

Nifty Image of the Day – Neurons!

Troy Ghashghaei, assistant professor in NC State’s Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences and researcher in the Center for Comparative Medicine and Translational Research, wanted to know more about the function of Sp2, a cell cycle regulator that helps control how cells divide. Using genetic tools, Ghashghaei’s team got rid of Sp2 in certain neural stem cells in…