Biomedicine. New insights into type 2 diabetes

Researchers studying type 2 diabetes are optimistic that they are closing in on the elusive causes of the world's most prevalent metabolic disorder--although no one is willing to bet the bank on it. Using both biochemical and genetic approaches, diabetes researchers have identified multiple intracellular signaling pathways that appear to lie at the heart of this condition, which affects some 250 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputation among adults. And in the process, they have thrown out much of the dogma of the past 10 years.     

X-ray imaging of shock waves generated by high-pressure fuel sprays

Synchrotron x-radiography and a fast x-ray detector were used to record the time evolution of the transient fuel sprays from a high-pressure injector. A succession of 5.1-microsecond radiographs captured the propagation of the spray-induced shock waves in a gaseous medium and revealed the complex nature of the spray hydrodynamics. The monochromatic x-radiographs also allow quantitative analysis of the shock waves that has been difficult if not impossible with optical imaging. Under injection conditions similar to those found in operating engines, the fuel jets can exceed supersonic speeds and result in gaseous shock waves.