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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for November 25, 2011:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Japan collab transmits record data speeds on terahertz waves- Graphene ink created for ink-jet printing of electronic components
- When will artificial molecular machines start working for us?
- Physicists find charge separation in a molecule consisting of two identical atoms
- Sudden stress shifts human brain into survival mode
- Mast from classic racing yacht holds one of the keys to sustainable biofuels
- No new contact with stranded Mars probe
- Mexico acknowledges 2nd Mayan reference to 2012
- Genetic defect disturbs salt handling and pushes up blood pressure levels
- Gone fishing? We have for 42,000 years
Space & Earth news
Gum arabic potential cure for Sudanese ills
Since he was 14, Al-Amin has tapped gum arabic, the resin of an acacia tree that thrives in Sudan's conflict states -- "manna" from heaven for some, a key ingredient in Coca-Cola for others.
In climate talks West would redefine rich and poor
(AP) -- As delegates gather in South Africa to plot the next big push against climate change, Western governments are saying it's time to move beyond traditional distinctions between industrial and developing countries and get China and other growing economies to accept legally binding curbs on greenhouse gases.
Ten years of Very Large Telescope adaptive optics
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ten years ago today, NACO became operational: the first adaptive optics system of ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). Adaptive Optics allows astronomers to remove the stars' twinkling – disturbances due to the Earth's atmosphere –, allowing for extremely sharp images of celestial objects. NACO looks back on a decade of scientific results, including the first direct image of an exoplanet and insight into the surroundings of our home galaxy's central black hole.
Australia plans world's largest marine reserve
The Australian government has said it plans to establish the world's biggest marine protection zone to safeguard a huge swathe of the Coral Sea, a biodiversity hotspot brimming with life.
ESA station keeps contact with Russian Mars mission Phobos-Grunt
Following the first successful contact on Tuesday, ESA's tracking station in Australia again established two-way communication with Russia's Phobos–Grunt spacecraft on 23 November. The data received from the spacecraft have been sent to the Russian mission control centre for analysis.
Forget exomoons. Let's talk exorings
In an article earlier this month, I discussed the potential for discovering moons orbiting extrasolar planets. I’d used an image of an exoplant system with rings, prompting one reader to ask if those would be possible to detect. Apparently he wasn’t the only person wondering. A new paper looks more at exomoons and explores exoring systems.
Debut of chromium signatures clocks great oxidation event
Banded ironstone core samples from the Pilbara have aided in dating the first appearance of atmospheric oxygen at 2.48 billion years ago.
No new contact with stranded Mars probe
The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Friday it had been unable to establish a new link with Russia's stricken Mars probe but added that the craft's orbit seemed to have become more stable.
Technology news
Crush breaks out at Indonesian BlackBerry event
An offer of discounted BlackBerry smart phones turned into a frenzy Friday when thousands of Indonesians stormed the outlet, causing a crush in which at least three people were injured and some fainted.
Obama campaign tweets Black Friday deals
As shoppers snapped up Black Friday deals around the United States, US President Barack Obama's re-election campaign also jumped into the fray, offering discounts on 2012 merchandise.
Airlines cut small jets as fuel prices soar
The little planes that connect America's small cities to the rest of the world are slowly being phased out. Airlines are getting rid of these planes — their least-efficient — in response to the high cost of fuel. Delta, United Continental, and other big airlines are expected to park, scrap or sell hundreds of jets with 50 seats or fewer in coming years. Small propeller planes are meeting the same fate.
Twitter study reveals explosion in Arabic 'tweeting'
The popularity of Twitter has soared in the Arab world over the past year, a study published Thursday revealed, reflecting the key role of the social networking site in the "Arab Spring" revolutions.
Nokia to delist from Frankfurt exchange
Nokia Corp. has applied to delist from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange because of falling trading volumes of its shares, the world's largest mobile phone maker said Thursday.
AT&T, Telekom to press ahead with T-Mobile deal
Deutsche Telekom and AT&T vowed Thursday to press ahead with the planned sale of the German company's T-Mobile USA unit to the U.S. cell phone operator despite concerns raised by American authorities.
Developing economies see no escape from coal
Concrete towers rise over the African bush, as the continent's largest coal-fired power station takes shape in a multi-billion-dollar testament to developing nations' love affair with coal.
Panasonic to build Malaysian solar cell plant
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said Friday it would build a new solar cell factory in Malaysia, as it looks abroad to cut production costs caused by the surging yen.
Poland plans its first atomic power plant on Baltic
Poland's first nuclear power plant, due to come on line by 2020, is set to be located near the Baltic Sea, Polish energy group PGE said on Friday.
UK govt to announce new cyber security strategy
The government is set to announce new measures to tackle cyber crime on Friday as Britain's internet and electronic communications network comes under increased attack from hackers and foreign intelligence agencies.
Wind power to make up half of Danish energy use in 2020
Denmark aims to have wind power supply half of the country's electricity needs in 2020, under a new programme presented by Climate and Energy Minister Martin Lidegaard on Friday.
Biofuel policy needs rethink, says UN expert
The UN special rapporteur on the right to food urged the EU for a rethink on biofuels Friday, saying huge errors had been committed in the initial enthusiasm for an alternative to harmful fossil fuels.
China lifts Great Firewall for golf World Cup
International golf stars, spectators and media at the World Cup on the southern Chinese island of Hainan are enjoying uncensored Internet access denied to 1.3 billion Chinese.
US seizes domain names in counterfeit crackdown
US authorities have shut down a number of websites in the latest crackdown on online trafficking in counterfeit goods.
Japan collab transmits record data speeds on terahertz waves
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Japan-based semiconductor manufacturer Rohm, together with a team from Osaka University, have come up with a chip that, in experiments, has achieved a wireless data transmission speed of 1.5 gigabits per second. This is a record breaker as the world's first terahertz wireless communication achieved with a small semiconductor device. The chip’s ability to transmit at such a quick speed is not the end of the story. Even higher transmission speeds of up to 30 Gbps may be possible in the future, according to reports.
Medicine & Health news
More intensive chemotherapy dramatically improves recurrence, survival in younger patients with aggressive lymphoma
Younger patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma given a more intensive regimen of chemotherapy combined with rituximab survive significantly longer, and are approximately twice as likely to remain in remission 3 years later, compared with patients given standard chemotherapy treatment plus rituximab, according to an article published Online First in the Lancet.
Doctor migration to developed nations costs sub-Saharan Africa billions of dollars
Sub-Saharan African countries that train and invest in their doctors end up losing billions of dollars as the clinicians leave to work in developed nations, finds research published on British Medical Journal today.
Hypoglossal nerve stimulation increases airflow during sleep in obstructive sleep apnea
Hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HGNS) produced marked dose-related increases in airflow in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients without arousing them from sleep, according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center. The study suggests the potential therapeutic efficacy of HGNS across a broad range of sleep apnea severity and offers an alternative to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the current mainstay of treatment for moderate to severe OSA. The effectiveness of CPAP is often limited by poor patient adherence.
Pregnant women at low risk of complications can safely be offered a choice of where to give birth
Women with low risk pregnancies should be able to choose where they give birth, concludes a study published in the British Medical Journal today. Although it shows that first-time mums who opt for a home birth are at a higher risk of adverse outcomes, the overall risk is low in all birth settings.
China govt under fire over new food bacteria rule
China's state-run media and web users criticised the government Friday after it ruled that small amounts of a potentially lethal bacterium were permissible in frozen food.
Britons to take part in Cuban lung cancer vaccine trial
British patients will soon take part in a trial of a Cuban-designed therapeutic lung cancer vaccine, the first of its kind, a company executive announced Thursday.
Breakthrough could speed drug discovery
(Medical Xpress) -- Innovative technology being pioneered at Cardiff to speed up the discovery of new drugs to tackle lung diseases could also dramatically reduce testing on animals.
Researchers decode a puzzling movement disorder
Neurodegenerative diseases represent one of the greatest challenges of our aging society. However, investigation into these diseases is made particularly difficult due to the limited availability of human brain tissue. Scientists from the Life & Brain Research Center and Neurology Clinic of Bonn University have now taken a roundabout path: They reprogrammed skin cells from patients with a hereditary movement disorder into so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) and obtained functional nerve cells from them. They subsequently decoded how the disease arises. Their results have now been published in the specialist periodical Nature.
Heavyweight baby boy born in Berlin
A hospital in Berlin announced Friday the birth of a super-size baby boy, weighing in at six kilogrammes (13.2 pounds), whose 40-year-old experienced mother had a natural birth for her 14th child.
HIV group N case detected outside Cameroon for the first time
A rare type of HIV-infection -- group N -- has been diagnosed in a man in France who recently travelled to Togo, meaning that it has been detected outside Cameroon for the first time. This type of HIV infection is much more similar to the virus type found in chimpanzees than it is to other types circulating in humans. The circumstances are described in a Case Report in this week's issue of the Lancet, written by Professor François Simon, INSERM U 941, Faculté de Médecine Paris-Diderot, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris and colleagues from the National Reference Centre for HIV, Rouen, France.
Dantrolene protects neurons from Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by ongoing destruction of specific neurons within the brain. It affects a person's ability to walk, talk, and think - leading to involuntary movement and loss of muscle co-ordination. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Neurodegeneration shows that the RyanR inhibitor Dantrolene is able to reduce the severity of walking and balance problems in a mouse model of HD.
Denying mental qualities to animals in order to eat them
(Medical Xpress) -- New research by Dr Brock Bastian from UQ's School of Psychology highlights the psychological processes that people engage in to reduce their discomfort over eating meat.
Conducting how neurons fire
Contrary to expectations that the neurotransmitter GABA only inhibited neuronal firing in the adult brain, RIKEN-led research has shown that it can also excite interneurons in the hippocampus of the rat brain by changing the conductance of ions across the membranes of these cells.
Breakthrough in malaria research looks to body's immune cells
Groundbreaking research from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research is set to pave the way for the development of new malaria drugs and vaccines.
Hunger and hormones determine food's appeal
(Medical Xpress) -- It’s been said that there are two kinds of eating: eating to survive, or satisfy hunger, and eating for pleasure. The pathways in the brain that control each urge have been studied independently. But now, research by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Jeffrey M. Friedman of Rockefeller University provides evidence that the two pathways are closely intertwined.
Genetic defect disturbs salt handling and pushes up blood pressure levels
(Medical Xpress) -- Hypertension is an endemic condition with far-reaching consequences. For instance, high blood pressure is the main cause of heart attacks and strokes. Other organs are also damaged by the chronic condition. Hypertension is attributed to a high salt intake and a genetic predisposition. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now discovered that even a normal salt intake can cause hypertension in people suffering from a sodium dysregulation. Researchers have managed to identify the responsible gene.
Sudden stress shifts human brain into survival mode
(Medical Xpress) -- In threatening situations, the brain adapts within seconds to prepare for an appropriate response. Some regions are temporarily suppressed. Others become more active and form temporarily alliances for fight or flight. Noradrenaline is driving force behind this reorganization. (Science, November 25).
Biology news
The shark, a predator turned prey
Sharks may strike terror among swimmers at the beach but the predators are increasingly ending up as prey, served up in fish-and-chips shops, sparking concern among environmentalists.
Mast from classic racing yacht holds one of the keys to sustainable biofuels
(PhysOrg.com) -- The mast from a classic racing yacht and samples from a Forestry Commission breeding trial have played a key role in the search for sustainable biofuels.
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