Dear Reader ,
Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for December 6, 2011:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Printed CNT transistor circuits may lead to cheaper OLED displays- Chimp study shows evidence of synaesthesia
- Global warming 'not slowing down,' say researchers
- Ancient meat-loving predators survived for 35 million years
- New all-sky map shows the magnetic fields of the Milky Way with the highest precision
- A tale of tails
- Android Market downloads top 10 billion: Google
- Psychology researcher finds that power does go to our heads
- New 3-D transistors promising future chips, lighter laptops
- Computer simulations shed light on the physics of rainbows
- Researchers reveal SBP8a configurations
- How fruit flies can teach us about curing chronic pain and halting mosquito-borne diseases
- Most US presidents live beyond average life expectancy
- Bitter taste perception is not just about flavors, geneticists show
- Supercomputer reveals new details behind drug-processing protein model
Space & Earth news
Chinese go online to vent anger over pollution
Millions of Chinese went online Tuesday to vent their anger over the thick smog that has blanketed Beijing in recent days, raising health fears and causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled.
NASA gears up for airborne study of earth's radiation balance
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists have successfully completed flight tests in preparation for deployment of a multi-year airborne science campaign to study the humidity and chemical composition of air entering the tropical tropopause layer of the atmosphere. NASA's Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment (ATTREX) will conduct the science campaign over the Pacific Ocean from three locations in 2013 and 2014.
Seafloor-mapping robot yields a host of new geologic discoveries
MBARI’s seafloor mapping robot has had a busy year. It documented a huge lava flow from a three-month-old volcanic eruption off the Oregon coast; it charted mysterious three-kilometer-wide scour marks on the seafloor off Northern California; and it unearthed data that challenge existing theories about one of the largest offshore faults in Central California. MBARI researchers will describe these achievements, and others, in 10 different presentations at this week’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
UN chief to open ministers level at climate talks
(AP) -- An international treaty on climate change won't be enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures, and countries need to voluntarily make deeper cuts in carbon emissions, the head of the U.N. Environment Program said Tuesday.
GLORIA: Unique climate research experiment worldwide
Precise measurements of the atmosphere are indispensable for predictions of climate change and its impacts, as is currently being discussed at the climate change conference in Durban. A group of researchers from Julich and Karlsruhe will therefore be starting a unique experiment in December in Northern Sweden: For the first time, the GLORIA instrument will fly on board of the Russian research aircraft "Geophysica" and observe climate-relevant gases and atmospheric movements with unprecedented accuracy. These measurements will contribute essentially to improved climate models.
UN chief doubts comprehensive climate deal likely
(AP) -- An all-encompassing climate deal "may be beyond our reach for now," the U.N. chief said Tuesday as China and India delivered a setback to European plans to negotiate a new treaty that would bind all parties to their pledges on greenhouse gas emissions.
Massive stars are born as giants
Astronomers from the University of Amsterdam have shown that forming massive stars are much bigger than grown-up massive stars. Their observations confirm the theory that, at the conclusion of the formation process, a massive star further contracts until it has reached a stable equilibrium. The results are published as a Letter in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
USAID, CU-Boulder partner to study water resources in Asia mountains
A University of Colorado Boulder team is partnering with the United States Agency for International Development to assess snow and glacier contributions to water resources originating in the high mountains of Asia that straddle 10 countries.
Brazil says Amazon deforestation down to lowest level
Brazil said Monday that the pace of deforestation in its Amazon region fell to its lowest level since authorities began monitoring the world's largest tropical rainforest.
New map reveals what lies beneath the frozen continent
Scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have produced the most detailed map of underneath Antarctica -- its rock bed.
World 'heading for 3.5 C warming': study
Current pledges for curbing carbon emissions will doom the world to global warming of 3.5 C, massively overshooting the UN target of 2 C, researchers reported at the climate talks here on Tuesday.
Mapping underground water sources for drip irrigation could transform African village life
(PhysOrg.com) -- Rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa live under risky conditions. Many grow low-value cereal crops that depend on a short rainy season, a practice that traps them in poverty and hunger.
NASA unmanned aircraft measures low altitude greenhouse gases
(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, NASA researchers have demonstrated the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to collect very low altitude airborne measurements of greenhouse gases at several sites in California and Nevada.
New forecasting algorithm helps predict hurricane intensity and wind speed
(PhysOrg.com) -- Each year, hurricanes cause tremendous destruction across the globe. It is not a coincidence that the word "hurricane" derives from Huracán, Hunraken or Jurakan, the evil god of winds and destruction in Mayan civilizations of Central America and the Tainos of the Caribbean.
Powerful NIST detectors on Hawaiian telescope to probe origins of stars, planets and galaxies
The world’s largest submillimeter camera—based on superconducting technology designed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)—is now ready to scan the universe, including faint and faraway parts never seen before.
SAM I am
The Mars Science Laboratory is on its way to the red planet, and its rover Curiosity should touch down next summer. If the mission hits paydirt and comes across organic material, then one instrument in particular has the chemical tools for studying these building blocks of life.
Revolutionary new camera reveals the dark side of the Universe
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new camera that will revolutionise the field of submillimetre astronomy has been unveiled on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii SCUBA-2 is far more sensitive and powerful than previous instruments and can map areas of the sky hundreds of times faster.
Are gas-formed gullies the norm on Mars?
In June 2000, Martian imaging scientists made a striking discovery — data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft found gullies on the red planet. Gullies on Earth form when water runs down steep slopes and carves soil out of its way, so the discovery of this geologic feature on Mars was enticing evidence that liquid water existed on or near the surface of Mars.
Fukushima radioactive water 'leaked to Pacific
Highly radioactive waste water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked to the Pacific, its operator said Tuesday, promising to prevent similar incidents.
Can coal plants afford EPA's new air-toxics rule?
America has never had a nationwide limit on mercury and other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants. That's about to change, though, and it will cost companies such as American Electric Power, which runs the Tanners Creek power station here on the Ohio River, billions of dollars.
Climate totem: Has Kyoto run its course?
Should the Kyoto Protocol, the only international curb on greenhouse gases, be allowed to die?
Researcher finds key to ancient weather patterns in Florida's caves
(PhysOrg.com) -- Darrel Tremaine has been known to go to extremes for his research, such as crawling on his hands and knees through a dark, muddy limestone cave in Northwest Florida to learn more about the weather thousands of years ago.
Is climate change altering humans' vacation plans?
Plants' and animals' seasonal cycles, such as flowering dates and migration patterns, have shifted in recent decades due to climate change.
Global sea surface temperature data provides new measure of climate sensitivity
Scientists have developed important new insight into the sensitivity of global temperature to changes in the Earth's radiation balance over the last half million years.
SETI search resumes at allen telescope array, targeting new planets
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is once again searching planetary systems for signals that would be evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Among its first targets are some of the exoplanet candidates recently discovered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
Medical robotics experts help advance NASA's 'satellite surgery' project
(PhysOrg.com) -- Johns Hopkins engineers, recognized as experts in medical robotics, have turned their attention skyward to help NASA with a space dilemma: How can the agency fix valuable satellites that are breaking down or running out of fuel? One option—sending a human repair crew into space—is costly, dangerous and sometimes not even possible for satellites in a distant orbit.
Insecticides an increasing problem in future for streams in Europe
Europe's streams will in future be more heavily polluted with insecticides than before. This is the conclusion of a study by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) for which scientists compared the situation of 1990 with climate and land use change scenarios in 2090. The risks for streams caused by the use of insecticides in agriculture will increase significantly in many regions of Europe, and particularly in Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and in Central Europe, according to scientists in the journal Ecological Applications.
Researchers assess radioactivity released to the ocean from the Fukushima nuclear facility
With news this week of additional radioactive leaks from Fukushima nuclear power plants, the impact on the ocean of releases of radioactivity from the plants remains unclear. But a new study by U.S. and Japanese researchers analyzes the levels of radioactivity discharged from the facility in the first four months after the accident and draws some basic conclusions about the history of contaminant releases to the ocean.
NASA's TRMM satellite sees the power in Tropical Storm Alenga
The first tropical storm of the Southern Indian Ocean season has been renamed from Tropical Storm 01S to Tropical Storm Alenga as it continues to strengthen. NASA's TRMM satellite was able to capture a look at the rainfall rates and cloud heights within Alenga recently.
NASA vows $8.8 bn space telescope on track for 2018
After a series of delays and billions spent over budget, the potent James Webb Space Telescope is on track to launch in 2018 at a total project cost of $8.8 billion, NASA vowed on Tuesday.
Global warming 'not slowing down,' say researchers
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have added further clarity to the global climate trend, proving that global warming is showing no signs of slowing down and that further increases are to be expected in the next few decades.
New analysis shows pulling CO2 from the air would not be cost-effective in the foreseeable future
Since most of the world’s governments have not yet enacted regulations to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, some experts have advocated the development of technologies to remove carbon dioxide directly from the air. But a new MIT study shows that, at least for the foreseeable future, such proposals are not realistic because their costs would vastly exceed those of blocking emissions right at the source, such as at the powerplants that burn fossil fuels.
Hot cores in dark clouds
(PhysOrg.com) -- The earliest stages in the life of a star are among the most mysterious. This is primarily because stars form inside dark clouds of material that block optical light, and because they form relatively quickly, in only hundred of thousands of years, whereas once a star starts burning its hydrogen fuel it can last for billions of years.
New NASA dawn visuals show Vesta's 'color palette'
(PhysOrg.com) -- Vesta appears in a splendid rainbow-colored palette in new images obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The colors, assigned by scientists to show different rock or mineral types, reveal Vesta to be a world of many varied, well-separated layers and ingredients. Vesta is unique among asteroids visited by spacecraft to date in having such wide variation, supporting the notion that it is transitional between the terrestrial planets -- like Earth, Mercury, Mars and Venus -- and its asteroid siblings.
Today's severe drought, tomorrow's normal
(PhysOrg.com) -- While the worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s grips Oklahoma and Texas, scientists are warning that what we consider severe drought conditions in North America today may be normal for the continent by the mid-21st century, due to a warming planet.
Tropical sea temperatures influence melting in Antarctica
Accelerated melting of two fast-moving outlet glaciers that drain Antarctic ice into the Amundsen Sea Embayment is likely the result, in part, of an increase in sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean, according to new University of Washington research.
New all-sky map shows the magnetic fields of the Milky Way with the highest precision
(PhysOrg.com) -- With a unique new all-sky map, scientists at MPA have made significant progress toward measuring the magnetic field structure of the Milky Way in unprecedented detail. Specifically, the map is of a quantity known as Faraday depth, which among other things, depends strongly on the magnetic fields along a particular line of sight. To produce the map, data were combined from more than 41,000 individual measurements using a novel image reconstruction technique. The work was a collaboration between scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), who are specialists in the new discipline of information field theory, and a large international team of radio astronomers. The new map not only reveals the structure of the galactic magnetic field on large scales, but also small-scale features that provide information about turbulence in the galactic gas.
A tale of tails
(PhysOrg.com) -- An international group of astronomers led by Tom Scott at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Granada, Spain, has discovered extraordinarily long one-sided gaseous tails in two groups of galaxies that are amongst the longest structures ever observed in such environments. They emanate from CGCG 097-026 and FGC1287, two spiral galaxies in small groups in the outskirts of the galaxy cluster known as Abell 1367 in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 300 million light years. The new work, which could lead to a major shift in our understanding of galaxy evolution, is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Solar storms could 'sandblast' the moon
(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar storms and associated Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) can significantly erode the lunar surface according to a new set of computer simulations by NASA scientists. In addition to removing a surprisingly large amount of material from the lunar surface, this could be a major method of atmospheric loss for planets like Mars that are unprotected by a global magnetic field.
Technology news
Former HP chair Dunn, 58, dies after cancer bout
(AP) -- Patricia Dunn, the former Hewlett-Packard Co. chairwoman who authorized a boardroom surveillance probe that ultimately sullied her remarkable rise from investment bank typist to the corporate upper class, has died after a long bout with cancer. She was 58.
India to ban 'offensive' Internet material
India on Tuesday vowed to ban offensive material from the Internet after Facebook, Google and other major firms told the government they were unable to screen content before it was posted.
New material's capability to increase weapons' explosive force demonstrated at Navy test range
Military, government and industry officials watched the demonstration of a revolutionary material that increases the explosive force and lethality on enemy targets during a test at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren, Va., Dec. 2.
StumbleUpon overhaul opens more avenues to explore
StumbleUpon is adding more avenues to meander through its online content recommendation service.
Africa: the new pot of gold for mobile telecoms
Africa's lag in land-based telecoms infrastructure has propelled the continent directly into the mobile age, opening up short-term growth prospects unparalleled in the world.
Samsung to build flash memory chip line in China
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, said Tuesday it would build a new production line in China for flash memory chips used in tablets and smartphones.
Fuel economy of new vehicles continues to rise
(PhysOrg.com) -- Average fuel economy of all new vehicles sold in the United States is up for the second straight month, say researchers at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.
New sensor system tracks firefighters where GPS fails
Firefighter Ray Hodgson hits the talk button on his walkie-talkie: "I have fire showing, possibility of a rescue on the third floor. Engine 35, initiate a rescue group. Also back him up with a hose line."
Helping businesses defend against cyber threats
Analysts with the National Security Agency see the threats coming at corporate America: viruses, worms and other malware targeting the computer networks that serve the nation's banks, utilities and businesses.
Verizon Wireless nixes Google Wallet in new phone
Verizon Wireless is blocking the new flagship phone running Google Inc.'s Android software, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, from running Google's in-store payment application, the Wallet.
Studying how skyscraper foundations stand up to earthquakes
UC Davis engineers are preparing to conduct the first rigorous tests of how the steel columns that secure skyscrapers to their foundations stand up during earthquakes, research that could make the towering structures safer -- and perhaps less expensive to build.
EU urges US to bolster data protection practices
(AP) -- The EU wants the United States to strengthen data protection practices in order to create a uniform "privacy landscape" on both sides of the Atlantic, a top official said Tuesday.
Research focuses on implementing radio frequency MEMS resonators on a silicon chip
Semiconductor Research Corporation and Cornell University researchers are working to advance on-chip silicon development to enable new generations of smaller and more sophisticated mobile electronic devices.
Internet ".xxx" district opens to website makers
An Internet version of a red light district opened on Tuesday as Web addresses with ".xxx" endings became available for purchase by those interested in providing online adult content.
US opens 'virtual embassy' to enter Iran
The United States on Tuesday opened a virtual online embassy to reach out to Iranians despite the absence of official ties, vowing to break through the Islamic regime's "electronic curtain."
EU in antitrust probe of Apple, e-book publishers (Update)
The European Union's antitrust watchdog is probing whether Apple helped five major publishing houses illegally raise prices for e-books when it launched its iPad tablet and iBookstore in 2010.
Small businesses turn to Square for credit transactions
Cabbie David Mendoza reached for his iPhone and plugged in a spiffy Square Reader to process a ride's fare.
Team creates computerized method for matching images in photos, paintings, sketches
Computers can mimic the human ability to find visually similar images, such as photographs of a fountain in summer and in winter, or a photograph and a painting of the same cathedral, by using a technique that analyzes the uniqueness of images, say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science.
Android Market downloads top 10 billion: Google
Google said Tuesday that over 10 billion applications have been downloaded from the Android Market, which offers free and paid programs for smartphones and tablet computers running the Internet giant's operating system.
New 3-D transistors promising future chips, lighter laptops
(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Purdue and Harvard universities have created a new type of transistor made from a material that could replace silicon and have a 3-D structure instead of conventional flat computer chips.
Medicine & Health news
Fake malaria drugs a growing problem: experts
Fake or poor quality malaria drugs are boosting resistance in parts of southeast Asia, a problem that is likely to worsen unless tighter regulations are adopted, US experts said Monday.
Researchers test a drug-exercise program designed to prevent type 2 diabetes
(Medical Xpress) -- Kinesiology researcher Barry Braun of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues recently reported unexpected results of a study suggesting that exercise and one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for diabetes, metformin, each improves insulin resistance when used alone, but when used together, metformin blunted the full effect of a 12-week exercise program in pre-diabetic men and women.
British women offered free contraception pill at Christmas
British women are being offered free supplies of the emergency "morning-after" contraceptive pill over the Christmas and New Year holidays, the country's leading abortion agency said Tuesday.
Guidance materials issued for using medical recordings
(Medical Xpress) -- New advice and guidance on making and using clinical healthcare recordings for learning and teaching will be launched today. Clinical images, videos and other recordings are vital to good teaching and learning within the health care professions. Increasingly these are originated outside the institution that wishes to use them. This raises a number of legal, ethical and other issues relating to their re-use.
Hasson brings real life into the lab to examine cognitive processing
Princeton University neuroscientist Uri Hasson strives to make research conditions in his lab as true to real life as possible, using uncommon subject matter — including slapstick comedy and high-school melodrama — in his studies.
Pass on the cardigan and go for the grabber
For the 133 million Americans living with chronic conditions, the best holiday gift is something that will make navigating her daily routine easier. There are almost 40 million people age 65 and older, making up almost 13 percent of the population.
10 tips for preventing weight gain over the holidays
(Medical Xpress) -- Many websites and magazine articles offer ideas about how to lose weight over the holidays, but Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis, says that people need to realize that weight loss during this time generally isn’t realistic. Diekman is the past president of the American Dietetic Association.
Research advances breast reconstruction
Breast reconstruction surgery will become both safer and more realistic thanks to research led by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia.
Scientists discover likely cause of most common involuntary movement disorder
Researchers from the CHUQ research center and Universite Laval have discovered the likely cause of essential tremor (ET), a neurological disorder that affects more than 10 million North Americans. The team's promising findings were published in a recent edition of the scientific journal Brain.
Research finds many women not receiving recommended breast cancer adjuvant treatment
A first-of-its kind study led by Xiao-Cheng Wu, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Public Health at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, reports that a significant number of women are not receiving guideline-recommended treatment for breast cancer and what factors contribute. The research is published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology December 5, 2011 Early Release section.
Genes modify the risk of liver disease among alcoholics
It has been widely observed that only a small percentage of alcoholics develop cirrhosis of the liver, the most advanced form of alcoholic liver disease (ALD); the reason why all alcoholics do not develop such disease is not known. The present study from Spain, that includes original work and a meta-analysis, evaluates whether genetic polymorphisms that determine levels of glutathione-S-transferases (GST) relate to the risk of developing ALD among alcoholics. Alcoholics with certain genetic GST polymorphisms were found to be at significant excess risk for such liver disease in comparison with alcoholics without these polymorphisms.
Advanced age should not deter women from breast reconstruction after cancer
Breast cancer is on the rise and 48 percent of all breast cancers occur in women older than 65, but very few of them choose to have breast reconstruction.
Vasodilator hormone improved kidney function, blood flow in PKD model
After a four-week course of the vasodilator hormone relaxin, kidney function and blood flow immediately improved in lab rats genetically altered to model polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a life-threatening genetic disorder, according to research presented on Dec. 6 at the American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting in Denver.
Mayo Clinic makes kidney and pancreas transplant available to HIV-infected patients
Mayo Clinic in Florida is now offering kidney and pancreas transplants to HIV positive patients with advanced kidney disease and diabetes. Evidence is now solid that HIV-positive patients have the same favorable outcome in terms of patient and allograft survival as non-HIV positive organ transplant recipients, says Mary Prendergast, M.D., a kidney specialist whose focus is the care of patients who receive kidney and pancreas transplants.
Mammography screening reduced risk for death from breast cancer by half
A new case-control study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, shows that women who participated in at least three screening mammograms had a 49 percent lower risk for breast cancer mortality.
New tick-borne disease discovered in Gothenburg
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy have discovered a brand new tick-borne infection. Since the discovery, eight cases have been described around the world, three of them in the Gothenburg area, Sweden.
New method for safer dosing of anticoagulants
Elderly people with atrial fibrillation are often treated with anticoagulants to thin the blood, but this medicine is hard to dose and patients have to have their blood tested regularly. Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology have now devised a new method that improves the accuracy of risk assessments.
New book by University of Louisville professor enables reader to develop personalized anti-depression plan
A new book co-authored by the director of the University of Louisville Depression Center recognizes that depression is different for everyone and provides techniques and strategies for each person to develop a personalized action plan to combat depression.
Dental X-rays can predict fractures
It is now possible to use dental X-rays to predict who is at risk of fractures, reveals a new study from researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy reported in the journal Nature Reviews Endocrinology.
Health care, home, school differ for children with special health care needs
The first federally funded report to compare children with special health care needs to children without reveals 14 percent to 19 percent of children in the United States have a special health care need and their insurance is inadequate to cover the greater scope of care they require for optimal health.
Survival difference are not black and white
In the general population, African Americans die at earlier ages than whites, but among patients on dialysis, African Americans live longer than whites. A new study helps explain this paradox and could help prolong the lives of all patients on dialysis. The study appears in the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN), a publication of the American Society of Nephrology.
Kids born just a few weeks early at risk of behavioural problems
Children born just a few weeks too early are significantly more likely to have behavioural and/or emotional problems in the pre-school years, suggests research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Acupuncture may ease severe nerve pain associated with cancer treatment
Acupuncture may help ease the severe nerve pain associated with certain cancer drugs, suggests a small preliminary study published in Acupuncture in Medicine.
Study shows promising multiple sclerosis treatment targets immune cells to increase neuroprotection
Laquinimod is an orally available synthetic compound that has been successfully evaluated in phase II/III clinical studies for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The mechanism of action of laquinimod has not been fully elucidated, but a study published in the January 2012 issue of The American Journal of Pathology suggests that laquinimod triggers immune cells within the central nervous system to produce and release brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), contributing to the repair or survival of neurons and thus limiting brain damage.
Chemotherapy reduces breast cancer deaths by a third
(Medical Xpress) -- Today’s chemotherapy treatments reduce deaths from breast cancer by around a third in a wide range of patients, a giant new analysis of data from over 100 different clinical trials has shown.
Stroke: Restructuring the brain
(Medical Xpress) -- Neuroscientists are exploring the structural changes in the brain’s white and grey matter that underlie learning. Understanding the precise cellular nature of those changes may improve diagnosis of brain damage and therapeutic interventions in stroke.
Youth with behavior problems are more likely to have thought of suicide
Children who show early signs of problem behavior are more likely to have thought of killing or harming themselves, suggests new research in the latest issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
War on hospital infections drags on
At a time when most new moms are bonding with their babies, Cheri Stout-Robinson was hospitalized for treatment of flesh-eating bacteria.
Study suggests feelings of guilt may be a top factor in PTSD
A leading cause of post-traumatic stress disorder is guilt that troops experience because of moral dilemmas faced in combat, according to preliminary findings of a study of active-duty Marines.
Scientists make advances in neuroscience and vision research
Thanks to a new study of the retina, scientists at UC Santa Barbara have developed a greater understanding of how the nervous system becomes wired during early development.
A divergent collective memory could help explain why the political crisis lasted so long in Belgium
Researchers from various Belgian (UCL-Louvain, ULB-Brussels, HUB-Brussels, KULeuven, U. Antwerp) and American universities (New School, Harvard) have conducted research and reflections that give insights into the political crisis in Belgium, which has now been resolved, nearly 18 months after the general elections in June 2010. Their focus was on the way memories of past events affect current political and inter-group relations. According to the researchers, the political crisis could be partly explained by divergent and sometimes opposite memories which the two linguistic groups hold about the past.
New study fundamentally alters our understanding of lung growth
A ground-breaking international study into the ways lungs grow and develop has challenged existing medical understanding that our lungs are completely formed by the age of three.
Stopping dangerous cell regrowth reduces risk of further heart attacks
"After an arterial injury, the inner layer of cells in the artery begins to regrow. In the long term, this usually causes more harm than good", says Maria Gomez.
Inbreeding in bed bugs one key to massive increases in infestations
New research on the bed bug's ability to withstand the genetic bottleneck of inbreeding, announced today at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) annual meeting, provides new clues to explain the rapidly growing problem of bed bugs across the United States and globally. After mostly disappearing in the US in the 1950s, the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) has reappeared with a vengeance over the past decade. These stubborn pests have developed a resistance to the insecticides, known as pyrethroids, commonly used against them.
Radiation traces found in Japanese baby formula
(AP) -- Traces of radiation spilled from Japan's hobbled nuclear plant were detected in baby formula Tuesday in the latest case of contaminated food in the nation.
Baby see, baby do? Study shows infants take cues from trusted sources, ignore unreliable cues
Babies love to imitate. Ask any parent and they'll report how infants mimic sounds, facial expressions and actions they observe. Now new research from Concordia University, published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development, has found that infants can even differentiate between credible and un-credible sources. Simply put, most babies won't follow along if they have been previously tricked by an adult.
Devastating 'founder effect' genetic disorder raced to defective mitochondria in cerebellar neurons
Defective mitochondria, the energy-producing powerhouses of the cell, trigger an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that first shows itself in toddlers just as they are beginning to walk, Canadian scientists reported at the American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting, Dec. 6, in Denver.
Bile acids may hold clue to treat heart disease
Heart disease is a major cause of death in industrialised countries, and is strongly associated with obesity and diabetes. Many scientists believe that what links these conditions is a chronic, low-grade inflammation. The current study, published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism (December 6, 2011), supports that theory by demonstrating that a modified bile acid called INT-777 prevents atherosclerosis, the build-up of fatty plaques in the walls of arteries, and a leading cause of heart disease—and that it does so by exerting an anti-inflammatory effect.
Is obesity a ciliopathy, triggered by malfunctioning primary cilia?
Is obesity a ciliopathy, a disorder such as polycystic kidney disease (PKD), which is triggered by a defect in the microscopic hair-like cilia that protrude from virtually every cell of humans and other vertebrates?
Fatty livers are in overdrive
When our livers become loaded with fat, it isn't because they are slacking. A new study of human patients in the December Cell Metabolism shows that fatty livers actually burn more fat, not less. All that "hard work" may be at the root of the organ damage that comes with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition associated with insulin resistance that affects about one in three in the U.S. population.
With mutation, you can have your cream and eat it, too
People who carry a malfunctioning copy of a particular gene are especially good at clearing fat from their systems. The report in the December Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, shows how the mutant gene influences metabolism in this way.
Feds crack down on homeopathic weight loss remedy
(AP) -- Federal regulators are ordering several companies to stop selling an unproven weight loss remedy that uses protein from the human placenta.
Medical marijuana could help patients reduce pain with opiates, study finds
A UCSF study suggests patients with chronic pain may experience greater relief if their doctors add cannabinoids – the main ingredient in cannabis or medical marijuana – to an opiates-only treatment. The findings, from a small-scale study, also suggest that a combined therapy could result in reduced opiate dosages.
How will patients, families and doctors handle the coming flood of personalized genetic data?
Sequencing the entire human genome took more than a decade before leaders of the Human Genome Project announced their completion of a rough draft in a 2000 White House ceremony. Finished in 2003, sequencing that first genome cost nearly $3 billion. Today, with advances in technology, an individual's whole genome can be sequenced in a few months for about $4,000.
Century-old brains may hold future of treatment for mentally ill, pathologist says
Visitors to the Indiana Medical History Museum in Indianapolis may find the 19th-century brains on display a strange reminder of the building's past as an insane asylum, but a recent breakthrough using these samples by a pathologist from the Indiana University School of Medicine could spell the future of detecting mental illness.
Concussion testing makes everyone tired
Testing athletes for concussions may induce mental fatigue in subjects whether or not they have a head injury, according to Penn State researchers.
The power to help, hurt and confuse: Direct-to-consumer whole genome testing
The era of widely available next generation personal genomic testing has arrived and with it the ability to quickly and relatively affordably learn the sequence of your entire genome. This would include what is referred to as the "exome," your complete set of protein-coding sequences.
New study reassures on heart risks of prostate cancer treatment
Hormone-blocking therapy for prostate cancer doesn't raise the risk of fatal heart attacks – as some recent studies had suggested – according to a new report from Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center.
Steroids increase viability of preemies as young as 22 weeks
With chubby cheeks and weighing in at a healthy 10 pounds, the imminently huggable Lexi Morrison is far removed from the 1-pound, 9 –ounce preemie she was in June when she was born premature at 24 weeks.
Video game players advancing genetic research
Thousands of video game players have helped significantly advance our understanding of the genetic basis of diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer over the past year. They are the users of a web-based video game developed by Dr. Jérôme Waldispuhl of the McGill School of Computer Science and collaborator Mathieu Blanchette. Phylo is designed to allow casual game players to contribute to scientific research by arranging multiple sequences of coloured blocks that represent human DNA. By looking at the similarities and differences between these DNA sequences, scientists are able to gain new insight into a variety of genetically-based diseases.
Reusing pacemakers from deceased patients is safe and effective, study finds
Many heart patients in India are too poor to afford pacemakers. But a study has found that removing pacemakers from deceased Americans, resterilizing the devices and implanting them in Indian patients "is very safe and effective."
Smoke and poor diet cause low vitamin C levels in India's elderly population
Up to three quarters of elderly people in parts of India have vitamin C deficiency, a study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for human health, playing a role from maintenance and repair of tissues to antioxidant activities. This study is the first ever large screening of vitamin C blood levels in the older Indian population.
Rotating night shift work linked to increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in women
Women who work a rotating (irregular) schedule that includes three or more night shifts per month, in addition to day and evening working hours in that month, may have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes when compared with women who only worked days or evenings, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). In addition, the researchers found that extended years of rotating night shift work was associated with weight gain, which may contribute to the increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Impact of injuries in the UK more than 2 and a half times higher than estimated
Injuries in the UK are having a much greater impact on peoples' lives than previously estimated, a study has found.
Changes in the path of brain development make human brains unique
How the human brain and human cognitive abilities evolved in less than six million years has long puzzled scientists. A new study conducted by scientists in China and Germany, and published December 6 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, now provides a possible explanation by showing that activity levels of genes in the human brain during development changed substantially compared to chimpanzees and macaques. What's more, these changes might be caused by a handful of key regulatory molecules called microRNAs.
Good or bad: Surprises drive learning in same neural circuits
Primates learn from feedback that surprises them, and in a recent investigation of how that happens, neurosurgeons have learned something new. The insight they gleaned from examining the response of specific brain tissues during a learning task may inform future rehabilitative therapies after stroke or traumatic brain injury.
Being told painting is fake changes brain's response to art
(Medical Xpress) -- Being told that a work of art is authentic or fake alters the brain’s response to the visual content of artwork, Oxford University academics have found.
Team develops tumor destruction method that also creates immunity
Even when surgical tumor removal is combined with a heavy dose of chemotherapy or radiation, there's no guarantee that the cancer will not return. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University are strengthening the odds in favor of permanent tumor destruction — and an immunity to the cancer's return — with a new method of tumor removal.
Psychology researcher finds that power does go to our heads
Power -- defined as the ability to influence others -- makes people think differently. For North Americans, a feeling of power leads to thinking in a focused and analytical way, which may be beneficial when pursuing personal goals.
Most US presidents live beyond average life expectancy
Contrary to claims that U.S. presidents age at twice the normal rate, a new study finds that most U.S. presidents live longer than expected for men of their same age and era.
Bitter taste perception is not just about flavors, geneticists show
Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team of Penn researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait. Beyond showing the ancient origins of the gene, the researchers discovered something unexpected: something other than taste must have driven its evolution.
A mother's touch may protect against drug cravings later
An attentive, nurturing mother may be able to help her children better resist the temptations of drug use later in life, according to a study in rats conducted by Duke University and the University of Adelaide in Australia.
Biology news
Research improves cold-hardy wheat
(PhysOrg.com) -- With global demand for wheat exceeding 20 billion bushels a year, producers need more high-yielding crops that can survive in the extreme climate of the Canadian Prairies.
Stem cell research in the UK reaches significant milestone
Stem cell scientists at King's College London will today announce they have submitted to the UK Stem Cell Bank (UKSCB) their first clinical grade human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines that are free from animal-derived products, known as 'xeno-free' stem cells.
Controlling whiteflies the natural way
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are showing Arizona cotton growers how to reduce their dependence on broad-spectrum insecticides by controlling sweetpotato whiteflies with greener alternatives.
Japan scientists study oyster 'language'
Scientists in Japan have begun studying the "language" of oysters in an effort to find out what they are saying about their environment.
Revised population figures still spell doom for tuna
(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of marine scientists, including three at Simon Fraser University, hope their latest findings about the perilous state of the world’s tuna populations do not dampen efforts to conserve them.
Biologists monitor crocodiles at nuclear plant
(AP) -- An unexpected but fruitful relationship has blossomed between two potent forces in the swamps of South Florida: the American crocodile, and a nuclear power plant.
Hanging with the boys – female Alpine marmots benefit from a bit of pre-natal testosterone
Alpine marmots (Marmota marmota) live in extended family groups of up to 20 individuals. The groups consist of a dominant territorial pair and a number of subordinate individuals, typically descendants of the dominant pair. Over a 14-year period, Klaus Hackländer of the Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna and Walter Arnold of the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology (FIWI), University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna investigated the lifetime reproductive success (typically measured by the number of offspring) of female Alpine marmots in a free-living population in Berchtesgaden National Park.
Genetic markers help feds enforce seafood regulations
New discoveries in "marine forensics" by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) will allow federal seafood agents to genetically test blue marlin to quickly and accurately determine their ocean of origin.
Aging human bodies and aging human oocytes run on different clocks
Reproductive and somatic aging use different molecular mechanisms that show little overlap between the types of genes required to keep oocytes healthy and the genes that generally extend life span, according to Coleen Murphy, Ph.D., of Princeton University, who described her new findings on oocyte aging at the American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting Dec. 6 in Denver.
Worms can evolve to survive intersex populations
(PhysOrg.com) -- Sexually reproducing species need at least two sexes in order to produce offspring, but there are many ways that nature produces different sexes. Many animals (including humans and other mammals) use a chromosomal sex determination system in which females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y.
DNA evidence offers proof of North American native population decline due to arrival of Europeans
(PhysOrg.com) -- Most history books report that Native American populations in North America declined significantly after European colonizers appeared, subsequent to the “discovery” of the new world by Christopher Columbus in 1492, reducing their numbers by half or more in some cases. Most attribute this decline in population to the introduction of new diseases, primarily smallpox and warfare. To back up such claims, historians have relied on archaeological evidence and written documents by new world settlers. Up to now however, no physical evidence has been available to nail down specifics regarding population declines, such as when they actually occurred and what caused it to occur. Now however, three researchers with various backgrounds in anthropological and genome sciences have banded together to undertake a study based on mitochondrial DNA evidence, and have found, as they report in their study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scien! ces, that native populations in North America did indeed decline by roughly fifty percent, some five hundred years ago.
Researchers reveal SBP8a configurations
A new study has shown previously unseen details of an anthrax bacteriophage — a virus that infects anthrax bacteria — revealing for the first time how it infects its host, and providing an initial blueprint for how the phage might someday be modified into a tool for the detection and destruction of anthrax and other potential bioterror agents.
How fruit flies can teach us about curing chronic pain and halting mosquito-borne diseases
Studies of a protein that fruit flies use to sense heat and chemicals may someday provide solutions to human pain and the control of disease-spreading mosquitoes.
Chimp study shows evidence of synaesthesia
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the never-ending struggle to understand how the human brain works, all manner of experiments are dreamed up and carried out. In one new one, for example, researchers in Japan have been testing chimps to see if they possess brain connections that cross the senses. In human terms, it’s known as synaesthesia, the phenomenon where a person associates one sensation with another; feeling colors for example or associating higher musical tones with lighter colored objects. Vera Ludwig, a German researcher, has teamed with colleagues at Kyoto University in testing chimps to see if they have such traits. In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes how chimps did better or worse matching colored objects when a high or low noise was played.
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