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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for January 22, 2012:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Iridescence and superhydrophobicity combined on one surface- OrcaM is new kid on block for 3-D data capture
- Cambridge team uses solar cells in OLED screen to power smartphones
- Sweeping genetic analysis of rare disease yields common mechanism of hypertension
- Inflammatory mediator promotes colorectal cancer by stifling protective genes
- Unprecedented, man-made trends in ocean's acidity
- Researchers find genetic mechanism linked to congenital heart disease
- New study sheds light on evolutionary origin of oxygen-based cellular respiration
- DNA motor programmed to navigate a network of tracks
- Vaccines to boost immunity where it counts, not just near shot site
- Researchers study potential effects of geoengineering on global food supply
- New understanding of chronic pain suggests new target for drug development
- Physicists cool semiconductor by laser light
- Hollywood v Silicon Valley in US piracy battle
- PRINTed nanoparticles deliver multiple punches to treat prostate cancer
Space & Earth news
Drought returns to Sahel, bringing hunger
(AP) -- For the third time in the past decade, drought has returned to the arid, western shoulder of Africa, bringing hunger to millions. Aid agencies are warning that if action is not taken now, the region known as the Sahel could slip into crisis.
Beijing releases pollution data; US figures higher
(AP) -- Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. But one expert says measurements from the first day were low compared with data U.S. officials have been collecting for years.
US, Russia to conduct joint Antarctica inspection
The United States and Russia will jointly inspect foreign facilities in Antarctica to make sure environmental and other responsibilities under the 1959 Antarctica Treaty are being met, the State Department said Saturday.
Researchers study potential effects of geoengineering on global food supply
Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and gas have been increasing over the past decades, causing the Earth to get hotter and hotter. There are concerns that a continuation of these trends could have catastrophic effects, including crop failures in the heat-stressed tropics. This has led some to explore drastic ideas for combating global warming, including the idea of trying to counteract it by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth. However, it has been suggested that reflecting sunlight away from the Earth might itself threaten the food supply of billions of people.
Unprecedented, man-made trends in ocean's acidity
Recent carbon dioxide emissions have pushed the level of seawater acidity far above the range of the natural variability that existed for thousands of years, affecting the calcification rates of shell-forming organism. These findings by an international team of scientists appear in the Jan. 22 online issue of Nature Climate Change.
Technology news
'Anonymous' hackers briefly hijack French Elysee website
The shadowy online hackers group Anonymous briefly hijacked the French presidential website on Friday in apparent retaliation for the US shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload.
Hong Kong freezes $42 mln in Megaupload raids
Hong Kong Customs officers have raided offices, domestic premises and luxury hotel suites as part of a worldwide FBI Internet piracy investigation into file-sharing site Megaupload.com.
Megaupload latest target of US anti-piracy campaign
File-sharing website Megaupload is the most high-profile target yet of a US campaign which has seen the seizure of hundreds of sites accused of offering pirated music or movies or counterfeit goods.
INFLUENCE GAME: Online companies win piracy fight
(AP) -- Outspent but hardly outgunned, online and high-tech companies triggered an avalanche of Internet clicks to force Congress to shelve legislation that would curb online piracy. They outmaneuvered the entertainment industry and other old guard business interests, leaving them bitter and befuddled.
Online ad revenue overtakes newsprint in China
China's revenue from online advertising was higher than the equivalent in newsprint for the first time in 2011, a study by the market research firm iResearch said, quoted in the Global Times Saturday.
EU urges balance between Internet freedom and copyright
Governments must strike a balance between policing the Internet to protect copyright and upholding freedom of expression, EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding said on Sunday.
'Anonymous' hackers attack Brazilian websites
The computer hacker group Anonymous attacked websites of Brazil's federal district Saturday as well as one belonging to a Brazilian singer to protest the forced closure of Megaupload.com.
TEPCO to hold bids for 17 million smart meters: report
Japan's Tokyo Electric Power plans to install about 17 million "smart meters" in customer households by March 2019 in a bid to increase efficiency, a report said Sunday.
Vinyl records make the world go around again
In the brave new world of MP3 players, compact discs are dying, cassettes are Stone Age, and old-fashioned vinyl records... they're back!
Hollywood v Silicon Valley in US piracy battle
The anti-piracy battle gripping Washington and the Internet pits two US West Coast power bases directly against each other: Hollywood is taking on Silicon Valley over the right to make money online.
OrcaM is new kid on block for 3-D data capture
(PhysOrg.com) -- Call it automated photograph station, seven-camera system, 3-D model showcase, or digital reconstruction tool. OrcaM is being described as all these things. Whatever the tag, the "OrcaM" name stands for Orbital Camera System, according to its Germany-based developers NEK GmbH. A video demo was making the rounds of web gadget blogs and news sites this week as a camera system to watch.
Cambridge team uses solar cells in OLED screen to power smartphones
(PhysOrg.com) -- With the world's showroom floors crammed with prototype smartphones promising advanced functions, bigger displays, stunning resolution, wouldn’t you think the biggest crowd-pleasers would dominate? The ultimate attraction in a smartphone, the one that never has to be charged again? This ultimate solution at least has scientists working toward that end, to bring in an easier time where users will not need to worry about the batteries wearing out.
Medicine & Health news
Tiny baby leaves Los Angeles hospital amid fanfare
(AP) -- One of the world's smallest surviving babies was discharged Friday from the hospital where she spent nearly five months in an incubator - but not before getting the Hollywood treatment.
AIDS kills 28,000 in China in 2011: report
AIDS killed 28,000 people in China last year, and another 48,000 new infections from the HIV virus were discovered in the country, according to an official report on Saturday.
The influence of estrogen on female mood changes
Women are often troubled with cyclical mood changes. Studies have shown a relationship between emotional disorders associated with the menstrual cycle and changes in estrogen level. The authors reviewed related research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and endocrinology. Findings were published in Science China Life Sciences.
China reports second bird flu death in a month
(AP) -- China on Sunday reported its second bird flu fatality in a month following deaths last week in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Complication in first triple limb transplant
(AP) -- A Turkish doctor whose 25-member team performed the world's first triple limb transplant - two arms and a leg - says the leg has been removed due to tissue incompatibility.
Study identifies a cause of resistance to colon cancer treatment
Doctors and researchers of Hospital del Mar and its research institute, the IMIM, have lead a study describing a new pharmacological resistance to cancer. This new mechanism is a mutation in an oncogene called EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) causing resistance to treatment using a drug called cetuximab, a monoclonal antibody which specifically attacks the EGFR.
Turkish hospital performs triple limb transplant
(AP) -- A hospital in southern Turkey on Saturday was attempting the world's first triple limb transplant, attaching two arms and one leg to a 34-year-old man, the country's state-run news agency reported.
Brazil implant maker in eye of global storm
Brazil's Silimed, the third-biggest manufacturer of silicon breast implants in the world, has suddenly found itself in the eye of a global firestorm.
Sri Lanka donates eyes to the world
(AP) -- At 10:25 a.m., a dark brown eye was removed from a man whose lids had closed for the last time. Five hours later, the orb was staring up at the ceiling from a stainless steel tray in an operating room with two blind patients - both waiting to give it a second life.
Two die of A(H1N1) swine flu in Mexico: official
An outbreak of A(H1N1) swine flu claimed the lives of two people -- 19 and 21 years old -- in Mexico's capital in the first weeks of the year, health authorities said Saturday.
Researchers find genetic mechanism linked to congenital heart disease
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have identified a finely tuned mechanism by which fetal heart muscle develops into a healthy and fully formed beating heart—offering new insight into the genetic causes of congenital heart disease and opening the door to one day developing therapies to fight this chronic and potentially fatal disorder.
New understanding of chronic pain suggests new target for drug development
Millions of people worldwide suffer from a type of chronic pain called neuropathic pain, which is triggered by nerve damage. Precisely how this pain persists has been a mystery, and current treatments are largely ineffective. But a team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, using a new approach known as metabolomics, has now discovered a major clue: dimethylsphingosine (DMS), a small-molecule byproduct of cellular membranes in the nervous system. In their new study, the scientists found that DMS is produced at abnormally high levels in the spinal cords of rats with neuropathic pain and appears to cause pain when injected. The findings suggest inhibiting this molecule may be a fruitful target for drug development.
Inflammatory mediator promotes colorectal cancer by stifling protective genes
Chronic inflammation combines with DNA methylation, a process that shuts down cancer-fighting genes, to promote development of colorectal cancer, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report today in the advance online publication of the journal Nature Medicine.
Sweeping genetic analysis of rare disease yields common mechanism of hypertension
Analyzing all the genes of dozens of people suffering from a rare form of hypertension, Yale University researchers have discovered a new mechanism that regulates the blood pressure of all humans.
Biology news
Rare, once-royal turtle to be tracked in Cambodia
(AP) -- One of the world's most endangered turtles has been released into a Cambodian river with a satellite transmitter attached to its shell to track how it will navigate through commercial fishing grounds and other man-made hazards.
Science to help rice growers affected by Japan's tsunami
Under a year since a huge tsunami inundated paddy fields in Japan with salty sludge, scientists are near to developing locally-adapted, salt-tolerant rice. Following a Japan-UK research collaboration, a new method for marker assisted breeding is being used to slash the time it takes to isolate new traits such as salt tolerance. Details of the new method, called MutMap, will be published in Nature Biotechnology on Sunday so they can be used by scientists and breeders worldwide to dramatically accelerate crop breeding.
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