The EDGE: ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Monday, August 13, 2012

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Monday, August 13, 2012

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Full color images at 100,000 dots-per-inch resolution, using metal-laced nano-structures (August 12, 2012) -- Inspired by colorful stained-glass windows, researchers from Singapore have demonstrated an innovative method for producing sharp, full-spectrum color images at 100,000 dpi which can be applicable in reflective color displays, anti-counterfeiting, and high-density optical data recording. ... > full story

Rat and ant rescues 'don't show empathy' (August 12, 2012) -- Studies of how rats and ants rescue other members of their species do not prove that animals other than humans have empathy, according to biologists. ... > full story

Smelling a skunk after a cold: Brain changes after a stuffed nose protect the sense of smell (August 12, 2012) -- Once our nostrils clear after a cold, we take for granted that our sniffers will dependably rebound. That dependability is no accident. It turns out the brain is working behind the scenes to make sure the sense is just as sharp after the nose recovers. A new study shows that after the human nose has been blocked for a week, brain activity rapidly changes in the regions connected to the olfactory system. ... > full story

Differences in the genomes of related plant pathogens (August 12, 2012) -- Even in closely related species, lifestyle molds the genetic makeup of pathogens and how their genes are used. ... > full story

Unraveling intricate interactions, one molecule at a time (August 12, 2012) -- In a key step towards the design of better organic electronic devices, an engineering team has succeeded in performing the first quantitative characterization of van der Waals interactions at metal/organic interfaces at the single-molecule level. The researchers reveal the existence of two distinct binding regimes in gold-molecule-gold single-molecule junctions, using molecules containing nitrogen atoms at their extremities that are attracted to gold surfaces. ... > full story

Urban Sun Corridor 4 degrees warmer? (August 12, 2012) -- In the first study to attempt to quantify the impact of rapidly expanding megapolitan areas on regional climate, a team of researchers has established that local maximum summertime warming resulting from projected expansion of the urban Sun Corridor could approach 4 degrees Celsius. ... > full story

World's most powerful X-ray laser beam refined to scalpel precision (August 12, 2012) -- With a thin sliver of diamond, scientists have transformed the Linac Coherent Light Source into an even more precise tool for exploring the nanoworld. The improvements yield laser pulses focused to higher intensity in a much narrower band of X-ray wavelengths, and may enable experiments that have never before been possible. ... > full story

How stress and depression can shrink the brain (August 12, 2012) -- Major depression or chronic stress can cause the loss of brain volume, a condition that contributes to both emotional and cognitive impairment. Now scientists have discovered one reason why this occurs -- a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models. ... > full story

New genetic regions influencing blood glucose traits revealed (August 12, 2012) -- Researchers have used a specially designed DNA chip, the MetaboChip array, to identify 38 new genetic regions that are associated with glucose and insulin levels in the blood. This brings the total number of genetic regions associated with glucose and insulin levels to 53, over half of which are associated with type 2 diabetes. ... > full story

Scientists' gold discovery sheds light on catalysis (August 12, 2012) -- Physicists have made an important advance in establishing the catalytic properties of gold at a nano level. They discovered that the catalytic activity of nanoporous gold (NPG) originates from high concentrations of surface defects present within its complex three-dimensional structure. ... > full story

Mutations disrupt cellular recycling, cause a childhood genetic disease (August 12, 2012) -- Researchers have identified a key gene that, when mutated, causes the rare multisystem disorder Cornelia deLange syndrome. Mutations in the HDAC8 gene disrupt genetic transcripton, impairing early development. ... > full story

Curiosity sends high-resolution color images from Mars' Gale Crater (August 12, 2012) -- NASA's Curiosity rover has shipped back to Earth high-resolution color images of its surroundings on Mars, sharpening our views of an intriguing channel, layered buttes and a layer of cobbles and pebbles embedded in a finer matrix of material. The images show a landscape closely resembling portions of the southwestern United States, adding to the impression gained from the lower-resolution thumbnail images released earlier this week. ... > full story

NASA conducts airborne study of Colorado landslide (August 11, 2012) -- NASA's C-20A (Gulfstream III) Earth science aircraft, carrying a specially designed synthetic aperture radar, recently completed the latest in a series of data collection flights over Colorado's centuries-old Slumgullion landslide. The goal of the research flights, funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, is to aid scientists' understanding of the mechanisms controlling landslide motion. ... > full story

Hubble's close encounter with the Tarantula (August 11, 2012) -- Turning its eye to the Tarantula Nebula, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a close-up of the outskirts of the main cloud of the Nebula. ... > full story

Prenatal whole genome sequencing: Just because we can, should we? (August 10, 2012) -- With whole genome sequencing quickly becoming more affordable and accessible, we need to pay more attention to the massive amount of information it will deliver to parents -- and the fact that we don't yet understand what most of it means, concludes a new article. ... > full story

Of mice and melodies: Research on language gene seeks to uncover the origins of the singing mouse (August 10, 2012) -- Singing mice are unique rodents that use song to communicate. An important underlying gene that is thought to influence the singing behavior is a transcription factor called FOXP2, sometimes called the 'language gene' because it has been linked to speech disorders in humans. This information could help researchers find areas of the human FOXP2 gene that are associated with autism. ... > full story

Research shows gene defect's role in autism-like behavior (August 10, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered how a defective gene causes brain changes that lead to the atypical social behavior characteristic of autism. The research offers a potential target for drugs to treat the condition. ... > full story

Daily aspirin usage linked to lower cancer mortality (August 10, 2012) -- A new study provides additional support for a potential benefit of daily aspirin use for cancer mortality, but the authors say important questions remain about the size of the potential benefit. ... > full story

NASA Curiosity Mars rover installing smarts for driving (August 10, 2012) -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm. The rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the rover's redundant main computers. This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth. ... > full story

Quantum cryptography theory has a demonstrated security defect (August 10, 2012) -- Researchers have just demonstrated the incompleteness and limit of the security theory in quantum key distribution. The present theory cannot guarantee unconditional security. ... > full story

Influence of heating techniques on red palm oil carotene levels (August 10, 2012) -- Researchers have studied carotene and antibacterial effects of microwave heated and conventional heated red palm oil (RPO). They discovered that conventional heating reduced its carotene levels but microwave heating retained a higher carotene content. ... > full story

Study of fruit fly chromosomes improves understanding of evolution and fertility (August 10, 2012) -- New research explores the evolution of sperm structure and function, through an analysis of Drosophila genes and gene products. The research has important implications for the study of human infertility as well. ... > full story

USDA: Ongoing drought causes significant crop yield declines (August 10, 2012) -- Corn production will drop 13 percent to a six-year low, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Aug. 10, confirming what many farmers already knew -- they are having a very bad year. ... > full story

NOAA raises hurricane season prediction despite expected El Niño (August 10, 2012) -- This year's Atlantic hurricane season got off to a busy start, with 6 named storms to date, and may have a busy second half, according to the updated hurricane season outlook issued Aug. 9, 2012 by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service. The updated outlook still indicates a 50 percent chance of a near-normal season, but increases the chance of an above-normal season to 35 percent and decreases the chance of a below-normal season to only 15 percent from the initial outlook issued in May. ... > full story

50-year decline found in some Los Angeles vehicle-related pollutants (August 10, 2012) -- In California's Los Angeles Basin, levels of some vehicle-related air pollutants have decreased by about 98 percent since the 1960s, even as area residents now burn three times as much gasoline and diesel fuel. Between 2002 and 2010 alone, the concentration of air pollutants called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) dropped by half, according to a new study by NOAA scientists and colleagues. ... > full story

New view of body's infection response (August 10, 2012) -- A new 3-D view of the body's response to infection – and the ability to identify proteins involved in the response – could point to novel biomarkers and therapeutic agents for infectious diseases. Scientists in multiple disciplines combined magnetic resonance imaging and imaging mass spectrometry to visualize the inflammatory response to bacterial infection in mice. The techniques offer opportunities for discovering proteins not previously implicated in the inflammatory response. ... > full story

Spending more on trauma care doesn't translate to higher survival rates, study suggests (August 10, 2012) -- A large-scale national review of U.S. patient records reveals that although survival rates are the same, the cost of treating trauma patients in the western United States is 33 percent higher than the bill for treating similarly injured patients in the Northeast. Overall, treatment costs were lower in the Northeast than anywhere in the United States. ... > full story

Why do organisms build tissues they seemingly never use? (August 10, 2012) -- Why, after millions of years of evolution, do organisms build structures that seemingly serve no purpose? A new study investigates the evolutionary reasons why organisms go through developmental stages that appear unnecessary. ... > full story

Stabilizing shell effects in heaviest elements directly measured (August 10, 2012) -- An international research team has succeeded in directly measuring the strength of shell effects in very heavy elements. The results provide information on the nuclear structure of superheavy elements, thus promising to enable drastically improved predictions concerning the location and extension of the island of stability of superheavy elements. ... > full story

Rooting out rumors, epidemics, and crime -- with math (August 10, 2012) -- Scientists have developed an algorithm that can identify the source of an epidemic or information circulating within a network, a method that could also be used to help with criminal investigations. ... > full story

Earthquake risk in Europe detailed (August 10, 2012) -- For the first time, scientists have succeeded in setting up a harmonized catalog of earthquakes for Europe and the Mediterranean for the last thousand years. This catalog consists of about 45000 earthquakes. ... > full story

Mission discovers record depth for Lophelia coral on Gulf of Mexico energy platforms (August 10, 2012) -- A team of federal and university scientists on a 10-day expedition in the Gulf of Mexico has discovered Lophelia coral growing deeper than previously seen anywhere in the Gulf. Newly available information on Lophelia's growth rate and conditions will inform future environmental review and decision-making for the protection of deep-water coral habitats. ... > full story

Summer storm spins over Arctic (August 10, 2012) -- An unusually strong storm formed off the coast of Alaska on August 5 and tracked into the center of the Arctic Ocean, where it slowly dissipated over the next several days. Arctic storms such as this one can have a large impact on the sea ice, causing it to melt rapidly through many mechanisms, such as tearing off large swaths of ice and pushing them to warmer sites, churning the ice and making it slushier, or lifting warmer waters from the depths of the Arctic Ocean. ... > full story

Project Morpheus vehicle experiences hardware component failure (August 10, 2012) -- NASA's prototype Morpheus lander crashed in a test flight on Thursday (Aug. 9, 2012), at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The vehicle lifted off the ground and then experienced a hardware component failure. This failure prevented the vehicle from maintaining stable flight. No one was injured, and the resulting fire was extinguished by Kennedy Space Center fire personnel. ... > full story

NASA Global Hawk pilots face challenges flying hurricane missions (August 10, 2012) -- NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel, or HS3, mission will be a complex one for the pilots flying NASA's Global Hawk aircraft from the ground. The mission, set to begin this month, will be the first deployment for the unmanned aircraft away from their regular base of operations at the Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. In addition the pilots will be operating the aircraft from two locations on opposite coasts. ... > full story

Weekend hospital stays prove more deadly than other times for older people with head trauma (August 10, 2012) -- A review of more than 38,000 patient records finds that older adults who sustain substantial head trauma over a weekend are significantly more likely to die from their injuries than those similarly hurt and hospitalized Monday through Friday, even if their injuries are less severe and they have fewer other illnesses than their weekday counterparts. ... > full story

'Selfish' DNA in animal mitochondria offers possible tool to study aging (August 10, 2012) -- Researchers have discovered, for the first time in any animal species, a type of "selfish" mitochondrial DNA that is actually hurting the organism and lessening its chance to survive – and bears a strong similarity to some damage done to human cells as they age. It could provide an important new model to study human aging. ... > full story

'Theranostic' imaging offers means of killing prostate cancer cells (August 10, 2012) -- Experimenting with human prostate cancer cells and mice, cancer imaging experts say they have developed a method for finding and killing malignant cells while sparing healthy ones. ... > full story

New regulatory mechanism discovered in cell system for eliminating unneeded proteins (August 10, 2012) -- A faulty gene linked to a rare blood vessel disorder has led investigators to discover a mechanism involved in determining the fate of possibly thousands of proteins working inside cells. ... > full story

Good news: Migraines hurt your head but not your brain (August 10, 2012) -- Migraines currently affect about 20 percent of the female population, and while these headaches are common, there are many unanswered questions surrounding this complex disease. Previous studies have linked this disorder to an increased risk of stroke and structural brain lesions, but it has remained unclear whether migraines had other negative consequences such as dementia or cognitive decline. According to new research migraines are not associated with cognitive decline. ... > full story

Autonomous robotic plane dodges obstacles when flying indoors (August 10, 2012) -- New algorithms allow an autonomous robotic plane to dodge obstacles in a subterranean parking garage, without the use of GPS. ... > full story

Stem cells may prevent post-injury arthritis (August 10, 2012) -- Researchers may have found a promising stem cell therapy for preventing osteoarthritis after a joint injury. ... > full story

How much nitrogen is fixed in the ocean? (August 10, 2012) -- In order to predict how the Earth's climate develops scientists have to know which gases and trace elements are naturally bound and released by the ocean and in which quantities. For nitrogen, an essential element for the production of biomass, there are many unanswered questions. Scientists have now published a research study showing that widely applied methods are part of the problem. ... > full story

Thinking about giving, not receiving, motivates people to help others (August 10, 2012) -- We're often told to 'count our blessings' and be grateful for what we have. And research shows that doing so makes us happier. But will it actually change our behavior towards others? A new study suggests that thinking about what we've given, rather than what we've received, may lead us to be more helpful toward others. ... > full story

Physicists explore properties of electrons in revolutionary material (August 10, 2012) -- Scientists have found a new way to examine certain properties of electrons in graphene – a very thin material that may hold the key to new technologies in computing and other fields. ... > full story

New approach of resistant tuberculosis (August 10, 2012) -- Scientists have breathed new life into a forgotten technique and so succeeded in detecting resistant tuberculosis in circumstances where so far this was hardly feasible. Tuberculosis bacilli that have become resistant against our major antibiotics are a serious threat to world health. ... > full story

Wireless power for the price of a penny? (August 10, 2012) -- The newspaper-style printing of electronic equipment has led to a cost-effective device that could change the way we interact with everyday objects. ... > full story

The power to heal at the tips of your fingers (August 10, 2012) -- The intricate properties of the fingertips have been mimicked and recreated using semiconductor devices in what researchers hope will lead to the development of advanced surgical gloves. ... > full story