The EDGE: ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Tuesday, August 21, 2012

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Tuesday, August 21, 2012

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Symbiotic Nodulation in a Reduced Gravity Environment: Plant research reaps two-fold benefits (August 20, 2012) -- What can we learn from sending codependent bacteria and plants into space? Quite a bit, it would appear. An experiment with the tongue-twisting name Symbiotic Nodulation in a Reduced Gravity Environment, or SyNRGE for short, could yield benefits on Earth as well as space. ... > full story

Radiation Belt Storm Probes: Fundamental physics to benefit life on Earth, in space (August 20, 2012) -- Encircling Earth's equator are two concentric, wide rings of high-intensity particles known as the Van Allen radiation belts. This dynamic region changes in response to the sun, with the potential to affect GPS satellites, satellite television and more. NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission aims to study this ever-changing environment in greater detail than ever before. ... > full story

New NASA mission to take first look deep inside Mars (August 20, 2012) -- NASA has selected a new mission, set to launch in 2016, that will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars to see why the Red Planet evolved so differently from Earth as one of our solar system's rocky planets. The new mission, named InSight, will place instruments on the Martian surface to investigate whether the core of Mars is solid or liquid like Earth's, and why Mars' crust is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like Earth's. Detailed knowledge of the interior of Mars in comparison to Earth will help scientists understand better how terrestrial planets form and evolve. ... > full story

Voyager at 35: Break on through to the other side (August 20, 2012) -- Thirty-five years ago Aug. 20, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, the first Voyager spacecraft to launch, departed on a journey that would make it the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune and the longest-operating NASA spacecraft ever. Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, that launched 16 days later on Sept. 5, 1977, are still going strong, hurtling away from our sun. Mission managers are eagerly anticipating the day when they break on through to the other side -- the space between stars. ... > full story

Curiosity stretches its arm (August 20, 2012) -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity flexed its robotic arm Aug. 20, 2012 for the first time since before launch in November 2011. The 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) arm maneuvers a turret of tools including a camera, a drill, a spectrometer, a scoop and mechanisms for sieving and portioning samples of powdered rock and soil. ... > full story

First evidence discovered of planet's destruction by its star (August 20, 2012) -- The first evidence of a planet's destruction by its aging star has been discovered by an international team of astronomers. A similar fate may await the Earth and other inner planets in our solar system, when the sun expands all the way out to Earth's orbit some five-billion years from now. ... > full story

Nanoparticles added to platelets double internal injury survival rate: Early lab study hold promise for trauma cases (August 20, 2012) -- Naonparticles tailored to latch onto blood platelets rapidly create healthy clots and nearly double the survival rate in the vital first hour after injury lab research shows. ... > full story

Stroke disrupts how brain controls muscle synergies (August 20, 2012) -- After a stroke, muscle synergies are activated in altered ways. ... > full story

Information overload in the era of 'big data' (August 20, 2012) -- The ability of botanists and other scientists to generate data quickly and cheaply is surpassing their ability to access and analyze it. Scientists facing too much information rely on computers to search large data sets for patterns that are beyond the capability of humans to recognize. New tools called ontologies provide the rules computers need to transform information into knowledge, by attaching meaning to data, thereby making those data more retrievable and understandable. ... > full story

Scientists examine effects of manufactured nanoparticles on soybean crops (August 20, 2012) -- Sunscreens, lotions, and cosmetics contain tiny metal nanoparticles that wash down the drain at the end of the day, or are discharged after manufacturing. Those nanoparticles eventually end up in agricultural soil, which is a cause for concern, according to a group of environmental scientists that recently carried out the first major study of soybeans grown in soil contaminated by two manufactured nanomaterials. ... > full story

Toward a portable emergency treatment for stopping life-threatening internal bleeding (August 20, 2012) -- Progress is being made toward a new emergency treatment for internal bleeding - counterpart to the tourniquets, pressure bandages and Quick Clot products that keep people from bleeding to death from external wounds. ... > full story

Obesity, metabolic factors linked to faster cognitive decline (August 20, 2012) -- People who are obese and also have high blood pressure and other risk factors called metabolic abnormalities may experience a faster decline in their cognitive skills over time than others, according to a new study. ... > full story

Boon to fusion: New way to predict heat layer troublemaker (August 20, 2012) -- Researchers at a recent worldwide conference on fusion power have confirmed the surprising accuracy of a new model for predicting the size of a key barrier to fusion. ... > full story

Politics and prejudice explored (August 20, 2012) -- New research from psychological science explores factors operating in political attitudes that could explain why political ideology and prejudice are often linked. ... > full story

Lao skull earliest example of modern human fossil in Southeast Asia (August 20, 2012) -- An ancient skull recovered from a cave in the Annamite mountains in northern Laos is the oldest modern human fossil found in Southeast Asia, researchers report. The discovery pushes back the clock on modern human migration through the region by as much as 20,000 years, and indicates that ancient wanderers out of Africa left the coast and inhabited diverse habitats much earlier than previously appreciated. ... > full story

Cleaner fuel for cruise ships and other big vessels from ingredients in detergents, medicines (August 20, 2012) -- Scientists have developed a new fuel mixture to ease the major air pollution and cost problems facing cruise ships, oil tankers and container ships. These vessels tend to burn the cheapest and most highly polluting form of diesel fuel. ... > full story

Electrifying success in raising antioxidant levels in sweet potatoes (August 20, 2012) -- Already ranked by some as number one in nutrition among vegetables, the traditional sweet potato can be nutritionally supercharged with a simple, inexpensive electric current treatment that increases its content of healthful polyphenols or antioxidants by 60 percent, scientists have said. This is believed to be the first electrical enhancement of sweet potatoes, a dietary staple since prehistoric times. ... > full story

Stop grilling dinner: Specific toxic byproduct of heat-processed food leads to increased body weight and diabetes, mouse study finds (August 20, 2012) -- Researchers have identified a common compound in the modern diet that could play a major role in the development of abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. The research team recommends that clinical guidelines be revised to eliminate foods cooked using dry heat and replace them with methods that use lower heat or lots of moisture (water) as in stewing, poaching or steaming. Examples from the AGE-less diet include stewed beef, chicken and fish instead of grilled meats. ... > full story

Dual action polyclonal antibody may offer more effective, safer protection against osteoporosis (August 20, 2012) -- A new study suggests that a polyclonal antibody that blocks follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in mice without ovaries might offer a more effective way to prevent or arrest osteoporosis than currently available treatments. ... > full story

Patterning defect-free nanocrystal films with nanometer resolution (August 20, 2012) -- A new process could enable better LED displays, solar cells and biosensors -- and foster basic physics research. ... > full story

Vitamin D supplementation can decrease risk of respiratory infections in children (August 20, 2012) -- A study conducted in Mongolian schoolchildren found that vitamin D supplementation decreased the risk of respiratory infections among those who had low blood levels of vitamin D at the start of the study. ... > full story

Teaching a microbe to make fuel (August 20, 2012) -- A genetically modified organism could turn carbon dioxide or waste products into a gasoline-compatible transportation fuel. ... > full story

Coconut water is an excellent sports drink -- for light exercise (August 20, 2012) -- Coconut water (Coconut liquid endosperm) is widely consumed in many countries as a refreshing beverage but its unique chemical composition of electrolytes and nutrients can make it a good natural substitute of sports drink. ... > full story

Cloud brightening to control global warming? Geoengineers propose an experiment (August 20, 2012) -- A scientist has proposed an experiment to test cloud brightening, a geoengineering concept that alters clouds in an effort to counter global warming. His proposed experiment is part of a larger paper detailing the latest thinking on cloud brightening. ... > full story

Why do the Caribbean Islands arc? Movement of Earth modeled to 3,000 km depth (August 20, 2012) -- The Caribbean islands have been pushed east over the last 50 million years, driven by the movement of the Earth's viscous mantle against the more rooted South American continent, reveals new research. ... > full story

Drink made from berry wine may provide tasty drug for diabetes (August 20, 2012) -- In evaluating the bioactive compounds of Illinois blueberry and blackberry wines, scientists have found compounds that inhibit enzymes responsible for carbohydrate absorption and assimilation. And that could mean a tasty way to help people with diabetes decrease their blood sugar. ... > full story

Psychologists link emotion to vividness of perception and creation of vivid memories (August 20, 2012) -- Have you ever wondered why you can remember things from long ago as if they happened yesterday, yet sometimes can't recall what you ate for dinner last night? According to a new study, it's because how much something means to you actually influences how you see it as well as how vividly you can recall it later. ... > full story

Anthrax targets (August 20, 2012) -- A trawl of the genome of the deadly bacterium Bacillus anthracis has revealed a clutch of targets for new drugs to combat an epidemic of anthrax or a biological weapons attack. The targets are all proteins that are found in the bacteria but not in humans and are involved in diverse bacterial processes such as metabolism, cell wall synthesis and bacterial persistence. The discovery of a range of targets might bode well for creating a drug cocktail that could preclude the emergence of drug resistance. ... > full story

Spirituality correlates to better mental health regardless of religion, say researchers (August 20, 2012) -- Despite differences in rituals and beliefs among the world's major religions, spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person's faith, according to researchers. The researchers believe that health care providers could take advantage of this correlation between health – particularly mental health – and spirituality by tailoring treatments and rehabilitation programs to accommodate an individual's spiritual inclinations. ... > full story

Powerful new chip helps diagnose disease, analyzes protein interactions (August 20, 2012) -- Researchers have synthesized a grid-like array of short pieces of a disease-associated protein on silicon chips normally used in computer microprocessors. ... > full story

Scientists shed light on glowing materials (August 20, 2012) -- Researchers have succeeded in mapping how light behaves in complex photonic materials inspired by nature, like iridescent butterfly wings. Scientists have broken the limit of light resolution at the nanoscale and delivered a fundamental insight into how light and matter interact, which could lead to the development of enhanced bio-sensors for healthcare and more efficient solar cells and displays. ... > full story

Next generation 3-D theater: Optical science makes glasses a thing of the past (August 20, 2012) -- Even with current digital technology, the latest Hollywood blockbusters still rely on clunky glasses to achieve a convincing 3-D effect. New optics research offers the prospect of glasses-free, 3-D display technology for commercial theaters. Their new technique uses space more efficiently and is cheaper than current 3-D projection technology. ... > full story

Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat Obesity? (August 20, 2012) -- Scientific advances in understanding the "addiction circuitry" of the brain may lead to effective treatment for obesity using deep brain stimulation (DBS), according to a review article. ... > full story

High-definition fiber tractography is major advance in brain imaging (August 20, 2012) -- A technique called high-definition fiber tractography (HDFT) provides a powerful new tool for tracing the course of nerve fiber connections within the brain—with the potential to improve the accuracy of neurosurgical planning and to advance scientific understanding of the brain's structural and functional networks. ... > full story

Women could play key role in correcting crisis in clean drinking water and sanitation crisis (August 20, 2012) -- People in ancient Rome 2,000 years ago had better access to clean water and sanitation that keeps disease-causing human excrement out of contact with people than many residents of the 21st century, according to experts. ... > full story

Fueling the future with renewable gasoline and diesel (August 20, 2012) -- A new process for converting municipal waste, algae, corn stalks and similar material to gasoline, diesel and jet fuel is showing the same promise in larger plants as it did in laboratory-scale devices, the developers have reported. ... > full story

Genetically engineered algae for biofuel pose potential risks (August 20, 2012) -- Algae are high on the genetic engineering agenda as a potential source for biofuel, and they should be subjected to independent studies of any environmental risks that could be linked to cultivating algae for this purpose, two prominent researchers say. ... > full story

Imprisoned molecules 'quantum rattle' in their cages (August 20, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered that a space inside a special type of carbon molecule can be used to imprison other smaller molecules such as hydrogen or water. ... > full story

Neural interface for hand prosthesis can restore function in brain areas responsible for motor control (August 20, 2012) -- Amputation disrupts not only the peripheral nervous system but also central structures of the brain. While the brain is able to adapt and compensate for injury in certain conditions, in amputees the traumatic event prevents adaptive cortical changes. A group of scientists reports adaptive plastic changes in an amputee's brain following implantation of multielectrode arrays inside peripheral nerves. ... > full story

Extreme weather linked to global warming, Nobel prize-winning scientist says (August 20, 2012) -- New scientific analysis strengthens the view that record-breaking summer heat, crop-withering drought and other extreme weather events in recent years do, indeed, result from human activity and global warming, Nobel Laureate Mario J. Molina has said. ... > full story

New oil spill dispersant made from ingredients in peanut butter, chocolate, ice cream (August 20, 2012) -- With concerns about the possible health and environmental effects of oil dispersants in the Deepwater Horizon disaster still fresh in mind, scientists have developed a new dispersant made from edible ingredients that both breaks up oil slicks and keeps oil from sticking to the feathers of birds. ... > full story

Big Bang theory challenged by big chill (August 20, 2012) -- The start of the Universe should be modeled not as a Big Bang but more like water freezing into ice, according to a team of theoretical physicists. ... > full story

No evidence that drug used for preventing life-threatening bleeding in women during labor works (August 20, 2012) -- There is insufficient evidence for the effectiveness of a drug that is being used increasingly to prevent life-threatening bleeding in women after giving birth in community settings in low income countries, according to a new review. ... > full story

Making sense out of the biological matrix of bipolar disorder (August 20, 2012) -- The more that we understand the brain, the more complex it becomes. The same can be said about the genetics and neurobiology of psychiatric disorders. Researchers have now utilized an integrative approach to probe the biology of bipolar disorder. ... > full story

Scientists report promising new direction for cognitive rehabilitation in the elderly (August 20, 2012) -- Research has found that declines in temporal information processing (TIP), the rate at which auditory information is processed, underlies the progressive loss of function across multiple cognitive systems in the elderly, including new learning, memory, perception, attention, thinking, motor control, problem solving, and concept formation. In a new study, scientists have found that elderly subjects who underwent temporal training improved not only the rate at which they processed auditory information, but also in other cognitive areas. ... > full story

Pro-anorexic bloggers interviewed (August 20, 2012) -- A new research study suggests there may be benefits to the controversial activities of "pro-ana" bloggers, the online community for people with eating disorders. Most of the 33 bloggers from seven countries interviewed for the study said their writing activities provide a way to express themselves without judgment, which the authors believe can be crucial to their treatment. ... > full story

Native American spiritual beliefs influential in spurring youth to avoid drugs and alcohol (August 20, 2012) -- New research indicates that urban Native American youth who follow the traditional spiritual beliefs are less likely to use drugs and alcohol. ... > full story

Missing gene may drive more than one in four breast cancers (August 20, 2012) -- More than one out of every four cases of breast cancer is associated with a specific, missing gene – a finding that could have significant implications for chemotherapy treatments, according a recent study. ... > full story

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