Science X Newsletter Friday, Aug 29

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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for August 29, 2014:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- Medicinal GPS: DNA nanotechnology-based approach allows injected drugs to find tumor sites
- Step lightly: All-optical transistor triggered by single photon promises advances in quantum applications
- Researchers suggest lack of published null result papers skews reliability of those that are published
- Google building fleet of package-delivering drones
- Researchers identify origin and purpose of the facial expression for anger
- Seoul to provide smartphone-charging down by the stream
- Not all phytoplankton in the ocean need to take their vitamins
- China's reform of R&D budget management doesn't go far enough, research shows
- Reducing water scarcity possible by 2050
- Mysteries of space dust revealed
- Assortativity signatures of transcription factor networks contribute to robustness
- Team defines new biodiversity metric
- Experimental Ebola drug heals all monkeys in study (Update)
- Preventing cancer from forming 'tentacles' stops dangerous spread
- Team pioneers strategy for creating new materials

Astronomy & Space news

	Researchers use NASA and other data to look into the heart of a solar storm A space weather storm from the sun engulfed our planet on Jan. 21, 2005. The event got its start on Jan. 20, when a cloud of solar material, a coronal mass ejection or CME, burst off the sun and headed toward Earth. When it arrived at our planet, the ring current and radiation belts surrounding Earth swelled with extra particles, while the aurora persisted for six hours. Both of these are usually signs of a very large storm – indeed, this was one of the largest outpouring of solar protons ever monitored from the sun. But the storm barely affected the magnetic fields around Earth – disturbances in these fields can affect power grids on the ground, a potential space weather effect keenly watched for by a society so dependent on electricity
	How can we find tiny particles in exoplanet atmospheres? It may seem like magic, but astronomers have worked out a scheme that will allow them to detect and measure particles ten times smaller than the width of a human hair, even at many light-years distance.  They can do this by observing a blue tint in the light from far-off objects caused by the way in which small particles, no more than a micron in size (one-thousandth of a millimeter) scatter light.
	Thermonuclear X-ray bursts on neutron stars set speed record A new study of thermonuclear X-ray bursts on neutron stars reveals that, on very rare occasions, shells can be expelled at relativistic speeds - up to 30% of the speed of light. These velocities are the highest ever measured for a cosmic thermonuclear event, including novae and thermonuclear supernovae. This phenomenon, discovered in only 0.1 second worth of data in 40 years of space-based X-ray astronomy, sheds new light on how nuclear flames spread over surfaces of neutron stars. The research results have been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
	Mysteries of space dust revealed The first analysis of space dust collected by a special collector onboard NASA's Stardust mission and sent back to Earth for study in 2006 suggests the tiny specks open a door to studying the origins of the solar system and possibly the origin of life itself.
	A guide to the 2014 Neptune opposition season Never seen Neptune? Now is a good time to try, as the outermost ice giant world reaches opposition this weekend at 14:00 Universal Time (UT) or 10:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 29th. This means that the distant world lies "opposite" to the Sun as seen from our Earthly perspective and rises to the east as the Sun sets to the west, riding high in the sky across the local meridian near midnight.

Technology news

	Google building fleet of package-delivering drones Google's secretive research laboratory is trying to build a fleet of drones designed to bypass earthbound traffic so packages can be delivered to people more quickly.
	Seoul to provide smartphone-charging down by the stream Seoul's mobile users will be able to make use of outdoor charging stations at a popular downtown stream, powered by mini-hydroelectric turbines that use the stream's current. The city is building the recharging stations along the Cheonggyecheon, which is a manmade stream in the city's downtown area. The Seoul metropolitan city government said on Wednesday that the plan is to make available smartphone recharging booths near Cheonggyecheon, or Cheonggye Stream in Seoul, with the small amount of electricity that is generated from t he flowing water, said Korea Bizwire. On Wednesday, city officials installed three small-sized hydroelectric generators on the Gwangtong Bridge on the stream, and two more generators in the walking trail 20 meters away. This will be a trial run, and the first time for phone-charging booths to be installed using the micro-hydroelectric generators. The city will experiment with the five generators for three! months, according to the Korea Bizwire.
	Leap Motion offers VR mount for hand recognition device, reveals plans for better VR experience Leap Motion, maker of a device that sits on a desk to capture hand movements (to replace the mouse, joystick, etc.) has announced that it is now offering a mounting apparatus that allows for connecting its recognition device directly to head-worn virtual reality gear such as the Oculus Rift. The mounting hardware also comes with an updated SDK kit to allow for the new perspective offered by the recognition device.
	FIXD tells car drivers via smartphone what is wrong A key source of anxiety while driving solo, when even a bothersome back-seat driver's comments would have made you listen: the "check engine" light is on but you do not feel, smell or see anything wrong. What to do? Rush to the repair shop or try your luck and make it all the way home? FIXD, a plug-in sensor and phone app, wants to give you the answers by sending information to your phone when problems arise. A summary of the problem is provided in simple terms. Drivers are also told the consequences of continued driving. The driver is told the severity of the problem and provides instructions on what to do. The system even offers an estimate of the repair costs that the problem would involve. "We want to take the guess work out of maintaining your car," said the FIXD team in a promotional video. "We want to give you confidence when dealing with repair shops."
Tesla, Chinese firm plan 400 charging stations Tesla Motors Co. and a state-owned Chinese phone carrier announced plans Friday to build 400 charging stations for electric cars in a new bid to promote popular adoption of the technology in China.
	Australia's consumer watchdog sues US games giant Valve Australia's consumer watchdog Friday said it was taking online US video games giant Valve to court for allegedly making "false or misleading representations" and refusing to offer refunds.
Chinese e-commerce rivals challenge Alibaba (Update) China's biggest property developer, Wanda Group, and Internet giants Baidu and Tencent unveiled a new e-commerce venture Friday in a challenge to industry leader Alibaba Group ahead of its U.S. stock offering.
	Twitter to set up shop in social-media-mad Indonesia Twitter plans to open an office in Indonesia over the coming months as it seeks to boost revenues in the social-media-addicted nation, the company announced Friday.
Japan gov't calls on citizens to stockpile toilet paper The Japanese government is calling on its citizens to prepare for the worst-case scenario, should a major disaster hit the quake-prone archipelago: Stockpile toilet paper.
'SwaziLeaks' looks to shake up jet-setting monarchy As WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange prepares to end a two-year forced stay at Ecuador's London embassy, he may take comfort in knowing he inspired resistance to secrecy in places as far away as Swaziland.
	Ecuador heralds 'digital currency' plans Ecuador is planning to create the world's first government-issued digital currency, which some analysts believe could be a first step toward abandoning the country's existing currency, the U.S. dollar, which the government cannot control.
	Avatars make the Internet sign to deaf people It is challenging for deaf people to learn a sound-based language, since they are physically not able to hear those sounds. Hence, most of them struggle with written language as well as with text reading and comprehension. Therefore, most website content remains inaccessible for them. Computer scientists from Saarbrücken, Germany, want to change the situation by means of a method they developed: animated online characters display content in sign language. In the long term, deaf people would be able to use the technique to communicate on online platforms via sign language. To realize the technique, users would only need readily available devices.
	Study shows local seismic isolation and damping methods provide optimal protection for essential computing equipment In experiments aimed at securing essential electronic equipment, a team of researchers led by earthquake engineer Claudia Marin-Artieda is seeking solutions for protecting computer servers, backup power units, and other high-tech equipment by employing locally installed passive seismic protective systems, such as base isolation and damping.
	Nintendo launching 'amiibo' with 12 characters (Update) Pikachu and Link will be among the first characters coming to "amiibo."
Court won't restore Oracle's $1.3B verdict vs. SAP A federal appeals court is refusing Oracle Corp.'s request to reinstate a $1.3 billion verdict it won against German rival SAP SE in a long-running copyright dispute.
Facebook tuning mobile search at social network Facebook on Friday said it is dabbling with letting members using smartphones or tablets search for past posts of friends at the leading online social network.
	Samsung denies child labour at Chinese supplier South Korea's Samsung Electronics has refuted fresh allegations by a labour protection watchdog that one of its suppliers in China hired child workers.
Tricorder XPRIZE: 10 teams advance in global competition to develop consumer-focused diagnostic device XPRIZE today announced the 10 finalist teams competing for the $10M Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, a 3.5-year global competition sponsored by the Qualcomm Foundation for teams to develop a consumer-focused, mobile device capable of diagnosing and interpreting a set of 15 medical conditions and capturing five vital health metrics. Launched in January 2012, the competition encourages the development of a device much like the medical Tricorder of Star Trek fame, moving it from science fiction to science reality.
	Watching others play video games is the new spectator sport As the UK's largest gaming festival, Insomnia, wrapped up its latest event on August 25, I watched a short piece of BBC Breakfast news reporting from the festival. The reporter and some of the interviewees appeared baffled at the huge popularity of "videogame livestreaming", otherwise known as gamers watching other gamers playing games.

Medicine & Health news

	Medicinal GPS: DNA nanotechnology-based approach allows injected drugs to find tumor sites (Medical Xpress)—Current therapies for cancer, wound healing, inflammation, and many other diseases – as well as protocols for drug reloading of vascular grafts and stents – often rely on so-called drug delivery depots, which are infused with medication and surgically implanted proximate to the site being treated. However, drug delivery depots in clinical use today are single-use, with no ability to be refilled once exhausted. Moreover, once all medication has been released they sometimes require removal by way of additional invasive surgery, thereby exposing the patient to additional risk. A long-sought solution to these drawbacks is localized drug delivery that would allow for minimally invasive refilling of drug depots for repeat drug dosing over the course of weeks or months. Refilling local drug delivery would also obviate the need for surgical removal. Recently, scientists at Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University devised a DNA nanotechnology-based approach for blood-based drug refilling of hydrogel intratumor drug depots using nucleic acid sequence complementarity. More specifically, oligodeoxynucleotide-conjugated alginate drug payloads were used for refilling drug-delivering hydrogels containing the complementary sequence and exploited for tumor treatment. (An oligodeoxynucleotide, or ODN, is a short sequence of nucleotides – RNA or DNA – that contain deoxyribose; alginate is an anionic polysaccharide distributed widely in the cell walls of brown algae.) The researchers conclude that their proof-of-concept study demonstrates the potential application of refilling other drug-delivery devices in the treatment of a wide range of diseases.
	Researchers identify origin and purpose of the facial expression for anger The next time you get really mad, take a look in the mirror. See the lowered brow, the thinned lips and the flared nostrils? That's what social scientists call the "anger face," and it appears to be part of our basic biology as humans.
	HIV lessons from the Mississippi Baby (Medical Xpress)—The news in July that HIV had returned in a Mississippi toddler after a two-year treatment-free remission dashed the hopes of clinicians, HIV researchers and the public at large tantalized by the possibility of a cure.
	Mutation disables innate immune system A Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich team has shown that defects in the JAGN1 gene inhibit the function of a specific type of white blood cells, and account for a rare congenital immune deficiency that increases vulnerability to life-threatening infections.
	Assortativity signatures of transcription factor networks contribute to robustness Dartmouth researchers explored the type and number of connections in transcription factor networks (TFNs) to evaluate the role assortativity plays on robustness in a study published in PLOS Computational Biology in August. The study found that the assortativity signature contributes to a network's resilience against mutations.
	Experimental Ebola drug heals all monkeys in study (Update) An experimental Ebola drug healed all 18 monkeys infected with the deadly virus in a study, boosting hopes that the treatment might help fight the outbreak raging through West Africa—once more of it can be made.
	Preventing cancer from forming 'tentacles' stops dangerous spread A new study from the research group of Dr. John Lewis at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB) and the Lawson Health Research Institute (London, ON) has confirmed that "invadopodia" play a key role in the spread of cancer. The study, published in Cell Reports, shows preventing these tentacle-like structures from forming can stop the spread of cancer entirely.
Socioeconomic status and gender are associated with differences in cholesterol levels A long-term lifestyle study reports differences between the sexes when it comes to fat profiles associated with socioeconomic status. Research in the open access journal BMC Public Health breaks down factors associated with social class and finds surprising inequalities between men and women.
	Real tremors, or drug-seeking patient? New app can tell A 42-year-old investment banker arrives at the emergency department with complaints of nausea, vomiting, anxiety and tremor. He drinks alcohol every day—often at business lunches, and at home every evening. Worried about his health, he decided to quit drinking and had his last Scotch 24 hours before coming to emergency.
	Pollution, smoking, roads, obesity kill 4.7m Chinese a year Air pollution, smoking, obesity and accidents, especially on the road, kill at least 4.7 million Chinese a year and cost the country tens of billions of dollars, researchers said on Friday.
	Creating smart health solutions with biomedical informatics Adela Grando is a new professor with the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. Trained in artificial intelligence with a background in computer science, Grando moved into the biomedical informatics field because she felt it offered great applications in medicine, and exciting opportunities for innovation.
Past sexual assault triples risk of future assault for college women Disturbing news for women on college campuses: a new study from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) indicates that female college students who are victims of sexual assault are at a much higher risk of becoming victims again.
	Researcher creates a new kind of microscope to study the brain Spencer Smith, PhD, peers through a microscope of his own creation, trying to home in on a single neuron. The cell is tiny, about 0.015 millimeters in diameter. He attempts to clamp a microscopic pipette directly onto the neuron's dendrite—an arm-like extension of the cell. He wants to explore its function in greater detail than anyone has ever done. It's tedious work that requires otherworldly patience, a lot of time, a powerful microscope. Finally, Smith manages to connect the pipette. Then, he listens and he looks.
Smartphone beats paper for some with dyslexia Matthew Schneps is a researcher at Harvard University with a doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also happens to have dyslexia, so reading has always been a challenge for him. That is, until he got a smartphone. Schneps soon found that for him, a smartphone was easier to read than a paper or a book. But, was it just him? Or, had he stumbled onto something that could help others with dyslexia?
	Taking preventive health care into community spaces A church. A city park. An office. These are not the typical settings for a medical checkup. But a new nationwide study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research shows that providing health services in unorthodox settings helps underserved adults get preventive care.
Bedsharing may impair sleep quality Nocturnal awakenings are frequent among 6-month-old children, but sharing bed might make things worse.
	Learning to read involves tricking the brain While reading, children and adults alike must avoid confusing mirror-image letters (like b/d or p/q). Why is it difficult to differentiate these letters? When learning to read, our brain must be able to inhibit the mirror-generalization process, a mechanism that facilitates the recognition of identical objects regardless of their orientation, but also prevents the brain from differentiating letters that are different but symmetrical. A study conducted by the researchers of the Laboratoire de Psychologie du Développement et de l'Education de l'Enfant (CNRS / Université Paris Descartes / Université de Caen Basse-Normandie) is available on the website of the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (Online First Articles).
Mobile app on emergency cardiac care aids best decisions in seconds The ACCA Clinical Decision-Making Toolkit mobile app is now available on the App Store and Google Play.
Meaningful relationships can help you thrive Deep and meaningful relationships play a vital role in overall well-being. Past research has shown that individuals with supportive and rewarding relationships have better mental health, higher levels of subjective well-being and lower rates of morbidity and mortality. A paper published in Personality and Social Psychology Review provides an important perspective on thriving through relationships, emphasizes two types of support that relationships provide, and illuminates aspects where further study is necessary.
'Face time' for the heart diagnoses cardiac disease To the careful observer, a person's face has long provided insight into what is going on beneath the surface. Now, with the assistance of a web camera and software algorithms, the face can also reveal whether or not an individual is experiencing atrial fibrillation, a treatable but potentially dangerous heart condition.
	Where you live may be putting you at risk for foodborne illness, researcher finds (Medical Xpress)—Improving education about risky food handling behaviors would reduce the amount of foodborne illness and help improve food security around the world, according to Kansas State University research.
	Obese or overweight teens more likely to become smokers A study examining whether overweight or obese teens are at higher risk for substance abuse finds both good and bad news: weight status has no correlation with alcohol or marijuana use but is linked to regular cigarette smoking.
Is the HPV vaccine necessary? As the school year starts in full swing many parents wonder if their child should receive the HPV vaccine, which is recommended for girls ages 11-26 and boys 11-21. There are a lot of questions and controversy around this vaccine, but many pediatricians say it comes down to protecting people from a leading cause of death.
	Radiation-free method to track suspicious lymph nodes in case of cancer Researchers at the UT Research Institute MIRA have developed a new method for tracing the sentinel lymph node, the node by which you can tell whether a patient's cancer has spread. Martijn Visscher demonstrated that you can find the node using magnetic nanoparticles, a simple set-up and a clever way of measuring. The patented find, which can quickly be put into practice, will prevent patients from being unnecessarily exposed to ionizing radiation. Visscher will obtain his doctoral degree on 27 August.
	AMGA: Physician turnover still high in 2013 (HealthDay)—For the second year running, physician turnover remains at the highest rate since 2005, according to a report published by the American Medical Group Association (AMGA).
	Doctors frequently experience ethical dilemmas (HealthDay)—For physicians trying to balance various financial and time pressures, ethical dilemmas are common, according to an article published Aug. 7 in Medical Economics.
	How Alzheimer's peptides shut down cellular powerhouses The failing in the work of nerve cells: An international team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Chris Meisinger from the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Freiburg has discovered how Alzheimer's disease damages mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell. For several years researchers have known that the cellular energy supply of brain cells is impaired in Alzheimer's patients. They suspect this to be the cause of premature death of nerve cells that occurs in the course of the disease. Little is known about the precise cause of this neuronal cell death, and many approaches and attempts to find an effective therapy have failed to make an impact. What is certain is that a tiny protein fragment by the name of "amyloid-beta" plays a key role in the process.
	How nerve cells communicate with each other over long distances How nerve cells within the brain communicate with each other over long distances has puzzled scientists for decades. The way networks of neurons connect and how individual cells react to incoming pulses in principle makes communication over large distances impossible. Scientists from Germany and France provide now a possible answer how the brain can function nonetheless: by exploiting the powers of resonance.
	Cellphone addiction 'an increasingly realistic possibility,' study finds Women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones and men college students spend nearly eight, with excessive use posing potential risks for academic performance, according to a Baylor University study on cellphone activity published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
Can YouTube save your life? Only a handful of CPR and basic life support (BLS) videos available on YouTube provide instructions which are consistent with recent health guidelines, according to a new study published in Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM).
Intervention needed for survivors of childhood burns Adults who have been hospitalized for a burn as a child experience higher than usual rates of depression and suicidal thoughts, according to new research at the University of Adelaide.
	'Doctor-shopping' for painkillers common after broken-bone surgery, study finds (HealthDay)—About one in five patients operated on for broken bones or other orthopedic trauma shops around for additional painkillers after surgery, a new study finds.
	Evidence mounting that older adults who volunteer are happier, healthier Older adults who stay active by volunteering are getting more out of it than just an altruistic feeling – they are receiving a health boost!
	Leading Ebola researcher says there's an effective treatment A leading U.S. Ebola researcher from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has gone on record stating that a blend of three monoclonal antibodies can completely protect monkeys against a lethal dose of Ebola virus up to 5 days after infection, at a time when the disease is severe.
'Ice Bucket Challenge' passes $100 mn mark The "Ice Bucket Challenge" viral craze has raised more than $100 million after sweeping the globe since its launch last month, organizers said Friday.
Discovery could lead to new cancer treatment A team of scientists from the University of Colorado School of Medicine has reported the breakthrough discovery of a process to expand production of stem cells used to treat cancer patients. These findings could have implications that extend beyond cancer, including treatments for inborn immunodeficiency and metabolic conditions and autoimmune diseases.
Mice study shows efficacy of new gene therapy approach for toxin exposures The current method to treat acute toxin poisoning is to inject antibodies, commonly produced in animals, to neutralize the toxin. But this method has challenges ranging from safety to difficulties in developing, producing and maintaining the anti-serums in large quantities.
	Some women still don't underststand 'overdiagnosis' risk in breast screening A third of women who are given information about the chance of 'overdiagnosis' through the NHS breast screening programme may not fully understand the risks involved, according to research published in the British Journal of Cancer (BJC), today.
A VA exit strategy As the federal government plans its exit strategy from the war, now may be the time for it to rethink its role in providing health care to veterans, says a Perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine.
More than 20 companies bid to supply legal pot in Uruguay A total of 22 companies have submitted bids to supply marijuana under a law making Uruguay the first country to legalize production, sale and distribution of the drug, the government said Thursday.
HIV case spurs call for porn production moratorium The California advocacy group for the adult film industry has called for an industrywide production moratorium after a performer tested positive for HIV.
	Ebola outbreak began at healer's funeral according to study The current Ebola outbreak sweeping through West Africa likely began at the funeral of a healer in Sierra Leone, according to an extensive genomic study of the virus published in Science.
	App finds design solutions to everyday problems for people with disabilities The success of an innovative design app competition, organised through our Centre for Pain Research, is cited in a recent Parliamentary Report on advances into assistive technology that could help the elderly and people living with disabilities.
	WHO: More Ebola cases in past week than any other The past week has seen the highest increase of Ebola cases since the outbreak in West Africa began, the World Health Organization said Friday, offering more evidence that the crisis is worsening.
	Ebola in mind, US colleges screen some students University students from West Africa may be subject to extra health checks when they arrive to study in the United States as administrators try to insulate their campuses from the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
	Ebola arrives in Senegal as outbreak accelerates (Update 3) A man infected with Ebola traveled to Senegal, bringing to the country the first confirmed case of the dreaded disease that has hit four other West African nations and killed more than 1,500 people, the Ministry of Health said Friday.
Report advocates improved police training A new report released yesterday by the Mental Health Commission of Canada identifies ways to improve the mental health training and education that police personnel receive.
Options for weight loss your primary care doctor might not know about August 29, 2014 - Despite US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for screening and treating obesity, there are many barriers, several of which may be ameliorated through technological approaches according to a new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center published online August 21, 2014 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (JGIM).

Biology news

	Hydrogen powers important nitrogen-transforming bacteria Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria are key players in the natural nitrogen cycle on Earth and in biological wastewater treatment plants. For decades, these specialist bacteria were thought to depend on nitrite as their source of energy. An international team of scientists led by Holger Daims, a microbiologist at the University of Vienna, has now shown that nitrite-oxidizing bacteria can use hydrogen as an alternative source of energy. The oxidation of hydrogen with oxygen enables their growth independent of nitrite and a lifestyle outside the nitrogen cycle. The study is published in the current issue of the journal Science.
	Researchers identify a pheromone in the urine of male tilapia fish that stimulates spawning in females The exchange of chemical signals between organisms is considered the oldest form of communication. Acting as messenger molecules, pheromones regulate social interactions between conspecifics, for example, the sexual attraction between males and females. Fish rely on pheromones to trigger social responses and to coordinate reproductive behavior in males and females. Scientists at the Marine Science Center at the University of the Algarve in Faro, Portugal, and at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, have now identified such a signal molecule in the urine of male Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus): this pheromone boosts hormone production and accelerates oocyte maturation in reproductive females. Hence, the Mozambique tilapia is one of the first fish species in which the chemical structure of a pheromone has been identified and the biological basis of its activity elucidated.
	'K-to-M' histone mutations: How repressing the repressors may drive tissue-specific cancers In a cell's nucleus, chromosomal DNA is tightly bound to structural proteins known as histones, an amalgam biologists call chromatin. Until about two decades ago, histones were regarded as a nuclear "sidekick," the mere packing material around which the glamorous DNA strands were wrapped. Recently, however, biologists have developed a greater appreciation for how DNA/histone interactions govern gene expression.
	Team defines new biodiversity metric To understand how the repeated climatic shifts over the last 120,000 years may have influenced today's patterns of genetic diversity, a team of researchers led by City College of New York biologist Dr. Ana Carnaval developed a new biodiversity metric called "phylogeographic endemism."
Mobile app makes ID of harmful plants, insects in Texas a snap A free mobile app called TX Invasives is now available from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin for identifying harmful non-native plant, insect and other invasive species statewide.
	Devil's Tongue flower comes to life in continuing five-year cycle A rare plant at the McMaster Biology Greenhouse is finally showing its true colours (and odours), and may not bloom for another five years.
	Honeybees play a vital role in the agricultural industry The next time you tuck into a salad, thank a honeybee.
	Changes in farming and climate hurting British moths Britain's moths are feeling the pinch – threatened on one side by climate change and on the other by habitat loss and harmful farming methods. A new study gives the most comprehensive picture yet of trends in moth populations, showing that these pressures put them in a similar position to other, better-studied UK animal groups.
	Top ten reptiles and amphibians benefitting from zoos A frog that does not croak, the largest living lizard, and a tortoise that can live up to 100 years are just some of the species staving off extinction thanks to the help of zoos, according to a new report.
Study reveals drivers of Western consumers' readiness to eat insects The most likely early adopters of insets as a meat substitute in Western societies are young men with weak attitudes toward meat, who are open to trying novel foods and interested in the environmental impact of their food choice. With a low level of food neophobia, the likelihood that this type of person is willing to eat insects as a meat substitute is estimated more than 75%, according to a new study published in Food Quality and Preference.
	Single-cell genomics sheds light on nutrient and carbon cycling in Actinobacteria Researchers assembled and compared draft genomes of acI Actinobacteria from single cells collected in four freshwater lakes in the United States and Europe.
	Bacterial communication considered for medical applications A local microbiologist has been working on an alternative to antibiotics, which tend to encourage resistant bacterial strains to develop over time.
	DOE 'Knowledgebase' links biologists, computer scientists to solve energy, environmental issues If biologists wanted to determine the likely way a particular gene variant might increase a plant's yield for producing biofuels, they used to have to track down several databases and cross-reference them using complex computer code. The process would take months, especially if they weren't familiar with the computer programming necessary to analyze the data.
	Danish museum discovers unique gift from Charles Darwin The Natural History Museum of Denmark recently discovered a unique gift from one of the greatest-ever scientists. In 1854, Charles Darwin – father of the theory of evolution – sent a gift to his Danish colleague Japetus Steenstrup, director of the Royal Museum of Natural History. Until very recently, no one at the museum knew that it possessed a piece of scientific history of this calibre. Just a few weeks ago, the head of exhibitions was studying the correspondence between Steenstrup and Darwin as part of her search for objects to include in an upcoming exhibition. She started to suspect a treasure lay hidden somewhere, and soon a hunt was launched among the museum's 14 million objects.
	USDA seizes more than 1,200 illegal giant snails The giant African snail damages buildings, destroys crops and can cause meningitis in humans. But some people still want to collect, and even eat, the slimy invaders.

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