Science X Newsletter Wednesday, Nov 26

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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for November 26, 2014:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- Beyond geometry: Shape entropy links nanostructures with emergent macroscopic behavior in natural and engineered systems
- Protons fuel graphene prospects
- Researchers find qubits based on trapped ions offer a promising scalable platform for quantum computing
- Shaping the future of energy storage with conductive clay
- Ultimate recycling: New plastic that disappears when you want it to
- Female termites found to clone themselves via asexual reproduction
- Engineers make sound loud enough to bend light on a computer chip
- A cool way to cool: Engineers invent high-tech mirror to beam heat away from buildings into space
- Study finds potential predictive biomarker for response to PD-L1 checkpoint blocker
- Star Trek-like invisible shield found thousands of miles above Earth
- 'Eye of Sauron': Using supermassive black holes to measure cosmic distances
- The unbelievable underworld and its impact on us all
- Prehistoric conflict hastened human brain's capacity for collaboration, study says
- Open for business: 3-D printer creates first object in space on space station
- Dogs hear our words and how we say them

Astronomy & Space news

	Star Trek-like invisible shield found thousands of miles above Earth A team led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered an invisible shield some 7,200 miles above Earth that blocks so-called "killer electrons," which whip around the planet at near-light speed and have been known to threaten astronauts, fry satellites and degrade space systems during intense solar storms.
	A colorful gathering of middle-aged stars NGC 3532 is a bright open cluster located some 1300 light-years away in the constellation of Carina(The Keel of the ship Argo). It is informally known as the Wishing Well Cluster, as it resembles scattered silver coins which have been dropped into a well. It is also referred to as the Football Cluster, although how appropriate this is depends on which side of the Atlantic you live. It acquired the name because of its oval shape, which citizens of rugby-playing nations might see as resembling a rugby ball.
	Open for business: 3-D printer creates first object in space on space station The International Space Station's 3-D printer has manufactured the first 3-D printed object in space, paving the way to future long-term space expeditions.
	'Eye of Sauron': Using supermassive black holes to measure cosmic distances One of the major problems in astronomy is measuring very large distances in the universe. The current most common methods measure relative distances, but now research from the Niels Bohr Institute demonstrates that precise distances can be measured using supermassive black holes. The results are published in the scientific journal, Nature.
	DNA survives critical entry into Earth's atmosphere The genetic material DNA can survive a flight through space and re-entry into the earth's atmosphere—and still pass on genetic information. A team of scientists from UZH obtained these astonishing results during an experiment on the TEXUS-49 research rocket mission.
	NASA seeks comments on possible airship challenge Airships aren't just powered balloon-like vehicles that hover above sporting events. Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are floating the idea that airships have potential for important scientific and commercial uses.
	NASA's SDO shows moon transiting the Sun On Nov. 22, 2014 from 5:29 to 6:04 p.m. EST., the moon partially obscured the view of the sun from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. This phenomenon, which is called a lunar transit, could only be seen from SDO's point of view.
	Image: Supercomputer simulation of magnetic field loops on the Sun Magnetic fields emerging from below the surface of the sun influence the solar wind—a stream of particles that blows continuously from the sun's atmosphere through the solar system. Researchers at NASA and its university partners are using high-fidelity computer simulations to learn how these magnetic fields emerge, heat the sun's outer atmosphere and produce sunspots and flares.
Russia postpones Proton-M launch over defect Russia's space agency said Wednesday it was postponing the launch of a Proton-M rocket carrying a satellite in order to correct a defect, in just the latest problem to ground the rocket.
	Opportunity Mars rover pushes past 41 kilometers of driving on red planet Opportunity is the rover that keeps on going and going. It recently broke an extraterrestrial driving record after 10 years of working on the Red Planet.
	Mercury spacecraft moves to testing ahead of 2016 launch to sun's closest planet After facing down a couple of delays due to technical difficulties, Europe's and Japan's first Mercury orbiter is entering some of the final stages ahead of its 2016 launch. Part of the BepiColombo orbiter moved into a European testing facility this past week that will shake, bake and otherwise test the hardware to make sure it's ready for its extreme mission.
	First harvest of research based on the final GOCE gravity model Just four months after the final data package from the GOCE satellite mission was delivered, researchers are laying out a rich harvest of scientific results, with the promise of more to come. A mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) provided the most accurate measurements yet of Earth's gravitational field. The GOCE Gravity Consortium, coordinated by the Technische Universität München (TUM), produced all of the mission's data products including the fifth and final GOCE gravity model. On this basis, studies in geophysics, geology, ocean circulation, climate change, and civil engineering are sharpening the picture of our dynamic planet - as can be seen in the program of the 5th International GOCE User Workshop, taking place Nov. 25-28 in Paris.
	NASA completes Rodent Research-1 operations on the International Space Station With the successful completion of mission operations for Rodent Research-1, NASA has brought an important new biological research capability into space. NASA's rodent research hardware system enables researchers to study the long-term effects of microgravity—or weightlessness—on mammalian physiology. The system will support ongoing research into how microgravity affects rodents, providing information relevant to human spaceflight, discoveries in basic biology and knowledge that may have direct impacts on human health on Earth.
Team develops cognitive test battery for spaceflight Space is one of the most demanding and unforgiving environments. Human exploration of space requires astronauts to maintain consistently high levels of cognitive performance to ensure mission safety and success, and prevent potential errors and accidents. Despite the importance of cognitive performance for mission success, little is known about how cognition is affected by prolonged spaceflight, and what aspects of cognition are primarily affected.
	NASA opens Cube Quest Challenge for largest-ever prize of $5 million Registration now is open for NASA's Cube Quest Challenge, the agency's first in-space competition that offers the agency's largest-ever prize purse.
	ESA image: Astronaut Terry Virts in freefall After a textbook launch and docking on Sunday night, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, NASA astronaut Terry Virts and Roscosmos commander Anton Shkaplerov boarded the International Space Station.
	ESA image: Ocean currents from GOCE The ocean currents and their speeds (in cm/s) derived from GOCE data.
	NASA image: DSCOVR Satellite Arrives in Florida for Launch The truck delivering NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory spacecraft, or DSCOVR, enclosed in a protective shipping container, backs up to the door of the airlock of Building 2 at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Technology news

	A cool way to cool: Engineers invent high-tech mirror to beam heat away from buildings into space Stanford engineers have invented a revolutionary coating material that can help cool buildings, even on sunny days, by radiating heat away from the buildings and sending it directly into space.
	ENIAC panels go on display at Oklahoma museum We keep up with history of events through the calendar, marking special days: Amelia Earhart's birthday, the collapse of the Berlin Wall; the assassination of JFK. Another path is through narrative. An eye-catcher from Gizmodo was "How Ross Perot saved the world's first electronic computer"— or, from Wired, "How the World's First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap." In 2006, Ross Perot said that his Plano, Texas, headquarters should have relics from computing history. He was, after all, the man behind Austin-based Perot Systems, the well-known IT services provider. Perot's staff sought to acquire a chunk of ENIAC, the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer. (ENIAC, said Adam Clark Estes in Gizmodo, is to computing history what the Magna Carta is to legal history or, what the Lawton Constitution calls "The granddaddy of all computers.") ENIAC is regarded as the first true computer and it was refurbished.
Dutch seek to harness energy from salt water mix (Update) Dutch researchers are seeking to add a new, largely untapped renewable energy source to the world's energy mix with the opening of a "Blue Energy" test facility on Wednesday.
	Matched 'hybrid' systems may hold key to wider use of renewable energy The use of renewable energy in the United States could take a significant leap forward with improved storage technologies or more efforts to "match" different forms of alternative energy systems that provide an overall more steady flow of electricity, researchers say in a new report.
	GoGlove wearable aims to control life's soundtracks Technology creatives are seeing the key attraction in wearables as being in solutions that save the user from fumbling around with the phone to make app adjustments or changes, or from repeatedly taking it and replacing it in one's pocket. GoGlove is presented as a Bluetooth glove, with connectivity to iOS and Android, using technology where you get to control music apps—change tracks, play/pause, camera, and GoPro—straight from this wearable. The music functions are listed as Play/Pause, Skip/Back Track, Volume Up/Down.
	Modeling the ripples of health care information Evaluating a new health care intervention can be a messy and costly process.
	Samsung introduces EYECAN+, next-generation mouse for people with disabilities Samsung Electronics introduced EYECAN+, the company's second-generation eye mouse that allows people with disabilities to compose and edit documents as well as browse the web through simple eye movement. EYECAN+ is the first of its kind, as it does not require users to wear any device, such as glasses. Instead, EYECAN+ is a single-unit, portable box that sits below the monitor, and works by wirelessly calibrating with the user's eye.
Twitter takes note of other apps on smartphones Twitter on Wednesday said it would begin tracking which other applications people have installed on their mobile devices in a bid to better target ads and content.
	Enabling the hearing impaired to locate human speakers New wireless microphones systems developed at EPFL should allow the hearing impaired to aurally identify, even with closed eyes, the location of the person speaking. This new technology will be used in classrooms and conference rooms for better sound quality.
	Co-robots team up with humans Charlie Kemp is giving robots common sense. And that's good news for Californian Henry Evans.
	How polymer banknotes were invented The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and CSIRO's 20-year "bank project" resulted in the introduction of the polymer banknote – the first ever of its kind, and the most secure form of currency in the world.
	An eel-lectrifying future for autonomous underwater robots Sweden called off the hunt for a submarine after a week-long underwater search in the Stockholm archipelago. Triggered by a reported sighting of a Russian submarine, the alleged 'invasion' had been widely anticipated by military specialists and the media.
Hacked emails slice spam fast Spam spreads much faster and to more people when it is being propagated by hacked, or otherwise compromised, email accounts rather than legitimate accounts, according to research published in the International Journal of Security and Networks. The insight should help those modeling the dynamics of information diffusion as well as those hoping to track and trace spam with a view to slowing or blocking its propagation. Spam traditionally contained ads for fake or counterfeit products, but currently also contains disruptive rumors and information of a political nature.
	US agency threatens to act against air bag maker A dispute between U.S. safety regulators and air bag maker Takata Corp. escalated Wednesday when the government threatened fines and legal action unless the company admits that driver's air bag inflators are defective and agrees to a nationwide recall.
Netflix sues Yahoo CIO for alleged kickbacks Netflix is suing a former company vice president who is now chief information officer at Yahoo, accusing him of receiving money from vendors he hired to work with the video streaming company.
	Thanksgiving travel woes? There's an app for that Traveling by plane, train or automobile can be a headache. Mixing in Thanksgiving can make it a throbbing migraine. Technology provides some pain relief in the form of apps to let you know which roads are clogged, what gate your flight leaves from and whether trains are running on time.
	Amazon cuts Fire phone price to ignite sales Amazon on Wednesday slashed the price of Fire mobile phones that stalled after launch early this year, becoming a drag on the US online retail titan's bottom line.
Tech gifts for the geek who already has everything It's the holiday shopping season, so it's time to answer that all-important question: Do you know what to get the geeks in your life?
India on tap as first market for Microsoft Lumia 535 Microsoft is poised to use India as the launch pad for its first post-Nokia smartphone, the budget-priced Lumia 535.
	Academics advise how to keep data secure in a cyber world Cyber security experts from the University of Bristol have advised the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) on how to protect the personal data of millions of citizens.
	Studying the speed of multi-hop Bluetooth networks Bluetooth technology is the most widespread standard wireless communication. One of its applications is the creation of electronic sensor networks.
	German supercomputer is a world champion in saving engergy The new "L-CSC" supercomputer at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research is ranked as the world's most energy-efficient supercomputer. The new supercomputer reached first place on the "Green500" list published in New Orleans on Thursday, comparing the energy efficiency of the fastest supercomputers around the world. With a computing power of 5.27 gigaflops per watt, the "L-CSC" has also set a new world record for energy efficiency among supercomputers. Second and third place on the new list are held by two Japanese supercomputers (Suiren, Tsukuba and Tsubame-KFC, Tokyo).
	Namibia prepares for Africa's first e-vote Namibia will vote in Africa's first electronic ballot Friday, a general election that will usher in a new president and quotas to put more women in government.

Medicine & Health news

	Study finds potential predictive biomarker for response to PD-L1 checkpoint blocker A promising experimental immunotherapy drug works best in patients whose immune defenses initially rally to attack the cancer but then are stymied by a molecular brake that shuts down the response, according to a new study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Yale University School of Medicine.
	Researchers identify receptors activated by odors A group of physiologists led by University of Kentucky's Tim McClintock have identified the receptors activated by two odors using a new method that tracks responses to smells in live mice.
A game changer to boost literacy and maths skills (Medical Xpress)—Finding the best way to teach reading has been an ongoing challenge for decades, especially for those children in underprivileged areas who fail to learn to read. What is the magic ingredient that will help turn the literacy lights on quicker?
	How various brain areas interact in decisions Our decisions can be pictured in the brain. Scientists at the University of Zurich were able to show in a recent study which areas are most active in decision making. Often the so-called prefrontal cortex not only apparently shows increased activity during decisions that require self-control, but in general during decision making. The results could be of use in promoting decision skills in difficult decisions.
Study unlocks basis of key immune protein's two-faced role A Brigham and Women's Hospital-led team has identified a long sought-after partner for a key immune protein, called TIM-3, that helps explain its two-faced role in the immune system—sometimes dampening it, other times stimulating it. This newly identified partner not only sheds light on the inner workings of the immune system in diseases such as HIV, autoimmunity, and cancer, but also provides a critical path toward the development of novel treatments that target TIM-3. The researcher's findings appeared last month in the journal Nature.
	Elderly brains learn, but maybe too much A new study led by Brown University reports that older learners retained the mental flexibility needed to learn a visual perception task but were not as good as younger people at filtering out irrelevant information.
An enzyme that fixes broken DNA sometimes destroys it instead Enzymes inside cells that normally repair damaged DNA sometimes wreck it instead, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found. The insight could lead to a better understanding of the causes of some types of cancer and neurodegenerative disease.
	Vaccines may make war on cancer personal In the near future, physicians may treat some cancer patients with personalized vaccines that spur their immune systems to attack malignant tumors. New research led by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has brought the approach one step closer to reality.
	Scientists discover treatment breakthrough for advanced bladder cancer Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have made a breakthrough in developing a new therapy for advanced bladder cancer - for which there have been no major treatment advances in the past 30 years.
	Copper on the brain at rest: proper copper levels essential to spontaneous neural activity In recent years it has been established that copper plays an essential role in the health of the human brain. Improper copper oxidation has been linked to several neurological disorders including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Menkes' and Wilson's. Copper has also been identified as a critical ingredient in the enzymes that activate the brain's neurotransmitters in response to stimuli. Now a new study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has shown that proper copper levels are also essential to the health of the brain at rest.
	Team finds an off switch for pain In research published in the medical journal Brain, Saint Louis University researcher Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D. and colleagues within SLU, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other academic institutions have discovered a way to block a pain pathway in animal models of chronic neuropathic pain including pain caused by chemotherapeutic agents and bone cancer pain suggesting a promising new approach to pain relief.
	Researchers discover clues to memory performance in international genetic study (Medical Xpress)— In the largest study of the genetics of memory ever undertaken, an international team of researchers, including scientists from the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), have associated two common genetic variants with memory performance.
	Blistering skin disease may be treatable with 'therapeutic reprogramming' Induced pluripotent stem cells made from patients with a form of blistering skin disease can be genetically corrected and used to grow back healthy skin cells in laboratory dishes, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found. They've termed the new technique "therapeutic reprogramming."
Human antibodies produced in DNA-vaccinated cows protect in lethal models of hantavirus Scientists investigating the potentially deadly hantavirus have used a novel approach to developing protective antibodies against it. Their work, published in today's online edition of Science Translational Medicine, provides proof of concept for producing antibodies against a broad range of human pathogens.
	Researchers identify brain regions that encode words, grammar, story Some people say that reading "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" taught them the importance of friends, or that easy decisions are seldom right. Carnegie Mellon University scientists used a chapter of that book to learn a different lesson: identifying what different regions of the brain are doing when people read.
	Nervous system may play bigger role in infections than previously known The nervous system may play a bigger role in infections and autoimmune diseases than previously known. If researchers can learn more about that role, it could provide insight into diagnosing and treating everything from the stomach flu to rheumatoid arthritis.
	Ebola vaccine promising in first human trials Researchers say they are one step closer to developing a viable Ebola vaccine, with a Phase 1 trial showing promising results, but it will still be months at least before it could be used in the field.
'Utter neglect' of rheumatic heart disease revealed by results from global study Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) - the most common acquired heart disease in children in many countries of the world - is being neglected and poorly treated, according to new findings from the Global Rheumatic Heart Disease Registry (the REMEDY study), published online today (Wednesday) in the European Heart Journal.
	Diagnosing deafness early will help teenagers' reading development Deaf teenagers have better reading skills if they were identified as deaf by the time they were nine months old, research from the University of Southampton has shown.
New study examines the effect of timing of folic acid supplementation during pregnancy Taking folic acid before conception significantly reduces the risk of small for gestational age (SGA) at birth, suggests a new study published today (26 November) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG).
	Why do people with autism see faces differently? The way people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) gather information - not the judgement process itself - might explain why they gain different perceptions from peoples' faces, according to a new study from Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies and the University of Montreal. "The evaluation of an individual's face is a rapid process that influences our future relationship with the individual," said Baudouin Forgeot d'Arc, lead author of the study. "By studying these judgments, we wanted to better understand how people with ASD use facial features as cues. Do they need more cues to be able to make the same judgment?"
Most comprehensive global study to date shows wide gulf in cancer survival between countries The most comprehensive international comparison of cancer survival to date, covering countries that are home to two-thirds of the world's population, shows extremely wide differences in survival between countries.
Americans are smoking less than ever The percentage of Americans who are smokers has fallen to an all-time low, now representing just 17.8 percent of the population, a study released Tuesday found.
Australian treatment could save wounded soldiers Australian scientists Wednesday said they have developed a "breakthrough treatment" to help soldiers severely wounded in battle, with the US to fund further research.
	Have a cold? Don't ask your doctor for antibiotics Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health. Resistance makes it harder for physicians to treat infections and can increase the chance patients will die from an infection. What is more, the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections poses a huge cost to health-care systems. Patients have to stay in the hospital for longer and doctors have to prescribe newer, more expensive antibiotics.
Scientists seek to map origins of mental illness and develop noninvasive treatment Over the years imaging technologies have revealed a lot about what's happening in our brains, including which parts are active in people with conditions like depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. But here's the secret Amit Etkin wants the world to know about those tantalizing images: they show the result of a brain state, not what caused it.
	Bilateral arm transplant 'as smooth as it gets' Will Lautzenheiser wiggled his left forearm ever so slightly on Tuesday, demonstrating the movement for a roomful of people.
	Big data set to make a big difference in childhood cancer treatment UTS research crunching vast amounts of data on childhood cancer to better tailor treatment is one step closer to assisting clinicians as the collaboration with the Kids Research Institute at The Children's Hospital at Westmead celebrates 12 years.
How do we make moral judgements? In a target article published in the current issue of the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB) Neuroscience, Université de Montréal and IRCM neuroethics experts open the black box of moral intuitions by suggesting a new approach to explain the way we make moral judgements. The proposed "ADC framework" could offer insight into the types of simple and fast intuitive processes involved in the potentially infinite number and variety of moral assessments.
Associations between home, workplace built environments and physical activity Neighborhood features such as bike facilities and low crime rates are associated with increased leisure and workplace-related physical activity, according to a new study from the Prevention Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis.
	New measuring system to objectively ascertain the level of fatigue in physicians through eye movement An international team of scientists which includes researchers from the U. of Granada has demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to establish in an objective way the level of fatigue in physicians after long shifts through their eye movement.
	Efficacy of new drug against stem cells that provoke cancer and its metastasis An Andalusian team of researchers led by the University of Granada has demonstrated the efficacy of a new drug against cancerogenic stem cells, which cause the onset and development of cancer, of relapse after chemotherapy and metastasis. This drug, called Bozepinib, has proved to be effective in tests with mice. The results have been published in the prestigious journal Oncotarget.
	Glassy protein solution may cause eyesight deterioration Long-sightedness caused by age could be due to proteins in the lens of the eye that are converted from a fluid solution to a solid, glassy state. This has been shown in a study by researchers from institutions including Lund University.
Program improves diabetes control in world's poorest children A nonprofit program that brings diabetes care and education to some of the world's poorest children has successfully improved control of the disease, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis published in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. It is the first scientific evidence to show that improvement in long-term blood sugar control in type 1 diabetes is possible in sub-Saharan African youth.
Research on a rare cancer exposes possible route to new treatments Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) discovered the unusual role of lactate in the metabolism of alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), a rare, aggressive cancer that primarily affects adolescents and young adults. The study also confirmed that a fusion gene is the cancer-causing agent in this disease. The research results were published online in the journal Cancer Cell Nov. 26, 2014.
	Enzyme may be key to cancer progression in many tumors Mutations in the KRAS gene have long been known to cause cancer, and about one third of solid tumors have KRAS mutations or mutations in the KRAS pathway. KRAS promotes cancer formation not only by driving cell growth and division, but also by turning off protective tumor suppressor genes, which normally limit uncontrolled cell growth and cause damaged cells to self-destruct.
	iPS cells used to correct genetic mutations that cause muscular dystrophy Researchers at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, show that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be used to correct genetic mutations that cause Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The research, published in Stem Cell Reports, demonstrates how engineered nucleases, such as TALEN and CRISPR, can be used to edit the genome of iPS cells generated from the skin cells of a DMD patient. The cells were then differentiated into skeletal muscles, in which the mutation responsible for DMD had disappeared.
	Brain researchers pinpoint gateway to human memory An international team led by researchers of the University of Magdeburg and the DZNE has successfully determined the location, where memories are generated with a level of precision never achieved before. To this end the scientists used a particularly accurate type of magnetic resonance imaging technology.
Minimally invasive disc surgery is a pain in the neck McMaster University researchers have found that current evidence does not support the routine use of minimally invasive surgery to remove herniated disc material pressing on the nerve root or spinal cord in the neck or lower back.
New guide to the genetic jungle of muscles can help health research Researchers from Aarhus University and Bispebjerg Hospital have created a comprehensive overview of how tens of thousands of genes interact in relation to the behavior of muscles. At the same time, they have developed a guide to the huge amounts of data.
Saving ovaries does not help prevent prolapse for women after menopause Removing ovaries at hysterectomy does not increase a woman's risk of pelvic organ prolapse after menopause. In fact, removing ovaries lowers the risk of prolapse. This surprising finding from a Women's Health Initiative study was published online this week in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).
SU2C-supported research discovers why patients respond to a life-saving melanoma drug Work supported by the Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) - Cancer Research Institute (CRI) - Immunology Translational Research Dream Team, launched in 2012 to focus on how the patient's own immune system can be harnessed to treat some cancers have pioneered an approach to predict why advanced melanoma patients respond to a new life-saving melanoma drug. This new drug, pembrolizumab (Keytruda), was recently approved by the FDA. These findings are reported in Nature online November 26, 2014, ahead of print in the journal.
How a common antacid could lead to cheaper anti-cancer drugs A popular indigestion medication can increase survival in colorectal cancer, according to research published in ecancermedicalscience. But in fact, scientists have studied this for years - and a group of cancer advocates want to know why this research isn't more widely used.
Bristol-Myers: FDA blocks hepatitis C drug for now U.S. regulators have declined to approve Bristol-Myers Squibb's daclatasvir as part of a combination hepatitis C treatment with another antiviral drug called asunaprevir.
	Why do so many seniors with memory loss and dementia never get tested? Despite clear signs that their memory and thinking abilities have gone downhill, more than half of seniors with these symptoms haven't seen a doctor about them, a new study finds.
	Two studies identify a detectable, pre-cancerous state in the blood Researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard-affiliated hospitals have uncovered an easily detectable, "pre-malignant" state in the blood that significantly increases the likelihood that an individual will go on to develop blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, or myelodysplastic syndrome. The discovery, which was made independently by two research teams affiliated with the Broad and partner institutions, opens new avenues for research aimed at early detection and prevention of blood cancer. Findings from both teams appear this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Follow-up on psychiatric disorders in young people after release from detention Juvenile offenders with multiple psychiatric disorders when they are incarcerated in detention centers appear to be at high risk for disorders five years after detention, according to a report published online by JAMA Psychiatry.
Teens with a history of TBI are nearly four times more likely to have used crystal meth Ontario students between Grades 9 and 12 who said they had a traumatic brain injury in their lifetime, also reported drug use rates two to four times higher than peers with no history of TBI, according to research published today in The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.
	The artificial pancreas shown to improve the treatment of type 1 diabetes The world's first clinical trial comparing three alternative treatments for type 1 diabetes was conducted in Montréal by researchers at the IRCM and the University of Montreal, led by endocrinologist Dr. Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret. The study confirms that the external artificial pancreas improves glucose control and reduces the risk of hypoglycemia compared to conventional diabetes treatment. The results, published today in the scientific journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, could have a significant impact on the treatment of type 1 diabetes, a chronic disease that can cause vision loss and cardiovascular diseases.
	US adult smoking rate drops to new low: CDC (HealthDay)—Fewer American adults are smoking cigarettes than ever, health officials said.
	Weight could influence rheumatoid arthritis relief (HealthDay)—People with rheumatoid arthritis may be more likely to achieve remission if they maintain a healthy body weight, according to new research.
	Don't let high altitude ruin your holiday trip (HealthDay)—When you're planning your holiday get-away, don't forget to factor high altitude into your vacation sports—such as skiing or hiking, a sports medicine specialist cautions.
	PCV13 recommended for 6- to 18-year-olds at high risk (HealthDay)—Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 13 (PCV13) should be administered to certain children aged 6 through 18 years who are at high risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), according to a policy statement published online Nov. 24 in Pediatrics.
	More patients meet 2014 blood pressure goals than JNC-7 goals (HealthDay)—A considerable proportion of patients who did not meet the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee (JNC-7) blood pressure management goals do meet the new goals based on the 2014 expert panel recommendation, according to a study published in the Dec. 2 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
	Proton pump inhibitors linked to disruption of gut microbiome (HealthDay)—Proton pump inhibitors may disrupt the microbiome of the digestive system, leading to infections and other complications, according to a small new study published online Nov. 25 in Microbiome.
	Hospital volume not linked to costs of cancer surgery (HealthDay)—Hospital surgical volume does not appear to correlate with Medicare payments for cancer surgery, according to research published online Nov. 24 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
	NPs, PAs use more diagnostic imaging compared to physicians (HealthDay)—Advanced practice clinicians (APCs) use more imaging than primary care physicians (PCPs), according to a study published online Nov. 24 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Haiti cholera outbreak kills 132 in 2014 Haiti's cholera epidemic has killed 132 people and may have infected nearly 15,000 others so far this year, a UN agency report said Wednesday.
	Steer clear of cold meds for babies, FDA advises (HealthDay)—Most babies and young children don't need medicines if they have a cold, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says.
	Harm from baseball concussions may linger, study finds (HealthDay)—Even after they're cleared to play following a concussion, baseball players' batting skills are worse than normal, which suggests they may not be fully recovered, a new study suggests.
Greece: HIV infections ease after spike Health authorities in Greece say the number of HIV infections fell in 2013 for the first time since the start of the financial crisis.
Mental scars for Ukrainians trapped under shelling Dmitry took a drag from his cigarette and pulled a box of pills from his pocket.
India moves to raise age for tobacco purchases to 25 Health campaigners Wednesday welcomed India's unprecedented plans to raise the age for tobacco purchases to 25 and ban unpackaged cigarette sales, calling them a major step towards stopping nearly one million tobacco-related deaths a year.
Benin says Lassa fever kills 9, no Ebola found Nine people have died in Benin from Lassa fever, a viral disease common in West Africa with symptoms similar to Ebola, the country's health minister said.
Saudi Arabia: Deaths from MERS virus reach 348 Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry says that a total of 348 people have died in the kingdom after contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS.
Patients at emergency departments regarded as 'symptoms' The healthcare work of providing care at Emergency departments is medicalized and result-driven. As a consequence of this, patients are regarded as "symptoms", and are shunted around the department as "production units". These are the conclusions of a thesis presented at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
	How physicians are adapting to payment reform Private and public healthcare providers in the U.S. are increasingly turning to the "pay-for-performance" model, in which physicians and hospitals are paid if they meet healthcare quality and efficiency targets. This reimbursement model represents a shift away from the traditional "pay-for-service" structure and is designed to put greater emphasis on paying for value, not volume, of care.
Final menu labeling rules will help consumers choose better, says American Heart Association American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown issued the following comments today on the Food and Drug Administration's two final rules requiring restaurants, vending machines, movie theaters and grocery stores to display calorie information. The American Heart Association, along with other groups, advocated for Congress to include these two rules in the Affordable Care Act.
Inpatient psychotherapy is effective in Germany Sarah Liebherz (Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf) and Sven Rabung (Institute of Psychology, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt) have examined 59 studies conducted between 1977 and 2009, to determine the effectiveness of inpatient psychotherapy – which is widely available in Germany – with regard to the reduction of the psychiatric symptoms and impairments in the interpersonal sphere.
UN opens Ebola office in Mali as two new cases emerge The UN emergency mission to fight Ebola opened an office in Mali on Wednesday, where nearly 300 people are being monitored and two new cases have emerged.
	US supercomputer Titan does calculations for HZDR cancer research For their calculations, researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) will now, starting in 2015, have access to the World's second-fastest computer. The Dresden research initiative is one of 56 projects the US Department of Energy has granted access to Titan as part of their INCITE program. HZDR's 3D simulations of laser-accelerated ions is listed as one of their six 2015 highlights. The Dresden scientists are hoping that the computations will yield new insights that may prove useful in proton-based cancer therapy.
Minimally invasive interventions performed with the Italian surgical robot 'ALF-X' It's called ALF-X and it's the innovative robotic surgical system being used by gynaecological surgeons at the A. Gemelli University Polyclinic in Rome, which has been in operation in the surgical field for a year in the Department for the Protection of Health of Women, Newborns, Children and Adolescents, directed by professor Giovanni Scambia. The new robotic surgical system was used for the first time ever at Policlinico Gemelli for laparoscopic gynaecological surgeries. Before being used elsewhere, more than 150 interventions have been successfully performed with ALF-X during this year. "In a dedicated operating room" said prof. Scambia, "we performed two operations per day, five days a week at Gemelli using the innovative, latest generation tele-robotic surgical system, conducting a large trial which gave completely positive results."
Health insurance sign-ups coming to shopping malls The Obama administration says more than 462,000 people selected a health plan in the first week of 2015 enrollment through HealthCare.gov.
Funding to investigate an alternative to chemotherapy Professor Simon Rule, Professor in Haematology at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and Consultant Haematologist at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, has been awarded a significant grant by Cancer Research UK to carry out a research study into the treatment of older patients with mantle cell lymphoma.
	Sierra Leone official: Ebola may have reached peak The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which has been surging in recent weeks, may have reached its peak and could be on the verge of slowing down, Sierra Leone's information minister said Wednesday.
	Guinea, hit by Ebola, reports only one cholera case The health workers rode on canoes and rickety boats to deliver cholera vaccines to remote islands in Guinea. Months later, the country has recorded only one confirmed cholera case this year, down from thousands.
EU calls for 5,000 doctors to fight Ebola The European Commission called for 5,000 doctors to be sent from EU states to combat west Africa's Ebola epidemic, a European source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
	At one month, US Ebola monitors finding no cases The U.S. program that requires weeks of monitoring for travelers from African countries with Ebola reaches the one-month mark Thursday. And so far, no cases of the disease have turned up.
	600 Ebola cases in hard-hit countries in past week The World Health Organization says 600 new cases of Ebola were reported in the most-affected countries in the past week, more than half of them in Sierra Leone.
Trial shows new imaging system may cut X-ray exposure for liver cancer patients Johns Hopkins researchers report that their test of an interventional X-ray guidance device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2013 has the potential to reduce the radiation exposure of patients undergoing intra-arterial therapy (IAT) for liver cancer.

Biology news

	Female termites found to clone themselves via asexual reproduction (Phys.org) —A pair of researches with Kyoto University has found how the queen of one species of termite, Reticulitermes speratus, ensures her genetic lineage continues by creating duplicate copies of herself. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Toshihisa Yashiro and Kenji Matsuura describe the study they carried out that showed how queens in such colonies reproduce themselves.
	Female color perception affects evolution of male plumage in birds The expression of a gene involved in female birds' color vision is linked to the evolution of colorful plumage in males, reports a new study from the University of Chicago. The findings, published Nov. 26 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, confirm the essential role of female color perception in mate selection and sexual dimorphism.
	Porpoise massacre: seals fingered in whodunnit It seemed like an open-and-shut case—a beach mystery that a 10-year-old detective with an ice cream and some time on his hands could figure out.
	Brain folding The neocortex is the part of the brain that enables us to speak, dream, or think. The underlying mechanism that led to the expansion of this brain region during evolution, however, is not yet understood. A research team headed by Wieland Huttner, director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, now reports an important finding that paves the way for further research on brain evolution: The researchers analyzed the gyrencephaly index, indicating the degree of cortical folding, of 100 mammalian brains and identified a threshold value that separates mammalian species into two distinct groups: Those above the threshold have highly folded brains, whereas those below it have only slightly folded or unfolded brains. The research team also found that differences in cortical folding did not evolve linearly across species.
	Scientific methods shed new light on evolution of kinship patterns New biological methods used to trace the evolutionary history of kinship patterns shed new light on how societies developed as farming spread across the globe during the Neolithic, according to new research by a UCL-led international team.
	Bioengineering study finds two-cell mouse embryos already talking about their future Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that mouse embryos are contemplating their cellular fates in the earliest stages after fertilization when the embryo has only two to four cells, a discovery that could upend the scientific consensus about when embryonic cells begin differentiating into cell types. Their research, which used single-cell RNA sequencing to look at every gene in the mouse genome, was published recently in the journal Genome Research. In addition, this group published a paper on analysis of "time-course"single-cell data which is taken at precise stages of embryonic development in the journal of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
	Prehistoric conflict hastened human brain's capacity for collaboration, study says Warfare not only hastened human technological progress and vast social and political changes, but may have greatly contributed to the evolutionary emergence of humans' high intelligence and ability to work together toward common goals, according to a new study from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS).
	Dogs hear our words and how we say them When people hear another person talking to them, they respond not only to what is being said—those consonants and vowels strung together into words and sentences—but also to other features of that speech—the emotional tone and the speaker's gender, for instance. Now, a report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on November 26 provides some of the first evidence of how dogs also differentiate and process those various components of human speech.
	Endangered hammerhead shark found migrating into unprotected waters The precise movements of a young hammerhead shark have been tracked for the first time and are published in the open access journal Animal Biotelemetry. The study, which ran over a 10-month period, reveals important gaps in current efforts to protect these endangered sharks and suggests key locations that should be protected to help the survival of the species.
	Warming world may spell bad news for honey bees Researchers have found that the spread of an exotic honey bee parasite -now found worldwide - is linked not only to its superior competitive ability, but also to climate, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Team conducts unprecedented analysis of microbial ecosystem An international team of scientists from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and The Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) have completed a first-of-its-kind microbial analysis of a biological wastewater treatment plant that has broad implications for protecting the environment, energy recovery and human health.
	Can penguins tell us how far the Cretaceous diving bird Hesperornis wandered? Don't mess with Hesperornis. It was a flightless, aquatic Cretaceous bird that measured up to six feet long, had a beak lined with sharp teeth, and was partially responsible for the downfall of at least one scientific career. It superficially resembled a loon or a penguin–unlike penguins, though, Hesperornis probably propelled itself using its feet rather than its stumpy wings. Hesperornis also had a wide range–fossils within North America are known from Arkansas up to the Arctic Circle. Even during the comparatively balmy Mesozoic, winters would have been cold in the far north. Today's birds (including many penguins) with this kind of geographic range are often migratory–so was Hesperornis migratory with the changing of the seasons, or did it stay put year-round?
	Study reveals tiger shark movements around Maui and Oahu UH Mānoa researchers are using tracking devices to gain new insights into tiger shark movements in coastal waters around Maui and O'ahu. The ongoing study reveals their coastal habitat preferences
	Barnacles hold clues about how climate change is affecting the deep ocean The deep ocean seems so remote that it is difficult to imagine any sort of human-generated change making an impact on deep-sea life. It is even more difficult to collect or examine evidence from the deep ocean to determine what those impacts might be. Enter the barnacle; a hard, sessile creature that looks like a tiny volcano and attaches to rocks, boat bottoms, and other hard substrates, where it filters ocean water to feed on tiny organisms. The barnacle holds clues about how climate change is affecting the deep ocean. Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University Marine Biophysics Unit researcher Yuichi Nakajima recently studied two kinds of deep-sea barnacle in a collaboration with the Marine Genomics Unit and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). He identified genetic data that suggest the diversity and differentiation of barnacle populations in two deep-sea troughs near Okinaw! a and the Mariana Islands, and his findings have been published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
	Factors that drive sexual traits Many male animals have multiple displays and behaviours to attract females; and often the larger or greater the better.
	Amazonian shrimps: An underwater world still unknown A study reveals how little we know about the Amazonian diversity. Aiming to resolve a scientific debate about the validity of two species of freshwater shrimp described in the first half of the last century, researchers have found that not only this species is valid, but also discovered the existence of a third unknown species. The researchers concluded that these species evolved about 10 million years ago. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
	Arctic conditions may become critical for polar bears by end of 21st century Shifts in the timing and duration of ice cover, especially the possible lengthening of ice-free periods, may impact polar bears under projected warming before the end of the 21st century, according to a study published November 26, 2014 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Stephen Hamilton from University of Alberta and colleagues.
	How do our muscles work? Scientists reveal important new insights into muscle protein Scientists led by Kristina Djinović-Carugo at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna have elucidated the molecular structure and regulation of the essential muscle protein α-actinin. The new findings allow unprecedented insights into the protein's mode of action and its role in muscle disorders. The findings, made in collaboration with King's College London (KCL), may lead to improved treatments, and are published in the top-class journal Cell.
How calcium regulates mitochondrial carrier proteins Mitochondrial carriers are a family of proteins that play the key role of transporting a chemically diverse range of molecules across the inner mitochondrial membrane. Mitochondrial aspartate/glutamate carriers are part of this family, and play a central role in human physiology, with roles in the malate–aspartate shuttle, urea cycle, gluconeogenesis and myelin synthesis. They are unique amongst the mitochondrial carrier family in having three domains - a calcium-regulated N-terminal domain, a mitochondrial carrier domain, and a C-terminal domain. Despite their importance, little is known about the structure of these proteins, or how calcium regulates their activity.
	'Subirdia' author urges appreciation of birds that co-exist where we work, live, play Surprisingly, the diversity of birds in suburban areas can be greater than in forested areas, according to John Marzluff's new book "Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife" (Yale University Press, 303 pp., $30). The UW professor of environmental and forest sciences answered a few questions for UW Today.
The influence of the Isthmus of Panama in the evolution of freshwater shrimps in America The evolution of freshwater shrimps species living in both sides of Central America, isolated by the closure of Isthmus of Panama (3 million years ago) were studied by molecular tools. Despite the small likelihood of species crossing the Isthmus from one side to the other through the channel exist, the genetic isolation of them were maintained over the time and the separation of Pacific and Atlantic sister species still unchanged. Sister species refer to pairs of species that are genetically and morphologically closely related, but reproductively isolated.
Feds cancel permit for Idaho wolf-killing derby The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has withdrawn a permit allowing a pro-hunting group to hold a wolf- and coyote-shooting derby on public land in Idaho.
	Japan's new whaling plan will prove hunt is science: negotiator A two-thirds cut in Japan's Antarctic whaling quota announced this month should be enough to prove that the hunt is for genuine scientific purposes, the country's chief negotiator said Wednesday.

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