Dear Reader ,
Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for October 31, 2017:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
Astronomy & Space news
 | Giant radio galaxy found by Indian astronomers(Phys.org)—A team of Indian astronomers reports the discovery of a new giant radio galaxy (GRG) using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). With a linear size of more than 7 million light years, it is one of the largest GRGs known to date. The finding was presented October 17 in a research paper published on the arXiv pre-print repository. |
 | Minor merger kicks supermassive black hole into high gearThe galaxy Messier 77 (M77) is famous for its super-active nucleus that releases enormous energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from x-ray to radio wavelengths. Yet, despite its highly active core, the galaxy looks like any normal quiet spiral. There's no visual sign of what is causing its central region to radiate so extensively. It has long been a mystery why only the center of M77 is so active. Astronomers suspect a long-ago event involving a sinking black hole, which could have kicked the core into high gear. |
 | New model to research activity around quasars, black holesA University of Wyoming researcher played a key role in a study that suggests a newly developed computer model can more accurately explain the diversity of quasar broad emission line regions, which are the clouds of hot, ionized gas that surround the supermassive black holes feeding in the centers of galaxies. |
 | 'Monster' planet discovery challenges formation theoryA giant planet, which should not exist according to planet formation theory, has been discovered around a distant star. The new research is presented in a paper recently accepted for publication in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. |
 | Next Mars rover will have 23 'eyes'When NASA's Mars Pathfinder touched down in 1997, it had five cameras: two on a mast that popped up from the lander, and three on NASA's first rover, Sojourner. |
 | Image: Saturn's north poleReflected sunlight is the source of the illumination for visible wavelength images such as the one above. However, at longer infrared wavelengths, direct thermal emission from objects dominates over reflected sunlight. This enabled instruments that can detect infrared radiation to observe the pole even in the dark days of winter when Cassini first arrived at Saturn and Saturn's northern hemisphere was shrouded in shadow. |
 | Are red skies at night a shepherd's delight? An astronomer's viewHumans have always used simple observations of nature to try to understand our complex environment and even the wider cosmos. One such example is: "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight" and "Red sky at morning, shepherd's warning". These sayings – which date back to the Bible (Matthew 16:2b–3) – suggest that a particularly red sunset means clear weather is coming and a particularly red sunrise means it's going to be bad weather or possibly a stormy day. |
 | NASA investigates use of medical-like tools to study samples of the solar systemA diagnostic tool, similar in theory to those used by the medical profession to non-invasively image internal organs, bones, soft tissue, and blood vessels, could be equally effective at "triaging" extraterrestrial rocks and other samples before they are shipped to Earth for further analysis. |
 | Newest dark matter map hints at where astrophysics must go for breakthroughsThe unveiling this summer of the most accurate cosmic picture ever taken of the distribution of dark matter has left astrophysicists feeling both delighted and frustrated. |
Video: Italy from the Space StationFilmed with a RED Dragon camera aboard the International Space Station by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli on 29 August 2017, the video is shown real time as the ISS flew over Italy. | |
 | Shelling the seeds of the first supermassive black holesAlthough their existence is undeniable, astronomers across the world are still unsure of how supermassive black holes actually form. An EU-funded project has set out to answer this question by simulating the formation and growth of their seeds – black holes created when an extremely massive star collapses. |
Technology news
 | How a $10 microchip turns 2-D ultrasound machines to 3-D imaging devicesTechnology that keeps track of how your smartphone is oriented can now give $50,000 ultrasound machines many of the 3-D imaging abilities of their $250,000 counterparts—for the cost of a $10 microchip. |
 | System for performing 'tensor algebra' offers 100-fold speedups over previous software packagesWe live in the age of big data, but most of that data is "sparse." Imagine, for instance, a massive table that mapped all of Amazon's customers against all of its products, with a "1" for each product a given customer bought and a "0" otherwise. The table would be mostly zeroes. |
 | Scientists elevate quantum dot solar cell world recordResearchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) established a new world efficiency record for quantum dot solar cells, at 13.4 percent. |
 | How to store information in your clothes invisibly, without electronicsA new type of smart fabric developed at the University of Washington could pave the way for jackets that store invisible passcodes and open the door to your apartment or office. |
 | Google-bred Waymo aims to shift robotic cars into next gearGoogle's self-driving car spin-off is accelerating efforts to convince the public that its technology is almost ready to safely transport people without any human assistance at all. |
 | When two competing neural networks result in photorealistic face(Tech Xplore)—Creepy and mesmerizing. That's how Gizmodo this week reacted to an NVIDIA paper that shows the way a neural network can now render photorealistic faces—of people who never existed. |
 | You can stymie the iPhone X Face ID - but it takes some workApple is offering a nifty way to unlock its new iPhone X—just stare at it. |
 | New 'Furion' software allows untethered, high-quality VRThe virtual reality industry is faced with a conundrum: Users must be tethered to a server or PC in order to play high-quality apps. |
 | Samsung Electronics logs record-high profit on memory chipsSamsung Electronics Co. reported another record high in quarterly earnings Tuesday thanks to the unprecedented boom in the memory chip industry and predicted that another record-breaking quarter is on the horizon, a breathtaking run for a company fighting to get its leader out of jail. |
 | Fires destroy part of Hewlett-Packard archivesCalifornia's deadly wildfires destroyed much of an archive from tech pioneers William Hewlett and David Packard, such as a decades-old memo in which Hewlett proposes designing a calculator that can fit in his pocket, authorities involved with the archives say. |
 | China's Xi meets Zuckerberg, Cook in BeijingApple's Tim Cook and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, state media said Tuesday, as the Communist Party pushes for a larger role in private firms. |
 | Singapore opens new, high-tech airport terminalSingapore's Changi Airport opened a cutting-edge terminal Tuesday with a fully automated check-in system including facial scanning and computerised baggage drop points, but some passengers struggled with the new technology. |
Apple engineer fired after daughter posts video of iPhone XIf you work at Apple, you should take a lesson from the movie "Fight Club." | |
 | Energy efficiency labeling for homes has little effect on purchase priceMost buyers aren't thinking about energy performance certification when they're house shopping. That's the conclusion of a team of researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) after they conducted a thorough assessment of how the labels affected home pricing. |
 | Better injection systems for diesel enginesOne of the elements modern diesel engines require to become energy-efficient and clean are precisely controllable injection nozzles using piezo crystals. How exactly these crystals work has not been fully understood to date. In a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a group of researchers from Leoben has now managed to make this technology more reliable and efficient. Their results are also of interest for medical applications or energy harvesting. |
 | What should governments be doing about the rise of artificial intelligence?There is little doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming almost every facet of human life. How far this transformation will go and what the full ramifications for society will be are still unknown but this hasn't prevented people from making both optimistic and dire predictions. |
 | Educational computer game that immerses players in 18th-century GhanaDespite almost a decade in the gaming industry, UCI computer science professor Magda El Zarki has never worked on anything quite like "Sankofa." The recently completed computer game – created by El Zarki and a colleague, UCI history professor Patricia Seed – follows a young protagonist navigating an unconventional environment for the gaming world: 18th-century Ghana. |
 | Invention generates power, cleans water using untapped sourceRapid, unplanned urbanization is becoming a serious threat across the world, because it puts major stress on critical infrastructure such as water and sewer lines. Building on his team's success in India, Daniel Yeh, PhD, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida College of Engineering, is the principal investigator of a two-year, $1.14 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to install a new and improved version of his NEWgenerator in Durban, South Africa. |
 | Concentrated CO2 enables growth spurt in algaeA new technology captures CO2 from ambient air efficiently and inexpensively. Researchers at the University of Twente used the CO2 captured to cultivate algae, but the technology can also be used in a closed cycle to store energy harnessed from the sun and wind. Algae are a promising new raw material for the food and chemistry industries. |
 | New fingerprint algorithm helps ID bodies found decades agoJust after Thanksgiving Day in 1983, James Downey dropped off his older brother, John, at a Houston bus station, then quickly turned away so neither the police nor a motorcycle gang affiliated with his brother could later demand details about where the bus was headed. |
 | NREL inks technology agreement for high efficiency multijunction solar cellsThe U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has entered into a license agreement with MicroLink Devices, Inc. (Niles, IL) to commercialize NREL's patented inverted metamorphic (IMM) multijunction solar cells. While high-efficiency multijunction solar cells are commonly used for space satellites, researchers have continued to look for ways to improve cost and performance to enable a broader range of applications. The IMM technique licensed by MicroLink Devices enables multijunction III-V solar cells to be grown with both higher efficiencies and lower costs than traditional multijunction solar cells by reversing the order in which individual sub-cells are typically grown. |
 | Traffic signal countdown timers lead to improved driver responsesCountdown timers that let motorists know when a traffic light will go from green to yellow lead to safer responses from drivers, research at Oregon State University suggests. |
 | You can shower with the new Kindle - you just can't readAmazon's top-of-the-line e-reader is now waterproof—an excellent feature for a $250-and-up investment. |
 | China says social media companies must 'punish' employeesChina has ordered online platforms to punish staff who spread "illegal" content domestically, in the latest move by authorities to tighten policing of the web. |
 | Gangs, states and 'geeks' behind Canada cyberattacks: ministerCyberattacks on Canadian government computers by what a minister described Tuesday as gangsters, rogue states and "geeks in basements" are on the rise, but are also failing more, according to a report. |
Medicine & Health news
 | The vibrational theory of olfaction for the win(Medical Xpress)—As occurred in the painstaking deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs, adherence to outmoded ideas is a lasting impediment to our understanding of how odorants are decoded by the olfactory system. The primary roadblock for hieroglyphs was the insistence that they were purely ideographic, ie. that the shapes of the pictograms owned all their meaning. It was only after Thomas Young compared the three different scripts of the Rosetta Stone that he was able to discover that the hieroglyphs also had a corresponding physics—namely, that they had phonetics. |
 | Alzheimer's disease might be a 'whole body' problemAlzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia, has long been assumed to originate in the brain. But research from the University of British Columbia and Chinese scientists indicates that it could be triggered by breakdowns elsewhere in the body. |
 | New toolkit reveals novel cancer genesA new statistical model has enabled researchers to pinpoint 27 novel genes thought to prevent cancer from forming, in an analysis of over 2000 tumours across 12 human cancer types. The findings could help create new cancer treatments that target these genes, and open up other avenues of cancer research. |
 | Scientists pinpoint genetic risk factors for asthma, hay fever and eczemaA major international study has pinpointed more than 100 genetic risk factors that explain why some people suffer from asthma, hay fever and eczema. |
 | Editing false positives from cancer dependency maps drawn with CRISPRThe Broad Cancer Dependency Map team adds CRISPR-based data from 342 cancer cell lines to their growing catalog of genetic dependencies in cancer, and a new method for ensuring that data's accuracy. |
 | Prenatal exposure to BPA at low levels can affect gene expression in developing rat brainNew research from North Carolina State University reveals that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) at levels below those currently considered safe for humans affects gene expression related to sexual differentiation and neurodevelopment in the developing rat brain. |
 | Uncomfortable sight from an ancient reflex of the eyeThe eyes are for seeing, but they have other important biological functions, including automatic visual reflexes that go on without awareness. The reflexive system of the human eye also produces a conscious, visual experience, according to a new study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine and School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings, reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may provide insight into the excessive light sensitivity sometimes experienced by people with eye disease, migraine headaches and concussions. |
 | Mini-microscopes reveal brain circuitry behind social behaviorTiny microscopes mounted on mice's heads have given researchers a peek into the neural circuitry of social behavior. |
 | Research consortium LipiDiDiet finds a way to impact Alzheimer's disease before it's too lateThe pioneering clinical trial is part of a large European Union funded project and involved 311 patients across 11 sites in four countries (Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden). The trial involved patients with prodromal Alzheimer's (often referred to as Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI). Patients were randomised to receive either the nutritional intervention or an iso-caloric control drink for 24 months. |
 | Football position and length of play affect brain impactResearchers have found that damage to white matter in the brains of former college and professional football players due to recurrent head impacts can be related to playing position and career duration, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. |
Research suggests new way to treat inflammatory gut disease and prevent rejection of bone marrow transplantsA new study explains how a widely used drug is effective against inflammatory bowel disease and rejection of bone marrow transplants, while suggesting another way to address both health issues. | |
 | Doctors: Global warming is taking a toll on people's healthGlobal warming is hurting people's health a bit more than previously thought, but there's hope that the Earth—and populations—can heal if the planet kicks its coal habit, a group of doctors and other experts said. |
 | Smoking may cause inflammatory bowel diseaseA new study shows a direct effect of cigarette smoke on intestinal inflammation for the first time. Researchers in South Korea report that exposing mice to cigarette smoke results in colitis, an inflammation of the colon resembling Crohn's disease, and identify a specific white blood cell and inflammatory protein responsible for this effect. The study, published today in open-access journal Frontiers in Immunology, could help scientists to develop new treatments for inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease, and increase awareness among smokers of their risk for colitis. |
 | Less fat, more hair and younger skin—study shows benefits from calorie-restricted dietCaloric restriction diets have been associated with health benefits, but their effects on the skin have not been previously demonstrated. Research conducted at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil shows that controlling calories helps mice live longer, although it reduces the reserves of fat in adipose tissue needed to keep the body warm. To offset this effect of the diet, the skin of the mice stimulated fur growth and increased blood flow to warm the skin. |
 | Giving rookie dads the online info they really needExpectant and new parents often turn to the internet for parenting prep, but it turns out that dads often don't seem to find the information they say they need about pregnancy, parenthood and routes to their own mental health and well-being. Now, a new study from a Canadian team led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) with funding from global men's health charity the Movember Foundation highlights just what soon-to-be and new fathers want to see in a dad-focused website and how best to meet those needs. |
 | Aging has distinct and opposite effects on tendon in males and femalesNew research from the University of Liverpool, published in the journal Scientific Reports, has identified that in tendon ageing has distinct and opposite effects on the genes expressed in males and females. |
 | Genome scientists use UK Salmonella cases to shed light on African epidemicScientists at the University of Liverpool and Public Health England have used Salmonella genome data from a UK public health surveillance study to gain new insights into the Salmonella epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. |
Higher thyroid hormone levels associated with artery disease and deathHigh and high-normal levels of a thyroid hormone called FT4, were associated with artery disease and death in elderly and middle-aged people, according to new research in Circulation Research, an American Heart Association journal. | |
 | Spicy food may curb unhealthy cravings for saltChinese subjects who enjoyed spicy foods appeared to eat less salt and have lower blood pressure, potentially reducing their risk of heart attack and stroke, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension. |
 | Successful cardiogenic shock treatment using a percutaneous left ventricular assist deviceThe Cardiovascular Surgery Group at Osaka University succeeded in minimally invasive treatment of a patient with acute heart failure due to medical treatment-resistant cardiogenic shock by making use of Impella, a percutaneous auxiliary artificial heart, for the first time in Japan. This method is anticipated as a new therapy for treating patients with acute heart failure due to medical treatment-resistant cardiogenic shock. |
 | Research lays groundwork for promising Alzheimer's-fighting drinkMuch of Professor Emeritus Richard Wurtman's career in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences revolved around developing new treatments for diseases and conditions by modifying chemicals produced in the brain. |
 | Health impacts of climate change already felt todayA Lancet report warns climate change is impacting health, labour productivity, infectious diseases and exposure to air pollution and heatwaves. |
Babies born late preterm may be at risk of cardiovascular diseasesBabies born late preterm at 35 weeks are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease in adult life than those born at full term, according to research published in Experimental Physiology. | |
Disparities in influenza outcomesInfluenza infections kill between 3,000 and 49,000 people each year in the United States. Understanding risk factors for severe influenza outcomes, such as hospitalization, can help guide vaccination programs and reduce disease burden. | |
 | Scientists identify genetic drivers of common lymphomaAn international team of scientists has pinpointed the genetic drivers of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma—the most common type of blood cancer—and determined the genes' clinical significance. The study, published in the journal Cell, provides important insights for the development of future therapies. |
 | Many Americans blame themselves for weight stigmaA new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut shows that many individuals who are targets of weight bias also internalize the stigma directed towards them, blaming themselves for the stigma and unfair treatment they experience because of their weight. |
 | Research finds substance abuse varies widely in association with child abuse, neglectAlcohol and other drug use are regularly linked to child abuse or neglect in families, but simply assuming the former causes the latter is not taking a deep enough look. A University of Kansas professor has authored a pair of studies examining how a range of parental alcohol and substance use behaviors are related to abusive and neglectful parenting behaviors and argues that a more thorough understanding can help address the associated problems to better serve families. |
 | Study will enable researchers to better understand how short or long-sightedness can affect such eye measurementsResearchers have measured and produced detailed characterisations of the eye's retinal surface area using three dimensional MRI scanning. |
 | Researchers unravel new insights into how the brain beats distractions to retain memoriesResearchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have recently discovered a mechanism that could explain how the brain retains working memory when faced with distractions. These findings could endow cognitive flexibility to neural networks used for artificial intelligence. |
 | 7 skin care myths you thought were trueItchy skin, bright rashes, dark blemishes, sun burns. Our skin changes all the time, but usually we don't give it much thought until we spot a pimple here or a bumpy rash there. But every day your skin has a long list of responsibilities for safeguarding your health: It's a barrier that prevents disease, a defender against early signs of infection, an early alert system for diseases and a vehicle for our sense of touch. In short, skin is your body's first line of defense. |
 | Women can be psychopaths too, in ways more subtle but just as dangerousHear the word psychopath and most of us think of violent, dominant men. There are lots of male psychopathic monsters from movies to illustrate this point. Think Alex in A Clockwork Orange, or Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. |
 | Do vitamin supplements prevent macular degeneration?Vitamin and mineral supplements won't prevent the development of age-related macular degeneration. But there is some evidence taking supplements containing vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc may slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration in those who already have it. This evidence comes from two major systematic reviews published this year, conducted by the Cochrane collaboration. |
 | What trick-or-treating tells us about human natureCarved pumpkins, flickering candles with spooky shadows and children dressed up in their Halloween finery will soon be at our doorsteps. |
 | Age-friendly workplaces could make people healthier in later lifeAustralians could have longer careers and be healthier in later life if workplaces were more age-friendly and promoted healthy lifestyles to their employees, a new ANU study has found. |
 | Adolescents don't just think of themselves, psychologist reportsParents often see that when their sweet, socially-minded children become adolescents they change into selfish 'hotel guests' who think only of themselves. But adolescents become increasingly better at weighing up one another's interests. This discovery has been made by development psychologist Rosa Meuwese. |
 | Gene therapy protects against age-related cognitive and memory deficitsResearchers from the Institute of Neurosciences at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB) and the Vall d"Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) are the first to demonstrate that regulation of the brain's Klotho gene using gene therapy protects against age-related learning and memory problems in mice. |
 | Stem cells conduct cartilage regeneration but are not directly involvedStem cell therapy has great potential for curing cartilage damage. However, it has remained unclear whether stem cells are responsible for regeneration or whether they trigger the process. Researchers at the Vetmeduni Vienna have been able to resolve this issue by tracking the effects in a new, natural model. After injection, stem cells orchestrate the healing effect of endogenous cells but are not responsible for cartilage regeneration. The breakthrough is published in JCI-Insight and was enabled by preventing the normal immune response to the molecule required to trace the injected cells. |
 | Researchers reveal the role of a DNA repair mechanismResearchers from the University of Seville, in collaboration with the Genome Damage and Stability Centre of the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, have recently published a study in the review Nature Communications, in which they make an important step forward in understanding more exactly what the mechanisms are that allow, if not correctly repaired, certain DNA breaks to be exchanged with others, so generating chromosomal translocation. |
When it comes to strokes, timing is everythingSudden onset of blurred vision, slurred speech, numbness or paralysis in the face, arm, or leg can be indications of a stroke. Oftentimes, many wait to seek help, but this can be a fatal mistake: the risks of permanent damage or death increase the longer treatment is delayed. In fact, six million people die and another five million become permanently disabled because of a stroke each year. | |
Should patients with cardiogenic shock receive culprit lesion only PCI or multivessel PCI?Results from the prospective, randomized, multicenter CULPRIT-SHOCK trial found that an initial strategy of culprit lesion only percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) reduces the composite of 30-day mortality and/or severe renal failure in patients with multivessel disease and cardiogenic shock complicating acute myocardial infarction. | |
 | New treatment shows promise for patients with rare dermatologic diseaseA new treatment for a rare and often incurable condition called dermatomyositis (DM) reduced the severity of the disease in patients whose DM was resistant to other therapies. As part of a randomized, double-blind study conducted at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 22 patients were given either a drug called anabasum or a placebo. The 11 patients who got the drug improved during the trial, with less severe skin disease and better patient-reported quality of life and symptom assessments. |
 | Researchers link Western diet to vascular damage and prediabetesCould short-term exposure to the average American diet increase one's risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease? According to a recent study funded by the American Heart Association (AHA), researchers from New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) provide compelling evidence to support this hypothesis. |
 | 'Protect your eyes while on the slopes,' scientists warnSnow fanatics are no doubt aware of the risk of getting sunburnt on the slopes, but a new study shows that it is more than a red face that skiers and snowboarders should be concerned about. |
Stable, affordable homes don't just help patients, they save taxpayer dollarsWhere you live is a significant predictor of health, and unstable housing is associated with a range of health complications, including asthma, depression, and exposure to lead and other toxic elements. | |
 | US cancer drug costs increasing despite competition, new research showsAnticancer drug costs in the United States increase substantially after launch regardless of competition, according to a new study just published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. |
 | Trends in kids' fitness not as bad as assumedGlobal increases in childhood obesity are frequently assumed to go hand-in-hand with decreased motor performance in young children. But, according to a report in Frontiers in Pediatrics, first graders around Baden-Baden, Germany, have remained reasonably fit over the last ten years. |
Surveillance safe for non-cancerous breast lesion typically treated surgicallyThe detection of certain non-cancerous "high risk" breast lesions can lead to surgical treatment in women, but one of the largest studies of a specific type of high-risk lesion, flat epithelial atypia (FEA), calls for close observation, rather than surgical removal of these lesions in most cases, according to study results published on the web site of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons in advance of print. | |
 | Revisiting abandoned treatments in fight against antimicrobial-resistant gonorrheaA previously recommended treatment for gonorrhea, cefixime, may be an effective alternative to current treatments as clinicians battle outbreaks and emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), according to a study published this week by Xavier Didelot of Imperial College London, UK, and colleagues in PLOS Medicine. |
Does cutting weekend allied health services hurt patients?Removing weekend allied health services—including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, dietetics, and social work—from the surgical wards of hospitals had little effect on patients' outcomes, according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine by Terry Haines of Monash University, Victoria, Australia, and colleagues. | |
 | Research links locus coeruleus activity with hyperarousal in PTSDA new study in Biological Psychiatry has linked signs of heightened arousal and reactivity—a core symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—to overactivity of the locus coeruleus (LC), a brain region that mediates arousal and reactivity. By combining bodily responses and brain imaging data, the new paper by Dr. Christoph Mueller-Pfeiffer at the University of Zurich, Switzerland and colleagues is the first to provide direct human evidence for a theory over 30 years old. Pinpointing the origin of symptoms in the brain is a major step in efforts to improve treatment options for patients with the disorder. |
 | Bilingual preschoolers show stronger inhibitory controlFor students in preschool, speaking two languages may be better than one, especially for developing inhibitory control—the ability to stop a hasty reflexive response and instead select a more adaptive response. |
Researchers study how individual differences in brain dynamics influence self-control when faced with temptationWhat makes some people better able to resist temptation than others? Lucina Uddin and Jason Nomi, cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences collaborated with Rosa Steimke, a visiting postdoctoral researcher in the Brain Connectivity and Cognition Laboratory at UM, to explore this question. | |
Strong maternal antibodies for HIV ineffective for protecting infants from HIVHIV+ mothers who possess a strong neutralizing antibody response may be more likely to pass the virus on to her infant through breast feeding. In addition, infants born to mothers with a strong antibody response are significantly more likely to have a serious illness or death, regardless of whether or not they acquire the virus. | |
 | AstraZeneca wins US approval for lymphoma drugU.S. regulators have approved a new treatment for people with a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. |
Deadly plague slowing down in Madagascar: authoritiesA plague outbreak that has claimed 128 lives in Madagascar has slowed down, health authorities on the island nation said Tuesday, citing a decline in the numbers of the infected and dying. | |
Mini-strokes can be 'ominous prelude' to catastrophic strokesEach year, more than 200,000 Americans experience mini-strokes called transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). | |
 | New blood test developed to diagnose ovarian cancerInvestigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to develop a new technique to detect ovarian cancer early and accurately. The team has identified a network of circulating microRNAs - small, non-coding pieces of genetic material - that are associated with risk of ovarian cancer and can be detected from a blood sample. Their findings are published online in eLife. |
 | Puppy poop infection tally rises to 67 people in 15 states(HealthDay) —An outbreak of a potentially deadly bacteria linked to contaminated puppy poop has spread to 15 states, a new federal report shows. |
 | Retinal sensitivity linked to cognitive status in T2DM(HealthDay)—In patients with type 2 diabetes, retinal sensitivity is associated with cognitive status, according to a study published in the September issue of Diabetes. |
 | Children of immigrants less likely to be up-to-date on shots(HealthDay)—Children up to age 36 months with at least one foreign-born parent are less likely to be up-to-date on recommended vaccinations, according to a study published online Oct. 26 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. |
 | Ultrasonography not necessary for evaluation of hypothyroidism(HealthDay)—Imaging studies, including thyroid ultrasonography, are not required for the evaluation of hypothyroidism, and their risks include treatment of incidentally discovered nodules, patient and physician anxiety, and significant cost, according to a clinical review article published online Oct. 30 in JAMA Internal Medicine. |
 | PFA-100-measured aspirin resistance linked to CV events(HealthDay)—Aspirin resistance, measured using the Platelet Function Analyzer (PFA)-100 system, is associated with cardiovascular events in aspirin-treated patients, according to a study published online Oct. 21 in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics. |
 | Computed tomography features vary based on BRCA status(HealthDay)—Qualitative computed tomography (CT) features differ between patients with BRCA-mutant high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) and patients with BRCA wild-type HGSOC, according to a study published in the November issue of Radiology. |
 | Delayed cord clamping not beneficial for preterm infants(HealthDay)—Delayed cord clamping does not result in lower incidence of death or major morbidity in preterm infants, according to a study published online Oct. 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the Vermont Oxford Network 2017 Annual Quality Congress, held Oct. 26 to 30 in Chicago. |
Understudied racial minority groups show alarmingly high rates of obesity and diabetesSome of the smallest and historically neglected racial groups in the United States experience far more obesity, diabetes, and other health conditions than non-Hispanic white adults, a study by researchers at the University of California, Riverside has found. | |
 | Breakup ballad or empowerment anthem? How to use music to improve moodDoes listening to the same sad songs leave you feeling like a broken record? It could be time for a different beat. |
 | Survey provides insight into demographics and health of California's transgender adultsThe first release of transgender data from the California Health Interview Survey, the nation's largest state survey, reveals the demographic characteristics of transgender adults in the state—such as population size, racial makeup and marital status—as well as sobering disparities in their health status. For example, one in five transgender adults in California has attempted suicide—a rate six times that of the state's adult cisgender population. |
Medical marijuana legal in Poland but still rareThe little boy shakes his hands violently to and fro, but the involuntary motion eases within minutes after his mother puts the syrupy, honey-brown oil into his mouth: medicinal marijuana. | |
Results from the EXCEL QOL study reportedNew study results from the EXCEL trial comparing the quality of life (QoL) of patients with left main coronary artery disease (LMCAD) receiving percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) versus coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) found significant and similar QoL improvement at three years, although a greater benefit was observed with PCI at one month. | |
Results from the DKCRUSH-V trial reportedA large-scale randomized trial examining the double kissing (DK) crush two-stent technique compared with provisional stenting (PS) in the treatment of true distal bifurcation lesions of the left main artery, found that the DK crush technique was associated with a lower rate of target lesion failure at one year. | |
 | How berberine works to slow diabetes-related cognitive declineResearchers studying the mechanism of action of the natural, plant-derived compound berberine have linked its anti-inflammatory activity and ability to regulate levels of stress-response proteins including sirtuin to berberine positive effects on memory loss and impaired learning in an aging diabetic mouse model. In addition to improving diabetic encephalopathy and slowing central nervous system degeneration, berberine was also associated with better lipid metabolism and decreased fasting glucose in the diabetic mice, as reported in Rejuvenation Research. |
Experts call for virtual European cancer institute / infrastructureA new article that addresses the challenges of cancer proposes combining innovative prevention and treatment strategies in a state-of-the-art virtual European Cancer Institute/Infrastructure that promotes sharing of the highest standards of practices and big data among countries and centres across Europe and beyond. | |
 | In a city ravaged by heroin, a needle exchange stallsAs she pressed down on the plunger of an empty syringe, a drop of blood oozed from the crooked tip of its needle—a test, Denise Brown said, that she uses on unpackaged syringes she now buys on the street. |
Official: Florida resident dies of rabies from bat biteHealth officials say a Florida resident who was bitten by a bat has died of rabies. | |
States seek to expand lawsuit against generic drug-makersConnecticut's attorney general and 45 of his colleagues are seeking to expand a federal antitrust lawsuit against generic drug-makers to include more manufacturers and medications, as well as senior executives at two companies. | |
 | States seek to expand lawsuit against generic drugmakersConnecticut's attorney general and 45 of his colleagues are seeking to expand a federal antitrust lawsuit against generic drugmakers to include more manufacturers and medications, as well as senior executives at two companies. |
 | Want a pet but can't have a dog?(HealthDay)—Want a family pet, but can't have a dog? There are plenty of other great pet options. |
Biology news
 | Lemurs are weird because Madagascar's fruit is weirdLemurs are primates like us, but they're the weird cousins. They're found only on Madagascar off the coast of Africa, and they fight by secreting smelly paste from their shoulders and using their tails to waft the scent at their rivals. Some lemur species become inactive or hibernate when food is scarce, and other species eat all day and all night to get enough nutrients. Another thing that sets them apart is their diet—most primates eat a fruit-heavy diet, but lemurs primarily eat leaves. A new study in Scientific Reports sheds light on why lemurs don't eat as much fruit as their fellow primates and why they've developed these odd dietary behaviors—the fruit on Madagascar contains too little protein to sustain them. |
 | Genetic study uncovers evolutionary history of dingoesA major study of dingo DNA has revealed dingoes most likely migrated to Australia in two separate waves via a former land bridge with Papua New Guinea. |
 | An RNA TREAT for HalloweenJeff Chao, Junior group leader at the FMI, and his group developed a sophisticated method to measure mRNA degradation in single cells. They developed a fluorescent biosensor that allows the distinction of intact transcripts and degradation intermediates. This novel method, known as TREAT, nicely complements the method they developed earlier, called TRICK, that measures protein translation. |
 | Disruptive bioengineering – changing the way cells interact with each otherResearchers at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine have developed a new platform based on the revolutionary CRISPR/Cas9 technology, to alter the way human cells respond to external signals, and provide new opportunities for stopping cancer cells from developing. |
Landmark discovery turns marathon of evolution into a sprintA research collaboration has discovered a new way of rapidly generating a swathe of medically significant natural products after discovering a ground-breaking technique that turns the marathon of evolution into a sprint. | |
 | Aged DNA may activate genes differentlyGrey hair, wisdom, and wrinkles on our skin mark us as we age, but it's the more subtle changes beneath the surface that make us old. Now, researchers have discovered that our chromosomes also wrinkle with age, changing how our immune system renews itself. |
 | Young bats learn bat 'dialects' from their nestmatesYoung bats adopt a specific "dialect" spoken by their own colonies, even when this dialect differs from the bat "mother tongue," a new study publishing 31 October in the open access journal PLOS Biology shows. By offering insight into the evolutionary origins of language acquisition skills, the study, led by Dr. Yossi Yovel of Tel Aviv University, and his students Yosef Prat and Lindsay Azoulay, calls into question the uniqueness of this skill in humans. |
 | Chromosome organization emerges from 1-D patternsThe DNA in a human cell is 2 yards (1.83 meters) long and wraps around millions of bead-like histone proteins to fit inside the cell's nucleus. Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine showed that examining the chemical state of these proteins makes it possible to predict how an entire DNA chromosome will fold. |
 | Humans don't use as much brainpower as we like to think: Animals had energy-hungry brains long before we didFor years, scientists assumed that humans devote a larger share of their daily calories to their brains than other animals. Although the human brain makes up only 2 percent of body weight, it consumes more than 25 percent of our baseline energy budget. |
 | Biologists discovered the pathwaysof groups of the lophophoreScientists from Moscow State University have proved that lophophorates - the invertebrates with special tentacular apparatus - are relatives. Scientists have examined some representatives of one of the phylum of this group. The results were published in BMC Evolutionary Biology. The study was carried out within the framework of the "Animals" branch of the Noah's Ark project supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RNF). |
 | Surprising monkey study finds bad times do not cause group members to change behaviorResearchers have observed an unexpected behavioral pattern in monkeys in Puerto Rico. It is known that as the population density of the group rises, the group as a whole produces fewer babies. But to the surprise of researchers, it turns out that the behavior of the group's individual members did not change. What explains this phenomenon? |
 | New method makes bioethanol from waste in existing plantsIt is possible to produce bioethanol from agricultural and industrial waste in existing plants in a socioeconomically sustainable way. A research project has been carried out by doctoral student Ramkumar Nair at the University of Borås, Sweden, in which he verified a new process model. |
 | Flour power to boost food securityThe discovery of genes that determine the yield of flour from wheat could increase milling yield, boosting food security and producing a healthier flour. |
 | Eight reasons not to be spooked by spiders this HalloweenSpiders are a traditional part of a Halloween scare and for some people they have been a source of fear for years. But in reality, spiders deserve to instil a sense of amazement, not fear. |
 | Spooky conservation: Saving endangered species over our dead bodiesThe secret to the survival of critically endangered wildlife could lie beyond the grave, according to a University of Queensland researcher. |
 | Efforts aim to limit the spread of fire ants in the USThey sting, damage crops and wildlife, and are extending their range in the United States. |
 | Orphaned elephants' social lives substantially altered by poachingElephants live in a social structure with a level of complexity that rivals that of human societies. Given this context, researchers are concerned about the impacts of poaching that targets older individuals on the animals' social functioning. |
 | Researchers seek citizen scientists to contribute to worldwide mosquito trackingIt's a sound that can keep even the weariest among us from falling asleep: the high-pitched whine of a mosquito. This irritating buzz already makes us run, slap and slather on repellant. But if Stanford University researchers have their way, it may also prompt us to take out our cellphones and do a little science. |
Major enhancements unveiled on 'Closer to Van Eyck' web applicationThe Getty Foundation and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels) announced today the launch of major enhancements to the website 'Closer to Van Eyck,' which provides breathtaking details of one of the most important works of art in the world, the Ghent Altarpiece. Enhancements include new images of the work under various stages of conservation treatment, a larger range of technical images, and the ability to see and compare multiple views of the painting at the same time. | |
 | Breeding resistant chickens for improved food safetyA new test developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in College Station, Texas, could make it easier to breed pathogen-resistant chickens. |
 | How declining mammal populations in the Florida Everglades are linked to the invasive Burmese pythonNew research published in Biology Letters looks at how declining mammal populations in the Florida Everglades is linked to the invasive Burmese python. We talked to one of the authors, Nathan Burkett-Cadena from the University of Florida, about his research and the repercussions of what he and his co-authors found. |
 | Noise from industrial development will stress animals and change the ecology in national monuments"Every man needs a place to go where he can go crazy in peace," said author and desert rat Edward Abbey. |
 | Canada caribou herds, habitat continue to decline: reportCanada has failed boreal caribou herds that are at risk of disappearing, a government report concluded Tuesday. |
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