Science X Newsletter Tuesday, Jan 16

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for January 16, 2018:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

Astronomers conduct detailed chemical analysis of eleven globular clusters

Multifaceted design of the mantis shrimp club is inspiring advanced composite materials for airplanes, football helmets

Biologists' new peptide could fight many cancers

Neuroscientists suggest a model for how we gain volitional control of what we hold in our minds

Biodegradable sensor monitors pressure in the body then disappears

X-rays reveal chirality in swirling electric vortices

Group recreates DNA of man who died in 1827 despite having no body to work with

Miles Davis is not Mozart: The brains of jazz and classical pianists work differently

Shale gas is one of the least sustainable ways to produce electricity, research finds

Even without nudging blood pressure up, high-salt diet hobbles the brain

When a watch transforms into full-scale phone

Researchers identify protein involved in cocaine addiction

Rates of great earthquakes not affected by moon phases, day of year

Thirty-year study shows women who breastfeed for six months or more reduce their diabetes risk

The surprising role of gene architecture in cell fate decisions

Astronomy & Space news

	Astronomers conduct detailed chemical analysis of eleven globular clusters Astronomers have performed abundance measurements for 11 globular clusters in the galaxies NGC 147, NGC 6822, and Messier 33. The new study, presented January 9 in a paper published on arXiv.org, could improve our knowledge about chemical composition of stellar populations in the universe.
	How massive can neutron stars be? Astrophysicists at Goethe University Frankfurt set a new limit for the maximum mass of neutron stars: They cannot exceed 2.16 solar masses.
	Hubble weighs in on mass of three million billion suns In 2014, astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope found that this enormous galaxy cluster contains the mass of a staggering three million billion suns—so it's little wonder that it has earned the nickname of "El Gordo" ("the Fat One" in Spanish)! Known officially as ACT-CLJ0102-4915, it is the largest, hottest, and brightest X-ray galaxy cluster ever discovered in the distant Universe.
	JUICE ground control gets green light to start development of Jupiter operations ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – JUICE – passed an important milestone, the ground segment requirements review, with flying colours, demonstrating that the teams are on track in the preparation of the spacecraft operations needed to achieve the mission's ambitious science goals.

Technology news

	Biodegradable sensor monitors pressure in the body then disappears UConn engineers have created a biodegradable pressure sensor that could help doctors monitor chronic lung disease, swelling of the brain, and other medical conditions before dissolving harmlessly in a patient's body.
	When a watch transforms into full-scale phone When smartwatches first made their debut as wearables, some tech watchers were not sure of the smartwatch as a viable form factor. Witness Alex Dobie's assessment back in 2016 in Android Central:
	Researchers develop more efficient conversion method for solar energy Researchers at the University of Twente's MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology have made significant efficiency improvements to the technology used to generate solar fuels. This involves the direct conversion of energy from sunlight into a usable fuel (in this case, hydrogen). Using only earth-abundant materials, they developed the most efficient conversion method to date. The trick was to decouple the site where sunlight is captured from the site where the conversion reaction takes place.
	3-D printing equipment in the field What if our military could dramatically reduce the amount of materials and equipment held on the front lines by printing only what they need? Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are aiming to do this with new advances in 3-D printing.
	Lifelike robots made in Hong Kong meant to win over humans David Hanson envisions a future in which AI-powered robots evolve to become "super-intelligent genius machines" that might help solve some of mankind's most challenging problems.
	US pickups craze all about toughness, luxury When it came time to revamp the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, designers at General Motors knew they needed to beef up the look of the vehicle.
	Daimler struggling with European emissions standards The chief executive of Daimler said Monday at the Detroit auto show that his company cannot currently guarantee it can meet tougher European CO2 emissions standards taking effect in several years.
	Bitcoin prices fall as South Korea says ban still an option Prices of bitcoin and other digital currencies have skidded after South Korea's top financial policymaker said Tuesday that a crackdown on trading of crypto currencies was still possible.
	What's a mind without a body? New research adds physiology to computer models Though computers are becoming better programmed to process information like our brains do, the power of the human mind is unmatched. But what's the mind without a body?
	Automation, robots and the 'end of work' myth Can you imagine travelling to work in a robotic "Jonnycab" like the one predicted in the cult Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Total Recall? The image from 1990 is based on science fiction, but Mercedes Benz does have a semi-autonomous Driver Pilot system that it aims to install in the next five years and Uber is also waging on a self-driving future. Its partnership with Volvo has been seen as a boost to its ambitions to replace a fleet of self-employed drivers with autonomous vehicles.
	Magnetic liquids improve energy efficiency of buildings Climate protection and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions have been on top of global development agendas. Accordingly, research and development projects have been conducted on national and international levels, which aim for the improvement of the CO2-footprint in diverse processes. Apart from particularly energy-intensive sectors of the industry, the building sector in particular is among the biggest CO2-emitters: From residential homes, manufacturing facilities and storage depots to big commercial buildings, about 40 percent of the energy consumption within the EU are due to the heating, cooling, air conditioning and lighting of buildings.
	GM takes $7 bn charge due to US tax reform, sees solid 2018 General Motors announced Tuesday it will take a $7 billion hit due to the US tax reform but expects earnings this year to be comparable to the solid results in 2017.
	'Superfast' internet cable to cross Mediterranean sea A Cypriot company says its new sub-sea internet cable that will connect Israel with Spain will be powerful enough to handle up to 60 percent of the world's internet traffic at peak time.
	Uber limits driver hours in Britain to 10 US ride-hailing app Uber on Tuesday said it would cap the number of hours its drivers can work in Britain from next week in a bid to increase safety after heavy criticism of its business practices.
	Chinese solar boom sparks global renewables boon: study A Chinese boom in solar panel installation last year helped drive global investment in renewable clean energy technology to record levels, a new study showed Tuesday.
	Google 'cloud' grows with new undersea data cables Google on Tuesday said it is adding three new undersea data cables as it continues to bulk up its ability to power cloud services around the world.
	French carmaker PSA says global sales up 15% in 2017 French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen said Tuesday that its global sales rose by 15.4 percent last year, powered by the first-time consolidation of the newly-acquired Opel and Vauxhall brands, while sales in China and Southeast Asia plunged.
	BP hit by new $1.7bn Gulf oil spill charge British energy giant BP said Tuesday it will take an additional charge of $1.7 billion (1.4 billion euros) in the fourth quarter of 2017 linked to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster in 2010.
	Ericsson to write down 1.4 billion euros in fourth quarter Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson on Tuesday said it would write down 14.2 billion kronor (1.4 billion euros, $1.8 billion) in assets as the troubled company struggles to compete in a rapidly changing sector.
Guru-turned-entrepreneur targets India's online market Baba Ramdev, the popular yoga guru-turned-entrepreneur behind one of India's biggest brands, said Tuesday he was tying up with Amazon to target the country's $1 billion online market for consumer goods.
	Why Lego could be the key to productive business meetings It's 60 years since Lego patented their little plastic blocks and since then over 600 billion bricks have been produced. These bricks have been used to build cars, death stars and a multitude of creations born in the imagination of "legoists" all over the world.
	Citigroup reports steep Q4 losses tied to US tax reform Citigroup on Tuesday reported steep fourth-quarter losses driven by a one-time charge from the recent US tax cuts.
	GE takes one-off hit for insurance business, studying breakup Troubled General Electric said Tuesday it would book a one-off charge of $6.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 linked to its insurance businesses, and is studying a possible breakup of its remaining units.
	Bitcoin bombs, cryptocoins crash on regulation fears Bitcoin, the best known of hundreds of 'virtual' coins, slumped Tuesday to a six-week low below $12,000 as analysts blamed a rush by various jurisdictions to regulate the sector.
	Latvia's e-health system hit by cyberattack from abroad Latvia said its new e-health system was on Tuesday hit by a large-scale cyberattack that saw thousands of requests for medical prescriptions pour in per second from more than 20 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the European Union.
Click, tap, buy: Holiday shoppers spent record amount online Shoppers spent a record amount online during the holiday season.
New UVa data center part of $200M microelectronics venture A new, multimillion-dollar center at the University of Virginia will bring together researchers to eliminate a data bottleneck built into computer systems 70 years ago.
	Citigroup says women have a pay gap of 1% compared to men Under pressure to provide data on pay equity, US financial giant Citigroup said Tuesday its female and minority employees face a pay gap of just one percent compared to men.

Medicine & Health news

	Neuroscientists suggest a model for how we gain volitional control of what we hold in our minds Working memory is a sort of "mental sketchpad" that allows you to accomplish everyday tasks such as calling in your hungry family's takeout order and finding the bathroom you were just told "will be the third door on the right after you walk straight down that hallway and make your first left." It also allows your mind to go from merely responding to your environment to consciously asserting your agenda.
	Group recreates DNA of man who died in 1827 despite having no body to work with An international team of researchers led by a group with deCODE Genetics, a biopharmaceutical company in Iceland, has partly recreated the DNA of a man who died in 1827, despite having no body to take tissue samples from. In their paper published in the journal Nature Genetics, the team describes reconstructing "a sizable portion" of the original DNA of the man by studying DNA samples from his descendants.
	Miles Davis is not Mozart: The brains of jazz and classical pianists work differently Keith Jarret, world-famous jazz pianist, once answered in an interview when asked if he would ever be interested in doing a concert where he would play both jazz and classical music: "No, that's hilarious. [...] It's like a chosen practically impossible thing [...] It's [because of] the circuitry. Your system demands different circuitry for either of those two things." Where non-specialists tend to think that it should not be too challenging for a professional musician to switch between styles of music, such as jazz and classical, it is actually not as easy as one would assume, even for people with decades of experience.
	Even without nudging blood pressure up, high-salt diet hobbles the brain A high-salt diet may spell trouble for the brain—and for mental performance—even if it doesn't push blood pressure into dangerous territory, new research has found.
	Researchers identify protein involved in cocaine addiction Mount Sinai researchers have identified a protein produced by the immune system—granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF)—that could be responsible for the development of cocaine addiction.
	Thirty-year study shows women who breastfeed for six months or more reduce their diabetes risk In a long-term national study, breastfeeding for six months or longer cuts the risk of developing type 2 diabetes nearly in half for women throughout their childbearing years, according to new Kaiser Permanente research published Jan. 16 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
	The surprising role of gene architecture in cell fate decisions Scientists read the code of life—the genome—as a sequence of letters, but now researchers have also started exploring its three-dimensional organisation. In a paper published in Nature Genetics, an interdisciplinary research team of scientists from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain, shows that the three-dimensional organisation of the genome plays a key role in gene expression and consequently in determining cell fate.
	New study reveals why some people are more creative than others Creativity is often defined as the ability to come up with new and useful ideas. Like intelligence, it can be considered a trait that everyone – not just creative "geniuses" like Picasso and Steve Jobs – possesses in some capacity.
	Researchers devise decoy molecule to block pain where it starts For anyone who has accidentally injured themselves, Dr. Zachary Campbell not only sympathizes, he's developing new ways to blunt pain.
	Epigenetics study helps focus search for autism risk factors Scientists have long tried to pin down the causes of autism spectrum disorder. Recent studies have expanded the search for genetic links from identifying genes toward epigenetics, the study of factors that control gene expression and looks at chemical modifications of DNA and the proteins associated with it. The challenge is knowing where to look, given that our genome is comprised of more than three billion nucleotides, or building blocks, of DNA.
	New study offers insights on genetic indicators of COPD risk Researchers have discovered that genetic variations in the anatomy of the lungs could serve as indicators to help identify people who have low, but stable, lung function early in life, and those who are particularly at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) because of a smoke-induced decline in lung function. The results of the study, which was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), appear this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
	A 'touching sight': How babies' brains process touch builds foundations for learning Touch is the first of the five senses to develop, yet scientists know far less about the baby's brain response to touch than to, say, the sight of mom's face, or the sound of her voice.
	Brain zaps may help curb tics of Tourette syndrome Electric zaps can help rewire the brains of Tourette syndrome patients, effectively reducing their uncontrollable vocal and motor tics, a new study shows.
	Who uses phone apps to track sleep habits? Mostly the healthy and wealthy in US The profile of most Americans who use popular mobile phone apps that track sleep habits is that they are relatively affluent, claim to eat well, and say they are in good health, even if some of them tend to smoke.
	Being bilingual may help autistic children Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often have a hard time switching gears from one task to another. But being bilingual may actually make it a bit easier for them to do so, according to a new study which was recently published in Child Development.
	Pediatric physician-scientists struggle for funding For young physician-scientists, obtaining research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) can be a springboard to significant contributions to medicine and further professional opportunities. A lack of funding, meanwhile, can stall possible discoveries and short-circuit the careers of young scientists.
Computer-aided facial analysis helps diagnosis In rare diseases, the computer-aided image analysis of patient portraits can facilitate and significantly improve diagnosis. This is demonstrated by an international team of scientists under the leadership of the University Hospital Bonn and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin on the basis of so-called GPI anchor deficiencies. Using data on genetic material, cell surface texture and typical facial features, researchers utilized artificial intelligence methods to simulate disease models. The results may also be groundbreaking for other diseases and are now being presented in the journal Genome Medicine.
	Breast cancer treatment link to chronic disease Women who have undergone hormonal therapy for breast cancer are at increased risk of developing chronic conditions later in life, according to new research.
	The more competitive, the more passionate in romantic relationships Americans are more passionate toward their romantic partners than Japanese people are because Americans live in social environments in which people have greater freedom to choose and replace their partners, a team of Japanese researchers suggest.
Scientists unleash power of genetic data to identify disease risk Massive banks of genetic information are being harnessed to shed new light on modifiable health risks that underlie common diseases.
	Every £1 invested in medical research returns 25p per year, forever: study What is the economic value of medical research? A new study from Brunel University London and King's College London suggests we now know the answer – for every £1 invested, society benefits by 25p per year, every year, forever.
Effect of gut bacteria on specific immune cells underlies persistent liver inflammation Persistent liver inflammation in sufferers of chronic viral hepatitis is likely caused by interactions between pro-inflammatory immune cells in the liver and products from gut bacteria, according to new work involving A*STAR researchers. The findings identify new therapeutic targets.
	Why certain cancer therapeutics may bind—or fail to bind—to mutant proteins A single molecule of water is the reason certain mutations are more responsive to a 'targeted' cancer therapy, according to molecular-scale simulations carried out at the A*STAR Bioinformatics Institute.
Metformin could one day be used to treat malignant tumors A*STAR researchers have provided strong evidence, using patient tumor grafts, that metformin, a common diabetes drug, might help fight colorectal cancer in humans.
Oral health may have an important role in cancer prevention The bacteria that cause periodontitis, a disease affecting the tissues surrounding the teeth, seems to play a part also in the onset of pancreatic cancer, say the researchers at the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University Hospital, Finland, and the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Young people with shared residency have fewer mental problems Young people with shared residency after their parents' divorce have fewer mental problems than young people with other residency arrangements.
New software better able to predict leakage around aortic stents Researchers at the St. Antonius Hospital Utrecht/Nieuwegein and the University of Twente have developed software to better predict the risk of blood leaking around a patient's aortic stent. Last week, Richte Schuurmann, a Technical Physician, was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Twente for his research on this topic.
	Young gang members also at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder Until recently, researchers have associated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with being a victim of trauma. Now, new findings from the US suggest that the act of killing or perpetrating violence could be even more traumatic than being a victim.
	Adult leukaemia can be caused by gene implicated in breast cancer and obesity When people think of leukaemia, they usually think of blood cancers that affect children. These mostly come under the category of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – or ALL – and are different to the group of blood cancers which predominantly affect adults over the age of 60, known as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
	We can't afford to ignore indoor air quality – our lives depend on it We often talk about healthy living and quality of life but have you considered the quality of the air you breathe? Most of us spend up to 90% of our time indoors, according to many surveys. Add up the time you spend at home, in the office and on transport, and you will see how close this figure is for yourself.
	Indigenous group tackles diabetes with storytelling When Emily's mother lay dying of kidney failure from years of diabetes, Emily begged the doctors to take her kidney and transplant it into her mom. But the doctors refused —Emily had diabetes too. She would need both kidneys herself.
	New approach is helping youngsters steer clear of alcohol In 15 public middle schools in rural Oregon, UO education researcher Mark Van Ryzin is testing an old approach proven to enhance learning to see if it can be adapted to head off behavioral problems. It appears to be working.
	Children find it easier to lie to robots Ph.D. candidate Mariana Serras Pereira's research into misleading and deceptive behavior among children reveals that body language is very telling, and that children find it easier to lie to robots than to human beings. They laugh more often when lying, they are more fidgety, and they tend to avoid eye contact. There are also differences in their speech patterns: They pause less often between sentences and they pronounce words more slowly.
	Cannabis abuse alters activity of brain regions linked to negative emotion Young people with cannabis dependence have altered brain function that may be the source of emotional disturbances and increased psychosis risk that are associated with cannabis abuse, according to a new study published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. The alterations were most pronounced in people who started using cannabis at a young age. The findings reveal potential negative long-term effects of heavy cannabis use on brain function and behavior, which remain largely unknown despite the drug's wide use and efforts to legalize the substance.
	How the temperature of your nose shows how much strain you are under Researchers at the University of Nottingham's Institute for Aerospace Technology (IAT), together with academic staff from the Bioengineering and Human Factors Research Groups, have demonstrated that facial temperatures, which can be easily measured using a non-invasive thermal camera, are strongly correlated to mental workload.
	Study: No evidence to support link between violent video games and behaviour Researchers at the University of York have found no evidence to support the theory that video games make players more violent.
	Statins are safe for children with abnormal cholesterol levels The charity says the findings will 'reassure' parents of children with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) – an inherited condition that significantly increases the risk of a heart attack in their 40s, 30s or even 20s.
	Workplace workouts... and why they work (HealthDay)—Workplace wellness programs are great ways to get in shape, but what if your employer doesn't offer one? Here's how to get the (exercise) ball rolling.
	Women who have gestational diabetes in pregnancy are at higher risk of future health issues Women who have gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during pregnancy have a higher than usual risk of developing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease in the future, according to new research led by the University of Birmingham.
Spontaneous labor progression for vaginal births is slower than expected in many women Cervical dilatation during labour for vaginal births can progress more slowly than the widely accepted benchmark of 1 cm/hour in many women, according to a new data published this week in PLOS Medicine by Olufemi Oladapo, Medical Officer at WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research including the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), Switzerland, and colleagues.
	Analysis shows lack of evidence that wearable biosensors improve patient outcomes Wearable biosensors have grown increasingly popular as many people use them in wristbands or watches to count steps or track sleep. But there is not enough proof that these devices are improving patient outcomes such as weight or blood pressure, according to a study by Cedars-Sinai investigators published in the new Nature Partner Journal, npj Digital Medicine.
Long-term health conditions drive A&E visits, not lack of GP services Rising accident and emergency attendance rates are driven by patients' long term health conditions, and are not related to lack of GP provision, according to a study by Queen Mary University of London of more than 800,000 patients in east London.
	California hospitals face 'war zone' of flu patients, and are setting up tents to treat them Ana Oktay rushed to the hospital in late December struggling to breathe, with a 102-degree fever and a cough that wouldn't let up.
	Previous influenza virus exposures enhance susceptibility in another influenza pandemic While past exposure to influenza A viruses often builds immunity to similar, and sometimes different, strains of the virus, Canadian researchers are calling for more attention to exceptions to that rule.
	More evidence of link between severe gum disease and cancer risk Data collected during a long-term health study provides additional evidence for a link between increased risk of cancer in individuals with advanced gum disease, according to a new collaborative study led by epidemiologists Dominique Michaud at Tufts University School of Medicine and Elizabeth Platz of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Kimmel Cancer Center.
Research uncovers new link between head trauma, CTE and Lou Gehrig's disease Researchers at Western University have uncovered a unique neurobiological pathway triggered by head trauma which underlies both Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and Lou Gehrig's disease.
Bile acids fire up fat burning Obesity arises from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. As a result, current treatments try to decrease calorie intake and/or increase energy expenditure.
	Researchers identify new treatment target for melanoma Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a new therapeutic target for the treatment of melanoma. For decades, research has associated female sex and a history of previous pregnancy with better outcomes after a melanoma diagnosis. Now, a research team from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania says it may have determined the reason for the melanoma-protective effect. The mechanism is related to a cellular protein called the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER). When GPER was activated and combined with anti PD-1inhibitor drugs in mouse cancer models, the therapy dramatically extended survival in all animals and completely eliminated the tumor in 50 percent of the mice. Researchers published their findings in the journal eLife today.
	New blood test for diagnosing heart attacks: A 'big deal,' with caveats When diagnosing a heart attack, accuracy and timing are everything.
Rising obesity rates in South leading to rapid increase in diabetes cases Rising obesity rates in several Southern states are leading to a rapid increase in new cases of diabetes among both black and white adults. A new study helmed by investigators at the University of Texas Health Science Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) found the risk of diabetes is double for black patients.
	Evening hours may pose higher risk for overeating, especially when under stress, study finds Experiments with a small group of overweight men and women have added to evidence that "hunger hormone" levels rise and "satiety (or fullness) hormone" levels decrease in the evening. The findings also suggest that stress may increase hunger hormone levels more in the evening, and the impact of hormones on appetite may be greater for people prone to binge eating.
Scientists identify genes implicated in the high regenerative capacity of embryos and ESCs Researchers at Insilico Medicine, AgeX Therapeutics and the Biogerontology Research Foundation have published a landmark study titled "Use of deep neural network ensembles to identify embryonic-fetal transition markers: repression of COX7A1 in embryonic and cancer cells" in the journal Oncotarget.
Insurance company requirements place heavy burden on physicians seeking to prescribe new cholesterol-lowering drugs A rare glimpse into the prior authorization requirements implemented by public and private insurance providers across the country has found substantial administrative burden for a new class of medications for patients with high cholesterol that places them at high risk for heart attack or stroke, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. So-called proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors are self-injected medications approved for individuals with a genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and those with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) who have high cholesterol despite receiving traditional statin medications and other treatments. Results of the study are published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
	Video: The only video you'll ever need to watch about gluten Bakers on TV are always talking about whether their goodies have enough gluten. But the masses on Twitter act like gluten is some kind of monster hiding in your bread.
	Older adults are increasingly identifying—but still likely underestimating—cognitive impairment An increasing number of older adults are reporting cognitive impairment in their families over the past two decades, according to a new study led by researchers at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine.
Oxysterols guide gut immune cells and are involved in inflammatory bowel disease Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report that cholesterol metabolites cause specific immune cells in the large intestine to move, which lies behind the formation of the immune system's important lymphoid tissue in the intestine. The study, published in the journal Immunity, paves the way for a new possible treatment for patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
Can training improve memory, thinking abilities in older adults with cognitive impairment? Cognition is the ability to think and make decisions. Medication-free treatments that maintain cognitive health as we age are attracting the attention of medical experts. Maintaining the ability to think clearly and make decisions is crucial to older adults' well-being and vitality.
	Researchers identify new way to unmask melanoma cells to the immune system system, which enables these deadly skin cancers to grow and spread.
	Bariatric surgery prolongs lifespan in obese Obese, middle-age men and women who had bariatric surgery have half the death rate of those who had traditional medical treatment over a 10-year period, reports a study that answers questions about the long-term risk of the surgery.
	Researchers find new gene variant linked to deadly prostate cancer Cleveland Clinic researchers have confirmed for the first time a mechanistic link between the gene HSD17B4 and deadly, treatment-resistant prostate cancer.
	Is obesity slowing gains in U.S. life spans? (HealthDay)—The death rate in the United States isn't decreasing as it has in years past, and some experts blame the opioid epidemic. But a new study suggests America's increasing girth is what's really behind the slowdown.
	From birth on, one sex is hardier (HealthDay)—Women are known to outlive men. And that advantage may start early, according to researchers who've found baby girls more likely to survive famines, epidemics and other misfortunes.
	Rats may not have driven the black death plague after all (HealthDay)—It's thought to have killed between 30 and 60 percent of Europe's population, but the Black Death plague may not have been spread by flea-infested rats, Norwegian scientists report.
	Color-coded drug storage trays may cut medication errors (HealthDay)—Color-coded compartmentalized "rainbow trays" used for anesthetic drug preparation and storage may improve patient safety, according to a study published online Jan. 3 in Anaesthesia.
	Home visit program can help prevent toddler obesity (HealthDay)—The "Minding the Baby" (MTB) parenting home visiting program can significantly lower rates of obesity in young children, according to a study published online Jan. 16 in Pediatrics.
	T-cells engineered to outsmart tumors induce clinical responses in relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma WASHINGTON-(Jan. 16, 2018)-Tumors have come up with ingenious strategies that enable them to evade detection and destruction by the immune system. So, a research team that includes Children's National Health System clinician-researchers has validated a way to outfox the tumors. They engineered T-cells, essential players in the body's own immune system, to strip tumors of their self-preservation skill and were able to hold Hodgkin lymphoma at bay in patients with relapsed disease for more than four years. What's more, they infused patients with the tumor-directed T-cells without requiring "pretreatment" chemotherapy.
	Patients receive most opioids at the doctor's office, not the ER Around the country, state legislatures and hospitals have tightened emergency room prescribing guidelines for opioids to curb the addiction epidemic, but a new USC study shows that approach diverts attention from the main sources of prescription painkillers.
Pregnant women in NC exposed to less secondhand nicotine after 'smoking ban' A new study from Duke Health has found pregnant women experienced less secondhand smoke exposure since the 2009 passage of the 'smoking ban' in North Carolina, which outlawed smoking inside public places such as bars and restaurants. The research was published online in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
	Are amoebae safe harbors for plague? Amoebae, single-celled organisms common in soil, water and grade-school science classrooms, may play a key role in the survival and spread of deadly plague bacteria.
Who might benefit from immunotherapy? New study suggests possible marker While immunotherapy has made a big impact on cancer treatment, the fact remains that only about a quarter of patients respond to these treatments.
	Study advances gene therapy for glaucoma While testing genes to treat glaucoma by reducing pressure inside the eye, University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists stumbled onto a problem: They had trouble getting efficient gene delivery to the cells that act like drains to control fluid pressure in the eye.
	Bright light therapy improves sleep in people treated for cancer Results of a randomized controlled trial suggest that systematic bright light exposure can improve sleep for fatigued people who have been treated for cancer.
	From a novel support group to a book, learning from seven widowed fathers It was a seemingly unremarkable decision that started UNC Lineberger's Donald Rosenstein, MD, and Justin Yopp, PhD, on a rather remarkable journey.
Russians cut back on drinking, smoking as fitness trend grows Russians are drinking less than at any point since the fall of the Soviet Union, figures show, as a raft of government measures bear fruit and healthy living becomes ever more fashionable.
Deadly fugu fish flub prompts Japan emergency warning A Japanese city has activated an emergency warning system to alert residents to avoid eating locally purchased blowfish, after a mix-up saw toxic parts of the delicacy go on sale.
Dozens of toddlers die from malnutrition, measles in Papua Dozens of toddlers in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province have died from malnutrition and measles over the past few months, a military spokesman said Tuesday, underscoring a lack of accessible medical care in the remote region.
Early results reported on e-health tool to prevent opioid overdose The new ORION e-health psychoeducational tool, designed to help opioid-dependent individuals prevent an overdose, can impart new knowledge and impact a person's intention to change opioid abuse behavior, but it did not improve overall self-efficacy in overdose prevention. Researchers concluded that ORION was useful for identifying individuals most in need of reducing modifiable risk factors through appropriate interventions, as reported in an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
	Greying France having fewer babies France may be Europe's most fertile country but even there the birth rate is falling and mothers are choosing to wait before starting a family, according to data released Tuesday.
	WHO: All of Sao Paulo state at risk for yellow fever The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that it now considers all of Sao Paulo state at risk for yellow fever, recommending that all international visitors to the state be vaccinated.
Evidence supports 'weekend effect' for mortality after surgery As for other types of medical care, surgery appears to be prone to a significant "weekend effect"— with higher odds of death when surgery is performed during or one or two days before the weekend, suggests a report in the February issue of Medical Care.
	New molecular probes to allow non-destructive analysis of bioengineered cartilage A new study describes novel probes that enable non-invasive, non-destructive, direct monitoring of the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in real-time during the formation of engineered cartilage to replace damaged or diseased tissue. These molecular probes make it possible to assess the quality of the cartilaginous tissue and its suitability for implantation as it is forming, and to make modifications to enhance the multi-step process of MSC differentiation into chondrocytes "on the go," as described in a study published in Tissue Engineering, Part A.
Study finds black children face higher risk of death post surgery A recent study, Race, Preoperative Risk Factors, and Death After Surgery, has found that black children are more than twice as likely to die following surgery than white children and describes race-specific models to predict surgical outcomes. The study has been published online, and will be published in the February 2018 issue of Pediatrics.
	Increased risk of thrombosis in myeloproliferative neoplasms (HealthDay)—Patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) have increased risk of arterial thrombosis and venous thrombosis across all age groups and MPN subtypes, according to a study published online Jan. 16 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Biology news

	Key player in cell metabolism identified Researchers from the Genomic Instability and Cancer Laboratory at Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have identified a key role for EXD2 in protein production in the mitochondria, the cellular organelles responsible for the majority of energy generation.
	Scientists use vibrations within cells to identify their mechanical properties Scientists at Université de Montréal have developed a unique technique to map, on a scale of milliseconds, the elasticity of the components inside a cell.
	New study suggests human fleas and lice were behind Black Death, not rodents A team of researchers with the University of Oslo has found evidence that suggests human fleas and lice, not rodents, were behind the spread of the plague that killed millions of people over the course of several centuries. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group reports using mathematical models from mortality records to demonstrate how the plague would have spread under different scenarios and what they found by doing so.
	How winter temps can affect your spring fishing Cold winter weather can play a key role in what you're allowed to fish for next spring. That point was driven home when low temperatures in early January led North Carolina to temporarily bar fishing for spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), one of the most popular targets for recreational anglers.
	Researchers identify 'social place cells' in the brain that respond to the locations of others Whether we're playing a team sport or just strolling with our family through the park, we're continually aware of the positions of those around us - and where each is heading. Scientists have, in recent decades, pinpointed neurons called "place cells" in our brains that encode our own location in the environment, but how our brains represent the positions of others has been a mystery. New Weizmann Institute of Science research in bats, which was published in Science, reveals a sub-population of neurons that encode the specific location of other bats that are flying nearby.
	Named after Stanley Kubrick, a new species of frog is a 'clockwork orange' of nature Two new treefrog species were discovered in the Amazon Basin of Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil. Both had been previously misidentified as another superficially identical species.
	Great scat! Bears—not birds—are the chief seed dispersers in Alaska It's a story of bears, birds and berries.
	New study shows producers where and how to grow cellulosic biofuel crops According to a recent ruling by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 288 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel must be blended into the U.S. gasoline supply in 2018. Although this figure is down slightly from last year, the industry is still growing at a modest pace. However, until now, producers have had to rely on incomplete information and unrealistic, small-scale studies in guiding their decisions about which feedstocks to grow, and where. A new multi-institution report provides practical agronomic data for five cellulosic feedstocks, which could improve adoption and increase production across the country.
	Drones confirm importance of Costa Rican waters for sea turtles Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs during mass-nesting events at Ostional National Wildlife Refuge on Costa Rica's Pacific coast, making it one of the most important nesting beaches in the world.
	New study suggests shark declines can lead to changes in reef fish body shapes Scientists studying nearly identical coral reef systems off Australia discovered something unusual on the reefs subjected to nearly exclusive fishing of sharks—fish with significantly smaller eyes and tails. The study is the first field evidence of body shape changes in fish due to human-driven shark declines from overfishing. These findings shed new light on the cascading effects the loss of the ocean's top predators is having on marine ecosystems.
	Researchers use 3-D microtube platform to study lumen formation A team of scientists from Singapore and France, led by Professor Lim Chwee Teck, Principal Investigator at the Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the National University of Singapore, has described a novel 'microtube'-based platform to study how tubular organs, such as the heart and the kidneys, form under the various topographical restrictions commonly experienced inside the body. This study was published online in Nature Communications on 15 November 2017.
	Habitat fragmentation a bigger threat to Chile's güiña wildcat than persecution by humans Research by conservationists at the University of Kent has found that habitat fragmentation, and the subdivision of large farms into smaller ones, are the biggest threats facing the güiña wildcat in Chile.
	Skeleton teeth and historical photography are retelling the story of the plague New portraits of the evolution of some of history's deadliest pandemics have been created through analysis of thousands of skeletons and new collections of historical photographs—and the results could indicate how similar diseases may evolve in the future.
	Snapshot of DNA repair DNA is like the computer code of the body, and it must be preserved for our bodies to survive. Yet, as cells grow and change, DNA is vulnerable to defects, especially double strand breaks (DSBs). In fact, DSBs regularly occur throughout one's lifetime. The DNA is protected, however, by DNA repair machinery. A new study from scientists at Osaka University and The University of Tokyo describes the crystal structure of a crucial part of this machinery, the binding of RNF168 to ubiquitylated proteins and find a unique binding not seen in other ubiquitylated protein interactions.
	How chimp DNA techniques turned us into jungle detectives Finding wild chimpanzees is not easy. In the first ten years we spent scouring the remote woodlands of western Tanzania in search of them, we caught only fleeting glimpses and brief views of their shadows avoiding our very presence. Chimpanzees are naturally clever and elusive. They seem to know where you will go before you known yourself. And they have an amazing way of blending into the forest or else escaping undetected.
'Magic pools' approach can hurry studies of novel bacteria To characterize the genes of newly identified bacteria, microbiologists often introduce mutations within the bacteria using mobile DNA segments called transposons to study the impact of these mutations.
	World's largest sea turtle could come off 'endangered' list Federal ocean managers say it might be time to move the East Coast population of the world's largest turtle from the United States' list of endangered animals.
	In sweet corn, workhorses win When deciding which sweet corn hybrids to plant, vegetable processors need to consider whether they want their contract growers using a workhorse or a racehorse. Is it better to choose a hybrid with exceptional yields under ideal growing conditions (i.e., the racehorse) or one that performs consistently well across ideal and less-than-ideal conditions (i.e., the workhorse)? New research from the University of Illinois suggests the workhorse is the winner in processing sweet corn.
Scholars develop new technology to decode gene transcription facilitating discovery of targeted therapy drugs A research team from the School of Chinese Medicine (SCM) of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has developed the world's first model framework and "LogicTRN" algorithm to accurately establish a gene regulatory route to analyse the genetic function and understand the biological processes that are responsible for the development of organs, progression of diseases and other complex biological events such as aging. Such a new mechanism could help efficiently locate the key regulatory route for complicated diseases, thereby facilitating the research and development of targeted therapy drugs. The research team has successfully applied the new integrative approach to analyse breast cancer and characterise the logical relations among transcription factors (TFs) in regulating biological processes. The work was recently published in the prestigious academic journal Nature Communications.
	Pheasant project has potential to advance land management research A new web-based application from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will allow the state's wildlife managers to examine how virtually manipulating land cover in a region could affect pheasant populations—and how much such efforts might cost.
	EU parliament calls for ban on electric pulse fishing The European Parliament called Tuesday for a ban on electric pulse fishing in the European Union, defying Brussels which wants the experimental practice in the North Sea done on a larger scale.
Centenarian elm falls in Seattle park, closing a chapter of history It stood for about a century, right at the center of this vast green sward, but a windstorm at the stub end of the year took it down, felling one of the biggest American elms left in Seattle's city parks.
	Memory gene goes viral Two independent teams of scientists from the University of Utah and the University of Massachusetts Medical School have discovered that a gene crucial for learning, called Arc, can send its genetic material from one neuron to another by employing a strategy commonly used by viruses. The studies, both published in Cell, unveil a new way that nervous system cells interact.

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