Science X Newsletter Week 52

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 52:

	Lack of sleep boosts levels of Alzheimer's proteins Have you resolved to take better care of yourself in the new year? Here's a relatively painless way to do it: Catch a few more zzz's every night. A third of American adults don't get enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
	Cancer overrides the circadian clock to survive Tumor cells use the unfolded protein response to alter circadian rhythm, which contributes to more tumor growth, Hollings Cancer Center researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) find. A key part of the circadian clock opposes this process, according to a paper published online Dec. 11 in Nature Cell Biology.
	Researchers find potential path to repair multiple sclerosis-damaged nerves Gene expression in specific cells and in specific regions can provide a more precise, neuroprotective approach than traditional treatments for neurological diseases. For multiple sclerosis, specifically, increasing cholesterol synthesis gene expression in astrocytes of the spinal cord can be a pathway to repair nerves that affect walking.
	Neurons' sugar coating is essential for long-term memories How the brain is able to store memories over long periods of time has been a persistent mystery to neuroscientists. In a new study, researchers from the Centre for Integrative Neuroplasticity (CINPLA) at the University of Oslo show that long-lived extracellular matrix molecules called perineuronal nets are essential for distant memories.
	Is punishment as effective as we think? A game to study human behavior has shown punishment is an ineffective means for promoting cooperation among players. The result has implications for understanding how cooperation has evolved to have a formative role in human societies.
	Efficiently reading piano musical scores by analyzing geometrical information in musical notes Musical scores for piano usually have a large number of notes and instructions, such as marks indicating expression, articulation, and accidentals. When pianists sight-read sheet music, they must decode such information instantly and transform it into finger actions and movement. However, it is still not clear how pianists are able to achieve such fast decoding.
	Researchers describe first-ever hybrid bird species from the Amazon A team of U of T Scarborough researchers have described the first known hybrid bird species to be found in the Amazon rainforest.
	Genes in Space-3 successfully identifies unknown microbes in space Being able to identify microbes in real time aboard the International Space Station, without having to send them back to Earth for identification first, would be revolutionary for the world of microbiology and space exploration. The Genes in Space-3 team turned that possibility into a reality this year, when it completed the first-ever sample-to-sequence process entirely aboard the space station. Results from their investigation were published in Scientific Reports.
	Chemists provide theoretical interpretation to understand chemical reactions In a lot of ways, understanding quantum mechanical equations in an effort to predict what will happen between reactants such as atoms and molecules resulting in complex phenomena in chemistry can be exhausting, and mind boggling to many. Yet, without the theoretical insights, experimental chemists would largely be unable to understand what they are observing.
	Research shows Clean Air Act is likely responsible for dramatic decline in atmospheric organic aerosol The air we breathe contains particulate matter from a range of natural and human-related sources. Particulate matter is responsible for thousands of premature deaths in the United States each year, but legislation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is credited with significantly decreasing this number, as well as the amount of particulate matter in the atmosphere. However, the EPA may not be getting the full credit they deserve: new research from MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) proposes that the EPA's legislation may have saved even more lives than initially reported.
	Neuroscientists identify a circuit that helps the brain record memories of new locations When you enter a room, your brain is bombarded with sensory information. If the room is a place you know well, most of this information is already stored in long-term memory. However, if the room is unfamiliar to you, your brain creates a new memory of it almost immediately.
	Source code for Apple's 1983 Lisa computer to be made public next year Before there was an iPhone, iMac or Macintosh, Apple had the Lisa computer.
	Self-fertilizing fish have surprising amount of genetic diversity As weird animals go, the mangrove killifish is in a class of its own. It flourishes in both freshwater and water with twice as much salt as the ocean. It can live up to two months on land, breathing through its skin, before returning to the water with a series of spectacular 180-degree flips.
	New guideline: Try exercise to improve memory, thinking For patients with mild cognitive impairment, don't be surprised if your health care provider prescribes exercise rather than medication. A new guideline for medical practitioners says they should recommend twice-weekly exercise to people with mild cognitive impairment to improve memory and thinking.
	Neuroscientists shed light on causes of postpartum depression using new research model Postpartum depression strikes nearly one in five new mothers, who may experience anxiety, severe fatigue, inability to bond with their children and suicidal thoughts. Such depression has also been associated with infants' developmental difficulties. Although stress has been identified as a significant risk factor for postpartum depression, this complex disorder is still poorly understood. Now neuroscientists at Tufts University School of Medicine have generated a novel preclinical model of postpartum depression and demonstrated involvement of the neuroendocrine system that mediates physiological response to stress, called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is normally suppressed during and after pregnancy. The findings in mice provide the first empirical evidence that disruption of this system engenders behaviors that mimic postpartum depression in humans.
	California company gets FCC approval for at-a-distance device charging Energous, a San Jose, Calif., company, is the first firm to receive federal approval for a wireless charging system purported to power devices from up to 3 feet away, the company said.
	A classic Darwinian ecological hypothesis holds up—with a twist New University of Colorado Boulder-led research shows that a long-held hypothesis about the factors that govern species ranges largely holds true, but may be the result of a previously underappreciated ecological mechanism.
	Mitochondrial metabolite linked to regulation of neurotransmission A team of researchers has discovered a novel level of regulation of the communication between neurons and other cells. The metabolite alpha-ketoglutarate, a product of the metabolism of mitochondria, the energy generators of the cell, plays an unexpected role in the regulation of neurotransmission linking mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal disorders. The study appears in the journal Cell Reports.
	Short-term exposure to low levels of air pollution linked with premature death among US seniors Short-term exposures to fine particulate air pollution and ozone—even at levels well below current national safety standards—were linked to higher risk of premature death among the elderly in the U.S. according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
	Engineers hack cell biology to create 3-D shapes from living tissue Many of the complex folded shapes that form mammalian tissues can be recreated with very simple instructions, UC San Francisco bioengineers report December 28 in the journal Developmental Cell. By patterning mechanically active mouse or human cells to thin layers of extracellular matrix fibers, the researchers could create bowls, coils, and ripples out of living tissue. The cells collaborated mechanically through a web of these fibers to fold themselves up in predictable ways, mimicking natural developmental processes.

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