Science X Newsletter Thursday, May 31

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Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for May 31, 2018:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

Cell-like nanorobots clear bacteria and toxins from blood

Researchers have identified 121 giant planets that may have habitable moons

Genes found only in humans influence brain size

Study shows how Earth slows the solar wind to a gentle breeze

Scientists rethink co-evolution of marine life, oxygenated oceans

First peoples: Study finds two ancient ancestries 'reconverged' with settling of South America

Scientists reveal the secrets behind Pluto's dunes

AI researchers design 'privacy filter' for your photos that disables facial recognition systems

From face recognition to phase recognition: Neural network captures atomic-scale rearrangements

Engineers design new solid polymer electrolyte, paving way for safer, smaller batteries and fuel cells

An artificial nerve system gives prosthetic devices and robots a sense of touch

Gravitational wave event likely signaled creation of a black hole

New quantum computer design to predict molecule properties

Social ties could preserve memory, slow brain aging

Climate change increasing risks of lightning-ignited fires, study finds

Astronomy & Space news

	Researchers have identified 121 giant planets that may have habitable moons We've all heard about the search for life on other planets, but what about looking on other moons?
	Scientists reveal the secrets behind Pluto's dunes Scientists have discovered dunes on Pluto, and say they are likely to have been formed of methane ice grains released into its rarefied atmosphere.
	Gravitational wave event likely signaled creation of a black hole The spectacular merger of two neutron stars that generated gravitational waves announced last fall likely did something else: birthed a black hole. This newly spawned black hole would be the lowest mass black hole ever found.
	Cosmic collision lights up the darkness Though it resembles a peaceful rose swirling in the darkness of the cosmos, NGC 3256 is actually the site of a violent clash. This distorted galaxy is the relic of a collision between two spiral galaxies, estimated to have occurred 500 million years ago. Today it is still reeling in the aftermath of this event.
	Dawn mission: new orbit, new opportunities NASA's Dawn spacecraft is maneuvering to its lowest-ever orbit for a close-up examination of the inner solar system's only dwarf planet.
	NASA dives deep into the search for life Off the coast of Hawaii's Big Island and more than 3,000 feet beneath the ocean surface lie the warm, bubbling springs of a volcano—a deep-sea location that may hold lessons for the search for extraterrestrial life.
	Firing up a new alloy: Sintering solutions aboard the ISS A centuries-old materials bonding process is being tested aboard the International Space Station in an experiment that could pave the way for more materials research of its kind aboard the orbiting laboratory. Sintering is the process of heating different materials to compress their particles together.
	Image: Black hole bounty captured in the center of the Milky Way Astronomers have discovered evidence for thousands of black holes located near the center of our Milky Way galaxy using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
	Virgin Galactic performs the second test of VSS Unity, reaching Mach 1.9 When it comes to the dream of commercial space exploration and space tourism, a few names really stand out. In addition to Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, you have Richard Branson – the founder and CEO of the Virgin Group. For years, Branson has sought to make space tourism a reality through Virgin Galactic, which would take passengers into suborbit using his SpaceShipTwo class of rocket planes.

Technology news

	AI researchers design 'privacy filter' for your photos that disables facial recognition systems Each time you upload a photo or video to a social media platform, its facial recognition systems learn a little more about you. These algorithms ingest data about who you are, your location and people you know — and they're constantly improving.
	An artificial nerve system gives prosthetic devices and robots a sense of touch Stanford and Seoul National University researchers have developed an artificial sensory nerve system that can activate the twitch reflex in a cockroach and identify letters in the Braille alphabet.
	Qualcomm platform poised for good times in standalone extended reality You have heard much about virtual reality, and not always with a rainbow attached. (Nicole Kobie in Alphr reminded readers that "VR headsets have improved and prices have fallen. So why aren't they selling? Stewart points to one main reason: headsets are uncomfortable. They also cause motion sickness in some, and are socially isolating, as vision in both eyes is blocked. Oh, and they're heavy.")
	Device allows a personal computer to process huge graphs In data-science parlance, graphs are structures of nodes and connecting lines that are used to map scores of complex data relationships. Analyzing graphs is useful for a broad range of applications, such as ranking webpages, analyzing social networks for political insights, or plotting neuron structures in the brain.
	A multimaterial, voxel-printing method turns imaging datasets into physical objects The world is awash in digital images, from photographs to x-rays to computer models to 3-D scans. The advent of 3-D printing has made it possible to take imaging data and print it into physical representations, but the process of doing so has been prohibitively time-intensive and costly.
	Waymo adds 62,000 vehicles for autonomous taxi service Google-owned Waymo is adding as many as 62,000 Fiat Chrysler minivans to its autonomous fleet in an expanded collaboration announced by the companies on Thursday.
	Combining experts and automation in 3-D printing Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering have developed a novel approach to optimizing soft material 3-D printing. The researchers' Expert-Guided Optimization (EGO) method combines expert judgment with an optimization algorithm that efficiently searches combinations of parameters relevant for 3-D printing, enabling high-fidelity soft material products to be printed.
	Amazon blocks Australia from global sites over tax US internet giant Amazon will block Australian shoppers from its international websites to counter new tax laws on online purchases, it announced Thursday.
	Smartphone market to stay cool this year: forecast International Data Corporation forecast Wednesday that global smartphone sales would cool this year before heating up with help from new 5G networks and India's vibrant market.
	Massive AI Twitter probe draws heat map of entrepreneurial personality A world's first QUT-led study has used artificial intelligence to analyse regional personality characteristics estimated solely from language patterns in 1.5 billion Twitter posts and uncover hotspots and cold spots of entrepreneurial personality and activity across the US.
	Finding better magnets faster with 3-D metal printing prototyping The U.S. Department of Energy's Critical Materials Institute (CMI) used laser 3D metal printing to optimize a permanent magnet material that may make an economical alternative to the more expensive rare-earth neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets in some applications.
	Japan's SoftBank to sink $2.25B into GM autonomous car unit The Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank will spend $2.25 billion for a nearly a 20 percent stake in General Motors' autonomous vehicle unit.
	Hamburg leads charge with Germany's first diesel ban Hamburg on Thursday became the first German city to ban older diesel vehicles from some roads, a measure that is largely symbolic but disputed by carmakers and the government.
	GM revs up autonomous car unit and dormant shares fly Shares of General Motors posted their largest one-day gain since the company's rebirth from bankruptcy eight years ago, after Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank decided to pump $2.25 billion into GM's autonomous car unit.
	German spy agency can keep tabs on internet hubs: court Germany's spy agency can monitor major internet hubs if Berlin deems it necessary for strategic security interests, a federal court has ruled.
	Facebook sinking fast among US teens: survey Facebook is rapidly losing ground against rival internet platforms in attracting and keeping US teenagers, a survey showed Thursday.
	Telegram accuses Apple of blocking updates Secure messaging app Telegram accused Apple on Thursday of blocking its updates for users worldwide after Russian authorities imposed a ban on Telegram for refusing to hand over keys to decrypt messages.
	Walmart goes upscale with personal shopper service (Update) Walmart on Thursday unveiled a new concierge shopping service enabling customers to get quick deliveries and advice from a personal assistant, going upscale in the retail giant's battle with Amazon.
	Paper sensor to speed up sepsis diagnosis wins innovation competition A student-founded startup creating paper sensors to monitor breathing rates of hospital patients has won the White City Innovators' Programme.
	Indian government heads for airline auction flop India's government could be forced to rethink the auction of a majority stake in its debt-stricken airline Air India, with no bids yet received with a deadline looming Thursday.
	Surging oil prices to hurt airlines' profits: IATA Surging oil prices are forecast to dent airlines' profits and could significantly hurt their bottom lines next year, the boss of airline industry group IATA warned Thursday.
	ORNL ramps up production of key radioisotope for cancer-fighting drug The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now producing actinium-227 (Ac-227) to meet projected demand for a highly effective cancer drug through a 10-year contract between the U.S. DOE Isotope Program and Bayer.
	Deep breath: New 'rebreather' helps navy divers beneath the waves The muscular U.S. Navy diver hoisted a 60-pound life-support regulator onto his back, then donned a 30-pound metal helmet.

Medicine & Health news

	Genes found only in humans influence brain size A set of three nearly identical genes found only in humans appear to play a critical role in the development of our large brains, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
	Social ties could preserve memory, slow brain aging A strong social network could be the key to preserving memory.
	Brain cancer vaccine effective in some patients Most people with the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma die less than 18 months after diagnosis. But a multicenter clinical trial of a personalized vaccine that targets the aggressive cancer has indicated improved survival rates for such patients.
	New insights into nicotine's effect on reward pathways Northwestern scientists have discovered new mechanisms used by nicotine to manipulate the brain's reward pathway—findings which could inform the development of future anti-addiction therapies.
	Drugs that suppress immune system may protect against Parkinson's People who take drugs that suppress the immune system are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
	Got an appetite that won't subside? You've got hungry peptides A USC study shows the brain's plumbing system serves double duty, flushing waste and channeling a hunger molecule that tells you when you should eat.
	Neuroscientists discover roles of gene linked to Alzheimer's People with a gene variant called APOE4 have a higher risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease: APOE4 is three times more common among Alzheimer's patients than it is among the general population. However, little is known about why this version of the APOE gene, which is normally involved in metabolism and transport of fatty molecules such as cholesterol, confers higher risk for Alzheimer's.
	Single protein on-off switch controls learning flexibility and acquisition of new memories Scientists have for the first time shown how a single molecule expressed in the brain affects how we learn new tasks and acquire new memories.
	Brain pattern learning is different from other kinds of learning, study shows Detecting patterns is an important part of how humans learn and make decisions. Now, researchers have seen what is happening in people's brains as they first find patterns in information they are presented.
	The secret to longevity is in the microbiome and the gut You are what you eat. Or so the saying goes. Science now tells us that we are what the bacteria living in our intestinal tract eat and this could have an influence on how well we age. Building on this, McGill University scientists fed fruit flies with a combination of probiotics and an herbal supplement called Triphala that was able to prolong the flies' longevity by 60 % and protect them against chronic diseases associated with aging.
	Drowsy worms offer new insights into the neuroscience of sleep A good night of sleep entails about eight hours of blissful immobility—a state of near paralysis that, though welcome at night, would be inconvenient during the day. In a recent paper published in Cell Reports, Rockefeller scientists shed new light on the transitions between a wakeful, active state and the stillness of sleep.
	Discovery reveals how cells try to control levels of key HIV protein One of the many challenges in treating HIV is that the virus can lie dormant in cells, quietly evading immune detection until it suddenly roars to life without warning and begins replicating furiously. Salk Institute researchers discovered a small molecule called JIB-04 that destroys the HIV protein called Tat, responsible for revving up the virus.
	Bigger human brain prioritizes thinking hub—at a cost Some human brains are nearly twice the size of others—but how might that matter? Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and their NIH grant-funded colleagues have discovered that these differences in size are related to the brain's shape and the way it is organized. The bigger the brain, the more its additional area is accounted for by growth in thinking areas of the cortex, or outer mantle—at the expense of relatively slower growth in lower order emotional, sensory, and motor areas.
Ban e-cig flavors and misleading adverts to protect youth, says global respiratory group In a statement published in the European Respiratory Journal, a coalition of respiratory doctors and scientists from six continents have warned of the dangers posed to children and adolescents by electronic cigarettes.
New journal series provides insights on European medication-related guidelines A new series published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (BJCP) aims to help clinicians, researchers, and patients access and understand recent guidelines and regulatory documents issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which oversees the scientific evaluation and safety monitoring of medicines in the European Union.
	Skyping the doctor? Poll shows it's not just for the young Every morning, 92-year-old Sidney Kramer wraps a blood pressure cuff around his arm and steps on a scale, and readings of his heart health beam to a team of nurses—and to his daughter's smartphone—miles from his Maryland home.
	Metabolically 'healthy' obesity still linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease Women who are obese and who have been metabolically healthy for decades are still at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared to metabolically healthy women of normal weight, according to an observational study that followed over 90000 American women for up to 30 years, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.
	More important for heart patients to be active than thin Increased physical activity, not weight loss, gives individuals with coronary heart disease a longer lease on life, according to a new study conducted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
	Heartbreaker? Smoking causing millions of heart attacks, strokes: WHO While the link between smoking and a range of cancers is well known, the World Health Organization warned Thursday there was too little awareness of tobacco's impact on the human heart.
	A sweet tooth can be taxing A tax on sweetened drinks would save $666 million in oral health costs over a decade, a study by The University of Queensland has found.
	Common antidepressents are less effective at high altitudes, rodent study suggests Three common antidepressants – Paxil (paroxetine), Lexapro (escitalopram), and Prozac (fluoxetine) – could be less effective at high elevations, suggests research involving lab rats and led by scientists at University of Utah Health.
	Like sightseeing in Paris—a new model for brain communication Many of our most common, debilitating and socially expensive health problems involve our brains – such as dementia, depression and drug addiction.
	Do we need to worry about Nipah virus? A recent outbreak in India of Nipah virus encephalitis, an often-lethal viral disease with no cure, has set off international alarms over the virus's potential to become the next threat to global health.
	Body weight bias weighs on minds of fitness instructors, study shows Fitness instructors were more motivated to train a new client with a normal weight than an overweight client, new research led by Curtin University has found.
	Exercise, good nutrition can improve heart and brain health Exercise, good nutrition and other steps can lower your risk of heart disease. Those same steps can also improve your brain health.
	Respiratory societies warn about electronic cigarette use in youth Tobacco is the leading underlying single cause of death worldwide. In 2016, tobacco use caused over 7.1 million deaths mostly related to lung and heart disease, cancer and stroke. Every year, on May 31, people and organizations mark World No Tobacco Day, by highlighting the health and other risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.
	Heavier astronauts have higher risk of post-flight eye changes New research suggests that changes in the eye that occur during spaceflight may be related to how much an astronaut weighs. The study is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology—Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.
	Infection rates after colonoscopy, endoscopy at US specialty centers are far higher than expected The rates of infection following colonoscopies and upper-GI endoscopies performed at U.S. outpatient specialty centers are far higher than previously believed, according to a Johns Hopkins study published online this month in the journal Gut.
	Colon cancer screening should begin at 45: US doctors Screening for colon cancer should begin earlier, at age 45 instead of 50, due to an uptick in colorectal tumors among younger people, the American Cancer Society said on Wednesday.
Antifungal drug eliminates sleeping bowel cancer cells in mice An antifungal medication, commonly prescribed for toenail infections, could help eliminate dormant cells within bowel tumours, according to new research funded by Cancer Research UK and published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine today.
	Probe into farm animals could help treat drug-resistant bacteria Growing threats to public health could be addressed by cutting-edge research that reveals how farm animals contribute to the spread of drug-resistant bacteria, a study suggests.
	Understanding immune system interplay to improve organ transplant success A rare opportunity to analyse both blood and tissue samples from human transplant recipients has allowed immunology researchers at the Babraham Institute to pinpoint how an immunosuppressive drug works to prevent the production of antibodies against the transplanted tissue. This understanding, gained through working together with transplant research immunologists in Oxford, may lead to improved ways of identifying transplant recipients at risk of rejection and treating autoimmune disease.
	Cocaine use alters gene expression in brain reward circuits A study in Biological Psychiatry has identified unique genetic changes in the brain's reward circuitry that are associated with cocaine use, including first-time use, withdrawal, and re-exposure to the drug after prolonged withdrawal. The findings reveal important information on how cocaine addiction reprograms gene expression and provide insight into the molecular basis of cocaine addiction in unprecedented detail.
	Conflicting guidance on opioid prescribing can jeopardize pain management for patients with cancer Persistent pain and recurrent episodes of pain are common for those who are living with cancer, or for those undergoing cancer treatment. When used properly, prescription opioids have long been known to help combat pain experienced by people with cancer.
	New approach could limit toxicity of CAR T therapy in acute myeloid leukemia A new approach pioneered at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center may provide a new path towards treating Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) with CAR T cells. To treat AML, investigators have to target a specific protein—CD33—that's also expressed on healthy cells, meaning the therapy cannot attack the cancer without causing other serious damage to the residual normal bone marrow. The new method uses the gene editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 to remove CD33 from healthy blood-forming stem cells, leaving the cancerous cells as the only targets left for the CD33 hunter cells to attack. Penn researchers and their collaborators at the National Institutes of Health published their proof-of-concept findings in Cell today.
Abnormal lipid metabolism in fat cells predicts future weight gain and diabetes in women The inefficient breakdown of fats predicts later weight gain and metabolic complications such as type 2 diabetes in women, researchers report May 31 in the journal Cell Metabolism. Low levels of hormone-stimulated lipolysis—a biochemical process by which triglycerides are broken down into energy-rich fatty acids—were associated with weight gain and metabolic problems 13 years later. Based on the findings, the researchers developed an algorithm to detect impairments in hormone-stimulated lipolysis using clinical and blood measures.
	Organoid profiling identifies treatments for pancreatic cancer Patient-derived organoids, hollow spheres of cells cultured from tumors, can quickly and accurately predict how patients with pancreatic cancer respond to a variety of treatments, facilitating a precision-medicine approach to the deadly disease.
	Dormant cytomegalovirus resides in eyes of healthy mice long after infection Infection with cytomegalovirus triggers long-lasting eye inflammation and establishes a dormant pool of the virus in the eyes of mice with healthy immune systems, according to new research presented in PLOS Pathogens by Valentina Voigt of the Lions Eye Institute in Western Australia and colleagues.
	Study gauges impact of dengue virus on Ethiopia Dengue, a mosquito-borne RNA virus, is one of the most serious and rapidly spreading arboviral diseases in the world. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have provided the first baseline data on the prevalence and risk factors of the virus in Ethiopia.
	Study examines concerns of living kidney donors In a new study that examined living kidney donors' concerns about their decision to undergo kidney removal, long-term kidney health, aspects of surgery and recovery, and impacts on life satisfaction were among those that donors felt were most important. The findings appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).
	Mothers with high emotional, cognitive control help their children behave A new parenting study finds that the greater emotional control and problem-solving abilities a mother has, the less likely her children will develop behavioral problems, such as throwing tantrums or fighting.
	News flash about hot flashes: They can last longer than you think Menopause symptoms are not just for midlife anymore, according to a new Mayo Clinic study published this month in the Journal of the North American Menopause Society.
	'Why not take a risk' attitude widespread among patients and providers, study finds "Antibiotics can't hurt. They might even make me feel better. Why not take a risk?" You may have had similar thoughts when sick with the flu or common cold. Your doctor may think so too.
The link between handgrip strength and healthy lungs in older women As we age, we may become weaker as our muscles tend to lose their mass and strength. This condition of losing muscle mass is called sarcopenia. Sarcopenia can lead to problems performing your daily activities, such as shopping, socializing, and taking care of yourself and your home. Having sarcopenia can lessen your quality of life—and your independence.
	US doctors prescribing fewer opioid painkillers: report US doctors reduced the number of prescriptions for opioid painkillers last year, continuing a five-year trend, in an effort to reverse a deadly drug abuse epidemic, a report released Thursday said.
	For American Indian youth, risk is higher for alcohol, drug use, say researchers Since 1975, Colorado State University social scientists have studied rates of drug and alcohol use among American Indian youths living on or near reservations. Their latest published results underscore a trend that has persisted over many decades: Native adolescents are more likely to use alcohol and illicit drugs than non-Native adolescents in the United States.
	Mindfulness training to help with weight loss (HealthDay)—If mindless eating can put on the pounds, it stands to reason that mindful eating can help with diet success.
	'Face-aging' photos convince tanners to shun the sun (HealthDay)—Where fear of skin cancer has little effect, vanity may succeed.
	Who are America's cohabiting couples? (HealthDay)—For many people, marriage is the next logical step after you've dated for a while and believe you've found "the one." But new research shows that a lot of Americans don't see marriage as the only choice.
	Oral propranolol seems safe for infantile hemangioma (HealthDay)—The safety profile of oral propranolol seems to be good for children with infantile hemangioma, according to a study published online May 29 in Pediatrics.
	ASHP: SVP, injectable opioid shortages threaten patient care (HealthDay)—The widespread shortages of injectable opioids and small-volume parenteral (SVP) solutions are jeopardizing patient care and placing a strain on hospital operations, according to a report published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).
	Prompts may up goals-of-care dialogues at outpatient visits (HealthDay)—A patient-specific preconversation communication-priming intervention targeting patients and clinicians is associated with an increase in goals-of-care discussions among patients with serious illness, according to a study published online May 26 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
	T1DM self-management varies with adult developmental stages (HealthDay)—Type 1 diabetes self-management behaviors vary across adult developmental stages, according to a study published online May 25 in Diabetes Care.
	AUA: Yoga can reduce urinary incontinence in older women (HealthDay)—A three-month yoga intervention can reduce urinary incontinence (UI) frequency in ambulatory women aged 50 years or older, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association, held from May 18 to 23 in San Francisco.
	Prenatal care in first trimester for majority of 2016 U.S. births (HealthDay)—Overall, 77.1 percent of women who gave birth in 2016 initiated prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy, according to a report published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's May 30 National Vital Statistics Report.
Symptoms worsen around menses for people with borderline personality disorder Symptoms associated with borderline personality disorder—a severe and chronic mood disorder characterized by an inability to manage strong emotions—tend to worsen just before and during menses, according to a study in Psychological Medicine.
Screening resident physicians entering training misses many at risk for sleep impairment Screening resident physicians entering their first year of training to identify those with pre-existing sleep problems does not appear to provide useful data regarding risks of developing sleep impairment during subsequent months. In their study appearing in the June issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team describes finding that even those with no evidence of sleep impairment at the outset of residency are liable to develop significant sleep problems during the following months.
Handgun purchaser licensing laws linked to fewer firearm homicides in large, urban areas State laws that require gun purchasers to obtain a license contingent on passing a background check performed by state or local law enforcement are associated with a 14 percent reduction in firearm homicides in large, urban counties, a new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found.
	Health concerns haunt Puerto Rico as new hurricane season begins Hospitals and clinics in Puerto Rico are still dealing with the massive destruction Hurricane Maria left throughout the island last year.
	Asthmatic teens even more likely to vape than those without the illness (HealthDay)— Perhaps assuming that e-cigarettes are "safer" than tobacco, teens with asthma now vape at higher rates than those without the respiratory condition, new research shows.
	Pot, opioids now rival alcohol as factor in driver deaths (HealthDay)—Pot and opioids have become almost as deadly as booze for drivers, a new report shows.
	Many breast cancer survivors not getting needed mammograms (HealthDay)—After surviving a diagnosis of breast cancer, women still need regular screening. But many of them, especially black women, aren't getting the mammograms they need, a new study finds.
	Chile's new sexual freedom leads to AIDS spike The winds of change are blowing through Chile where a youthful sexual revolution is shattering taboos—but also sparking an explosion of HIV cases that has set off alarm bells in the traditionally conservative Latin American country.
	Holiday clubs provide far more benefits beyond just providing food, study reveals The largest study of school holiday clubs in England has found that as well as helping to combat childhood hunger, holiday clubs provide a number of social and health benefits including providing children a safe place to play.
	Everyday changes to diet and exercise could avoid 26,000 cases of cancer a year in women Around 500 cases of cancer in women every week in the UK could be prevented by keeping a healthy weight and increasing exercise.
How to unlock the social cure Psychology researchers are pushing for greater recognition that social connections are as important to health as regular exercise or not smoking.
	Specialists are free to set their fees, but there are ways to ensure patients don't get ripped off Monday's Four Corners program drew attention to the issue of high fees charged by some specialist doctors, causing large out-of-pocket expenses for Australian patients. The program included examples of patients paying out-of-pocket fees totalling in the tens of thousands for hip replacements, prostate and breast cancer surgery.
Roseanne racist tweet: can sleeping pills change your behaviour? Roseanne Barr has claimed that she was under the influence of the drug Ambien when she posted her already infamous racist tweet (since removed). But what do we know about Ambien and its side effects?
Most surgical residents want personal financial education offered during medical training The cost of education is continuing to increase, and the amount of debt for medical school graduates has risen dramatically in the last two decades, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. As a result, residents must manage their educational debt in addition to other financial factors like home mortgages, automobile financing, and children, as they continue their medical training. A significant load of debt with no education about how to manage it has been shown to correlate with resident burnout and psychological stress. Even so, residency programs do not address debt management or financial planning for trainees.
Beyond BRCA: Links between breast, second primary cancer and inherited mutations Rates of inherited mutations in genes other than BRCA1/2 are twice as high in breast cancer patients who have had a second primary cancer—including, in some cases, different types of breast cancer—compared to patients who have only had a single breast cancer. But the rates of these mutations were still found to be low overall, meaning it's difficult to assess whether and how these individual mutations may drive the development of cancer. The study from the Basser Center for BRCA in the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania also investigated the use of polygenic risk scores—which have recently been added to some commercial clinical multiplex genetic testing panels. Kara N. Maxwell, MD, Ph.D., an instructor of Hematology-Oncology and the study's lead author, will present the findings at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago (Abstract #1503).
For patients with prostate cancer, dysfunction due to treatment side effects results in increased emotional distress A new study published in the Journal of Urology reports that men with prostate cancer who had worse urinary, bowel, and sexual function after surgery or radiotherapy than others experienced more emotional distress. Interestingly, the reverse was also true as experiencing more distress led to worse function. The likelihood of this reciprocal relationship highlights the importance of greater investment in psychosocial care to mitigate treatment side effects in prostate cancer survivors.
	Perception that antibiotics are harmless is widespread A new study of decision-making about the use of antibiotics in medicine has found that the mistaken belief that antibiotics are harmless is widespread, especially among patients. Clinicians and patients alike are influenced by the general notion of "why not take a risk" ("WNTAR"), a belief that there is potential benefit and very little risk in taking antibiotics, when in reality there are specific downsides, both for individuals and for society as a whole.
	McMaster professor seeks to stop the bleeding Developing new ways to improve the treatment of patients with bleeding disorders is the priority for the new Bayer Chair for Clinical Epidemiology Research and Bleeding Disorders at McMaster University.
'Throwdown' focuses on healthy, cheap school lunches Some top chefs are converging in Connecticut to help answer a question being asked every day in school cafeterias across the country.

Biology news

	Why do older male birds father more illegitimate children? When female birds have chicks as the result of an extra-marital fling, the fathers are almost always older males, and scientists are finding out why.
	Meet NOTCH2NL, the human-specific genes that may have given us our big brains The evolution of larger brains in the last 3 million years played an important role in our ability as a species to think, problem-solve, and develop culture. But the genetic changes behind the expansion that made us human have been elusive. In a pair of papers publishing May 31 in Cell, two teams of researchers identify a gene family, NOTCH2NL, that appears to play an important role in human-specific cortex development and may have been a driving force in the evolution of our large brains. NOTCH2NL genes delay the differentiation of cortical stem cells into neurons, resulting in the production of more neurons across the course of development. The genes are found exclusively in humans, are heavily expressed in neural stem cells of the human cerebral cortex, and are located on a part of the genome implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders.
	Mother knows best—how plants help offspring by passing on seasonal clues New research carried out by the John Innes Centre has delved into the genetic memory systems through which plants pass seasonal information down to their seeds to give them the best chance of reproductive success.
	Biologists program cells to self-organize into 3D-structures in a first step towards tissues that regrow and self-repair How do complex biological structures—an eye, a hand, a brain—emerge from a single fertilized egg? This is the fundamental question of developmental biology, and a mystery still being grappled with by scientists who hope to one day apply the same principles to heal damaged tissues or regrow ailing organs.
	Research shows biosecurity reduces invasions of plant pathogens over a national border A major new study appearing in PLOS Biology on May 31 examines more than a century of fungal pathogens, finding well-aimed biosecurity measures cut the spread of unwanted fungi into a nation, even in the face of increased globalized trade.
	Cool weather can amplify attacks of tree-killing bark beetle As a warming climate invites the destructive southern pine beetle to expand its northern range, the cooler weather in this new habitat can potentially increase the lethality of the insect's assault on trees, according to a new study from Dartmouth College.
	Japan whale hunt killed 122 pregnant minkes Japan killed 122 pregnant minke whales during a highly controversial annual whaling expedition that Tokyo defends as scientific research but conservationists call "gruesome and unnecessary."
	Pig organs for human patients: A challenge fit for CRISPR Over the past few years, researchers led by George Church have made important strides toward engineering the genomes of pigs to make their cells compatible with the human body. So many think that it's possible that, with the help of CRISPR technology, a healthy heart for a patient in desperate need might one day come from a pig.
	The future is fenced for Australian animals Many of Australia's mammals spend their entire lives imprisoned, glimpsing the outside world through tall chain-link fences and high-voltage wires. There are dozens of these enclosures across Australia. Many are remote, standing alone in the endless expanse of inland Australia, but others are on the outskirts of our largest cities – Melbourne, Perth, Canberra.
	Guide to the classics: Darwin's On the Origin of Species Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (originally published in 1859) shares a deplorable fate with many other classics: it is known to everyone, yet rarely read.
	Scientists boost crop production by 47 percent by speeding up photorespiration Plants such as soybeans and wheat waste between 20 and 50 percent of their energy recycling toxic chemicals created when the enzyme Rubisco—the most prevalent enzyme in the world—grabs oxygen molecules instead of carbon dioxide molecules. Increasing production of a common, naturally occurring protein in plant leaves could boost the yields of major food crops by almost 50 percent, according to a new study led by scientists at the University of Essex published today in Plant Biotechnology Journal.
	Number of wild mountain gorillas exceeds 1,000 "This represents one of the rare success stories in conservation. The population of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes has more than doubled in the past three decades, despite intensive threats of poaching, habitat degradation, and civil conflict," stated Martha Robbins, research scientist and gorilla expert at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "This increase exemplifies the dedicated efforts of the governments of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to conserve these critically endangered great apes, and notably, the hard work of park staff on the ground. This dramatic increase also shows that extreme conservation efforts including tourism, veterinary work, and community projects can have a positive impact on one of our closest living relatives."
	Blue whale sighted in Red Sea for first time: Egypt A rare blue whale, the largest animal on Earth, has been sighted in the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba for the first time, Egypt's environment ministry said Thursday.
	A new understanding of how glucose makes you fat Glucose is the energy that fuels cells, and the body likes to store glucose for later use. But too much glucose can contribute to obesity, and scientists have long wanted to understand what happens within a cell to tip the balance.
Are water voles at risk from development? Professor David Macdonald and Dr. Merryl Gelling of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) discuss recent work which questions the efficacy of the mitigation technique and looks at ways to better protect one of Britain's most endangered wild mammals, the water vole.

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