The EDGE: ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Saturday, June 23, 2012

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Saturday, June 23, 2012

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How stress can boost immune system (June 21, 2012) -- Scientist have tracked the trajectories of key immune cells in response to short-term stress and traced, in great detail, how hormones triggered by such stress enhance immune readiness. The study, conducted in rats, adds weight to evidence that immune responsiveness is heightened, rather than suppressed as many believe, by the so-called "fight-or-flight" response. ... > full story

Preventing or better managing diabetes may prevent cognitive decline (June 21, 2012) -- Preventing diabetes or delaying its onset has been thought to stave off cognitive decline -- a connection strongly supported by the results of a nine-year study. ... > full story

Dad's brains mean more to his son's success than his money: Study (June 21, 2012) -- Sons of fathers with high incomes tend to end up with higher than average incomes themselves, but new research shows that it's not just dad's money that helps a son on his way. ... > full story

Proximity of new planets stuns even astronomers (June 21, 2012) -- One is a rocky planet 1.5 times the size of Earth. The other is a gaseous world nearly four times Earth's size. Together they form a spectacular system in which two planets orbit closer to each other than any yet discovered. ... > full story

Avian flu viruses which are transmissible between humans could evolve in nature (June 21, 2012) -- It might be possible for human-to-human airborne transmissible avian H5N1 influenza viruses to evolve in nature, new research has found. ... > full story

Top predators key to extinctions as planet warms (June 21, 2012) -- Global warming may cause more extinctions than predicted if scientists fail to account for interactions among species in their models, researchers argue in a new article. ... > full story

Study of phase change materials could lead to better computer memory (June 21, 2012) -- Memory devices for computers require a large collection of components that can switch between two states, which represent the ones and zeros of binary language. Engineers hope to make next-generation chips with materials that distinguish between these states by physically rearranging their atoms into different phases. Researchers have now provided new insight into how this phase change happens, which could help engineers make memory storage devices faster and more efficient. ... > full story

Researchers tune the strain in graphene drumheads to create quantum dots (June 21, 2012) -- Researchers have shown that they can tune the strain in graphene suspended like drumheads over microscopic holes in a substrate of silicon oxide using the tip of an advanced scanning probe microscope and a conducting plate below the substrate. Tuning the strain enabled the group to create areas in the graphene where electrons behaved as though they were confined to quantum dots. ... > full story

Immune system molecule weaves cobweb-like nanonets to snag Salmonella, other intestinal microbes (June 21, 2012) -- Scientists have found that human alpha-defensin 6 (HD6) -- a key component of the body's innate defense system -- binds to microbial surfaces and forms "nanonets" that surround, entangle and disable microbes, preventing bacteria from attaching to or invading intestinal cells. ... > full story

Arctic climate more vulnerable than thought, maybe linked to Antarctic ice-sheet behavior (June 21, 2012) -- First analyses of the longest sediment core ever collected on land in the Arctic provide dramatic, "astonishing" documentation that intense warm intervals, warmer than scientists thought possible, occurred there over the past 2.8 million years. Further, these extreme inter-glacial warm periods correspond closely with times when parts of Antarctica were ice-free and also warm, suggesting strong inter-hemispheric climate connectivity. The Polar Regions are much more vulnerable to change than once believed, they add. ... > full story

New cause of spinal muscular atrophy described (June 21, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered that a commonly held assumption is wrong and that a separate role of the SMN gene – still not completely elucidated -- is likely responsible for the disease’s manifestations. ... > full story

Could Mars have sustained life? Extensive water in Mars' interior (June 21, 2012) -- Until now, Earth was the only planet known to have vast reservoirs of water in its interior. Scientists analyzed the water content of two Martian meteorites and found that the amount of water in places of the Martian mantle is vastly larger than previous estimates and is similar to that of Earth's. The results affect our understanding about Martian geologic history, how water got to the Martian surface, and whether Mars could have sustained life. ... > full story