Science X Newsletter Tuesday, Aug 4

Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for August 4, 2015:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- World's quietest gas lets physicists hear faint quantum effects
- Study shows bumblebees fly differently depending on the load they are carrying
- Neutron stars strike back at black holes in jet contest
- Identifying pathways in algae that produce oil without killing them
- Discovery about how surface gradients influence droplet behavior may enable novel surfaces with anti-icing capabilities
- The resplendent inflexibility of the rainbow
- Fast times and hot spots in plasmonic nanostructures
- 5 billion light years across—the largest feature in the universe
- A novel toxin for M. tuberculosis
- Will SETI's unprecedented new program finally find E.T.?
- Understanding the firefly's glow
- New weapon in the fight against malnutrition
- New device converts DC electric field to terahertz radiation
- Consolidating consciousness: Memory permanence may be mediated by neural rehearsal following learning
- The ghostly remnants of galaxy interactions uncovered in a nearby galaxy group

Astronomy & Space news

	Neutron stars strike back at black holes in jet contest Some neutron stars may rival black holes in their ability to accelerate powerful jets of material to nearly the speed of light, astronomers using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have discovered.
	Tracking a mysterious group of asteroid outcasts High above the plane of our solar system, near the asteroid-rich abyss between Mars and Jupiter, scientists have found a unique family of space rocks. These interplanetary oddballs are the Euphrosyne (pronounced you-FROH-seh-nee) asteroids, and by any measure they have been distant, dark and mysterious—until now.
	5 billion light years across—the largest feature in the universe A Hungarian-US team of astronomers have found what appears to be the largest feature in the observable universe: a ring of nine gamma ray bursts – and hence galaxies - 5 billion light years across. The scientists, led by Prof Lajos Balazs of Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, report their work in a paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
	Will SETI's unprecedented new program finally find E.T.? Stephen Hawking, Frank Drake and dozens of journalists gathered at the Royal Society in London last week to hear astronomers announce a ground-breaking new project to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life called "Breakthrough Listen." They will be using two of the world's largest radio telescopes (Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia) to listen for radio messages from intelligent alien species. Scientists have chosen to target the nearest million stars as well as the nearest 100 galaxies. This project will also monitor the Galactic plane for months at a time. This unprecedented effort is a collaboration between UC Berkeley and the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, and employs an international team of astronomers and data scientists, including Frank Drake – the father of SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence).
	The ghostly remnants of galaxy interactions uncovered in a nearby galaxy group Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope's Hyper Suprime-Cam prime-focus camera recently observed the nearby large spiral galaxy M81, together with its two brightest neighbors, M82 and NGC3077. The results of their observations are deep, super wide-field images of the galaxies and their populations of young stars. As part of a Galactic Archaeology study, the team discovered that the spatial distribution of the young stars around these galaxies follows very closely that of their distribution of neutral hydrogen.
	Small prototype Earth return capsule flight tested A prototype capsule that one day will return science experiments to Earth was tested by releasing it from a high-altitude balloon in Tillamook, Oregon. Technology like this capsule could one day return biological samples and other small payloads from space in a relatively short time.
	Video: Atlantis Chaos flyover This colourful image is a topography map of a portion of the region known as Terra Sirenum, located in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The map is colour-coded, with reds and whites representing the highest topography and blues and purples the lowest.

Technology news

	Thunderstrike 2: Proof-of-concept worm could infect Macs Two researchers, Xeno Kovah co-founder of LegbaCore and Trammell Hudson, a security engineer with Two Sigma Investments, have created a proof of concept worm capable of attacking Mac computers. The worm which they designed can spread from MacBook to MacBook without them even being networked. If one were to actually be a victim of this kind of attack, a solution would be nothing less than opening up the machine and electrically reprogramming the chip. For many users, that solution would be daunting. They might take the easier way out, which is to slip the machine into a gym bag and put it in the back of the closet, on top of the pile of broken exercise equipment and ironing board.
	Engineers use the environment to give simple robotic grippers more dexterity Most robots on a factory floor are fairly ham-handed: Equipped with large pincers or claws, they are designed to perform simple maneuvers, such as grabbing an object, and placing it somewhere else in an assembly line. More complex movements, such as adjusting the grasp on an object, are still out of reach for many industrial robots.
	Researchers unveil new virtual reality headset Try on any virtual reality headset and within a few minutes the sense of wonder might wear off and leave you with a headache or a topsy-turvy stomach.
	Engineers invent way for cars to harvest energy from bumps in the road The 255 million cars on the road in the United States account for 40 percent of the country's fuel consumption. Most of that fuel is wasted.
	Twitter shares close at all-time low on growth worries Twitter shares fell to an all-time low on Monday, weighed down by doubts that the popular messaging platform isn't growing fast enough to thrive.
	Sharper GPS needs even more accurate atomic clocks The GPS network might just be Earth's greatest piece of infrastructure. It's effectively a collection of clocks in space that serve up time information 24/7 free of charge to anyone on the planet who cares to listen.
	To print or not to print your meal What about a more chewable pasta or high protein cookies made with insects? 3D printed food seems an interesting solution for healthier eating, shortening meal preparation times and even fighting world hunger. But an avant-garde chef such as Ferran Adrià doesn't seem that passionate about printing his dishes.
Semantic approaches to 3D shape editing for nontechnical users Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Levent Burak Kara and his Ph.D. student Ersin Yumer at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new method for exploring shape design and product customization.
	Your mobile phone knows where you go and what you do – and maybe even when you're feeling down Today's smartphones are equipped with powerful sensing capabilities. Using these sensors, your smartphone potentially has a record of how active you are, how much you sleep and where you go. If we look at the data those sensors gather, we can get a pretty good idea of what someone's typical behavior is like.
	Offshore wind farms, hurricanes, and sustainability Block Island, which is located 13 miles off the Rhode Island coast, will soon be home to North America's first offshore wind farm. Late last month, Deepwater Wind, the company behind the $338 million project, installed the first of five steel foundations to the ocean floor—one for each wind turbine. The five turbines—which will be working by fall 2016—will be expected to produce enough energy to power 17,000 homes and cut the island's energy bills by 40 percent.
	Windows 10 is not really free—you are paying for it with your privacy Windows 10, it seems, is proving a hit with both the public and the technology press after its release last week. After two days, it had been installed on 67 million PCs. Of course, sceptics may argue that this may have simply been a reflection of how much people disliked Windows 8 and the fact that the upgrade was free.
	We're only just starting to understand the side-effects of driverless cars The dawn of driverless cars is almost upon us. Governments around the world are rapidly legalising the use of driverless vehicles on their roads and are working towards overcoming regulatory difficulties associated with their large-scale introduction. Meanwhile, some of the largest technology and automotive corporations in the world are investing heavily in driverless technologies. Many people in industry seem certain that the largest revolution in personal transport since the invention of the car itself is less than a decade away.
	Scientists reveal algal oil potential as fuel for the future Researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) have unlocked a treasure chest of 'super-algae' that could provide a previously untapped source of oil.
	What happened to MH370? Prediction markets might give us the answer Could the wisdom of crowds locate missing Flight MH370? Perhaps with a sufficient number of experts, each bringing a little knowledge of the ocean, currents, wreck salvage, and so forth, the lost aircraft could be found by pooling all this expertise.
	The autonomous killing systems of the future are already here, they're just not necessarily weapons – yet When the discussion of "autonomous weapons systems" inevitably prompts comparisons to Terminator-esque killer robots it's perhaps little surprise that a number of significant academics, technologists, and entrepreneurs including Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky, Elon Musk, Demis Hassabis of Google and Apple's Steve Wozniak signed a letter calling for a ban on such systems.
	Science still at heart of solving MH370 mystery The discovery of a Boeing 777 flaperon on Reunion Island has vaulted Malaysian Airlines flight 370's disappearance into world headlines again, but is intensive media interest bringing us closer to the truth?
	Multi-platform media and the digital challenge – an analysis The UK media sector's rapid expansion onto new, multiple digital platforms in the face of tighter financial budgets has encouraged more emphasis on strongly branded and high impact content, according to University of Glasgow research which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
	Process concept for a zero-emission route to clean middle-distillate fuels from coal A novel process configuration has been developed for producing clean middle-distillate fuels from coal with minimal emissions. The EMS Energy Institute at Penn State University has developed and tested a solvent extraction process for making liquids from bituminous coals, and has shown the successful use of these fuels in small jet engines, a diesel-engine pickup truck, and a solid oxide fuel cell. The core of the process involves extracting coals with light cycle oil, a refinery byproduct, separating the residual solids, hydrotreating the liquid to remove sulfur, hydrogenating to eliminate aromatic compounds, and finally distilling to obtain the fuel products, which represent the majority of the liquid yield. The optimum yield of the raw extract, after three stages of extraction, is as high as 75%. The recovery of middle-distillate fuels from the hydrotreated and hydrogenated extract is up to 80%. A solvent stream would be recycl! ed back to the front end of the process.
	Twitter experiments with 'News Tab' feature Twitter rolled out a News Tab feature to some of its U.S. users Tuesday, an experimental effort to make it easier for people to find headlines that are trending on the platform.
Inventor of modern ventilator dies at 94 Forrest Bird, an American aviator who helped save countless lives by inventing the first modern ventilator, has died at the age of 94.
	Netflix to launch in Japan on September 2 Netflix will launch its streaming television service in Japan on September 2, the latest stop in its mission to be a global entertainment powerhouse, it said Tuesday.
US military tests ballistic missile interceptor off Hawaii The U.S. military said Monday it successfully tested an interceptor that can shoot down ballistic missiles as well as airplanes.
	Perspectives on using pulse electric field to enhance biogas yield in anaerobic digestion The usage of pulsed electric field for conditioning substrates can significantly enhance biogas yield in commercial biogas plants. Although the primary effect of the electric field is cracking cell structures for better availability of nutrition, other effects like shockwave, electrophoresis or influence on the metabolic condition of cells can play a role. The aim of this review is the presentation of possible effects and a judgement in terms of economic factors like biogas yield and hydraulic retention time.

Medicine & Health news

	Scientists identify that memories can be lost and found A team of scientists believe they have shown that memories are more robust than we thought and have identified the process in the brain, which could help rescue lost memories or bury bad memories, and pave the way for new drugs and treatment for people with memory problems.
	Shapes, lines and movements are in the eye of the beholder New thinking about how we perceive shapes, lines and movement suggests this information is first deciphered in the retina of the eye, rather than within the brain's visual cortex as previously thought.
	New weapon in the fight against malnutrition UBC scientists have opened the doors to new research into malnutrition by creating an animal model that replicates the imbalance of gut bacteria associated with the difficult-to-treat disease.
	Molecular tinkering doubles cancer drug's efficacy Researchers have packaged a widely used cancer drug into nanoparticles, more than doubling its effectiveness at destroying tumors.
	Insulin's potential to treat dementia outlined in new study Researchers at the UW Medicine, Veteran's Administration Puget Sound and Saint Louis University have made a promising discovery that insulin delivered high up in the nasal cavity goes to affected areas of brain with lasting results in improving memory.
	Consolidating consciousness: Memory permanence may be mediated by neural rehearsal following learning The permanence of memories has long thought to be mediated solely by the production of new proteins. However, new research from the University of Alberta has shown that the electrical activity of the brain may be a more primary factor in memory solidification.
Even a little weekly physical activity goes a long way for over 60s Just a little moderate to vigorous physical activity-below the recommended amount-every week still seems to curb the risk of death among the over 60s, suggests an analysis of the available evidence published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Fatherhood at young age linked to greater likelihood of mid-life death Becoming a dad before the age of 25 is linked to a heightened risk of dying early in middle age, indicates a sibling study published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
New research shows remembering self-control failures leads to repeat failures It's been said that "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it," but even if you know your own history, that doesn't necessarily help you with self-control. New research published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology shows the effectiveness of memory in improving our everyday self-control decisions depends on what we recall and how easily it comes to mind.
New study reveals both benefits and risks of antidepressants during pregnancy Treating maternal psychiatric disorder with commonly used antidepressants is associated with a lower risk of certain pregnancy complications including preterm birth and delivery by Caesarean section, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Medical Center, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. However, the medications—selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs—resulted in an increased risk of neonatal problems. Findings are published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
	Teen marijuana use not linked to later depression, lung cancer, other health problems, study finds Chronic marijuana use by teenage boys does not appear to be linked to later physical or mental health issues such as depression, psychotic symptoms or asthma, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.
High rates of violence, HIV infection for adolescents in sex trade on US-Mexico border Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that more than one in four female sex workers in two Mexican cities on the U.S. border entered the sex trade younger than age 18; one in eight before their 16th birthday. These women were more than three times more likely to become infected with HIV than those who started sex work as adults. They were also three times more likely to be violently coerced to engage in sex with male clients and seven times less likely to use a condom during their first month in the sex trade.
	Cures for PTSD often remain elusive for war veterans Our nation's veterans continue to suffer emotional and psychological effects of war—some for decades. And while there has been greater attention directed recently toward post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more veterans are seeking help, current psychotherapy treatments are less than optimal, according to a new narrative review published in the August 4, 2015 issue of JAMA.
	Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy decreases PTSD symptom severity among veterans In a randomized trial that included veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), those who received mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy showed greater improvement in self-reported PTSD symptom severity, although the average improvement appears to have been modest, according to a study in the August 4 issue of JAMA, a violence/human rights theme issue.
CU researcher calls for improved firearm safety counseling by physicians Physicians should improve the way they discuss firearm safety with patients by showing more respect for the viewpoints of gun owners, according to an article by a University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty member published in the Aug. 4 issue of JAMA.
Progress has been made in reducing rates of violence in US; overall numbers remain high Even though homicide and assault rates have decreased in the U.S. in recent years, the number of these and other types of violent acts remains high, according to a report in the August 4 issue of JAMA, a violence/human rights theme issue. The authors write that multiple strategies exist to improve interpersonal violence prevention efforts, and health care providers are an important part of this solution.
Emergency department intervention does not reduce heavy drinking or partner violence A brief motivational intervention delivered during an emergency department visit did not improve outcomes for women with heavy drinking involved in abusive relationships, according to a study in the August 4 issue of JAMA, a violence/human rights theme issue.
Intervention to screen women for partner violence does not improve health outcomes Screening women for partner violence and providing a resource list did not influence the number of hospitalizations, emergency department, or outpatient care visits compared with women only receiving a resource list or receiving no intervention over 3 years, according to a study in the August 4 issue of JAMA, a violence/human rights theme issue.
	Artificial blood vessels become resistant to thrombosis Scientists from ITMO University have developed artificial blood vessels that are not susceptible to blood clot formation. The achievement was enabled by a next-generation, drug-containing coating applied to the inner surface of the vessel. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
	Access to dental care by low-income Americans has become the exception, rather than the rule More than 2 percent of all emergency department visits are now related to nontraumatic dental conditions, according to a study by researchers at Stanford University, the University of California-San Francisco, Truven Health Analytics and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
	What sudden insights look like inside the brain Insight—you know the feeling. It's that amazing idea, the solution that hits you like a bolt of lightning. It can come to you while you're mulling over a problem, or days later, when you're making a sandwich or mowing the lawn. And John Kounios has seen what your brain is doing when it has that "aha moment."
Cataloguing the genetic chaos in oesophageal cancer On the 27th of September 2013 Tracy Collinson's world turned upside down. Seemingly out of nowhere, her husband Nigel – father to their two young boys – was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.
Regenerating damaged cardiac muscle To mend a broken heart—that is, to regenerate a damaged cardiac muscle—it helps to know how hearts are built. "How does one stem cell, which has no specific identity, develop into multiple cell types that organize into this beautiful three-dimensional structure?" asks Laurie Boyer, associate professor in the MIT Department of Biology, who tackles that problem by investigating regulatory elements that switch genes on and off at the right time and place during development. Faulty regulation can lead to congenital heart defects, which are the greatest cause of infant morbidity and mortality.
	Resuming exercise soon after heart attack can improve heart recovery Exercise promotes heart health. However, many lifestyle factors cause heart disease, and regular activity may not be enough to prevent heart attacks. A new study in the American Journal of Physiology–Heart and Circulatory Physiology expands on the heart benefits of exercise, investigating whether regular exercise still helps the heart even after a heart attack occurs.
	A new way to kill melanoma skin cancers Scientists are adding new DNA to the cells of patients in a world-first treatment to attack and kill melanoma skin cancers.
	It's not just what you eat that matters, it's when The saying goes you shouldn't snack after dinner if you want to lose weight.
	Frequent travel is damaging to health and wellbeing, according to new study Researchers from the University of Surrey and Lund University (Sweden) investigated how frequent, long-distance travel is represented in mass and social media. They found that the images portrayed do not take into account the damaging side effects of frequent travel such as jet-lag, deep vein thrombosis, radiation exposure, stress, loneliness and distance from community and family networks.
	Trauma experiences change the brain even in those without PTSD Trauma may cause distinct and long-lasting effects even in people who do not develop PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), according to research by scientists working at the University of Oxford's Department of Psychiatry. It is already known that stress affects brain function and may lead to PTSD, but until now the underlying brain networks have proven elusive.
Japan lab to handle deadliest viruses for first time A research lab in a Tokyo suburb will start handling some of the world's deadliest viruses for the first time, officials said Tuesday, after local opposition blocked it for decades.
	Employee health codes of conduct Workplace wellness can be a positive source of health and empowerment for employees. While many employers have found that wellness programs are ineffective at engaging employees, a new strategy proposed by Cornell UnivInternational Journal of Workplace Health Managementersity researchers may be just the solution!
Does your child read clearly? New study to understand impact of children's 'under-focusing' Researchers at the University of Reading are asking parents' help for a new study which aims to see if children who 'under-focus' may experience more difficulty when learning at school.
	Technology allows patients, caregivers to manage care with less stress There's no substitute for good communication when it comes to managing chronic health problems like heart failure, diabetes or asthma.
Criminologist identifies factors leading to criminal behavior It has long been believed that criminal behavior is a result of poor self-control, a trait experts often blame on parents. But FIU criminologist Ryan Meldrum says parents should not shoulder the blame alone.
	Scaffold-integrated microchips for end-to-end in vitro tumor cell attachment and xenograft formation A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Florida State University, and University of Massachusetts has developed a new design of microchip that can retrieve microfluidically attached cancer cells for serial in vitro or in vivo analysis by via integrating a 3D hydrogel scaffold into a fluidic device. The researchers describe their approach in the forthcoming issue of the journal TECHNOLOGY.
Understanding the molecular mechanism leading to addiction in humans - A new study just published in the prestigious journal Molecular Psychiatry by the team led by Salah El Mestikawy, Ph.D., researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'île-de-Montréal), professor at McGill University and head of research at CNRS INSERM UPMC in Paris, opens the field to new understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying addiction in humans.
Modelling the effect of vaccines on cholera transmission Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease that is caused by an intestinal bacterium, Vibrio cholerae. Recently an outbreak of cholera in Haiti brought public attention to this deadly disease. In this work, the goal of our differential equation model is to find an effective optimal vaccination strategy to minimize the disease related mortality and to reduce the associated costs. The effect of seasonality in pathogen transmission on vaccination strategies was investigated under several types of disease scenarios, including an endemic case and a new outbreak case. This model is an extension of a general water-borne pathogen model. This work involves the optimal control problem formulation, analysis and numerical simulations.
	HIV grows despite treatment, study finds HIV can continue to grow in patients who are thought to be responding well to treatment, according to research by the University of Liverpool.
	Brain infection study reveals how disease spreads from gut Diagnosis of deadly brain conditions could be helped by new research that shows how infectious proteins that cause the disease spread.
College football head impact study suggests steps to reduce risk Despite growing concerns about concussions, the NCAA has not regulated full-contact football practices, arguing that there's insufficient data available about head impacts. A new study from the University of Virginia School of Medicine begins to address that lack of data, detailing the number and severity of subconcussive head impacts over the course of an entire season. The researchers conclude that the NCAA's lack of regulation comes at a cost to college players that seems "unnecessarily high" and call for changes to reduce head impacts.
How new moms assess their partners' ability to parent New mothers take a close look at their personal relationship with their husband or partner when deciding how much they want him involved in parenting, new research finds.
	Waiting for pleasure: Brain structures involved in delayed gratification identified Researchers at McGill have clearly identified, for the first time, the specific parts of the brain involved in decisions that call for delayed gratification. In a paper recently published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, they demonstrated that the hippocampus (associated with memory) and the nucleus accumbens (associated with pleasure) work together in making critical decisions of this type, where time plays a role. The researchers showed that when these two structures were effectively 'disconnected' in the brain, there is a disruption of decisions related to delayed gratification.
In vitro cellular response to osteopathic manipulative therapy provides proof of concept In vitro studies of the cellular effects of modeled osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) provide proof of concept for the manual techniques practiced by doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs), according to researchers from the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix.
	Researchers uncover how common white fat can be turned into energy-burning brown fat in humans Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered, for the first time in humans, that the widely reviled energy storing white fat can be turned into an energy burning brown fat that uses up excess calories. These findings will be published in the August 4th edition of Cell Metabolism.
	Weight loss surgery benefits for gut microbiome last at least a decade Weight loss surgeries in patients have recently been shown to be associated with altered gut microbes. How long these microbiome changes last and whether they are directly associated with weight loss are not known.
Real veggies fight real migraine Researchers in India have investigated compounds present in Live Green "Real Veggies" that might have physiological activity to treat the painful inflammatory condition, migraine. They provide details of their findings in the International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design.
	Calculating leukemia progression A new computational study published in the International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications has shown how mutations that give rise to drug resistance occur in a form of cancer known as acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
	Eating away at cognitive decline: MIND diet may slow brain from aging by 7.5 years While cognitive abilities naturally diminish as part of the normal aging process, it may be possible to take a bite out of this expected decline.
	Number of new cases of dementia decreasing for African-Americans but not Africans An Indiana University and Regenstrief Institute study is the first to report significantly decreased incidence rates over two decades for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in African-Americans. The study is also the first to show that the incidence rate of these conditions in Africans was unchanged over the same period.
	Over-the-counter drug literacy a must for tweens and teens There's so much for parents to talk about with teens heading off to college for the first time.
FDA lays out extra steps to clean scopes linked to outbreaks (Update) Federal health officials laid out extra safety measures that hospitals can take to clean specialized medical scopes that have been linked to sometimes deadly bacterial outbreaks across the U.S.
	More evidence that kids of gay parents do just fine (HealthDay)—On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, new research suggests that children raised by gay parents are well-adjusted and resilient.
	Chloride levels linked to mortality in heart failure (HealthDay)—Serum chloride levels at admission are associated with mortality among patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), according to a study published in the Aug. 11 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
	Novel pharmacological activity for R-ketorolac in ovarian cancer (HealthDay)—The R-enantiomer of ketorolac is enriched in peritoneal fluids and inhibits peritoneal cell GTPase activity with administration after ovarian cancer surgery, according to a study published online June 12 in Clinical Cancer Research.
	Liquid nicotine from e-cigs poses poison danger to children (HealthDay)—The increasing popularity of electronic cigarettes has led to a number of cases of nicotine poisoning in recent years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns.
	Case report highlights dangers of eyeball tattooing (HealthDay)—Eyeball tattooing can lead to ocular penetration, intraocular pigment deposition, and associated complications, and public awareness of the risks must increase, according to a letter to the editor published in the August issue of Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.
	Sublingual immunotherapy linked to clinical benefits in HIV (HealthDay)—For grass pollen-allergic HIV-positive patients treated with highly-active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is associated with significant clinical benefits, according to a study published online July 30 in Allergy.
	Revised staging system prognostic for multiple myeloma (HealthDay)—The International Staging System (ISS) combined with chromosomal abnormalities (CA) detected by interphase fluorescent in situ hybridization after CD138 plasma cell purification and serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) has prognostic value in newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM), according to a study published online Aug. 3 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
	USPSTF finds evidence lacking for autism screening in children (HealthDay)—The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has concluded that there is currently insufficient evidence to assess the benefits and harms of screening for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in asymptomatic children age 3 and younger. These findings form the basis of a draft recommendation statement published online Aug. 3 by the USPSTF.
	Opioid use and sexual violence among drug-using young adults in NYC The nonmedical use of prescription opioids (POs) has become an area of increasing public health concern in the United States and rates of use are particularly high among young adults. In the past decade, an emerging "epidemic" of nonmedical PO use has been reported. Among young adults, self-reported use is 11% and overdose deaths involving POs now exceed deaths involving heroin and cocaine combined. Sexual violence is also a serious problem in the United States receiving increased national attention, and the relationship between substance use and sexual violence is well supported in the literature.
New discovery provides insight into the development of complications in type 1 diabetes Joslin scientists have advanced understanding of how the cellular repair process is impaired in type 1 diabetes, which can cause cell death and lead to complications. The findings appear in the August issue of Cell Metabolism.
	Parents' preconception exposure to environmental stressors can disrupt early development Even before a child is conceived, the parents' exposure to environmental stressors can alter the way genes are expressed and ultimately harm the child's health when those genes are passed down to the next generation, according to a new article published in the Endocrine Society's journal Endocrinology.
Projected benefits of high BP treatment in China An expanded program of treatment for hypertension could prevent about 800,000 cardiovascular disease (CVD) events every year in China, according to a modeling study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The predictions of this simulation, reported by Andrew Moran of Columbia University and colleagues, indicate that such a program should also be borderline cost-effective, provided low cost essential anti-hypertensive drugs are used.
Key protein drives 'power plants' that fuel cells in heart and other key body systems Case Western Reserve University scientists have discovered that a protein called Kruppel-like Factor 4 (KLF4) controls mitochondria—the "power plants" in cells that catalyze energy production. Specifically, they determined KLF4's pivotal role through its absence—that is, the mitochondria malfunction without enough of the protein, which in turn leads to reduced energy. This decline is particularly problematic in the heart because lower energy can lead to heart failure and death.
	Team advances therapy preventing addiction relapse by erasing drug-associated memories Recovering addicts often grapple with the ghosts of their addiction—memories that tempt them to relapse even after rehabilitation and months, or even years, of drug-free living. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have made a discovery that brings them closer to a new therapy based on selectively erasing these dangerous and tenacious drug-associated memories.
Secret video, outrage, and a revived US abortion debate Anti-abortion activists' secret footage of officials from the largest US family planning organization discussing use of fetal tissue for research has appalled conservatives, sparking fresh assaults against an iconic organization over abortion rights.
	Physician grows primary care practice on his farm When his 69-year-old father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given a few months to live, Ron Weiss quit his job as a Los Angeles emergency room physician and returned to New Jersey to help.
New clinical practice guidelines address temperature management during heart surgery The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, and the American Society of ExtraCorporeal Technology have released a set of clinical practice guidelines to address management of a patient's temperature during open heart surgery. The guidelines appear in the August issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery and were published simultaneously in two other journals.
	Back to school program helps kids manage middle school challenges While some parents are eagerly preparing for the first day of kindergarten, others are bracing themselves for a major change in their pre-teens' lives—middle school. As kids transition into middle school, they are dealing with physical, emotional and cognitive changes driven by hormonal changes. They are also facing a new academic environment where classes are larger, teachers are less nurturing and peers are more competitive.
New Medicaid health care program for disabled adults improves aspects of patients' care UF Health researchers have found that care linked to heart attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, among disabled adults covered by Medicaid has improved with the expansion of a new health care program in Texas over the last decade.
Yemen health services 'nearing collapse', says MSF Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Tuesday that health services in Yemen were "nearing collapse", with pregnant women dying for lack of transport and hospitals under fire from snipers.
Shire offers to buy Baxter drug spinoff for $30 billion Irish drugmaker Shire PLC Is offering to buy Baxalta Inc. for about $30 billion in stock in a move to solidify its position in rare disease treatments.
Death toll rises to seven from NY Legionnaires' disease An outbreak of Legionnaires disease in New York has killed seven people and infected 86 others, as the city moved Tuesday to draw up new legislation to halt future outbreaks.
EU regulators clear Pfizer's purchase of Hospira European Union regulators on Tuesday approved Pfizer's $15.23 billion purchase of injectable drug and infusion device maker Hospira.

Biology news

	Study shows bumblebees fly differently depending on the load they are carrying (Phys.org)—A trio of researchers, two with Harvard University the other with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology has found while conducting experiments, that bumble flight is impacted by the load it carries, particularly pollen. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Andrew Mountcastle, Sridhar Ravi, and Stacey Combes describe bee flight experiments they conducted in their lab and what they found in observing the behavior of the bees.
	Dogs process faces in specialized brain area, study reveals Dogs have a specialized region in their brains for processing faces, a new study finds. PeerJ is publishing the research, which provides the first evidence for a face-selective region in the temporal cortex of dogs.
	New study shows how complex bonobo communication is similar to that of human infants Researchers at the University of Birmingham, UK and the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, have found that wild bonobos, our closest living relatives in the primate world, communicate in a similar manner to human infants, using a high-pitched call type, or 'peep', that requires context to be understood.
	Scientists solve mystery behind earthworm digestion Scientists have discovered how earthworms can digest plant material, such as fallen leaves, that would defeat most other herbivores.
	Volcanic bacteria take minimalist approach to survival New research by scientists at the University of Otago and GNS Science is helping to solve the puzzle of how bacteria are able to live in nutrient-starved environments. It is well-established that the majority of bacteria in soil ecosystems live in dormant states due to nutrient deprivation, but the metabolic strategies that enable their survival have not yet been shown.
	Loss of altruism (and a body plan) without a loss of genes An international team of researchers found that the evolutionary loss of the "altruistic" worker caste in ants is not accompanied by a loss of genes.
	Fish that have their own fish finders The more than 200 species in the family Mormyridae communicate with one another in a way completely alien to our species: by means of electric discharges generated by an organ in their tails.
	New biosensors for managing microbial 'workers' Super productive factories of the future could employ fleets of genetically engineered bacterial cells, such as common E. coli, to produce valuable chemical commodities in an environmentally friendly way. By leveraging their natural metabolic processes, bacteria could be re-programmed to convert readily available sources of natural energy into pharmaceuticals, plastics and fuel products.
	A novel toxin for M. tuberculosis Despite 132 years of study, no toxin had ever been found for the deadly pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which infects 9 million people a year and kills more than 1 million.
	Spiders quickly learn eavesdropping to gain ground on the mating competition When it comes to courting, one common spider species is quick to learn, and that learning process involves eavesdropping on the visual cues of rivals to win their mate. The latest discovery in a research partnership represented by Alma College, The Ohio State University at Newark and the University of Cincinnati is the featured article in the August issue of the international research journal Animal Behaviour.
	Natural cocktail used to prevent, treat disease of wine grapes It's happy hour at a lab in College Station. The cocktail of choice, developed by scientists with Texas A&M AgriLife Research, is one that stops or prevents the deadly Pierce's disease on wine grapes.
	Team identifies mutations that allow bacteria to resist antibiotics Rice University scientists are developing strategies to keep germs from evolving resistance to antibiotics by heading them off at the pass.
	Identifying pathways in algae that produce oil without killing them While most people might know some algae as "pond scum," to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), they are tiny organisms that could provide a source of sustainable fuels. Like plants, they can convert light into energy-rich chemical compounds; unlike plants, they require less space and don't need arable soil to grow.
	Drought could hurt endangered fish caught in water fight California's historic drought could wipe out a tiny, endangered fish that's played an outsized role in the state's water wars.
	Beauty and the beast can benefit Scottish salmon industry It's ugly; it's clingy, yet University of Stirling Aquaculture experts are focusing on the Lumpsucker - an unlikely hero in the bid to boost the salmon industry.
	A web-based application for biorefinery design and evaluation of serial biomass fermentation The composition of feedstock biomass and the selection of fermenting microorganisms are critical factors in biorefinery design. Once biomass feedstock is identified, depending on local conditions, biorefinery designers need to select optimal fermenting organisms. Using organism communities has theoretical advantages but also leads to problems in the context of species competition, process design and modelling, in turn resulting in insufficient process control.
	The consortium of motile and cellulose degrading bacteria can be used for solid state cellulose hydrolysis Cellulose hydrolysis has many industrial applications in such fields as biofuel production, food, paper, cosmetic, pharmaceutical industries and textile manufacture. A novel approach to cellulose hydrolysis using a consortium of motile bacteria moving on solid surfaces and carrying microbial lug-gage - another bacteria that can efficiently hydrolyze cellulose, was demonstrated by the group of Professor Eshel Ben- Jacob (R.I.P) from Tel Aviv University.
	Almost 80 species scavenge hunting remains worldwide Human activities such as livestock farming, fishing or hunting yearly waste tons of food into natural ecosystems. A large part of this anthropogenic food is provided as carrion and subsidizes a wide range of vertebrate species. Spanish scientists have described for the first time the general structure of scavenger communities worldwide, which consist mainly of birds (66%) and mammals (34%).
	Riding a horse is far more complex than riding simulators Flight simulators for the training of air pilots are well known. But what about riding simulators? Although the first horse simulator was used at the French National Equestrian School in Saumur already in the 1980s, riding simulators for dressage, show jumping, polo or racing, have become available only recently. They look like horses and respond to the aids of the rider via sensors which measure the force exerted by the reins and the rider's legs. Via a screen in front of the simulator, the rider immerses himself into a virtual equestrian world.
	Study explains the unique sound production by Death's head hawkmoths Their arrival used to be perceived as a bad omen: Because of their scull-like markings on their backs the Death's head hawkmoths (Acherontia atropos) were dreaded. And yet, the big moth with the dark forewings and the beige-yellow marking is unusual for more than one reason: The animals migrate annually from Africa to Europe and visit beehives from which they steal honey with their short proboscides. If the moths are irritated, they produce series of short squeaks. Scientists from the Universities Jena and Kiel, the Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena and the University Hospital Jena (all Germany) looked into their unique way of producing sounds. The results of the joint research have now been published in the science magazine The Science of Nature.
Crop pests outwit climate change predictions en route to new destinations A paper from the University of Exeter has highlighted the dangers of relying on climate-based projections of future crop pest distributions and suggests that rapid evolution can confound model results.
From pluripotency to totipotency While it is already possible to obtain in vitro pluripotent cells (ie, cells capable of generating all tissues of an embryo) from any cell type, researchers from Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla's team have pushed the limits of science even further. They managed to obtain totipotent cells with the same characteristics as those of the earliest embryonic stages and with even more interesting properties. Obtained in collaboration with Juanma Vaquerizas from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine (Münster, Germany), these results are published on 3rd of August in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
	Seagrass thrives surprisingly well in toxic sediments—but still dies all over the world Toxic is bad. Or is it? New studies of seagrasses reveal that they are surprisingly good at detoxifying themselves when growing in toxic seabed. But if seagrasses are stressed by their environment, they lose the ability and die. All over the world seagrasses are increasingly stressed and one factor contributing to this can be lack of detoxification.
Pathogen grows on cold smoked salmon by using alternative metabolic pathways The pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes grows on refrigerated smoked salmon by way of different metabolic pathways from those it uses when growing on laboratory media. The research could lead to reduced incidences of food-borne illness and death, said principal investigator Teresa Bergholz, PhD. The research appears July 24 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
	Can habitat protection save our disappearing bats? In summertime, bats are a common feature in the night sky, swooping around backyards to gobble up mosquitos. Bats also help with crops: they act as a natural pesticide by feeding on harmful insects.
Scientists chase elusive Poweshiek skipperling butterfly Crunching through waist-high prairie grass, the researchers scan ahead with binoculars. Peering out at the black-eyed susans reaching above the prairie dropseed, they are searching for something they do not expect to find - the endangered Poweshiek skipperling.
	Wild wallabies roam villages west of Paris A tiny French village in Paris's leafy western suburbs is ringed by scores of wild wallabies, who now thrive in a nearby forest a world away from their native Australia.
	Whale gets close-up of Buenos Aires, delighting onlookers A disoriented whale stunned onlookers and delighted tourists at Buenos Aires' bustling waterfront Monday, swimming alongside boats and periodically surfacing to the perplexed crowds.
	Swiss seize $400,000 ivory haul in transit to China A large haul of ivory, worth more than $400,000 on the black market, was seized at Zurich airport last month on its way from Tanzania to China, Swiss authorities said Tuesday.
	Whale lost in Buenos Aires marina heads toward sea A disoriented whale that surprised onlookers by surfacing in the middle of a bustling marina in Buenos Aires is slowly finding its way back toward the sea, officials said Tuesday.
	Kenya to build giant railway bridges over national park Kenya is to build huge railway bridges over the unique national park in the capital Nairobi, a move conservationists welcomed as a positive step on Tuesday.
	UK trackers' Cecil the lion appeal tops £500,000 People moved by the killing of Zimbabwe's beloved lion Cecil have donated more than half a million pounds in his memory towards lion conservation, the unit which spent years tracking Cecil said Tuesday.

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