Science X Newsletter Friday, Jan 29

Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for January 29, 2016:

Spotlight Stories Headlines

- Earthquake power laws emerge in bamboo chopsticks (w/ video)
- Researchers create first self-assembled superconductor
- Automatic bug-repair system fixes 10 times as many errors as its predecessors
- Ancient extinction of giant Australian bird points to humans
- Graphene shown to safely interact with neurons in the brain
- Finger tracing can lift student performance in maths
- Virtual reality makes its best users the most queasy
- New biomarker to assess stem cells developed
- Seaweed offers the solution to transporting stem cells and wound treatment
- Ocean acidification impacting population demography and hindering adaptation potential
- Block copolymer hydrogels as multifunctional effective cryoprotecting agents for red blood cells
- How obesity makes memory go bad
- New animation takes a colorful flight over Ceres
- Ancient rocks of Tetons formed by continental collisions
- Discovered: How to unlock inaccessible genes

Astronomy & Space news

	Babylonian astronomers computed position of Jupiter with geometric methods Ancient Babylonians are now believed to have calculated the position of Jupiter using geometry. This is revealed by an analysis of three published and two unpublished cuneiform tablets from the British Museum by Prof. Mathieu Ossendrijver, historian of science of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The tablets date from the period between 350 and 50 BCE. Historians of science have thus far assumed that geometrical computations of the kind found on these tablets were first carried out in the 14th century. Moreover, it was assumed that Babylonian astronomers used only arithmetical methods.
	Moon was produced by a head-on collision between Earth and a forming planet The moon was formed by a violent, head-on collision between the early Earth and a "planetary embryo" called Theia approximately 100 million years after the Earth formed, UCLA geochemists and colleagues report.
	New animation takes a colorful flight over Ceres A colorful new animation shows a simulated flight over the surface of dwarf planet Ceres, based on images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.
	Image: Pluto's widespread water ice Data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft point to more prevalent water ice on Pluto's surface than previously thought.
	ESA image: Martian labyrinth This block of martian terrain, etched with an intricate pattern of landslides and wind-blown dunes, is a small segment of a vast labyrinth of valleys, fractures and plateaus.
	Is our Milky Way galaxy a zombie, already dead and we don't know it? Like a zombie, the Milky Way galaxy may already be dead but it still keeps going. Our galactic neighbor Andromeda almost certainly expired a few billion years ago, but only recently started showing outward signs of its demise.
	Image: Pluto's blue atmosphere in the infrared This image from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is the first look at Pluto's atmosphere in infrared wavelengths, and the first image of the atmosphere made with data from the New Horizons Ralph/Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) instrument.

Technology news

	Automatic bug-repair system fixes 10 times as many errors as its predecessors MIT researchers have developed a machine-learning system that can comb through repairs to open-source computer programs and learn their general properties, in order to produce new repairs for a different set of programs.
	Regulators get input—sort of—on self-driving car rollout (Update 3) California regulators deciding how to permit the future rollout of self-driving cars were told Thursday by consumer advocates that their cautious approach was right on, and by companies developing the technology that the current course will delay deployment of vehicles that promise huge safety benefits.
	Forget your keys if you have your finger on new lock solution Fumbling with keys, losing them, calling locksmiths or friends for help…no thanks for the memories.
	Scientists build a neural network using plastic memristors A collaborative of Russian and Italian scientists has created a neural network based on polymeric memristors, devices that can potentially be used to build fundamentally new computers. According to the researchers, these developments have applications in systems for machine vision, hearing, and other sensory organs, and also intelligent control systems for various devices, including autonomous robots.
	Stanford engineer publicly refutes claim by Cambridge that a human Spider-Man could not exist (Tech Xplore)—Engineer Elliot Hawkes and colleagues at Stanford University have dramatically rejected the claims made recently by zoologist David Labonte, of Cambridge University who in a press release stated that for a human to be able to climb up a wall the way Spider-Man does, he would have to have a size 114 foot. His claims were based on a study he and colleagues conducted that led to a paper being published in PNAS.
	EU and US days away from deadline to renew data-sharing pact The European Union and the United States are hurtling toward a deadline on reaching a new agreement over data sharing that would extinguish the risk of costly litigation by consumers worried about their privacy.
	Apple quietly working on virtual reality: report Apple has a team secretly working on virtual and augmented reality gear in a budding challenge to Facebook-owned Oculus Rift and Microsoft HoloLens, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
	Google parent Alphabet may soon top Apple's market value As the digital advertising market booms and demand for smartphones wanes, Alphabet Inc. could soon dethrone Apple as the world's most valuable company.
	Team develops award-winning interactive agent system University of Texas at El Paso Professor of Computer Science David Novick, Ph.D., and his students have developed a system for virtual agents and an immersive interactive application titled "Survival on Jungle Island."
	Microsoft results show effects of turnaround strategy Like a friendly but persistent sales rep, Microsoft has a message for anyone who owns a personal computer: If you haven't yet upgraded to Windows 10, the company highly recommends it.
Funding issues plague Kentucky's proposed high speed network KentuckyWired was supposed to be a can't-miss project, a high-tech solution that would help revive the floundering Appalachian economy.
	Amazon delivers big profits but shares dive (Update) US online giant Amazon on Thursday reported profits doubled in the past quarter, as it attracted more customers with video and other services, but the results missed Wall Street forecasts.
	Chinese ship with advanced sonar to search for Flight 370 A Chinese ship equipped with advanced sonar equipment will soon join the search for the Malaysian airliner believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean almost two years ago, an official said on Friday.
Sony reports a jump in fiscal third quarter profit on PS4 Sony Corp. reported a 33.5 percent jump in quarterly profit as sales improved in its PlayStation 4 video game business.
New optical transmitter enables better communication networks All the world's data – pictures, video, sounds, and text – has to traverse complex networks of optical fibers that crisscross cities, regions, and countries. To better handle the glut of information, a research team from NOKIA Bell Labs, have developed a new device that could become a crucial component of new flexible and optimized networks.
	Bamboo-based build brings safe classroom to Dominican Republic A versatile architectural technology created by a Cornell design professor has been adopted by sustainability-minded students to build bamboo-based hurricane- and earthquake-resistant structures where they're needed most.
	Using Facebook when you can't see the faces As its name implies, a lot of Facebook is about faces: Users upload 350 million photos a day, making visual content a big part of the platform's experience. But this presents challenges to visually impaired users, according to a study by Cornell information science researchers, who suggest that the technology used on Facebook and other social media sites should be adapted to improve accessibility.
Review: Portable Weego JS12 can jump your car's battery I'm obsessed with power.
Snapchat seeks growth via the over-35 set A yellow billboard. No text. Just a small, faceless ghost at the center.
One in six Americans were Amazon Prime members at end of holiday season, survey says One in six Americans was a member of the Amazon Prime service at the end of the most recent holiday season, a 35 percent boost from a year before, according to a survey from a retail research firm released Monday.
Shopping tips for buying a big screen TV for the Super Bowl The Super Bowl represents not only the pinnacle of the football season, but also one of the peak periods for TV purchases.
	Google Cardboard says it's shipped 5 million virtual reality viewers No one would ever mistake the virtual reality experience of Google Cardboard, which uses flimsy cardboard viewers, for the high-octane Oculus Rift or the soon-to-be-released Sony Playstation VR headset.
Deals extend Microsoft Office links with other companies' software Microsoft on Wednesday announced a set of deals to more tightly integrate services built by other software makers into its Office suite.
Mobile-payment services draw more shoppers and merchants The pay-by-phone crowd is growing at the checkout counter. More consumers are using their smartphones to pay for goods and services, and more companies are offering "mobile-payments" or "mobile-wallet" services.
	Why Snapchat and WhatsApp are bringing new features to messaging One app to rule them all might be the future on smartphones, and if so, Snapchat knows it needs to bolster the features in its chat function.
	Nanolitz could free up frequency spectrum needed to connect devices With vehicles communicating with embedded monitors alongside roadways to better route traffic, and home appliances connected to the smart grid to improve efficiency and reliability, the Internet of Things (IOT) may generate more than $14 trillion in economic activity by 2025. However, the concept cannot fully take off without sufficient frequency spectrum to connect the assorted devices. Many in industry believe that significant policy changes will be required to enable the needed connections while avoiding interference.
	Xerox reports sales decline and plans to split company Xerox reported its 15th consecutive quarter of declining sales on Friday and announced plans to split the company into two businesses.
	Gov't declares 22 Clinton emails 'top secret' The Obama administration confirmed for the first time Friday that Hillary Clinton's unsecured home server contained closely guarded government secrets, censoring 22 emails with material requiring one of the highest levels of classification. The revelation comes just three days before the Iowa presidential nominating caucuses in which Clinton is a candidate.
	Canada stops sharing intel over privacy breach Canada's ultra-secret eavesdropping agency said Thursday it has stopped sharing intelligence with international partners after revealing it had illegally collected Canadians' metadata in sweeps of foreign communications.
	Bezos says Washington Post to 'lean into future' Jeff Bezos, the multibillionaire Amazon founder who bought The Washington Post in 2013, said Thursday the newspaper must look to the future with new technology without losing its "soul" or journalistic traditions.
Court: Chemicals caused Samsung chip worker's ovarian cancer A court said Friday that exposure to carcinogens at a Samsung chip factory caused a worker's ovarian cancer in the first ruling in South Korea to link the disease with chemicals that chip workers were exposed to.
Norway holds phone app competition for Syrian children Norway on Friday launched a competition to develop a smartphone app to help Syrian children who are unable to attend school because of the war build basic Arabic literacy skills, the foreign minister said.
	Researchers to develop an urban wastewater treatment plant that can generate energy Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), headed by Julián Carrera, Maria Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda and Julio Pérez, will coordinate a project within the European Union's LIFE programme to explore the feasibility of treating urban wastewater and generating energy at the same time. This is the first project in this programme to be coordinated by the UAB.
	Understanding how homeowners make decisions about energy efficiency European homeowners remain resistant to undertaking efficiency measures. Widespread incentives, regulations and policies concerning energy efficiency are making modest gains. In the U.K., for example, just one in 10 renovations are undertaken for the explicit purpose of improving energy efficiency, despite a huge policy drive over the last four years centered around energy-saving improvements.
A new, cheap and fast IT system predicts crimes better organizes police shifts Scientists from the Spanish National Police Corps (CNP) and from the University of Granada (UGR) have developed an IT system based in mathematical algorithms which allows to predict how many and what type of crimes are going to be committed in the next police shift.
Microsoft defends performance of Surface in NFL sideline glitch Microsoft is sticking up for its Surface tablets, two days after the New England Patriots were briefly unable to use the devices during the National Football League's AFC championship game.
	#AnalyzeMyData campaign looks at the way personal data is being used Today is Data Privacy/Protection Day 2016 and experts in the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute at The University of Nottingham are launching a Twitter based campaign to look at the way personal digital data is being used and analysed by companies, government, third-sector organisations and academics.
	New toolbox to help boost and secure European electricity networks EU researchers have created an innovative toolbox in order to ensure the safety and continued security of European electricity networks, and to help facilitate a greater shift towards renewable energy sources.

Medicine & Health news

	Vital clues to future cancer development in normal breast tissue DNA Detecting molecular alterations in early breast cancer development is key in the development of more effective cancer prevention and early detection strategies. New research funded by The Eve Appeal and the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, published today in science journal Nature Communications shows clear evidence that DNA changes are already present in the healthy tissue from women with breast cancer.
	Study reveals subtle brain differences in men with autism Research at King's College London has revealed subtle brain differences in adult males with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which may go some way towards explaining why symptoms persist into adulthood in some people with the disorder.
	Seaweed offers the solution to transporting stem cells and wound treatment Publishing in Stem Cells Translational Medicine Professor Che Connon and Dr Stephen Swioklo describe the low-cost seaweed solution.
	Virtual reality makes its best users the most queasy In a twist of virtual fate, people with the best 3-D vision are also the people most likely to suffer from motion sickness while using virtual reality displays.
How obesity makes memory go bad University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers are probing how obesity makes memory goes bad, and the underlying molecular mechanism that drives this decline.
	Practice makes perfect, brain study confirms 'Practice makes perfect' may be a cliché but a new brain study out of York U affirms this age old theory.
Cherry-flavored e-cigs may deliver higher levels of benzaldehyde than other flavors Cherry flavoured e-cigarettes may expose vapers to significantly higher levels of the respiratory irritant benzaldehyde than other flavours, suggests a laboratory study published online in Thorax.
Patients admitted as weekend emergencies significantly older and more disabled Patients admitted as medical emergencies at the weekend are significantly older and more dependent than those admitted to hospital on other days of the week, indicates a study of one major acute hospital, published in Emergency Medicine Journal.
	Significant number of young people with undiagnosed bipolar disorder Around 10% of UK primary care patients prescribed antidepressants for depression or anxiety have undiagnosed bipolar disorder, a study has found.
	New therapy halts progression of Lou Gehrig's disease in mice Researchers at Oregon State University announced today that they have essentially stopped the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, for nearly two years in one type of mouse model used to study the disease - allowing the mice to approach their normal lifespan.
	Researchers identify food additive that may prevent skin cancer Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy have discovered that a compound found in the natural food additive annatto prevents the formation of cancer cells and skin damage from UV radiation in mice. In the future the compound, bixin, may be valuable in the prevention and treatment of human skin cancers.
	Standard BMI inadequate for tracking obesity during leukemia therapy An interdisciplinary research team at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles has found that body mass index (BMI) is an inadequate method for estimating changes in body fat and obesity in children with leukemia. Investigators determined that the discrepancy between BMI and body composition was due to increases in body fat with simultaneous loss of lean muscle mass during treatment. The study will be published online first in the journal Leukemia & Lymphoma.
	Reducing food intake in mice diminishes the growth of their polycystic kidneys What if polycystic kidney disease (PKD) could be combatted with a strategy as simple as dieting? Such a finding would surely be welcome news to the 12 million people worldwide with the genetic disease.
Cognitive training effects differ by older adult's education level The first study to investigate the effects of cognitive training on the cognitive functioning of older adults by education level has found that individuals with fewer than 12 years of schooling benefit more from cognitive training than their more highly educated counterparts.
	Clashes with cops more injurious than civilian-only skirmishes People hospitalized due to an encounter with a law enforcement officer are more likely to have a mental illness, have longer hospitalizations, more injuries to the back and spine, and greater need for extended care than those hospitalized due to altercations with other civilians. The findings, based on 10 years of Illinois hospitalization data, are published in the journal Injury Epidemiology.
Protein combination improves bone regeneration, study shows A UCLA research team has found a combination of proteins that could significantly improve clinical bone restoration. The findings may be a big step toward developing effective therapeutic treatments for bone skeletal defects, bone loss and osteoporosis.
	Teens take fewer risks around slightly older adults Adolescents are known risk takers, especially when they're surrounded by same-aged peers. But new research suggests that being in a group that includes just one slightly older adult might decrease teens' propensity to engage in risky behavior.
FDA OKs Merck hepatitis C drug, adding to patient choices Patients with hepatitis C have yet another advanced treatment option, as the Food on Drug Administration on Thursday approved a new once-a-day pill developed by drugmaker Merck.
Three Canadians infected abroad by Zika virus: official Three Canadians have been infected with the Zika virus while traveling abroad, Canadian health authorities said Thursday, raising the possibility of new blood donor restrictions to prevent the disease's spread.
Five people in France infected by Zika virus while travelling abroad: govt Five people who were infected with the Zika virus while travelling abroad have returned to France since the beginning of the year, the French health ministry said Thursday.
Hypertensive disorders during pregnancy increase risk for high blood pressure after delivery Women who are diagnosed with hypertensive disorders while pregnant are more than twice as likely to develop high blood pressure in the first year after delivery as women who did not have any pregnancy-related hypertension, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the Journal of Hypertension.
Study assesses how to avoid unnecessary acute admission to hospital A study investigating how hospitals try to avoid unnecessary emergency admissions has identified a series of innovations that can help to address this pressing problem in different ways
Researchers scramble to fight 'brand new' Zika virus Zika virus is spreading rapidly through the Americas leaving researchers scrambling to understand the very basics, including how to prevent, treat and diagnose the emerging mosquito-borne threat.
	Physician develops app that tracks health, well-being The average person spends almost three hours a day on mobile devices, market data show. But what if people could invest some of that time into improving their health?
	When health disciplines work together, better outcomes, fewer doctor visits result The primary care physician is always in at Rutgers' Division of Family Medicine practice at Monument Square. But so are experts in maternity care, behavioral health, pharmaceuticals, sports medicine and aging, as well as medical assistants, nurses and receptionists.
	Answers to questions about the Zika virus John E. Swartzberg, MD, is an infectious disease specialist at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Chair of the Editorial Board of BerkeleyWellness.com. Here he answers seven important questions about the Zika virus, how it spreads, and how you can protect yourself.
	New study finds that increasing your attention comes from using newly acquired knowledge It's unclear whether brain-training games actually help our brain, especially in the long term. While there may not be a "magic pill" to make our brains more efficient, gaining new knowledge and using existing knowledge in new ways can improve our attention abilities, according to new research by Rachel Wu, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside.
	Even with big profits, the best doctors and medical innovators put patients first One of the best-known indictments of the medical profession – which though over 100 years old still applies today – is found in the preface to George Bernard Shaw's 1906 play, "The Doctor's Dilemma."
Study shows U.S. has greater link between low birth weight and inequality Health disparities are common in developed countries, including the U.S., but at what age those inequities take root and how they vary between countries is less clear.
With treatments, AIDS survival rates in Haiti equal to US One of the first groups of AIDS patients to receive free HIV drugs in a public health setting in the developing world is living as long as those in the United States, according to research conducted by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.
	Team shows that hearing aids improve memory, speech A recent study by Jamie Desjardins, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the speech-language pathology program at The University of Texas at El Paso, found that hearing aids improve brain function in persons with hearing loss.
Getting devices to talk so patients can listen While cochlear implants have opened up new worlds for deaf individuals, one Western researcher is looking to bring a balance to adult patients they have not previously experienced.
Poor or minority adolescent and young adult patients are less likely to beat Hodgkin lymphoma Patients who are diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma between the ages of 15 and 39 are less likely to survive the disease if they are black, Hispanic, or live in a neighborhood with low socioeconomic status, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
	Are Kiwi men getting enough iodine? Do Kiwi men who sweat a lot suffer from iodine deficiency? That is the question researchers from Massey University's School of Food and Nutrition want to answer as they kick off a new study investigating the iodine levels of very active men compared to non-active men. And they are calling on Manawatū men to help them.
	Re-training the brain with painless exercises may be the key to stopping recurring tendon pain AFL, basketball and netball players are the major sufferers, with tendon pain in the knee debilitating and long-lasting. The injury can sideline a player or cause them to give up the sport entirely.
Laboratory discovers new antibody function The laboratory of Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and an international team of researchers from Italy, United Kingdom, Japan, France, The Netherlands, Australia, Sweden and Czech Republic, detail the discovery of a previously unrecognized function for antibodies in two articles this week in the inaugural issue of Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, a journal of the Nature Publishing Group.
	Do empty plates mean larger waists? Researchers from the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, studying the cognitive and social influences on appetitive behaviours have examined the link between plate-clearing and a person's Body Mass Index (BMI).
	Study gets to the heart of heart failure A failing heart is said to be like an "engine out of fuel." To better understand the problem of energy production in heart-failure patients, researchers at Yale University and Duke University studied the underlying metabolic process. Their research describes a new way to diagnose and potentially treat the condition.
	Study finds risk of pulmonary embolism from ultrasound Ultrasound is the most common technique for detecting a widespread cardiovascular condition: blood clots in the leg, otherwise known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). But there's a little known—yet serious—risk to using ultrasound to diagnose DVT, say Yale researchers in a new study published this week by Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis.
Fracture risk more important than bone density Low bone density is very uncommon in patients with coeliac disease, according to new research from the University of Auckland.
New cell-engineering technique may lead to precision immunotherapies UC San Francisco scientists have created a new class of highly customizable biological sensors that can be used to form "logic gates" inside cells of the immune system, giving these cells the capability to home in on and kill a wide range of cancer cells while preventing them from attacking normal tissue.
	A new class of drug slows growth of castration-resistant prostate cancer cells A first-in-class sphingosine kinase 2 inhibitor slowed the growth of castration-resistant prostate cancer cells, in part by inhibiting the enzyme dihydroceramide desaturase (DEGS), but did not kill them, according to the results of preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies published in the December 2015 issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and others.
	Cholesterol levels improve with weight loss and healthy fat-rich diet A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine study finds that weight loss programs that provide healthy fats, such as olive oil in the Mediterranean diet, or a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet have similar impacts on pound-shedding. More specifically, the researchers report that a meal plan rich in walnuts, which are high in polyunsaturated fats, has a significant impact on lipid levels for women, especially those who are insulin-resistant.
	Synchronized brain waves in distant regions combine memories Humans have the remarkable ability to integrate information from multiple memories and infer indirect relationships. How does our brain support this important function? Neuroscientists from the Donders Institute at Radboud University have now shown that rhythmic brain waves, called theta oscillations, engage and synchronize the brain regions that support the integration of memories. The results were published in the journal Current Biology on January 28.
	Bile acid support the production of blood stem cells A research group at Lund University in Sweden has been able to show that bile acid is transferred from the mother to the foetus via the placenta to enable the foetus to produce blood stem cells.
	From mother to child, passing on disease While world health leaders race to contain the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the Americas, researchers at the University of Iowa are reminding doctors in the United States to be on the lookout for two other vector-borne and potentially life-threatening diseases that can be passed from mother to child through the placenta.
	Carbamazepine affects warfarin anticoagulation (HealthDay)—For warfarin-treated patients, carbamazepine co-treatment is associated with subtherapeutic anticoagulative effect and increased warfarin dose requirements, according to a study published online Jan. 21 in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
	AMA highlights top four issues to promote in state legislation (HealthDay)—The top four issues that will be promoted in state legislation in 2016 were discussed at the 2016 American Medical Association (AMA) State Legislative Strategy Conference, according to a report published by the AMA.
	FDA approves halaven for advanced liposarcoma (HealthDay)—Halaven (eribulin mesylate) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as the first chemotherapy drug shown to improve survival in people with advanced liposarcoma.
	Suicide, drugs only partly to blame for rising deaths of middle-aged US whites (HealthDay)—Death rates among middle-aged white Americans were higher than expected in 2014, likely because progress against common killers such as diabetes and heart disease has halted, a new study contends.
	Boys victims of dating violence, too (HealthDay)—Contrary to what many people may think, teenage boys commonly suffer dating violence—including physical and emotional abuse, a new U.S. government study finds.
	Study links diabetes, obesity in moms-to-be to higher autism risk in kids (HealthDay)—Mothers-to-be who are both obese and diabetic have a higher risk of giving birth to a child with autism than healthy women, a new study suggests.
	Snooze your way to better health Sleeping in on weekends need not be a guilty pleasure.
This scan can watch concussion recovery inside your brain An Israel-based health firm with Chicago ties is developing its non-invasive brain scan, used to evaluate concussions, to take on depression, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Plenty of reasons to cut soda: Prevent obesity, keep teeth healthy When Dr. Susan Maples sees patients at her dental practice, she tells them to slash the soda.
US transplant system may undergo new rules for sharing of adult hearts The nation's transplant system is proposing wider geographic sharing of adult hearts and a new way of ranking prospective recipients on waiting lists so organs more often get to the sickest patients.
FDA delays decision on adding folic acid to corn masa Federal regulators have delayed until April a decision on whether to allow folic acid to be added to corn-masa flour, a move experts say could help prevent birth defects like those seen in a deadly cluster in three Central Washington state counties.
Patients shocked as insulin prices climb higher Injectable insulin, which keeps some diabetics alive and keeps others out of serious health crises, has soared in price in the last few years.
	The connection between excess iron and Parkinson's disease It's long been known that excess iron is found in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), an incurable neurodegenerative condition that affects motor function. The mechanism by which the iron wreaks damage on neurons involved in PD has not been clear. Research from the Andersen lab at the Buck Institute suggests that the damage stems from an impairment in the lysosome, the organelle that acts as a cellular recycling center for damaged proteins. Scientists report the impairment allows excess iron to escape into the neurons where it causes toxic oxidative stress. The research will be published online in The Journal of Neuroscience on Jan. 27, 2016.
	Lifestyle factors play role in IVF success West Australian couples wanting to increase their chances of falling pregnant through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) should consider quitting smoking, drink alcohol moderately and have a diet rich in fruit and vegetables, according to a recent study.
How asthma develops from exposure to house dust mites University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have found a previously unknown step in the pathway that leads to asthma, a discovery that may offer new therapeutic approaches to this incurable disease. Asthma affects more than 25 million people in the United States, including about 7 million children.
	Could blood pressure drugs have a role in Alzheimer's disease treatment? In laboratory neuronal cultures, an FDA-approved drug used to treat high blood pressure reduced cell damage often linked to Alzheimer's disease, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) and the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers find food imported from low-GDP nations poses higher safety risks Food imported into the United States from countries with a low gross domestic product (GDP) poses higher risks than food from richer countries, according to a new study from University of Wisconsin-Madison industrial and systems engineering researchers and a collaborator from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
	'Pop quiz' could help predict sexually transmitted infections in young women Researchers at Johns Hopkins say an online "pop quiz" they developed in 2009 shows promising accuracy in predicting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in young women, although not, apparently, in young men.
	Researchers confirm attitude to aging can have a direct effect on health Negative attitudes to ageing affect both physical and cognitive health in later years, new research reveals. The study from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), at Trinity College Dublin, further reveals that participants with positive attitudes towards ageing had improved cognitive ability.
	Study points to the first topical treatment for common benign skin lesions An investigation into the molecular mechanisms responsible for the most common type of benign skin lesion may lead to the first nonsurgical treatment for the growths called seborrheic keratoses (SKs), which in addition to being cosmetically unattractive are often worrisome to patients. A paper by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers, published online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, reports that blocking the action of a specific signaling enzyme leads to the death of cultured SK cells and the breakdown of SK lesions.
Recent studies show value of technology and in-person communications In recent years, text messaging and social media (e.g., Facebook), have become an integral part of how people interact with their social networks. In fact, many adolescents and young adults now use text messaging and social media more than in-person interactions.
	Neural networks adapt to the presence of a toxic HIV protein Nearly half of HIV infected patients suffer from impaired neurocognitive function. The HIV protein transactivator of transcription (Tat) is an important contributor to HIV neuropathogenesis because it is a potent neurotoxin that continues to be produced despite treatment with antiretroviral therapy.
Lasting impressions: Psychologists discover what influences our food choices As New Year's resolutions come and go, one area many people focus on is their health and weight. With Americans tipping the scales more than ever, social and personality psychologists are at the forefront of understanding the psychological motivations for healthy food choices and consumption patterns.
First impressions: When the mating market resembles a super market Two things people always need in life: food and love. According to psychologists, understanding the forces that drive both our hunger and our desire could help us eat healthier and have more satisfying relationships.
	Are some people more likely to develop adverse reactions to nanoparticle-based medicines? The complement system, the human body's first line of defense against blood-borne intruders, is blamed for infusion-related reactions to nanomedicines, but the conventional models used to predict the risk of cardiopulmonary side effects in response to nanopharmaceuticals might not well represent what actually occurs in humans, according to an article in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics.
Refugee women at higher risk of preterm birth, study finds Refugee women who come to Canada have greater risk of giving birth prematurely than non-refugee immigrants, a study by a St. Michael's Hospital researcher has found. Those risks are fueled by the fact that the preterm birth rate was 7.1 per cent among secondary refugees - those who spent more than six months in a transit country before arriving in Canada -compared to five per cent among secondary, non-refugee immigrants. These so-called "secondary refugees" also had a greater absolute risk of preterm birth than Canadian-born women (6.4 per cent).
	New report: Most uninsured Texans say cost of health insurance too high Almost 70 percent of uninsured Texans said the high cost of health insurance is the reason they remain uninsured, according to a new report released today by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF). The report found less than 20 percent of uninsured Texans said they simply don't want health insurance.
	Breastfeeding could add $300 billion into the global economy When countries, rich or poor, support breastfeeding through meaningful investments and programs, it has an impact on their bottom line and the health of women and children. The Lancet Breastfeeding Series, released today, finds that globally, the costs of lower cognitive ability associated with not breastfeeding amount to more than $300 billion each year, a figure comparable to the entire global pharmaceutical market. About 820,000 child deaths could be prevented annually (about 13 percent of all under-5 child deaths) by improving breastfeeding rates, in addition to the lives already saved by current breastfeeding practices.
Life history effects on the molecular clock of autosomes and sex chromosomes Evolutionary geneticists date events using the number of mutations that have accumulated since they occurred. For instance, they date the spilt time between humans and chimps by dividing the number of genetic differences between them by the rate at which new mutations arise. Recently those dates have been mired in uncertainty, with new estimates of the mutation rate suggesting that the human splits from chimps and gorillas are more than two times older than previously thought. Importantly, the new split time estimates appear to be at odds with the fossil record.
	Life at Zika epicenter a struggle for afflicted family Around the fifth month of her pregnancy, Daniele Ferreira dos Santos fell ill with a high fever and angry red splotches on her skin.
	Changes to NHS policy unlikely to reduce emergency hospital admissions Recent changes to UK healthcare policy intended to reduce the number of emergency hospital admissions are unlikely to be effective, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.
Professor urges public to take survey seeking views on cosmetic procedures A leading academic in appearance research is encouraging people to take part in an online survey on the ethical and social questions raised by the growing use of cosmetic procedures.
	New splint to be launched in South Australia An innovative, light-weight splint to immobilise broken limbs has been developed with support from the Medical Device Partnership Program (MDPP) at Flinders at Tonsley.
	The race against Zika While most of us were first hearing of a strange, new and dangerous mosquito-borne virus stampeding across South and Central America and into Mexico, University of Alberta virologist Tom Hobman and his team were months deep into a plan looking for ways to diagnose and treat this threat.
Neurogenesis—discovery of a new regulatory mechanism Bassem Hassan's team at VIB/KU Leuven has discovered a previously unknown mechanism that is highly conserved between species and which regulates neurogenesis through precise temporal control of the activity of a family of proteins essential for brain development: the proneural proteins. This mechanism, a simple reversible chemical modification, is critical for the production of a sufficient number of neurons, their differentiation and the development of the nervous system.
Fat injection for breast reconstruction doesn't increase risk of recurrent breast cancer For women undergoing breast cancer surgery, a technique called lipofilling—using the patient's own fat cells to optimize the results of breast reconstruction—does not increase the risk of recurrent breast cancer, reports a study in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Good cosmetic outcomes, improved quality of life with full facial feminization surgery For patients with gender dysphoria undergoing male-to-female transformation, a stepwise approach to facial feminization surgery (FFS) leads to good cosmetic outcomes along with psychological, social, and functional benefits, according to a study in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Improving quality recommendations for UTI management Urinary tract infections (UTI) in the United States are the most common bacterial infection, and urine cultures often make up the largest portion of workload for hospital-based microbiology laboratories. Managing the factors that affect diagnosis and treatment of UTIs in patients, including selection, collection and transport of urine specimens, contributes to generating meaningful culture results. To determine how these factors impact the management of UTIs, the American Society for Microbiology and the Centers for Disease Control have together developed a an Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine Practice Guideline (EBLMPG) to determine if optimizing the collection, preservation and transport of urine for microbiological culture improves the diagnosis and management of UTIs.
Improved methods for detecting bloodstream infections Bloodstream infections (BSI) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Quick identification of bloodstream pathogens would allow for timely administration of targeted therapy to patients, which could significantly help improve clinical outcomes. To address these issues, the American Society for Microbiology and the Centers for Disease Control have developed an Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine Practice Guideline (EBLMPG) to provide information that could be used for timely and effective patient care.
	Health care's familiarity with military culture critical to improving care for veterans Health care systems and providers need to understand the unique realities of military culture in order to work effectively with veterans and military families, according to the findings of a study by a University at Buffalo research team.

Biology news

	Researchers' preclinical trial upends conventional wisdom about responses to fear Fear. You've been there: Your heart races, even jumps to your throat. Your hands grow clammy and your stomach churns. Your mind goes blank.
	Camouflage really does reduce the chances of being eaten A ground-breaking study has confirmed the long held assumption that camouflage protects animals from the clutches of predators, and offers insights into the most important aspects of camouflage.
New biomarker to assess stem cells developed A research team led by scientists from UCL have found a way to assess the viability of 'manufactured' stem cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Published today in Nature Communications, the team's discovery offers a new way to fast-track screening methods used in stem cell research.
	Discovered: How to unlock inaccessible genes An international team of biologists has discovered how specialized enzymes remodel the extremely condensed genetic material in the nucleus of cells in order to control which genes can be used. The discovery will be published in the print edition of the journal Nature on Feb. 4, 2016.
Enzymes with the potential to increase wheat yields Wheat yields could be significantly increased thanks to varieties with a superior form of a common enzyme, according to new research.
	Rare falcon chick survives S. American trafficking ordeal A rare falcon egg stolen from its nest in Chile to be trafficked to Dubai for tens of thousands of dollars survived and hatched a chick, but three others failed to make it.
Scientists piece together puzzle of dramatic wood thrush decline For the past 50 years, the number of wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) that breed in the United States has decreased more than 60 percent. However, because wood thrush migrate thousands of miles each year between their breeding grounds in eastern North America and wintering grounds in tropical forests from southern Mexico to Colombia, scientists have had trouble pinpointing which part of the iconic species' annual migratory cycle is causing that decline. Scientists from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) have found that the steepest regional declines have likely been the result of loss of habitat on breeding grounds in North America.
	Do bigger brains make smarter carnivores? Why do dolphins evolve large brains relative to the size of their bodies, while blue whales and hippos have brains that are relatively small?
	Why evolution may be smarter than we thought Charles Darwin's theory of evolution offers an explanation for why biological organisms seem so well designed to live on our planet. This process is typically described as "unintelligent" – based on random variations with no direction. But despite its success, some oppose this theory because they don't believe living things can evolve in increments. Something as complex as the eye of an animal, they argue, must be the product of an intelligent creator.
	Discovery of mechanism that enables bacteria to elude antibiotics Researchers from UAB describe for the first time, in a work published in PLOS ONE, a model of the behaviour of a bacterial colony that shows how it protects itself against toxic substances like antibiotics during the colonisation process.
	This plant sucks! (But how?) The bladderwort has a trap faster than the blink of an eye. It uses powerful suction to snatch its prey. A recently published review is helping reveal exactly how a plant can suck so much.
	Harbingers of aging Midlife crisis in the insect world: In a new study, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers have detected age-dependent alterations in metabolism and gene regulation in middle-aged fruitflies, and show that these effects are linked to a reduction in lifespan.
New findings on plankton extinctions hold implications for species vulnerability to climate change Scientists from Victoria University of Wellington and GNS Science have for the first time determined precisely when more than 2000 species of ancient marine plankton became extinct, and found a potential indicator for which current species may be vulnerable to rapid climate change.
Aestivating fish face extinction due to climate change Two endangered Western Australian fish species are facing a battle for survival due to habitat changes caused by the hotter and drier climate, a Murdoch University researcher has found.
	Study: Future for charismatic pika not as daunting as once feared The American pika is thought by many biologists to be a prime candidate for extirpation as the planet continues to warm, done in by temperatures too severe for this small mammal native to cold climates.
	Wildlife win when cash takes edge off 'park vs. people' conservation conflict Conserving wildlife habitat sounds noble, but when it comes down to work or sacrifice, cold hard cash - a decent amount of it - goes a long way.
Wyoming adopts wildlife migration conservation guidelines New state guidelines adopted in Wyoming, an energy-rich state that constantly seeks to balance conservation with development of fossil fuels, seek to protect some of North America's longest wildlife-migration routes from oil and natural gas drilling on public lands.
	Gabon's eco-guards in unequal battle against elephant poachers At the entrance to the sprawling Ivindo national park in central Gabon, wildlife guards in paramilitary uniform scour a fisherman's dug-out canoe, going through his bags of worn clothes and bait. "We're looking for arms and ammunition," one says.
	Carcass of whale washes ashore in western India Marine biologists in India conducted an autopsy Friday on the carcass of a 35-foot (10-meter) whale that washed ashore on a popular beach in the western city of Mumbai.
Soundscape approach integrates noise mapping techniques Noise pollution affects a large number of Europeans becoming quickly one of the most underrated environmental problems that take severe toll on human health. It can affect people in both physiological and psychological ways, interfering with basic activities such as sleep, rest, study and communication. Since the early 2000 management of urban acoustic environments has become essential part of urban planning and environmental protection, calling for new approaches to noise management and control.
	New insights on the safety of GM organisms An EU project has undertaken extensive feeding trials to further inform the debate on the safety of mandatory GM animal feeding studies in advance of an expected 2016 EU re-evaluation.
	Growing produce in high tunnels reduces losses, extends shelf life Kansas State University researchers are nearly halfway through a four-year project to learn more about improving the freshness and shelf life of locally-grown produce.

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