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Learning From Mistakes Only Works After Age 12, Study Suggests Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Eight-year-old children have a radically different learning strategy from twelve-year-olds. Eight-year-olds learn primarily from positive feedback, whereas negative feedback scarcely causes any alarm bells to ring. Twelve-year-olds are better able to process negative feedback, and use it to learn from their mistakes. The switch in learning strategy can be seen in the brain areas responsible for cognitive control.

Lung Cancer: Radiation, Immunotherapy Gives Greater Effectiveness, Study Suggests Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Scientists have found the right formula of radiation and immunotherapy for fighting lung cancer tumors in mice, which they hope will translate to better treatment in human lung cancers.

Bees Can Mediate Escape Of Genetically Engineered Material Over Several Kilometers Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Bees have the potential to mediate the escape of transgenes (genetically engineered material) from crops to their wild relatives over several kilometers. The findings bear significant implications for the introduction of genetically modified crops in Africa.

New Tool Helps Physicians Tailor Hormone Therapy For High-risk Prostate Cancer Patients Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Using one of the largest databases of prostate cancer outcomes in the United States, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have developed a prediction tool that uses a patient's clinical information to estimate the benefit of adding androgen deprivation therapy of various durations to radiation therapy.

Size And Fitness Levels Of NHL Players Have Improved, Study Shows Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Researchers looked at a National Hockey League team over a 26-year cycle and discovered players have become bigger and fitter.

Tobacco-movie Industry Ties Traced To Hollywood's Early Years Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Today's movie industry still draws on those images to justify smoking in movies -- even as public health experts call for smoking to be eliminated from youth-rated films. Last month the National Cancer Institute concluded that on-screen smoking causes youth to start smoking.

Mother Of A Goose! Giant Ocean-going Geese With Bony-teeth Once Roamed Across SE England Posted: 27 Sep 2008 01:00 PM CDT A 50 million year old skull reveals that huge birds with a 5 meter wingspan once skimmed across the waters that covered what is now London, Essex and Kent. These giant ocean-going relatives of ducks and geese also had a rather bizarre attribute for a bird: their beaks were lined with bony-teeth.

Gene Variant Boosts Risk Of Fatty Liver Disease Posted: 27 Sep 2008 01:00 PM CDT Researchers have found that individuals who carry a specific form of the gene PNPLA3 have more fat in their livers and a greater risk of developing liver inflammation.

Vaccine For Pneumococcus Disease Possible, With New Immune System Finding Posted: 27 Sep 2008 01:00 PM CDT New research has shown how the immune system detects and destroys the bug, pneumococcus, which could help in the development of a new vaccine against the disease.

Breast Cancer Treatment Resistance Linked To Signaling Pathway Posted: 27 Sep 2008 01:00 PM CDT Activation of the Src signaling pathway may cause resistance to standard medical treatment in some patients with breast cancer, and inhibition of this pathway holds the potential to overcome that resistance, according to new data.

From One Laying To Another, The Female Collembolan Adapts Its Eggs To Environmental Constraints Posted: 27 Sep 2008 01:00 PM CDT Reproductive plasticity -- the ability of individuals to modify their reproduction and the characteristics of their progeny according to environmental or social conditions -- is a crucial factor in the demographics of animal populations, including man. Scientists have now demonstrated the adaptive nature of the reproductive behavior of certain arthropods from one laying to another, in the same female.

Weak Bladders Deter Many Young Women From Sports Participation Posted: 27 Sep 2008 01:00 PM CDT A weak bladder is putting many young women off participating in sport, or prompting them to give it up altogether, suggests new research.

Wild, Hidden Cousin Of SN 1987A: Powerful Supernova Caught By Web Of Telescopes Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 AM CDT Astronomers may have discovered the relative of a freakishly behaving exploding star once thought to be the only one of its kind. For more than two decades, astronomers have intensively studied supernova 1987A, an exploding star that had behaved like no other. Instead of growing dimmer with time, 1987A has grown brighter at X-ray and radio wavelengths. Over a decade after it exploded, one of the nearest supernovae in the last 25 years has been identified.

Open Cancer Surgery Set To Become A Thing Of The Past, According To Experts Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 AM CDT The surgeon's knife is playing an ever smaller role in the treatment of cancer, as it is replaced by increasingly efficient and safe radiation therapy techniques. Progress in radiation technology will also lead to better detection rates for cancer, according to experts.

Toward A Fast, Life-saving Test For Identifying The Purity Of Heroin Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 AM CDT Scientists are reporting an advance toward a new method for determining the purity of heroin that could save lives by allowing investigators to quickly identify impure and more toxic forms of the drug being sold on the street. Unlike conventional tests, it does not destroy the original drug sample, according to their report.

Calorie Restriction Does Not Appear To Induce Bone Loss In Overweight Adults Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 AM CDT Young adults who follow a diet that is low in calories but nutritionally sound for six months appear to lose weight and fat without significant bone loss, according to a new article.

Captive Breeding Introduced Infectious Disease To Mallorcan Amphibians Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 AM CDT A potentially deadly fungus that can kill frogs and toads was inadvertently introduced into Mallorca by a captive breeding program that was reintroducing a rare species of toad into the wild, according to a new study in the journal Current Biology.

Personality Can Hamper Physician's Assessment Of Depression Posted: 27 Sep 2008 07:00 AM CDT A physician's personality can affect practice behavior in inquiries about patient mood symptoms and the diagnosis of depression, according to a new study.

Want Better Mileage? Simple Device Which Uses Electrical Field Could Boost Gas Efficiency Up To 20% Posted: 26 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT A simple device which attaches to a vehicles fuel line near the fuel injector and creates an electrical field could boost gas efficiency as much as 20 percent.

Animals Farmed For Meat Are The No. 1 Source Of Food Poisoning Bug, Study Shows Posted: 26 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT A study, based on DNA-sequence comparison of thousands of bacterial samples collected from human patients and animal carriers, found that 97 percent of campylobacteriosis cases sampled in Lancashire, UK, were caused by bacteria typically found in chicken and livestock.

Australian Frog Species Chooses Not To Put Eggs In One Basket Posted: 26 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT A new study into the mating and nesting practices of a common Australian frog has found they partner up to eight males sequentially -- the highest recorded of any vertebrate.

Peptide Ghrelin May Be Involved In Both Alcohol Dependence And Overeating Posted: 26 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Ghrelin is a peptide found mostly in the stomach but also in the brain. Ghrelin is known to have an effect on food intake by increasing feelings of hunger and the urge to eat. New findings show that the ghrelin system may also be involved in addictive behaviors and brain reward.

New More Efficient Ways To Use Biomass Posted: 26 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Researchers have developed a new catalyst that directly converts cellulose, the most common form of biomass, into ethylene glycol, an important intermediate product for chemical industry.

Social Class Dictates Cancer Risk Posted: 26 Sep 2008 07:00 PM CDT Cervical and lung cancer are more common in poor people while rates of breast cancer and melanoma are higher in the wealthy. A detailed analysis of the incidence of these four different kinds of cancer, carried out on more than 300,000 English cancer patients and published in BMC Cancer, describes the effects of socioeconomic group, region and age.

Earth's Magnetic Field Reversals Illuminated By Lava Flows Study Posted: 26 Sep 2008 04:00 PM CDT Earth's north magnetic pole is shifting and weakening. Ancient lava flows are guiding a better understanding of what generates and controls the Earth's magnetic field -- and what may drive it to occasionally reverse direction. Current evidence suggests we are now approaching a transitional state because the main magnetic field is relatively weak and rapidly decreasing, researchers say. While the last polarity reversal occurred several hundred thousand years ago, the next might come within only a few thousand years.

Scientists Unmask Key HIV Protein, Open Door For More Powerful AIDS Drugs Posted: 26 Sep 2008 04:00 PM CDT Scientists have provided the most detailed picture yet of a key HIV accessory protein that foils the body's normal immune response. Based on the findings, the team is searching for new drugs that may someday allow infected people to be cured and no longer need today's AIDS drugs for a lifetime.

Diffusion Caused Jupiter's Red Spot Junior To Color Up Posted: 26 Sep 2008 04:00 PM CDT A study has given new insights into why Oval BA, a giant anticyclone on Jupiter also known as Red Spot Junior, suddenly turned from white to red in a period of just a few months.

Weight Loss Surgery May Be Associated With Bone Loss Posted: 26 Sep 2008 04:00 PM CDT Weight loss surgery may be linked to deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D and bone loss, according to a new study.

Photonic Crystal Biosensors Detect Protein-DNA Interactions Posted: 26 Sep 2008 04:00 PM CDT Scientists have developed a new class of disposable, microplate-based optical biosensors capable of detecting protein-DNA interactions. Based on the properties of photonic crystals, the biosensors are suitable for the rapid identification of inhibitors of protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein interactions.

Post-traumatic Stress Experienced By Family Members Months After Loved One's Stay In Intensive Care Unit Posted: 26 Sep 2008 04:00 PM CDT Family members may experience post-traumatic stress as many as six months after a loved one's stay in a hospital's intensive care unit (ICU), according to a new study. The study found that symptoms of anxiety and depression in family members of ICU patients diminished over time, but high rates of post-traumatic stress and complicated grief remained.

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