ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Honey Bees On Cocaine Dance More, Changing Ideas About The Insect Brain Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST In a study that challenges current ideas about the insect brain, researchers have found that honey bees on cocaine tend to exaggerate.

Vitamin D Deficiency Associated With Greater Rates Of Cesarean Sections Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Pregnant women who are vitamin D deficient are also at an increased risk for delivering a baby by cesarean section as compared to pregnant women who are not vitamin D deficient.

New Way Of Viewing Cells Could Lead To Easier Routes For Drug Manufacture Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST New research could eventually lead to a quicker and easier way of developing protein-based drugs that are key to treating a number of diseases, including cancer, diabetes and hepatitis. Scientists used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to examine protein aggregations, or inclusion bodies, in genetically modified Escherichia coli. This research could help find a way to more easily extract usable protein for use in pharmaceuticals and research.

Reducing The Damage Of A Heart Attack Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST In the aftermath of a heart attack, the body's own defenses may contribute to future heart failure. Authors of a new study believe they have identified a protein that plays an important role in a process that replaces dead heart muscle with stiffening scar tissue. The researchers are hopeful that the findings will lead to the development of new therapies to prevent this damage.

Primary Cilium As Cellular 'GPS System' Crucial To Wound Repair Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST The primary cilium, the solitary, antenna-like structure that studs the outer surfaces of virtually all human cells, orients cells to move in the right direction and at the speed needed to heal wounds, much like a global positioning system helps ships navigate to their destinations.

Blind Man Walking: With No Visual Awareness, Man Navigates Obstacle Course Flawlessly Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that people can successfully navigate an obstacle course even after brain damage has left them with no awareness of the ability to see and no activity in the visual cortex, a region of the brain's cortex that is primarily responsible for processing visual inputs.

Sparkling Spray Of Stars Seen Posted: 25 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST NGC 2264 lies about 2600 light-years from Earth in the obscure constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn, not far from the more familiar figure of Orion, the Hunter. The image shows a region of space about 30 light-years across.

Why Analgesic Drugs May Be Less Potent In Females Than In Males Posted: 25 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Investigators have identified the most likely reason analgesic drug treatment is usually less potent in females than males. This discovery is a major step toward finding more effective treatments for females suffering from persistent pain.

Fisheries Catch-22: Captive Breeding Aims To Conserve Biodiversity But Plunders Genetic Diversity Posted: 25 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Human impacts on the environment have reduced populations of wild species to dangerously low levels. Nowhere is this more apparent than in worldwide fisheries, where thanks to overfishing and habitat destruction, countless species and populations of fish are on the brink of disappearing forever. To attempt to mitigate the dire situation, captive breeding, the controlled breeding of organisms in protected environments, is regularly initiated.

Peripheral Artery Disease: Pain When Walking Can Be Reduced With Moderate Exercise, Study Suggests Posted: 25 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST You probably know that poor diet and lack of exercise can lead to dangerous deposits of fatty plaques in arteries. But it is not just the heart that is affected – blood flow can be blocked to the legs too, leading to pain when walking, immobility and even in extreme cases, amputation. Approximately 20% of us will suffer from this peripheral artery disease (PAD) once we are 65 or over, and with risk factors including smoking, diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure it is on the rise.

Nanowires Can Now Be Controlled Down To Single Atom Level Posted: 25 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Nanoscience researchers have shown that they can control the growth and crystal structure of nanowires down to the single atom level.

Cousin Marriage Laws Outdated, Expert Argues Posted: 25 Dec 2008 11:00 AM PST Marriage between first cousins is highly stigmatized in the West and, indeed, is illegal in 31 US states. But is the hostility to such marriage scientifically well-grounded?

Mystery Of Hexagonal Column Formations Such As Giant's Causeway Solved With Kitchen Materials Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Physicists have cracked the mystery behind the strange and uncannily well-ordered hexagonal columns found at such popular tourist sites as Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway and California's Devil's Postpile, using water, corn starch and a heat lamp. Using a combination of field observation, experiments and mathematical theory, they have solved the problem of what decides the size of the columns.

Older Adults At High Risk For Harmful Drug Interactions Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST At least one in 25 older adults, about 2.2 million people in the United States, take multiple drugs in combinations that can produce a harmful drug-drug interaction, and half of these interactions involve a non-prescription medication.

Flame Retardants Prove Ineffective On Fresh-cut Christmas Trees Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST This Christmas season, think twice about spending money on a commercial flame retardant for your Christmas tree. The good, old-fashioned method -- keeping your tree in a container of fresh water -- is probably all you need to keep your tree green and healthy. Researchers have determined that some flame retardants don't work on cut Christmas trees; in fact, in several cases the chemical retardants sped up the drying process and made trees more flammable.

Tau Protein Expression Predicts Breast Cancer Survival -- Though Not As Expected Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Expression of the microtubule-binding protein Tau is not a reliable means of selecting breast cancer patients for adjuvant paclitaxel chemotherapy, according to new research.

Efficient Organic LEDs A Step Toward Better Lights Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST For those who love "green" compact fluorescent bulbs but hate their cold light, here's some good news: Researchers are closer to flipping the switch on cheaper, richer LED-type room lighting.

Reward-stress Link Points To New Targets For Treating Addiction Posted: 25 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Investigators have discovered a functional link between reward and stress. They found that dopamine -- the brain's chief reward signal -- works through corticotrophin-releasing factor -- the brain's main stress signal -- to increase the activity of a brain region involved in addiction relapse. The findings, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience, point to new potential targets for treating alcohol and drug abuse -- particularly the problem of relapse.

Nanoparticles Delivering Drugs Can Kill Skin, Breast Cancer Cells Posted: 24 Dec 2008 08:00 PM PST Researchers are reporting for the first time that nanoparticles -- 1/5,000 the diameter of a human hair encapsulating an experimental anticancer agent -- can kill human melanoma and drug-resistant breast cancer cells growing in laboratory cultures.

Various Immune-related Diseases Have A Strong Genetic Overlap Posted: 24 Dec 2008 08:00 PM PST A limited number of genes appear to be involved in the development of eleven immune-related diseases such as type 1 diabetes, coeliac disease, Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. This has emerged from an analysis by geneticists of all globally conducted association studies of these diseases. The analysis reveals that although the diseases have different manifestations, they also have a major, comparable origin.

Spain’s Biggest Meteorite Strike Remembered 150 Years On Posted: 24 Dec 2008 08:00 PM PST Early on Christmas Eve, 1858 "people who in the streets, on pathways and in the fields saw a magnificent ball of fire appear, which shone with a brilliant, blinding light and all the colors of the rainbow, obscured the light of the moon and descended majestically from the sky". This comes from a report commissioned by the person whose farm was struck by the largest meteorite recovered to date in Spain. In 1863, Queen Isabel II accepted it as a donation to the National Museum of Natural Sciences, where it has been conserved and exhibited ever since.

Early Stage, HER2-positive Breast Cancer Patients At Increased Risk Of Recurrence Posted: 24 Dec 2008 08:00 PM PST Early-stage breast cancer patients with HER2 positive tumors one centimeter or smaller are at significant risk of recurrence of their disease, compared to those with early-stage disease who do not express the aggressive protein, according to a new study.

Researchers Create New Class Of Fluorescent Dyes To Detect Reactive Oxygen Species In Vivo Posted: 24 Dec 2008 08:00 PM PST Researchers have created a new family of fluorescent probes called hydrocyanines that can be used to detect and measure the presence of reactive oxygen species -- superoxide and the hydroxide radical -- in cells, tissue and, for the first time, in vivo.

Excessive Police Violence Evident In Emergency Care Cases, Say US Doctors Posted: 24 Dec 2008 08:00 PM PST Excessive police violence is evident in the types of injury and trauma emergency care doctors are treating in the US, indicates research published in Emergency Medicine Journal.

Premature Babies Have Altered Sensory Responses In Later Life Posted: 24 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Premature infants who need intensive care or surgery are less sensitive to thermal (hot and cold) sensations later in life. The new study suggests that pain and injury related to major medical interventions in early development may alter how children respond to painful stimuli much later in life.

Protein Helps Build Muscle Mass: Possible Treatment For Muscle Wasting Disorders Posted: 24 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Researchers are reporting how to build muscle mass with the protein FHL1. The protein partners with and activates the transcription factor, NFATc1. Encouraging this partnership might provide a possible treatment for muscle wasting disorders.

Snowy Owl -- A Marine Species? Posted: 24 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Wildlife satellite studies could lead to a radical re-thinking about how the snowy owl fits into the Northern ecosystem. "Six of the adult females that we followed in a satellite study spent most of last winter far out on the Arctic sea ice," said a professsor who is working to better understand key indicator species of Canadian northern ecosystems.

Lumbar Fusion Has Long-term Benefits, Study Suggests Posted: 24 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Lumbar fusion is becoming an increasingly common treatment for low-back pain, but its long-term effects are relatively unknown. New research now suggests that the long-term effects are superior to those of physiotherapy.

Seeing The Unseen With 'Super-resolution' Fluorescence Microscopy Posted: 24 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Thanks to new "super-resolution" fluorescence microscopy technique, researchers have succeeded in resolving features of cells as minuscule as 20-30 nanometers, an order of magnitude smaller than conventional fluorescence light microscopy images.

Passage Graves From An Astronomical Perspective Posted: 24 Dec 2008 05:00 PM PST Passage graves are mysterious barrows from the Stone Age. New research indicates that the Stone Age graves' orientation in the landscape could have an astronomical explanation. The Danish passage graves are most likely oriented according to the path of the full moon, perhaps even according to the full moon immediately before a lunar eclipse.

Spotless Mind? Unwanted Memories Might Be Erasable Without Harming Other Brain Functions Posted: 24 Dec 2008 02:00 PM PST A molecule known to preserve memories -- PKMzeta -- specifically stores complex, high-quality memories that provide detailed information about an animal's location, fears and actions, but does not control the ability to process or express this information. This finding suggests that PKMzeta erasure that is designed to target specific debilitating memories could be effective against the offending memory while sparing the computational function of brain.

Estrogen Pills Can Benefit Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer, Study Finds Posted: 24 Dec 2008 02:00 PM PST Estrogen-receptor positive metastatic breast cancer often develops resistance to conventional therapies that severely lower a woman's estrogen level. A group of researchers headed by a breast cancer specialist has found that in one-third of these cases, such tumors will respond, paradoxically, to therapy that raises a woman's estrogen level.

How Gene Function Drives Natural Selection In Important Class Of Genetic Elements Posted: 24 Dec 2008 02:00 PM PST For years, researchers thought that most of DNA was passive "junk" and knew little about it. However, new findings are peeling back the odd and baffling world of transposons. Now, researchers have just found that natural selection on gene function is driving the evolution of one kind of transposable element called the LTR retrotransposon.

Cancer: Tamoxifen's Power Comes From Endoxifen Posted: 24 Dec 2008 02:00 PM PST Researchers have discovered that a chemical known as endoxifen appears to be the primary metabolite responsible for the effectiveness of tamoxifen in treating breast cancer and that it works against cancer in an entirely unexpected way.

Genes Involved In Antibiotic Resistance Vary Within A Species Posted: 24 Dec 2008 02:00 PM PST When comparing the genome sequence of three MDR A. baumannii isolates and three drug-susceptible A. baumannii isolates, scientists found that one variation of bacteria would respond to antibiotics while another variation of the same bacteria may not.

Patient Consent Forms Should Educate Not Intimidate, Experts Urge Posted: 24 Dec 2008 02:00 PM PST The way current patient consent forms are written -- as formal, legal documents -- plants a litigious relationship in both the patient's and the surgeon's mind even before treatment has begun. Researchers propose a set of five recommendations to return consent forms to their intended purpose -- that of allowing patients to meaningfully take part in the decision-making process.

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