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| Posted: 18 Mar 2009 11:00 AM PDT A new type of brain imaging scanner shows that intelligence is strongly influenced by the quality of the brain's axons or wiring that sends signals throughout the brain. The faster the signaling, the faster the brain processes information. And since the integrity of the brain's wiring is influenced by genes, the genes we inherit play a far greater role in intelligence than was previously thought. |
| Posted: 18 Mar 2009 11:00 AM PDT Instead of a shot, someday getting vaccinated against disease may be as pleasant as drinking a yogurt smoothie. A researcher has developed a new oral vaccine using probiotics, the healthy bacteria in dairy products. He has successfully used the vaccine to create immunity to anthrax. He also is developing a breast cancer vaccine using probiotics and vaccines for various infectious diseases. Delivering the vaccine to the gut produces the most robust immune response. |
| Robot Sub Searches For Signs Of Melting 60 Km Into An Antarctic Ice Shelf Cavity Posted: 18 Mar 2009 11:00 AM PDT Autosub, a robot submarine built and developed in the UK, has successfully completed a high-risk campaign of six missions traveling under an Antarctic glacier. Autosub has been exploring Pine Island Glacier, a floating extension of the West Antarctic ice sheet, using sonar scanners to map the seabed and the underside of the ice as it juts into the sea. Scientists hope to learn why the glacier has been thinning and accelerating. |
| Scientists Discover Why A Low GI Meal Makes You Feel Full Posted: 18 Mar 2009 11:00 AM PDT Eating a meal with a low GI (glycemic index) increases gut hormone production which leads to suppression of appetite and the feeling of fullness. Researchers studied the effects of a low versus high GI meal on levels of gut hormones. This is the first study to provide clues as to how a low GI meal produces satiety. |
| Engineer Devises Ways To Improve Gas Mileage Posted: 18 Mar 2009 11:00 AM PDT A mechanical engineer is developing techniques that will lessen our monetary pain at the pump by reducing the drag of vehicles. Drag is an aerodynamic force that is the result of resistance a body encounters when it moves in a liquid or gaseous medium (such as air). Reduction in drag means less fuel would be required to overcome the fluid resistance encountered by the moving vehicle. |
| Vitamin D May Not Be The Answer To Feeling SAD Posted: 18 Mar 2009 11:00 AM PDT A lack of Vitamin D, due to reduced sunlight, has been linked to depression and the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, but new research shows there is no clear link between the levels of vitamin D in the blood and depression. |
| Clues To A Secret Of Life Found In Meteorite Dust Posted: 18 Mar 2009 08:00 AM PDT NASA scientists analyzing the dust of meteorites have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level. |
| Brain Abnormality Found In Boys With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Posted: 18 Mar 2009 08:00 AM PDT Researchers trying to uncover the mechanisms that cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder have found an abnormality in the brains of adolescent boys suffering from the conditions, but not where they expected to find it. |
| Engineering Flu Vaccines: New Method Could Improve Vaccines For Both Seasonal Flu And Bird Flu Posted: 18 Mar 2009 08:00 AM PDT Scientists have developed a new computerized method of testing the effectiveness of both bird flu and seasonal flu vaccines. Tests suggest the computerized approach can better identify vaccines that are effective against multiple flu strains. Data from bird flu outbreaks and more than 30 years of seasonal flu records were used to confirm the findings. |
| Low Vitamin D Levels Associated With Several Risk Factors In Teenagers Posted: 18 Mar 2009 08:00 AM PDT Low levels of vitamin D were associated with increased risk of high blood pressure, high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome in teenagers. The highest levels of vitamin D were found in whites, the lowest levels in blacks and intermediate levels in Mexican-Americans. |
| Developing Fruit Fly Embryo Is Capable Of Genetic Corrections Posted: 18 Mar 2009 08:00 AM PDT Animals have an astonishing ability to develop reliably in spite of variable conditions during embryogenesis. New research addresses how living things can develop into precise, adult forms when there is so much variation present during their development stages. |
| Mood Player Sorts Music By Moods, Blends Images To Music Rhythms Posted: 18 Mar 2009 08:00 AM PDT Melancholic songs, dance rhythms or romantic background music? The mood player can recognize musical characteristics and sort songs according to moods. It also blends in suitable images to the rhythm of the music. |
| Elephant Shark Genome Sequence Leads To Discovery Of Color Perception In Deep-sea Fish Posted: 18 Mar 2009 05:00 AM PDT The elephant shark, a primitive deep-sea fish that belongs to the oldest living family of jawed vertebrates, can see color much like humans can. This discovery may enhance scientists' understanding of how color vision evolved in early vertebrates over the last 450 million years of evolution. |
| Brain Damage Found In Cognitively Normal People With Alzheimer's Marker Posted: 18 Mar 2009 05:00 AM PDT Researchers have linked a potential indicator of Alzheimer's disease to brain damage in humans with no signs of mental impairment. Although their cognitive and neurological assessments were normal, study participants with lower levels of a substance known as amyloid beta 42 in their cerebrospinal fluid had reduced whole brain volumes, suggesting that Alzheimer's changes might already be damaging their brains. |
| Longest Nanowires Ever Made May Lead To Better Fuel Cells Posted: 18 Mar 2009 05:00 AM PDT Researchers are reporting production of the longest platinum nanowires ever made — an advance that they say could speed development of fuel cells for cars, trucks, and other everyday uses. The wires, 1/50,000 the width of a human hair, are thousands of times longer than any previously made, according to a report in Nano Letters. The creation of long platinum nanowires could soon lead to the development of commercially viable fuel cells by providing significant increases in both the longevity and efficiency of fuel cells. |
| Fishing For Microdeletions That Predispose An Embryo To Develop Cancer Syndromes In Later Life Posted: 18 Mar 2009 05:00 AM PDT Researchers have used a common laboratory technique for the first time to detect genetic changes in embryos that could predispose the resulting children to develop certain cancer syndromes. Current preimplantation genetic diagnosis techniques can detect mutations in very small bits of genes or DNA, but, until now, it wasn't easy to detect deletions involving whole genes or long sections of DNA in embryos. |
| Forceful New Method To Sensitively Detect Toxins, Proteins, Developed Posted: 18 Mar 2009 05:00 AM PDT Scientists recently reported the detection of toxins with unprecedented speed, sensitivity, and simplicity. The approach can sense as few as a few hundred molecules in a drop of blood in less than 10 minutes, with only four simple steps from sample to answer. |
| Guitarists' Brains Swing Together Posted: 18 Mar 2009 05:00 AM PDT When musicians play along together it isn't just their instruments that are in time -- their brain waves are too. Research published in the journal BMC Neuroscience shows how EEG readouts from pairs of guitarists become more synchronized, a finding with wider potential implications for how our brains interact when we do. |
| Animal Families With The Most Diversity Also Have Widest Range Of Size Posted: 18 Mar 2009 02:00 AM PDT Somewhere out there in the ocean, SpongeBob SquarePants has a teeny-tiny cousin and a humongous uncle. That's just what one would expect from a new analysis of body sizes across all orders of animal life recently conducted by researchers. |
| Folic Acid Supplements Linked To Higher Risk Of Prostate Cancer, Study Shows Posted: 18 Mar 2009 02:00 AM PDT Men who took a daily folic acid supplement of 1 mg daily had more than twice the risk of prostate cancer compared with men who took a placebo. |
| New Technique Developed To Date Forensic Death Based On Corpse Microorganisms Posted: 18 Mar 2009 02:00 AM PDT This system, related to thermo-microbiology, will permit to determine more accurately the time of a death which has not occurred under controlled natural conditions or as a consequence of a crime. The purpose of the project was to establish the initial methodological basis to create a protocol of general application and provide new complementary tools to the existing criminalistic techniques. |
| First Reported Case In The World: 7-Year-Old Girl Has Six Organs Removed For Tumor Surgery Posted: 18 Mar 2009 02:00 AM PDT A 7-year-old girl from Long Island, NY, is on her way home a little more than four weeks after receiving a historic surgery that involved the removal and partial re-implantation of six organs in order to resect an abdominal tumor that otherwise would be inoperable. |
| Tree-eating Bugs Seen By Satellite As They Denude Invasive Tamarisk Trees In Southwest U.S. Posted: 18 Mar 2009 02:00 AM PDT More than 150 years after a small Eurasian tree named tamarisk or saltcedar started taking over river banks throughout the US Southwest, saltcedar leaf beetles were unleashed to defoliate the exotic invader. Now scientists say their new study shows it is feasible to use satellite data to monitor the extent of the beetle's attack on tamarisk, and whether use of the beetles may backfire with unintended environmental consequences. |
| Explaining Trends In Heart Attack Posted: 18 Mar 2009 02:00 AM PDT A report in Circulation from the Framingham Heart Study, which compared acute myocardial infarction incidence in 9824 men and women over four decades, has proposed an explanation for the apparent paradox of improved prevention, falling mortality rates but stable rates of hospitalization. |
| Key Sperm-binding Proteins Cloned Posted: 17 Mar 2009 11:00 PM PDT New treatments for infertility could be closer to reality. According to a study published in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction, for the first time researchers have cloned, produced and purified a protein important for sperm maturation, termed Binder of Sperm, which may have implications for both fertility treatments and new methods of male contraception. |
| Small Molecules Block Cancer Gene Posted: 17 Mar 2009 11:00 PM PDT Finding molecules that block the activity of the oncogene Stat 3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription) required screening literally millions of compounds, using computers that compared the structure of the cancer-causing gene to those of the small molecules. |
| Rock Rose Leaves And Olive And Date Pits Make Up New Anti-pesticide Formula Posted: 17 Mar 2009 11:00 PM PDT A Spanish-Moroccan research team has developed an ecological means of reducing pesticide-related water pollution by using natural organic waste materials, such as olive and date stones, and the leaves of plants such as the rock rose and radish. This new formula could help to reduce this problem that causes damage to health and the environment. |
| Genetically Distinct Carriers Of Chagas Disease-causing Parasite Live Together Posted: 17 Mar 2009 11:00 PM PDT Researchers have found living together the known carrier species for the Chagas disease-causing parasite Triatoma dimidiata (also known as "kissing bugs") and a cryptic species that looks the same -- but is genetically distinct from -- the known carrier species. The two species haven't interbred for as many as 5 million years, according to a report in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. |
| Eutrophication Of Lake Constance Led To Genetic Changes In A Species Of Water Flea Posted: 17 Mar 2009 11:00 PM PDT Ecological changes caused by humans affect natural biodiversity. For example, the eutrophication of Greifensee and Lake Constance in the 1970s and 1980s led to genetic changes in a species of water flea which was ultimately displaced. Despite the fact that water quality has since been significantly improved, this species has not been re-established. |
| Mansions In Pompeii: Ideal Measurements Of A Pre-Roman Model Posted: 17 Mar 2009 11:00 PM PDT Pre-Roman atrium houses exhibited a striking number of similarities as part of a long Italic building tradition. A Dutch researcher has analysed the measurements of primary mansions in Pompeii. As buildings were constructed according to a standard model, the adaptations to that model, required by the economical, practical and social demands of any particular project, provide a lot of information about the social significance of the houses of Pompeii's elite. |
| American Carnivores Evolved To Avoid Each Other, New Study Suggests Posted: 17 Mar 2009 08:00 PM PDT A large-scale analysis suggests that strategies that help America's carnivores stay away from each other have been a driving force in the evolution of many of these species, influencing such factors as whether they are active daytime or nighttime, whether they inhabit forests or grasslands, or live in trees or on the ground. |
| Genetic Abnormality May Increase Risk Of Blood Disorders Posted: 17 Mar 2009 08:00 PM PDT Researchers have shown for the first time that a tendency to develop some blood disorders may be inherited. Their research identifies a common genetic sequence abnormality that enhances the likelihood of acquiring a mutation in a gene linked to certain blood diseases. |
| Posted: 17 Mar 2009 08:00 PM PDT A student is using his knowledge of sports science to assist soldiers as they prepare to face harsh conditions in Afghanistan. |
| New Way The Malaria Parasite And Red Blood Cells Interact Posted: 17 Mar 2009 08:00 PM PDT Researchers have discovered a new mechanism the malaria parasite uses to enter human red blood cells, which could lead to the development of a vaccine cocktail to fight the mosquito-borne disease. |
| Paper Electrified By Copper Particles Posted: 17 Mar 2009 08:00 PM PDT Scientists have succeeded in producing nano-sized metallic copper particles. When the size of particles is reduced to a nano-scale (one nanometer being one billionth of a meter), the properties of the material undergo substantial changes. Unlike in bulk materials, in nanoparticles the number of surface atoms is considerably greater than the number of atoms inside the material, which, among other things, makes the melting temperature of nanomaterials very low. With suitable heat treatment, the particles manufactured by the research group can be made to form electricity-conducting layers and patterns on paper. |
| Depression Twice As Likely In Seizure Sufferers Posted: 17 Mar 2009 08:00 PM PDT The prevalence of depression is almost twice as high in people with epilepsy compared to the general population. |
| Where Does Consciousness Come From? Posted: 17 Mar 2009 05:00 PM PDT A new paper suggests that four specific, separate processes combine as a "signature" of conscious activity. By studying the neural activity of people who are presented with two different types of stimuli -- one which could be perceived consciously, and one which could not -- researchers show that these four processes occur only in the former, conscious perception task. |
| Less Of A Stink In Diabetes Patients? Posted: 17 Mar 2009 05:00 PM PDT Hydrogen sulfide is commonly associated with smell of rotten eggs, stink bombs and blocked drains but lower blood levels of the gas are possibly linked to cardiovascular complications in some male patients with type II diabetes. |
| New Protein Identified In Bacterial Arsenal Posted: 17 Mar 2009 05:00 PM PDT Nearly a billion years ago, bacteria evolved an insidious means of infecting their hosts -- a syringe-like mechanism able to inject cells with stealthy hijacker molecules. These molecules, called virulence factors, play a sophisticated game of mimicry, imitating many of the cells' normal activities but ultimately co-opting them to serve the bacteria's needs. |
| Risk Factors In Severity Of 'Flat Head Syndrome' In Babies Identified Posted: 17 Mar 2009 05:00 PM PDT A new study by physician researchers identifies risk factors for the severity of asymmetrical head shapes, known as deformational plagiocephaly, or more commonly as flat head syndrome. |
| Polarizers May Enhance Remote Chemical Detection Posted: 17 Mar 2009 05:00 PM PDT Chemists have discovered a way to lower the cost and enhance the sensitivity of a tool used for stand-off detection in harsh environments like hazardous waste spills, blast furnaces and nuclear reactors. |
| Consuming A Little Less Salt Could Mean Fewer Deaths Posted: 17 Mar 2009 05:00 PM PDT A moderate decrease in daily salt intake could benefit the US population and reduce the rates of heart disease and deaths. All segments of the US population would be expected to benefit, with the largest health benefits experienced by African Americans who are more likely to have hypertension and whose blood pressure may be more sensitive to salt. |
| Master Molecular Switch May Prevent The Spread Of Cancer Cells To Distant Sites In The Body Posted: 17 Mar 2009 02:00 PM PDT Researchers identified a switch that might prevent cancer cells from metastasizing from a primary tumor to other organs. The switch is a protein that, when in the "on" position, maintains the normal character of cells that line the surface of organs and body cavities. These epithelial cells are the type of cell from which most solid tumors arise. When the switch is turned "off" or absent, the cells can move away from the primary tumor. |
| How Cancer Cells Become More 'Gloopy' As They Die Posted: 17 Mar 2009 02:00 PM PDT The viscosity, or "gloopiness," of different parts of cancer cells increases dramatically when they are blasted with light-activated cancer drugs, according to new images. |
| Cleaning Up Oil Spills Can Kill More Fish Than Spills Themselves Posted: 17 Mar 2009 02:00 PM PDT A new study shows that detergents used to clean up spills of diesel oil actually increase its toxicity to fish, making it more harmful. |
| Tiny Samples Could Yield Big Predictive Markers For Pancreatic Cancer Posted: 17 Mar 2009 02:00 PM PDT A handful of proteins, detected in incredibly tiny amounts, may help doctors distinguish between a harmless lesion in the pancreas and a potentially deadly one. If confirmed, these biomarkers could represent reliable indicators of pancreatic cancer or precancerous pancreatic lesions, which would allow for earlier, perhaps more successful, treatments. |
| Smart Heating And Cooling With Nanofluids Posted: 17 Mar 2009 02:00 PM PDT Nanofluids can act as smart materials that can be switched on and off to dissipate heat efficiently or poorly. |
| Posted: 17 Mar 2009 02:00 PM PDT Stun guns, in certain circumstances, may result in brain-specific complications such as seizures, according to a new case. |
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