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• Fishy Sixth Sense: Mathematical Keys To Fascinating Sense Organ
• 'Fatostatin' Is A Turnoff For Fat Genes
• First Close Look At Stimulated Brain
• Baby's MP3 Heart Monitor: New Safe Approach To Fetal Heart Monitoring Could Save Lives
• How Cities Mimic Life: Megacities Breathe, Consume Energy, Excrete Wastes And Pollute
• Depression And Anxiety Affect Up To 15 Percent Of Preschoolers, Canadian Study Finds
• Star-birth Myth 'Busted'
• Simple Test May Identify Stroke Survivors At Risk Of Another Cardiovascular Event
• Who Are You? Mobile ID Devices Find Out Using NIST Guidelines
• More Accurate Interpretation Of Brain Imaging Data
• High Numbers Of Seed Scallops On Georges Bank, Low Numbers In Mid-Atlantic
• An Intelligent System Helps Elderly Or Memory-impaired To Remember Everyday Tasks
• Tunnels Concentrate Air Pollution By Up To 1,000 Times
• Finnish Scientists Discover Nerve Growth Factor With Therapeutic Potential In Parkinson's Disease
• 'Curtain Twitching' Skylarks Keep Track Of Strangers Through Their Songs
• Novel Genetic Region Identified For Childhood Asthma In Mexicans
• Scientists Hone Technique To Safeguard Water Supplies
• Familiar And Newly Learned Words Are Processed By The Same Neural Networks In The Brain
• Scientists Identify Stomach’s Timekeepers Of Hunger
• New Research Supports Model For Nuclear Pore Complex
• Model Suggests How Life’s Code Emerged From Primordial Soup

Fishy Sixth Sense: Mathematical Keys To Fascinating Sense Organ Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 PM PDT Biophysicists in Germany are leading an effort to develop and apply models of the so-called lateral-line system found in fish and some amphibians. This sensory organ enables an animal, even in murky water, to map its surroundings and recognize other animals. In a new study, the researchers report mathematical models that capture essential elements of the system, agree with experimental data, and could be easy to implement technically, as in robots.

'Fatostatin' Is A Turnoff For Fat Genes Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 PM PDT A small molecule earlier found to have both anti-fat and anti-cancer abilities works as a literal turnoff for fat-making genes, according to a new report.

First Close Look At Stimulated Brain Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 PM PDT With the aid of optical imaging technology, researchers have for the first time been able to see how neurons react to electrical stimulation. The neural response to electrical currents isn't localized, as some had previously thought. Rather, electrical stimulation activates a scattered and widely distributed set of neurons.

Baby's MP3 Heart Monitor: New Safe Approach To Fetal Heart Monitoring Could Save Lives Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 PM PDT A new type of fetal heart monitor could save the lives of unborn infants in complicated pregnancies, according to researchers.

How Cities Mimic Life: Megacities Breathe, Consume Energy, Excrete Wastes And Pollute Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 PM PDT A scientific trend to view the world's biggest cities as analogous to living, breathing organisms is fostering a deep new understanding of how poor air quality in megacities can harm residents, people living far downwind and also play a major role in global climate change.

Depression And Anxiety Affect Up To 15 Percent Of Preschoolers, Canadian Study Finds Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 PM PDT Almost 15 percent of preschoolers have atypically high levels of depression and anxiety, according to a new Canadian study. The five-year investigation also found that children with atypically high depression and anxiety levels are more likely to have mothers with a history of depression.

Star-birth Myth 'Busted' Posted: 30 Aug 2009 08:00 AM PDT Astronomers have debunked one of astronomy's long held beliefs about how stars are formed, using a set of galaxies found with CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope. When a cloud of interstellar gas collapses to form stars, the stars range from massive to minute. Since the 1950s astronomers have thought that in a family of new-born stars the ratio of massive stars to lighter ones was always pretty much the same — for instance, that for every star 20 times more massive than the Sun or larger, you'd get 500 stars the mass of the Sun or less.

Simple Test May Identify Stroke Survivors At Risk Of Another Cardiovascular Event Posted: 30 Aug 2009 08:00 AM PDT Measuring blood flow in the ankle may identify stroke survivors at risk of subsequent events. This test, the ankle brachial index, compares blood flow in the ankle to blood flow in the arm to detect poor circulation caused by fatty plaque buildup in the lower body, a condition known as peripheral artery disease.

Who Are You? Mobile ID Devices Find Out Using NIST Guidelines Posted: 30 Aug 2009 08:00 AM PDT A new publication that recommends best practices for the next generation of portable biometric acquisition devices -- Mobile ID -- has been published by NIST.

More Accurate Interpretation Of Brain Imaging Data Posted: 30 Aug 2009 08:00 AM PDT Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique widely used in studying the human brain. However, it has long been unclear exactly how fMRI signals are generated at brain cell level. This information is crucially important to interpreting these imaging signals. Scientists in Finland have discovered that astrocytes, support cells in brain tissue, play a key role in the generation of fMRI signals.

High Numbers Of Seed Scallops On Georges Bank, Low Numbers In Mid-Atlantic Posted: 30 Aug 2009 08:00 AM PDT A NOAA Fisheries scallop survey off the northeastern coast between North Carolina and Massachusetts shows high numbers of juvenile "recruit" sea scallops and ocean quahogs on Georges Bank tempered with weak numbers for seed scallops in the Mid-Atlantic for 2009. This survey also shows the overall biomass for the Mid-Atlantic remains high.

An Intelligent System Helps Elderly Or Memory-impaired To Remember Everyday Tasks Posted: 30 Aug 2009 08:00 AM PDT Researchers have created a system with artificial intelligence techniques which notifies elderly people or people with special needs who might otherwise forget certain everyday tasks. This system uses sensors distributed in the environment in order to detect their actions and mobile devices which remind them, for example, to take their keys before they leave home.

Tunnels Concentrate Air Pollution By Up To 1,000 Times Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 AM PDT A toxic cocktail of ultrafine particles is lurking inside road tunnels in concentration levels so high they have the potential to harm drivers and passengers, a new study has found.

Finnish Scientists Discover Nerve Growth Factor With Therapeutic Potential In Parkinson's Disease Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 AM PDT Scientists Finland have reported promising new results with potential implications for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. They have been studying the impacts of nerve growth factors in the treatment of PD, and their latest results show that a certain growth factor can be used to halt the progress of damage brought on by a nerve poison and possibly even restore the function of damaged cells.

'Curtain Twitching' Skylarks Keep Track Of Strangers Through Their Songs Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 AM PDT Skylarks can hear the difference between friendly neighbors and dangerous strangers, and deal with any threatening intruders, says new research.

Novel Genetic Region Identified For Childhood Asthma In Mexicans Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 AM PDT Genetic variants in a region on chromosome 9q may influence asthma development in Mexican children, according to new research. Researchers conducted a genome-wide association study in which they looked at over 500,000 variants across the genome in 492 Mexican children with asthma and their parents to identify novel genes that may influence asthma development. The work points to the chromosome 9q21.31 region as a novel candidate region for childhood asthma.

Scientists Hone Technique To Safeguard Water Supplies Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 AM PDT A method to detect contaminants in municipal water supplies has undergone further refinements. The new work demonstrates that the technology that uses algae as sentinels has broader applications than previously reported.

Familiar And Newly Learned Words Are Processed By The Same Neural Networks In The Brain Posted: 30 Aug 2009 02:00 AM PDT Our vocabulary continues to grow and expand even in adulthood. Just 10 years ago, the word "blog" did not yet exist -- and now we no longer remember when we heard this word for the first time or when we learned its meaning. At some stage new words become just as familiar to us as words we have learned earlier.

Scientists Identify Stomach’s Timekeepers Of Hunger Posted: 28 Aug 2009 09:00 PM PDT Scientists have identified cells in the stomach that time the release of a hormone that makes animals anticipate food and eat even when they are not hungry. The finding, which has implications for the treatment of obesity, marks a landmark in the decades-long search for the timekeepers of hunger. The work reveals what the stomach "tells" the brain.

New Research Supports Model For Nuclear Pore Complex Posted: 28 Aug 2009 09:00 PM PDT To protect their DNA, cells in higher organisms are very choosy about what they allow in and out of their nuclei, where the genes reside. Guarding access is the job of transport machines called nuclear pore complexes, which stud the nuclear membrane. Despite these gatekeepers' conspicuously large size (they are made of 30 different proteins), they have proved largely inscrutable to researchers over the years. But bit by bit, scientists are learning how these machines work.

Model Suggests How Life’s Code Emerged From Primordial Soup Posted: 28 Aug 2009 09:00 PM PDT In 1952, Stanley Miller filled two flasks with chemicals assumed to be present on the primitive Earth, connected the flasks with rubber tubes and introduced some electrical sparks as a stand-in for lightning. The now famous experiment showed what amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, could easily be generated from this primordial stew. But despite that seminal experiment, neither he nor others were able to take the next step: that of showing how life's code could come from such humble beginnings.

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