Friday, October 09, 2009

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News


'Blue Stonehenge' Discovered By UK Archaeologists

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 11:00 AM PDT

Archaeologists have released an artist's impression of what a second stone circle found a mile from Stonehenge might have looked like. The drawing shows the sensational discovery of "Blue Stonehenge" by a team led by UK archaeologists on the West bank of the River Avon last month.

Future Diabetes Treatment May Use Resveratrol To Target The Brain

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 11:00 AM PDT

A new study shows that the brain plays a key role in mediating resveratrol's anti-diabetic actions, potentially paving the way for future orally delivered diabetes medications that target the brain.

Bacterium Transforms Toxic Gold Compounds To Their Metallic Form

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 11:00 AM PDT

Australian scientists have found that the bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans catalyzes the biomineralization of gold by transforming toxic gold compounds to their metallic form using active cellular mechanism.

Rare Head And Neck Cancer Linked To HPV, Study Finds

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 11:00 AM PDT

An increase in cases of a rare type of head and neck cancer appears to be linked to HPV, or human papillomavirus, according to a new study.

First 'One-way Roads' For Light Could Lead To Simpler Lightwave Technology

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 11:00 AM PDT

Light readily bounces off obstacles in its path. Some of these reflections are captured by our eyes, thus participating in the visual perception of the objects around us. In contrast to this usual behavior of light, researchers have implemented for the first time a one-way structure in which microwave light flows losslessly around obstacles or defects. This concept, when used in lightwave circuits, might one day reduce their internal connections to simple one-way conduits with much improved capacity and efficiency.

Household Robots Do Not Protect Users' Security And Privacy, Researchers Say

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 11:00 AM PDT

Robots equipped with wireless and sensing capabilities are available for use in the home. But the safety and privacy risks of these devices are not yet adequately addressed, according to a new study.

New Mesozoic Mammal: Discovery Illuminates Mammalian Ear Evolution While Dinosaurs Ruled

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:00 AM PDT

An international team of paleontologists has discovered a new species of mammal that lived in China's Liaoning Province 123 million years ago. This remarkably well preserved fossil offers important insight into how the mammalian middle ear evolved. Such exquisite dinosaur-age mammals provide evidence of how developmental mechanisms have impacted the evolution of the earliest mammals.

Major Improvements Made In Engineering Heart Repair Patches From Stem Cells

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:00 AM PDT

Researchers have engineered more viable heart repair patches from mixed stem cells. The patches beat spontaneously, can be electronically paced and have pre-formed blood vessels that connect to a rodent's heart circulation.

Owners Should Count Calories For Obese Pets, Consider Several Factors For Good Health

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:00 AM PDT

You might watch your daily calorie intake or glance over nutritional information on food packages, but do you do the same for your pet? Veterinarians say there are several guidelines to follow when feeding your pet to ensure that it maintains good health.

Being Overweight Super-sizes Both Risk And Consequences Of Sleep-disordered Breathing

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:00 AM PDT

Overweight individuals are not just at greater risk of having sleep-disordered-breathing, they are also likely to suffer greater consequences, according to new research.

Physicists Seek To Keep Next-generation Colliders In One Piece

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:00 AM PDT

Researchers are investigating how to control huge electromagnetic forces that have the potential to destroy the next generation of particle accelerators.

Buying Green Can Be License For Bad Behavior, Study Finds

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:00 AM PDT

Just being around green products can make us behave more altruistically, a new study in Psychological Science has found. But buying those same products can have the opposite effect. Researchers found that buying green can lead people into less altruistic behavior, and even make them more likely to steal and lie than after buying conventional products.

Last Time Carbon Dioxide Levels Were This High: 15 Million Years Ago, Scientists Report

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 05:00 AM PDT

You must go back 15 million years to find carbon dioxide levels as high as they are today, Earth scientists report. "The last time carbon dioxide levels were apparently as high as they are today and sustained at those levels, global temperatures were five to 10 degrees Fahrenheit higher than they are today," said Aradhna Tripati, UCLA assistant professor of Earth and Space Sciences and lead author.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis May Involve A Form Of Sudden, Rapid Aging Of The Immune System

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 05:00 AM PDT

Results from a new study suggest that premature aging of the immune system appears to play a role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. The researchers found that thymic malfunction occurs simultaneously with motor neuron dysfunction, both in laboratory mice bred to mimic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and in humans suffering from the disease.

Nanometric Butterfly Wings Created

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 05:00 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a technique to replicate biological structures, such as butterfly wings, on a nano scale. The resulting biomaterial could be used to make optically active structures, such as optical diffusers for solar panels.

Triple Therapy Halves Exacerbations In Moderate-to-severe COPD, Study Suggests

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 05:00 AM PDT

Patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can benefit from triple therapy that includes a long-acting beta-agonist, an inhaled corticosteroid and an anti-muscarinic agent, according to researchers.

Smaller And More Efficient Nuclear Battery Created

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 05:00 AM PDT

Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. Researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.

Human Brain, Like Google Maps, Creates Multiple Independent Maps While Finding The Way In Physical World

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 05:00 AM PDT

Through the power of Google Earth, you can travel the globe from the comfort of your computer screen, peering down on everything from above. But once you change your perspective – if you go into one of the buildings that you've looked down on – you have to upload a new map. Now, researchers in Norway have discovered that the brain also creates multiple independent maps while finding the way in the physical world.

Liver Cells Grown From Patients' Skin Cells; Treatment Of Liver Diseases Possible

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:00 AM PDT

Scientists have successfully produced liver cells from patients' skin cells opening the possibility of treating a wide range of diseases that affect liver function.

Shingles Raises Risk Of Stroke By 30 Percent Or More In Adults, Study Finds

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:00 AM PDT

Adults who develop shingles are about 30 percent more likely to have a stroke within a year than adults who don't have shingles. When the shingles infection involves the skin around the eye and the eye itself, the risk of stroke may increase more than four-fold. Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox.

Exercise Improves Body Image For Fit And Unfit Alike

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:00 AM PDT

Attention weekend warriors: the simple act of exercise and not fitness itself can convince you that you look better, a new study finds.

Chinese Herbal Medicines For Preventing Diabetes In High Risk People: Still Not Enough Hard Scientific Evidence

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:00 AM PDT

More research is required to establish whether Chinese herbal medicines can reduce the likelihood of developing diabetes, according to researchers. Although herbal medicines are widely used in Asian countries to treat pre-diabetes (impaired glucose tolerance or IGT), the precursor of the disease, researchers say there is still not enough hard scientific evidence to confidently recommend their use.

U.S. Must Focus On Protecting Critical Computer Networks From Cyber Attack, Experts Urge

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:00 AM PDT

Because it will be difficult to prevent cyber attacks on critical civilian and military computer networks by threatening to punish attackers, the United States must focus its efforts on defending these networks from cyber attack, according to a new analysis by experts.

Tanked-up Teens: Cheap Alcohol Strongly Linked To Harmful Underage Drinking In The UK

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:00 AM PDT

Researchers studied the drinking habits of 9,833 15- to 16-year-olds in the North West of England, finding that excessively low cost alcohol products and illicit purchase are strongly related to harmful underage drinking.

Biological Clocks Discovery Overturns Long-held Theory

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 11:00 PM PDT

Mathematicians and life scientists say they have identified the signal that the brain sends to the rest of the body to control biological rhythms, a finding that overturns a long-held theory about our internal clock.

Too Much Of A Good Thing? Scientists Explain Cellular Effects Of Vitamin A Overdose And Deficiency

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 11:00 PM PDT

If a little vitamin A is good, more must be better, right? Wrong! New research shows that vitamin A plays a crucial role in energy production within cells, explaining why too much or too little has a complex negative effect on our bodies. This is particularly important as combinations of foods, drinks, creams and nutritional supplements containing added vitamin A make an overdose more possible than ever before.

If Only The Weeds Would Keep Their Genes To Themselves

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 11:00 PM PDT

The ecological and economic impacts of gene flow between crops and their weedy relatives are significant. Weedy relatives may acquire beneficial genes from cultivated cousins, potentially increasing their invasive ability. Farmers may find that their crop yields decrease or crops may be more difficult to harvest if they hybridize with a weedy relative.

Stress Urinary Incontinence: Minimally Invasive Operations As Effective As Open Surgery

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 11:00 PM PDT

New, less invasive surgical treatments for stress urinary incontinence in women are just as effective as traditional open surgical approaches, according to researchers. The researchers carried out a systematic review of trials comparing different surgical approaches to treating the condition.

New Publication Offers Security Tips For WiMAX Networks

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 11:00 PM PDT

Government agencies and other organizations planning to use WiMAX -- Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access -- networks can get technical advice on improving the security of their systems from a draft computer security guide prepared by NIST.

Fewer Hikers Means Less Support For Conservation, Study Says

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 11:00 PM PDT

Hikers and backpackers tend to become supporters of environmental and conservation groups while casual woodland tourists do not, a new study says -- and a recent fall-off in strenuous outdoor endeavors portends a coming decline in the ranks of conservation backers.

Classical Chaos Occurs In The Quantum World, Scientists Find

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 08:00 PM PDT

For the first time, researchers have produced experimental evidence that classical chaos occurs in the quantum world.

Strategy For Mismatched Stem Cell Transplants Triggers Protection Against Graft-vs.-host Disease

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 08:00 PM PDT

A technique being tested in stem cell transplants from imperfectly matched donors has revealed an unforeseen response that can suppress graft-versus-host disease. The previously unrecognized specificity of regulatory T cells helps explain why the patients treated with the new strategy -- known as "co-stimulatory blockade" -- have shown a low level of GVHD. The findings suggest that the technique might prove valuable in solid organ transplants, as well as in treating autoimmune disease.

NASA Goddard Visualization Team Previews Lunar Impact

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 08:00 PM PDT

At 7:30 a.m. EDT on Oct. 9, a two-ton rocket body will slam into a crater near the moon's south pole. By studying the resulting plume of gas and dust, scientists hope this grand experiment will confirm the presence of ice in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. A NASA Goddard Space Flight Center visualization team previewed the lunar impact.

African American Lung Cancer Patients May Have Different Response To New Cancer-fighting Drugs

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 08:00 PM PDT

Clinical research has found that African Americans with a common form of lung cancer have a lower frequency of drug-sensitizing genetic mutations, which may impact response to new cancer-fighting drugs. A new study has found that ethnicity plays a significant role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) genetics and more personalized treatments may be beneficial to cancer patients.

Nitrogen Deposition Limits Climate Change Impacts On Carbon Sequestration

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 08:00 PM PDT

The role of the forests is assumed to increase in the future, as an important buffer of climate change and increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. So-called Earth system models, computer systems making predictions for the globe, estimate that this effect can be very large. However, new research results, based on measurements at hundreds of European forests, indicate that predicted effects by these models are overestimated because they ignore the limitation of nitrogen. It makes the current predictions by Earth system models more than twice as high as they most likely will be.

Study Examines Ethical Dilemmas Of Medical Tourism

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 08:00 PM PDT

Medical tourism in Latin America needs to be regulated to protect consumers, according to researchers. A new study argues that Argentinean fertility clinics are increasingly marketing themselves to international health care consumers: these clinics offer all-inclusive packages with fixed prices that feature airfare, accommodations, transfers, language interpreters and, of course, fertility treatments.

Rhesus Macaque Monkey Moms 'Go Gaga' For Baby, Too

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 05:00 PM PDT

The intense exchanges that human mothers share with their newborn infants may have some pretty deep roots, suggests a study of rhesus macaques.

Genes Associated With Onset Age Of Parkinson's Disease Identifiied

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Researchers have identified genes which may influence the onset age of Parkinson's disease. The findings are the first to identify genes contributing to the variation in onset age and may help identify mechanisms and therapeutic targets capable of delaying symptoms.

Canadian Astronomers Capture Spectacular Meteor Footage And Images

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Astronomers in Canada have released footage of a meteor that was approximately 100 times brighter than a full moon. The meteor lit up the skies of southern Ontario two weeks ago and Western astronomers are now hoping to enlist the help of local residents in recovering one or more possible meteorites that may have crashed in the area of Grimsby, Ontario.

Clinicians Map Group At High Risk For Aggressive, 'Hidden' Prostate Cancer

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Clinical researchers can now answer the question that baffles many clinicians -- why do some men with elevated prostate specific antigen levels who are carefully monitored and undergo repeated negative biopsies still develop aggressive prostate cancer?

Banking On Outlier Detection: Simple Computer Model Could Act As Early Warning System For Failing Banks

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Recent bank failures point to the continuing need for vigilance by regulators and investors. Now, a new report discusses the possibility of an early-warning system that spots the outliers before they fail.

Survivors Of Childhood Cancer Less Likely To Marry

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 05:00 PM PDT

Childhood cancer survivors typically suffer from the long-term effects of cancer treatment on physical health, and results of a new study suggest that social implications also exist, which may affect their chance of an "I do" at the altar.

Early Hominid First Walked On Two Legs In The Woods

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 02:00 PM PDT

Among the many surprises associated with the discovery of the oldest known, nearly complete skeleton of a hominid is the finding that this species took its first steps toward bipedalism not on the open, grassy savanna, as generations of scientists -- going back to Charles Darwin -- hypothesized, but in a wooded landscape.

ATP Is A Key To Feel Warm Temperature

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 02:00 PM PDT

A Japanese research group has found that ATP plays a key role in transmitting temperature information from skin keratinocytes to afferent sensory neurons.

Scientists Measure The Rate Of Ascent Of Volcanic Magma

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 02:00 PM PDT

Plinian eruptions are rare but highly explosive volcanic eruptions, which are often preceded by quite short periods of tectonic activity. Researchers in Germany have now been able experimentally to determine the speed at which the molten rock in the magma chamber rises to the surface.

Medication Effective For Acute Liver Failure In Early Stages Of Disease, Study Suggests

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 02:00 PM PDT

The antidote for acute liver failure caused by acetaminophen poisoning also can treat acute liver failure due to most other causes if given before severe injury occurs, researchers have found.

Bioengineer Uses Nanoparticles To Target Drugs

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 02:00 PM PDT

A bioengineer is designing new ways to target drugs and reduce the chances for side effects.

'That's What She Said': Gender Discrimination Still A Factor In Modern Organizations

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 02:00 PM PDT

Workers acknowledge gender discrimination is possible in modern organizations, but at the same time maintain their workplaces to be gender neutral, a new study shows. "Gender fatigue", the author notes, is the cause for workers not acknowledging that bias against women can occur.

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