ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Brain disease 'resistance gene' evolves in Papua New Guinea community; could offer insights into CJD
• Saliva proteins change as women age
• Hidden threat: Elevated pollution levels near regional airports
• Barn personnel experience higher-than-average rates of respiratory symptoms
• Software knowledge unnecessarily lost
• Why can't some people give up cocaine?
• Watching a cannibal galaxy dine
• Why bird flu has not caused a pandemic
• Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging
• An atomic-level look at an HIV accomplice
• Engineer designs micro-endoscope to seek out early signs of cancer
• Older problem drinkers use more alcohol than do their younger counterparts
• Active hearing process in mosquitoes
• Schizophrenia gene's role may be broader, more potent, than thought
• Amaizing: Corn genome decoded
• Sleep apnea may cause heart disease in kidney transplant patients
• First map of chromosome terminals of higher fungi
• Psychological therapy 32 times more cost effective at increasing happiness than money
• Large Hadron Collider: Beams are back on at world's most powerful particle accelerator
• Antioxidant found in vegetables has implications for treating cystic fibrosis
• How fish is cooked affects heart-health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids
• Inflammation critical in aortic dissection, researchers find
• Optical properties of the Antarctic system and new radiation information
• Drug Use: Effects of ketamine (K) on users

Brain disease 'resistance gene' evolves in Papua New Guinea community; could offer insights into CJD Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 PM PST A community in Papua New Guinea that suffered a major epidemic of a CJD-like fatal brain disease called kuru has developed strong genetic resistance to the disease, according to new research by scientists in the UK.

Saliva proteins change as women age Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 PM PST In a step toward using human saliva to tell whether those stiff joints, memory lapses, and other telltale signs of aging are normal or red flags for disease, scientists are describing how the protein content of women's saliva change with advancing age. The discovery could lead to a simple, noninvasive test for better diagnosing and treating certain age-related diseases in women, they suggest.

Hidden threat: Elevated pollution levels near regional airports Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 PM PST Scientists are reporting evidence that air pollution -- a well-recognized problem at major airports -- may pose an important but largely overlooked health concern for people living near smaller regional airports. Those airports are becoming an increasingly important component of global air transport systems. The study, one of only a handful to examine airborne pollutants near regional airports, suggests that officials should pay closer attention to these overlooked emissions, which could cause health problems for local residents.

Barn personnel experience higher-than-average rates of respiratory symptoms Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 PM PST The estimated 4.6 million Americans involved in the equine industry may be at risk of developing respiratory symptoms due to poor air quality in horse barns, according to a questionnaire study.

Software knowledge unnecessarily lost Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 PM PST All too often the knowledge acquired by software architects is unnecessarily lost. Moreover, it is difficult to simply and quickly assess the quality of software. According to researchers these problems can, however, be easily resolved. They investigated how architectural knowledge can be better disseminated and retrieved.

Why can't some people give up cocaine? Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 PM PST Drug dependency is a recurrent but treatable kind of addiction. However, not all people who are drug dependent progress in the same way once they stop taking drugs. A new study shows that, in the case of cocaine, a high score on the so-called 'scale of craving', an antisocial personality type and previous heroin abuse are the factors most commonly involved in people falling back into the habit.

Watching a cannibal galaxy dine Posted: 21 Nov 2009 08:00 AM PST A new technique using near-infrared images, obtained with ESO's 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT), allows astronomers to see through the opaque dust lanes of the giant cannibal galaxy Centaurus A, unveiling its "last meal" in unprecedented detail -- a smaller spiral galaxy, currently twisted and warped. This amazing image also shows thousands of star clusters, strewn like glittering gems, churning inside Centaurus A.

Why bird flu has not caused a pandemic Posted: 21 Nov 2009 08:00 AM PST Bird flu viruses would have to make at least two simultaneous genetic mutations before they could be transmitted readily from human to human, according to new research.

Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging Posted: 21 Nov 2009 08:00 AM PST Scientists have discovered a method of using nanoparticles to illuminate the cellular interior to reveal the slow, complex processes taking place in a living cell.

An atomic-level look at an HIV accomplice Posted: 21 Nov 2009 08:00 AM PST Since the discovery in 2007 that a component of human semen called SEVI boosts infectivity of the virus that causes AIDS, researchers have been trying to learn more about SEVI and how it works, in hopes of thwarting its infection-promoting activity.

Engineer designs micro-endoscope to seek out early signs of cancer Posted: 21 Nov 2009 08:00 AM PST Traditional endoscopes provide a peek inside patients' bodies. Now, an engineering researcher is designing ones capable of a full inspection.

Older problem drinkers use more alcohol than do their younger counterparts Posted: 21 Nov 2009 08:00 AM PST Older adults who have alcohol dependence problems drink significantly more than do younger adults who have similar problems, a new study has found. The findings suggest that older problem drinkers may have developed a tolerance for alcohol and need to drink even more than younger abusers to achieve the effects they seek.

Active hearing process in mosquitoes Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 AM PST A mathematical model has explained some of the remarkable features of mosquito hearing. In particular, the male can hear the faintest beats of the female's wings and yet is not deafened by loud noises.

Schizophrenia gene's role may be broader, more potent, than thought Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 AM PST Scientists studying nerve cells in fruit flies have uncovered a new function for a gene whose human equivalent may play a critical role in schizophrenia.

Amaizing: Corn genome decoded Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 AM PST In recent years, scientists have decoded the DNA of humans and a menagerie of creatures but none with genes as complex as a stalk of corn, the latest genome to be unraveled. A team of scientists has published the completed corn genome -- an accomplishment that will speed efforts to develop better crop varieties to meet the world's growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.

Sleep apnea may cause heart disease in kidney transplant patients Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 AM PST Sleep apnea is common in individuals who receive a kidney transplant and is associated with increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke, according to a new study.

First map of chromosome terminals of higher fungi Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 AM PST Scientists have described for the first time how the telomeres and adjacent sequences of the oyster fungus are organized.

Psychological therapy 32 times more cost effective at increasing happiness than money Posted: 21 Nov 2009 02:00 AM PST Psychological therapy could be 32 times more cost effective at making you happy than simply obtaining more money, according to a new study. The research has obvious implications for large compensation awards in law courts but also has wider implications for general public health.

Large Hadron Collider: Beams are back on at world's most powerful particle accelerator Posted: 20 Nov 2009 08:00 PM PST Particle beams are once again zooming around the world's most powerful particle accelerator -- the Large Hadron Collider -- located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. After more than one year of repairs, the LHC is now back on track to create high-energy particle collisions that may yield extraordinary insights into the nature of the physical universe.

Antioxidant found in vegetables has implications for treating cystic fibrosis Posted: 20 Nov 2009 08:00 PM PST Scientists have discovered that a dietary antioxidant found in such vegetables as broccoli and cauliflower protects cells from damage caused by chemicals generated during the body's inflammatory response to infection and injury. The finding has implications for such inflammation-based disorders as cystic fibrosis, diabetes, heart disease and neurodegeneration.

How fish is cooked affects heart-health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids Posted: 20 Nov 2009 08:00 PM PST Baked or boiled fish is associated with more benefit from heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids than fried, salted or dried fish. Caucasian, Japanese-American and Latino men may be more likely to get the health benefits of fish than African-American or Hawaiian men, perhaps because of how their fish is prepared or genetic predisposition. Omega-3s from plant sources such as soy may do more to improve women's heart health than fish sources.

Inflammation critical in aortic dissection, researchers find Posted: 20 Nov 2009 08:00 PM PST Researchers have found biochemical processes that chip away at the aorta causing aortic dissection.

Optical properties of the Antarctic system and new radiation information Posted: 20 Nov 2009 08:00 PM PST In a new study, measurements were made during three Austral summers to study the optical properties of the Antarctic system and to produce radiation information for additional modeling studies. The system has an important part in the global climate due to its size, its high latitude location and the negative radiation balance of its large ice sheets.

Drug Use: Effects of ketamine (K) on users Posted: 20 Nov 2009 08:00 PM PST The first ever large-scale, longitudinal study of ketamine users has been published. With ketamine use increasing faster than any other drug in the UK, this research showing the consequences of repeated ketamine use provides valuable information for users and addiction professionals alike. Heavy ketamine users were impaired on several measures, including verbal memory.

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