ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Sixty headless skeletons -- 3,000 years old -- discovered in Pacific Ocean archipelago Vanuatu
• Use and misuse of alcohol and marijuana can be traced to common set of genes
• Physicist sees through the opaque with 'T-rays'
• Cannabis hope for inflammatory bowel disease
• Computer algorithm identifies authentic Van Gogh
• Having children makes you more like your own parents
• Black holes in star clusters stir up time and space
• Daily Pot Smoking May Hasten Onset of Psychosis
• Bioactive glass nanofibers produced
• Better understanding of the defective protein that causes cystic fibrosis
• Fewer migratory birds in Dutch woods due to climate change
• Happiest Americans live in states ranked highest for quality of life
• Researchers prove key cancer theory: Animal study demonstrates how whole chromosome changes cause cancer
• Machine that visually inspects and sorts strawberry plants invented
• Movement comes with appetite
• Doctors' bedside skills trump medical technology
• Global warming likely to be amplified by slow changes to Earth systems, geologists say
• Metastasis formation revealed in detail in real time
• The buzz on fruit flies: New role in the search for addiction treatments
• Septic shock: Nitric oxide beneficial after all
• Scientists take a step towards uncovering the histone code
• Adolescent boys seeking 'the norm' may take risks with their appearances
• Deepest explosive eruption on sea floor: Underwater remotely operated vehicle Jason images discovery
• Moderate fish consumption may lower risk in patients with a history of heart failure
• Programmed cell death: Pores finding reveals targets for cancer and degenerative disease
• New insight into selective binding properties of infectious HIV
• Conflict Over War Deaths: Researchers attack British Medical Journal review process
• Now you see it, now you know you see it

Sixty headless skeletons -- 3,000 years old -- discovered in Pacific Ocean archipelago Vanuatu Posted: 21 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST A find of 60 headless skeletons summer 2009 may reveal the identity of the people who first inhabited the Pacific Ocean archipelago Vanuatu 3000 years ago.

Use and misuse of alcohol and marijuana can be traced to common set of genes Posted: 21 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. Roughly eight to 12 percent of marijuana users are considered "dependent" and, just like alcohol, the severity of symptoms increases with heavier use. A new study has found that use and misuse of alcohol and marijuana are influenced by a common set of genes.

Physicist sees through the opaque with 'T-rays' Posted: 21 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST "T-rays" may make X-rays obsolete as a means of detecting bombs on terrorists or illegal drugs on traffickers, among other uses, contends a physicist who is helping lay the theoretical groundwork to make the concept a reality. In addition to being more revealing than X-rays in some situations, T-rays do not have the cumulative possible harmful effects.

Cannabis hope for inflammatory bowel disease Posted: 21 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST Chemicals found in cannabis could prove an effective treatment for the inflammatory bowel diseases ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, say scientists. Laboratory tests have shown that two compounds found in the cannabis plant – the cannabinoids THC and cannabidiol – interact with the body's system that controls gut function.

Computer algorithm identifies authentic Van Gogh Posted: 21 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST A researcher in the Netherlands has developed computer algorithms to support art historians and other art experts in their visual assessment of paintings. His digital technology is capable of distinguishing a forgery from an authentic Van Gogh based on the painter's characteristic brush work and use of color.

Having children makes you more like your own parents Posted: 21 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST "I'll never be like my parents." Many youngsters must have said this at least once in their lives. The truth emerges as soon as you have your own children: you increasingly become more like your own parents.

Black holes in star clusters stir up time and space Posted: 21 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST Within a decade scientists could be able to detect the merger of tens of pairs of black holes every year, according astronomers. By modeling the behavior of stars in clusters, the team finds that they are ideal environments for black holes to coalesce. These merger events produce ripples in time and space (gravitational waves) that could be detected by instruments from as early as 2015.

Daily Pot Smoking May Hasten Onset of Psychosis Posted: 21 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST Progression to daily marijuana use in adolescence may hasten the onset of symptoms leading up to psychosis, a new study finds.

Bioactive glass nanofibers produced Posted: 21 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST Researchers have developed "laser spinning," a novel method of producing glass nanofibres with materials. They have been able to manufacture bioglass nanofibres, the bioactive glass used in regenerating bone, for the first time.

Better understanding of the defective protein that causes cystic fibrosis Posted: 21 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST Scientists studying the protein that, when defective or absent, causes cystic fibrosis has made an important discovery about how that protein is normally controlled and under what circumstances it might go awry.

Fewer migratory birds in Dutch woods due to climate change Posted: 21 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST All insect-eating migratory birds who winter in Africa and breed in the Dutch woods have decreased in numbers since 1984, according to new research. This decline is dramatic for certain species: nightingales have declined by 37 percent, wood warblers by 73 percent and Ictarine warblers by 85 percent.

Happiest Americans live in states ranked highest for quality of life Posted: 21 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST New research in the US into the happiness levels of a million individual US citizens have revealed their personal happiness levels closely correlate with earlier research that ranked the quality of life available in the US's 50 states.

Researchers prove key cancer theory: Animal study demonstrates how whole chromosome changes cause cancer Posted: 21 Dec 2009 05:00 AM PST Researchers have proven the longstanding theory that changes in the number of whole chromosomes -- called aneuploidy -- can cause cancer by eliminating tumor suppressor genes.

Machine that visually inspects and sorts strawberry plants invented Posted: 21 Dec 2009 05:00 AM PST Researchers have developed a plant-sorting machine that uses computer vision and machine learning to inspect and grade harvested strawberry plants and then mechanically sort them by quality -- tasks that until now could only be done manually.

Movement comes with appetite Posted: 21 Dec 2009 05:00 AM PST A body that is provided with food too often gets caught up in the maelstrom of a lack of exercise, obesity and ultimately diabetes. The trigger is a molecular switch that is controlled by insulin, a new study has revealed.

Doctors' bedside skills trump medical technology Posted: 21 Dec 2009 05:00 AM PST Sometimes, a simple bedside exam performed by a skilled physician is superior to a high-tech CT scan. A study has found that physicians' bedside exams did a better job than CT scans in predicting which patients would need to return to the operating room to treat serious complications.

Global warming likely to be amplified by slow changes to Earth systems, geologists say Posted: 21 Dec 2009 02:00 AM PST The kinds of increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide taking place today could have a significantly larger effect on global temperatures than previously thought, according to a new study led by geologists. The team demonstrated that only a relatively small rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide was associated with a period of substantial warming in the mid- and early-Pliocene era, between 3 to 5 million years ago.

Metastasis formation revealed in detail in real time Posted: 21 Dec 2009 02:00 AM PST If metastases develop in the brain a patient's prognosis is poor. Researchers are now able to follow, in real time, the steps that lead some tumor cells to establish metastasis. These results could help to develop new cancer drugs and to optimize existing therapies.

The buzz on fruit flies: New role in the search for addiction treatments Posted: 21 Dec 2009 02:00 AM PST Fruit flies may seem like unlikely heroes in the battle against drug abuse, but new research suggests that these insects -- already used to study dozens of human disease -- could claim that role. Scientists are reporting that fruit flies can be used as a simpler and more convenient animal model for studying the effects of cocaine and other drugs of abuse on the brain.

Septic shock: Nitric oxide beneficial after all Posted: 21 Dec 2009 02:00 AM PST Scientists in Belgium have found an unexpected ally for the treatment of septic shock, the major cause of death in intensive care units. By inducing the release of nitric oxide gas in mice with septic shock, researchers discovered that the animal's organs showed much less damage, while their chances of survival increased significantly. That's contrary to all expectations.

Scientists take a step towards uncovering the histone code Posted: 21 Dec 2009 02:00 AM PST DNA's packaging can be just as important and intricate as the information in the DNA itself. A "histone code" is thought to lie behind the pattern of chemical modifications on histones, the spool-like proteins around which DNA is wound inside the cell. The structures of two enzymes that modify histones give clues towards an understanding of the histone code.

Adolescent boys seeking 'the norm' may take risks with their appearances Posted: 21 Dec 2009 02:00 AM PST Teen-aged boys are more likely to use tanning booths, take diet pills and have their bodies waxed -- even if they think those activities are unhealthy -- if they are influenced by their peers, according to new research.

Deepest explosive eruption on sea floor: Underwater remotely operated vehicle Jason images discovery Posted: 20 Dec 2009 11:00 PM PST Oceanographers using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason discovered and recorded the first video and still images of a deep-sea volcano actively erupting molten lava on the seafloor.

Moderate fish consumption may lower risk in patients with a history of heart failure Posted: 20 Dec 2009 11:00 PM PST Including fish in a balanced diet has long been associated with the prevention of heart disease, and scientists now believe that it can help preserve heart function in patients who have experienced heart failure. A new study reports that moderate fish consumption can help reduce the risk of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in post acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients.

Programmed cell death: Pores finding reveals targets for cancer and degenerative disease Posted: 20 Dec 2009 11:00 PM PST Scientists have identified a key step in the biological process of programmed cell death, also called apoptosis. The research is crucial to the development of drugs that can turn on apoptosis, thereby more effectively killing cancer cells. It could also be used in developing compounds that turn off the apoptosis that leads to degenerative disorders.

New insight into selective binding properties of infectious HIV Posted: 20 Dec 2009 11:00 PM PST Free infectious HIV-1 is widely thought to be the major form of the virus in the blood of infected persons. However researchers have demonstrated that essentially all of the infectious virus particles can bind to the surface of red blood cells isolated from each of 30 normal (non-infected) human donors.

Conflict Over War Deaths: Researchers attack British Medical Journal review process Posted: 20 Dec 2009 11:00 PM PST Researchers from Canada, the UK and Sweden have slammed the influential British Medical Journal for publishing an error-filled study on global war deaths, refusing an equivalent rebuttal article and having a flawed peer-review process.

Now you see it, now you know you see it Posted: 20 Dec 2009 11:00 PM PST Psychologists say that time lag between unconscious perception and conscious recognition of a visual stimulus can vary depending on the complexity of the stimulus.

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