ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Ant Has Given Up Sex Completely, Researchers Confirm
• Sleeping Beauty hooks up with herpes to fight brain disease
• Remote Triggering System For Avalanche Airbags developed
• New molecular mechanism discovered that guides visual nerves towards brain
• Argumentative agents for online deal-making
• Study examines calorie information from restaurants, packaged foods
• Echinoderms contribute to global carbon sink; impact of marine creatures underestimated
• Chloride increases response to pheromones and odors in mouse sensory neurons
• When hooking up with opposite sex, genital complexities do matter, fruit fly research finds
• Periodic paralysis study reveals gene causing disorder
• Mobile bushfire monitoring: Modern wireless technologies could save bushfire lives
• Healthy older adults with subjective memory loss may be at increased risk for MCI and dementia
• What came first in the origin of life? New study contradicts the 'metabolism first' hypothesis
• New brain scan better detects earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease in healthy people
• Where do puffins go in the winter?
• Metformin is safe for patients with advanced heart failure and diabetes mellitus, study shows
• Technological safety net for fall-prone elderly
• Quitline messages that stress benefits of quitting may improve smoking cessation
• Evolution's footprints in human genome precisely tracked using new approach
• Sharing a hospital room increases risk of 'super bugs'
• Most ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered, scholar says
• Abnormal blood calcium levels deadly for kidney disease patients
• Rules governing RNA's anatomy revealed
• Volunteering may prevent the elderly from becoming frail
• 30,000-year-old child's teeth shed new light on human evolution
• Alzheimer's discovery could lead to long-sought preventive treatment
• Cold War offered odd benefit -- it limited species invasions
• Blood test could improve graft-versus-host disease treatment
• New solvent technologies to replace use of harmful toxic acids
• Screening and treating girls doesn't reduce prevalence of chlamydia in teens, study finds

Ant Has Given Up Sex Completely, Researchers Confirm Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST The complete asexuality of a widespread fungus-gardening ant, the only ant species in the world known to have dispensed with males entirely, has recently been confirmed.

Sleeping Beauty hooks up with herpes to fight brain disease Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Neuroscientists have forged an unlikely molecular union as part of their fight against diseases of the brain and nervous system, bringing together the herpes virus and a molecule known as Sleeping Beauty to improve gene therapy. The work has allowed scientists to reach a long-sought goal: shuttling into brain cells a relatively large gene that can remain on for an extended period of time.

Remote Triggering System For Avalanche Airbags developed Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Many people dream of skiing off piste in deep virgin snow. But their dream would rapidly turn into a nightmare if they were to set off a slab avalanche. Researchers have now developed a remote triggering system for avalanche airbags.

New molecular mechanism discovered that guides visual nerves towards brain Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Scientists have discovered a new molecular mechanism that permits the guidance of visual nerves towards the brain.

Argumentative agents for online deal-making Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Software agents that play devil's advocate and quarrel with each other may not sound like something you would want in your computer. But, say a team of researchers, argumentative agents promise faster, cheaper and more efficient online transactions.

Study examines calorie information from restaurants, packaged foods Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST A new study analyzes the calorie content of 18 side dishes and entrees from national sit-down chain restaurants, 11 side dishes and entrees from national fast food restaurants and 10 frozen meals purchased from supermarkets. Researchers compared their results to the calorie content information provided to the public by the restaurants and food companies.

Echinoderms contribute to global carbon sink; impact of marine creatures underestimated Posted: 09 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST The impact on levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere by the decaying remains of a group of marine creatures that includes starfish and sea urchin has been significantly underestimated.

Chloride increases response to pheromones and odors in mouse sensory neurons Posted: 09 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST How an individual vomeronasal sensory neuron (VSN) transduces chemical signals into electrical signals has been a mystery. Researchers now show that chloride acts as a major amplifier for signal transduction in mouse VSNs, increasing the responsiveness to pheromones or odorants.

When hooking up with opposite sex, genital complexities do matter, fruit fly research finds Posted: 09 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST Charles Darwin spent eight years studying barnacles and their genitalia. In much less time than that, modern-day evolutionary biologists have confirmed one of Darwin's theories: that genitalia complexities in some male species have developed because they assist the male in "holding her securely."

Periodic paralysis study reveals gene causing disorder Posted: 09 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST Scientists have identified a gene underlying a disease that causes temporary paralysis of skeletal muscle. The finding, they say, illustrates how investigations of rare genetic diseases can drive insights into more common ones.

Mobile bushfire monitoring: Modern wireless technologies could save bushfire lives Posted: 09 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST Mobile technologies, including the global system for mobile communication and the ZigBee short-range wireless data connection technology could be used to monitor and detect bushfires, according to new research.

Healthy older adults with subjective memory loss may be at increased risk for MCI and dementia Posted: 09 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST Subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), the earliest sign of cognitive decline, is marked by situations such as when a person recognizes they can't remember a name like they used to or where they recently placed important objects the way they used to. A new study finds that healthy older adults reporting SCI are 4.5 times more likely to progress to the more advanced memory-loss stages of mild cognitive impairment or dementia than those free of SCI.

What came first in the origin of life? New study contradicts the 'metabolism first' hypothesis Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST New research rejects the theory that the origin of life stems from a system of self-catalytic molecules capable of experiencing Darwinian evolution without the need of RNA or DNA and their replication.

New brain scan better detects earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease in healthy people Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST A new type of brain scan, called diffusion tensor imaging, appears to be better at detecting whether a person with memory loss might have brain changes of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.

Where do puffins go in the winter? Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST A recent increase in winter mortality in Atlantic puffins could be due to worsening conditions within the North Sea, according to new findings. The study used geolocation technology to track puffins from the Isle of May National Nature Reserve, home to the largest colony of puffins in the North Sea. The puffin population on the Isle of May has declined by 30 percent in recent years.

Metformin is safe for patients with advanced heart failure and diabetes mellitus, study shows Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST A new study has shown that metformin, a drug often used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, is safe for use in treating patients who have both diabetes and advanced heart failure.

Technological safety net for fall-prone elderly Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST Falls are the main cause of injuries among elderly people, but until now doctors have had few ways of effectively monitoring and counteracting mobility problems among patients. Work by European researchers is set to change that.

Quitline messages that stress benefits of quitting may improve smoking cessation Posted: 09 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST Smokers who received gain-framed messaging from quitline specialists (i.e., stressing the benefits of quitting) had slightly better cessation outcomes than those who received standard-care messaging (i.e., potential losses from smoking and benefits of quitting), according to a new study. Researchers also established that quitline specialists can be trained to provide gain-framed messaging with good fidelity.

Evolution's footprints in human genome precisely tracked using new approach Posted: 08 Jan 2010 05:00 PM PST Fossils may provide tantalizing clues to human history but they also lack some vital information, such as revealing which pieces of human DNA have been favored by evolution because they confer beneficial traits -- resistance to infection or the ability to digest milk, for example. Now, researchers describe a method for pinpointing these preferred regions that offers greater precision and resolution than ever before, and the possibility of deeply understanding both our genetic past and present.

Sharing a hospital room increases risk of 'super bugs' Posted: 08 Jan 2010 05:00 PM PST Staying in a multi-bed hospital room dramatically increases the risk of acquiring a serious infectious disease, researchers in Canada have discovered.

Most ancient Hebrew biblical inscription deciphered, scholar says Posted: 08 Jan 2010 05:00 PM PST An inscription dating from the 10th century BCE (the period of King David's reign) has been deciphered, showing that it is a Hebrew inscription. The discovery makes this the earliest known Hebrew writing, according to one scholar.

Abnormal blood calcium levels deadly for kidney disease patients Posted: 08 Jan 2010 05:00 PM PST Abnormally high or low blood calcium levels are linked to an increased chance of premature death in non-dialysis kidney disease patients, according to a new study. The findings indicate the potential importance of finding drugs or other treatments that maintain normal blood calcium levels in non-dialysis patients.

Rules governing RNA's anatomy revealed Posted: 08 Jan 2010 05:00 PM PST Researchers have discovered the rules that dictate the 3-D shapes of RNA molecules, rules that are based not on complex chemical interactions but simply on geometry.

Volunteering may prevent the elderly from becoming frail Posted: 08 Jan 2010 05:00 PM PST A study suggests that participating in volunteer activities may prevent frailty in older adults.

30,000-year-old child's teeth shed new light on human evolution Posted: 08 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST The teeth of a 30,000-year-old child are shedding new light on the evolution of modern humans, thanks to new research.

Alzheimer's discovery could lead to long-sought preventive treatment Posted: 08 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Researchers have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that may drive the early brain function deterioration of Alzheimer's victims, thus opening a new exploratory path in the quest for an Alzheimer's cure. The research also demonstrates how the unique application of an existing cell research technique could accelerate the discovery of treatments to exploit the new findings.

Cold War offered odd benefit -- it limited species invasions Posted: 08 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST A recent study about movement of bird species during the Cold War outlines one of the perils facing an expanding global economy -- along with international trade comes the potential for a significant increase in invasive species that can disrupt ecosystems.

Blood test could improve graft-versus-host disease treatment Posted: 08 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Researchers have identified the first biomarker of graft-versus-host disease of the skin. The discovery makes possible a simple blood test that should solve a treatment dilemma facing doctors with patients who frequently develop rashes after bone marrow transplants.

New solvent technologies to replace use of harmful toxic acids Posted: 08 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Scientists are developing new ways to replace harmful, carcinogenic, toxic acids and electrolytes which are currently used in many commercial metal finishing and energy storage processes.

Screening and treating girls doesn't reduce prevalence of chlamydia in teens, study finds Posted: 08 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Frequent testing and treatment of infection does not reduce the prevalence of chlamydia in urban teenage girls, according to a long term study.

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