ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Value of sexual reproduction versus asexual reproduction
• Cells critical to childhood leukemia discovered
• Cave reveals Southwest's abrupt climate swings during Ice Age
• Genes found linked to breast cancer drug resistance could guide future treatment choices
• Tree Shrew Offers Small-Animal Model of Hepatitis C Virus Infection
• Driven to distraction: New study shows driving hinders talking
• Some mouse sperm can identify, and even cooperate with, its brethren
• Potential new class of drugs to combat hepatitis C identified
• Global warming: 'Cooling' forests can heat too
• Cycling to better health, one leg at a time
• Zebrafish swim into drug development
• Trauma patients safe from mortality risks associated with so-called 'weekend effect'
• How organisms can tolerate mutations, yet adapt to environmental change
• PrEP treatment prevented HIV transmission in humanized mice
• Managing Pacific Northwest dams for a changing climate
• How anticancer immune responses are suppressed
• Chaperonins prompt proper protein folding -- but how?
• Estrogen in the fight against schizophrenia
• Levitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy
• Bat echolocation: 3-D imaging differentiates how various bats generate biosonar signals
• Living the high life is risky business for toads under threat from fungus
• Jupiter's moons: Explanation for the differences between Ganymede and Callisto
• Illuminating protein networks in one step
• Researchers trace effects of genetic defect in myotonic muscular dystrophy
• How 'random' lasers work: Natural cavities act like mirrors in light-emitting plastics

Value of sexual reproduction versus asexual reproduction Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Living organisms have good reason for engaging in sexual, rather than asexual, reproduction according to scientists.

Cells critical to childhood leukemia discovered Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Scientists have discovered the cells that cause a common type of childhood leukemia -- T cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Targeting of these cells may lead to improved treatments for this disease and help prevent relapse.

Cave reveals Southwest's abrupt climate swings during Ice Age Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Ice Age climate records from an Arizona stalagmite link the Southwest's winter precipitation to temperatures in the North Atlantic, according to new research. The stalagmite yielded an almost continuous, century-by-century climate record spanning 55,000 to 11,000 years ago, a time the Southwest flip-flopped between wet and dry periods. The finding is the first to document that the abrupt changes in Ice Age climate known from Greenland also occurred in the southwestern US.

Genes found linked to breast cancer drug resistance could guide future treatment choices Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Researchers have discovered a gene activity signature that predicts a high risk of cancer recurrence in certain breast tumors that have been treated with commonly used chemotherapy drugs. The findings could lead to a genetic test of breast cancers to help physicians choose the best initial treatment for an individual patient.

Tree Shrew Offers Small-Animal Model of Hepatitis C Virus Infection Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST Researchers from Japan suggest that the tree shrew may be a practical small-animal model for studying the progression of human hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This discovery would replace the need for rare and expensive studies using chimpanzees, currently the only validated animal model for HCV.

Driven to distraction: New study shows driving hinders talking Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 PM PST It is well known that having a conversation (for example on a cell phone) impairs one's driving. A new study indicates the reverse is also true: Driving reduces one's ability to comprehend and use language.

Some mouse sperm can identify, and even cooperate with, its brethren Posted: 25 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST Some mouse sperm can discriminate between its brethren and competing sperm from other males, clustering with its closest relatives to swim faster in the race to the egg. But this sort of cooperation appears to be present only in certain promiscuous species, where it affords an individual's sperm a competitive advantage over that of other males.

Potential new class of drugs to combat hepatitis C identified Posted: 25 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST Scientists have discovered a novel class of compounds that, in experiments in vitro, inhibit replication of the virus responsible for hepatitis C.

Global warming: 'Cooling' forests can heat too Posted: 25 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST Forests can trap heat as well as carbon. Recent research shows that in one type of semi-arid forest, it may take years for the effects of carbon capture to override those of heat retention.

Cycling to better health, one leg at a time Posted: 25 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST Improving fitness in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) goes a long way in improving their physical and mental health. Now, a series of studies report several innovative ways to help improve the fitness in COPD patients. All it takes is a little extra oxygen, or cycling on a stationary bicycle, using just one leg at a time.

Zebrafish swim into drug development Posted: 25 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST By combining the tools of medicinal chemistry and zebrafish biology, scientists have identified compounds that may offer therapeutic leads for bone-related diseases and cancer.

Trauma patients safe from mortality risks associated with so-called 'weekend effect' Posted: 25 Jan 2010 08:00 AM PST People who are in car crashes or suffer serious falls, gunshot or knife wounds and other injuries at nights or on weekends do not appear to be affected by the same medical care disparities -- the so-called "weekend effect" -- as patients who suffer heart attacks, strokes, cardiac arrests and other time-sensitive illnesses during those "off hours," according to new research.

How organisms can tolerate mutations, yet adapt to environmental change Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST Biologists studying the processes of evolution appear to have resolved a longstanding conundrum: how can organisms be robust against the effects of mutations yet simultaneously adaptable when the environment changes?

PrEP treatment prevented HIV transmission in humanized mice Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST Systemic pre-exposure administration of antiretroviral drugs provides protection against intravenous and rectal transmission of HIV in mice with human immune systems, according to a new study.

Managing Pacific Northwest dams for a changing climate Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST Civil engineers have taken a first look at how dams in the Columbia River basin, the nation's largest hydropower system, could be managed for a different climate.

How anticancer immune responses are suppressed Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST Immune cells known as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) keep other immune cells in check. They have been found to accumulate in individuals with cancer, where they are thought to contribute to tumor development. Researchers have now identified a molecular pathway that enhances the immunosuppressive functions of tumor-associated mouse and human MDSCs.

Chaperonins prompt proper protein folding -- but how? Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST In a new study in archaea (single-celled organisms without nuclei to enclose their genetic information), researchers have discovered how the Group II chaperonins close and open folding chambers to initiate the folding event and to release the functional protein to the cell.

Estrogen in the fight against schizophrenia Posted: 25 Jan 2010 02:00 AM PST Restoring normal levels of estrogen may work as a protective agent in menopausal women vulnerable to schizophrenia.

Levitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST A new experiment that reproduces the magnetic fields of the Earth and other planets has yielded its first significant results. The findings confirm that its unique approach has some potential to be developed as a new way of creating a power-producing plant based on nuclear fusion -- the process that generates the sun's prodigious output of energy.

Bat echolocation: 3-D imaging differentiates how various bats generate biosonar signals Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST Researchers, using micro-computed tomography systems, have shed new light on the way bats echolocate. With echolocation, animals emit sounds and then listen to the reflected echoes of those sounds to form images of their surroundings in their brains.

Living the high life is risky business for toads under threat from fungus Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST Midwife toads that live in the mountains are highly likely to die from a serious fungal infection, called chytridiomycosis, whereas their infected relatives in the lowlands are not.

Jupiter's moons: Explanation for the differences between Ganymede and Callisto Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST Differences in the number and speed of cometary impacts onto Jupiter's large moons Ganymede and Callisto some 3.8 billion years ago can explain their vastly different surfaces and interior states, according to new research.

Illuminating protein networks in one step Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST A newly developed assay is capable of examining hundreds of proteins at once and enabling new experiments that could dramatically change our understanding of cancer and other diseases. The new micro-western arrays combine the specificity of the popular "Western blot" protein assay with the large scale of DNA microarrays.

Researchers trace effects of genetic defect in myotonic muscular dystrophy Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST Research on the genetic defect that causes myotonic muscular dystrophy has revealed that the mutation disrupts an array of metabolic pathways in muscle cells through its effects on two key proteins.

How 'random' lasers work: Natural cavities act like mirrors in light-emitting plastics Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:00 PM PST When scientists discovered a new kind of laser that was generated by an electrically conducting plastic or polymer, no one could explain how it worked and some doubted it was real. Now, a decade later, researchers have found these "random lasers" occur because of natural, mirror-like cavities in the polymers, and they say such lasers may prove useful for diagnosing cancer.

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