ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Millimeter-scale, energy-harvesting sensor system can operate nearly perpetually
• Hot pepper relief: New category of painkillers on the way?
• Headache may linger years later in people exposed to World Trade Center dust, fumes
• Gene with likely role in premenstrual disorder identified
• Extra large carbon: Heaviest halo nucleus discovered
• Underdogs have more motivation? Not so fast, study says
• Selective brain damage modulates human spirituality, research reveals
• First genes for stuttering: Common speech problem, in some cases, may actually be an inherited metabolic disorder
• Tigers in serious trouble around the world, including the US
• Using nitroglycerin to treat prostate cancer shows potential to halt disease
• Perfectly shaped solid components
• Brain waves show patterns for deciding which faces we prefer
• Home computers around the world unite to map the Milky Way
• Scientists discover origin of HIV transmission among male partners
• Infection-fighting antibodies made in plants as effective as costlier conventional version
• Women with gout at greater risk of heart attack than men
• Researchers map all fragile sites of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae's genome
• Intense sweets taste especially good to some kids
• Mass extinctions: 'Giant' fossils are revolutionizing current thinking
• Incidence of cerebral palsy on rise in US, new data reveals
• Nuclear pore complexes harbor new class of gene regulators
• Benefits outweigh risks associated with newborn screening for disorder
• Study reveals need to evaluate and regulate 'electronic cigarettes'
• TV drama can be more persuasive than news program, study finds
• Animals cope with climate change at the dinner table: Birds, foxes and small mammals adapt their diets to global warming
• Certain genetic profiles associated with recurrence-free survival for non-small cell lung cancer
• Adapting to clogged airways makes common pathogen resist powerful drugs
• Of swine, birds and humans: Pandemic H1N1 flu
• High-performance microring resonator developed
• Bioethics memory aid can help assess patient decision-making capacity in medical emergencies
• Agricultural scientists sequence genome of grass that can be a biofuel model crop
• Bowel disease link to blood clots: New findings
• Eczema in early childhood may influence mental health later
• One-third of antimalarial medicines sampled in three African nations found to be substandard
• Social networking sites could solve many communication problems when disaster strikes
• Older investors prone to mental misfires while playing the market, study shows
• Surprising new branches on arthropod family tree
• Developmental delay in brain provides clue to sensory hypersensitivity in autism
• Orion in a new light
• Popular antidepressant blocks the beneficial effects of tamoxifen in breast cancer
• Comprehensive study using bioinformatics predicts the molecular causes of many genetic diseases
• Brain scans track hoop fans' happy memories
• Waking the dead: Scientists reconstruct nuclear genome of extinct human being
• People with anxiety disorder less able to regulate response to negative emotions, study shows
• Silver nanoparticles may one day be key to devices that keep hearts beating strong and steady
• Cervical cancer: Regiment with new drug triapine provides both significant reduction in cancer disease and cancer control
• Future earthquake risk in Haiti: Startling images of ground motion help scientists understand risk of aftershocks
• Childhood obesity: It's not the amount of TV, it's the number of junk food commercials

Millimeter-scale, energy-harvesting sensor system can operate nearly perpetually Posted: 11 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST A newly developed 9 cubic millimeter solar-powered sensor system is the smallest that can harvest energy from its surroundings to operate nearly perpetually.

Hot pepper relief: New category of painkillers on the way? Posted: 11 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST Research has opened the door for the advancement of a new category of painkillers, called TRPV1 antagonists. These drugs block the transient receptor potential vannilloid-1 (TRPV1) channel, which is the same receptor responsible for the sensation of hotness from hot peppers.

Headache may linger years later in people exposed to World Trade Center dust, fumes Posted: 11 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST Workers and residents exposed to dust and fumes caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, frequently reported headache years later, according to new research.

Gene with likely role in premenstrual disorder identified Posted: 11 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST Some women are especially sensitive to the natural flux of hormones in the menstrual cycle. New research points to a gene that likely influences how women respond to swings in estrogen levels and could help diagnose and treat premenstrual dysphoric disorder and inform treatments during menopause, such as hormone replacement therapy, researchers say.

Extra large carbon: Heaviest halo nucleus discovered Posted: 11 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST The nucleus of one form of carbon is much larger and more stable than expected.

Underdogs have more motivation? Not so fast, study says Posted: 11 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST Members of a group or team will work harder when they're competing against a group with lower status than when pitted against a more highly ranked group, according to a new study. The results run contrary to the common belief that underdogs have more motivation because they have the chance to 'knock the higher-status group down a peg.'

Selective brain damage modulates human spirituality, research reveals Posted: 11 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST New research provides fascinating insight into brain changes that might underlie alterations in spiritual and religious attitudes. The study explores the neural basis of spirituality by studying patients before and after surgery to remove a brain tumor.

First genes for stuttering: Common speech problem, in some cases, may actually be an inherited metabolic disorder Posted: 11 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST Researchers have identified three genes as a source of stuttering in some people. Mutations in two of the genes have already been implicated in rare metabolic disorders involved in cell recycling, while mutations in a third, closely related, gene have now been shown to be associated for the first time with a disorder in humans.

Tigers in serious trouble around the world, including the US Posted: 11 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST As many Asian countries prepare to celebrate Year of the Tiger beginning Feb. 14, World Wildlife Fund reports that tigers are in crisis around the world, including here in the United States, where more tigers are kept in captivity than are alive in the wild throughout Asia. As few as 3,200 tigers exist in the wild where they are threatened by poaching, habitat loss, illegal trafficking and the conversion of forests for infrastructure and plantations.

Using nitroglycerin to treat prostate cancer shows potential to halt disease Posted: 11 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST Treatment of prostate cancer using a very low dose of nitroglycerin may slow and even halt the progression of the disease without the severe side effects of current treatments, researchers have discovered.

Perfectly shaped solid components Posted: 11 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST When metals are shaped, the materials they are made of are often damaged in the process. One cause of this is excessive press force, which cracks and perforates the material. By running simulations on a PC, research scientists can now calculate how to avoid component defects.

Brain waves show patterns for deciding which faces we prefer Posted: 11 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST Faces play a very important role in our social life. We make complex social decisions based on facial appearance. But we know little how we make a preference decision when the two faces are closely matched (e.g., age, race, gender, gaze, facial attributes, facial emotion). Is there any specific brain activity pattern associated with our preference (or non-preference)? Can these patterns be identified before our conscious decision?

Home computers around the world unite to map the Milky Way Posted: 11 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST At this very moment, tens of thousands of home computers around the world are quietly working together to solve the largest and most basic mysteries of our galaxy. Volunteers from Africa to Australia are donating their computing power to help researchers map the shape of our Milky Way galaxy. Now, just this month, the collected computing power of these humble home computers has surpassed one petaflop, a computing speed that surpasses the world's second fastest supercomputer.

Scientists discover origin of HIV transmission among male partners Posted: 11 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST A team of scientists has discovered the origin of strains of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among men who have sex with men. The study may be important in developing prevention strategies for HIV.

Infection-fighting antibodies made in plants as effective as costlier conventional version Posted: 11 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST The first head-to-head comparison of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies produced from plants versus the same antibodies produced from mammalian cells has shown that plant-produced antibodies can fight infection equally well. Scientists conducted the comparison as a test of the potential for treating disease in developing nations with the significantly less expensive plant-based production technique.

Women with gout at greater risk of heart attack than men Posted: 11 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST Women with gout are at greater risk of a heart attack than men with the disease, indicates research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Researchers map all fragile sites of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae's genome Posted: 11 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST Researchers have accomplished a technical breakthrough: they mapped all the fragile sites of a living organism, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The method used by the researchers can be applied to humans.

Intense sweets taste especially good to some kids Posted: 11 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST Children's response to intense sweet taste is related to both a family history of alcoholism and the child's own self-reports of depression. The findings illustrate how liking for sweets differs among children based on underlying familial and biological factors.

Mass extinctions: 'Giant' fossils are revolutionizing current thinking Posted: 11 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST Large-sized gastropods dating from only 1 million years after the greatest mass extinction of all time, the Permian-Triassic extinction, have been discovered by an international team of researchers. These specimens call into question the existence of a "Lilliput effect", the reduction in the size of organisms inhabiting postcrisis biota, normally spanning several million years.

Incidence of cerebral palsy on rise in US, new data reveals Posted: 11 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST Cerebral palsy (CP) has increased in infants born prematurely in the United States, according to new data.

Nuclear pore complexes harbor new class of gene regulators Posted: 11 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST Nuclear pore complexes are best known as the communication channels that regulate the passage of all molecules to and from a cell's nucleus. Researchers, however, have shown that some of the pores' constituent proteins, called nucleoporins, pull double duty as transcription factors regulating the activity of genes active during early development.

Benefits outweigh risks associated with newborn screening for disorder Posted: 11 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST Newborn screening for a metabolic disorder could lead to false positives -- adding stress to parents, costing money and possibly subjecting a baby to unnecessary follow-up treatment and dietary restrictions. But the benefits of diagnosing these children early and preventing the risk of mental retardation, disability or death outweigh the costs of a false positive, according to new research.

Study reveals need to evaluate and regulate 'electronic cigarettes' Posted: 11 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST Electronic cigarettes should be evaluated, regulated, labeled and packaged in a manner consistent with cartridge content and product effect -- even if that effect is a total failure to deliver nicotine as demonstrated in a new study.

TV drama can be more persuasive than news program, study finds Posted: 11 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST A fictional television drama may be more effective in persuading young women to use birth control than a news-format program on the same issue, according to a new study. Researchers found that college-age women who viewed a televised drama about a teen pregnancy felt more vulnerable two weeks after watching the show, and this led to more support for using birth control.

Animals cope with climate change at the dinner table: Birds, foxes and small mammals adapt their diets to global warming Posted: 10 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST New research measures the evolving body sizes of birds and animals in areas where climate change is most extreme. In higher latitudes, a pattern of birds getting smaller and mammals getting bigger has been identified. The change, researchers hypothesizes, is likely a strategy for survival.

Certain genetic profiles associated with recurrence-free survival for non-small cell lung cancer Posted: 10 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST An analysis of genetic and clinical data for nearly 800 patients with non-small cell lung cancer has identified differences in genetic characteristics that are associated with age and sex specific patterns of increased or decreased recurrence-free survival, according to a new study.

Adapting to clogged airways makes common pathogen resist powerful drugs Posted: 10 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST Mutations of a common environmental pathogen that causes chronic lung disease in patients with cystic fibrosis are able to survive in oxygen-poor, nitrate-rich airway secretions. This same survival mechanism also enables the mutate bacteria to resist the effects of certain antibiotics -- even without any previous exposure to antibiotics.

Of swine, birds and humans: Pandemic H1N1 flu Posted: 10 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST Current research suggests that pandemic H1N1 influenza of swine origin has distinct means of transmission from the seasonal flu, yet does not result in the pathogenic severity of avian flu viruses.

High-performance microring resonator developed Posted: 10 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST A new, more efficient low-cost microring resonator for high speed telecommunications systems has been developed. This technological advance capitalizes on the benefits of optical fibers to transmit large quantities of data at ultra-fast speeds.

Bioethics memory aid can help assess patient decision-making capacity in medical emergencies Posted: 10 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST Physicians in training and bioethicists have created an easy-to-remember checklist to help medical students and clinicians quickly assess a patient's decision-making capacity in an emergency.

Agricultural scientists sequence genome of grass that can be a biofuel model crop Posted: 10 Feb 2010 08:00 PM PST Scientists have completed sequencing the genome of a kind of wild grass that will enable researchers to shed light on the genetics behind hardier varieties of wheat and improved varieties of biofuel crops.

Bowel disease link to blood clots: New findings Posted: 10 Feb 2010 08:00 PM PST People living with inflammatory bowel disease are known to be at high risk of blood clots when admitted to hospital during a flare-up of their disease. But now new research has shown that those who are not admitted to hospital during flare-ups are also at risk.

Eczema in early childhood may influence mental health later Posted: 10 Feb 2010 08:00 PM PST Eczema in early childhood may influence behavior and mental health later in life.

One-third of antimalarial medicines sampled in three African nations found to be substandard Posted: 10 Feb 2010 08:00 PM PST The first results from a large-scale study of key antimalarial medicines in ten Sub-Saharan African countries reveal that a high percentage of medicines circulating on national markets are of substandard quality and thus may contribute to the growth of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent form of malaria.

Social networking sites could solve many communication problems when disaster strikes Posted: 10 Feb 2010 08:00 PM PST Online social networking sites could solve many problems plaguing information dissemination and communications when disaster strikes, according to a new report.

Older investors prone to mental misfires while playing the market, study shows Posted: 10 Feb 2010 08:00 PM PST Old age traditionally brings with it respect, experience and wisdom. But when it comes to making risky financial investments, an older mind is likely to make more mistakes than a younger one, psychologists say.

Surprising new branches on arthropod family tree Posted: 10 Feb 2010 05:00 PM PST Any way you look at it -- by sheer weight, species diversity or population -- the hard-shelled, joint-legged creepy crawlies called arthropods dominate planet Earth. Because of their success and importance, scientists have been trying for decades to figure out the family relationships that link lobsters to millipedes and cockroaches to tarantulas and find which might have come first.

Developmental delay in brain provides clue to sensory hypersensitivity in autism Posted: 10 Feb 2010 05:00 PM PST New research provides insight into why fragile X syndrome, the most common known cause of autism and mental retardation, is associated with an extreme hypersensitivity to sounds, touch, smells, and visual stimuli that causes sensory overload and results in social withdrawal, hyperarousal, and anxiety. The study uncovers a previously unknown developmental delay in a critical brain circuit that processes sensory information in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome.

Orion in a new light Posted: 10 Feb 2010 05:00 PM PST The Orion Nebula reveals many of its hidden secrets in a dramatic image taken by ESO's new VISTA survey telescope. The telescope's huge field of view can show the full splendor of the whole nebula and VISTA's infrared vision also allows it to peer deeply into dusty regions that are normally hidden and expose the curious behavior of the very active young stars buried there.

Popular antidepressant blocks the beneficial effects of tamoxifen in breast cancer Posted: 10 Feb 2010 05:00 PM PST Women with breast cancer who take the antidepressant paroxetine at the same time as tamoxifen are at an increased risk of death, concludes a new study.

Comprehensive study using bioinformatics predicts the molecular causes of many genetic diseases Posted: 10 Feb 2010 05:00 PM PST It is widely known that genetic mutations cause disease. What are largely unknown are the mechanisms by which these mutations wreak havoc at the molecular level, giving rise to clinically observable symptoms in patients. Now a new study using bioinformatics reports the ability to predict the molecular cause of many inherited genetic diseases. These predictions have led to the creation of a web-based tool available to academic researchers who study disease.

Brain scans track hoop fans' happy memories Posted: 10 Feb 2010 05:00 PM PST In a novel study that used historical tape of a thrilling overtime basketball game between Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, brain researchers at Duke have found that fans remember the good things their team did much better than the bad.

Waking the dead: Scientists reconstruct nuclear genome of extinct human being Posted: 10 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST For the first time, scientists have reconstructed the nuclear genome of an extinct human being. The innovative technique can help reconstruct human phenotypic traits of extinct cultures. It also allows for finding those contemporary populations most closely related to extinct cultures revealing ancient human expansions and migrations. Finally, the discovery improves our understanding of heredity and the disease risk passed down from our ancestors. The spectacular findings are being published in Nature.

People with anxiety disorder less able to regulate response to negative emotions, study shows Posted: 10 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST People with generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, have abnormalities in the way their brain unconsciously controls emotions. That's the conclusion of a new study, and the authors say the findings could open up new avenues for treatments and change our understanding of how emotion is regulated in everyday life.

Silver nanoparticles may one day be key to devices that keep hearts beating strong and steady Posted: 10 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST Diamonds and gold may make some hearts flutter on Valentine's Day, but in one laboratory, silver nanoparticles are being designed to do just the opposite.

Cervical cancer: Regiment with new drug triapine provides both significant reduction in cancer disease and cancer control Posted: 10 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST Researchers have published new findings that may lead to a new standard of care for patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. The phase one study found that a new chemotherapy medicine, Triapine, was well tolerated in combination with standard-of-care cisplatin chemotherapy and radiation treatment in women with cervical cancer. This regimen provided both significant reduction in cancer disease and cancer control.

Future earthquake risk in Haiti: Startling images of ground motion help scientists understand risk of aftershocks Posted: 10 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST Analyzing images captured using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) by Japan's ALOS satellite before and just after Haiti's earthquake on Jan. 12, scientists are making new discoveries. The images show that the earthquake rupture did not reach the surface -- unusual for an earthquake this size. More importantly, the images confirm that only the western half of the fault actually ruptured this time. Scientists are interpreting the data to establish the probability of another large quake in the next 20-30 years.

Childhood obesity: It's not the amount of TV, it's the number of junk food commercials Posted: 10 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST The association between television viewing and childhood obesity is directly related to children's exposure to commercials that advertise unhealthy foods, according to a new study.

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