ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

---

• Study examines family lineage of King Tut, his possible cause of death
• Autism: Oxytocin improves social behavior of patients, French study finds
• Reliable home male fertility test? Accurate sperm counts now possible
• High-fat ketogenic diet to control seizures is safe over long term, study suggests
• The carbon cycle before humans: New studies provide clearer picture of how carbon cycle was dramatically affected long ago
• Bilingual babies: The roots of bilingualism in newborns
• NASA's Fermi closes on source of cosmic rays
• Genetic link between mammographic density and breast cancer
• New spiny pocket mouse species discovered
• Loss of gene function makes prostate cancer cells more aggressive
• Nanotech discovery may green chemical manufacturing
• Teaching a foreign language? Best teach in the accent of the listener
• Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking
• Researchers find biomarkers in saliva for detection of early-stage pancreatic cancer
• Attacking cancer cells with hydrogel nanoparticles
• Influenza vaccines: Poor evidence for effectiveness in elderly
• Barley protein concentrate could replace fishmeal in aquaculture feeds
• What the brain values may not be what it buys
• Team finds subtropical waters flushing through Greenland fjord
• Childhood obesity a risk for premature death
• Enzyme design with remote effects: Chemists devise new way of optimizing enzymes for industrial applications
• Non-invasive testing, earlier surgery can stop seizures in tuberous sclerosis complex
• New approach to understanding surfaces of materials
• Soccer practice may significantly reduce blood pressure in inactive people
• Highly absorbing, flexible solar cells with silicon wire arrays created
• Neuroscientists reveal new links that regulate brain electrical activity
• Stress and trade-offs explain life's diversity: A new model
• Fat behaves differently in patients with polycistic ovary syndrome
• The rhythm of our star
• Self-control impaired in type 2 diabetics, research suggests

Study examines family lineage of King Tut, his possible cause of death Posted: 17 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST Using several scientific methods, including analyzing DNA from royal mummies, research findings suggest that malaria and bone abnormalities appear to have contributed to the death of Egyptian pharaoh King Tutankhamun, with other results appearing to identify members of the royal family, including King Tut's father and mother, according to a new study.

Autism: Oxytocin improves social behavior of patients, French study finds Posted: 17 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST Autism is a disease characterized by difficulties in communicating effectively with other people and developing social relationships. New research in France shows that the inhalation of oxytocin, a hormone known to promote mother-infant bonds and social relationships, significantly improved the abilities of autistic patients to interact with other individuals.

Reliable home male fertility test? Accurate sperm counts now possible Posted: 17 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST A new 'fertility chip' can accurately count spermatozoa in sperm. This is an important step towards the development of a compact device for reliable 'pre-scanning' of male fertility.

High-fat ketogenic diet to control seizures is safe over long term, study suggests Posted: 17 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST Current and former patients treated with the high-fat ketogenic diet to control multiple, daily and severe seizures can be reassured by the news that not only is the diet effective, but it also appears to have no long-lasting side effects, say scientists.

The carbon cycle before humans: New studies provide clearer picture of how carbon cycle was dramatically affected long ago Posted: 17 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST Two new studies contribute new clues as to what drove large-scale changes to the carbon cycle nearly 100 million years ago. Both research teams conclude that a massive amount of volcanic activity introduced carbon dioxide and sulfur into the atmosphere, which in turn had a significant impact on the carbon cycle, oxygen levels in the oceans and marine plants and animals. Oxygen levels dropped so low that one-third of marine life died.

Bilingual babies: The roots of bilingualism in newborns Posted: 17 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST According to new findings, infants born to bilingual mothers (who spoke both languages regularly during pregnancy) exhibit different language preferences than infants born to mothers speaking only one language. These results suggest that bilingual infants, along with monolingual infants, are able to discriminate between the two languages, providing a mechanism from the first moments of life that helps ensure bilingual infants do not confuse their two languages.

NASA's Fermi closes on source of cosmic rays Posted: 17 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST New images from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope show where supernova remnants emit radiation a billion times more energetic than visible light. The images bring astronomers a step closer to understanding the source of some of the universe's most energetic particles -- cosmic rays.

Genetic link between mammographic density and breast cancer Posted: 17 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST An Australian study has revealed that certain breast cancer genetic variants increase mammographic density, confirming the link between mammographic breast density and breast cancer.

New spiny pocket mouse species discovered Posted: 17 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST Biologists have reported the existence of a new species of spiny pocket mouse, from Venezuela, Heteromys catopterius.

Loss of gene function makes prostate cancer cells more aggressive Posted: 17 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST Prostate cancer cells are more likely to spread to other parts of the body if a specific gene quits functioning normally, according to new research.

Nanotech discovery may green chemical manufacturing Posted: 17 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST A new nanotech catalyst offers industry an opportunity to reduce the use of expensive and toxic heavy metals.

Teaching a foreign language? Best teach in the accent of the listener Posted: 17 Feb 2010 08:00 AM PST Perception of second language speech is easier when it is spoken in the accent of the listener and not in the "original" accent of that language, shows a new study.

Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking Posted: 17 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST An artificial foot that recycles energy otherwise wasted in between steps could make it easier for amputees to walk, its developers say.

Researchers find biomarkers in saliva for detection of early-stage pancreatic cancer Posted: 17 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST The genetic biomarkers of pancreatic cancer are present in human saliva, researchers report. The finding could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment of this most lethal of human cancers. Early results suggest salivary diagnostics may prove superior to blood tests for the purpose of early detection.

Attacking cancer cells with hydrogel nanoparticles Posted: 17 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST Researchers are using hydrogels -- less than 100 nanometers in size -- to sneak a particular type of small interfering RNA into cancer cells. Once in the cell the siRNA turns on the programmed cell death the body uses to kill mutated cells and help traditional chemotherapy do it's job.

Influenza vaccines: Poor evidence for effectiveness in elderly Posted: 17 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST Evidence for the safety and efficacy of influenza vaccines in the over-65s is poor, despite the fact that vaccination has been recommended for the prevention of influenza in older people for the past 40 years, according to a new review.

Barley protein concentrate could replace fishmeal in aquaculture feeds Posted: 17 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST Scientists have developed a barley protein concentrate that could be fed to trout and other commercially produced fish.

What the brain values may not be what it buys Posted: 17 Feb 2010 05:00 AM PST New brain-imaging research shows it's even possible to predict how much people might be willing to pay for a particular face. Researchers found that as participants were watching a sequence of faces, their brains were simultaneously evaluating those faces in two distinct ways: for the quality of the viewing experience and for what they would trade to see the face again.

Team finds subtropical waters flushing through Greenland fjord Posted: 17 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST Waters from warmer latitudes -- or subtropical waters -- are reaching Greenland's glaciers, driving melting and likely triggering an acceleration of ice loss, reports a team of researchers.

Childhood obesity a risk for premature death Posted: 17 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST A new study shows how childhood obesity, together with other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, affects premature death.

Enzyme design with remote effects: Chemists devise new way of optimizing enzymes for industrial applications Posted: 17 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST Engineers are unlikely to tinker with the cooling system if they want to increase the size of an engine. Yet chemists in Germany have adopted an approach similar to this in their efforts to optimize an enzyme for practical applications. They substituted two amino acids at a site relatively distal to the biocatalyst's binding pocket, the location where the chemical reaction takes place.

Non-invasive testing, earlier surgery can stop seizures in tuberous sclerosis complex Posted: 17 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST A new study has found that an alternative, non-invasive approach to pre-surgical testing, along with earlier consideration for surgery, is associated with the best seizure-free surgical outcome in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.

New approach to understanding surfaces of materials Posted: 17 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST Scientists have produced a new approach for understanding surfaces, particularly metal oxide surfaces, widely used in industry as supports for catalysts. Knowledge of how atoms are arranged on a material's surface is critical to understanding a material's overall properties. In their approach, the research team used a combination of advanced experimental tools coupled with theoretical calculations.

Soccer practice may significantly reduce blood pressure in inactive people Posted: 17 Feb 2010 02:00 AM PST New research on inactive people with high blood pressure shows that just three months of soccer practice twice a week causes a significant fall in blood pressure, resting pulse rate and percentage of body fat, and is more effective than the doctor's usual advice on healthy diet and exercise.

Highly absorbing, flexible solar cells with silicon wire arrays created Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded in a polymer substrate, scientists have created a new type of flexible solar cell that enhances the absorption of sunlight and efficiently converts its photons into electrons. The solar cell does all this using only a fraction of the expensive semiconductor materials required by conventional solar cells.

Neuroscientists reveal new links that regulate brain electrical activity Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST Researchers have made a major breakthrough in our understanding of nerve impulse generation within the brain. Brain cells communicate with each other by firing electrical impulses, which in turn rely upon special ion channels that are positioned at strategic locations in their membranes.

Stress and trade-offs explain life's diversity: A new model Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST Plants and people alike face critical choices as they reproduce: to make a few big, well-provisioned seeds -- or babies -- or many small, poorly-provisioned ones. Different species make strikingly different choices, resulting in a great diversity of life forms: Darwin's "endless forms most beautiful. New research argues that these diverse strategies coexist because different levels of stress favor different choices.

Fat behaves differently in patients with polycistic ovary syndrome Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST Fat tissue in women with polycystic ovary syndrome produces an inadequate amount of the hormone that regulates how fats and glucose are processed, promoting increased insulin resistance and inflammation, glucose intolerance and greater risk of diabetes and heart disease, according to a study.

The rhythm of our star Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST When we look at the Sun we cannot penetrate beyond its outer surface, the photosphere, which emits the photons that make up the radiation we can see. So how can we find out what is inside it?

Self-control impaired in type 2 diabetics, research suggests Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:00 PM PST Type 2 diabetes, an increasingly common complication of obesity, is associated with poor impulse control. Researchers suggest that neurological changes result in this inability to resist temptation, which may in turn exacerbate diabetes.

You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Latest Science News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610