ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Invention regulates nerve cells electronically
• Prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to breast cancer
• Gesture-based computing on the cheap: Multicolored gloves making Minority Report-style interfaces more accessible
• Exercise may keep cancer patients healthier during, after treatment
• Breaking the logjam: Improving data download from outer space
• Meaner than fiction: Reality TV high on aggression, study shows
• Better way to detect food allergies
• Increased cancer risk of people with type 2 diabetes, large study finds
• Cassini heading to Saturn's Titan after tagging Enceladus
• Kidney weight matters when it comes to transplantation
• New England losing forest cover -- scholars call for accelerated conservation
• Mistakes can explain 'cooperative' behavior
• Ocean stored significant warming over last 16 years, study finds
• New path for novel Alzheimer's therapies
• NASA's Mars rovers set surface longevity record
• Better prognosis for children born with severe acute asphyxia
• Low-cost, ultra-fast DNA sequencing brings diagnostic use closer
• Nationwide smoking ban would help reduce heart attack admissions, slash costs
• Hubble finds a star eating a planet
• Genes and brain centers that regulate meal size in flies identified
• I am treefrog, feel me shake
• Genetic secrets of common kidney cancer
• Presence of chemical in smoker's breath indicates person has smoked in last three days
• Get rhythm: Why the key to finding music you like is rhythm, not genre

Invention regulates nerve cells electronically Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT A major step toward being able to regulate nerve cells externally with the help of electronics has been taken by researchers in Sweden. The breakthrough is based on an ion transistor of plastic that can transport ions and charged biomolecules and thereby address and regulate cells.

Prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to breast cancer Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT A study in mice reveals that prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, like bisphenol-A (BPA) and diethylstilbestrol (DES), may program a fetus for life. Therefore, adult women who were exposed prenatally to BPA or DES could be at increased risk of breast cancer, according to a new study.

Gesture-based computing on the cheap: Multicolored gloves making Minority Report-style interfaces more accessible Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Ever since Steven Spielberg's 2002 sci-fi movie Minority Report, in which a black-clad Tom Cruise stands in front of a transparent screen manipulating a host of video images simply by waving his hands, the idea of gesture-based computer interfaces has captured the imagination of technophiles. Researchers have now developed a system that could make gestural interfaces much more practical. Aside from a standard webcam, like those found in many new computers, the system uses only a single piece of hardware: a multicolored Lycra glove that could be manufactured for about a dollar.

Exercise may keep cancer patients healthier during, after treatment Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Breast and prostate cancer patients who regularly exercise during and after cancer treatment report having a better quality of life and being less fatigued, according to researchers.

Breaking the logjam: Improving data download from outer space Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Space satellites that detect nuclear events and environmental gasses face a data logjam because their increasingly powerful sensors produce more information than their bandwidth can easily transmit. Experiments at the International Space Station indicate that sending more complex computer chips into space to pre-reduce the large data stream sent Earthbound could be the answer. But how well would the latest, most sensitive computing electronics fare in the harsh environment of outer space?

Meaner than fiction: Reality TV high on aggression, study shows Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 PM PDT Researchers looked at five reality shows and five non-reality shows and found 52 acts of aggression per hour on reality TV compared to 33 per hour for the non-reality programs.

Better way to detect food allergies Posted: 22 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT A chemical engineer believes he has a better way to diagnose such allergies. His new technology can analyze individual immune cells taken from patients, allowing for precise measurement of the cells' response to allergens such as milk and peanuts.

Increased cancer risk of people with type 2 diabetes, large study finds Posted: 22 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Scientists in Germany have published the largest study worldwide on the combined risk of diabetes and cancer. People affected by type 2 diabetes have an elevated risk of 24 of the types of cancer studied. The effect is most evident for liver cancer and pancreatic cancer. By contrast, people with diabetes have a significantly lower rate of prostate cancer.

Cassini heading to Saturn's Titan after tagging Enceladus Posted: 22 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT NASA's Cassini spacecraft is on its way to a flyby of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, after capturing some stunning images of Enceladus. One view shows the hazy outline of Titan behind Saturn's rings, with the dark curve of Enceladus at the bottom.

Kidney weight matters when it comes to transplantation Posted: 22 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Receiving an organ low in weight in relation to the recipient's body weight increases kidney transplant recipients risk of complications and transplant failure, according to a new study. The results suggest that compatibility between a donated kidney's weight and the weight of the recipient could improve the success of transplantation.

New England losing forest cover -- scholars call for accelerated conservation Posted: 22 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT New England forests are at a turning point. A new study reports that, following almost 200 years of natural reforestation, forest cover is declining in all six New England states. The authors of the report call for conserving 70 percent of New England as forestland, a target that they say is critical to protecting vital natural benefits that would be costly, and in some cases impossible, to replace.

Mistakes can explain 'cooperative' behavior Posted: 22 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT How people behave in economic games, where they can choose to be selfish or cooperative, can be explained more easily by 'mistakes' than wanting others to succeed.

Ocean stored significant warming over last 16 years, study finds Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT The upper layer of the world's ocean has warmed since 1993, indicating a strong climate change signal, according to a new study. The energy stored is enough to power nearly 500 100-watt light bulbs per each of the roughly 6.7 billion people on the planet.

New path for novel Alzheimer's therapies Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Researchers have found a new Alzheimer's-related mechanism that could give rise to the development of new therapies against this disease.

NASA's Mars rovers set surface longevity record Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project will pass a historic Martian longevity record on May 20. The Opportunity rover will surpass the duration record set by NASA's Viking 1 Lander of six years and 116 days operating on the surface of Mars. The effects of favorable weather on the red planet could also help the rovers generate more power.

Better prognosis for children born with severe acute asphyxia Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT The prognosis for children born with severe acute asphyxia has improved in recent years owing to new clinical procedures and better diagnostics, according to new research from Sweden. By measuring levels of lactic acid in the blood during childbirth and the brain activity of the newborn afterwards, doctors can make a much more reliable assessment of the risk of serious brain damage.

Low-cost, ultra-fast DNA sequencing brings diagnostic use closer Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Researchers show the viability of a novel, more efficient method to sequence DNA using nanopores. By doing it fast and inexpensively, this method brings routine use of DNA sequencing in medical diagnostics closer to reality.

Nationwide smoking ban would help reduce heart attack admissions, slash costs Posted: 22 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT A nationwide smoking ban would save more than $90 million and significantly reduce hospitalizations for heart attack, according to a new study.

Hubble finds a star eating a planet Posted: 21 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT The hottest known planet in the Milky Way galaxy may also be its shortest-lived world. The doomed planet is being eaten by its parent star, according to observations made by a new instrument on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). The planet may only have another 10 million years left before it is completely devoured.

Genes and brain centers that regulate meal size in flies identified Posted: 21 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT Biologists have identified two genes, the leucokinin neuropeptide and the leucokinin receptor, that appear to regulate meal sizes and frequency in fruit flies. Both genes have mammalian counterparts that seem to play a similar role in food intake, indicating that the steps that control meal size and meal frequency are not just behaviorally similar but are controlled by the same genes throughout the animal kingdom.

I am treefrog, feel me shake Posted: 21 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT Using experiments involving a mechanical shaker and a robotic frog, researchers have found new evidence that male red-eyed treefrogs communicate with one another in aggressive contests by using vibrations they send through their plant perches. The findings open the door to further study of what has been a neglected channel for vertebrate communication.

Genetic secrets of common kidney cancer Posted: 21 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT By examining expression of every human gene in clear cell renal cell carcinoma compared to normal kidney cells, researchers have discovered gene signatures they say explain much of the biology of this common and difficult-to-treat kidney cancer.

Presence of chemical in smoker's breath indicates person has smoked in last three days Posted: 21 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT If you smoke, your breath contains 2,5-dimethylfuran. A team of Catalan researchers have proved that the presence of this chemical compound indicates that a person has smoked in the last three days. This substance does not appear in the breath of non-smokers, unless they have been in direct contact with tobacco smoke for a long time.

Get rhythm: Why the key to finding music you like is rhythm, not genre Posted: 21 May 2010 05:00 PM PDT So close and yet so wrong -- you might love heavy metal like Metallica but your music platform suggests you should also like the '60s sound of the Doors, simply because both bands are classified as rock. New research shows that searching for the temporal aspects of songs -- their rhythm -- might be better to find music you like than using current automatic genre classifications.

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