ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Ribbon at edge of our solar system: Will the Sun enter a million-degree cloud of interstellar gas?
• New blood test for newborns to detect allergy risk
• Small RNA controls a bacterium's social life
• Uncovering lithium's mode of action
• Decoding our network communities
• Game theoretic machine learning methods can help explain long periods of conflict
• Small mammals -- and rest of food chain -- at greater risk from global warming than thought, research finds
• Scientists make important step toward stopping plaque-like formations in Huntington's disease
• Physicists develop a quantum interface between light and atoms
• Immune evasion common in many viruses, bacteria and parasites is uncommon in M. tuberculosis
• Organic solids in soil may speed up bacterial breathing
• Patients have misconceptions and high levels of anxiety about general anesthesia
• Two peas in an irregular pod: How binary stars may form
• Gene network associated with vitamin A deficiency and lung birth defects
• Minnow with fangs, golden orb spider and carnivorous sponge make top 10 list of new species
• Pistachios offer multiple benefits, study suggests
• Danger in the internet cafe? New computer security threat for wireless networks: Typhoid adware
• Learning from experience? Multisensory tools create discerning wine lovers
• Silica cages help anti-cancer antibodies kill tumors in mice
• Patients at high risk of recurrences of heart disease: Breakthrough in prevention
• Geometry Drives Selection Date for 2011 Mars Launch
• Systems biology helps explain hematopoiesis
• Switch protein also influences the cytoskeleton
• Air Force Prevention Program reduces suicide rates significantly, according to new data
• New method for producing 'libraries' of important carbohydrate molecules
• Vaginal gel with integrase inhibitor shows promise in monkeys
• Pregnancy doubles HIV risk in men; first trial of a microbicide in pregnant women

Ribbon at edge of our solar system: Will the Sun enter a million-degree cloud of interstellar gas? Posted: 24 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Is the Sun going to enter a million-degree galactic cloud of interstellar gas soon? A U.S.-Polish team of scientists suggests that the ribbon of enhanced emissions of energetic neutral atoms, discovered last year by the NASA Small Explorer satellite IBEX, could be explained by a geometric effect due to the approach of the Sun to the boundary between the Local Cloud of interstellar gas and another cloud of a very hot gas called the Local Bubble. If this hypothesis is correct, IBEX is catching matter from a hot neighboring interstellar cloud, which the Sun might enter in a hundred years.

New blood test for newborns to detect allergy risk Posted: 24 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT A simple blood test can now predict whether newborn babies are at high risk of developing allergies as they grow older.

Small RNA controls a bacterium's social life Posted: 24 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT For the first time, biologists have directly shown how spontaneous mutation of a small RNA (sRNA) regulatory molecule can provide an evolutionary advantage. The scientists also identify the sRNA as a key regulator of social behavior in Myxococcus xanthus, a soil bacterium widely studied for its ability to cooperatively construct fruiting bodies that house stress-resistant spores when food runs out.

Uncovering lithium's mode of action Posted: 24 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Though it has been prescribed for over 50 years to treat bipolar disorder, there are still many questions regarding exactly how lithium works. Researchers have provided solid evidence that lithium reduces brain inflammation by adjusting the metabolism of the health-protective omega-3 fatty acid called DHA.

Decoding our network communities Posted: 24 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT A new way of finding community structure within networks -- anything from social networks such as Facebook, to power grids, political voting networks, and protein interaction networks in biology -- could help us understand how people are connected and how connections change over time. The new technique aims to be more realistic than conventional approaches, which only capture one type of connection or a network at only one moment in time.

Game theoretic machine learning methods can help explain long periods of conflict Posted: 24 May 2010 08:00 AM PDT Researchers have developed new machine learning methods to study conflict. The new method, which they call Inductive Game Theory, has been applied to a time series of fights gathered from detailed observations of an animal society model system.

Small mammals -- and rest of food chain -- at greater risk from global warming than thought, research finds Posted: 24 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT Small-mammal communities got knocked seriously askew about 12,000 years ago by the last episode of global warming. Environmental disruptions let highly adaptable species thrive while others lost population and range. The current warming may push some species to extinction, destabilizing the food chains and ecosystems of which they are a vital part.

Scientists make important step toward stopping plaque-like formations in Huntington's disease Posted: 24 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT Researchers describe a laboratory test that allows scientists to evaluate large numbers of fruit fly genes for a possible role in the formation of plaque-like protein aggregates within cells. Those genes often have counterparts in humans, which might then be manipulated to stop or slow the formation of plaque-like protein aggregates, the hallmark of Huntington's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Physicists develop a quantum interface between light and atoms Posted: 24 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT Physicists in Germany have developed a quantum interface which connects light particles and atoms. The interface is based on an ultra-thin glass fiber and is suitable for the transmission of quantum information. This is an essential prerequisite for quantum communication which shall be used for secure data transmission via quantum cryptography.

Immune evasion common in many viruses, bacteria and parasites is uncommon in M. tuberculosis Posted: 24 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT Scientists have discovered that the strategy of "immune evasion" common to many viruses, bacteria and parasites, is uncommon to M. tuberculosis where the antigens remain strikingly unchanged and homogeneous. The study suggests that M. tuberculosis antigens do not mutate because they hope to be recognized by the body's immune system -- perhaps because the host immune mechanism that leads to the typical lung destruction and cough can contribute to the spread of the disease. This finding has the potential to change the direction of vaccine research and could result in a new focus on different targets of immune response to the bacteria.

Organic solids in soil may speed up bacterial breathing Posted: 24 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT The "mineral-breathing" bacteria found in many oxygen-free environments may be "carbon-breathing" as well. Oxygen-free, or anaerobic, environments contain microbes sometimes described as "mineral-breathing" because they use iron oxides and other minerals in the same way we use oxygen. According to a new study, this bacterial respiration may be accelerated by solid organic compounds in the soil.

Patients have misconceptions and high levels of anxiety about general anesthesia Posted: 24 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT Eighty-five percent of patients who took part in a survey shortly after day surgery said that they had been anxious about receiving a general anesthetic. The top three concerns that made patients very anxious were the thought of not waking up, dying while asleep and waking up during surgery.

Two peas in an irregular pod: How binary stars may form Posted: 24 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Our sun may be an only child, but most of the stars in the galaxy are actually twins. The sibling stars circle around each other at varying distances, bound by the hands of gravity. How twin stars form is an ongoing question in astronomy. Do they start out like fraternal twins developing from two separate clouds, or "eggs"? Or do they begin life in one cloud that splits into two, like identical twins born from one egg?

Gene network associated with vitamin A deficiency and lung birth defects Posted: 24 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Researchers have discovered the mechanism responsible for the failure of the lungs to form as a result of vitamin A/retinoic acid (RA) deficiency. The study also shows that corrections to this network make it possible to prevent the lung defect in retinoic acid-deficient animals.

Minnow with fangs, golden orb spider and carnivorous sponge make top 10 list of new species Posted: 24 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists have announced the top 10 new species described in 2009. The top 10 new species list includes a carnivorous sponge, bug-eating slug, edible yam, stinkhorn fungus, golden orb spider, flat-faced frogfish, banded knifefish, minnow with fangs, deep-sea worm and charismatic plant that feeds on insects.

Pistachios offer multiple benefits, study suggests Posted: 24 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Pistachio nuts, eaten as part of a healthy diet, can increase the levels of antioxidants in the blood of adults with high cholesterol, according to nutritional scientists.

Danger in the internet cafe? New computer security threat for wireless networks: Typhoid adware Posted: 24 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT There's a potential threat lurking in your internet café, say computer science researchers. It's called Typhoid adware and works in similar fashion to Typhoid Mary, the first identified healthy carrier of typhoid fever who spread the disease to dozens of people in the New York area in the early 1900s.

Learning from experience? Multisensory tools create discerning wine lovers Posted: 24 May 2010 02:00 AM PDT Wine aficionados are better able to resist misleading advertising if they are provided with accurate sensory descriptors, according to a new study.

Silica cages help anti-cancer antibodies kill tumors in mice Posted: 23 May 2010 11:00 PM PDT Packaging anti-cancer drugs into particles of chemically modified silica improve the drugs' ability to fight skin cancer in mice, according to new research. Results show the honeycombed particles can help anti-cancer antibodies prevent tumor growth and prolong the lives of mice.

Patients at high risk of recurrences of heart disease: Breakthrough in prevention Posted: 23 May 2010 11:00 PM PDT Researchers have announced promising findings of a major clinical study study on VIA-2291 -- a recently developed medication that can effectively reduce inflammation, which can contribute to the formation and progression of atherosclerosis plaque and infarct.

Geometry Drives Selection Date for 2011 Mars Launch Posted: 23 May 2010 11:00 PM PDT Planners of NASA's next Mars mission have selected a flight schedule that will use favorable positions for two currently orbiting NASA Mars orbiters to obtain maximum information during descent and landing.

Systems biology helps explain hematopoiesis Posted: 23 May 2010 11:00 PM PDT After blood loss, large amounts of the hormone Epo flood the hematopoietic system in the bone marrow. Scientists have shown how a rapid turnover of Epo receptor molecules on hematopoietic cells ensures that these remain ready to react. Thus, our body can respond even to extreme increases of Epo levels with an adequate supply of red blood cells.

Switch protein also influences the cytoskeleton Posted: 23 May 2010 11:00 PM PDT The protein Ras is known as the switch for cell division when it is activated. Mutations in Ras and its interaction partners can thus lead to the development of cancer. Researchers in Germany have now discovered another unexpected capability of Ras, namely that it, by interacting with another protein, controls the synthesis of the cytoskeleton responsible for the structure and stability of the cell.

Air Force Prevention Program reduces suicide rates significantly, according to new data Posted: 23 May 2010 11:00 PM PDT The US Air Force Suicide Prevention Program has reduced suicide rates significantly since it was launched in 1996, according to a new study that examined almost three decades of data.

New method for producing 'libraries' of important carbohydrate molecules Posted: 22 May 2010 09:00 PM PDT A team of scientists has created a method for the rapid chemical synthesis of complex carbohydrates, and that method could dramatically change the availability of such molecules for research.

Vaginal gel with integrase inhibitor shows promise in monkeys Posted: 22 May 2010 09:00 PM PDT Researchers testing a vaginal microbicide based on a new type of anti-HIV drug found it provided monkeys significant protection against infection with a virus similar to HIV. The study is the first of a gel with an integrase inhibitor, one of the latest additions to the arsenal of drugs for the treatment of HIV but just one of the many compounds researchers hope will be a stronghold for HIV prevention.

Pregnancy doubles HIV risk in men; first trial of a microbicide in pregnant women Posted: 22 May 2010 09:00 PM PDT Young women of reproductive-age are among those at greatest risk of acquiring HIV, and several studies have suggested that during pregnancy women are even more susceptible to infection. Now, a new study finds that pregnancy is a time when men also are at greater risk -- double the risk, in fact. Another pivotal study is the first to ask whether using a microbicide during pregnancy is safe for women and their babies.

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