ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

---

• Drilling into the unknown: First exploration of a sub-glacial Antarctic lake is a major step closer
• Lifestyle and genes pose separate risks for breast cancer
• Marmots can teach us about obesity
• Tiny blood vessels in brain spit to survive
• Aquatic life declines at early stages of urban development, research finds
• Spending time in nature makes people feel more alive, study shows
• More choline for pregnant, nursing women could reduce Down syndrome dysfunction, guard against dementia
• Mutations that cause Parkinson's disease prevent cells from destroying defective mitochondria
• Outcrop of long-sought rare rock on Mars found
• Color-coded tracking method helps scientists analyze outcomes of newly transplanted tissue
• Electric fields make ceramic production quicker, cheaper, better
• Flooring can affect how consumers make purchase decisions, researcher finds
• Early Earth haze likely provided ultraviolet shield for planet
• Reducing Alzheimer's-related protein in young brains improves learning in Down syndrome animal model
• Soccer-playing robots get creative with physics-based planning
• Azithromycin pills equal to penicillin shots for treating early syphilis, clinical trial finds
• Fires in Amazon challenge emission reduction program
• Moving repeatedly in childhood linked with poorer quality-of-life years later, study finds
• How did higher life evolve? Brown algal genome opens new door to understanding multicellularity and photosynthesis
• Blood flows differently through the brains of schizophrenic patients
• Beethoven unlikely to have died from lead exposure
• New cancer guidelines: Exercise during and after treatment is now encouraged
• Compression clothing has little impact on athletic performance, study suggests
• Good grades? It's all in who you know: Having friends who attend the same school is key, study shows
• Superbug's 'CPU' revealed: Researchers discover chemical clue directing Staphylococcus aureus
• Universal treatment for all strains of influenza within sight
• Mutant gene link to West Nile virus in horses
• Long-term use of Parkinson's drug may impact vision
• Mining in Africa is spreading TB, study suggests
• Link identified between lower IQ scores and attempted suicide in men
• Common genetic threads link thousands of years of Jewish ancestry
• Molecular explanation for the evolution of Tamiflu resistance
• Biosensors reveal how single bacterium gets the message to split into a swimming and a stay-put cell
• Students develop device to help blind maneuver
• Gates open on understanding potassium channel controls
• Lack of skilled birth care costs 2 million lives each year worldwide, study estimates
• Oasis near Death Valley fed by ancient aquifer under Nevada Test Site
• Commonly used seizure drug could treat severe genetic liver disease
• Ocean Acidification in the Arctic: What are the consequences of carbon dioxide increase on marine ecosystems?
• Epigenetic similarities between Wilms tumor cells and normal kidney stem cells found
• NASA takes to the air with new 'Earth Venture' research projects
• Online games new marketing tool for unhealthy foods
• Treating heart attack past recommended time may significantly increase risk of death
• How trekking-poles help hikers maintain muscle function while reducing soreness
• Thymoquinone-induced oxidative stress targets highly aggressive prostate cancers, researchers find
• Airplanes, ground instruments, and weather balloons to study effect of airborne particles on climate
• Tobacco tax hike could curb smoking among those with alcohol, drug or mental disorders

Drilling into the unknown: First exploration of a sub-glacial Antarctic lake is a major step closer Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 PM PDT Scientists have located the ideal drill site for the first ever exploration of an Antarctic sub-glacial lake. Scientists have revealed the optimal drill site for exploring Lake Ellsworth, a sub-glacial lake comparable in size to England's Lake Windermere which is covered by three kilometers of ice. This development is likely to facilitate a revolution in climate-change research and may lead to the discovery of life-forms cut off from the main line of evolution for millions of years.

Lifestyle and genes pose separate risks for breast cancer Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 PM PDT The increased risk of breast cancer associated with a range of common genes is not affected by lifestyle factors -- including use of hormone replacement therapy, age at birth of first child, obesity, and alcohol consumption -- a new study has found.

Marmots can teach us about obesity Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 PM PDT A professor has discovered that a common nutrient can help stimulate appetite in hibernating marmots, which can help scientists understand more about human metabolism and obesity.

Tiny blood vessels in brain spit to survive Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 PM PDT Scientists have discovered capillaries have a unique method of expelling debris, such as blood clots, cholesterol or calcium plaque, that blocks the flow of essential nutrients to brain cells. The capillaries spit out the blockage by growing a membrane that envelopes the obstruction and then shoves it out of the blood vessel. Scientists also found this critical process is up to 50 percent slower in an aging brain and likely results in the death of more capillaries.

Aquatic life declines at early stages of urban development, research finds Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 PM PDT The number of native fish and aquatic insects, especially those that are pollution sensitive, declines in urban and suburban streams at low levels of development -- levels often considered protective for stream communities, according to a new study.

Spending time in nature makes people feel more alive, study shows Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 PM PDT Being outside in nature makes people feel more alive, finds a series of studies. And that sense of increased vitality exists above and beyond the energizing effects of physical activity and social interaction that are often associated with our forays into the natural world.

More choline for pregnant, nursing women could reduce Down syndrome dysfunction, guard against dementia Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 PM PDT More choline during pregnancy and nursing could provide lasting cognitive and emotional benefits to people with Down syndrome. The work indicated greater maternal levels of the essential nutrient also could protect against neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.

Mutations that cause Parkinson's disease prevent cells from destroying defective mitochondria Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 PM PDT Mutations that cause Parkinson's disease prevent cells from destroying defective mitochondria, according to a new study.

Outcrop of long-sought rare rock on Mars found Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 PM PDT A mineral-scouting instrument has found an outcrop of rock rich in carbonate minerals in the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater on Mars.

Color-coded tracking method helps scientists analyze outcomes of newly transplanted tissue Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 PM PDT A group of "color-coded" laboratory mice are providing researchers with a novel way of tracking T-cells, enabling them to visualize and monitor the cellular responses of transplanted tissue in real time.

Electric fields make ceramic production quicker, cheaper, better Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 PM PDT Researchers have found that applying a small electric field results in faster formation of ceramic products during manufacture at lower temperatures, and enhances the strength of the ceramic itself.

Flooring can affect how consumers make purchase decisions, researcher finds Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 PM PDT Can the difference between carpet and hard tile flooring affect how you make decisions? New research suggests that the way people judge products may be influenced by the ground beneath them.

Early Earth haze likely provided ultraviolet shield for planet Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:00 AM PDT A thick organic haze that enshrouded early Earth several billion years ago may have been similar to the haze now hovering above Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and would have protected primordial life on the planet from the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation.

Reducing Alzheimer's-related protein in young brains improves learning in Down syndrome animal model Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:00 AM PDT Reducing a protein called beta-amyloid in young mice with a condition resembling Down syndrome improves their ability to learn, researchers have found.

Soccer-playing robots get creative with physics-based planning Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:00 AM PDT Robot soccer players are warming up to compete in this month's RoboCup 2010 world championship in Singapore. A new algorithm will help newly created robots to predict the ball's behavior based on physics principles.

Azithromycin pills equal to penicillin shots for treating early syphilis, clinical trial finds Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:00 AM PDT In a clinical trial involving HIV-negative volunteers with early-stage syphilis, researchers have found that antibiotic pills (azithromycin) are as effective as penicillin injections in curing early-stage syphilis.

Fires in Amazon challenge emission reduction program Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:00 AM PDT Fire occurrence rates in the Amazon have increased in 59 percent of areas with reduced deforestation and risks canceling part of the carbon savings achieved by UN measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation. Researchers analyzed satellite deforestation and fire data to understand the influence of UN's REDD policy on fire patterns in Amazonia. Research shows that fire incidences may increase even with a decrease in deforestation rates.

Moving repeatedly in childhood linked with poorer quality-of-life years later, study finds Posted: 04 Jun 2010 11:00 AM PDT Moving to a new town or even a new neighborhood is stressful at any age, but a new study shows that frequent relocations in childhood are related to poorer well-being in adulthood, especially among people who are more introverted or neurotic.

How did higher life evolve? Brown algal genome opens new door to understanding multicellularity and photosynthesis Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT With the world's first complete sequencing of a brown algal genome, an international research team has made a big leap towards understanding the evolution of two key prerequisites for higher life on Earth -- multicellularity and photosynthesis. About 100 scientists and technicians, during a five-year research project, successfully decoded all hereditary information on the brown seaweed Ectocarpus siliculosus.

Blood flows differently through the brains of schizophrenic patients Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT Researchers in Germany have used a magnetic resonance imaging technique called continuous arterial spin labeling to map cerebral blood flow patterns in schizophrenic patients quickly and without using radiation or contrast agents.

Beethoven unlikely to have died from lead exposure Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT A researcher has measured the amount of lead in two skull fragments of Ludwig van Beethoven and found that it was unlikely for lead poisoning to have caused the renal failure that was partly responsible for Beethoven's death, eliminating one of the many suggested causes of death for the famed composer.

New cancer guidelines: Exercise during and after treatment is now encouraged Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT Cancer patients who've been told to rest and avoid exercise can -- and should -- find ways to be physically active both during and after treatment, according to new national guidelines. The guidelines are aimed at making cancer exercise rehabilitation programs as common as those offered to people who have had heart attacks or undergone cardiac surgery.

Compression clothing has little impact on athletic performance, study suggests Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT Researchers have examined whether compression garments for the lower legs and upper thighs influenced athletic performance and found little effect.

Good grades? It's all in who you know: Having friends who attend the same school is key, study shows Posted: 04 Jun 2010 08:00 AM PDT Adolescents who have more friends who attend the same school had higher GPAs than those who had friends from out-of-school they met elsewhere. Further, these associations were similar for boys and girls, and cut across all ethnic groups.

Superbug's 'CPU' revealed: Researchers discover chemical clue directing Staphylococcus aureus Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 AM PDT Researchers have revealed that a small chemical, made by the superbug Staphylococcus aureus and its drug-resistant forms, determines this disease's strength and ability to infect.

Universal treatment for all strains of influenza within sight Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a novel component of the influenza virus that may be the key to disabling the virus's ability to replicate itself and to developing a universal anti-viral treatment.

Mutant gene link to West Nile virus in horses Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 AM PDT The same mutated gene that makes humans more susceptible to the potentially fatal West Nile virus is also responsible for the virus affecting horses, according to scientists in Australia.

Long-term use of Parkinson's drug may impact vision Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 AM PDT Parkinson's disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's, is often treated with amantadine. The drug helps alleviate patients' motor problems and may be taken for years. Doctors have long known that amantadine treatment causes abnormal changes in the cornea in some Parkinson's patients. The cornea is the eye's clear outer surface that provides most of the visual power. Usually corneal reactions occur soon after starting the drug and disappear a few weeks after it is withdrawn. But sometimes corneal disorders appear only after years of treatment, and the corneas of these patients often do not recover when amantadine is stopped.

Mining in Africa is spreading TB, study suggests Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 AM PDT Mining for gold, diamonds, and precious minerals is dangerous work, but in sub-Saharan Africa the activity could be driving an entire continent's tuberculosis epidemic, a new study has found.

Link identified between lower IQ scores and attempted suicide in men Posted: 04 Jun 2010 05:00 AM PDT Low IQ scores in early adulthood are associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide in men, according to new research. In the largest study of its kind, a team of researchers studied the medical records of over one million men in Sweden dating back over a period of twenty four years and compared rates of hospital admission for attempted suicide against IQ scores.

Common genetic threads link thousands of years of Jewish ancestry Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 AM PDT Using sophisticated genomic analysis, scientists have probed the ancestry of several Jewish and non-Jewish populations and better defined the relatedness of contemporary Jewish people. The research may shed light on the question, first raised more than a century ago, of whether Jews are a race, a religious group or something else.

Molecular explanation for the evolution of Tamiflu resistance Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 AM PDT Biologists have pinpointed molecular changes that helped allow the global spread of resistance to the antiviral medication Tamiflu (oseltamivir) among strains of the seasonal H1N1 flu virus.

Biosensors reveal how single bacterium gets the message to split into a swimming and a stay-put cell Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 AM PDT When certain bacteria reproduce by splitting in two, one cell inherits a propeller for swimming and the other builds a stalk to cling to surfaces. Researchers have developed biosensors to observe what was going on biochemically. They found that a signaling chemical c-di-GMP was unevenly distributed during cell division, and that the swimming cell got less than the stalk cell. The biosensors enabled the researchers to measure these fluctuations in a single bacterium smaller than any animal or plant cell.

Students develop device to help blind maneuver Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 AM PDT The radar system incorporates a computer, two video cameras and a scanning light source to warn the blind of obstacles with audible alerts. The system detects obstacles -- even those overhead -- by scanning the depth of its surroundings, taken from two different angles -- similar to that of the human eye.

Gates open on understanding potassium channel controls Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 AM PDT Scientists have made a significant advance in understanding how potassium channels, which permit the flow of electric currents central to many of the body's biological processes, control the flow of these currents.

Lack of skilled birth care costs 2 million lives each year worldwide, study estimates Posted: 04 Jun 2010 02:00 AM PDT A lack of skilled attendants at birth accounts for two million preventable maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths each year, according to the newly released Countdown to 2015 Decade Report (2000-2010). The report shows that nearly 50 percent of women in the 68 countries carefully tracked in the Countdown report -- most of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia -- still give birth without the aid of a trained midwife, nurse, doctor, or other skilled birth attendant.

Oasis near Death Valley fed by ancient aquifer under Nevada Test Site Posted: 03 Jun 2010 11:00 PM PDT A new study indicates that water arriving at Ash Meadows in Death Valley is completing a 15,000-year journey, flowing slowly underground from what is now the Nevada Test Site.

Commonly used seizure drug could treat severe genetic liver disease Posted: 03 Jun 2010 11:00 PM PDT The liver scarring of ±1-antitrypsin (AT) deficiency, the most common genetic cause for which children undergo liver transplantation, might be reversed or prevented with a medication long used to treat seizures, according to researchers. Because the anti-seizure drug is familiar to doctors and has a well-understood safety profile, clinical trials could begin immediately to see whether it can help affected patients.

Ocean Acidification in the Arctic: What are the consequences of carbon dioxide increase on marine ecosystems? Posted: 03 Jun 2010 11:00 PM PDT Carbon dioxide emissions not only lead to global warming, but also cause another, less well-known but equally disconcerting environmental change: ocean acidification. Scientists have just started the first major CO2 perturbation experiment in the Arctic Ocean. Their goal is to determine the response of Arctic marine life to the rapid change in ocean chemistry.

Epigenetic similarities between Wilms tumor cells and normal kidney stem cells found Posted: 03 Jun 2010 11:00 PM PDT A detailed analysis of the epigenetics -- factors controlling when and in what tissues genes are expressed -- of Wilms tumor reveals striking similarities to stem cells normally found in fetal kidneys. New cellular pathways that are critical for Wilms tumor development and may also apply to other pediatric cancers have been identified.

NASA takes to the air with new 'Earth Venture' research projects Posted: 03 Jun 2010 11:00 PM PDT Hurricanes, air quality and Arctic ecosystems are among the research areas to be investigated during the next five years by new NASA airborne science missions announced recently.

Online games new marketing tool for unhealthy foods Posted: 03 Jun 2010 11:00 PM PDT Public health researchers have found that children, who are already saturated with television messages about unhealthy food choices, are the targets of a new medium used to sell high-fat, high-sugar foods: advergames.

Treating heart attack past recommended time may significantly increase risk of death Posted: 03 Jun 2010 08:00 PM PDT An examination of the treatment received by patients with myocardial infarction at 80 hospitals in Quebec indicates that those who received either primary percutaneous coronary intervention or fibrinolysis beyond the times recommended in international guidelines had a significantly increased risk of death within 30 days, along with an increased risk of the combined outcome of death or readmission for heart attack or heart failure at one year, according to a new study.

How trekking-poles help hikers maintain muscle function while reducing soreness Posted: 03 Jun 2010 08:00 PM PDT A new study shows for the first time how trekking-poles help hikers maintain muscle function while significantly reducing soreness in the days following a hike.

Thymoquinone-induced oxidative stress targets highly aggressive prostate cancers, researchers find Posted: 03 Jun 2010 08:00 PM PDT Researchers have demonstrated that thymoquinone (TQ) a major component of black seed oil (Nigella sativa) can suppress the growth of several aggressive prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines, in vitro. Although previous studies have shown the anti-proliferative effects of TQ in different types of cancers, the molecular mechanism of this effect of TQ had not been delineated.

Airplanes, ground instruments, and weather balloons to study effect of airborne particles on climate Posted: 03 Jun 2010 08:00 PM PDT More than 60 scientists from a dozen institutions have converged on the urban area of Sacramento, California to study how tiny particles called aerosols affect the climate. Sending airplanes and weather balloons outfitted with instruments up, the team will be sampling aerosols in June.

Tobacco tax hike could curb smoking among those with alcohol, drug or mental disorders Posted: 03 Jun 2010 08:00 PM PDT A new study suggests that increasing cigarette taxes could be an effective way to reduce smoking among individuals with alcohol, drug or mental disorders. It found that a 10 percent increase in cigarette pricing resulted in an 18.2 percent decline in smoking among people in these groups.

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