Tuesday, July 13, 2010

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News


Why you should never arm wrestle a saber-toothed tiger

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 PM PDT

Saber-toothed cats may be best known for their supersized canines, but they also had exceptionally strong forelimbs for pinning prey before delivering the fatal bite, says a new study.

Larger head size may protect against Alzheimer's symptoms

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 PM PDT

New research shows that people with Alzheimer's disease who have large heads have better memory and thinking skills than those with the disease who have smaller heads, even when they have the same amount of brain cell death due to the disease.

Magnets trump metallics: Magnetic fields can turn highly conductive nanotubes into semiconductors

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 PM PDT

Physicists have been studying the Aharonov-Bohm effect -- the interaction between electrically charged particles and magnetic fields -- and how it relates to carbon nanotubes. While doing so, they came to the unexpected conclusion that magnetic fields can turn highly conductive nanotubes into semiconductors.

New preimplantation genetic screening method can predict chromosomal abnormalities, study shows

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 PM PDT

The efficacy of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) has been one of the most hotly disputed subjects in assisted reproduction over the past few years. A new study has now shown, in its groundbreaking proof of principle study, that screening of polar bodies (small cells that are the by-product of egg development), is a reliable method to analyze the chromosomal status of an egg.

Salmon in hot water

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 PM PDT

Rearing juvenile salmon at the relatively high temperature of 16 C causes skeletal deformities in the fish. Researchers investigated both the magnitude and mechanisms of this effect, which occurs when salmon farmers use warmed water to increase fish growth rates.

Avatars as lifelike representations and effective marketing tools

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 PM PDT

It is predicted that 80 percent of active Internet consumers and Fortune 500 companies will have an avatar or presence in a virtual community, including social networks, by the end of 2011. A new article investigates the role avatars play in the virtual and consumer environment, how well avatars reflect the personality of their creators, the psychology behind self-representation, and how these virtually made identities are perceived by other members of the virtual community.

Fly's brain -- a high-speed computer: Neurobiologists use state-of-the-art methods to decode the basics of motion detection

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 11:00 AM PDT

The minute brains of flies process visual movements in only fractions of a second. Just how the brain of the fly manages to perceive motion with such speed and precision is predicted quite accurately by a mathematical model.

Mice essentially 'cured' of mild diabetes with enzyme

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 11:00 AM PDT

Nutrition experts have essentially "cured" laboratory mice of mild, diet-induced diabetes by stimulating the production of a particular enzyme.

New system to reduce heating costs in cold climates

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 11:00 AM PDT

A new type of heat pump under development could allow residents in cold climates to cut their heating bills in half.

Gene mutation that causes rare form of deafness identified

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 11:00 AM PDT

Researchers have identified a gene mutation that causes a rare form of hearing loss known as auditory neuropathy.

New 3-D imaging techniques for improved lung cancer drug development

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 11:00 AM PDT

Advanced imaging technologies that promise to improve effective drug development to treat lung cancer are the focus of the current issue of Optics Express. Research outlines standardized approaches to measure and compare tumor size, as well as to validate the accuracy of such measurements. This validation is a critical new area of research as important new applications for these tools are being explored in drug development.

Person's language may influence how he or she thinks about other people

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 11:00 AM PDT

The language a person speaks may influence his or her thoughts, according to a new study on Israeli Arabs who speak both Arabic and Hebrew fluently. The study found that Israeli Arabs' positive associations with their own people are weaker when they are tested in Hebrew than when they are tested in Arabic.

Engineering could give reconstructive surgery a facelift

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 08:00 AM PDT

Facial reconstruction patients may soon have the option of custom-made bone replacements optimized for both form and function, thanks to researchers. A team of scientists applied an engineering design technique called topology optimization to model patient-specific, case-by-case designs for tissue-engineered bone replacements.

Low vitamin D levels associated with cognitive decline

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 08:00 AM PDT

Older adults with low levels of vitamin D appear more likely to experience declines in thinking, learning and memory over a six-year period, according to a new study.

Africa's national parks hit by mammal declines

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 08:00 AM PDT

African national parks like Masai Mara and the Serengeti have seen populations of large mammals decline by up to 59 percent, according to a new study.

Mechanism that determines prostate cancer aggressiveness uncovered

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 08:00 AM PDT

A team of investigators has identified a series of proteins that might make it easier for doctors to better diagnose the more metastatic forms of prostate cancer.

Biofuel quest: Genome signatures enable tracking of algal complexity

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 08:00 AM PDT

Researchers have presented the 138-million-nucleotide genome of the multicellular alga Volvox carteri. Scientists are researching the complex mechanisms present in photosynthetic organisms to better understand how they convert sunlight to energy and how photosynthetic cells control their metabolic processes so that this information can inform the production of renewable biofuels.

Children and teens with Tourette syndrome find relief with self-hypnosis

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 08:00 AM PDT

A new study of children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome finds that self-hypnosis taught with the aid of videotape training reduced their symptoms and improved their quality of life. Seventy-nine percent of 33 research participants achieved enough improvement in tic control to report personal satisfaction with the technique.

Baby brain growth mirrors changes from apes to humans

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 05:00 AM PDT

A study undertaken to help scientists concerned with abnormal brain development in premature babies has serendipitously revealed evolution's imprint on the human brain. Scientists found that the human brain regions that grow the most during infancy and childhood are nearly identical to the brain regions with the most changes when human brains are compared to those of apes and monkeys.

Vitamin D levels associated with Parkinson's disease risk

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 05:00 AM PDT

Individuals with higher levels of vitamin D appear to have a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a new study.

Salsa and guacamole increasingly important causes of foodborne disease

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 05:00 AM PDT

Nearly one out of every 25 restaurant-associated food-borne outbreaks with identified food sources between 1998 and 2008 can be traced back to contaminated salsa or guacamole, more than double the rate during the previous decade, according to new research.

Obstructive sleep apnea linked with later risk of heart disease

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 05:00 AM PDT

Severe obstructive sleep apnea may raise the risk of heart failure in middle-aged and older men. Obstructive sleep apnea significantly predicts the risk of coronary heart disease in men up to age 70. Researchers didn't find a link in women, but said further study is warranted.

Surgeons find new way to shield vision during radiation for eye cancer: Silicon oil

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 05:00 AM PDT

Eye cancer patients must enter treatment knowing that their surgeon's strategy to kill the deadly tumor with radiation may also sacrifice their eyesight. Now, researchers have discovered that a commonly used substance called silicon oil shields the eye and appears to protect vision in patients undergoing radiation therapy for ocular melanoma.

For speediest athletes, it's all in the center of gravity

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 05:00 AM PDT

In the record books, the swiftest sprinters tend to be of West-African ancestry and the faster swimmers tend to be white. A study of the winning times by elite athletes over the past 100 years reveals two distinct trends: not only are these athletes getting faster over time, but there is a clear divide between racers in terms of body type and race. Researchers now argue that the answer lies in athletes' centers of gravity. That center tends to be located higher on the body of blacks than whites. The researchers believe that these differences are not racial, but rather biological.

Origin of key cosmic explosions still a mystery

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 AM PDT

When a star explodes as a supernova, it shines so brightly that it can be seen from millions of light-years away. One particular supernova variety -- Type Ia -- brightens and dims so predictably that astronomers use them to measure the universe's expansion. The resulting discovery of dark energy and the accelerating universe rewrote our understanding of the cosmos. Yet the origin of these supernovae, which have proved so useful, remains unknown.

Scientists create army of tumor-fighting immune cells and watch as they attack cancer

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 AM PDT

Researchers created a large, well-armed battalion of tumor-seeking immune system cells and watched, in real time using positron emission tomography (PET), as the special forces traveled throughout the body to locate and attack dangerous melanomas.

Staggering tree loss from 2005 Amazon storm

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 AM PDT

A single, huge, violent storm that swept across the whole Amazon forest in 2005 killed half a billion trees, a new study shows.

Smoking-related colorectal cancer in older women is associated with molecularly defined DNA changes

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 AM PDT

Smoking, an established risk factor for colon cancer, may induce specific epigenetic changes and gene mutations that may be involved in the development of colon cancer, according to a new study.

Artificial intelligence for improving team sports

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 AM PDT

Researchers in Spain are participating in a study to develop a system for evaluating sport performance through application of artificial intelligence techniques to automatically analyze the development of plays.

Ethical, scientific issues related to 'post-market' clinical trials

Posted: 13 Jul 2010 02:00 AM PDT

Amid growing concerns about clinical trials for drugs that have been approved by the FDA but are later linked to serious health risks, an independent committee at the Institute of Medicine has developed a conceptual framework to guide the agency through the tough decision of ordering such controversial "post-market" drug-safety trials.

Plant 'breathing' mechanism discovered

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 11:00 PM PDT

A tiny, little-understood plant pore has enormous implications for weather forecasting, climate change, agriculture, hydrology, and more. Scientists have now overturned the conventional belief about how these important structures called stomata regulate water vapor loss from the leaf -- a process called transpiration. They found that radiation is the driving force of physical processes deep within the leaf.

Eating foods rich in vitamin E associated with lower dementia risk

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 11:00 PM PDT

Consuming more vitamin E through the diet appears to be associated with a lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.

Researchers witness overnight breakup, retreat of Greenland glacier

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 11:00 PM PDT

NASA-funded researchers monitoring Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier report that a 7 square kilometer (2.7 square mile) section of the glacier broke up on July 6 and 7, as shown in a new image.

High potassium? Check your antibiotic

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 11:00 PM PDT

Older adults taking the antibiotic combination trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) -- widely prescribed for urinary tract infections -- are at increased risk of elevated potassium levels, called hyperkalemia, according to a new study.

Radiation device allows for targeted breast radiation to control cancer, study finds

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 11:00 PM PDT

A new study of breast cancer patients at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center and the Arizona Oncology Services shows that after almost two years, the radiation given with the Strut-Adjusted Volume Implant (SAVI™) controls the rate of cancer and may reduce the complications seen with alternate types of brachytherapy.

Nest incest targets males, finds study of rare New Zealand bird

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 11:00 PM PDT

Fewer males than females are surviving the negative effects of inbreeding in a reintroduced population of a rare New Zealand bird, scientists report.

Antisense therapy for spinal muscular atrophy shows promise

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:00 PM PDT

Scientists have succeeded in reversing symptoms of type III SMA, a relatively mild form of spinal muscular atrophy, in mice by introducing chemically modified RNA pieces called ASOs into their spinal cords. The ASOs fix the molecular mistake underlying SMA by redirecting a cellular editing process called alternative splicing.

Oldest written document ever found in Jerusalem discovered

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:00 PM PDT

A tiny clay fragment -- dating from the 14th century B.C.E. -- that was found in excavations outside Jerusalem's Old City walls contains the oldest written document ever found in Jerusalem, say researchers in Israel. The find, believed to be part of a tablet from a royal archives, further testifies to the importance of Jerusalem as a major city in the Late Bronze Age, long before its conquest by King David, they say.

Universal HIV testing and immediate treatment could reduce but not eliminate HIV/AIDS epidemic

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:00 PM PDT

Implementing a program of universal HIV testing and immediate antiretroviral treatment for infected individuals could have a major impact on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C., but a new study finds that it would not halt the epidemic, something that a previous report had projected.

New research can spot cloud computing problems before they start

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:00 PM PDT

Large-scale computer hosting infrastructures offer a variety of services to computer users, including cloud. But when these infrastructures run into problems -- like bottlenecks that slow their operating speed -- it can be costly for both the infrastructure provider and the user. New research will allow these infrastructure providers to more accurately predict such anomalies, and address them before they become a major problem.

Bars, restaurants see no significant employment change under smoking bans in two cities

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 08:00 PM PDT

The passage of smoking bans in two large Minnesota cities was not associated with job losses at bars and may in fact have contributed to higher employment in restaurants, according to new research. The study is the first to examine the economic effects of clean indoor air policies on bars and restaurants as independent types of businesses, the researchers said.

Expecting the unexpected does not improve one's chances of seeing it, new study finds

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 05:00 PM PDT

A new study finds that those who know that an unexpected event is likely to occur are no better at noticing other unexpected events -- and may be even worse -- than those who aren't expecting the unexpected.

One in four not covering coughs, sneezes

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 05:00 PM PDT

Approximately one out of every four people observed in a public setting failed to cover their mouth when they coughed or sneezed according to new research. Even more concerning, less than 5 percent of people covered their mouth using methods recommended by public health officials.

New way to expand donor pool for transplant organs?

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 05:00 PM PDT

New research could have an "incredible" impact on the numbers of people being saved through the organ donor system, experts claim. As demand for organ transplants continues to outstrip supply, scientists from the UK are hopeful they may have found a way to expand the donor pool.

Stem cell transplantation successfully treats therapy-resistant chronic leukemia, German study finds

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 05:00 PM PDT

The transplantation of stem cells from a healthy donor (allogeneic) offers the chance of cure for patients with an aggressive form of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), irrespective of genetic prognostic factors and the prior course of the disease.

Sewage overflow promotes spread of West Nile virus

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 05:00 PM PDT

Sewage that overflows into urban creeks and streams during periods of heavy rain can promote the spread of West Nile virus, a study finds. The analysis of six years of data showed that people living near creeks with sewage overflows in lower-income neighborhoods of Southeast Atlanta had a seven times higher risk for West Nile virus than the rest of the city.

Simple two-question survey can better identify hungry children

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 05:00 PM PDT

Asking parents just two simple screening questions could help health care providers and social workers to easily identify families whose young children are suffering from hunger, enabling early interventions that could prevent serious health consequences, according to a new study.

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