ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• When is an asteroid not an asteroid?
• Safer, more effective skin-whitening creams from ancient Chinese herbal medicine
• Obese patients have double the risk of airway problems during an anesthetic, study shows
• Bariatric surgery highly cost-effective treatment for type 2 diabetes in the obese, study suggests
• Poor behavior doesn't always lead to poor academics
• Frequency of fat talk associated with increased body dissatisfaction, regardless of waistline
• Enzyme essential for healthy lung development discovered
• Thyroid hormone controls the eye‘s visual pigments throughout life
• Targeting way to stop brain tumor cell invasion
• Prevention of mother-child transmission programs work but infants need checking for drug resistance, study suggests
• Parasite-induced genetically driven autoimmune chagas disease
• America's most distressed areas threatened by emerging infections of poverty
• Waste ash from coal could save billions in repairing US bridges and roads
• Antibiotics wrapped in nanofibers turn resistant disease-producing bacteria into ghosts
• Household bleach can decontaminate food prep surfaces in ricin bioterrorist attack
• Communicating uncertain climate risks
• Diabetes veterans may show ways to prevent complications
• Elderly heart failure patients who need skilled nursing care often sicker, have poorer outcomes
• For potentially crippling dystonia, earlier deep brain therapy gets better, quicker results
• New 'nanodrug' breaks down barriers to attack breast cancer cells from the inside out
• Cost of heart drugs makes patients skip pills, putting themselves at risk
• New media and eating habits: Computer has replaced the kitchen table as focal point of meals for college students
• The way to (kill) a bug's heart is through its stomach
• Annual sonograms are needed to verify correct IUD position, obstetricians say
• Next-generation device developed to track world's air quality
• Imaging the paintings under the paintings of the Old Masters
• Satellites detect extensive drought impact on Amazon forests
• Women's body image based more on others' opinions than their own weight
• What choice do we have?
• Stepchildren relate to stepparents based on perceived benefits, researchers find
• NSF announces new awards that will investigate more efficient ways to harvest sunlight
• Improve crop yield by removing manure solids
• Chemists' biosensor may improve food, water safety and cancer detection
• Like products, plants wait for optimal configuration before market success
• Manure runoff depends on soil texture
• New cancer drug heads to clinical trials
• Automated colonoscopy reminder system is effective, especially in minority populations
• Health care IT providers need to do more to solicit user feedback
• River water and salty ocean water used to generate electricity
• Older lesbians, gays have higher rates of chronic disease, mental distress, isolation
• Treadmill tests for poison frogs show toxic species are more physically fit
• Researchers make first perovskite-based superlens for the infrared
• Skills training can improve responses to disclosures of trauma
• Catching cancer with carbon nanotubes: New device to test blood can spot cancer cells, HIV on the fly
• How plants absorb pollutants
• Calculating livestock numbers by weather and climate
• Scientists devise targeted therapy strategy for rare form of childhood cancer
• 'Bacterial dirigibles' emerge as next-generation disease fighters
• First practical nanogenerator produces electricity with pinch of the fingers
• Creating the perfect Bloody Mary: Good chemistry of fresh ingredients
• Updating the Mary Poppins solution with a better bitter blocker
• Horse blind date could lead to loss of foal
• Cancer turns out to be a p53 protein aggregation disease
• Seeing and experiencing violence makes aggression 'normal' for children
• Next-generation chemical mapping on the nanoscale
• Mimicking Mother Nature yields promising materials for drug delivery and other applications
• From crankcase to gas tank: New microwave method converts used motor oil into fuel
• Some ingredients in 'green' products come from petroleum rather than natural sources
• Smoking in combination with immunosuppression poses greater risk for transplant-related carcinoma
• Stark warning issued for the Irish hare

When is an asteroid not an asteroid? Posted: 29 Mar 2011 11:46 PM PDT On March 29, 1807, German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers spotted Vesta as a pinprick of light in the sky. Two hundred and four years later, as NASA's Dawn spacecraft prepares to begin orbiting this intriguing world, scientists now know how special this world is, even if there has been some debate on how to classify it.

Safer, more effective skin-whitening creams from ancient Chinese herbal medicine Posted: 29 Mar 2011 07:51 PM PDT Scientists have reported the discovery of the active ingredients in an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine for skin whitening, changing skin color to a lighter shade. The ingredients are poised for clinical trials as a safer, more effective alternative to skin whitening creams and lotions that millions of women and some men use in Asia and elsewhere, they said.

Obese patients have double the risk of airway problems during an anesthetic, study shows Posted: 29 Mar 2011 04:23 PM PDT A major UK study on complications of anesthesia has shown that obese patients are twice as likely to develop serious airway problems during a general anesthetic than non-obese patients.

Bariatric surgery highly cost-effective treatment for type 2 diabetes in the obese, study suggests Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:23 PM PDT Bariatric surgery is an especially cost-effective therapy for managing Type 2 diabetes in moderately and severely obese patients.

Poor behavior doesn't always lead to poor academics Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:23 PM PDT Despite popular belief, a new study finds that students who have poor behavior in the classroom do not always have poor grades.

Frequency of fat talk associated with increased body dissatisfaction, regardless of waistline Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:23 PM PDT College women who engage in "fat talk" (women speaking negatively about the size and shape of their bodies) face greater dissatisfaction with their bodies and are more likely to have internalized an ultra-thin body ideal than those who engage in fat talk less frequently, according to a review article.

Enzyme essential for healthy lung development discovered Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT Dysregulation of cell polarity has been associated with developmental disorders and cancer. Until now, little has been know about what controls it. Investigators have now determined that Eya1 phosphatase regulates cell polarity in lung epithelial stem cells.

Thyroid hormone controls the eye‘s visual pigments throughout life Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT What part does the thyroid gland have in vision? Thyroid hormone is crucially involved in controlling which visual pigment is produced in the cones. Previously, it was assumed that the color sensitivity of the cones is fixed in the adult retina.

Targeting way to stop brain tumor cell invasion Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT Researchers have found the mechanisms used by malignant glioma cells to travel through the brain, and may have found a way to interfere in that process.

Prevention of mother-child transmission programs work but infants need checking for drug resistance, study suggests Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT Genetic mutations that lead to antiretroviral (the drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS) resistance in HIV-infected infants may develop as a result of exposure to low doses of maternal antiretroviral drugs via breastfeeding rather than being acquired directly from the mother.

Parasite-induced genetically driven autoimmune chagas disease Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT Researchers have shown that the Trypanosoma cruzi agent of Chagas disease invades host embryo cells and spreads its mitochondrial DNA (kDNA) minicircles into the host's genome. Scientists inoculated virulent typanosomes in fertile chicken eggs and documented the heritability and fixation of the kDNA mutations in the chicks and their progeny. The results show that kDNA-mutated chickens undergo genotype alterations, developing an inflammatory heart condition similar to Chagas disease in humans.

America's most distressed areas threatened by emerging infections of poverty Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT Neglected infections of poverty are the latest threat plaguing the poorest people living in the Gulf Coast states and in Washington, D.C., according to experts.

Waste ash from coal could save billions in repairing US bridges and roads Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT Coating concrete destined to rebuild America's crumbling bridges and roadways with some of the millions of tons of ash left over from burning coal could extend the life of those structures by decades, saving billions of dollars of taxpayer money, scientists report. A new coating material for concrete made from flyash is hundreds of times more durable than existing coatings and costs only half as much.

Antibiotics wrapped in nanofibers turn resistant disease-producing bacteria into ghosts Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT Encapsulating antibiotics inside nanofibers, like a mummy inside a sarcophagus, gives them the amazing ability to destroy drug-resistant bacteria so completely that scientists described the remains as mere "ghosts," according to a new report.

Household bleach can decontaminate food prep surfaces in ricin bioterrorist attack Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:22 PM PDT Help for a bioterrorist attack involving ricin, one of the most likely toxic agents, may be as close at hand as the laundry shelf, according to a new report. It concluded that ordinary household bleach appears to be an effective, low-cost, and widely available way to decontaminate food preparation surfaces in homes, restaurants, and processing plants that are tainted with ricin.

Communicating uncertain climate risks Posted: 29 Mar 2011 01:31 PM PDT Despite much research that demonstrates potential dangers from climate change, public concern has not been increasing.

Diabetes veterans may show ways to prevent complications Posted: 29 Mar 2011 01:31 PM PDT Over time, diabetes can wreak havoc on the body's eyes, cardiovascular system, kidneys and nerves. A major study however, has found that some people who have survived diabetes for many decades exhibit remarkably few complications -- a discovery that points toward the presence of protective factors that guard against the disease's effects.

Elderly heart failure patients who need skilled nursing care often sicker, have poorer outcomes Posted: 29 Mar 2011 01:31 PM PDT Elderly patients who are discharged to skilled nursing care after hospitalization for heart failure often have other complications as well and typically are at higher risk for poor outcomes. These patients are more likely than other heart failure patients to die or be rehospitalized within one year. Skilled nursing facility patients, families and health-care providers need to be prepared for potential poor outcome, investigators said.

For potentially crippling dystonia, earlier deep brain therapy gets better, quicker results Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:15 PM PDT Patients suffering from dystonia, an uncommon yet potentially crippling movement disorder, get better results if they begin deep brain stimulation therapy sooner rather than later, according to a new study.

New 'nanodrug' breaks down barriers to attack breast cancer cells from the inside out Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:15 PM PDT Unlike other drugs that target cancer cells from the outside with minimal effect, this "transport vehicle" carries multiple drugs that spare healthy cells, accumulate in tumor cells and strike cancer-specific molecular targets inside.

Cost of heart drugs makes patients skip pills, putting themselves at risk Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:15 PM PDT For more than 5 million Americans with heart failure, a critical step to better health is taking the medications they're prescribed. But many patients fail to do so, putting themselves at greater risk of hospitalization and even death.

New media and eating habits: Computer has replaced the kitchen table as focal point of meals for college students Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:14 PM PDT A new study has analyzed how new-media technology, including the Internet and smartphones, are changing college students' eating habits and their relationship to food. Findings indicate that individuals are more likely to have meals while sitting at the computer than at the kitchen table, and that they use social media as the main avenue to obtain recipe and nutritional information.

The way to (kill) a bug's heart is through its stomach Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:14 PM PDT A new study has revealed a potential new way for plants to fend off pests -- starvation. A biochemistry and molecular biology professor cites this defense mechanism as just one example of a veritable evolutionary arms race between plants and herbivores.

Annual sonograms are needed to verify correct IUD position, obstetricians say Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:14 PM PDT A retrospective study of women who became pregnant while using intrauterine devices shows that more than half of the IUDs were malpositioned.

Next-generation device developed to track world's air quality Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:14 PM PDT A new air-quality measuring instrument that is more economical, more portable and more accurate than older technologies has just been developed.

Imaging the paintings under the paintings of the Old Masters Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:14 PM PDT Gaze upon Rembrandt's "The Night Watch," "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee," or one of the great Dutch master's famous self-portraits. Scientists have taken art appreciation a step further and have now developed a technique to see the paintings under the paintings of Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Rubens, and other 17th Century Old Master painters.

Satellites detect extensive drought impact on Amazon forests Posted: 29 Mar 2011 12:04 PM PDT A new study has revealed widespread reductions in the greenness of the forests in the vast Amazon basin in South America caused by the record-breaking drought of 2010.

Women's body image based more on others' opinions than their own weight Posted: 29 Mar 2011 11:15 AM PDT Women's appreciation of their bodies is only indirectly connected to their body mass index (BMI), a common health measure of weight relative to height, according to recent research. The most powerful influence on women's appreciation of their bodies is how they believe important others view them, the study suggests.

What choice do we have? Posted: 29 Mar 2011 11:15 AM PDT Too much choice can be a bad thing -- not just for the individual, but for society. Thinking about choices makes people less sympathetic to others and less likely to support policies that help people, according to a new study.

Stepchildren relate to stepparents based on perceived benefits, researchers find Posted: 29 Mar 2011 11:15 AM PDT More than 40 percent of Americans have at least one step relative, according to a recent Pew Center study. Relationships between stepchildren and stepparents can be complicated, especially for children. Experts have found that stepchildren relate with stepparents based on the stepparents' treatment of them and their evaluations, or judgments, of the stepparents' behaviors.

NSF announces new awards that will investigate more efficient ways to harvest sunlight Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:43 AM PDT Scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom have been awarded funding totaling more than $10.3 million to improve the process of biological photosynthesis.

Improve crop yield by removing manure solids Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:43 AM PDT Scientists have tested the effectiveness of removing solids from dairy manure to improve yield by increasing the nitrogen to phosphorus ratio and reducing the loss of nitrogen by hastening soil infiltration.

Chemists' biosensor may improve food, water safety and cancer detection Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:43 AM PDT A new nanotechnology-based biosensor under development may allow early detection of both cancer cells and pathogens, leading to increased food safety and reduced health risks.

Like products, plants wait for optimal configuration before market success Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:43 AM PDT Scientists have now amassed the largest evolutionary tree (phylogeny) for plants. They have learned that major groups of plants tinker with their design and performance before rapidly spinning off new species. The finding upends long-held thinking that plants' speciation rates are tied to the first development of a new physical trait or mechanism.

Manure runoff depends on soil texture Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:43 AM PDT A new study investigated the influence of dairy slurry on leaching of manure nutrient components.

New cancer drug heads to clinical trials Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:43 AM PDT A new study showed that the drug AT-406 effectively targets proteins that block normal cell death from occurring. Blocking these proteins caused tumor cells to die, while not harming normal cells. The researchers believe the drug has potential to treat multiple types of cancer.

Automated colonoscopy reminder system is effective, especially in minority populations Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:42 AM PDT The simple practice of letters and a telephone call to patients who are due for a colonoscopy significantly improves adherence to endoscopic follow-up recommendations.

Health care IT providers need to do more to solicit user feedback Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:42 AM PDT Information technology companies need to bring in doctors and other health care stakeholders in order to ensure that new technologies and applications are actually useful to the health care system -- something which is currently fragmented at best, according to a recent article.

River water and salty ocean water used to generate electricity Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:42 AM PDT Researchers have developed a rechargeable battery that uses freshwater and seawater to create electricity. Aided by nanotechnology, the battery employs the difference in salinity between fresh and saltwater to generate a current. A power station might be built wherever a river flows into the ocean.

Older lesbians, gays have higher rates of chronic disease, mental distress, isolation Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:42 AM PDT Members of California's aging lesbian, gay and bisexual population are more likely to suffer from certain chronic conditions even as they wrestle with the challenges of living alone in far higher numbers than the heterosexual population, according to new policy brief.

Treadmill tests for poison frogs show toxic species are more physically fit Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:42 AM PDT The most toxic, brightly colored members of the poison frog family may also be the best athletes, says a new study.

Researchers make first perovskite-based superlens for the infrared Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:42 AM PDT Researchers have fabricated a superlens from perovskite oxides that are ideal for capturing light in the mid-infrared range, opening the door to highly sensitive biomedical detection and imaging. It may also be possible to turn the superlensing effect on/off, opening the door to highly dense data writing and storage.

Skills training can improve responses to disclosures of trauma Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT New research concludes that even brief training can help people learn how to be more supportive when friends and family members disclose traumatic events and other experiences of mistreatment.

Catching cancer with carbon nanotubes: New device to test blood can spot cancer cells, HIV on the fly Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT A bioengineer and an aeronautical engineer have together created a new device that can detect single cancer cells in a blood sample, potentially allowing doctors to quickly determine whether cancer has spread from its original site.

How plants absorb pollutants Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT Scientists have investigated the distribution of contaminants in the roots of ryegrass. Recent studies had indicated that contaminated fungi attached to the root of plants were responsible for the plant's uptake of toxic contaminants.

Calculating livestock numbers by weather and climate Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT Ranchers in the central Great Plains may be using some of their winter downtime in the future to rehearse the upcoming production season, all from the warmth of their homes, according to soil scientists.

Scientists devise targeted therapy strategy for rare form of childhood cancer Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT Scientists have caused cells in a rare, lethal form of cancer to begin behaving like normal cells -- one of the longest-standing, and most rarely achieved, goals of cancer research. When the approach was tested in a child with an advanced case of NUT midline carcinoma, for which there are no other effective treatments, it slowed the course of the disease for several months.

'Bacterial dirigibles' emerge as next-generation disease fighters Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT Scientists have developed bacteria that serve as mobile pharmaceutical factories, both producing disease-fighting substances and delivering the potentially life-saving cargo to diseased areas of the body. They reported on this new candidate for treating diseases ranging from food poisoning to cancer -- termed "bacterial dirigibles."

First practical nanogenerator produces electricity with pinch of the fingers Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT After six years of intensive effort, scientists are reporting development of the first commercially viable nanogenerator, a flexible chip that can use body movements -- a finger pinch now en route to a pulse beat in the future -- to generate electricity. They described boosting the device's power output by thousands times and its voltage by 150 times to finally move it out of the lab and toward everyday life.

Creating the perfect Bloody Mary: Good chemistry of fresh ingredients Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT After tackling the chemistry of coffee, tea, fruit juices, soda pop, beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages, why not take on the ultimate challenge, the Mount Everest of cocktails, what may be the most chemically complex cocktail in the world, the Bloody Mary?

Updating the Mary Poppins solution with a better bitter blocker Posted: 29 Mar 2011 10:41 AM PDT With millions of adults and children avoiding nutritious foods because of the bitter taste, and gagging or vomiting when forced to take bitter liquid medicines, scientists have now reported an advance toward a high-tech version of Mary Poppins' solution. It's not a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down, but a new and improved "bitterness blocker."

Horse blind date could lead to loss of foal Posted: 29 Mar 2011 07:01 AM PDT Fetal loss is a common phenomenon in domestic horses after away-mating, according to researchers. When mares return home after mating with a foreign stallion, they either engage in promiscuous mating with the home males to confuse paternity, or, failing that, the mares abort the foal to avoid the likely future infanticide by the dominant home male.

Cancer turns out to be a p53 protein aggregation disease Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:59 AM PDT Protein aggregation, generally associated with Alzheimer's and mad cow disease, turns out to play a significant role in cancer. Certain mutations of p53 cause the protein to aggregate, disrupting its protective function, researchers have found.

Seeing and experiencing violence makes aggression 'normal' for children Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:57 AM PDT The more children are exposed to violence, the more they think it's normal, according to a new study. Unfortunately, the more they think violence is normal, the more likely they are to engage in aggression against others.

Next-generation chemical mapping on the nanoscale Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:57 AM PDT Scientists have pioneered a new chemical mapping method that provides unprecedented insight into materials at the nanoscale. These new maps will guide researchers in deciphering molecular chemistry and interactions that are critical for artificial photosynthesis, biofuels production and light-harvesting applications such as solar cells.

Mimicking Mother Nature yields promising materials for drug delivery and other applications Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:57 AM PDT Mimicking Mother Nature's genius as a designer is one of the most promising approaches for developing new medicines, sustainable sources of food and energy, and other products that society needs to meet the great challenges that lie ahead in the 21st century, a noted scientist has said.

From crankcase to gas tank: New microwave method converts used motor oil into fuel Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:57 AM PDT That dirty motor oil that comes out of your car or truck engine during oil changes could end up in your fuel tank, according to a new report. It described development of a new process for recycling waste crankcase oil into gasoline-like fuel -- the first, they said, that uses microwaves and has "excellent potential" for going into commercial use.

Some ingredients in 'green' products come from petroleum rather than natural sources Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:57 AM PDT With more and more environmentally conscious consumers choosing "green" products, scientists have now reported that the first reality check has revealed that the ingredients in those product may come from a surprising source -- petroleum, rather than natural plant-based sources.

Smoking in combination with immunosuppression poses greater risk for transplant-related carcinoma Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:57 AM PDT Researchers have found that liver transplant recipients who quit smoking have a lower incidence of smoking-related malignancies (SRM) than patients who keep smoking. In fact, SRMs were identified in 13.5 percent of deceased patients and smoking was associated with a higher risk of malignancy in this study.

Stark warning issued for the Irish hare Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:57 AM PDT Researchers have issued a stark warning about the future of the Irish hare and the threat it faces from the European 'brown' hare, which has set up home in Mid-Ulster and West Tyrone. Biologists have studied the impact of the invading European hare on the native species.

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