Space Season

Sunday, February 6, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for the Week of January 30 to February 6, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for the Week of January 30 to February 6, 2011

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Cheap, clean ways to produce hydrogen for use in fuel cells? A dash of disorder yields a very efficient photocatalyst
Scientists unlock the 'gates' on sudden cardiac death
GRIN plasmonics: A practical path to superfast computing, ultrapowerful optical microscopy and invisibility carpet-cloaking devices
Powerful 3-D X-rays for kids in braces should be the exception, not the rule
A clearer picture of how rivers and deltas develop

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ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Sunday, February 6, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Sunday, February 6, 2011

Welcome to another edition of ScienceDaily's email newsletter. You can change your subscription options or unsubscribe at any time.

Discovery of jumping gene cluster tangles tree of life (February 5, 2011) -- Since the days of Darwin, the "tree of life" has been the preeminent metaphor for the process of evolution, reflecting the gradual branching and changing of individual species. The discovery that a large cluster of genes appears to have jumped directly from one species of fungus to another, however, significantly strengthens the argument that a different metaphor, such as a mosaic, may be more appropriate. ... > full story

How the body’s frontline defense mechanism determines if a substance is a microbe (February 5, 2011) -- Researchers have now described how the first line of defense of the human immune system distinguishes between microbes and the body's own structures. The basis of this recognition mechanism has been unclear since the key protein components were discovered over 30 years ago -- and has now finally been cracked. ... > full story

Death in the bat caves: Disease wiping out hibernating bats (February 5, 2011) -- Conservationists across the United States are racing to discover a solution to white-nose syndrome, a disease that is threatening to wipe out bat species across North America. Although WNS has already killed one million bats, there are critical knowledge gaps preventing researchers from combating the disease. ... > full story

A loose grip provides better chemotherapy (February 5, 2011) -- Researchers have found that cancer patients may get a bigger bang and fewer side effects with a new take on a drug delivery system. By using noncovalent bonds to link light-activated anti-cancer drugs to coated gold nanoparticles, they were able to activate treatment in two hours instead of two days. The scientists expect the targeted delivery system will cut dosage by a factor of 10 or more. ... > full story

Nanoscale micorscopy and AFM positioning: Shining light on a needle in a haystack (February 5, 2011) -- Researchers report a neat solution to the "needle in a haystack" problem of nanoscale microscopy, but it's more like the difference between finding the coffee table in a darkened room either by walking around until you fall over it, or using a flashlight. Researchers found tiny assemblies of biomolecules for subsequent detailed imaging by combining precision laser optics with atomic force microscopy. ... > full story

Benefits of outdoor exercise confirmed (February 5, 2011) -- A systematic review has analyzed existing studies and concluded that there are benefits to mental and physical well-being from taking exercise in the natural environment. ... > full story

Blenny bonanza: Seven new species of fish revealed by genetic analysis (February 5, 2011) -- Things are not always what they seem when it comes to fish -- something scientists are finding out. Using modern genetic analysis, combined with traditional examination of morphology, scientists discovered that what were once thought to be three species of blenny in the genus Starksia are actually 10 distinct species. ... > full story

HPV vaccine works for boys: Study shows first clear benefits (February 5, 2011) -- A 4,000-patient clinical trial that spanned 18 countries has shown the first published data that the HPV vaccine works in young men and boys. ... > full story

New twist on the electron beam (February 5, 2011) -- Researchers have found a novel, and potentially widely applicable, method to expand the capabilities of conventional transmission electron microscopes by adding a new twist to their electron beams. ... > full story

Blood-clotting protein linked to cancer and septicemia (February 5, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered how stressed cells boost the production of the key blood-clotting factor, thrombin. Their work shows how cancer cells may be taking advantage of this process, and opens new possibilities for fighting back against cancer and septicemia. ... > full story

Gas stations pollute their immediate surroundings, Spanish study finds (February 5, 2011) -- In Spain, it is relatively common to come across gas stations surrounded by houses, particularly in urban areas. Researchers have studied the effects of contamination at gas stations that is potentially harmful to health, which can be noted in buildings less than 100 meters from the service stations. ... > full story

Children's BMI found to rise the longer their mothers work (February 5, 2011) -- Using U.S national longitudinal data on 900 children in grades 3, 5 and 6, researchers have found that children's body mass index rose the more years their mothers worked over their children's lifetimes. Surprisingly, changes in children's physical activity, unsupervised time, and TV time didn't explain the link. The reasons for these findings are not entirely clear, though one possibility is that working parents may rely more on eating out or eating prepared foods. ... > full story

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Saturday, February 5, 2011

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines -- for Saturday, February 5, 2011

ScienceDaily Environment Headlines

for Saturday, February 5, 2011

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Cross-species strategy might be a powerful tool for studying human disease (February 4, 2011) -- A new study takes advantage of genetic similarities between mammals and fruit flies by coupling a complex genetic screening technique in humans with functional validation of the results in flies. The new strategy has the potential to be an effective approach for unraveling genetically complex human disorders and providing valuable insights into human disease. ... > full story

Part of New Zealand's submerged 'Pink Terraces' found (February 4, 2011) -- Scientists have located portions of the long-lost Pink Terraces near New Zealand. They were called the Eighth Wonder of the World. Until the late 19th century, New Zealand's Pink and White Terraces along Lake Rotomahana on the North Island, attracted tourists from around the world, interested in seeing the beautiful natural formations created by a large geothermal system. But the eruption of Mt. Tarawera on June 10, 1886, buried the terraces in sediment and caused the lake basin to enlarge, engulfing the land where the terraces stood. For more than a century, people have speculated whether any part of the Pink and White Terraces survived the eruption. ... > full story

Boosting body's immune response may hold key to HIV cure (February 4, 2011) -- Scientists have successfully cleared a HIV-like infection from mice by boosting the function of cells vital to the immune response. Researchers showed that a cell signaling hormone called interleukin-7 reinvigorates the immune response to chronic viral infection, allowing the host to completely clear virus. ... > full story

Oil in Gulf of Mexico: Biologists cite need for critical data to determine ecological consequences (February 4, 2011) -- Twenty years after biologists attempted to determine the ecological damages to marine life from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, scientists dealing with the BP disaster find themselves with the same problem: the lack of critical data to determine the ecological consequences of human-induced environmental disasters. ... > full story

Want more efficient muscles? Eat your spinach (February 4, 2011) -- After taking a small dose of inorganic nitrate for three days, healthy people consume less oxygen while riding an exercise bike. A new study traces that improved performance to increased efficiency of the mitochondria that power our cells. The researchers aren't recommending anyone begin taking inorganic nitrate supplements based on the new findings. Rather, they say that the results may offer one explanation for the well-known health benefits of fruits and vegetables, and leafy green vegetables in particular. ... > full story

Oysters at risk: Gastronomes' delight disappearing globally (February 4, 2011) -- Oysters are in "poor" condition globally, according to a new global assessment. In most of the "bays" and ecoregions where the mollusks were once abundant, reefs are at less than 10 percent of their former extent, the victims of over-exploitation exacerbated by disease. Sustainable management of oyster fisheries could help some populations recover, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the few places in the world where there are still extensive reefs in fair condition. ... > full story

Helping feed the world without polluting its waters (February 4, 2011) -- Farmers around the world rely, at least in part on phosphorus-based fertilizers in order to sustain and improve crop yields. But the overuse of phosphorus can lead to freshwater pollution and the development of a host of problems, such as the spread of blue-green algae in lakes. Now, researchers have produced a detailed global map showing imbalances in the way that phosphorus, an essential plant nutrient, is being used around the world. ... > full story

Ants have big impact on environment as 'ecosystem engineers' (February 4, 2011) -- Research on the impact of ants on their local environment has revealed they play an important role. They have a dual effect on their local ecosystem which affects both the density and diversity of other species around them, including animals much higher up the food chain. ... > full story

Deadly tool discovered in Salmonella's bag of tricks (February 4, 2011) -- The potentially deadly bacterium Salmonella possesses a molecular machine that marshals the proteins it needs to hijack cellular mechanisms and infect millions worldwide. Researchers have discovered how Salmonella, a major cause of food poisoning and typhoid fever, is able to make these proteins line in up in just the right sequence to invade host cells. ... > full story

Powerful new methodology for stabilizing proteins developed (February 4, 2011) -- Scientists have discovered a new way to stabilize proteins — the workhorse biological macromolecules found in all organisms. Proteins serve as the functional basis of many types of biologic drugs used to treat everything from arthritis, anemia, and diabetes to cancer. ... > full story

Microbiologists aim to optimize bio-ethanol production (February 4, 2011) -- Researchers are working to resolve an emerging "food versus fuel" rivalry: they are investigating how to most effectively utilize residual field crop material for industrial production of bio-ethanol. Getting a handle on the full "toolbox" that soil bacteria use to transform cellulose into sugar could help to optimize combinations of enzymes for industrial use, potentially leading to development of a specialized degradation tool for every kind of plant waste containing cellulose. ... > full story

The 'death switch' in sepsis also promotes survival (February 4, 2011) -- Researchers have identified a protein that plays a dual role in the liver during sepsis. The protein, known as RIP1, acts both as a "death switch" and as a pro-survival mechanism. The ability to identify the triggers for these functions may play a key role in treating sepsis in the future. ... > full story

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ScienceDaily Technology Headlines -- for Saturday, February 5, 2011

ScienceDaily Technology Headlines

for Saturday, February 5, 2011

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New images show cloud exploding from Sun ripples like clouds on Earth (February 4, 2011) -- Physicists studying new images of clouds of material exploding from the Sun have spotted instabilities forming in that exploding cloud that are similar to those seen in clouds in Earth's atmosphere. ... > full story

New wave: Efficient source of terahertz radiation developed (February 4, 2011) -- Researchers have developed a laser-based source of terahertz radiation that is unusually efficient and less prone to damage than similar systems. The technology might be useful in applications such as detecting trace gases or imaging weapons in security screening. ... > full story

Quantum quirk: Scientists pack atoms together to prevent collisions in atomic clock (February 4, 2011) -- In a paradox typical of the quantum world, scientists have eliminated collisions between atoms in an atomic clock by packing the atoms closer together. The surprising discovery can boost the performance of experimental atomic clocks made of thousands or tens of thousands of neutral atoms trapped by intersecting laser beams. ... > full story

Scientists use quantum mechanics to show that glass will melt near absolute zero (February 4, 2011) -- By cooling glass to a temperature near absolute zero (-459.67 degrees Fahrenheit), a professor is demonstrating that, at the quantum level, glass exhibits a very different behavior than might be expected from traditional physics -- in fact, it melts. ... > full story

New model for how Nevada gold deposits formed may help in gold exploration (February 4, 2011) -- Researchers have devised a new model for how Nevada's gold deposits formed, which may help in exploration efforts for new gold deposits. ... > full story

Northern Mars landscape actively changing (February 4, 2011) -- Sand dunes in a vast area of northern Mars long thought to be frozen in time are changing with both sudden and gradual motions, as revealed by images from a high-resolution camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO. The new findings help scientists to better understand what features and landscapes on Mars can be explained by current processes and which require environmental conditions no longer present on the planet. ... > full story

Same rules apply to some experimental systems regardless of scale (February 4, 2011) -- New experiments show that common scientific rules can apply to significantly different phenomena operating on vastly different scales. The results raise the possibility of making discoveries pertaining to phenomena that would be too large or impractical to recreate in the laboratory. ... > full story

Ionization by strong laser fields: Understanding the 'Ionization Surprise' (February 4, 2011) -- In 2009 researchers found an "ionization surprise" that defied explanation. Until that time, it had been commonly thought that the ionization of atoms by strong laser fields was well-understood, but novel experiments where rare gas atoms were ionized using relatively long (few-micrometers) wavelength laser light suddenly revealed an unexpected and universal low-energy feature that defied explanation. Now, scientists have provided an explanation. ... > full story

Effective search terms yield the right information (February 4, 2011) -- It does not matter how good a search engine is if the person doing a search does not ask for the desired information in the right way. So far, a great deal of the research on information retrieval has aimed to develop search algorithms and powerful search engines. Yet, a new doctoral thesis on natural language processing shows that it is also important to look at the terms people type into the search box. ... > full story

Missing link between young, old galaxies? Gas jet galaxy could explain how starforming galaxies become red and dead (February 3, 2011) -- Astronomers may have found the missing link between young, gas-filled, star-forming galaxies and older, gas-depleted galaxies typically characterized as "red and dead." New research finds that a long-known "early-type" galaxy, NGC 1266, is expelling molecular gas, mostly hydrogen, from its core. The unusual galaxy may help explain how gas-filled galaxies rid themselves of their molecular gas. ... > full story

Communication pathways within proteins may yield new drug targets to stop superbugs (February 3, 2011) -- A biophysicist has developed a new method to identify communication pathways connecting distant regions within proteins. With this tool, the researcher has identified a mechanism for cooperative behavior within an entire molecule, a finding that suggests that in the future it may be possible to design drugs that target anywhere along the length of a molecule's communication pathway rather than only in a single location as they do today. ... > full story

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ScienceDaily Health Headlines -- for Saturday, February 5, 2011

ScienceDaily Health Headlines

for Saturday, February 5, 2011

Welcome to another edition of ScienceDaily's email newsletter. You can change your subscription options or unsubscribe at any time.

New induced stem cells may unmask cancer at earliest stage (February 4, 2011) -- By coaxing healthy and diseased human bone marrow to become embryonic-like stem cells, a team of scientists has laid the groundwork for observing the onset of the blood cancer leukemia in the laboratory dish. ... > full story

Mechanism involved in breast cancer's spread to bone discovered (February 4, 2011) -- In a discovery that may lead to a new treatment for breast cancer that has spread to the bone, researchers have unraveled a mystery about how these tumors take root. ... > full story

Working more than 20 hours a week in high school found harmful (February 4, 2011) -- A new shows that among high school students, working more than 20 hours/week during the school year can lead to academic and behavior problems. The researchers used advanced statistical methods to reanalyze longitudinal data collected in the 1980s on 1,800 middle class teens in 10th and 11th grades. The researchers also found that things didn't get better when teens who were working more than 20 hours/week cut back their hours or stopped working altogether. ... > full story

For stem cells, a way to assure quality (February 4, 2011) -- Ever since researchers devised a recipe for turning adult cells into cells that look and act like embryonic stem cells, there has been lingering doubt in the field about just how close to embryonic stem cells each of those cell lines really is at a molecular and functional level. Now, researchers have developed a systematic way to lay those doubts about quality to rest. ... > full story

Early childhood education program yields high economic returns (February 4, 2011) -- For every invested in a Chicago early childhood education program, nearly is projected to return to society over the children's lifetimes -- equivalent to an 18 percent annual return on program investment, according to a new study. ... > full story

Scientists unlock one mystery of tissue regeneration (February 4, 2011) -- Researchers have now identified a genetic switch that controls oxidative stress in stem cells and thus governs stem cell function. ... > full story

Quality and quantity of maternal milk impacts stress response of adult offspring (February 4, 2011) -- Two studies highlight how maternal care makes the baby's brain less vulnerable to stress. The quality and quantity of maternal milk and maternal-infant contact impact the stress response of the adult offspring, according to recent research. ... > full story

Obesity has doubled since 1980, major global analysis of risk factors reveals (February 4, 2011) -- The worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled since 1980, according to a major study on how three important heart disease risk factors have changed across the world over the last three decades. The study looked at all available global data to assess how body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol changed between 1980 and 2008. ... > full story

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ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Saturday, February 5, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Saturday, February 5, 2011

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