science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Δευτέρα 28 Μαΐου 2012

Science News SciGuru.com

Dogs match the personality of their owners
Researchers have created glasses that indicate obstacles to patients with visual handicaps
Biomarker panel for early colon cancer diagnosis identified
Heparin-like compounds inhibit breast cancer metastasis to bone
Researcher finds new explanation for friction
Scientists Trace Mutation for Disease That Stunts Infants’ Growth to Same Gene That Makes Children Grow Too Fast
'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells and batteries, Stanford scientists say

Dogs match the personality of their owners

Posted: 28 May 2012 05:01 AM PDT

A study carried out at the University of Leicester's School of Psychology has found that younger people who are disagreeable are more likely to prefer aggressive dogs, confirming the conventional wisdom that dogs match the personality of their owners.

Researchers found that low Agreeableness was the best predictor of a preference for those dogs seen as more aggressive, such as bull terriers or boxers. Individuals low in Agreeableness are typically less concerned with others' well-being and may be suspicious, unfriendly and competitive.

Researchers have created glasses that indicate obstacles to patients with visual handicaps

Posted: 28 May 2012 04:45 AM PDT

Researchers at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid (UC3M) have developed a system that can be built into virtual reality goggles that help patients with moderate visual impairment move around their surroundings. The application detects the distance and shape of objects and interacts with the user by means of a simple color code.(OIC/UC3M)

Biomarker panel for early colon cancer diagnosis identified

Posted: 28 May 2012 04:35 AM PDT

Researchers from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid's Facultad de Informática, the Universidad del País Vasco, the Gaiker Technology Centre (Biscay) and the Hospital de Cruces in Barakaldo, have developed a tentative model for the diagnosis of colon cancer based on a biomarker panel. According to study results, it classifies carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic samples with 94.45% accuracy.

Heparin-like compounds inhibit breast cancer metastasis to bone

Posted: 28 May 2012 04:25 AM PDT

Researchers from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have in collaboration with the University of Turku, Indiana University and two Finnish companies, Biotie Therapies Corp. and Pharmatest Services Ltd, discovered a novel mechanism regulating the development of breast cancer bone metastases and showed that heparin-like compounds can potentially be used to inhibit breast cancer metastasis to bone.

These findings were published on the Molecular Cancer Research journal website on 20th April 2012.

Researcher finds new explanation for friction

Posted: 28 May 2012 04:18 AM PDT

Friction is a key phenomenon in applied physics, whose origin has been studied for centuries. Until now, it has been understood that mechanical wear-resistance and fluid lubrication affect friction, but the fundamental origin of sliding friction has been unknown. Dr. Lasse Makkonen, Principal Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, has now presented an explanation for the origin of sliding friction between solid objects. According to his theory, the amount of friction depends on the surface energy of the materials in question.

Scientists Trace Mutation for Disease That Stunts Infants’ Growth to Same Gene That Makes Children Grow Too Fast

Posted: 27 May 2012 04:35 PM PDT

UCLA geneticists have identified the mutation responsible for IMAGe syndrome, a rare disorder that stunts infants’ growth. The twist? The mutation occurs on the same gene that causes Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, which makes cells grow too fast, leading to very large children.

'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells and batteries, Stanford scientists say

Posted: 27 May 2012 11:56 AM PDT

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at Stanford University. Their findings are published in the May 27 online edition of the journal Nature Nanotechnology.