ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Earliest musical instruments in Europe 40,000 years ago
• Computer model pinpoints prime materials for efficient carbon capture
• It took Earth ten million years to recover from greatest mass extinction
• Powerful new approach to attack flu virus
• More summer heatwaves likely in Europe: Predictability of European summer heat from spring and winter rainfall
• Super-sensitive tests could detect diseases earlier
• Disease that stunts infants' growth traced to same gene that makes kids grow too fast
• Discovery expected to shift research direction in lupus and asthma
• Garlic constituent blocks biofilm formation, could benefit cystic fibrosis patients and others
• Genes culled from desert soils suggest potential medical resource
• Locating ground zero: How the brain's emergency workers find the disaster area

Earliest musical instruments in Europe 40,000 years ago Posted: 27 May 2012 04:57 PM PDT The first modern humans in Europe were playing musical instruments and showing artistic creativity as early as 40,000 years ago, according to new research.

Computer model pinpoints prime materials for efficient carbon capture Posted: 27 May 2012 12:38 PM PDT The electric power industry expects eventually to implement carbon capture of emissions in order to reduce greenhouse gases, yet today's best technology eats up 30 percent of a plant's power. Scientists have now created a computer model that analyzes the millions of possible porous capture structures, from zeolites to MOFs, to pinpoint ones that can improve energy efficiency, so that chemists can synthesize and test them for future use.

It took Earth ten million years to recover from greatest mass extinction Posted: 27 May 2012 12:38 PM PDT It took some 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction of all time, latest research has revealed.

Powerful new approach to attack flu virus Posted: 27 May 2012 12:38 PM PDT Scientists have manufactured a new protein that can combat deadly flu epidemics. The research demonstrates ways to use manufactured genes as antivirals, which disable key functions of the flu virus.

More summer heatwaves likely in Europe: Predictability of European summer heat from spring and winter rainfall Posted: 27 May 2012 12:37 PM PDT The prediction, one season ahead, of summer heat waves in Europe remains a challenge. A new study shows that summer heat in Europe rarely develops after rainy winter and spring seasons over Southern Europe. Conversely dry seasons are either followed by hot or cold summers. The predictability of summer heat is therefore asymmetric. Climate projections indicate a drying of Southern Europe. The study suggests that this asymmetry should create a favorable situation for the development of more summer heat waves with however a modified seasonal predictability from winter and spring rainfall.

Super-sensitive tests could detect diseases earlier Posted: 27 May 2012 12:37 PM PDT Scientists have developed an ultra-sensitive test that should enable them to detect signs of a disease in its earliest stages.

Disease that stunts infants' growth traced to same gene that makes kids grow too fast Posted: 27 May 2012 12:36 PM PDT 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 for a disease that makes cells grow too fast, leading to extra-large children.

Discovery expected to shift research direction in lupus and asthma Posted: 27 May 2012 12:36 PM PDT Newfound details of the immune system suggest a role for never-before-considered drug classes in the treatment of allergic and autoimmune diseases, according to a new study. The results advance the current understanding of the way the body's initial, vague reaction to any invading organism expands into a precise and massive counterattack.

Garlic constituent blocks biofilm formation, could benefit cystic fibrosis patients and others Posted: 27 May 2012 08:55 AM PDT E Pluribus Unum, the de facto motto of the United States, could just as well apply to biofilm-forming bacteria. Bacterial biofilms are far more resistant than individual bacteria to the armories of antibiotics we have devised to combat them. Now researchers have pinpointed a constituent of garlic that attacks a key step in the development of biofilms, in an effort they hope may offer help in particular for patients with cystic fibrosis.

Genes culled from desert soils suggest potential medical resource Posted: 27 May 2012 08:50 AM PDT Despite their ecologic similarity, soils from three geographically distinct areas of the American southwest harbor vastly different collections of small, biosynthetic genes, a finding that suggests the existence of a far greater diversity of potentially useful products than was previously supposed.

Locating ground zero: How the brain's emergency workers find the disaster area Posted: 24 May 2012 09:30 AM PDT Scientists have discovered exactly how cells called microglia detect the site of brain injury – a finding that paves the way for new medical approaches to conditions where microglia's ability to locate hazardous material is compromised, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

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