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Extending Einstein's theory beyond light speed
Protein Deficiency in Brain Plays Key Role in Early-Onset Dementia
HHMI’s Robert Lefkowitz Awarded 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
How cancer cells break free from tumors
New low-cost, durable carbon nanotube sensors can be etched with mechanical pencils
Potential Debt Problems More Common Among the Educated, Study Suggests
Synthetic liver enzyme could result in more effective drugs with fewer side effects
Gamblers in a spin over frustrating losses

Extending Einstein's theory beyond light speed

Posted: 10 Oct 2012 07:00 AM PDT

University of Adelaide applied mathematicians have extended Einstein's theory of special relativity to work beyond the speed of light.

Einstein's theory holds that nothing could move faster than the speed of light, but Professor Jim Hill and Dr Barry Cox in the University's School of Mathematical Sciences have developed new formulas that allow for travel beyond this limit.

Protein Deficiency in Brain Plays Key Role in Early-Onset Dementia

Posted: 10 Oct 2012 06:22 AM PDT

Using animal models, scientists at the UCSF-affiliated Gladstone Institutes have discovered how a protein deficiency may be linked to frontotemporal dementia (FTD) — a form of early-onset dementia that is similar to Alzheimer’s disease. These results lay the foundation for therapies that one day may benefit those who suffer from this and related diseases that wreak havoc on the brain.

HHMI’s Robert Lefkowitz Awarded 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Posted: 10 Oct 2012 05:29 AM PDT

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced today that Robert J. Lefkowitz, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at Duke University, and Brian K. Kobilka of Stanford University School of Medicine are the recipients of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studies of G-protein coupled receptors.

According to the Royal Swedish Academy, this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for groundbreaking discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family of such receptors: G-protein–coupled receptors.

How cancer cells break free from tumors

Posted: 09 Oct 2012 03:07 PM PDT

Although tumor metastasis causes about 90 percent of cancer deaths, the exact mechanism that allows cancer cells to spread from one part of the body to another is not well understood. One key question is how tumor cells detach from the structural elements that normally hold tissues in place, then reattach themselves in a new site.

New low-cost, durable carbon nanotube sensors can be etched with mechanical pencils

Posted: 09 Oct 2012 02:55 PM PDT

Carbon nanotubes offer a powerful new way to detect harmful gases in the environment. However, the methods typically used to build carbon nanotube sensors are hazardous and not suited for large-scale production.

Potential Debt Problems More Common Among the Educated, Study Suggests

Posted: 09 Oct 2012 12:40 PM PDT

Before the financial crash of 2008, it was highly educated Americans who were most likely to pile on unmanageable levels of debt, a new study suggests.

Overall, the percentage of Americans who were paying more than 40 percent of their income for debts like mortgages and credit card bills increased from about 17 percent in 1992 to 27 percent in 2008.

But college-educated people were more likely than those with high school or less education to be above this 40 percent threshold - considered to be a risky amount of debt for most households.

Synthetic liver enzyme could result in more effective drugs with fewer side effects

Posted: 09 Oct 2012 12:33 PM PDT

Medicines could be made to have fewer side effects and work in smaller doses with the help of a new technique that makes drug molecules more resistant to breakdown by the human liver.

Researchers based at Princeton University reported in the journal Science that they created a synthetic enzyme that acts as a catalyst to replace certain hydrogen atoms of a drug molecule with fluorine atoms. This swap stabilizes the molecule and makes it resistant to the liver enzymes that can inactivate a drug or create toxic byproducts.

Gamblers in a spin over frustrating losses

Posted: 09 Oct 2012 07:58 AM PDT

A new study provides evidence that gamblers interpret near-misses as frustrating losses rather than near-wins. This frustration stimulates the reward systems in the brain to promote continued gambling, according to Mike Dixon from the University of Waterloo in Canada, and his colleagues. This, in turn, may contribute to addictive gambling behavior. Their work is published online in Springer's Journal of Gambling Studies.