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How silver turns people blue
Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroid
Scientists discover record-breaking millisecond pulsar with new analysis method
New Genomics Study Shows Ancestry Could Help Solve Disease Riddles
Scientists Step Up Hunt for Bacterial Genes Tied to Lyme Disease
Resveratrol falls short in health benefits
Selective dairy breeding could help prevent lameness, boost productivity
After-effects of Saturn’s super storm shine on
Gene That's Usually Bad News Loses Its Punch If You Live to Your 90s
Researchers test new gene therapy method in human cells...and it works

Posted: 26 Oct 2012 07:38 AM PDT

Ingesting silver — in antimicrobial health tonics or for extensive medical treatments involving silver — can cause argyria, condition in which the skin turns grayish-blue. Brown researchers have discovered how that happens. The process is similar to developing black-and-white photographs, and it's not just the silver.

Researchers from Brown University have shown for the first time how ingesting too much silver can cause argyria, a rare condition in which patients’ skin turns a striking shade of grayish blue.

Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroid

Posted: 26 Oct 2012 07:29 AM PDT

In the event that a giant asteroid is headed toward Earth, you’d better hope that it’s blindingly white. A pale asteroid would reflect sunlight — and over time, this bouncing of photons off its surface could create enough of a force to push the asteroid off its course.

How might one encourage such a deflection? The answer, according to an MIT graduate student: with a volley or two of space-launched paintballs.

Scientists discover record-breaking millisecond pulsar with new analysis method

Posted: 26 Oct 2012 07:22 AM PDT

Pulsars are the compact remnants from explosions of massive stars. Some of them spin around their own axis hundreds of times per second, emitting beams of radiation into space. Until now, they could only be found through their pulsed radio emissions. Now, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute/AEI) in Hanover assisted by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy have discovered a millisecond pulsar solely via its pulsed gamma radiation. A new data analysis method developed by the AEI was crucial for the success.

New Genomics Study Shows Ancestry Could Help Solve Disease Riddles

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 09:32 PM PDT

Explosive advancement in human genome sequencing opens new possibilities for identifying the genetic roots of certain diseases and finding cures. However, so many variations among individual genomes exist that identifying mutations responsible for a specific disease has in many cases proven an insurmountable challenge.

Scientists Step Up Hunt for Bacterial Genes Tied to Lyme Disease

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 04:10 PM PDT

Investigators at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have accelerated the search for the bacterial genes that make the Lyme disease bacterium so invasive and persistent. The discovery could advance the diagnosis and treatment of this disease, which affects an estimated 30,000 Americans each year.

Resveratrol falls short in health benefits

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:01 PM PDT

Resveratrol, an ingredient in red wine thought to improve insulin sensitivity, reduce risk of heart disease and increase longevity, does not appear to offer these benefits in healthy women, new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates.

The study, reported online Oct. 25 in Cell Metabolism, involved 29 post-menopausal women who did not have type 2 diabetes and who were reasonably healthy. For 12 weeks, half took an over-the-counter resveratrol supplement, and the rest got a placebo, or sugar pill.

Selective dairy breeding could help prevent lameness, boost productivity

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:57 AM PDT

Dairies could increase their efficiency, reduce their carbon footprints and improve the health of their herds if they considered foot warts and other hoof ailments when they develop breeding plans, suggests a new study led by UC Davis researchers.

After-effects of Saturn’s super storm shine on

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 08:25 AM PDT

The heat-seeking capabilities of the international Cassini spacecraft and two ground-based telescopes have provided the first look at the aftermath of Saturn’s ‘Great Springtime Storm’. Concealed from the naked eye, a giant oval vortex is persisting long after the visible effects of the storm subsided.

The ground-based observations were made by the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile, and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Gene That's Usually Bad News Loses Its Punch If You Live to Your 90s

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:57 AM PDT

A gene linked to the risk of developing Alzheimer's, heart disease and diabetes becomes less important to quality of life once people hit their 90s, a Mayo Clinic study shows. At that point, good friends and a positive attitude have a bigger impact, the researchers say. The findings are published this month in the Journal of American Medical Directors Association.

Researchers test new gene therapy method in human cells...and it works

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 07:34 AM PDT

Oregon Health & Science University's development of a new gene therapy method to prevent certain inherited diseases has reached a significant milestone. Researchers at the university's Oregon National Primate Research Center and the OHSU Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology have successfully demonstrated their procedure in human cells. It's believed that this research, along with other efforts, will pave the way for future clinical trials in human subjects.