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• Violent Video Games: More Playing Time Equals More Aggression
• Does the Brain Become Unglued in Autism?
• Bedroom TV Viewing Increases Risk of Obesity in Children
• Inspiration from a porcupine’s quills could help engineers design better medical devices
• Scientists identify liposarcoma tumors that respond to chemotherapy
• Tiny compound semiconductor transistor could challenge silicon’s dominance
• Researchers Reveal Structure of Carbon’s ‘Hoyle State’

Violent Video Games: More Playing Time Equals More Aggression Posted: 11 Dec 2012 07:19 AM PST A new study provides the first experimental evidence that the negative effects of playing violent video games can accumulate over time. Researchers found that people who played a violent video game for three consecutive days showed increases in aggressive behavior and hostile expectations each day they played. Meanwhile, those who played nonviolent games showed no meaningful changes in aggression or hostile expectations over that period. read more

Does the Brain Become Unglued in Autism? Posted: 11 Dec 2012 07:05 AM PST A new study published in Biological Psychiatry suggests that autism is associated with reductions in the level of cellular adhesion molecules in the blood, where they play a role in immune function. Cell adhesion molecules are the glue that binds cells together in the body. Deficits in adhesion molecules would be expected to compromise processes at the interfaces between cells, influencing tissue integrity and cell-to-cell signaling. In the brain, deficits in adhesion molecules could compromise brain development and communication between nerve cells. read more

Bedroom TV Viewing Increases Risk of Obesity in Children Posted: 11 Dec 2012 06:59 AM PST The average American child from age 8 to 18 watches about 4.5 hours of TV each day. Seventy percent have a TV in the bedroom and about one-third of youth aged 6-19 is considered obese. Previous studies have shown that TV viewing time during childhood and adolescence continues into adulthood, resulting in overweight and elevated total cholesterol. read more

Inspiration from a porcupine’s quills could help engineers design better medical devices Posted: 11 Dec 2012 06:53 AM PST Anyone unfortunate enough to encounter a porcupine’s quills knows that once they go in, they are extremely difficult to remove. Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital now hope to exploit the porcupine quill’s unique properties to develop new types of adhesives, needles and other medical devices. read more

Scientists identify liposarcoma tumors that respond to chemotherapy Posted: 10 Dec 2012 10:15 AM PST Liposarcoma, the most common type of sarcoma, is an often lethal form of cancer that develops in fat cells. It is particularly deadly, in part, because the tumors are not consistently visible with positron emission tomography (PET) scans that use a common probe called FDG and because they frequently do not respond to chemotherapy.   read more

Tiny compound semiconductor transistor could challenge silicon’s dominance Posted: 10 Dec 2012 08:50 AM PST Silicon’s crown is under threat: The semiconductor’s days as the king of microchips for computers and smart devices could be numbered, thanks to the development of the smallest transistor ever to be built from a rival material, indium gallium arsenide. read more

Researchers Reveal Structure of Carbon’s ‘Hoyle State’ Posted: 10 Dec 2012 08:25 AM PST A North Carolina State University researcher has taken a “snapshot” of the way particles combine to form carbon-12, the element that makes all life on Earth possible.  And the picture looks like a bent arm. read more

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