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Improvement in child cancer survival threatened by lack of new drug development
Mutant champions save imperiled species from almost-certain extinction
What sleeping seals reveal about how the brain works
That’s the way the droplets adhere
Males' superior spatial ability likely is not an evolutionary adaptation
Nicotine Lozenges, Tobacco-Free Snuff Help Smokeless Tobacco Users Quit, Mayo Clinic Finds
Russian Fireball Largest Ever Detected by CTBTO’s Infrasound Sensors
Study shows reduced risk of preterm birth for pregnant women vaccinated during 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu outbreak
Is There a Link Between Coffee Drinking and Mortality?
Children with auditory processing disorder may now have more treatment options, research shows
Steroid Injection May Lead to Worse Outcomes in Patients with Spinal Stenosis
Secrets of Wisconsin meteorite revealed

Improvement in child cancer survival threatened by lack of new drug development

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 07:09 AM PST

A series of studies published today, led by some of the world’s most eminent cancer experts, including Professor Richard Sullivan at King’s College London, outline some of the biggest challenges to the improvement of cancer care for children and young people. Experts from 19 countries believe further progress is being threatened by increasingly strict research regulations and insufficient development of new drugs.

Mutant champions save imperiled species from almost-certain extinction

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 07:04 AM PST

Species facing widespread and rapid environmental changes can sometimes evolve quickly enough to dodge the extinction bullet. Populations of disease-causing bacteria evolve, for example, as doctors flood their “environment,” the human body, with antibiotics. Insects, animals and plants can make evolutionary adaptations in response to pesticides, heavy metals and overfishing.

What sleeping seals reveal about how the brain works

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 06:55 AM PST

A new study led by an international team of biologists from the University of Toronto and UCLA has identified some of the brain chemicals that allow seals to sleep with half of their brain at a time.

The study, published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience, identified the chemical cues that allow the seal brain to remain half awake and asleep.

Scientists said their findings may explain the biological mechanisms that enable the brain to remain alert during waking hours and go off-line during sleep.

That’s the way the droplets adhere

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 11:46 AM PST

Understanding exactly how droplets and bubbles stick to surfaces — everything from dew on blades of grass to the water droplets that form on condensing coils after steam drives a turbine in a power plant — is a “100-year-old problem” that has eluded experimental answers, says MIT’s Kripa Varanasi. Furthermore, it’s a question with implications for everything from how to improve power-plant efficiency to how to reduce fogging on windshields.

Males' superior spatial ability likely is not an evolutionary adaptation

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 10:01 AM PST

Males and females differ in a lot of traits (besides the obvious ones) and some evolutionary psychologists have proposed hypotheses to explain why. Some argue, for example, that males’ slight, but significant, superiority in spatial navigation over females – a phenomenon demonstrated repeatedly in many species, including humans – is probably “adaptive,” meaning that over the course of evolutionary history the trait gave males an advantage that led them to have more offspring than their peers.

Nicotine Lozenges, Tobacco-Free Snuff Help Smokeless Tobacco Users Quit, Mayo Clinic Finds

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 09:55 AM PST

Smokeless tobacco users who said they didn't want to quit changed their minds or significantly cut back when given nicotine lozenges or tobacco-free snuff. in a Mayo Clinic study. The findings are published in the February issue of Addictive Behaviors.

Mayo researchers recruited 81 users of chewing tobacco or snuff with no intention of quitting in the next 30 days. Forty were given 4-mg nicotine lozenges and 41 received tobacco-free snuff to help cut back their smokeless tobacco use. They were asked to cut back 50 percent by one month and 75 percent by two months.

Russian Fireball Largest Ever Detected by CTBTO’s Infrasound Sensors

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 09:45 AM PST

Infrasonic waves from the meteor that broke up over Russia’s Ural mountains last week were the largest ever recorded by the CTBTO’s International Monitoring System. Infrasound is low frequency sound with a range of less than 10 Hz. The blast was detected by 17 infrasound stations in the CTBTO’s network, which tracks atomic blasts across the planet. The furthest station to record the sub-audible sound was 15,000km away in Antarctica.

Study shows reduced risk of preterm birth for pregnant women vaccinated during 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu outbreak

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 09:25 AM PST

Pregnant women who received the H1N1 influenza vaccine during the 2009 pandemic were less likely to have premature babies, and their babies weighed more on average.

Is There a Link Between Coffee Drinking and Mortality?

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 09:07 AM PST

A large study of nearly half a million older adults followed for about 12 years revealed a clear trend: as coffee drinking increased, the risk of death decreased. Study author Neal Freedman, PhD, MPH, National Cancer Institute, discusses the significance of these findings and the potential links between coffee drinking, caffeine consumption, and various specific causes of disease in an interview in Journal of Caffeine Research, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Journal of Caffeine Research website.

Children with auditory processing disorder may now have more treatment options, research shows

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 09:03 AM PST

Several Kansas State University faculty members are helping children with auditory processing disorder receive better treatment.

Debra Burnett, assistant professor of family studies and human services and a licensed speech-language pathologist, started the Enhancing Auditory Responses to Speech Stimuli, or EARSS, program. The Kansas State University Speech and Hearing Center offers the program, which uses evidence-based practices to treat auditory processing disorder.

Steroid Injection May Lead to Worse Outcomes in Patients with Spinal Stenosis

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 08:59 AM PST

For patients with spinal stenosis, epidural steroid injections (ESI) may actually lead to worse outcomes—whether or not the patient later undergoes surgery, according to a study in the February 15 issue of Spine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

Secrets of Wisconsin meteorite revealed

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 08:51 AM PST

As Russian scientists scramble to collect and analyze the remains of the historic meteorite that injured an estimated 1,200 people in Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15, scientists in Wisconsin are set to publish their analysis of a smaller meteorite that struck southwest Wisconsin on April 14, 2010.