Τετάρτη 29 Ιανουαρίου 2014

ScienceDaily: Top News

ScienceDaily: Top News

New NASA laser technology reveals how ice measures up

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:48 PM PST

A new photon-counting technique will allow researchers to track the melt or growth of Earth's frozen regions.

Tropics are main source of global mammal diversity

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:48 PM PST

Scientists recognize that some regions contain more species than others, and that the tropics are richer in biodiversity than temperate regions. But why are there more species in the tropics? A new study scrutinizes most of the living mammalian species and reveals a two-fold mechanism; the rate at which mammals arose was higher in the tropics, and the rate at which they became extinct lower.

Preterm birth is associated with increased risk of asthma and wheezing disorders

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:48 PM PST

Children who are born preterm have an increased risk developing asthma and wheezing disorders during childhood according to new research.

Malaria screening unsuccessful in some schools

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:48 PM PST

A school-based intermittent screening and treatment program for malaria in rural coastal Kenya had no benefits on the health and education of school children, according to a new study.

Brain structure, function predict future memory performance in children, adolescents

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:47 PM PST

Assessing structural and functional changes in the brain may predict future memory performance in healthy children and adolescents, according to a new study. The findings shed new light on cognitive development and suggest MRI and other tools may one day help identify children at risk for developmental challenges earlier than current testing methods allow.

Researchers find culprit behind skeletal muscle disease

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 10:05 AM PST

Genetic mutations in titin, a protein that is vital for proper muscular function, can cause skeletal muscle disease, according to a new study. The work answers a question that remained after previous studies, which couldn't say if the deviations caused myopathies, or merely resulted from them.

Active power control of wind turbines can improve power grid reliability

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:46 AM PST

Scientists have completed a comprehensive study to understand how wind power technology can assist the power grid by controlling the active power output being placed onto the system. The rest of the power system's resources have traditionally been adjusted around wind to support a reliable and efficient system. The research that led to this report challenges that concept.

Brain regions thought to be uniquely human share many similarities with monkeys

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:46 AM PST

New research suggests a surprising degree of similarity in the organization of regions of the brain that control language and complex thought processes in humans and monkeys. The study also revealed some key differences. The findings may provide valuable insights into the evolutionary processes that established our ties to other primates but also made us distinctly human.

Aspirin still overprescribed for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:46 AM PST

Aspirin is still overprescribed for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF) despite the potential for dangerous side effects, according to new research.

Paleolithic humans from the north of Spain moved to dwellings with better logistics

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:46 AM PST

Scientists have traced the steps of the human beings that inhabited the region during the Paleolithic era. Through computer programs for geographical analysis, it is known that these nomads gradually abandoned high-altitude rocky shelters and caves to live on flatter plains. To see or to be seen? This is the question that humans inhabiting the Cantabrian coast during the Paleolithic era had to ask themselves.

Research could bring new devices that control heat flow

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:33 AM PST

Researchers are proposing a new technology that might control the flow of heat the way electronic devices control electrical current, an advance that could have applications in a diverse range of fields from electronics to textiles.

New imaging technique speeds removal of non-melanoma skin cancers

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:32 AM PST

Skin cancer surgery involves successive removal of tissue, which is processed using a 45-minute procedure to determine if residual cancer remains and is often repeated several times. Now, researchers have developed a microscopic technique that identifies residual cancer tissue in 90 seconds, promising to dramatically reduce the length, inefficiency, and cost of this common surgery.

H.M.'s brain yields new evidence: 3-D model of famous amnesiac's brain helps illuminate human memory

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:32 AM PST

During his lifetime, Henry G. Molaison (H.M.) was the best known and possibly the most studied patient of modern neuroscience. Now, thanks to the postmortem study of his brain, based on histological sectioning and digital three-dimensional construction, scientists around the globe will finally have insight into the neurological basis of the case that defined modern studies of human memory.

Certain probiotics could help women lose weight, study finds

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:35 AM PST

Certain probiotics could help women lose weight and keep it off, according to a recent study. Studies have already demonstrated that the intestinal flora of obese individuals differs from that of thin people. That difference may be due to the fact that a diet high in fat and low in fiber promotes certain bacteria at the expense of others. Researchers tried to determine if the consumption of probiotics could help reset the balance of the intestinal microbiota in favor of bacteria that promote a healthy weight.

Effective control of invasive weeds can help attempts at reforestation in Panama

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:35 AM PST

Attempts to replant cleared areas of rainforest are hindered in central Panama due to the overgrown grass areas. Scientists from Australia and Panama, look into the reproductive biology of Saccharum spontaneum a weed that produces most of this biomass, to find methods for more successful control.

Labeling obesity as a disease may have psychological costs

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:35 AM PST

Messages that describe obesity as a disease may undermine healthy behaviors and beliefs among obese individuals, according to a new study. The findings show that obese individuals exposed to such messages placed less importance on health-focused dieting and reported less concern about weight. These beliefs, in turn, predicted unhealthier food choices.

Hurricane Sandy may be a blessing for tiny piping plover

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:31 AM PST

The piping plover, a threatened shorebird, is expected to capitalize on new habitat created by Hurricane Sandy on hard-hit Long Island, N.Y. The storm created wider sandy beaches, the plover's preferred habitat.

Melatonin shows potential to slow tumor growth in certain breast cancers

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:31 AM PST

An early stage study shows melatonin -- a hormone that regulates the body's sleep and awake cycles -- may have the potential to help slow the growth of certain breast cancer tumors, according to researchers.

New studies needed to predict how marine organisms may adapt to the future's acidic oceans

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:47 AM PST

The world's oceans are becoming more acidic, changing in a way that hasn't happened for millions of years. But will marine organisms from tiny coccolithophores to king crabs change along with the waters?

Flexible, transparent conductor created: Discovery brings bendable cell phone, foldable flat-screen TV closer to reality

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:47 AM PST

Researchers have developed a new stretchable and transparent electrical conductor, bringing the potential for a fully foldable cell phone or a flat-screen television that can be folded and carried under your arm closer to reality.

Fertilizer nutrient imbalance to limit food production in Africa

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:47 AM PST

A growing imbalance between phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizer use in Africa could lead to crop yield reductions of nearly 30 percent by 2050, according to a new study.

Drugs cut need for surgery for Crohn's disease patients by more than half

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:46 AM PST

The requirement of bowel surgery is dramatically reduced by up to 60 percent in patients who develop Crohn's disease if they receive prolonged treatment with drugs called thiopurines, says a new study.

Computing with silicon neurons: Scientists use artificial nerve cells to classify different types of data

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:45 AM PST

Scientists in Germany are using artificial nerve cells to classify different types of data. These silicon 'neurons' could recognize handwritten numbers, or distinguish plant species based on their flowers.

'Natural' engineering offers solution against future flooding

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:45 AM PST

Back-to-nature flood schemes, which use the land's natural defenses to slow river flow and reduce flooding, could be a cost-effective way of tackling one of the biggest problems facing the UK today.

Living cold-water coral reef discovered off Greenland

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:43 AM PST

By sheer coincidence, Canadian researchers have discovered a reef of living cold-water corals in southern Greenland. The first-ever Greenlandic reef is located in southwest Greenland and was formed by cold-water corals with hard limestone skeletons. There are several species of coral in Greenland, but this is the first time that an actual reef has been found.

Active supermassive black holes revealed in merging galaxies

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:43 AM PST

Astronomers have conducted infrared observations of luminous, gas-rich, merging galaxies to study active, mass-accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). They found that at least one SMBH almost always becomes active and luminous by accreting a large amount of material.

Using silver nanoparticles, researchers create cream that avoids transmission of HIV

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:43 AM PST

After discovering that silver nanoparticles are capable of blocking the entry of HIV into organisms, a group of researchers created a vaginal cream to control the transmission of the virus. The product has proven efficiency in lab tests, although clinical trials are yet to be performed.

Long-term survival possible for pediatric heart transplant patients

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:41 AM PST

Infants and children who undergo heart transplantation are experiencing good outcomes after surgery and may expect to live beyond 15 years post-surgery with reasonable cardiac function and quality of life.

Exhaled breath may help identify early lung cancer

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:41 AM PST

Specific compounds found in exhaled breath may help diagnose lung cancer in its early stages. The discovery was made when researchers examined patients with suspicious lung lesions.

Study analyzes content of nightmares, bad dreams

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:41 AM PST

According to a new study, nightmares have greater emotional impact than bad dreams do, and fear is not always a factor. In fact, it is mostly absent in bad dreams and in a third of nightmares.

Converting adult human cells to hair follicle-generating stem cells

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:41 AM PST

Researchers have come up with a method to convert adult cells into epithelial stem cells, the first time anyone has achieved this in either humans or mice. The epithelial stem cells, when implanted into immunocompromised mice, regenerated the different cell types of human skin and hair follicles, and even produced structurally recognizable hair shaft, raising the possibility that they may eventually enable hair regeneration in people.

New, unusually large virus kills anthrax agent

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:38 PM PST

From a zebra carcass on the plains of Namibia in Southern Africa, an international team of researchers has discovered a new, unusually large virus (or bacteriophage) that infects the bacterium that causes anthrax. The novel bacteriophage could eventually open up new ways to detect, treat or decontaminate the anthrax bacillus and its relatives that cause food poisoning.

Natural plant compound prevents Alzheimer's disease in mice

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 04:37 PM PST

A chemical that's found in fruits and vegetables from strawberries to cucumbers appears to stop memory loss that accompanies Alzheimer's disease in mice, scientists have discovered. In experiments on mice that normally develop Alzheimer's symptoms less than a year after birth, a daily dose of the compound -- a flavonol called fisetin -- prevented the progressive memory and learning impairments. The drug, however, did not alter the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, accumulations of proteins which are commonly blamed for Alzheimer's disease.

Quest for better superconducting materials

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:48 PM PST

Nearly 30 years after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, many questions remain, but scientists are now providing insight that could lead to better superconductors.

DNA-built nanostructures safely target, image cancer tumors

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:48 PM PST

A team of researchers has discovered a method of assembling "building blocks" of gold nanoparticles as the vehicle to deliver cancer medications or cancer-identifying markers directly into cancerous tumors.

Health care savings: Reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:48 PM PST

Despite widely accepted prescription guidelines, physicians continue to prescribe antibiotics for colds even when they won't help. A new study offers an inexpensive and seemingly simple "nudge" that reduced inappropriate antibiotic prescribing by nearly 20 percent.

New method rescues DNA from contaminated Neandertal bones

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:47 PM PST

Retrieval of ancient DNA molecules is usually performed with special precautions to prevent DNA from researchers or the environment to get mixed in with the DNA from the fossil. However, many ancient fossils have been lying in museum collection for decades, and are contaminated with present-day human DNA before they enter the DNA-laboratory. A new method provides a solution to this problem.

New hope for Gaucher patients with brain pathology

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:44 PM PST

Gaucher disease, a genetic disorder prevalent among Ashkenazi Jews, is devastating for sufferers and their families. Now, scientists have discovered a new cellular pathway implicated in the disease. Their findings may offer a new therapeutic target for treatment of Gaucher and related disorders.

Yoga can lower fatigue, inflammation in breast cancer survivors

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:44 PM PST

Practicing yoga for as little as three months can reduce fatigue and lower inflammation in breast cancer survivors, according to new research. The more the women in the study practiced yoga, the better their results.

DDT pesticide exposure linked to Alzheimer's disease, study shows

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:44 PM PST

Scientists have known for more than 40 years that the synthetic pesticide DDT is harmful to bird habitats and a threat to the environment. Now researchers say exposure to DDT -- banned in the United States since 1972 but still used as a pesticide in other countries -- may also increase the risk and severity of Alzheimer's disease in some people, particularly those over the age of 60.

Scientists find genetic mechanism linking aging to specific diets

Posted: 27 Jan 2014 11:18 AM PST

In new research published, scientists identify a collection of genes that allow an organism to adapt to different diets and show that without them, even minor tweaks to diet can cause premature aging and death.
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