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• Successful Stem Cell Differentiation Requires DNA Compaction, Study Finds
• New Screening Technique from Scripps Research Institute Yields Elusive Compounds to Block Immune-Regulating Enzyme
• Living longer – variability in infection-fighting genes can be a boon for male survival
• First Evidence for ‘Vocal Cultures’ in a Non-Human Primate - Call Cultures in Orangutans
• A Push From the Mississippi Kept Deepwater Horizon Oil Slick Off Shore, Penn Research Shows
• You're beautiful, Vesta
• Dawn spacecraft reveals complexities of ancient asteroidal world
• Nanotube 'sponge' has potential in oil spill cleanup
• University of Florida study finds logging of tropical forests needn’t devastate environment
• Smoking Ban Reduced Maternal Smoking and Preterm Birth Risk
• Long-term Use of Osteoporosis Medication May Reduce Bone Fracture Risk for Some Patients
• Reducing Brain Activity Improves Memory After Cognitive Decline, Johns Hopkins Team Finds
• Free-floating planets in the Milky Way outnumber stars by factors of thousands
• Discovery of a gene that causes Joubert Syndrome

Successful Stem Cell Differentiation Requires DNA Compaction, Study Finds Posted: 11 May 2012 07:05 AM PDT New research findings show that embryonic stem cells unable to fully compact the DNA inside them cannot complete their primary task: differentiation into specific cell types that give rise to the various types of tissues and structures in the body. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University found that chromatin compaction is required for proper embryonic stem cell differentiation to occur. Chromatin, which is composed of histone proteins and DNA, packages DNA into a smaller volume so that it fits inside a cell. read more

New Screening Technique from Scripps Research Institute Yields Elusive Compounds to Block Immune-Regulating Enzyme Posted: 11 May 2012 06:54 AM PDT Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found the first chemical compounds that act to block an enzyme that has been linked to inflammatory conditions such as asthma and arthritis, as well as some inflammation-promoted cancers. read more

Living longer – variability in infection-fighting genes can be a boon for male survival Posted: 11 May 2012 06:47 AM PDT Females of mammals (including humans) tend to outlive males, a circumstance that is usually attributed to males´ more aggressive and hence energy-depleting behaviour, especially when they compete for females. This might also explain why males of many species usually show a higher parasite burden than females. Therefore, high variability of immune genes, supposed to reduce susceptibility to pathogens, may be more important for males. read more

First Evidence for ‘Vocal Cultures’ in a Non-Human Primate - Call Cultures in Orangutans Posted: 11 May 2012 04:05 AM PDT A multinational team of researchers report that orangutans can invent arbitrary calls that become shared in populations through social learning, a characteristic that was previously ascribed only to humans. read more

A Push From the Mississippi Kept Deepwater Horizon Oil Slick Off Shore, Penn Research Shows Posted: 10 May 2012 01:49 PM PDT When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, 2010, residents feared that their Gulf of Mexico shores would be inundated with oil. And while many wetland habitats and wildlife were oiled during the three-month leak, the environmental damage to coastal Louisiana was less than many expected, in part because much of the crude never made it to the coast. read more

You're beautiful, Vesta Posted: 10 May 2012 01:43 PM PDT When UCLA's Christopher T. Russell looks at the images of the protoplanet Vesta produced by NASA's Dawn mission, he talks about beauty as much as he talks about science.   read more

Dawn spacecraft reveals complexities of ancient asteroidal world Posted: 10 May 2012 01:23 PM PDT New findings from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft lay the groundwork for the first geological overview of asteroid (4)Vesta and confirm the existence of not one but two giant impact basins in its southern hemisphere. The findings, published today in a set of Science papers, will help scientists better understand the early solar system and processes that occurred as it formed and evolved. read more

Nanotube 'sponge' has potential in oil spill cleanup Posted: 10 May 2012 11:14 AM PDT A carbon nanotube sponge that can soak up oil in water with unparalleled efficiency has been developed with help from computational simulations performed at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Oak Ridge National Laboratory. read more

University of Florida study finds logging of tropical forests needn’t devastate environment Posted: 10 May 2012 10:05 AM PDT Harvesting tropical forests for timber may not be the arch-enemy of conservation that it was once assumed to be, according to a new study led by a University of Florida researcher. Selective logging may be one of the few feasible options left for conserving tropical forests given the huge financial incentives pushing tropical landholders to convert primary forests into cash-generating agricultural plantations. read more

Smoking Ban Reduced Maternal Smoking and Preterm Birth Risk Posted: 10 May 2012 09:55 AM PDT A citywide ban on public smoking in Colorado led to significant decreases in maternal smoking and preterm births, providing the first evidence in the U.S. that such interventions can impact maternal and fetal health, according to an article in Journal of Women’s Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women’s Health website. read more

Long-term Use of Osteoporosis Medication May Reduce Bone Fracture Risk for Some Patients Posted: 10 May 2012 09:48 AM PDT Continuing a popular but controversial treatment for osteoporosis could reduce spine fracture risk for a particular group of patients, but others could see little to no change if they discontinue it. Based on available evidence, a UCSF researcher reevaluated his 2006 finding from a randomized 10-year study of alendronate, a type of bisphosphonate – a class of drugs that prevent loss of bone mass. read more

Reducing Brain Activity Improves Memory After Cognitive Decline, Johns Hopkins Team Finds Posted: 10 May 2012 08:24 AM PDT A study led by a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist and published in the May 10 issue of the journal Neuron suggests a potential new therapeutic approach for improving memory and interrupting disease progression in patients with a form of cognitive impairment that often leads to full-blown Alzheimer’s disease. read more

Free-floating planets in the Milky Way outnumber stars by factors of thousands Posted: 10 May 2012 08:16 AM PDT A few hundred thousand billion free-floating life-bearing Earth-sized planets may exist in the space between stars in the Milky Way. So argues an international team of scientists led by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham, UK. Their findings are published online in the Springer journal Astrophysics and Space Science. read more

Discovery of a gene that causes Joubert Syndrome Posted: 10 May 2012 08:09 AM PDT C5ORF42 was identified as the gene that causes Joubert Syndrome in a number of families in the Lower St. Lawrence region of Quebec where the causal gene had remained unknown since the initial description of the syndrome in 1969. This is what a study in the April issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics reveals. The study was conducted by researchers from the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center and the Centre of Excellence in Neuromics of Université de Montréal's (CENUM). read more

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