July 06, 2009 Science Current Events

Evolution: Crabs go deep to avoid hot water
Researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, have drawn together 200 years' worth of oceanographic knowledge to investigate the distribution of a notorious deep-sea giant - the king crab.

Plants' internal clock can improve climate-change models
The ability of plants to tell the time, a mechanism common to all living beings, enables them to survive, grow and reproduce.

A question of height
Intelligent countryside management could improve the survival chances of animal and plant species threatened by climate change.

Researchers find possible environmental causes for Alzheimer's, diabetes
A new study by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital have found a substantial link between increased levels of nitrates in our environment and food with increased deaths from diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes mellitus and Parkinson's.

Printable batteries
In the past, it was necessary to race to the bank for every money transfer and every bank statement. Today, bank transactions can be easily carried out at home. Now where is that piece of paper again with the TAN numbers? In the future you can spare yourself the search for the number.

Virus-resistant grapevines
A good wine needs to ripen. But it's a long way to the barrel. Even before the harvest, the grapevines have to overcome all kinds of obstacles. Extremely hot or rainy periods can destroy entire crops, not to mention the wide variety of pests that can appear on the scene.

Natural Compound Stops Diabetic Retinopathy
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found a way to use a natural compound to stop one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States.

DNA variations linked to brain tumors
Mayo Clinic researchers and colleagues at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have found a connection between DNA alterations on human chromosome 9 and aggressive brain cancer known as glioblastoma.

Prostate cancer patients disease free after 5 years likely to be disease free after 10 years
Prostate cancer patients who receive brachytherapy and remain free of disease for five years or greater are unlikely to have a recurrence at 10 years.

UT multimedia program increases middle school students' interest in science
Middle school students who were part of a unique science learning program developed by The University of Texas School of Public Health showed significant increases in interest and achievement scores compared to other students, a recent study found.

Study identifies how tamoxifen stimulates uterine cell growth and cancer
UCSF researchers have identified a new "feed-forward" pathway linking estrogen receptors in the membrane of the uterus to a process that increases local estrogen levels and promotes cell growth.

GUMC discovery highlights new direction for drug discovery
In a discovery that rebuffs conventional scientific thinking, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have discovered a novel way to block the activity of the fusion protein responsible for Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer found in children and young adults.

Caffeine reverses memory impairment in Alzheimer's mice
Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup. When aged mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease were given caffeine - the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day - their memory impairment was reversed.

In the Eye of the Storm: Why some people stayed behind
Hurricane Katrina was the largest natural disaster in U.S. history, claiming the lives of more than 1,800 victims and causing well over $100 billion in damage along the Gulf Coast.

New focus on the moon
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) has taken and received its first images of the Moon, kicking off the year-long mapping mission of Earth's nearest celestial neighbor.

Overweight Kids Experience More Loneliness, Anxiety, MU Study Finds
As childhood obesity rates continue to increase, experts agree that more information is needed about the implications of being overweight as a step toward reversing current trends.

Rampant helper syndrome
The Archaea are single-celled organisms and a domain unto themselves, quite apart from the so called eukaryotes, being bacteria and higher organisms.

Brain malformations significantly associated with preterm birth, Wake Forest research shows
New research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine provides for the first time a solid scientific answer for the long-standing question of whether there is an association between preterm birth and brain malformations.

Heart transplant recipients can improve fitness and perform high intensity workouts
Heart transplant recipients' cardio-respiratory fitness is around 30 to 50 per cent lower than age-matched healthy sedentary individuals.

Variations in 5 genes raise risk for most common brain tumors
Common genetic variations spread across five genes raise a person's risk of developing the most frequent type of brain tumor, an international research team reports online in Nature Genetics.

Study in Nature: MicroRNAs hold promise for treating diseases in blood vessels
A newly discovered mechanism controls whether muscle cells in blood vessels hasten the development of both atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease, according to an article published online today in the journal Nature.

Ben-Gurion U. researchers reveal connection between cancer and human evolution
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have discovered that gene mutations that once helped humans survive may increase the possibility for diseases, including cancer.

Learning from locusts
A similarity in brain disturbance between insects and people suffering from migraines, stroke and epilepsy points the way toward new drug therapies to address these conditions.

Rare sheep could be key to better diagnostic tests in developing world, says Stanford study
The newest revolution in microbiology testing walks on four legs and says "baa."

Few people changed their behaviour in the early stages of the swine flu outbreak
Few people changed their behaviour in the early stages of the swine flu outbreak, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

Pacific Northwest forests could store more carbon, help address greenhouse issues
The forests of the Pacific Northwest hold significant potential to increase carbon storage and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a recent study concludes, if they are managed primarily for that purpose through timber harvest reductions and increased rotation ages.

Pitt team finds molecule that regulates heart size by using zebrafish screening model
Using zebrafish, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have identified and described an enzyme inhibitor that allows them to increase the number of cardiac progenitor cells and therefore influence the size of the developing heart.

Children with autism need to be taught in smaller groups, pilot study confirms
Since the 1970s, there has been much debate surrounding the fact that individuals with autism have difficulty in understanding speech in situations where there is background speech or noise.

Ferns took to the trees and thrived
As flowering plants like giant trees quickly rose to dominate plant communities during the Cretaceous period, the ferns that had preceded them hardly saw it as a disappointment.

Many characteristics of Mars, including ice, are similar to Earth, paper says
Mars gets as far as 250 million miles away, but many parts of it closely resemble places on Earth, including its landscape, history of water, soil and even its weather, says a Texas A&M University researcher in the current issue of "Science" magazine.

The Problem with Self-Help Books: Study shows the negative side to positive self-statements
In times of doubt and uncertainty, many Americans turn to self-help books in search of encouragement, guidance and self-affirmation.

Gladstone scientists identify genetic factors that hold promise for treatment of vascular diseases
Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) have discovered a key switch that makes stem cells turn into the type of muscle cells that reside in the wall of blood vessels.

Perfect pitch study offers window into influences of nature and nurture
Practice, practice, practice might get you to Carnegie Hall, but for aspiring musicians, there's new evidence that genes may influence one's ability to get there, as well.

Survival rates for elderly receiving hospital CPR did not improve from 1992 to 2005
A study of elderly patients receiving CPR in the hospital shows that rates of survival did not improve from 1992 to 2005.

New method for detecting nitroxyl will boost cardiac drug research
Wake Forest University scientists have developed a new research tool in the pursuit of heart medications based on the compound nitroxyl by identifying unique chemical markers for its presence in biological systems.

Poor health among indigenous peoples a question of cultural loss as well as poverty
The health problems of Indigenous peoples around the world are intimately tied to a number of unique factors, such as colonization, globalization, migration, and loss of land, language and culture.

Report calls for new initiative to improve math education for preschoolers
To ensure that all children enter elementary school with the foundation they need for success, a major national initiative is needed to improve early childhood mathematics education, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Second Life data offers window into how trends spread
Do friends wear the same style of shoe or see the same movies because they have similar tastes, which is why they became friends in the first place? Or once a friendship is established, do individuals influence each other to adopt like behaviors?

Parents' endorsement of vigorous team sports increases children's physical activity, say researchers
Parents who value strenuous team sports are more likely to influence their children to join a team or at least participate in some kind of exercise, and spend less time in front of the TV or computer, a new study says.

Sexist jokes favor the mental mechanisms that justify violence against women
Sexist jokes (and all the variants of this kind of humour) favour the mental mechanisms which urge to violence and battering against women in individuals with macho attitudes.

Integrated optical trap holds particles for on-chip analysis
A new type of optical particle trap can be used to manipulate bacteria, viruses and other particles on a chip as part of an integrated optofluidic platform.