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Featured - Memory trick shows brain organization

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:03:31 -0400

A simple memory trick has helped show UC Davis researchers how an area of the brain called the perirhinal cortex can contribute to forming memories. The finding expands our understanding of how those brain areas that form memories are organized.

Source: University of California - Davis - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Robots learn to follow

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:03:30 -0400

Whether driving on the highway or walking down the street, we pick up on both deliberate signals and unconscious cues to predict what other people are going to do and act accordingly. But robots have trouble following each other around, for example, when a leader turns a corner and disappears from sight.

Source: University of California - Davis - Discipline: Robotics

Featured - Antarctic research helps shed light on climate change on Mars

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:03:28 -0400

Researchers examining images of gullies on the flanks of craters on Mars say they formed as recently as a few hundred thousand years ago and in sites once occupied by glaciers. The features are eerily reminiscent of gullies formed in Antarctica's mars-like McMurdo Dry Valleys.

Source: Boston University - Discipline: Space

Featured - 'Armored' fish study helps strengthen Darwin's natural selection theory

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:37:00 -0400

Shedding some genetically induced excess baggage may have helped a tiny fish thrive in freshwater and outsize its marine ancestors, according to a UBC study published today in Science Express.

Source: University of British Columbia - Discipline: Evolution

Featured - Treadmill exercise retrains brain and body of stroke victims

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:36:58 -0400

People who walk on a treadmill even years after stroke damage can significantly improve their health and mobility, changes that reflect actual "rewiring" of their brains, according to research spearheaded at Johns Hopkins.

Source: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions - Discipline: Health

Featured - Breaking harmful bonds

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:39:55 -0400

The very strength of the C-F bond that makes it useful in so many applications also gives it formidable greenhouse gas effects that persist in nature.

Source: Brandeis University - Discipline: Chemistry

Featured - Rapid changes in key Alzheimer's protein described in humans

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:39:54 -0400

For the first time, researchers have described hour-by-hour changes in the amount of amyloid beta, a protein that is believed to play a key role in Alzheimer's disease, in the human brain.

Source: Washington University School of Medicine - Discipline: Health

Featured - Crystals improve understanding of volcanic eruption triggers

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:39:53 -0400

Scientists have exploited crystals from lavas to unravel the records of volcanic eruptions.

Source: Durham University - Discipline: Geology

Featured - 'Pristine' Amazonian region hosted large, urban civilization

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:39:52 -0400

They aren't the lost cities early explorers sought fruitlessly to discover. But ancient settlements in the Amazon, now almost entirely obscured by tropical forest, were once large and complex enough to be considered "urban" as the term is commonly applied to both medieval European and ancient Greek communities.

Source: University of Florida - Discipline: Archaeology

Featured - Bitter-tasting nectar and floral odors optimize outcrossing for plants

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:39:51 -0400

Animals "personally" bring their gametes together – seeking out sexual partners, mating, fertilizing, and reproducing. Plants, however, are sessile organisms and require the help of a third party, the pollinator, which can be a bird, mouse or insect that transport pollen to receptive stigmas frequently over large distances.

Source: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology - Discipline: Plant Biology

Featured - Explosives go 'green'

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:31:36 -0400

Certain explosives may soon get a little greener and a little more precise. LLNL researchers added unique green solvents (ionic liquids) to an explosive called TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) and improved the crystal quality and chemical purity of the material.

Source: DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Discipline: Chemistry

Featured - Variant of mad cow disease may be transmitted by blood transfusions

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:31:36 -0400

Blood transfusions are a valuable treatment mechanism in modern medicine, but can come with the risk of donor disease transmission. Researchers are continually studying the biology of blood products to understand how certain diseases are transmitted in an effort to reduce this risk during blood transfusions.

Source: American Society of Hematology - Discipline: Health

Featured - New giant clam species offers window into human past

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:31:34 -0400

Researchers report the discovery of the first new living species of giant clam in two decades, according to a report to be published online on August 28th in Current Biology

Source: Cell Press - Discipline: Evolution

Featured - Why are flies so hard to swat? Chock it up to good planning

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:24:11 -0400

Ever wonder how flies are so incredibly good at zipping off to avoid that swatter? A new study using high-resolution, high-speed imaging of flies in action has identified an important part of the answer: rather than just taking off, the flies' tiny brains first calculate where the threat is coming from

Source: Cell Press - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Saving lives through smarter hurricane evacuations

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:24:10 -0400

Hundreds of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars could potentially be saved if emergency managers could make better and more timely critical decisions when faced with an approaching hurricane. Now, an MIT graduate student has developed a computer model that could help do just that.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Discipline: Environment

Featured - Ceramic material revs up microwaving

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:24:09 -0400

Quicker microwave meals that use less energy may soon be possible with new ceramic microwave dishes and, according to the material scientists responsible, this same material could help with organic waste remediation.

Source: Penn State - Discipline: Materials Science

Featured - Study says eyes evolved for X-Ray vision

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:06:55 -0400

The advantage of using two eyes to see the world around us has long been associated solely with our capacity to see in 3-D. Now, a new study from a scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has uncovered a truly eye-opening advantage to binocular vision: our ability to see through things.

Source: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Discipline: Evolution

Featured - Researchers provide solution to world's worst mass poisoning case

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:06:51 -0400

A solution to the world's worst case of ongoing mass poisoning, linked to rising cancer rates in Southern Asia, has been developed by researchers from Queen's University Belfast.

Source: Queen's University Belfast - Discipline: Epidemiology

Featured - Clearing the airways in cystic fibrosis

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:06:49 -0400

By manipulating the machinery used by our cells for quality control, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have found a way to restore the function of cystic fibrosis (CF) airway cells.

Source: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology - Discipline: Genetics

Featured - Tiny 3-D ultrasound probe guides catheters

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:06:46 -0400

An ultrasound probe small enough to ride along at the tip of a catheter can provide physicians with clearer real-time images of soft tissue without the risks associated with conventional x-ray catheter guidance.

Source: Duke University - Discipline: Health

Featured - Antidepressants need new nerve cells to be effective

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:06:44 -0400

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered in mice that the brain must create new nerve cells for either exercise or antidepressants to reduce depression-like behavior.

Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - HIV patients at greater risk for bone fractures

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:06:41 -0400

HIV-infected patients have a higher prevalence of fractures than non HIV-infected patients, across both genders and critical fracture sites according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Source: The Endocrine Society - Discipline: Health

Featured - Variation PMS2 could be key to resistance to common cancer drug

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:06:38 -0400

Researchers at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UC SD) in La Jolla have found evidence explaining why a common chemotherapy drug, cisplatin, may not always work for every cancer patient. They have shown that when a variant version of a key protein that normally causes cell death is active, patients may be resistant to the cancer-killing drug.

Source: University of California - San Diego - Discipline: Cancer

Featured - Low levels of brain chemical may lead to obesity

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:32:29 -0400

A brain chemical that plays a role in long term memory also appears to be involved in regulating how much people eat and their likelihood of becoming obese, according to a National Institutes of Health study of a rare genetic condition.

Source: NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development - Discipline: Health

Featured - Genetic link to dry macular degeneration found

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:32:28 -0400

A University of Kentucky ophthalmologist, along with a team of scientists, has discovered a genetic mutation that offers protection against a type of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease of the eye that is the leading cause of blindness in adults over age 50.

Source: University of Kentucky - Discipline: Genetics

Featured - Sticks and stones: A new study on social and physical pain

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:06:08 -0400

We all know the famous saying: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," but is this proverb actually true?

Source: Association for Psychological Science - Discipline: Psychology

Featured - Yellowstone's ancient supervolcano: Only lukewarm?

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:06:07 -0400

The geysers of Yellowstone National Park owe their eistence to the "Yellowstone hotspot"--a region of molten rock buried deep beneath Yellowstone, geologists have found.

Source: National Science Foundation - Discipline: Geology

Featured - "Sick" fat found in obese people

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:06:05 -0400

A Temple University study finds fat in obese patients is "sick" when compared to fat in lean patients.

Source: Temple University - Discipline: Health

Featured - Jamaican lizards' shows of strength mark territory at dawn, dusk

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:39:17 -0400

What does Jack LaLanne have in common with a Jamaican lizard? Like the ageless fitness guru, the lizards greet each new day with vigorous push-ups.

Source: University of California, Davis/Harvard - Discipline: Animal Behavior

Featured - Why is Greenland covered in ice?

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:39:16 -0400

Only changes in carbon dioxide levels are able to explain the transition from the mostly ice-free Greenland of three million years ago, to the ice-covered Greenland of today

Source: University of Bristol - Discipline: Environment

Featured - Scientists reveal effects of quantum 'traffic jam' in high-temperature superconductors

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:39:15 -0400

Scientists have uncovered the first experimental evidence for why the transition temperature of high-temperature superconductors -- the temperature at which these materials carry electrical current with no resistance -- cannot simply be elevated by increasing the electrons' binding energy.

Source: DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory - Discipline: Physics

Featured - Scientists discover minimum mass for galaxies

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:39:13 -0400

By analyzing light from small, faint galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, UC Irvine scientists believe they have discovered the minimum mass for galaxies in the universe – 10 million times the mass of the sun.

Source: University of California - Irvine - Discipline: Space

Featured - NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity Climbing Out of Victoria Crater

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:52:05 -0400

NASA's Mars Exploration rover Opportunity is heading back out to the Red Planet's surrounding plains nearly a year after descending into a large Martian crater to examine exposed ancient rock layers.

Source: NASA - Discipline: Space

Featured - Generations of Stars Pose for Family Portrait

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:45:46 -0400

A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope tells a tale of life and death amidst a rich family history. The striking infrared picture shows a colorful cosmic cloud, called W5, studded with multiple generations of blazing stars.

Source: NASA/JPL - Discipline: Astronomy

Featured - Subliminal learning demonstrated in the human brain

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:40:21 -0400

Although the idea that instrumental learning can occur subconsciously has been around for nearly a century, it had not been unequivocally demonstrated.

Source: Cell Press - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Cocaine-induced brain plasticity may protect the addicted brain

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:40:19 -0400

A new study has unraveled some of the mysteries of the cocaine-addicted brain and may pave the way for the design of more effective treatments for drug addiction.

Source: Cell Press - Discipline: Neuroscience

Featured - Ancient mother spawns new insight on reptile reproduction

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:40:17 -0400

A 75-million-year-old fossil of a pregnant turtle and a nest of fossilized eggs that were discovered in the badlands of southeastern Alberta by scientists and staff from the University of Calgary and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology are yielding new ideas on the evolution of egg-laying and reproduction in turtles and tortoises.

Source: University of Calgary - Discipline: Evolution

Toddler cancer spotted via e-mail

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:40:16 -0400

A toddler in Florida has been diagnosed with cancer after a Manchester woman saw early warning signs in a picture.

Source: BBC News - Discipline: Cancer

Featured - Black raspberries slow cancer by altering hundreds of genes

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:40:14 -0400

New research strongly suggests that a mix of preventative agents, such as those found in concentrated black raspberries, may more effectively inhibit cancer development than single agents aimed at shutting down a particular gene.

Source: Ohio State University - Discipline: Cancer

TV's 'Mythbusters' Tackle Moon Landing Hoax Claims

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:40:11 -0400

TV's 'Mythbusters' tackle the hoax claims linked to Apollo moon landings.

Source: Space.com - Discipline: Space

Featured - Model helps computers sort data more like humans

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:33:48 -0400

Humans have a natural tendency to find order in sets of information, a skill that has proven difficult to replicate in computers. Faced with a large set of data, computers don't know where to begin -- unless they're programmed to look for a specific structure, such as a hierarchy, linear order, or a set of clusters.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Discipline: Technology

Computer viruses make it to orbit

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:33:45 -0400

A computer virus is alive and well on the International Space Station (ISS).

Source: BBC News - Discipline: Technology

Featured - Beyond jewelry: Engineering new uses for gold

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:33:44 -0400

The glitter of gold may hold more than just beauty, or so says a team of MIT researchers that is working on ways to use tiny gold rods to fight cancer, deliver drugs and more.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Discipline: Chemistry

Greedy molecules could be behind the emergence of life

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:33:40 -0400

Artificial system shows how a molecular soup could be exploited by a single self-replicating complex.

Source: Nature - Discipline: Molecular Biology

Featured - Sleight of hand and sense of self

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:33:38 -0400

An illusion that tricks people into believing a rubber hand belongs to them isn’t all in the mind, Oxford University researchers have found. They have observed a physical response as well, a finding that offers insight into conditions which affect a patient’s sense of self and body ownership, such as stroke, schizophrenia, autism, or eating disorders.

Source: University of Oxford - Discipline: Neuroscience

When glaciers disappear, the bugs move in

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:33:35 -0400

The bare soil left behind by retreating glaciers is soon taken over by bacteria that prepare the ground for life on a larger scale

Source: New Scientist - Discipline: Environment

Featured - A Clash of Clusters Provides New Clue to Dark Matter

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:24:55 -0400

A powerful collision of galaxy clusters has been captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory. The observations of the cluster known as MACS J0025.4-1222 indicate that a titanic collision has separated the dark from ordinary matter and provide an independent confirmation of a similar effect detected previously in a target dubbed the Bullet Cluster.

Source: Newswise - Discipline: Astronomy

Household Hazards: What to Avoid in a Storm

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:24:50 -0400

Lightning can strike indoors. Here's how to steer clear of it.

Source: ABC News - Discipline: Health

Featured - Most Adults Aren’t Immunized Against Serious Infectious Diseases

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:24:48 -0400

When is the last time you got vaccinated? If you’re like most Americans it’s been years, maybe even decades. In fact the Centers for Disease Control has warned that far too few American adults are being vaccinated against serious, even deadly diseases.

Source: Newswise - Discipline: Health

Pass me the nautiloid, nurse

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:24:44 -0400

The potential of 'object therapy' to be tested in hospital.

Source: Nature - Discipline: Psychology

Featured - Chronic stress alters our genetic immune response

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:40 -0400

Most people would agree that stress increases your risk for illness and this is particularly true for severe long-term stresses, such as caring for a family member with a chronic medical illness. However, we still have a relatively limited understanding of exactly how stress contributes to the risk for illness.

Source: Elsevier - Discipline: Health

Jawbreakers? Taking Stress Out on Teeth

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:39 -0400

Perpetual teeth grinders are in for a lifetime of pain, say dentists.

Source: ABC News - Discipline: Health

Featured - Scientists unmask brain's hidden potential

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:37 -0400

Previous research has found that when vision is lost, a person's senses of touch and hearing become enhanced. But exactly how this happens has been unclear.

Source: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Discipline: Neuroscience

Scientists Learn How Nemo Finds His Way Home

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:35 -0400

How does the orange clownfish — aka Nemo from the movie "Finding Nemo" — really find its way home?

Source: LiveScience - Discipline: Marine Biology

Featured - Bone parts don't add up to conclusion of Palauan dwarfs

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:31 -0400

Misinterpreted fragments of leg bones, teeth and brow ridges found in Palau appear to be an archaeologist's undoing, according to researchers at three institutions. They say that the so-called dwarfs of these Micronesian islands actually were modern, normal-sized hunters and gatherers.

Source: University of Oregon - Discipline: Archaeology

Israel to Display the Dead Sea Scrolls on the Internet

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:29 -0400

Each piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls is being digitally photographed with the aim of putting the entire file online.

Source: NYT - Discipline: Technology

Featured - Unusual ultrasonic vocalization patterns in mice may be useful for modeling autism

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:26 -0400

Scientists have found novel patterns of ultrasonic vocalizations in a genetic mouse model of autism, adding a unique element to the available mouse behaviors that capture components of the human disease, and representing a new step towards identifying causes and better treatments.

Source: Public Library of Science - Discipline: Genetics

A Stem-Cell Revolution

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:24 -0400

Biologist Doug Melton talks about how disease-specific stem cells will reshape medicine.

Source: Technology Review - Discipline: Stem cells

Featured - Protection zones in the wrong place to prevent coral reef collapse

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:21 -0400

Conservation zones are in the wrong place to protect vulnerable coral reefs from the effects of global warming, an international team of scientists warned today.

Source: Public Library of Science - Discipline: Marine Biology

Pre-Incan female Wari mummy unearthed in Peru

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:10:19 -0400

Archeologists working at Peru's Huaca Pucllana ruins pulled a mummy from a tomb on Tuesday, thought to be from the ancient Wari culture that flourished before the Incas.

Source: Reuters - Discipline: Archaeology