| Do biofuel policies seek to cut emissions by cutting food? Posted: 27 Mar 2015 05:17 PM PDT A new study found that government biofuel policies rely on reductions in food consumption to generate greenhouse gas savings.  |
| When attention is a deficit: Sometimes a new strategy makes sense Posted: 27 Mar 2015 05:17 PM PDT During tasks that require our attention, we might become so engrossed in what we are doing that we fail to notice there is a better way to get the job done. A new study explores the question of how the brain switches from an ongoing strategy to a new and potentially more efficient one.  |
| Recipe for antibacterial plastic: Plastic plus egg whites Posted: 27 Mar 2015 05:17 PM PDT Bioplastics made from protein sources such as albumin and whey have shown significant antibacterial properties, findings that could eventually lead to their use in plastics used in medical applications such as wound healing dressings, sutures, catheter tubes and drug delivery, according to a recent study. The bioplastic materials could also be used for food packaging.  |
| Light-emitting diode tech: Solving molybdenum disulfide's 'thin' problem Posted: 27 Mar 2015 11:30 AM PDT A research team used silver nanodiscs to increase the promising new material's light emission by twelve times, making it a better candidate for light-emitting diode technologies.  |
| Computational model simulates bacterial behavior Posted: 27 Mar 2015 11:30 AM PDT Applied mathematicians and environmental biotechnologists have developed a new computational model that effectively simulates the mechanical behavior of biofilms. Their model may lead to new strategies for studying a range of issues from blood clots to waste treatment systems.  |
| More evidence for groundwater on Mars: Conditions would be conducive for microbial colonization if on Earth Posted: 27 Mar 2015 11:30 AM PDT Scientists investigated the Equatorial Layered Deposits (ELDs) of Arabia Terra in Firsoff crater area, Mars, to understand their formation and potential habitability. On the plateau, ELDs consist of rare mounds, flat-lying deposits, and cross-bedded dune fields. They interpret the mounds as smaller spring deposits, the flat-lying deposits as playa, and the cross-bedded dune fields as aeolian. They write that groundwater fluctuations appear to be the major factor controlling ELD deposition.  |
| Sexual selection isn't the last word on bird plumage Posted: 27 Mar 2015 11:30 AM PDT Evolutionary changes have led to both sexes becoming closer together in color over time to blend into their surroundings and hide from predators, a new study has found.  |
| Nanoscale worms provide new route to nano-necklace structures Posted: 27 Mar 2015 11:30 AM PDT Researchers have developed a novel technique for crafting nanometer-scale necklaces based on tiny star-like structures threaded onto a polymeric backbone. The technique could provide a new way to produce hybrid organic-inorganic shish kebab structures from semiconducting, magnetic, ferroelectric and other materials that may afford useful nanoscale properties.  |
| For drivers with telescopic lenses, driving experience and training affect road test results Posted: 27 Mar 2015 11:30 AM PDT For people with low vision who need bioptic telescopic glasses to drive, previous driving experience and the need for more training hours are the main factors affecting performance on driver's license road tests, according to a new study.  |
| Study provides evidence against the fetal origins of cancer, cardiovascular disease Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:22 AM PDT A study evaluated the relationship between nutritional conditions in early life and adult health, and found that famine exposure during the first pregnancy trimester was associated with increases in mortality from causes other than cancer or cardiovascular disease. This is the first study to quantify the possible long-term effects of nutrition deprivation at different stages of pregnancy and long-term mortality.  |
| Study takes aim at mitigating the human impact on the Central Valley, California Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:22 AM PDT Study of California's Central Valley shows that as temperature-mitigating technologies are deployed, other environmental factors like pollution become a concern.  |
| Climate change does not cause extreme winters, experts say Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:22 AM PDT Cold snaps like the ones that hit the eastern United States in the past winters are not a consequence of climate change. Scientists have now shown that global warming actually tends to reduce temperature variability.  |
| Love the cook, love the food: Attraction to comfort food linked to positive social connections Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:21 AM PDT A big bowl of mashed potatoes. What about spaghetti and meatballs? Sushi? Regardless of what you identify as comfort food, it's likely the attraction to that dish is based on having a good relationship with the person you remember first preparing it.  |
| Mira Supercomputer use to Peer Inside High-Temperature Superconductors Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:21 AM PDT Researchers are using supercomputers to shed light on the mysterious nature of high-temperature superconductors.  |
| New lobster-like predator found in 508 million-year-old fossil-rich site Posted: 27 Mar 2015 09:05 AM PDT What do butterflies, spiders and lobsters have in common? They are all surviving relatives of a newly identified species called Yawunik kootenayi, a marine creature with two pairs of eyes and prominent grasping appendages that lived as much as 508 million years ago -- more than 250 million years before the first dinosaur.  |
| Is painful knee and hand osteoarthritis in women associated with excess mortality? Posted: 27 Mar 2015 09:05 AM PDT Researchers present a study that compares mortality rates of women with painful knee and hand osteoarthritis with the mortality of unaffected women from the same community; demonstrates higher risk of early death in the group with painful knee osteoarthritis.  |
| Long-standing mystery in membrane traffic solved Posted: 27 Mar 2015 08:18 AM PDT In 2013, James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman, and Thomas C. Südhof won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of molecular machineries for vesicle trafficking, a major transport system in cells for maintaining cellular processes. SNARE proteins are known as the minimal machinery for membrane fusion. Scientists now report that NSF/?-SNAP disassemble a single SNARE complex using various single-molecule biophysical methods that allow them to monitor and manipulate individual protein complexes.  |
| Metals used in high-tech products face future supply risks Posted: 27 Mar 2015 08:18 AM PDT Researchers have assessed the 'criticality' of all 62 metals on the Periodic Table of Elements, providing key insights into which materials might become more difficult to find in the coming decades, which ones will exact the highest environmental costs -- and which ones simply cannot be replaced as components of vital technologies.  |
| A peek at the secret life of pandas Posted: 27 Mar 2015 08:18 AM PDT The world is fascinated by the reclusive giant pandas, yet precious little is known about how they spend their time in the Chinese bamboo forests. Until now. A team of researchers who have been electronically stalking five pandas in the wild, courtesy of rare GPS collars, have finished crunching months of data and has published some panda surprises.  |
| We don’t notice much of what we see: 85 college students tried to draw the Apple logo from memory; 84 failed Posted: 27 Mar 2015 07:11 AM PDT Of 85 UCLA undergraduate students, only one correctly recalled the Apple logo when asked to draw it on a blank sheet of paper, psychologists found. Fewer than half correctly identified the logo when shown several options.  |
| Spring plankton bloom hitches ride to sea's depths on ocean eddies Posted: 27 Mar 2015 07:11 AM PDT Just as crocus and daffodil blossoms signal the start of a warmer season on land, a similar 'greening' event --a massive bloom of microscopic plants, or phytoplankton -- unfolds each spring in the North Atlantic Ocean from Bermuda to the Arctic.  |
| More than one-third of Division I college athletes may have low vitamin D levels Posted: 27 Mar 2015 07:11 AM PDT A new study found that more than one-third of elite, Division I college athletes may have low levels of vitamin D, which is critical in helping the body to absorb calcium needed to maintain bone mass, and to minimize musculoskeletal pain and injury risk.  |
| C. difficile doubles hospital readmission rates, lengths of stay Posted: 27 Mar 2015 07:11 AM PDT Patients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) are twice as likely to be readmitted to the hospital as patients without the deadly diarrheal infection, according to a new study.  |
| Color of lettuce determines the speed of its antioxidant effect Posted: 27 Mar 2015 07:11 AM PDT Lettuce, one of the indispensable vegetables in the Mediterranean diet, is a food that greatly benefits health, mainly because it is rich in antioxidants. But not all lettuce varieties have the same antioxidant effect. The color of the leaves of these vegetables determines the speed at which their compounds act. So lettuces with green leaves have antioxidants that react more slowly while red-leaf ones have a faster effect.  |
| How body's good fat tissue communicates with brain Posted: 27 Mar 2015 07:10 AM PDT Brown fat tissue, the body's "good fat," communicates with the brain through sensory nerves, possibly sharing information that is important for fighting human obesity, such as how much fat we have and how much fat we've lost, according to researchers.  |
| Computer programming: Internet of things should be developable for all Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:18 AM PDT Within the next five to ten years, around 100 billion different devices will be online. A large part of the communication takes place solely between machines, and to ensure that they can communicate, the European Commission has supported a project that over the last three years has been working on creating a common platform – a programming language, that can make everything from microwave ovens to wind meters talk to each other.  |
| The stapes in the middle ear of a Neanderthal child shows anatomical differences from humans Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:18 AM PDT Scientists have produced a 3-D reconstruction of the remains of a two-year-old Neanderthal recovered from an excavation carried out back in the 1970s at La Ferrassie (Dordogne, France). The work reveals the existence of anatomical differences between the Neanderthals and our species, even in the smallest ossicles of the human body.  |
| Two degree Celsius climate change target 'utterly inadequate', expert argues Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:10 AM PDT The official global target of a two degree Celsius temperature rise is 'utterly inadequate' for protecting those at most risk from climate change, says an expert. The commentary presents a rare inside-view of a discussion at the Lima Conference of the Parties on the likely consequences of accepting an average global warming target of 2 degrees Celsius versus 1.5 degrees Celsius.  |
| Smaller plates, smaller portions? Not always Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:10 AM PDT It may have become conventional wisdom that you can trick yourself into eating less if you use a smaller plate. But a new study finds that trick doesn't work for everyone, particularly overweight teens.  |
| First glimpse inside a macroscopic quantum state Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:10 AM PDT Scientists report on the detection of particle entanglement in a beam of squeezed light. Researchers were able to observe effects of entanglement monogamy, where particles can be strongly entangled only if they have few entanglement partners.  |
| Teenagers shape each other's views on how risky a situation is Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:10 AM PDT Young adolescents' judgements on how risky a situation might be are most influenced by what other teenagers think, while most other age groups are more influenced by adults' views, finds new research. For the study, 563 visitors to the London Science Museum were asked to rate the riskiness of everyday situations such as crossing a road on a red light or taking a shortcut through a dark alley.  |
| Switch that might tame most aggressive of breast cancers Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:10 AM PDT So-called 'triple-negative breast cancers' are two distinct diseases that likely originate from different cell types, researchers have found. They have also found a gene that drives the aggressive disease, and hope to find a way to 'switch it off'.  |
| Bundled payments: Study finds causes of hospital readmissions following joint replacements Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:09 AM PDT A new study identifies common causes of hospital readmissions following total hip and knee arthoplasty procedures among patients involved in a Bundled Payment Care Initiative. By finding these common causes, researchers believe quality can be increased and hospital costs decreased.  |
| Fracture liaison services prevent fractures and save lives Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:09 AM PDT Using a simulation model, researchers have shown that the implementation of Fracture Liaison Services could considerably reduce the human and healthcare costs associated with osteoporotic fractures.  |
| Bio-marker set forms the basis for new blood test to detect colorectal cancer Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:09 AM PDT Colorectal cancer is the third most common form of cancer globally and the second most common cause of cancer deaths. The chance of a cure is high if the cancer is detected early enough, but early detection is not a given. Researchers have identified bio-markers that can be incorporated in a new diagnostic test. This should make it possible to detect colorectal cancer in an early stage using a simple blood test, they say.  |
| Greener industry if environmental authorities change strategy Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:09 AM PDT Fewer industrial firms would violate environmental legislation and a higher number would adopt cleaner technologies if environmental authorities would focus their monitoring efforts on companies with the most environmentally damaging technology. At a societal level, such a strategy would mean less pollution at the same or a lower cost of monitoring, according to new research.  |
| Novel coatings combine protection with color effects Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:09 AM PDT New colored protective coatings offer the same corrosion and wear protection as colorless coatings while their coloration opens new opportunities. Red could for instance be used as a warning color on surfaces which can get very hot.  |
| Playing music by professional musicians activates genes responsible for brain function and singing of songbirds Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:09 AM PDT Although music perception and practice are well preserved in human evolution, the biological determinants of music practice are largely unknown. According to a latest study, music performance by professional musicians enhanced the activity of genes involved in dopaminergic neurotransmission, motor behavior, learning and memory. Interestingly, several of those up-regulated genes were also known to be responsible for song production in songbirds, which suggests a potential evolutionary conservation in sound perception and production across species.  |
| Evolutionary novelties in vision Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:09 AM PDT A new study shows that genes crucial for vision were multiplied in the early stages of vertebrate evolution and acquired distinct functions leading to the sophisticated mechanisms of vertebrate eyes.  |
| High-precision radar for the steel industry Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:08 AM PDT Steel is the most important material in vehicle and machinery construction. Large quantities of offcuts and scraps are left over from rolling and milling crude steel into strip steel. New radar measures the width of the strip during fabrication to an accuracy of micrometers and helps to minimize scrap.  |
| Virtual vehicle testing: Modeling tires realistically Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:07 AM PDT Manufacturers conduct virtual tests on vehicle designs long before the first car rolls off the assembly line. Simulation of the tires has remained a challenge, however. The software tool "CDTire/3D" now models the wheels realistically. The software takes into account the heat that is generated during driving and how the properties of the tires change.  |
| Research on medical abortion, miscarriage may change international routines Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:07 AM PDT Two scientific studies are expected to form the basis of new international recommendations for the treatment of medical abortions and miscarriages. One of the studies shows that it is possible to replace the clinical follow-up examinations recommended today with medical abortions that include a home pregnancy test. The other study shows that midwives can safely and effectively treat failed abortions and miscarriages in rural districts of Uganda.  |
| Green roofs: Passive cooling for buildings Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:07 AM PDT Researchers have found that green roofs with high vegetation density are 60% more efficient than non-green roofs.  |
| Predicting pesticide loads more accurately Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:07 AM PDT The EU wants to further improve the authorization process for pesticides. The different national procedures for this are supposed to be further harmonized. Researchers have now developed a software for estimating the transfer of pesticides into surface water initially in Germany.  |
| Most NFL players with injuries to the midfoot return to game action Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:06 AM PDT Nearly 93 percent of National Football League (NFL) athletes who sustained traumatic injuries to the midfoot returned to competition less than 15 months after injury and with no statistically significant decrease in performance, according to new research.  |
| Big data allows computer engineers to find genetic clues in humans Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:06 AM PDT Computer scientists tackled some big data about an important protein and discovered its connection in human history as well as clues about its role in complex neurological diseases.  |
| MRI based on a sugar molecule can tell cancerous from noncancerous cells Posted: 27 Mar 2015 06:06 AM PDT Imaging tests like mammograms or CT scans can detect tumors, but figuring out whether a growth is or isn't cancer usually requires a biopsy to study cells directly. Now results of a study suggest that MRI could one day make biopsies more effective or even replace them altogether by noninvasively detecting telltale sugar molecules shed by the outer membranes of cancerous cells.  |
| First fully-implantable micropacemaker designed for fetal use Posted: 26 Mar 2015 05:46 PM PDT The first fully implantable micropacemaker designed for use in a fetus with complete heart block has been designed by researchers. The investigators anticipate the first human use of the device in the near future.  |
| Weight-loss surgery before joint replacement can improve outcomes in severely overweight patients Posted: 26 Mar 2015 05:46 PM PDT Bariatric surgery prior to joint replacement is a cost-effective option to improve outcomes in severely overweight patients, research demonstrates. It is well-known that obesity takes a toll on one's health. Bariatric surgery and subsequent weight loss reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes and even some forms of cancer. But before now, the effect of bariatric surgery on joint replacement outcomes was not known.  |
| Domestic violence victims may be hurt by mandatory arrest laws Posted: 26 Mar 2015 03:36 PM PDT Mandatory arrest is a law enforcement policy that was created in an effort to curb domestic violence in the United States. But a recent study by sociologists suggests that the law may be intimidating victims from actually calling the police to report an instance of abuse.  |
| Honey bees use multiple genetic pathways to fight infections Posted: 26 Mar 2015 03:36 PM PDT Honey bees use different sets of genes, regulated by two distinct mechanisms, to fight off viruses, bacteria and gut parasites, according to researchers. The findings may help scientists develop honey bee treatments that are tailored to specific types of infections.  |
| A possible novel therapy for a rare but potentially fatal blood disorder Posted: 26 Mar 2015 03:35 PM PDT A transgenic mouse model is a proof-of-concept that platelet blood cells that are loaded with the enzyme ADAMTS13 can be an effective treatment in murine models of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.  |
| What to do with kidneys from older deceased donors? Posted: 26 Mar 2015 03:35 PM PDT For older patients in need of a kidney transplant, rapid transplantation from an older deceased donor is superior to delayed transplantation from a younger donor. Kidneys from older donors do not have sufficient longevity to provide younger patients with a lifetime of kidney function, but they do have sufficient longevity to provide older patients who have a shorter life expectancy with a lifetime of kidney function.  |
| Genetic mutation helps explain why, in rare cases, flu can kill Posted: 26 Mar 2015 01:27 PM PDT A small number of children who catch the influenza virus fall so ill they end up in the hospital even while their family and friends recover easily. New research helps explain why: a rare genetic mutation that prevents the production of a critical protein, interferon, that is needed to fight off the virus.  |
| Wearable device helps vision-impaired avoid collision Posted: 26 Mar 2015 01:27 PM PDT An obstacle course was used by researchers to evaluate a wearable collision warning device they developed for patients with peripheral vision loss. They found the device may help patients with a wide range of vision loss avoid collisions with high-level obstacles.  |
| Cell phone 'bill shock' warnings can leave consumers worse off, says new study Posted: 26 Mar 2015 01:27 PM PDT Policies that push cellphone carriers to alert customers when they're about to exceed their plan limit are supposed to make things better for consumers. But just the opposite may be happening, says a Canadian study.  |
| Antibiotic effectiveness imperiled as use in livestock expected to increase Posted: 26 Mar 2015 01:27 PM PDT Antibiotic consumption in livestock worldwide could rise by 67 percent between 2010 and 2030, and possibly endanger the effectiveness of antimicrobials in humans, researchers warn.  |
| Mexican Americans confront high disability rates in later life Posted: 26 Mar 2015 01:26 PM PDT Life expectancy for Hispanics in the US currently outpaces other ethnic groups, yet a new study finds that Mexican Americans -- especially women who were born in Mexico -- are spending a high proportion of their later years with some form of disability, a fact that suggests a growing need for community assistance and long-term care in the future.  |
