| New theory of secondary inflation expands options for avoiding an excess of dark matter Posted: 14 Jan 2016 06:34 PM PST A new theory suggests a shorter secondary inflationary period that could account for the amount of dark matter estimated to exist throughout the cosmos. |
| Signals that make early stem cells identified Posted: 14 Jan 2016 06:34 PM PST Where and when do stem cells first appear during development? Researchers investigated this question by examining how cells organize as the hair follicle first appears in mouse embryos. They uncovered signaling pathways that may provide insights into some skin cancers. |
| Nanodevice, build thyself Posted: 14 Jan 2016 06:34 PM PST Researchers have studied how a multitude of electronic interactions govern the encounter between a molecule called porphine and copper and silver surfaces -- information that could one day be harnessed to make molecular building blocks self-assemble into nanodevices. |
| Fuel cell advance Posted: 14 Jan 2016 06:34 PM PST Researchers report a breakthrough that promises to bring down the cost of hydrogen fuel cells by replacing expensive platinum catalysts with cheaper ones made from metals like nickel. |
| Education and industrial variety power high-growth companies nationwide Posted: 14 Jan 2016 06:34 PM PST High-growth companies are not just found in California's tech-rich Silicon Valley. According to a team of economists, these fast-growing firms are found across the US and in a variety of industries. |
| What you eat can influence how you sleep Posted: 14 Jan 2016 06:34 PM PST A new study found that eating less fiber, more saturated fat and more sugar is associated with lighter, less restorative, and more disrupted sleep. |
| Study of altruism during the Ebola outbreak suggests good intentions are in the details Posted: 14 Jan 2016 06:24 PM PST A study of risk communication as it relates to altruistic behavior has found that portraying an event as a distant risk, despite highlighting its importance and potential progression, fails to prompt altruistic behavior intention among the US public. |
| Study of European shag shows parental age may affect how long offspring live Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:47 PM PST Researchers are studying why older parents produce offspring who tend to have shorter lives. They are addressing this question through the study of a long-lived seabird, the European shag. |
| Bear's best friends Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:47 PM PST A new method uses "detection dogs," genetic analysis, and scientific models to assess habitat suitability for bears in an area linking the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) to the northern U.S. Rockies. |
| How trypanosome parasites communicate with each other Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:45 PM PST While scientists have known for years that African trypanosomes cause sleeping sickness, they've been left scratching their heads as to how these tiny single-celled organisms communicate. A new study helps solve this mystery. |
| Adolescents stress more with poor sleep Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:40 PM PST Cortisol levels that indicate increased stress response are higher in adolescents with sleep problems. |
| Is suicide a tragic variant of an evolutionarily adaptive set of behaviors? Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:33 PM PST What do snapping shrimp, naked mole rats, ants, honeybees, and humans all have in common? They all share a similar colony-like organizational system that biologists have termed eusociality. Eusocial species have been remarkably successful in both surviving and thriving through the use of colony-level cooperation. One cooperative behavior used by all eusocial species is the self-sacrifice of individuals to defend the colony. |
| Oh, snap! What snapping shrimp sound patterns may tell us about reef ecosystems Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:30 PM PST The tiny snapping shrimp's noisy habits could play a big role in reef ecology. |
| Deadly amphibian fungus may decline, study finds Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:30 PM PST A new study offers a glimmer of hope for some amphibian populations decimated by the deadly chytrid fungus: climate change may make environmental conditions for the fungus unsuitable in some regions and potentially stave off the spread of disease in African amphibian populations struggling to adapt to changes brought about by global warming. |
| NASA sees formation of unusual North Atlantic Hurricane Alex Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:30 PM PST The low pressure area known as System 90L developed rapidly since Jan. 13 and became Hurricane Alex on Jan. 14. Several satellites and instruments captured data on this out-of-season storm. NASA's RapidScat instrument observed sustained winds shift and intensify in the system and NASA's Aqua satellite saw the storm develop from a low pressure area into a sub-tropical storm. NOAA's GOES-East satellite data was made into an animation that showed the development of the unusual storm. |
| Speed reading promises are too good to be true, scientists find Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:30 PM PST Learning to speed read seems like an obvious strategy for zipping through the emails, reports, and other text we encounter daily, but a new report shows that the claims made by many speed reading programs and apps are probably too good to be true. Examining research on the science of reading, a team of scientists finds little evidence to support speed reading as a shortcut to understanding large volumes of text in little time. |
| Rapid version of assessment tool provides easier way to monitor wetland quality Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:30 PM PST A modified or 'rapid' version of an existing wetland assessment tool can accurately assess the quality of wetlands, according to researchers. Using the rapid version of the tool, known as the Floristic Quality Assessment Index, can save time and improve upon wetland monitoring strategies. |
| Researchers solve long-standing ecological riddle Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:30 PM PST Researchers have found clear evidence that communities rich in species are substantially healthier and more productive than those depleted of species, once complicating factors are removed. |
| Making the invisible visible: Color-changing indicators highlight microscopic damage Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:30 PM PST Damage developing in a material can be difficult to see until something breaks or fails. A new polymer damage indication system automatically highlights areas that are cracked, scratched or stressed, allowing engineers to address problem areas before they become more problematic. |
| Study finds high melt rates on Antarctica's most stable ice shelf Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:30 PM PST A new study measured a melt rate that is 25 times higher than expected on one part of the Ross Ice Shelf. The study suggests that high, localized melt rates such as this one on Antarctica's largest and most stable ice shelf are normal and keep Antarctica's ice sheets in balance. |
| Key pathway involved in blood vessel occlusion discovered Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:25 PM PST Researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding blood vessel occlusion by discovering a novel pathway involved in this process. |
| Flexible film may lead to phone-sized cancer detector Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:25 PM PST A thin, stretchable film that coils light waves like a Slinky could one day lead to more precise, less expensive monitoring for cancer survivors. |
| Versatile new way to build molecules developed Posted: 14 Jan 2016 01:25 PM PST Chemists have devised a new and widely applicable technique for building potential drug molecules and other organic compounds. |
| What is 10 miles across, but powers an explosion brighter than the Milky Way? Posted: 14 Jan 2016 12:23 PM PST Right now, astronomers are viewing a ball of hot gas billions of light years away that is radiating the energy of hundreds of billions of suns. At its heart is an object a little larger than 10 miles across. And astronomers are not entirely sure what it is. If, as they suspect, the gas ball is the result of a supernova, then it's the most powerful supernova ever seen. |
| Chemists devise powerful new method for modifying drug molecules Posted: 14 Jan 2016 12:23 PM PST Chemists have developed a versatile new technique for making modifications -- especially one type of extremely difficult, but much-sought-after modification -- to complex drug molecules. |
| How malaria fools our immune system Posted: 14 Jan 2016 09:19 AM PST Medical researchers reconstructed the 3D structure of one of the proteins of Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria and the antibodies that act as the first line of defense against the parasite. This study provides valuable knowledge for the design of anti-malaria drugs. |
| Scientists get mice to pay attention by manipulating neurons in brain Posted: 14 Jan 2016 09:19 AM PST Researchers have identified for the first time a cell type in the brain of mice that is integral to attention. By manipulating the activity of this cell type, the scientists were able to enhance attention in mice. The results add to the understanding of how the brain's frontal lobes work and control behavior. |
| Brain waves may be spread by weak electrical field Posted: 14 Jan 2016 09:18 AM PST Researchers may have found a new way information is communicated throughout the brain. Their discovery could lead to identifying possible new targets to investigate brain waves associated with memory and epilepsy and better understand healthy physiology. |
| Medical school program addresses rural physician shortage Posted: 14 Jan 2016 09:17 AM PST Mirroring national trends, 97 percent of the 101 rural counties in Missouri are designated Primary Medical Care Health Professional Shortage Areas by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Now, a recent study shows one of its programs enhances training and may increase interest in rural practice for graduating medical students. |
| Palliative care initiated in the ED associated with improved quality of life Posted: 14 Jan 2016 09:17 AM PST A palliative care consultation initiated in the emergency department (ED) for patients with advanced cancer was associated with improved quality of life and did not seem to shorten survival, according to an article. |
| California state fish can benefit from restoring, protecting streamside meadows Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:36 AM PST Rising temperatures can create stressful and possibly lethal stream habitat for native trout. To help understand the interactive effects of climate warming and livestock grazing on water temperature, researchers conducted a six-year study documenting high elevation water temperatures in areas of the Golden Trout Wilderness. |
| Charting the growth of one of the world's oldest babies Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:36 AM PST The discovery of a juvenile Chasmosaurus -- one of the rarest dinosaur discoveries -- made headlines around the world in late 2013. Now a new article by these researchers outlines the results of their scientific findings in an alpha-level taxonomic description. |
| Study seeks nature's best biocatalysts for biofuel production Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:36 AM PST Researchers are looking beyond the usual suspects in the search for microbes that can efficiently break down inedible plant matter for conversion to biofuels. A new comparative study finds the natural abilities of unconventional bacteria could help boost the efficiency of cellulosic biofuel production. |
| Northwest Atlantic Ocean may get warmer, sooner Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:36 AM PST Future warming of ocean waters off the Northeastern US may be greater and occur at an even faster rate than previously projected, new research suggests. These findings, based on output from four global climate models of varying ocean and atmospheric resolution, indicate that ocean temperature in the US Northeast Shelf is projected to warm twice as fast as previously projected and almost three times faster than the global average. |
| New study indicates students' cognitive functioning improves when using standing desks Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:36 AM PST Do students think best when on their feet? New findings provide the first evidence of neurocognitive benefits of stand-height desks in classrooms. These findings provide the first evidence of neurocognitive benefits of stand-height desks in classrooms, where students are given the choice to stand or sit based on their preferences. |
| Researchers kill drug-resistant lung cancer with 50 times less chemo Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:36 AM PST The cancer drug paclitaxel just got more effective. For the first time, researchers have packaged it in containers derived from a patient's own immune system, protecting the drug from being destroyed by the body's own defenses and bringing the entire payload to the tumor. |
| Nanoprobe development will enable scientists to uncover more DNA secrets Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:36 AM PST A 'nanoprobe' has been created by scientists, just a tenth of the size of a human hair, to help uncover more of the secrets of DNA. The research has led to the use of the nanoprobe to study how individual proteins interact with DNA. Invisible to the human eye, this tiny triangular probe can be captured using laser tweezers and then moved around inside a microscope chamber. |
| New way to absorb electromagnetic radiation demonstrated Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:35 AM PST It is possible to fully absorb electromagnetic radiation using an anisotropic crystal, report scientists. Electromagnetic energy harvesting in the visible spectrum is very important for photovoltaics -- the conversion of solar energy into direct current electricity. Absorbing materials in the microwave range of frequencies have an application that is equally as important, say scientists who are now able to reduce the radar visibility of an aircraft. |
| Drug curbs marijuana use, but with tough side effects Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:35 AM PST Doctors have no approved medicine to help treat marijuana dependence and abuse, but in small new clinical trial, topiramate reduced the amount of cannabis heavy smokers used when they lit up. The results also show, however, that many volunteers couldn't tolerate the drug's side effects. |
| Genes may contribute to making some nations happier than others Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:35 AM PST The citizens of nations that rate themselves happiest display a specific genetic feature: their DNA is more likely to contain a specific allele involved in sensory pleasure and pain reduction, say researchers. They weighed up genetic and various external factors to might contribute to national differences in happiness. |
| Forensic research on modern child abuse can shed light on past cultures Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:35 AM PST Biological anthropologists look at skeletal remains of past cultures to gain insight into how earlier peoples lived, and forensic anthropologists work with modern-day law enforcement to decipher skeletal evidence and solve crimes. Forensic experts have now published guidance on how research into modern-day forensic analysis of child-abuse victims can be used to shed light on how children of earlier cultures were treated. |
| Much like white light, spacetime is also composed of a certain rainbow Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:35 AM PST When white light is passed through a prism, the rainbow on the other side reveals a rich palette of colors. Theorists have shown that in models of the Universe using any of the quantum theories of gravity there must also be a 'rainbow' of sorts, composed of different versions of spacetime. The mechanism predicts that instead of a single, common spacetime, particles of different energies essentially sense slightly modified versions thereof. |
| UK's political center ground could be further to the left than thought, research suggests Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:35 AM PST The center ground of British politics could be further to the left than we think, according to new research. For example, diehard Conservative supporters locate their party at 7.82 on the left-right spectrum (ie considerably right of center) and place themselves at 7.53. But a more 'objective' measure suggests their political leanings are only just right of center, producing a score of 5.08. |
| Why fish intake by pregnant women improves the growth of a child's brain Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:34 AM PST An explanation for the correlation between eating fish during pregnancy, and the health of the baby's brain, has been uncovered by a group of researchers. Dietary lipid contains fatty acids such as omega-6 and omega-3, which are essential nutrients for many animals and humans. The research group found that a balanced intake of lipids by pregnant women is necessary for the normal brain formation of the unborn child. |
| Development of an evaluation platform capable of validating wide-area distribution systems Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:34 AM PST A new research project developed 'DESTCloud,' an evaluation platform that validates the disaster tolerance and fault tolerance of wide-area distribution systems consisting of multiple computers on a network. This platform, utilizing a wide-area virtualized environment comprised of multiple research institutes known as 'distcloud,' can validate disaster tolerance and fault tolerance of the systems that operate in the virtualized environment by intentionally causing interference to the network that interconnects the organizations. |
| How will climate policy affect energy access goals? Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:34 AM PST Without new subsidies and policies to support increased energy access, new climate policies could push access to modern energy out of reach for millions in Asia. Currently, three billion people worldwide rely on solid fuels such as firewood, charcoal, coal, and dung for cooking. Burning these types of fuels, especially indoors, is a major source of air pollution, and is estimated to lead to 4.3 million premature deaths each year. |
| Hay fever medicine reduces symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:34 AM PST The cause of abdominal pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome has been identified by researchers. As a result, they were able to select a medicine that could reduce or end that pain. This medicine is already used to treat hay fever. |
| New recommendations on reproducibility Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:33 AM PST Enhancing Research Reproducibility, a set of recommendations aimed to promote the reproducibility and transparency of biomedical and biological research, has been released by experts. |
| Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as safe as aspirin Posted: 14 Jan 2016 08:09 AM PST The researchers reviewed major studies of both PrEP for HIV prevention and aspirin for heart attack prevention. They found that both had similar low rates of serious side effects. Aspirin users rarely had serious bleeding or death and PrEP users rarely had serious kidney or bone damage. |
| Nano-shells deliver molecules that tell bone to repair itself Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:08 AM PST A polymer sphere that delivers a molecule to bone wounds that tells cells already at the injury site to repair the damage has been developed by a team of researchers. |
| Researchers develop novel cell line for screening of brain drugs Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST A new cell line has been developed, which may be used to investigate new drugs and help predict whether they are able to enter the brain. This research will afford scientists in both academia and the medical industry a new tool for investigating drug uptake in brain tissue and tumors where the human efflux pump, P-gp, is expressed. |
| Born to break: Mutation causes fragile bones Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST People born with Hajdu-Cheney syndrome develop misshapen skeletons and bones that quickly start to soften and fracture. Now, researchers have replicated the disease in mice. A specific mutation in the NOTCH2 gene causes overabundant bone-absorbing cells that seem to cause the characteristic bone loss and fractures of Hajdu-Cheney syndrome. The findings could illuminate the mechanisms of bone loss in humans, and point to a potential treatment. |
| Seduced by the label: How nutrition information leads you to buy more Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST Have you ever been to the supermarket and chosen foods based on nutrition labels? If so, be cautious, because the nutrition values you see on labels can substantially differ based on the recommended serving size, with undesired consequences for your purchase behavior. According to a new research, smaller recommended serving sizes on nutrition labels can unknowingly lead you to buy more than you need. |
| Educational gains by immigrants to US not as large as believed, study finds Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST The descendants of immigrants to the United States from Europe did not attain significantly more education than would have been expected if their families had remained in their homelands, according to a new study. The largest educational gains were achieved by descendants of immigrants from Poland and Italy, while people whose ancestors migrated from England and Germany gained the least. |
| Odor biomarker for Alzheimer's disease Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST A uniquely identifiable odor signature has been identified from mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. The odor signature appears in urine before significant development of Alzheimer-related brain pathology, suggesting that it may be possible to develop a non-invasive tool for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. |
| Health warning labels may deter parents from purchasing sugar-sweetened beverages for kids Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST Health warning labels similar to those found on tobacco products may have a powerful effect on whether parents purchase sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) for their children, according to a new study. Results show that regardless of a parent's level of education, they may be less likely to purchase an SSB when a label warning that consuming beverages with added sugar may contribute to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay is present. |
| Risk factors for weapon involvement in adolescents vary by race and gender Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST In 2011, almost 13 percent of high school students had been victimized with weapons. Weapon-related violence among adolescents can lead to injuries and long-term mental health problems. In a new study, researchers found that the risk and protective factors for carrying and using weapons vary by race and gender. |
| HPV vaccine uptake is highest among girls in high poverty, majority Hispanic communities Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST Adolescent girls living in high-poverty communities and majority Hispanic communities in the United States were more likely to have received at least one dose of a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine than those living in low-poverty communities and in communities of other racial and ethnic compositions. |
| Scientists uncover how part of a protein helps primates fight HIV Posted: 14 Jan 2016 07:07 AM PST Scientists have uncovered part of a protein found in humans and other primates that can help us fight off HIV. In a new study, researchers discover how this structure can stop HIV from working and switch on our immune system at the same time. The findings, say the authors of the study, could potentially be used in developing anti-HIV gene therapy in the future. |
