ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Tales from the crypt: Study on gut cell regeneration reconciles long-standing research controversy
• Researchers closer to the super bug puzzle
• 2012: Killer solar flares are a physical impossibility, experts say
• Diseased hearts to heal themselves in future
• Gene switch for odorant receptors
• Lutetia: A rare survivor from the birth of Earth
• Birth weight predicts physical functioning at age 60
• Catching camels in the Gobi
• Citrus indica Tanaka: A progenitor species of cultivated Citrus
• Mid-ocean creatures control light to avoid becoming snacks

Tales from the crypt: Study on gut cell regeneration reconciles long-standing research controversy Posted: 11 Nov 2011 12:22 PM PST The cells that help to absorb food and liquid that humans consume are constantly being produced. The various cell types that do this come from stem cells that reside deep in the inner recesses of the accordion-like folds of the intestines, called villi and crypts. But exactly where the most important stem cell type is located -- and how to identify it -- has been something of a mystery, until now.

Researchers closer to the super bug puzzle Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:55 AM PST The treatment of serious infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (Golden Staph) is complicated by the development of antibiotic resistance. Seriously ill patients, vulnerable to infections can be at additional risk if antimicrobial agents become less effective in fighting infections.

2012: Killer solar flares are a physical impossibility, experts say Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:55 AM PST Given a legitimate need to protect Earth from the most intense forms of space weather – great bursts of electromagnetic energy and particles that can sometimes stream from the sun – some people worry that a gigantic "killer solar flare" could hurl enough energy to destroy Earth. Citing the accurate fact that solar activity is currently ramping up in its standard 11-year cycle, there are those who believe that 2012 could be coincident with such a flare. But this same solar cycle has occurred over millennia. Anyone over the age of 11 has already lived through such a solar maximum with no harm. In addition, the next solar maximum is predicted to occur in late 2013 or early 2014, not 2012.

Diseased hearts to heal themselves in future Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:52 AM PST Oncostatin M regulates the reversion of heart muscle cells into precursor cells and is vitally important for the self-healing powers of the heart. Scientists have identified a protein which fulfils a central task in this reversion process by stimulating the regression of individual heart muscle cells into their precursor cells. They now plan to improve the self-healing powers of the heart with the help of this protein.

Gene switch for odorant receptors Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:51 AM PST The olfactory sensory neurons in the nasal mucosa perceive the myriad smells in the air with the aid of odorant receptors. Each sensory neuron chooses one and only one receptor gene for expression. The probability that a particular receptor gene is chosen for expression determines how many olfactory sensory neurons in total produce this receptor type. Scientists have unveiled an aspect of how the probability of the choice of an odorant receptor gene is regulated in olfactory sensory neurons.

Lutetia: A rare survivor from the birth of Earth Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:51 AM PST New observations indicate that the asteroid Lutetia is a leftover fragment of the same original material that formed the Earth, Venus and Mercury. Astronomers found that the properties of the asteroid closely match those of a rare kind of meteorites found on Earth and thought to have formed in the inner parts of the solar system. Lutetia must, at some point, have moved out to its current location in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Birth weight predicts physical functioning at age 60 Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:45 AM PST Low birth weight and slow growth progressing to greater body mass in pre-adolescence significantly increased the risk of poor physical functioning at the age of 60 years, a new Finnish study found.

Catching camels in the Gobi Posted: 11 Nov 2011 06:45 AM PST Veterinary scientists have successfully attached GPS satellite collars to endangered wild Bactrian camels in the Mongolian desert. Their efforts are part of the long-term Gobi Research Project on wild horses, Asiatic wild asses, and other animals that make this unique environment their home.

Citrus indica Tanaka: A progenitor species of cultivated Citrus Posted: 10 Nov 2011 09:58 AM PST Recent findings show that C. indica occupies a special taxonomic position as reflected from the Karyomorphological data generated by them.

Mid-ocean creatures control light to avoid becoming snacks Posted: 10 Nov 2011 09:57 AM PST If you're a snack-sized squid or octopus living in the ocean zone where the last bit of daylight gives way, having some control over your reflection could be a matter of life and death. Two transparent cephalopods have been found with the ability to quickly change to opaque in the presence of predators who use flashlights.

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