ScienceDaily: Top News

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• 'Severe reduction' in killer whale numbers during last Ice Age
• The eyes have it: Jackdaw birds use their eyes to communicate with each other
• Sucker-footed fossils broaden bat map: Fossilized teeth show bat family belongs to primitive lineage, had broad range
• Your memory is no video camera: It edits the past with present experiences
• Predicting cardiovascular events in sleep apnea
• Distinct sensory-motor reflexes in fruit flies: Use odor receptors, visual cues to find fruit
• Brain scans show we take risks because we can't stop ourselves
• Do you have a sweet tooth? Honeybees have a sweet claw
• Good hair day: New technique grows tiny 'hairy' materials at the microscale
• Off-the-shelf materials lead to self-healing polymers
• Personal experience, work seniority improve mental health professionals' outlook
• Kepler finds a very wobbly planet: Rapid and erratic changes in seasons
• Obesity in men could dictate future colon screenings
• New fruitfly sleep gene promotes the need to sleep
• Climate change threatens to cause trillions in damage to world's coastal regions if they do not adapt to sea-level rise
• First evidence of common brain code for space, time, distance
• How safe to use is the enemy of a citrus-threatening pest?
• Embrace the cold: Evidence that shivering and exercise may convert white fat to brown
• Appearance of lyme disease rash can help predict how bacteria spreads through body
• Eyemusic sensory substitution device enables the blind to 'see' colors and shapes
• In vitro innovation: Testing nanomedicine with blood cells on a microchip
• Beating pain and painkillers: New mental intervention treatment
• Diamond defect boosts quantum technology
• Primitive artificial cell turned into complex biological materials
• Gene therapy may be possible cure for Hurler syndrome: Mouse Study
• Pain sensitivity may be influenced by lifestyle, environment, twin study suggests
• Urinary tract infections: Immune cells need a second opinion
• Herbicides may not be sole cause of declining plant diversity
• Helicopters save lives: Helicopter transport increases trauma survival over ground ambulance, study shows
• Finding the hidden zombie in your network: Statistical approach to unraveling computer botnets
• Existing medicines show promise for treating stomach, bowel cancer
• Violent video games delay development of moral judgment in teens
• We recognize less attractive faces best: How attractiveness interferes with recognition of faces
• New heart valve deployed without major open surgery
• Overweight or obese people breathe more air pollutants
• Gummy material addresses safety concerns of lithium ion batteries
• New study explores contributors to excess infant mortality in the U.S. south
• First live births with a novel simplified IVF procedure
• Robots with insect-like brains: Robot can learn to navigate through its environment guided by external stimuli
• Horse gaits controlled by genetic mutation spread by humans
• Early autism detection: Speech disrupts facial attention in 6-month-old infants who later develop autism
• Patterns of particles generated by surface charges: How disorder turns into order
• Identity verification: Body odor as a biometric identifier
• Blue light may fight fatigue around the clock
• New technique could be used to search space dust for life's ingredients
• Screening mammography every two years for most women recommended
• Organic farms support more species, researchers find
• Hot weather deaths projected to rise 257 percent in UK by 2050s, experts warn
• Simple, at-home test will detect most colorectal cancers
• Feeling powerless increases the weight of the world ... literally
• Symptoms of depression causally linked to coronary heart disease, not to stroke
• New method for tracking T cells in HIV patients
• Long-term survival among patients with most common childhood brain tumor is high; lower if treatment included radiation
• HIV-infected teens delaying treatment until advanced disease
• Effect of lowering blood pressure on risk for cognitive decline in patients with diabetes
• Study examines consumption of added sugar, death from cardiovascular disease
• Pesticides increase risk for Parkinson's disease: Certain people may be more susceptible
• Mechanism discovered that helps HIV evade antibodies, stabilize key proteins
• How shape-shifting DNA-repair machine fights cancer
• New maps highlight habitat corridors in the tropics

'Severe reduction' in killer whale numbers during last Ice Age Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:06 PM PST Whole genome sequencing has revealed a global fall in the numbers of killer whales during the last Ice Age, at a time when ocean productivity may have been widely reduced, according to researchers.

The eyes have it: Jackdaw birds use their eyes to communicate with each other Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:06 PM PST Researchers have discovered that jackdaws use their eyes to communicate with each other -- the first time this has been shown in non-primates.

Sucker-footed fossils broaden bat map: Fossilized teeth show bat family belongs to primitive lineage, had broad range Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:56 PM PST Today, Madagascar sucker-footed bats live nowhere outside their island home, but new research shows that hasn't always been the case. The discovery of the jawbones of two extinct relatives in northern Egypt suggests the unusual creatures, which evolved sticky footpads to roost on slick surfaces, are primitive members of a group of bats that evolved in Africa and ultimately went on to flourish in South America.

Your memory is no video camera: It edits the past with present experiences Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:56 PM PST Your memory is a wily time traveler, plucking fragments of the present and inserting them into the past, reports a new study. In terms of accuracy, it's no video camera. Rather, memory rewrites the past with current information, updating your recollections with new experiences to aid survival. Love at first sight, for example, is more likely a trick of your memory than a Hollywood-worthy moment.

Predicting cardiovascular events in sleep apnea Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:56 PM PST Obstructive sleep apnea generally is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Obstructive sleep apnea is usually measured using the apnea-hypopnea index, the number of times that breathing pauses or severely slows per hour of sleep. However, sleep studies using to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea produce a number of other measures. Whether those measures are associated with cardiovascular disease, and whether they predict cardiovascular disease as well or better than apnea-hypopnea index, is not known.

Distinct sensory-motor reflexes in fruit flies: Use odor receptors, visual cues to find fruit Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:55 PM PST That fruit fly appearing moments after you poured that first glass of cabernet, has just used a poppy-seed-sized brain to conduct a finely-choreographed search and arrive in time for happy hour.

Brain scans show we take risks because we can't stop ourselves Posted: 04 Feb 2014 03:55 PM PST A new study correlating brain activity with how people make decisions suggests that when individuals engage in risky behavior, such as drunk driving or unsafe sex, it's probably not because their brains' desire systems are too active, but because their self-control systems are not active enough. This might have implications for how health experts treat mental illness and addiction or how the legal system assesses a criminal's likelihood of committing another crime.

Do you have a sweet tooth? Honeybees have a sweet claw Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:22 PM PST New research on the ability of honeybees to taste with claws on their forelegs reveals details on how this information is processed, according to a new study.

Good hair day: New technique grows tiny 'hairy' materials at the microscale Posted: 04 Feb 2014 12:46 PM PST Scientists attacked a tangled problem by developing a new technique to grow tiny "hairy" materials that assemble themselves at the microscale. It looks like the way Chia Pets grow in commercials. The key ingredient is epoxy, which is added to a mixture of hardener and solvent inside an electric cell. Then the scientists run an alternating current through the cell and watch long, twisting fibers spring up.

Off-the-shelf materials lead to self-healing polymers Posted: 04 Feb 2014 12:46 PM PST Look out, super glue and paint thinner. Thanks to new dynamic materials, removable paint and self-healing plastics soon could be household products. A slight tweak in chemistry to elastic materials made of polyurea, one of the most widely used classes of polymers in consumer goods, yields materials that bond back together on a molecular level without the need for other chemicals or adhesives.

Personal experience, work seniority improve mental health professionals' outlook Posted: 04 Feb 2014 12:44 PM PST One might think that after years of seeing people at their worst, mental health workers would harbor negative attitudes about mental illness, perhaps associating people with mental health issues as less competent or dangerous. But a new study suggests the opposite.

Kepler finds a very wobbly planet: Rapid and erratic changes in seasons Posted: 04 Feb 2014 10:39 AM PST Imagine living on a planet with seasons so erratic you would hardly know whether to wear Bermuda shorts or a heavy overcoat. That is the situation on a weird, wobbly world found by NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope.

Obesity in men could dictate future colon screenings Posted: 04 Feb 2014 10:17 AM PST Obesity is a known risk factor for many cancers including colon cancer, yet the reasons behind the colon cancer link have often remained unclear. A study is shedding more light on the topic and has shown that elevated leptin -- a fat hormone -- higher body mass index and a larger waistline in men is associated with a greater likelihood of having colorectal polyps, precancerous growths linked to colon cancer.

New fruitfly sleep gene promotes the need to sleep Posted: 04 Feb 2014 10:17 AM PST All creatures great and small, including fruitflies, need sleep. The timing of when we sleep versus are awake is controlled by cells in tune with circadian rhythms of light and dark. Most of the molecular components of that internal clock have been worked out. On the other hand, what drives how much we sleep is less well understood. Researchers report a new protein involved in the homeostatic regulation of sleep in the fruitfly.

Climate change threatens to cause trillions in damage to world's coastal regions if they do not adapt to sea-level rise Posted: 04 Feb 2014 10:15 AM PST New research predicts that coastal regions may face massive increases in damages from storm surge flooding over the course of the 21st century. Global average storm surge damages could increase from about $10-$40 billion per year today to up to $100,000 billion per year by the end of century, if no adaptation action is taken.

First evidence of common brain code for space, time, distance Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:37 AM PST A new study provides the first evidence that people use the same brain circuitry to figure out space, time and social distances. The results may help to determine whether we care enough to act: Is something happening here, now, to someone I love? Or over there, years from now, to a stranger?

How safe to use is the enemy of a citrus-threatening pest? Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:37 AM PST The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) can spread the lethal and incurable citrus disease known as huanglongbing or citrus greening that threatens the multi-billion dollar global citrus industry. In 2011, for the first time entomologists released a wasp, a natural enemy of the ACP, in a citrus grove in Riverside to help control the psyllid. But is this wasp safe to use? Does its introduction pose any risk to the environment?

Embrace the cold: Evidence that shivering and exercise may convert white fat to brown Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:36 AM PST A new study suggests that shivering and bouts of moderate exercise are equally capable of stimulating the conversion of energy-storing "white fat" into energy-burning "brown fat." This makes brown fat a potential therapeutic target against obesity and diabetes.

Appearance of lyme disease rash can help predict how bacteria spreads through body Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:36 AM PST Lyme disease is often evident by a rash on the skin, but infections do not always produce similar rashes. This can make it difficult to detect the disease early, when antibiotic treatment is most effective. Researchers describe a new mathematical model that captures the interactions between disease-causing bacteria and the host immune response that affect the appearance of a rash and the spread of infection.

Eyemusic sensory substitution device enables the blind to 'see' colors and shapes Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:35 AM PST Using auditory or tactile stimulation, Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs) provide representations of visual information and can help the blind "see" colors and shapes. SSDs scan images and transform the information into audio or touch signals that users are trained to understand, enabling them to recognize an image without seeing it. Currently SSDs are not widely used within the blind community because they can be cumbersome and unpleasant to use. However, researchers have now developed a novel SSD that transmits shape and color information through a composition of pleasant musical tones, or "soundscapes."

In vitro innovation: Testing nanomedicine with blood cells on a microchip Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:34 AM PST Scientists have engineered a microchip coated with blood vessel cells to learn more about the conditions under which nanoparticles accumulate in the plaque-filled arteries of patients with atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of myocardial infarction and stroke.

Beating pain and painkillers: New mental intervention treatment Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:34 AM PST With nearly one-third of Americans suffering from chronic pain, prescription opioid painkillers have become the leading form of treatment for this debilitating condition. Unfortunately, misuse of prescription opioids can lead to serious side effects -- including death by overdose. A new treatment has shown to not only lower pain but also decrease prescription opioid misuse among chronic pain patients.

Diamond defect boosts quantum technology Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:21 AM PST New research shows that a remarkable defect in synthetic diamond produced by chemical vapor deposition allows researchers to measure, witness, and potentially manipulate electrons in a manner that could lead to new "quantum technology" for information processing.

Primitive artificial cell turned into complex biological materials Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:21 AM PST Imagine starting from scratch with simple artificial microscopic building blocks and ending up with something much more complex: living systems, novel computers or every-day materials. For decades scientists have pursued the dream of creating artificial building blocks that can self-assemble in large numbers and reassemble to take on new tasks or to remedy defects. Now researchers have taken a step forward to make this dream into a reality.

Gene therapy may be possible cure for Hurler syndrome: Mouse Study Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:21 AM PST Researchers used blood platelets and bone marrow cells to deliver potentially curative gene therapy to mouse models of the human genetic disorder Hurler syndrome -- an often fatal condition that causes organ damage and other medical complications.

Pain sensitivity may be influenced by lifestyle, environment, twin study suggests Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:21 AM PST Researchers have discovered that sensitivity to pain could be altered by a person's lifestyle and environment throughout their lifetime. The study is the first to find that pain sensitivity, previously thought to be relatively inflexible, can change as a result of genes being switched on or off by lifestyle and environmental factors -- a process called epigenetics, which chemically alters the expression of genes.

Urinary tract infections: Immune cells need a second opinion Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:20 AM PST Bacterial urinary tract infections are a painful nuisance. Scientists have now decoded the way in which immune cells communicate with each other in defense against infections via the messenger tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Urinary tract infections are amongst the most frequent infections and are triggered by intestinal bacteria which invade the urogenital tract through smear infections via the urethra. These infections are persistent because the bacteria are often not completely killed off.

Herbicides may not be sole cause of declining plant diversity Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:20 AM PST The increasing use of chemical herbicides is often blamed for the declining plant biodiversity in farms. However, other factors beyond herbicide exposure may be more important to species diversity, according to researchers.

Helicopters save lives: Helicopter transport increases trauma survival over ground ambulance, study shows Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:20 AM PST Patients transported to hospital by helicopter have a better chance of surviving traumatic injuries than those transported by ground ambulance despite having more severe injuries and needing more surgical interventions, states a study published.

Finding the hidden zombie in your network: Statistical approach to unraveling computer botnets Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:20 AM PST How do you detect a "botnet," a network of computers infected with malware -- so-called zombies -- that allow a third party to take control of those machines? The answer may lie in a statistical tool first published in 1966 and brought into the digital age, say researchers.

Existing medicines show promise for treating stomach, bowel cancer Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:19 AM PST Stomach and bowel cancer, two of the most common cancers worldwide, could be treated with a class of medicines that are currently used to treat a blood disorder, a research team has discovered.

Violent video games delay development of moral judgment in teens Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:17 AM PST A researcher set out to discover whether there was a link between the types of video games teens played, how long they played them, and the teens' levels of moral reasoning: their ability to take the perspective of others into account.

We recognize less attractive faces best: How attractiveness interferes with recognition of faces Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:17 AM PST We tend to remember unattractive faces better than attractive ones, according to new research. Psychologists write that attractive faces without particularly remarkable features leave much less distinctive impressions on our memory.

New heart valve deployed without major open surgery Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:14 AM PST An artificial heart valve device that does not require major open surgery has received FDA approval. The heart valve is deployed with a catheter, which is inserted in an artery in the groin and guided up to the heart.

Overweight or obese people breathe more air pollutants Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:14 AM PST Overweight or obese adults can breathe 7-50% more air per day than an adult with healthy weight does, which makes them more vulnerable to air contaminants causing asthma and other pulmonary diseases, according to a study.

Gummy material addresses safety concerns of lithium ion batteries Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:42 AM PST Researchers have developed a chewing gum-like battery material that could dramatically improve the safety of lithium ion batteries.

New study explores contributors to excess infant mortality in the U.S. south Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:40 AM PST Currently, the United States ranks 27th among industrialized nations in infant mortality, but rates within the U.S. vary significantly by race, socioeconomic status, and geography. In particular, the Southern states suffer from high rates of infant mortality, along with several other negative population health indicators such as obesity and diabetes.

First live births with a novel simplified IVF procedure Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:40 AM PST A recent prospective study comparing conventional IVF with a novel simplified laboratory method of culturing embryos suggested that fertilization and implantation rates were similar for the simplified system when compared with those reported by conventional IVF programs. Sixteen healthy babies have already been born with this new method. According to the results of this study, IVF may be offered at a more reasonable price and made available to a larger part of the world population.

Robots with insect-like brains: Robot can learn to navigate through its environment guided by external stimuli Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:39 AM PST Scientists have developed a robot that perceives environmental stimuli and learns to react to them. The scientists used the relatively simple nervous system of the honeybee as a model for its working principles. To this end, they installed a camera on a small robotic vehicle and connected it to a computer. The computer program replicated in a simplified way the sensorimotor network of the insect brain.

Horse gaits controlled by genetic mutation spread by humans Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:39 AM PST From the Faroe Pony to the Spanish Mustang, fewer animals have played such a central role in human history as the horse. New research reveals that a horse's gait, an attribute central to its importance to humans, is influenced by a genetic mutation, spread by humans across the world.

Early autism detection: Speech disrupts facial attention in 6-month-old infants who later develop autism Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:38 AM PST From birth, infants naturally show a preference for human contact and interaction, including faces and voices. These basic predispositions to social stimuli are altered in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A new study now reports that 6-month-old infants later diagnosed with autism divert their gaze from facial features when that face is speaking.

Patterns of particles generated by surface charges: How disorder turns into order Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:38 AM PST Tuning the material structure at the nanoscale level can be really hard to achieve -- but what if we had small particles, which assemble all by themselves, creating the required structure? The phenomenon of self-assembly is being investigated by studying inhomogeneously charged particles. Depending on different parameters, they can form gel-like or crystal-like structures. This kind of self-assembly holds great promise for nanotechnology.

Identity verification: Body odor as a biometric identifier Posted: 04 Feb 2014 04:38 AM PST Researchers are making progress on the development of a new biometric technique that would allow us to identify people through their personal odor.

Blue light may fight fatigue around the clock Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:18 PM PST Researchers have found that exposure to short wavelength, or blue light, during the biological day directly and immediately improves alertness and performance.

New technique could be used to search space dust for life's ingredients Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:18 PM PST While the origin of life remains mysterious, scientists are finding more and more evidence that material created in space and delivered to Earth by comet and meteor impacts could have given a boost to the start of life. Some meteorites supply molecules that can be used as building blocks to make certain kinds of larger molecules that are critical for life.

Screening mammography every two years for most women recommended Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:18 PM PST Adoption of new guidelines recommending screening mammography every two years for women ages 50 to 74 would result in breast cancer screening that is equally effective, while saving the United States $4.3 billion a year in health care costs, according to a study.

Organic farms support more species, researchers find Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:18 PM PST On average, organic farms support 34 percent more plant, insect and animal species than conventional farms, say scientists. Researchers looked at data going back 30 years and found that this effect has remained stable over time and shows no signs of decreasing.

Hot weather deaths projected to rise 257 percent in UK by 2050s, experts warn Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:18 PM PST The number of annual excess deaths caused by hot weather in England and Wales is projected to surge by 257 percent by the middle of the century, as a result of climate change and population growth, concludes research published.

Simple, at-home test will detect most colorectal cancers Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:18 PM PST Tests that require patients to collect a single stool sample at home and then send it to a lab for analysis will detect about 79 percent of colorectal cancers, according to a new evidence review. The review of 19 studies examining eight different fecal immunochemical tests, know as "FITs", also finds that the tests will correctly identify about 94 percent of patients who do not have cancers of the rectum or colon.

Feeling powerless increases the weight of the world ... literally Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:17 PM PST New research shows that the more personally and socially powerless you feel the heavier objects appear to weigh. Scientists have found that people who feel powerless actually see the world differently, and find a task to be more physically challenging than those with a greater sense of personal and social power.

Symptoms of depression causally linked to coronary heart disease, not to stroke Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:17 PM PST A report published provides strong evidence that the symptoms of depressive disorder are causally associated with the risk of coronary heart disease, and as such should be considered a potentially modifiable risk factor for the occurrence of CHD.

New method for tracking T cells in HIV patients Posted: 03 Feb 2014 02:19 PM PST A team of researchers has reported a novel method for tracking CD4+ T cells in people infected with HIV. CD4+ T cells are critical for immune defense against an array of pathogens and are a primary target of HIV.

Long-term survival among patients with most common childhood brain tumor is high; lower if treatment included radiation Posted: 03 Feb 2014 01:34 PM PST Study of long-term survival of children with most common pediatric brain tumor finds almost 90 percent are alive 20 years later and few died from the tumor as adults. However, children treated with radiation had significantly lower long-term survival rates than children who were not radiated.

HIV-infected teens delaying treatment until advanced disease Posted: 03 Feb 2014 01:34 PM PST Nearly half of HIV-infected teenagers and young adults forego timely treatment, delaying care until their disease has advanced, which puts them at risk for dangerous infections and long-term complications, according to a study.

Effect of lowering blood pressure on risk for cognitive decline in patients with diabetes Posted: 03 Feb 2014 01:34 PM PST Intensive blood pressure and cholesterol lowering was not associated with reduced risk for diabetes-related cognitive decline in older patients with long-standing type 2 diabetes mellitus, according to a recent study.

Study examines consumption of added sugar, death from cardiovascular disease Posted: 03 Feb 2014 01:34 PM PST Many U.S. adults consume more added sugar (added in processing or preparing of foods, not naturally occurring as in fruits and fruit juices) than expert panels recommend for a healthy diet, and consumption of added sugar was associated with increased risk for death from cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a study.

Pesticides increase risk for Parkinson's disease: Certain people may be more susceptible Posted: 03 Feb 2014 01:34 PM PST Previous studies have shown the certain pesticides can increase the risk for developing Parkinson's disease. Now, researchers have now found that the strength of that risk depends on an individual's genetic makeup, which in the most pesticide-exposed populations could increase the chances of developing the debilitating disease by two- to six-fold.

Mechanism discovered that helps HIV evade antibodies, stabilize key proteins Posted: 03 Feb 2014 12:52 PM PST Scientists have discovered a mechanism involved in stabilizing key HIV proteins and thereby concealing sites where some of the most powerful HIV neutralizing antibodies bind, findings with potential implications for HIV vaccine research.

How shape-shifting DNA-repair machine fights cancer Posted: 03 Feb 2014 12:52 PM PST Maybe you've seen the movies or played with toy Transformers, those shape-shifting machines that morph in response to whatever challenge they face. It turns out that DNA-repair machines in your cells use a similar approach to fight cancer and other diseases, according to new research.

New maps highlight habitat corridors in the tropics Posted: 03 Feb 2014 12:52 PM PST Scientists created maps of habitat corridors connecting protected areas in the tropics to incorporate biodiversity co-benefits into climate change mitigation strategies.

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