ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Does your mind jump around, stay on task or get stuck?
• Flexible solar panel goes where silicon can't
• Moving toward a gold standard in patient handoff protocols
• Making the microbiome part of precision medicine
• PFO closure is more effective than medical management in preventing recurrent stroke, long-term study results show
• Motivation to move: Study finds mild exercise helps decrease pain and improve activity level in older adults
• Study bodes well for low-carb eaters
• Stimulating the brain makes exercising the legs feel easier
• Patient safety benefits when hospitals provide feedback to staff who report errors
• Scientists prove how genetics change behavior by studying worms' foraging strategies
• Losing its cool: Will ice melt heat up naval operations in Arctic Ocean?
• Scientists show how mutation causes incurable premature aging disease
• Nanobionic spinach plants can detect explosives
• Heating up exotic topological insulators
• Stents, bypass surgery equally safe, effective for many with left main heart disease
• Researchers watch in 3-D as neurons talk to each other in a living mouse brain
• Social media photos priceless for natural resources research
• Twelve DNA areas 'linked with the age at which we have our first child and family size'
• Missing link between hemolysis and infection found
• Model expands landscape for signaling protein mutations
• Potential target identified for preventing long-term effects of traumatic brain injury
• Boosting efficacy of cell-based therapies and tissue engineering
• Aerial surveys of elephants, other mammals may underestimate numbers
• West Coast record low snowpack in 2015 influenced by high temperatures
• Diet can impact migraines
• Getting into the flow: Sexual pleasure is a kind of trance
• Watching RNA fold
• Athletic performance linked to mortality
• Delayed gratification associated with fast food frequency
• Quantum processing: Coherence vs. Control
• New method for performing aortic valve replacement proves successful in high risk patients
• Millions of loci from a thousand plant transcriptomes
• Balancing time and space in the brain: New model holds promise for predicting brain dynamics
• New window on mitochondria division
• New model explains the moon's weird orbit
• Fruits and vegetables may slow ALS
• Closed captions, transcripts aid learning for almost all students
• Young adults' problem drinking may have lasting health effects
• Majority under 35 think e-cigs are safer, research studies aim to find out
• Is shotgun marriage dead?
• New theory debunks consensus that math abilities are innate
• Carbon levy could limit impact of climate change, study suggests
• Cloudy feedback on global warming
• Low-oxygen environment leads to heart regeneration in mice, research shows
• New discovery could help oral medicines work better
• Brain's multi-track road to long-term memory
• Scientists discover the 'switch' that makes breast cancer cells aggressive
• Structural deficits may explain mood-independent cognitive difficulties in bipolar disorder
• How autoimmune disease is prevented: Mechanism discovered
• Being fit protects against health risks caused by stress at work
• Strange behavior in the crowded cellular environment
• Physicists induce superconductivity in non-superconducting materials
• Spooky new fungal disease on southern golf courses unmasked
• Brain regulates social behavior differently in males and females, study reveals
• Live long and ... Facebook?
• Adapting to climate change a major challenge for forests
• Raising 'good cholesterol' not as effective as lowering 'bad cholesterol'
• In communicating wildlife conservation, focus on the right message

Does your mind jump around, stay on task or get stuck? Posted: 01 Nov 2016 12:19 PM PDT During downtime, some of us daydream while others might focus on a to-do list, or get stuck in a negative loop. Psychology has traditionally defined all these thought patterns as variations of "mind-wandering."

Flexible solar panel goes where silicon can't Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:37 AM PDT A team of engineers and chemists is producing flexible solar panels that can become part of window shades or wallpaper that will capture light from the sun as well as light from sources inside buildings.

Moving toward a gold standard in patient handoff protocols Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:36 AM PDT A deep dive into the research on standardized handoff protocols reveals processes that result in the best outcomes for patients, caregivers, and health-care organizations.

Making the microbiome part of precision medicine Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:36 AM PDT Studies of the microbiome should be integral to future precision medicine initiatives, argue scientists in a new article.

PFO closure is more effective than medical management in preventing recurrent stroke, long-term study results show Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:34 AM PDT Percutaneously closing a patent foramen ovale (PFO) using the Amplatzer PFO Occluder was superior to medical management in the prevention of recurrent ischemic stroke in patients who previously had a cryptogenic stroke, final results from the RESPECT trial found.

Motivation to move: Study finds mild exercise helps decrease pain and improve activity level in older adults Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:34 AM PDT A low-impact exercise program in senior centers in New York City's Chinatown and Flushing, Queens communities helped decrease pain, improve mobility and enhance quality of life for many participants, investigators found.

Study bodes well for low-carb eaters Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:34 AM PDT Three low-carb meals within 24 hours lowers post-meal insulin resistance by more than 30 percent, but high-carb meals sustain insulin resistance, a condition that leads to high blood pressure, prediabetes and diabetes, according to a study.

Stimulating the brain makes exercising the legs feel easier Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:34 AM PDT Stimulation of the brain impacts on endurance exercise performance by decreasing perception of effort, new research shows.

Patient safety benefits when hospitals provide feedback to staff who report errors Posted: 01 Nov 2016 10:32 AM PDT Voluntary reporting by hospital staff of errors and patient safety events are a key source of information for improving patient care. A new analysis suggests that to increase reporting, hospitals should focus on informing staff about how their previous reports have helped enhance patient safety.

Scientists prove how genetics change behavior by studying worms' foraging strategies Posted: 01 Nov 2016 08:17 AM PDT In order to study why organisms pay attention to what other members of their species are doing, scientists set out to understand how animals are incorporating social information into their behavior. A recent study pinpoints genome variations that allow animals to use information about their competitors to modify their innate strategies for searching for food. These findings provide concrete evidence for game theory, which suggests, among other things, that population density changes how individuals act.

Losing its cool: Will ice melt heat up naval operations in Arctic Ocean? Posted: 01 Nov 2016 08:16 AM PDT As diminishing sea ice in the Arctic Ocean expands navigable waters, scientists have traveled to the region to study the changing environment—and provide new tools to help the U.S. Navy operate in a once-inaccessible area.

Scientists show how mutation causes incurable premature aging disease Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:48 AM PDT Scientists have demonstrated how a mutation in a specific protein in stem cells causes an incurable premature aging disease called dyskeratosis congenita, and were able to introduce the mutation into cultured human cells using gene editing technology. The study findings provide a drug target for the disease, the lead author suggests.

Nanobionic spinach plants can detect explosives Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:47 AM PDT Spinach is no longer just a superfood: By embedding leaves with carbon nanotubes, engineers have transformed spinach plants into sensors that can detect explosives and wirelessly relay that information to a handheld device similar to a smartphone.

Heating up exotic topological insulators Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:46 AM PDT Fashion is changing in the avant-garde world of next-generation computer component materials. Traditional semiconductors like silicon are releasing their last new lines. Exotic materials called topological insulators (TIs) are on their way in. And when it comes to cool, nitrogen is the new helium, say scientists.

Stents, bypass surgery equally safe, effective for many with left main heart disease Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:46 AM PDT Drug-eluting stents, a less-invasive alternative to bypass surgery, are as effective as surgery for many patients with a blockage in the left main coronary artery, a major international study has found.

Researchers watch in 3-D as neurons talk to each other in a living mouse brain Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:44 AM PDT No single neuron produces a thought or a behavior; anything the brain accomplishes is a vast collaborative effort between cells. When at work, neurons talk rapidly to one another, forming networks as they communicate. Researchers are developing technology that would make it possible to record brain activity as it plays out across these networks.

Social media photos priceless for natural resources research Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:44 AM PDT Tapping into social media posts on Instagram, Flickr and Panoramio gave researchers a trove of information about people's opinions of scenic European landscapes. A new study shows that geotagged photos – complete with millions of comments – can provide data for predictive models to help guide land use policy, conservation planning and development decisions worldwide.

Twelve DNA areas 'linked with the age at which we have our first child and family size' Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:43 AM PDT Researchers identify specific areas of DNA sequence that are related with the age at which we have our first child, and the total number of children we have during the course of our life.

Missing link between hemolysis and infection found Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:42 AM PDT Researchers have discovered how hemolysis causes infections, and have found a new means to prevent it, paving the way to new treatment possibilities.

Model expands landscape for signaling protein mutations Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:40 AM PDT Protein pairs that control stimulus response in bacteria maintain a sensitive balance between interaction specificity and promiscuity, according to scientists. A computational model will help biologists take advantage of the homologous nature of bacterial signaling systems to reveal the minimal mutations that allow a signaling protein to be efficiently reprogrammed to prefer a nonpartner signaling protein.

Potential target identified for preventing long-term effects of traumatic brain injury Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:38 AM PDT Protecting axons may prevent development of neurological problems associated with TBI, study in mice suggests.

Boosting efficacy of cell-based therapies and tissue engineering Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:37 AM PDT A new method for encapsulating single cells within tunable microgels could boost efficacy of cell-based therapies and tissue engineering, suggest scientists.

Aerial surveys of elephants, other mammals may underestimate numbers Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:36 AM PDT The two main census methods now in use may be undercounting elephants and that population estimates from both are biased low, say researchers.

West Coast record low snowpack in 2015 influenced by high temperatures Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:36 AM PDT The western-most region of the continental United States set records for low snowpack levels in 2015 and scientists, through a new study, point the finger at high temperatures, not the low precipitation characteristic of past "snow drought" years.

Diet can impact migraines Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:35 AM PDT Eliminating that morning 'Cup of Joe,' consuming processed foods high in nitrites or monosodium glutamate (MSG) and enjoying too much alcohol are potential headache triggers for individuals battling migraines, suggests a new report.

Getting into the flow: Sexual pleasure is a kind of trance Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:34 AM PDT Many people have speculated on the evolutionary functions of the human orgasm, but the underlying mechanisms have remained mysterious. In a new article, researcher seeks to shed light on how orgasm works in the brain.

Watching RNA fold Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:34 AM PDT By the time you reach the end of this sentence, RNA folding will have taken place in your body more than 10 quadrillion times. The folding of RNA is essential to life, yet because it happens so rapidly, researchers have difficulty studying the process.

Athletic performance linked to mortality Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:32 AM PDT A study's participants who were asked to think about their own death before taking to the basketball court scored more points than those in a control group.

Delayed gratification associated with fast food frequency Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:32 AM PDT An ability to delay immediate gratification is associated with less frequent consumption of fast food, research indicates. The study has public health significance since away-from-home eating, and fast food consumption in particular, contribute to obesity in the United States.

Quantum processing: Coherence vs. Control Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:31 AM PDT Researchers explore the delicate balance between coherence and control with a simple but complete platform for quantum processing.

New method for performing aortic valve replacement proves successful in high risk patients Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:30 AM PDT A new, less invasive way has been developed to perform transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a procedure widely used to treat aortic valve stenosis, a lethal heart condition. The new approach, called transcaval access, will make TAVR more available to high risk patients, especially women, whose femoral arteries are too small or diseased to withstand the standard procedure.

Millions of loci from a thousand plant transcriptomes Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:30 AM PDT Scientists face many constraints when embarking on new projects. Often the biggest constraint is a small budget. This is why one team of scientists recently worked to make one aspect of genetic research cheaper and easier. They have provided guidelines for research projects using microsatellites and a resource of over five million microsatellites for use in a wide variety of plant species.

Balancing time and space in the brain: New model holds promise for predicting brain dynamics Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:29 AM PDT For as long as scientists have been listening in on the activity of the brain, they have been trying to understand the source of its noisy, apparently random, activity. In the past 20 years, "balanced network theory" has emerged to explain this apparent randomness through a balance of excitation and inhibition in recurrently coupled networks of neurons. A team of scientists has extended the balanced model to provide deep and testable predictions linking brain circuits to brain activity.

New window on mitochondria division Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:28 AM PDT For the first time, research shows the final stages of how mitochondria, the sausage-shaped, power-generating organelles found in nearly all living cells, regularly divide and propagate.

New model explains the moon's weird orbit Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:26 AM PDT The moon, Earth's closest neighbor, is among the strangest planetary bodies in the solar system. Its orbit lies unusually far away from Earth, with a surprisingly large orbital tilt. Planetary scientists have struggled to piece together a scenario that accounts for these and other related characteristics of the Earth-moon system. A new research paper, based on numerical models of the moon's explosive formation and the evolution of the Earth-moon system, comes closer to tying up all the loose ends than any other previous explanation.

Fruits and vegetables may slow ALS Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:26 AM PDT A diet rich in antioxidants and carotenoids is linked to better outcomes for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, say investigators.

Closed captions, transcripts aid learning for almost all students Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:25 AM PDT Most college and university students who use closed captions and transcripts on video and multimedia find them helpful as a learning tool, despite them not regularly being made available, according to new research.

Young adults' problem drinking may have lasting health effects Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:18 AM PDT Young adults with symptoms of alcohol dependence may see health effects late in life, even decades after conquering their problem drinking, according to a study. Researchers found that, of 664 U.S. male veterans, those who had symptoms of alcohol dependence for at least five years in young adulthood generally had poorer physical and mental health by the time they were in their 60s.

Majority under 35 think e-cigs are safer, research studies aim to find out Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:17 AM PDT Most Americans under age 35 think that using electronic cigarettes does not cause as much damage lung health as compared with traditional cigarettes, according to the results of a new national consumer survey.

Is shotgun marriage dead? Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:16 AM PDT Shotgun marriages have faded in popularity overall, but are on the rise among some groups, shows new research. And not all shotgun marriages are as rocky as one might think.

New theory debunks consensus that math abilities are innate Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:15 AM PDT A new theory regarding how the brain first learns basic math could alter approaches to identifying and teaching students with math learning disabilities. Now researchers offer a better understanding of how, when and why people grasp every day math skills.

Carbon levy could limit impact of climate change, study suggests Posted: 01 Nov 2016 07:09 AM PDT A decades-old tax system may offer an economical solution to the problem of catastrophic climate change, according to a new study. A consumer tax levy on fossil fuels could provide a means of lowering their use or encouraging the adoption of cleaner alternatives, the research suggests.

Cloudy feedback on global warming Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:38 AM PDT Researchers have identified a mechanism that causes low clouds – and their influence on Earth's energy balance – to respond differently to global warming depending on their spatial pattern and location.

Low-oxygen environment leads to heart regeneration in mice, research shows Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:38 AM PDT Normal, healthy heart muscle is well-supplied with oxygen-rich blood. But now cardiologists have been able to regenerate heart muscle by placing mice in an extremely low-oxygen environment.

New discovery could help oral medicines work better Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:35 AM PDT A new method for customizing ingredients that help oral medications dissolve in the body and be absorbed into the bloodstream has now been discovered by researchers. The materials discovered in this study could allow life-saving drugs to work faster and more efficiently.

Brain's multi-track road to long-term memory Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:33 AM PDT Our brain has a tough task every time we experience something new – it must be flexible to take in new information instantly, but also stable enough to store it for a long time. And new memories may not be allowed to alter or overwrite old ones. Now researchers have investigated how different brain regions interact when long-term memories are formed.

Scientists discover the 'switch' that makes breast cancer cells aggressive Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:32 AM PDT By controlling a molecular switch, scientists could potentially make aggressive cancers more sensitive to conventional drugs and improve treatment outcomes, say researchers.

Structural deficits may explain mood-independent cognitive difficulties in bipolar disorder Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:32 AM PDT Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a new study reports a link between reduced functional activation and reduced cortical thickness in the brains of patients with bipolar disorder. The abnormalities were found in patients not currently experiencing depression or mania, which suggests that there is a structural basis for altered neural processing that may help explain why cognitive deficits persist even during periods of normal mood.

How autoimmune disease is prevented: Mechanism discovered Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:32 AM PDT A previously unknown safety mechanism in our immune system keeps the body free from autoimmune diseases. Researchers have discovered that a cell in our inherited immune system can prevent our adaptive (learned) immune system from reacting to the body's native cells, which can otherwise lead to autoimmune diseases such as SLE.

Being fit protects against health risks caused by stress at work Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:32 AM PDT It is a well-known fact that fitness and well-being go hand in hand. But being in good shape also protects against the health problems that arise when we feel particularly stressed at work. As reported by sports scientists, it therefore pays to stay physically active, especially during periods of high stress.

Strange behavior in the crowded cellular environment Posted: 01 Nov 2016 06:32 AM PDT The powerful K computer has been used to show how molecules move within the extremely crowded interior of a bacterial cell.

Physicists induce superconductivity in non-superconducting materials Posted: 01 Nov 2016 04:51 AM PDT Researchers have reported a new method for inducing superconductivity in non-superconducting materials, demonstrating a concept proposed decades ago but never proven. The technique can also be used to boost the efficiency of known superconducting materials, suggesting a new way to advance the commercial viability of superconductors.

Spooky new fungal disease on southern golf courses unmasked Posted: 31 Oct 2016 01:51 PM PDT A downright spooky fungus has southern golfers teed off. But now the culprit has been identified, and a treatment has been found.

Brain regulates social behavior differently in males and females, study reveals Posted: 31 Oct 2016 01:51 PM PDT The brain regulates social behavior differently in males and females, according to a new study. A team of researchers has discovered that serotonin (5-HT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) act in opposite ways in males and females to influence aggression and dominance. Because dominance and aggressiveness have been linked to stress resistance, these findings may influence the development of more effective gender-specific treatment strategies for stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

Live long and ... Facebook? Posted: 31 Oct 2016 01:51 PM PDT Is social media good for you, or bad? Well, it's complicated. A study of 12 million Facebook users suggests that using Facebook is associated with living longer -- when it serves to maintain and enhance your real-world social ties.

Adapting to climate change a major challenge for forests Posted: 31 Oct 2016 01:04 PM PDT Climate change is happening so quickly that a question mark hangs over whether forests can adapt accordingly without human interference and can continue to perform their various functions such as timber production, protection against natural hazards and providing a recreational space for the public.

Raising 'good cholesterol' not as effective as lowering 'bad cholesterol' Posted: 31 Oct 2016 01:04 PM PDT Low and very high levels of HDL, or "good cholesterol" are associated with a higher risk of dying from heart disease, cancer and other causes, according to a study. The findings from the first of its kind study suggest that a low level of good cholesterol may not be a heart disease risk factor on its own and that raising HDL does not likely reduce a person's risk of heart disease.

In communicating wildlife conservation, focus on the right message Posted: 31 Oct 2016 10:38 AM PDT If you want people to care about endangered species, focus on how many animals are left, not on the chances of a species becoming extinct, according to a new study.

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