ScienceDaily: Top News

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• New trial hopes to increase survival for kids with cancer, reduce risk of long term cardiac damage
• Many muons: Imaging the underground with help from the cosmos
• Bai jiu: Chinese moonshine has high ethanol and acetaldehyde levels
• Guards of the human immune system unraveled
• Ancient species in Gulf of Alaska investigated
• Copd: What causes the lungs to lose their ability to heal?
• World’s smallest radio receiver has building blocks the size of two atoms
• Fundamental solid state phenomenon unraveled
• Fossilized water fleas: Evolution of the micro-crustacean group Cladocera
• Silencing fat protein improves obesity and blood sugar

New trial hopes to increase survival for kids with cancer, reduce risk of long term cardiac damage Posted: 17 Dec 2016 10:51 AM PST Imagine conquering childhood cancer, only to find out that years down the road your heart may fail. Unfortunately, many children who have battled cancer face this reality. While often lifesaving, the effects of chemotherapy treatment (drugs that kill cancer cells) can take a toll on the developing body of a child, potentially resulting in life-threatening late side effects like cardiac damage.

Many muons: Imaging the underground with help from the cosmos Posted: 17 Dec 2016 10:51 AM PST Muons, once used to explore the inside of pyramids and volcanoes alike, are enabling researchers to see deep underground with a technological breakthrough.

Bai jiu: Chinese moonshine has high ethanol and acetaldehyde levels Posted: 16 Dec 2016 04:21 PM PST Bai jiu are distilled spirits made and used throughout rural China for everyday use and special occasions. Distillation of bai jiu is regulated lightly or not at all and nearly every town or village has a distiller. Little is known about the composition of these Chinese spirits, a gap this study seeks to fill given the health risks associated with their high ethanol and high acetaldehyde concentrations.

Guards of the human immune system unraveled Posted: 16 Dec 2016 11:22 AM PST Dendritic cells represent an important component of the immune system: they recognize and engulf invaders, which subsequently triggers a pathogen-specific immune response. Scientists gained substantial knowledge of human dendritic cells, which might contribute to the development of immune therapies in the future.

Ancient species in Gulf of Alaska investigated Posted: 16 Dec 2016 08:56 AM PST Invasive species have shaped island ecosystems and landscapes in the Gulf of Alaska, but their histories are unknown. Researchers have now investigated the archaeological and genetic history of the Arctic ground squirrel on Chirikof Island, Alaska. This small mammal has the ability to affect vegetation and seabirds on these islands and was introduced across much of this region as part of the historic fox farming industry.

Copd: What causes the lungs to lose their ability to heal? Posted: 16 Dec 2016 08:55 AM PST In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the patients' lungs lose their ability to repair damages on their own. Scientists now have a new idea as to why this might be so.They blame the molecule Wnt5a for this problem.

World’s smallest radio receiver has building blocks the size of two atoms Posted: 16 Dec 2016 08:43 AM PST Researchers have made the world's smallest radio receiver – built out of an assembly of atomic-scale defects in pink diamonds.

Fundamental solid state phenomenon unraveled Posted: 16 Dec 2016 08:43 AM PST Whether water freezes to ice, iron is demagnetized or a material becomes superconducting -- for physicists there is always a phase transition behind it. They endeavour to understand these different phenomena by searching for universal properties. Researchers have now made a pioneering discovery during their study of a phase transition from an electrical conductor to an insulator (Mott metal-insulator transition).

Fossilized water fleas: Evolution of the micro-crustacean group Cladocera Posted: 16 Dec 2016 08:41 AM PST Scientists have studied the evolutionary history of the so-called "water fleas." These tiny crustaceans from the order Cladocera form the basis of the trophic pyramid and therefore play an important role in modern ecosystems. Due to the fact that they are rarely preserved as fossils, little is known about the water fleas' evolution. Scientists have now presented the first comprehensive inventory of all Cladocera fossils in an ecological context. The scientists show that the animals' morphology has undergone very little change over the course of geological history. Nevertheless, the water fleas demonstrate a high adaptability to changes in environmental conditions.

Silencing fat protein improves obesity and blood sugar Posted: 15 Dec 2016 02:53 PM PST Scientists report that turning off a protein found in liver and adipose tissue significantly improves blood sugar levels and reduces body fat in an animal model.

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