ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Key to burning fat faster discovered
• Ants 'screen' for beneficial bacteria to assist them
• Milky Way now has a twin (or two): Astronomers find first group of galaxies just like ours
• Half of the particulate pollution in North America comes from other continents
• Large health gaps found among black, Latino, and white fifth-graders
• Native landscaping in urban areas can help native birds
• Potency of statins linked to muscle side effects
• Parasitic wasps remember better if reward is greater
• Traumatic mating may offer fitness benefits for female sea slugs
• Scientists reveal how river blindness worm thrives
• Archived Guthrie cards find a new purpose
• Transparent, thin and tough: Why don't insect wings break?
• Children’s body fatness linked to decisions made in the womb
• Prostate cancer: Six things men should know about tomatoes, fish oil, vitamin supplements, testosterone, PSA tests
• Batteries made from world’s thinnest material could power tomorrow’s electric cars
• Imaging study sheds new light on alcohol-related birth defects
• Roots of human self-awareness: New study points to a complex, diffuse patchwork of brain pathways
• Ethical dilemmas contribute to 'critical weaknesses' in FDA postmarket oversight, experts say
• New device monitors schoolroom air for carbon dioxide levels that may make kids drowsy
• Scientists create chemical 'brain': Giant network links all known compounds and reactions
• Elusive metal discovered: Nickel oxide turned into an electricity-conducting metal
• Targeting inflammation to prevent, treat cancers
• Video shows the traffic inside a brain cell: New imaging technique reveals the brain's continuous renovation
• Gene mutation may signal recurrence of fibromatosis in children
• Researchers probe invisible vacancies in fuel cell materials
• Mars rover Curiosity begins driving at Bradbury landing
• Tracking infectious outbreaks by their genomes
• Biorefinery makes use of every bit of a soybean
• Toward medicines that recruit the body's natural disease-fighting proteins
• Super-strong, high-tech material found to be toxic to aquatic animals
• Mom's emotional health during child's early years linked to teen's oral health
• Nematodes with pest-fighting potential identified
• Future memory: Ferroelectric materials could bring down cost of cloud computing and electronic devices
• New climate history adds to understanding of recent Antarctic Peninsula warming
• Low-dose sedative alleviates autistic-like behavior in mice with Dravet syndrome mutation
• Sky-high methane mystery closer to being solved
• Ready. Get set. Repress! How genes are faithfully copied
• Early exposure to antibiotics may impact development, obesity
• Intense prep for law school admission test alters brain structure
• Rewired visual input to sound-processing part of the brain leads to compromised hearing
• Close contact with young people at risk of suicide has no effect, study suggests
• Microbiologists find new approach to fighting viral illnesses
• Ancient fossils reveal how the mollusc got its teeth
• Long-standing chemistry mystery cracked
• Income, 'screen time' affect soda, junk food consumption
• 30 minutes of daily exercise does the trick: Same effect in half the time
• With a little training, signs of schizophrenia are averted
• First evidence from humans on how alcohol may boost risk of cancer
• Why muscles go wrong in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
• Researchers study the structure of drug resistance in tuberculosis
• More sophisticated wiring, not just bigger brain, helped humans evolve beyond chimps, geneticists find
• Benefits to early intervention in addressing brain abnormalities
• Researchers return blood cells to stem cell state
• Mesothelioma? Scientists quantify nanofiber health risk to workers
• In Fiji, marine protection gets local boost
• Losing stream in our battle to predict and prevent invasive species
• Glass offers improved means of storing nuclear waste, researchers say
• Good news for banana lovers: Help may be on the way to slow that rapid over-ripening
• First identification of a strong oral carcinogen in smokeless tobacco
• Natural regeneration building urban forests, altering species composition

Key to burning fat faster discovered Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:26 PM PDT Newly discovered on/off switch in enzymes may help battle fat-related disease ranging from stroke and diabetes to acne.

Ants 'screen' for beneficial bacteria to assist them Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:25 PM PDT Having healthy gut bacteria could have as much to do with a strategy that insurance companies use to uncover risk as with eating the right foods - according to researchers.

Milky Way now has a twin (or two): Astronomers find first group of galaxies just like ours Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:13 PM PDT Researchers have found the first group of galaxies that is just like ours, a rare sight in the local Universe. The Milky Way is a fairly typical galaxy on its own, but when paired with its close neighbours -- the Magellanic Clouds -- it is very rare, and could have been one of a kind, until a survey of our local Universe found another two examples just like us.

Half of the particulate pollution in North America comes from other continents Posted: 22 Aug 2012 04:07 PM PDT Roughly half the aerosols that affect air quality and climate change in North America may be coming from other continents, including Asia, Africa and Europe, according to a new study.

Large health gaps found among black, Latino, and white fifth-graders Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:41 PM PDT Many racial/ethnic disparities were found for harmful health-related issues in 5,000 fifth graders from Alabama, Texas, and California. Black and Latino children were more likely than white children to witness violence, get less exercise, ride without seat belts in cars, etc. All races and ethnicities did better on health indicators with highly educated parents, higher income and advantages of certain schools. When children with similar advantages compared, racial/ethnic differences for most indicators smaller or even absent.

Native landscaping in urban areas can help native birds Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:41 PM PDT The study is one of the first to use quantitative measures and a systematic approach, with 24-hour video monitoring, to assess and compare foraging behavior of common backyard birds in yards in Phoenix, at the northern edge of the Sonoran Desert.

Potency of statins linked to muscle side effects Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:41 PM PDT A new study reports that muscle problems reported by patients taking statins were related to the strength or potency of the given cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Parasitic wasps remember better if reward is greater Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:13 PM PDT Two parasitic wasp species show similar memory consolidation patterns in response to rewards of different quality, providing evidence that the reward value affects the type of memory that is consolidated.

Traumatic mating may offer fitness benefits for female sea slugs Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:13 PM PDT Female sea slugs mate more frequently than required to produce offspring, despite the highly traumatic and biologically costly nature of their copulation.

Scientists reveal how river blindness worm thrives Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:13 PM PDT Scientists have found that the worm which causes River Blindness survives by using a bacterium to provide energy, as well as help 'trick' the body's immune system into thinking it is fighting a different kind of infection.

Archived Guthrie cards find a new purpose Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:13 PM PDT Over the last 50 years, the spotting of newborn's blood onto filter paper for disease screening, called Guthrie cards, has become so routine that since 2000, more than 90% of newborns in the United States have had Guthrie cards created. Researchers have now shown that epigenetic information stored on archived Guthrie cards provides a retrospective view of the epigenome at birth, a powerful new application for the card that could help understand disease and predict future health.

Transparent, thin and tough: Why don't insect wings break? Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT Researchers have shown that the wings of insects are not as fragile as they might look. The characteristic network of veins found in the wings of grasshoppers helps to capture cracks, similar to watertight compartments in a ship.

Children’s body fatness linked to decisions made in the womb Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT New born human infants have the largest brains among primates, but also the highest proportion of body fat. Before birth, if the supply of nutrients from the mother through the placenta is limited or unbalanced, the developing baby faces a dilemma: should resources be allocated to brain growth, or to fat deposition for use as an energy reserve during the early months after birth? Scientists have shown that this decision could have an effect on how fat we are as children.

Prostate cancer: Six things men should know about tomatoes, fish oil, vitamin supplements, testosterone, PSA tests Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT When it comes to prostate cancer, there's a lot of confusion about how to prevent it, find it early and the best way – or even whether – to treat it. Here are six common prostate cancer myths along with research-based information from scientists to help men separate fact from fiction.

Batteries made from world’s thinnest material could power tomorrow’s electric cars Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT Engineering researchers have made a sheet of paper from the world's thinnest material, graphene, and then zapped the paper with a laser or camera flash to blemish it with countless cracks, pores, and other imperfections. The result is a graphene anode material that can be charged or discharged 10 times faster than conventional graphite anodes used in today's lithium-ion batteries.

Imaging study sheds new light on alcohol-related birth defects Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT The new imaging study in a mouse model for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders could enhance the diagnoses of birth defects caused by alcohol exposure in the womb and it illustrates how the precise timing of that exposure could determine specific kinds of defects.

Roots of human self-awareness: New study points to a complex, diffuse patchwork of brain pathways Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT A research team has upended current thinking about areas in the human brain responsible for self-awareness. Using a rare patient with damage to areas considered vital to be self-aware, the team learned the patient was not only self-aware, but capable of introspection and self-insight. The researchers propose that self-awareness is a product of a diffuse patchwork of pathways in the brain rather than confined to specific areas.

Ethical dilemmas contribute to 'critical weaknesses' in FDA postmarket oversight, experts say Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT Ethical challenges are central to persistent "critical weaknesses" in the national system for ensuring drug safety, according to a commentary by former Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee members published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

New device monitors schoolroom air for carbon dioxide levels that may make kids drowsy Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 PM PDT With nearly 55 million students, teachers and school staff about to return to elementary and secondary school classrooms, scientists have developed a new hand-held sensor - practical enough for wide use - that could keep classroom air fresher and kids more alert for learning.

Scientists create chemical 'brain': Giant network links all known compounds and reactions Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:47 PM PDT Scientists have connected 250 years of organic chemical knowledge into one giant computer network -- a chemical Google on steroids. This "immortal chemist" will never retire and take away its knowledge but instead will continue to learn, grow and share. The software optimizes syntheses of drug molecules and other important compounds, combines long (and expensive) syntheses of compounds into shorter and more economical routes and identifies suspicious chemical recipes that could lead to chemical weapons.

Elusive metal discovered: Nickel oxide turned into an electricity-conducting metal Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:47 PM PDT Scientists have discovered the conditions under which nickel oxide can turn into an electricity-conducting metal. Nickel oxide is one of the first compounds to be studied for its electronic properties, but until now scientists have not been able to induce a metallic state. The compound becomes metallic at enormous pressures of 2.4 million times the atmospheric pressure (240 gigapascals).

Targeting inflammation to prevent, treat cancers Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:46 PM PDT Researchers have identified a gene that disrupts the inflammatory process implicated in liver cancer.

Video shows the traffic inside a brain cell: New imaging technique reveals the brain's continuous renovation Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:46 PM PDT Using bioluminescent proteins from a jellyfish, a team of scientists has lit up the inside of a neuron, capturing spectacular video footage that shows the movement of proteins throughout the cell.

Gene mutation may signal recurrence of fibromatosis in children Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:46 PM PDT In the case of aggressive fibromatosis, the good news is that it is a slow-growing benign tumor. The bad news is that this abdominal tumor often recurs after surgical removal. This is particularly true among children. While headway has been made in isolating causes of this recurrence in adults, it is less clear in children.

Researchers probe invisible vacancies in fuel cell materials Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:46 PM PDT Knowing the position of missing oxygen atoms could be the key to cheaper solid oxide fuel cells with longer lifetimes. New microscopy research is enabling scientists to map these vacancies at an atomic scale.

Mars rover Curiosity begins driving at Bradbury landing Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:40 PM PDT NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has begun driving from its landing site, which scientists announced Aug. 22 they have named for the late author Ray Bradbury. Making its first movement on the Martian surface, Curiosity's drive combined forward, turn and reverse segments. This placed the rover roughly 20 feet (6 meters) from the spot where it landed 16 days ago.

Tracking infectious outbreaks by their genomes Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:02 PM PDT A New York City patient carrying a multi-drug-resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a microbe frequently associated with hospital-borne infections, introduced the dangerous bacteria into the 243-bed research hospital while participating in a clinical study in the summer of 2011. To get the outbreak under control, medical researchers used genome sequencing in the middle of this active hospital epidemic to learn how the microbe spread.

Biorefinery makes use of every bit of a soybean Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:40 AM PDT Scientists have unveiled new technology intended to move soybeans, second only to corn as the top food crop in the U.S., along the same use-to-all path of corn and crude oil as a raw material for a wider portfolio of products.

Toward medicines that recruit the body's natural disease-fighting proteins Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:40 AM PDT Like recruiters pitching military service to a throng of people, scientists are developing drugs to recruit disease-fighting proteins present naturally in everyone's blood in medicine's war on infections, cancer and a range of other diseases.

Super-strong, high-tech material found to be toxic to aquatic animals Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have potential uses in everything from medicine to electronics to construction. However, CNTs are not without risks. A new study found that they can be toxic to aquatic animals. The researchers urge that care be taken to prevent the release of CNTs into the environment as the materials enter mass production.

Mom's emotional health during child's early years linked to teen's oral health Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT A mother's emotional health and education level during her child's earliest years influence oral health at age 14, according to a new study.

Nematodes with pest-fighting potential identified Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT Formosan subterranean termites could be in for a real headache. Scientists have identified species of roundworms, or "nematodes," that invade the termite brains and offer a potential bio-based approach to controlling them.

Future memory: Ferroelectric materials could bring down cost of cloud computing and electronic devices Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT A new class of organic materials boasts an attractive but elusive property: Ferroelectricity. The crystalline materials also have a great memory, which could be very useful in computer and cellphone memory applications, including cloud computing. The very long crystals with desirable properties are made using just two small organic molecules that are extremely attracted to each other. The starting compounds are simple and inexpensive, making the lightweight materials scalable for technology applications.

New climate history adds to understanding of recent Antarctic Peninsula warming Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT A recent study adds a new dimension to our understanding of Antarctic Peninsula climate change and the likely causes of the break-up of its ice shelves.

Low-dose sedative alleviates autistic-like behavior in mice with Dravet syndrome mutation Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT A low dose of the sedative clonazepam alleviated autistic-like behavior in mice with a mutation that causes Dravet syndrome in humans. The mutation results in defective sodium ion channels. Affected brain cells cannot relay "hush" signals. An excess of excitatory signals results. Mice with this defect have seizures, impaired social interactions, learning difficulties, and freeze when confronting new mice or smells. Researchers overcame decreased sodium channel activity in mouse brain cells by increasing the strength of inhibitory signals with a common sedative.

Sky-high methane mystery closer to being solved Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:12 AM PDT Increased capture of natural gas from oil fields probably accounts for up to 70 percent of the dramatic leveling off seen in atmospheric methane at the end of the 20th century, according to new research.

Ready. Get set. Repress! How genes are faithfully copied Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:08 AM PDT Scientists have manipulated the Set2 pathway to show how genes are faithfully copied.

Early exposure to antibiotics may impact development, obesity Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:08 AM PDT Researchers have made a novel discovery that could have widespread clinical implications, potentially affecting everything from nutrient metabolism to obesity in children.

Intense prep for law school admission test alters brain structure Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT Intense prep courses for the Law School Admission Test are popular for good reason: They can improve scores significantly. Now neuroscientists have revealed the underlying impact of such preparation: The brain's neural connections change measurably, suggesting a bolstering of physical interconnections among reasoning areas of the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging scans of students before and after an intense three-month prep course showed increased connections between verbal and spatial reasoning areas of the brain.

Rewired visual input to sound-processing part of the brain leads to compromised hearing Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT Scientists have found that the ability to hear is lessened when, as a result of injury, a region of the brain responsible for processing sounds receives both visual and auditory inputs.

Close contact with young people at risk of suicide has no effect, study suggests Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT Researchers, doctors and patients tend to agree that during the high-risk period after an attempted suicide, the treatment of choice is close contact, follow-up and personal interaction in order to prevent a tragic repeat. Now, however, new research shows that this strategy does not work.

Microbiologists find new approach to fighting viral illnesses Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT By discovering how certain viruses use their host cells to replicate, microbiologists have identified a new approach to the development of universal treatments for viral illnesses such as meningitis, encephalitis, hepatitis and possibly the common cold.

Ancient fossils reveal how the mollusc got its teeth Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:52 AM PDT The radula sounds like something from a horror movie -- a conveyor belt lined with hundreds of rows of interlocking teeth. In fact, radulas are found in the mouths of most molluscs, from the giant squid to the garden snail. Now, a "prototype" radula found in 500-million-year-old fossils shows that the earliest radula was not a flesh-rasping terror, but a tool for humbly scooping food from the muddy sea floor.

Long-standing chemistry mystery cracked Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT Chemists have answered a key question concerning the widely-used Fenton reaction – important in wastewater treatment to destroy hazardous organic chemicals and decontaminate bacterial pathogens and in industrial chemical production.

Income, 'screen time' affect soda, junk food consumption Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT Researchers survey dietary habits of 1,800 Edmonton-area preschoolers.

30 minutes of daily exercise does the trick: Same effect in half the time Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT Same effect in half the time: Researchers have shown that 30 minutes of daily training provide an equally effective loss of weight and body mass as 60 minutes.

With a little training, signs of schizophrenia are averted Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT Animals that literally have holes in their brains can go on to behave as normal adults if they've had the benefit of a little cognitive training in adolescence. That's according to new work featuring an animal model of schizophrenia, where rats with particular neonatal brain injuries develop schizophrenia-like symptoms.

First evidence from humans on how alcohol may boost risk of cancer Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT Almost 30 years after discovery of a link between alcohol consumption and certain forms of cancer, scientists are reporting the first evidence from research on people explaining how the popular beverage may be carcinogenic. The results have special implications for hundreds of millions of people of Asian descent.

Why muscles go wrong in Duchenne muscular dystrophy Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT Skeletal muscle degeneration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is worsened by stiffening of the microtubule cytoskeleton that provide structure inside muscle cells.

Researchers study the structure of drug resistance in tuberculosis Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT A research group is studying disease resistance in tuberculosis. The group has described the structure of a regulator that controls the expression of a pump that removes toxins from the bacteria.

More sophisticated wiring, not just bigger brain, helped humans evolve beyond chimps, geneticists find Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT Human and chimp brains look anatomically similar because both evolved from the same ancestor millions of years ago. But where does the chimp brain end and the human brain begin? A new study pinpoints uniquely human patterns of gene activity in the brain that could shed light on how we evolved differently than our closest relative. These genes' identification could improve understanding of human brain diseases like autism and schizophrenia, as well as learning disorders and addictions.

Benefits to early intervention in addressing brain abnormalities Posted: 22 Aug 2012 09:47 AM PDT Preemptive cognitive training —- an early intervention to address neuropsychiatric deficiencies —- can help the brain function normally later in life, a team of researchers has found through a series of experiments on laboratory rats. Their findings hold promise for addressing a range of brain impairments in humans, including schizophrenia.

Researchers return blood cells to stem cell state Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:22 AM PDT Scientists have developed a reliable method to turn the clock back on blood cells, restoring them to a primitive stem cell state from which they can then develop into any other type of cell in the body.

Mesothelioma? Scientists quantify nanofiber health risk to workers Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:22 AM PDT Health risks posed to people who work with tiny fibers used in manufacturing industries could be reduced, thanks to new research. Research into the health risks posed by nanofibers – used to strengthen objects from tennis rackets to airplane wings – has pinpointed the lengths at which these fibers are harmful to the lungs.

In Fiji, marine protection gets local boost Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:19 AM PDT A new study has found that locally managed marine protected areas within Fiji are playing an increasingly important role in the nation's strategy to protect inshore habitats.

Losing stream in our battle to predict and prevent invasive species Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:11 AM PDT The predictive power of invasive species hypotheses has declined over time, presenting a challenge to policy makers and resource managers who rely on accurate risk assessment – so reports a team of international scientists. The study was published in the open-access journal NeoBiota.

Glass offers improved means of storing nuclear waste, researchers say Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:11 AM PDT Researchers have shown, for the first time, that a method of storing nuclear waste normally used only for high level waste, could provide a safer, more efficient, and potentially cheaper, solution for the storage and ultimate disposal of intermediate level waste.

Good news for banana lovers: Help may be on the way to slow that rapid over-ripening Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:08 AM PDT A solution finally may be at hand for the number one consumer gripe about bananas: their tendency to ripen, soften and rot into an unappetizing mush, seemingly in the blink of an eye. Scientists have described efforts to develop a spray-on coating that would delay the ripening of bananas.

First identification of a strong oral carcinogen in smokeless tobacco Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:08 AM PDT Scientists have now identified the first substance in smokeless tobacco that is a strong oral carcinogen, a health risk for the 9 million users of chewing tobacco, snuff and related products in the U.S., and called upon the federal government to regulate or ban the substance.

Natural regeneration building urban forests, altering species composition Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:22 AM PDT Scientists have shown that on average, one in three trees in sampled cities were planted while two-thirds resulted from natural regeneration.

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