ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Saturn's largest moon Titan gets a dune 'makeover'
• NASA beams Mona Lisa to Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at the moon
• Understanding personality for decision-making, longevity, and mental health
• World's most complex 2-D laser beamsteering array demonstrated
• Wild animals may contribute to the resurgence of African sleeping sickness
• Weight loss helps to oust worms
• Potential to prevent, reverse disabilities in children born prematurely, study suggests
• New study challenges links between daycare and behavioral issues
• Health and law expert: NFL not alone in handling concussions as 'benign' problems
• Why wolves are forever wild, but dogs can be tamed
• Enzyme involved in deadly brain tumors identified
• Luminescent mice used to track cancer and aging in real-time
• Power's punishing impact: Power linked to tendency to punish harshly
• Doubling down on energy efficiency
• Novel sensor provides bigger picture: Efficient, flexible, versatile and cheap
• Microscopes for inside magnetic materials using Barkhausen Effect
• Separating gases using a rigid polymer sieve: New polymer selectively sieves gas molecules
• Sniffing immune cells: Immune cells on the move are guided by touch and smell
• Global approach to monitoring biodiversity loss?
• Molecular twist helps regulate the cellular message to make histone proteins
• Adolescent stress linked to severe adult mental illness, mouse study suggests
• Global plant diversity still hinges on local battles against invasives, study suggests
• Climate events drive High-Arctic vertebrate community into synchrony: Extreme weather potent force for Arctic overwintering populations
• Scientists shed light on the 'dark matter' of DNA
• Irregular heart beat elevates risk of kidney failure
• Vulnerabilities in security of personal genetic information
• Novel technique reveals dynamics of telomere DNA structure: Chromosome-capping telomeres are a potential target for anti-cancer drugs
• Hearing-loss-prevention drugs closer to reality thanks to new test
• New key to organism complexity identified
• Commonly prescribed PAH medications could have adverse effects
• Lack of key enzyme in the metabolism of folic acid leads to birth defects
• Critically ill flu patients saved with artificial lung technology treatment
• Is athleticism linked to brain size? Exercise-loving mice have larger midbrains
• Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use
• Trading wetlands no longer a 'deal with the devil'
• Method for more sensitive electrochemical sensors
• Cheating to create the perfect simulation: Physicists on way to describing inside of neutron stars
• Cancer cell metabolism study yields new insights on leukemia
• Bacteria's hidden skill could pave way for stem cell treatments
• 'Jet-lagged' fruit flies provide clues for body clock synchronization
• Learning the alphabet of gene control
• Quail really know their camouflage
• GI tract bacteria may protect against autoimmune disease
• Neurobiological consequence of predating or grazing in two worm species
• How cells know when it's time to eat themselves
• New research throws doubt on earlier 'killer walrus' claims
• Photovoltaics beat biofuels at converting sun's energy to miles driven
• Hidden treasure in Large Magellanic Cloud
• Deodorants: Do we really need them?
• Great Oxidation Event: More oxygen through multicellularity
• Engineers less empathetic than students in caring professions, study suggests
• Surrogate births: How low levels of monitoring and regulation could lead to exploitation
• Social stigma of migraine headaches: Worse than epilepsy

Saturn's largest moon Titan gets a dune 'makeover' Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:34 PM PST Titan's siblings must be jealous. While most of Saturn's moons display their ancient faces pockmarked by thousands of craters, Titan -- Saturn's largest moon -- may look much younger than it really is because its craters are getting erased. Dunes of exotic, hydrocarbon sand are slowly but steadily filling in its craters, according to new research using observations from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

NASA beams Mona Lisa to Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at the moon Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:34 PM PST As part of the first demonstration of laser communication with a satellite at the moon, scientists with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter beamed an image of the Mona Lisa to the spacecraft from Earth.

Understanding personality for decision-making, longevity, and mental health Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:33 PM PST Extraversion does not just explain differences between how people act at social events. How extraverted you are may influence how the brain makes choices -- specifically whether you choose an immediate or delayed reward, according to a new study. The work is part of a growing body of research on the role of understanding personality in society.

World's most complex 2-D laser beamsteering array demonstrated Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:33 PM PST Researchers have recently demonstrated the most complex 2-D optical phased array ever.

Wild animals may contribute to the resurgence of African sleeping sickness Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:33 PM PST Wild animals may be a key contributor to the continuing spread of African sleeping sickness, new research shows. The West African form of the disease, also known as Gambiense Human African trypanosomiasis, affects around 10,000 people in Africa every year and is deadly if left untreated.

Weight loss helps to oust worms Posted: 17 Jan 2013 03:32 PM PST Scientists have discovered that weight loss plays an important role in the body's response to fighting off intestinal worms.

Potential to prevent, reverse disabilities in children born prematurely, study suggests Posted: 17 Jan 2013 01:29 PM PST Researchers report for the first time that low blood and oxygen flow to the developing brain does not, as previously thought, cause an irreversible loss of brain cells, but rather disrupts the cells' ability to fully mature. This discovery opens up new avenues for potential therapies to promote regeneration and repair of the premature brain.

New study challenges links between daycare and behavioral issues Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:20 PM PST Researchers from the US and Norway studied 75,000 Norwegian children and found no evidence that time spent in child care leads to behavioral problems.

Health and law expert: NFL not alone in handling concussions as 'benign' problems Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:20 PM PST If a lack of speed in tackling concussions warrants criticism, the NFL isn't the only player deserving a penalty, according to a new study. Neurologists were also slow in sounding the alarm, and for decades, concussions were viewed as a "benign phenomenon," according to researchers.

Why wolves are forever wild, but dogs can be tamed Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:20 PM PST An evolutionary biologist suggests the different behaviors are related to the animals' earliest sensory experiences and the critical period of socialization.

Enzyme involved in deadly brain tumors identified Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:20 PM PST One of the most common types of brain tumors in adults, glioblastoma multiforme, is one of the most devastating. Even with recent advances in surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the aggressive and invasive tumors become resistant to treatment, and median survival of patients is only about 15 months. Researchers have now identified an important association between the naturally occurring enzyme Kallikrein 6, also known as KLK6, and the malignant tumors.

Luminescent mice used to track cancer and aging in real-time Posted: 17 Jan 2013 12:19 PM PST Researchers have developed a new method to visualize aging and tumor growth in mice using a gene closely linked to these processes.

Power's punishing impact: Power linked to tendency to punish harshly Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Providing a sense of power to someone instills a black-and-white sense of right and wrong (especially wrong), new research shows. Once armed with this moral clarity, powerful people then perceive wrongdoing with much less ambiguity than people lacking this power, and punish apparent wrong-doers with more severity than people without power would.

Doubling down on energy efficiency Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Spending on energy efficiency programs funded by electric and natural gas utility customers will double by 2025 to about $9.5 billion per year, according to new projections. According to the report, energy efficiency programs funded by utility customers are projected to continue expanding beyond the traditional bastions of energy efficiency in the Northeast and West.

Novel sensor provides bigger picture: Efficient, flexible, versatile and cheap Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Engineers have developed a novel sensor that is more efficient, versatile and cheaper for potential use in such applications as airport security scanners and collision avoidance systems for aircraft, cars or maritime vessels. The material is flexible and durable enough to be attached to a wall, wrapped around corners or even laid on the floor like a rug, making it an inexpensive alternative for a variety of sensing applications.

Microscopes for inside magnetic materials using Barkhausen Effect Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Almost 100 years after the initial discovery, a team of scientists have harnessed the Barkhausen Effect as a new kind of high-resolution microscopy for the insides of magnetic materials.

Separating gases using a rigid polymer sieve: New polymer selectively sieves gas molecules Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST A new polymer may lead to more efficient large-scale separation of gas mixtures for chemical engineering and energy generation.

Sniffing immune cells: Immune cells on the move are guided by touch and smell Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST A new article provides new insights into how immune cells find their way through tissues. The findings provide the first evidence for directed cell migration along concentration gradients of chemical cues immobilized in tissues, a concept that has long been assumed but never experimentally proven.

Global approach to monitoring biodiversity loss? Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST In contrast to climate change, there is no coordinated global system in place for measuring and reporting on biodiversity change or loss. An international team of biologists is now addressing this gap.

Molecular twist helps regulate the cellular message to make histone proteins Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Scientists have shown for the first time how two key proteins in messenger RNA communicate via a molecular twist to help maintain the balance of histones to DNA.

Adolescent stress linked to severe adult mental illness, mouse study suggests Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Working with mice, researchers have established a link between elevated levels of a stress hormone in adolescence -- a critical time for brain development -- and genetic changes that, in young adulthood, cause severe mental illness in those predisposed to it.

Global plant diversity still hinges on local battles against invasives, study suggests Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:25 AM PST Scientists have long suspected that studies of the impact of invasive species on biodiversity sometimes come to different conclusions because the impact depends on the size of the study site. Their field work confirms that the impact of invasive species is different at small scales than at large ones.

Climate events drive High-Arctic vertebrate community into synchrony: Extreme weather potent force for Arctic overwintering populations Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:24 AM PST Climate change is known to affect the population dynamics of single species, such as reindeer or caribou, but the effect of climate at the community level has been much more difficult to document. Now, a group of Norwegian scientists has found that extreme climate events cause synchronized population fluctuations among all vertebrate species in a relatively simple high arctic community.

Scientists shed light on the 'dark matter' of DNA Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:24 AM PST In each cell, thousands of regulatory regions control which genes are active at any time. Scientists have now developed a method that reliably detects these regions and measures their activity.

Irregular heart beat elevates risk of kidney failure Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:23 AM PST Many people who suffer from chronic kidney disease progressively lose their kidney function over time and eventually develop a condition called end-stage renal disease – the complete failure of the kidneys – placing them in need of lifelong dialysis or a kidney transplant. Scientists have found that the risk of kidney failure is greater for people with chronic kidney disease who also have atrial fibrillation, one of the most common forms of irregular heart rhythm in adults.

Vulnerabilities in security of personal genetic information Posted: 17 Jan 2013 11:23 AM PST Using only a computer, an Internet connection, and publicly accessible online resources, researchers have been able to identify nearly 50 individuals who had submitted personal genetic material as participants in genomic studies.

Novel technique reveals dynamics of telomere DNA structure: Chromosome-capping telomeres are a potential target for anti-cancer drugs Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:34 AM PST Biomedical researchers studying aging and cancer are intensely interested in telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. In a new study, scientists used a novel technique to reveal structural and mechanical properties of telomeres that could help guide the development of new anti-cancer drugs.

Hearing-loss-prevention drugs closer to reality thanks to new test Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST A new way to test anti-hearing-loss drugs in people could help land those medicines on pharmacy shelves sooner. Researchers have figured out the longstanding problem of how to safely create temporary, reversible hearing loss in order to see how well the drugs work.

New key to organism complexity identified Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Researchers have discovered that the transcription factor protein TFIID coexists in two distinct structural states, a key to genetic expression and TFIID's ability to initiate the process by which DNA is copied into RNA.

Commonly prescribed PAH medications could have adverse effects Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Scientists have reported findings that significantly improve understanding of how widely used drugs in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension affect the heart health of treated patients.

Lack of key enzyme in the metabolism of folic acid leads to birth defects Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Researchers have discovered that the lack of a critical enzyme in the folic acid metabolic pathway leads to neural tube birth defects in developing embryos.

Critically ill flu patients saved with artificial lung technology treatment Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST In recent weeks, the intensive critical care units at University Health Network's Toronto General Hospital have used Extra Corporeal Lung Support to support five influenza patients in their recovery from severe respiratory problems.

Is athleticism linked to brain size? Exercise-loving mice have larger midbrains Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Is athleticism linked to brain size? Researchers performed laboratory experiments on house mice and found that mice that have been bred for dozens of generations to be more exercise-loving have larger midbrains than those that have not been selectively bred this way -- the first example in which selection for a particular mammalian behavior has been shown to result in a change in size of a specific brain region.

Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST Dietary changes since the early 1960s have fueled a sharp increase in the amount of mined phosphorus used to produce the food consumed by the average person over the course of a year, according to a new study. Between 1961 and 2007, rising meat consumption and total calorie intake underpinned a 38 percent increase in the world's per capita "phosphorus footprint."

Trading wetlands no longer a 'deal with the devil' Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:33 AM PST If Faust had been in the business of trading wetlands rather than selling his soul, the devil might be portrayed by the current guidelines for wetland restoration. Research recommends a new framework that could make Faustian bargains over wetland restoration sites result in more environmentally positive outcomes.

Method for more sensitive electrochemical sensors Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:32 AM PST Scientists have recently developed a new method for amplifying signals in graphene-based electrochemical sensors, a step that could make the sensors more sensitive at lower detection ranges.

Cheating to create the perfect simulation: Physicists on way to describing inside of neutron stars Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:32 AM PST Scientists have succeeded in simulating the strong atomic nuclear interactions to enable its calculability while at the same time preserving the typical characteristics of a neutron star.

Cancer cell metabolism study yields new insights on leukemia Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST Scientists have proposed a new reason why acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most aggressive cancers, is so difficult to cure: A subset of cells that drive the disease appear to have a much slower metabolism than most other tumors cells.

Bacteria's hidden skill could pave way for stem cell treatments Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST A discovery about the way in which bugs spread throughout the body could help to develop stem cell treatments. Researchers have found that bacteria are able to change the make-up of supporting cells within the nerve system, called Schwann cells, so that they take on the properties of stem cells.

'Jet-lagged' fruit flies provide clues for body clock synchronization Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST New research has found evidence of how daily changes in temperature affect the fruit fly's internal clock.

Learning the alphabet of gene control Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST Scientists have made a large step towards the understanding of how human genes are regulated. They have now identified the DNA sequences that bind to over four hundred proteins that control expression of genes. This knowledge is required to understand how differences in genomes of individuals affect their risk to develop disease.

Quail really know their camouflage Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:31 AM PST When it comes to camouflage, ground-nesting Japanese quail are experts. That's based on new evidence that mother quail "know" the patterning of their own eggs and choose laying spots to hide them best.

GI tract bacteria may protect against autoimmune disease Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:30 AM PST Early life exposure to normal bacteria of the GI tract (gut microbes) protects against autoimmune disease in mice, according to new research. The study may also have uncovered reasons why females are at greater risk of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus compared to males.

Neurobiological consequence of predating or grazing in two worm species Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:30 AM PST Researchers have for the first time been able to identify neuronal correlates of behavior by comparing maps of synaptic connectivity, or "connectomes," between two species with different behavior. They compared the pharyngeal nervous systems of two nematodes, the bacterial feeding Caenorhabditis elegans and the predator/omnivore Pristionchus pacificus and found large differences in how the neurons are "wired" together.

How cells know when it's time to eat themselves Posted: 17 Jan 2013 10:29 AM PST Researchers have identified a molecular mechanism regulating autophagy, a fundamental stress response used by cells to help ensure their survival in adverse conditions.

New research throws doubt on earlier 'killer walrus' claims Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:59 AM PST Palaeontologists who examined a new fossil found in southern California have thrown doubt on earlier claims that a "killer walrus" once existed.

Photovoltaics beat biofuels at converting sun's energy to miles driven Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:59 AM PST In 2005, President George W. Bush and American corn farmers saw corn ethanol as a promising fossil fuel substitute that would reduce both American dependence on foreign oil and greenhouse gas emissions. Accordingly, the 2005 energy bill mandated that 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel be added to the gasoline supply in 2006. That rose to 4.7 billion gallons in 2007 and 7.5 billion in 2012. Now a new study shows solar power is not only better in terms of energy efficiency, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions -- but it is cost competitive, too.

Hidden treasure in Large Magellanic Cloud Posted: 17 Jan 2013 07:58 AM PST Nearly 200,000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, floats in space, in a long and slow dance around our galaxy. Vast clouds of gas within it slowly collapse to form new stars. In turn, these light up the gas clouds in a riot of colors, visible in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Deodorants: Do we really need them? Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:49 AM PST More than 75 percent of people with a particular version of a gene don't produce under-arm odor but use deodorant anyway.

Great Oxidation Event: More oxygen through multicellularity Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:48 AM PST The appearance of free oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere led to the Great Oxidation Event. This was triggered by cyanobacteria producing the oxygen which developed into multicellular forms as early as 2.3 billion years ago. As evolutionary biologists have shown, this multicellularity was linked to the rise in oxygen and thus played a significant role for life on Earth as it is today.

Engineers less empathetic than students in caring professions, study suggests Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:48 AM PST Are engineering students less empathetic than students in the caring professions? Yes, according to a new study.

Surrogate births: How low levels of monitoring and regulation could lead to exploitation Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:48 AM PST Researchers have sounded warnings about the international dimension to surrogacy.

Social stigma of migraine headaches: Worse than epilepsy Posted: 17 Jan 2013 05:46 AM PST A neurologist shows that patients with migraine (a combination of severe headache, nausea, light sensitivity, and other factors) suffer social stigma from their disease similar to the stigma experienced by patients with epilepsy.

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