ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Children who avoid scary situations likelier to have anxiety
• Causes of 2011 Arctic ozone hole determined
• Strategies for possible survival on Mars: Scientists found differences in core proteins from a microorganism that lives in a salty lake in Antarctica
• Study predicts lag in summer rains over parts of US and Mexico
• Creating indestructible self-healing circuits
• Astronomers conduct first remote reconnaissance of another planetary system
• Epigenetics mechanism may help explain effects of mom's nutrition on her children's health
• Hope for threatened Tasmanian devils
• Drug shows potential to delay onset or progression of Alzheimer's disease
• Largely dismissed heart failure drug may help solve costly problem for medicare and hospitals
• How one insect got its wings
• Sleep loss precedes Alzheimer's symptoms
• New add-on drug may improve memory in people with moderate Alzheimer's disease
• Long-suspected cause of blindness from eye disease disproved
• Sleep discovery could lead to therapies that improve memory
• Remote clouds responsible for climate models' glitch in tropical rainfall
• Lunar impacts created seas of molten rock
• Fluoride in drinking water cuts tooth decay in adults, study shows
• Protein abundant in cancerous cells causes DNA 'supercoiling'
• How earthquake damage can impact building fire safety performance
• Alternative cholesterol-lowering drug for patients who can't tolerate statins
• Indian origins of pumpkins and cucumbers confirmed
• Monsoon failure key to long droughts in Southwest
• Less sleep leads to more eating and more weight gain, according to new study
• Pushing X-rays to the edge to draw the nanoworld into focus
• Designing interlocking building blocks to create complex tissues
• Tiny piece of RNA keeps 'clock' running in earliest stages of life
• Blue bursts of hot young stars captured by Hubble
• Cassini returns images of battered Saturn's moon Rhea
• Discovery may explain how prion diseases spread between different types of animals
• Pittsburgh's leaky faucet: How aging sewers are impacting urban watersheds
• Closest star system found in a century
• Niacin therapy shows no benefits, has some harmful effects
• Shock teams and ECMO save lives in massive STEMI
• New anti-clotting drug more effective than current treatment, study suggests
• Fewer adverse events with 'double kissing' crush stent than culotte
• Antibiotics are unique assassins
• Nerve damage may underlie widespread, unexplained chronic pain in children
• Untangling life's origins
• Coffee and tea during pregnancy affect fetal growth
• Denied the chance to cheat or steal, people turn to violent video games
• Anemia drug does not improve health of anemic heart failure patients, study shows
• Mummy CT scans show preindustrial hunter gatherers had clogged arteries
• Researchers solve riddle of what has been holding two unlikely materials together
• Aspirin may lower melanoma risk
• Study points to essential role of IL-22 in lung repair after the flu
• Ozone layer above North Pole expected to recover by end of century
• Robots to get stroke patients back on their feet
• Cricket-hair sensor used in bio-inspired technology
• Cloud-computing platform for robots launched
• Why people put themselves under the knife: Plastic surgery makes people happy
• Trio of biomarkers may help identify kidney cancer in early stages
• 'Superheated' water can corrode diamonds
• C. Diff prevention activities fail to halt spread of deadly infection
• Does winning an Emmy, an election, or entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame mean you will live longer than those you beat?
• Diabetic medication may protect patients from developing heart failure
• Mutated gene causes nerve cell death
• Selectively manipulating protein modifications

Children who avoid scary situations likelier to have anxiety Posted: 11 Mar 2013 05:10 PM PDT Children who avoid situations they find scary are likely to have anxiety a study of more than 800 children ages 7 to 18 found.

Causes of 2011 Arctic ozone hole determined Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:39 PM PDT A combination of extreme cold temperatures, human-made chemicals and a stagnant atmosphere were behind what became known as the Arctic ozone hole of 2011, a new study finds.

Strategies for possible survival on Mars: Scientists found differences in core proteins from a microorganism that lives in a salty lake in Antarctica Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:39 PM PDT Research has revealed key features in proteins needed for life to function on Mars and other extreme environments. Scientists studied organisms that survive in the extreme conditions of Antarctica. They found differences between the core proteins in ordinary organisms and Haloarchaea, organisms that tolerate severe conditions such as high salinity, desiccation, and extreme temperatures. The research provides a window into how life could adapt to exist on Mars.

Study predicts lag in summer rains over parts of US and Mexico Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:39 PM PDT A delay in the summer monsoon rains that fall over the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico is expected in the coming decades according to a new study. The North American monsoon delivers as much as 70 percent of the region's annual rainfall, watering crops and rangelands for an estimated 20 million people.

Creating indestructible self-healing circuits Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:39 PM PDT Engineers, for the first time ever, have developed self-healing integrated chips.

Astronomers conduct first remote reconnaissance of another planetary system Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:37 PM PDT Researchers have conducted a remote reconnaissance of a distant planetary system with a new telescope imaging system that sifts through the blinding light of stars. Using a suite of high-tech instrumentation and software called Project 1640, the scientists collected the first chemical fingerprints, or spectra, of this system's four red exoplanets, which orbit a star 128 light years away from Earth.

Epigenetics mechanism may help explain effects of mom's nutrition on her children's health Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:37 PM PDT Pioneering studies by a molecular geneticist are helping explain how the foods that soon-to-be-moms eat in the days and weeks around the time of conception -- or what's known as periconceptional nutrition –- may affect the way genes function in her children, and her children's health.

Hope for threatened Tasmanian devils Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:36 PM PDT New research paves the way for the development of a vaccine for the Tasmanian devil, currently on the brink of extinction because of a contagious cancer.

Drug shows potential to delay onset or progression of Alzheimer's disease Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:36 PM PDT An anti-atherosclerosis drug greatly reduced blood-brain barrier (BBB) leaks in animal models with diabetes and hypercholesterolemia and linked BBB permeability with amyloid peptide deposits at the site of early Alzheimer's pathology.

Largely dismissed heart failure drug may help solve costly problem for medicare and hospitals Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:36 PM PDT The heart failure drug digoxin, used less and less since it "failed" in its 1997 clinical trial, may do something no drug has achieved since: reduce by 34 percent the chances that heart failure patients will be admitted to the hospital within 30 days of first taking it.

How one insect got its wings Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:36 PM PDT Scientists have delved deeper into the evolutionary history of the fruit fly than ever before to reveal the genetic activity that led to the development of wings – a key to the insect's ability to survive.

Sleep loss precedes Alzheimer's symptoms Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:33 PM PDT Sleep is disrupted in people who likely have early Alzheimer's disease but do not yet have the memory loss or other problems characteristic of full-blown disease, researchers report.

New add-on drug may improve memory in people with moderate Alzheimer's disease Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:33 PM PDT A new drug may improve memory problems in people with moderate Alzheimer's disease, according to a phase IIa study. The drug is called ORM-12741.

Long-suspected cause of blindness from eye disease disproved Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:33 PM PDT The lack of very long chain fatty acids does not cause blindness in children with the incurable eye disease known as Stargardt type 3 retinal degeneration.

Sleep discovery could lead to therapies that improve memory Posted: 11 Mar 2013 02:33 PM PDT A team of sleep researchers has confirmed the mechanism that enables the brain to consolidate memory and found that a commonly prescribed sleep aid enhances the process.

Remote clouds responsible for climate models' glitch in tropical rainfall Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:13 PM PDT New research shows that cloud biases over the Southern Ocean are the primary contributor to the double-rain band problem that exists in most modern climate models.

Lunar impacts created seas of molten rock Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:12 PM PDT The impact that formed the Moon's Orientale basin created a sea of melted rock 220 miles across and 6 miles deep, according to a new analysis. Similar seas of impact melt were probably present in at least 30 other large impact sites. Rocks formed as these basins cooled and solidified could mimic rocks formed very early in the Moon's history.

Fluoride in drinking water cuts tooth decay in adults, study shows Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:12 PM PDT A new study has produced the strongest evidence yet that fluoride in drinking water provides dental health benefits to adults, even those who had not received fluoridated drinking water as children.

Protein abundant in cancerous cells causes DNA 'supercoiling' Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:12 PM PDT A team of scientists has identified a protein that can change DNA topology, making DNA twist up into a so-called "supercoil." The finding provides new insight about the role of the protein -- known as mini-chromosome maintenance (MCM) -- in cancer cells, which have high levels of MCM.

How earthquake damage can impact building fire safety performance Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:12 PM PDT Damage to building structural elements, elevators, stairs, and fire protection systems caused by the shaking from a major earthquake can play a critical role in the spread of fire, hamper the ability of occupants to evacuate, and impede fire departments in their emergency response operations. These are among the conclusions of a groundbreaking study of post-earthquake building fire performance conducted in 2012 by fire protection engineering researchers.

Alternative cholesterol-lowering drug for patients who can't tolerate statins Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:11 PM PDT Heart patients who can't tolerate the side effects of cholesterol-lowering drugs may have a new option, according to a new study.

Indian origins of pumpkins and cucumbers confirmed Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:11 PM PDT More than 30 years since the last study was conducted, German and Indian botanists cataloged the important plant family Cucurbitaceae, among which are vital parts of our diet such as pumpkins, melon, cucumber and watermelon. A checklist of the Cucurbitaceae of India has been produced on the basis of both genetic and taxonomic information to expand our knowledge on these important plants.

Monsoon failure key to long droughts in Southwest Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:11 PM PDT Long-term droughts in the Southwestern North America often mean failure of both summer and winter rains, according to new tree-ring research. For the severe, multi-decadal droughts that occurred from 1539 to 2008, both winter and summer rains were sparse year after year. The finding contradicts the commonly held belief that a dry winter rainy season is generally followed by a wet monsoon season, and vice versa.

Less sleep leads to more eating and more weight gain, according to new study Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:11 PM PDT Sleeping just five hours a night over a workweek and having unlimited access to food caused participants in a new study to gain nearly two pounds of weight.

Pushing X-rays to the edge to draw the nanoworld into focus Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:09 PM PDT A new X-ray imaging technique yields unprecedented measurements of nanoscale structures ranging from superconductors to solar cells.

Designing interlocking building blocks to create complex tissues Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:08 PM PDT A new "plug-and-play" method to assemble complex cell microenvironments is a scalable, highly precise way to fabricate tissues with any spatial organization or interest—like those found in the heart or skeleton or vasculature. The study reveals new ways to better mimic the enormous complexity of tissue development, regeneration, and disease.

Tiny piece of RNA keeps 'clock' running in earliest stages of life Posted: 11 Mar 2013 12:08 PM PDT New research shows that a tiny piece of RNA has an essential role in ensuring that embryonic tissue segments form properly.

Blue bursts of hot young stars captured by Hubble Posted: 11 Mar 2013 11:45 AM PDT A new Hubble image, speckled with blue, white and yellow light, shows part of the spiral galaxy IC 5052. Surrounded in the image by foreground stars in our own galaxy, and distant galaxies beyond, it emits a bright blue-white glow which highlights its narrow, intricate structure. It is viewed side-on in the constellation of Pavo (The Peacock), in the southern sky.

Cassini returns images of battered Saturn's moon Rhea Posted: 11 Mar 2013 11:41 AM PDT Following its last close flyby of Saturn's moon Rhea, NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured these raw, unprocessed images of the battered icy moon. They show an ancient, cratered surface bearing the scars of collisions with many space rocks. Scientists are still trying to understand some of the curious features they see in these Rhea images, including a curving, narrow fracture or a graben, which is a block of ground lower than its surroundings and bordered by cliffs on either side. This feature looks remarkably recent, cutting most of the craters it crosses, with only a few small craters superimposed.

Discovery may explain how prion diseases spread between different types of animals Posted: 11 Mar 2013 09:42 AM PDT Medical researchers have made a discovery that may explain how prion diseases, like chronic wasting disease and mad cow disease, adapt in order to spread between various types of animals.

Pittsburgh's leaky faucet: How aging sewers are impacting urban watersheds Posted: 11 Mar 2013 09:42 AM PDT Aging sewer systems are spilling a considerable amount of nitrogen into urban watersheds, diminishing both the quality of water and ecosystems' habitats. However, many studies documenting the impacts of nitrogen on urban environs have not properly estimated the contribution of leaky sewer systems -- until now.

Closest star system found in a century Posted: 11 Mar 2013 09:40 AM PDT A pair of newly discovered stars is the third-closest star system to the Sun and the closest discovered since 1916. At 6.5 light years, it is so close that Earth's television transmissions from 2006 are now arriving there. It is an excellent hunting ground for planets because it is very close to Earth and, in the distant future, it might be one of the first destinations for manned expeditions outside our solar system.

Niacin therapy shows no benefits, has some harmful effects Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:18 AM PDT A highly anticipated study evaluating a combination of the vitamin niacin with the anti-flushing agent laropiprant finds the therapy provides no benefit to and may even be harmful for patients with vascular disease, according to new research.

Shock teams and ECMO save lives in massive STEMI Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:18 AM PDT The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, accompanied by mechanical CPR, in patients with massive myocardial infarctions can lead to unexpected survival. ECMO is an advanced technology that functions as a replacement for a critically ill patient's heart and lungs. This is the first report of combined ECMO, mechanical CPR and therapeutic hypothermia use within a STEMI Network.

New anti-clotting drug more effective than current treatment, study suggests Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:18 AM PDT A new and experimental anti-clotting drug, cangrelor, proved better than the commonly used clopidogrel and was significantly more effective at preventing blood clots in a large trial of patients who underwent coronary stent procedures.

Fewer adverse events with 'double kissing' crush stent than culotte Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:18 AM PDT Patients with a type of coronary lesion linked with poor prognosis fared significantly better with the stent technique known as double kissing crush than with culotte stenting, according to new data.

Antibiotics are unique assassins Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:17 AM PDT In recent years, the notion that there is a single mechanism by which antibiotics wipe out bacteria has permeated the field of microbiology. Now, new research questions that hypothesis.

Nerve damage may underlie widespread, unexplained chronic pain in children Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:17 AM PDT Investigators have described what may be a newly identified disease that appears to explain some cases of widespread chronic pain and other symptoms in children and young adults.

Untangling life's origins Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:16 AM PDT Researchers have been using bioinformatics techniques to probe the world of proteins for answers to questions about the origins of life.

Coffee and tea during pregnancy affect fetal growth Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:16 AM PDT Drinking just two cups of coffee a day is associated with the risk of low birth weight, according to a study on 59,000 women.

Denied the chance to cheat or steal, people turn to violent video games Posted: 11 Mar 2013 07:14 AM PDT When people are denied the chance to cheat or steal, they get frustrated -- and turn to violent video games for release.

Anemia drug does not improve health of anemic heart failure patients, study shows Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:15 AM PDT Researchers have found that a commonly used drug to treat anemia in heart failure patients -- darbepoetin alfa -- does not improve patients' health, nor does it reduce their risk of death from heart failure.

Mummy CT scans show preindustrial hunter gatherers had clogged arteries Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:15 AM PDT Like nearly 4.6 million Americans, ancient hunter-gatherers also suffered from clogged arteries, revealing that the plaque build-up causing blood clots, heart attacks and strokes is not just a result of fatty diets or couch potato habits.

Researchers solve riddle of what has been holding two unlikely materials together Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:15 AM PDT For years, researchers have developed thin films of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) -- which converts heat into electricity or electricity to cooling -- on top of gallium arsenide (GaAs) to create cooling devices for electronics. But while they knew it could be done, it was not clear how -- because the atomic structures of those unlikely pair of materials do not appear to be compatible. Now researchers have solved the mystery, opening the door to new research in the field.

Aspirin may lower melanoma risk Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:15 AM PDT A new study has found that women who take aspirin have a reduced risk of developing melanoma -- and that the longer they take it, the lower the risk. The findings suggest that aspirin's anti-inflammatory effects may help protect against this type of skin cancer.

Study points to essential role of IL-22 in lung repair after the flu Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:15 AM PDT Once the initial episode of influenza has passed, the chronic effects tend to be overlooked. The results of a new study indicate that the cytokine interleukin-22 (IL-22) plays a critical role in normal lung repair following influenza infection.

Ozone layer above North Pole expected to recover by end of century Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:13 AM PDT Good news for the ozone layer above the Arctic. The Montreal Protocol is showing effects: according to recent measurements, the ozone layer over the North Pole should recover by the end of the century.

Robots to get stroke patients back on their feet Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:13 AM PDT Strokes are the most common cause of physical disability among the elderly. This often result in paralysis of one side of the body, and many patients suffer much reduced physical mobility and are often unable to walk on their own. Scientists are currently developing a robotic system designed to help stroke patients re-train their bodies.

Cricket-hair sensor used in bio-inspired technology Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:11 AM PDT Crickets use sensitive hairs on their cerci (projections on the abdomen) to detect predators. For these insects, air currents carry information about the location of nearby predators and the direction in which they are moving. Researchers wondered whether they could use the same principle to create a new kind of "camera", capable of imaging entire flow patterns rather than measuring flows at a single point. They mimic the cricket hairs using microtechnology.

Cloud-computing platform for robots launched Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:11 AM PDT Researchers have developed a cloud-computing platform for robots. The platform allows robots connected to the Internet to directly access the powerful computational, storage, and communications infrastructure of modern data centers - the giant server farms behind the likes of Google, Facebook, and Amazon - for robotics tasks and robot learning.

Why people put themselves under the knife: Plastic surgery makes people happy Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:11 AM PDT Scientists have investigated the psychological effects of plastic surgery on approximately 550 patients. Patients demonstrated more enjoyment of life, satisfaction and self-esteem after their physical appearance had been surgically altered.

Trio of biomarkers may help identify kidney cancer in early stages Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:07 AM PDT A new immunoassay that tests for the presence of three biomarkers appears to be a valid screening method for the early detection of malignant kidney cancer, according to new data.

'Superheated' water can corrode diamonds Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:07 AM PDT Novel discovery paves the way to improve waste degradation and laser-assisted etching of materials.

C. Diff prevention activities fail to halt spread of deadly infection Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:07 AM PDT Activities to stop the spread of the intestinal superbug Clostridium difficile are on the rise, but they are not yielding large improvements, according to a nationwide survey of infection preventionists.

Does winning an Emmy, an election, or entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame mean you will live longer than those you beat? Posted: 11 Mar 2013 06:07 AM PDT Research has long linked high socioeconomic status with better health and lower mortality. But what's remained unclear is whether this association has more to do with access to resources (education, wealth, career opportunity, etc.) or the glow of high social status relative to others.

Diabetic medication may protect patients from developing heart failure Posted: 10 Mar 2013 01:41 PM PDT A class of medications commonly prescribed to lower blood sugar in diabetic patients appears to protect them from developing heart failure, according to a new study.

Mutated gene causes nerve cell death Posted: 10 Mar 2013 01:38 PM PDT The British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking is likely to be the world's most famous person living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a progressive disease affecting motor neurons, nerve cells that control muscle function, and nearly always leads to death. Researchers have now identified a completely new mechanism in the onset of motor neuron diseases. Their findings could be the basis for future treatments for these presently incurable diseases.

Selectively manipulating protein modifications Posted: 10 Mar 2013 01:38 PM PDT Protein activity is strictly regulated. Incorrect or poor protein regulation can lead to uncontrolled growth and thus cancer or chronic inflammation. Scienitsts have now identified enzymes that can regulate the activity of medically important proteins. Their discovery enables these proteins to be manipulated very selectively, opening up new treatment methods for inflammations and cancer.

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