ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Two volcanoes erupting in Alaska: Scientists are monitoring and providing alerts on Pavlof and Cleveland volcanoes
• Driving and hands-free talking lead to spike in errors
• Students perform well regardless of reading print or digital books
• Cosmic swirly straws: Galaxies fed by funnels of fuel
• Active or 'extremely active' Atlantic hurricane season predicted for 2013
• Facial-recognition technology proves its mettle
• Perfect skin: More touchy-feely robots
• Research effort deep underground could sort out cosmic-scale mysteries
• How playing surfaces affect athletic performance, injury potential
• The better to see you with: Scientists build record-setting metamaterial flat lens
• Promising strategy to help vaccines outsmart HIV
• Youth with type 2 diabetes at much higher risk for heart, kidney disease
• New fluorescent tools for cancer diagnosis
• Modulating the immune system to combat metastatic cancer
• Hormone levels may provide key to understanding psychological disorders in women
• Monkey teeth help reveal Neanderthal weaning
• Proteins in migration: New animal model provides important clues on mechanisms of Parkinson's disease
• Detection of the cosmic gamma ray horizon: Measures all the light in the universe since the Big Bang
• Young children who miss well-child visits are more likely to be hospitalized
• Hormone replacement therapy: British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern release updated guidelines
• New recommendations for management of high blood glucose in hospitalized patients
• Cause of infantile amnesia revealed: New neuron formation could increase capacity for new learning, at expense of old memories
• New method for predicting cancer virulence
• Expedition to study ancient continental breakup west of Spain
• Discovery of how a key enzyme of the spliceosome exerts its controlling function
• Researchers design photobioreactor to produce biofuel from algae
• Help at hand for schizophrenics
• Scientists put bowel cancer under the microscope
• A new strategy required in the search for Alzheimer's drugs?
• Immune cell activation in multiple sclerosis: New indicator molecules visualize activation of auto-aggressive T cells
• Nano-needles for cells: Tiny needles can force medicine into cells, even when they resist taking it
• New insights contradict promising Alzheimer's research
• New microsphere-based methods for detecting HIV antibodies
• Why early human ancestors took to two feet
• More than one in five parents believe they have little influence in preventing teens from using illicit substances
• Infantile myofibromatosis: First drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder
• Research aims for insecticide that targets malaria mosquitoes
• Researchers search for best feed for the 'king' of the rivers
• Observation of skyrmions (magnetic vortex structures) in a ferromagnet with centrosymmetry
• New coating method accelerates bonding with bone three times faster
• Formation of functionalized nanowires by control of self-assembly using multiple modified amyloid peptides
• Consumers largely underestimating calorie content of fast food
• Statin use is linked to increased risk of developing diabetes, warn researchers
• Future doctors unaware of their obesity bias
• Heart healthy lifestyle may cut kidney disease patients' risk of kidney failure
• Advanced biological computer developed
• Diabetes' genetic underpinnings can vary based on ethnic background

Two volcanoes erupting in Alaska: Scientists are monitoring and providing alerts on Pavlof and Cleveland volcanoes Posted: 24 May 2013 03:02 PM PDT Two of Alaska's most active volcanoes -- Pavlof and Cleveland -- are currently erupting. At the time of this post, their activity continues at low levels, but energetic explosions could occur without warning. Located close to the western end of the Alaska Peninsula, Pavlof is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc, having erupted more than 40 times since the late 1700's.

Driving and hands-free talking lead to spike in errors Posted: 24 May 2013 01:07 PM PDT A pilot study shows driving while talking on a hands-free cellular device leads to more driving errors than driving alone.

Students perform well regardless of reading print or digital books Posted: 24 May 2013 01:07 PM PDT Students did equally well on a test whether reading from a digital book or a printed one, new research shows.

Cosmic swirly straws: Galaxies fed by funnels of fuel Posted: 24 May 2013 12:48 PM PDT Computer simulations of galaxies growing over billions of years have revealed a likely scenario for how they feed: a cosmic version of swirly straws. The results show that cold gas -- fuel for stars -- spirals into the cores of galaxies along filaments, rapidly making its way to their "guts." Once there, the gas is converted into new stars, and the galaxies bulk up in mass.

Active or 'extremely active' Atlantic hurricane season predicted for 2013 Posted: 24 May 2013 11:49 AM PDT In its 2013 Atlantic hurricane season outlook issued today, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center is forecasting an active or extremely active season this year.

Facial-recognition technology proves its mettle Posted: 24 May 2013 11:25 AM PDT In a study that evaluated some of the latest in automatic facial recognition technology, researchers were able to quickly identify one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects from law enforcement video, an experiment that demonstrated the value of such technology.

Perfect skin: More touchy-feely robots Posted: 24 May 2013 10:43 AM PDT Robots could become a lot more 'sensitive' thanks to new artificial skins and sensor technologies. Leading to better robotic platforms that could one day be used in industry, hospitals and even at home.

Research effort deep underground could sort out cosmic-scale mysteries Posted: 24 May 2013 10:43 AM PDT Scientists have begun delivery of germanium-76 detectors to an underground laboratory in South Dakota in a team research effort that might explain the puzzling imbalance between matter and antimatter generated by the Big Bang.

How playing surfaces affect athletic performance, injury potential Posted: 24 May 2013 10:43 AM PDT Students have been jumping up and down for weeks on a variety of playing surfaces in a study to evaluate how each affects athletic performance and injury potential.

The better to see you with: Scientists build record-setting metamaterial flat lens Posted: 24 May 2013 10:17 AM PDT For the first time, scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new type of lens that bends and focuses ultraviolet (UV) light in such an unusual way that it can create ghostly, 3D images of objects that float in free space. The easy-to-build lens could lead to improved photolithography, nanoscale manipulation and manufacturing, and even high-resolution three-dimensional imaging, as well as a number of as-yet-unimagined applications in a diverse range of fields.

Promising strategy to help vaccines outsmart HIV Posted: 24 May 2013 09:20 AM PDT New research highlights an ingenious method to ensure the body effectively reacts when infected with the highly-evasive HIV virus that causes AIDS. The method involves the use of cytomegalovirus as a vector to help a vaccine better instruct T cells how to identify and fight the virus.

Youth with type 2 diabetes at much higher risk for heart, kidney disease Posted: 24 May 2013 09:20 AM PDT The news about youth and diabetes keeps getting worse. The latest data shows that children with type 2 diabetes are at high risk to develop heart, kidney and eye problems faster and at a higher rate than adults with diabetes.

New fluorescent tools for cancer diagnosis Posted: 24 May 2013 09:20 AM PDT Researchers have developed a multicolor fluorescence labeling method that can be used to visualize miRNAs in tissue sections, such as those recovered from biopsies.

Modulating the immune system to combat metastatic cancer Posted: 24 May 2013 09:20 AM PDT Researchers have found that regulatory T cells that infiltrate tumors express proteins that can be targeted with therapeutic antibodies.

Hormone levels may provide key to understanding psychological disorders in women Posted: 24 May 2013 09:17 AM PDT Women at a particular stage in their monthly menstrual cycle may be more vulnerable to some of the psychological side-effects associated with stressful experiences, according to a study from UCL.

Monkey teeth help reveal Neanderthal weaning Posted: 24 May 2013 07:48 AM PDT Most modern human mothers wean their babies much earlier than our closest primate relatives. But what about our extinct relatives, the Neanderthals? A team of U.S. and Australian researchers reports that they can now use fossil teeth to calculate when a Neanderthal baby was weaned. The new technique is based in part on knowledge gained from studies of teeth from human infants and from monkeys.

Proteins in migration: New animal model provides important clues on mechanisms of Parkinson's disease Posted: 24 May 2013 07:48 AM PDT Scientists have developed a novel experimental model that reproduces for the first time this pattern of alpha-synuclein brain spreading and provides important clues on the mechanisms underlying this pathological process. They triggered the production of human alpha-synuclein in the lower rat brain and were able to trace the spreading of this protein toward higher brain regions. The new experimental paradigm could promote the development of ways to halt or slow down disease development in humans.

Detection of the cosmic gamma ray horizon: Measures all the light in the universe since the Big Bang Posted: 24 May 2013 07:46 AM PDT Radiation from all galaxies that ever existed suffuses the universe with a diffuse extragalactic background light (EBL). Measuring the EBL is as fundamental to cosmology as measuring heat from the Big Bang (cosmic microwave background) at radio wavelengths. Researchers describe the best measurement yet of the evolution of the EBL over the past 5 billion years, based on observations from radio waves to gamma rays from NASA spacecraft and ground-based telescopes.

Young children who miss well-child visits are more likely to be hospitalized Posted: 24 May 2013 07:46 AM PDT Young children who missed more than half of recommended well-child visits had up to twice the risk of hospitalization compared to children who attended most of their visits, according to a new study.

Hormone replacement therapy: British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern release updated guidelines Posted: 24 May 2013 07:46 AM PDT The British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern have released updated guidelines on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to provide clarity around the role of HRT, the benefits and the risks. The new guidelines appear in the society's flagship title, Menopause International, published by SAGE.

New recommendations for management of high blood glucose in hospitalized patients Posted: 24 May 2013 07:46 AM PDT High blood glucose is associated with poor outcomes in hospitalized patients, and use of intensive insulin therapy (IIT) to control hyperglycemia is a common practice in hospitals. But the recent evidence does not show a consistent benefit and even shows harms associated with the use of IIT, according to the American College of Physicians.

Cause of infantile amnesia revealed: New neuron formation could increase capacity for new learning, at expense of old memories Posted: 24 May 2013 07:46 AM PDT New research presented today shows that formation of new neurons in the hippocampus -- a brain region known for its importance in learning and remembering -- could cause forgetting of old memories by causing a reorganization of existing brain circuits. Researchers argue this reorganization could have the positive effect of clearing old memories, reducing interference and thereby increasing capacity for new learning.

New method for predicting cancer virulence Posted: 24 May 2013 07:42 AM PDT A new way of tackling cancer and predicting tumor virulence are has been reported by a team of researchers. The scientists have shown that, in all cancers, an aberrant activation of numerous genes specific to other tissues occurs. For example, in lung cancers, the tumorous cells express genes specific to the production of spermatozoids, which should be silent.

Expedition to study ancient continental breakup west of Spain Posted: 24 May 2013 07:42 AM PDT An international team of scientists has embarked on a shipboard expedition to study how the Earth's crust was pulled apart in an area beneath the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain.

Discovery of how a key enzyme of the spliceosome exerts its controlling function Posted: 24 May 2013 07:42 AM PDT To sustain life, processes in biological cells have to be strictly controlled both in time and in space. Researchers have elucidated a previously unknown mechanism that regulates one of the essential processes accompanying gene expression in higher organisms. In humans, errors in this control mechanism can lead to blindness.

Researchers design photobioreactor to produce biofuel from algae Posted: 24 May 2013 07:41 AM PDT Researchers have patented a new device that allows more efficiently to cultivate microalgae and can be used as raw material for biofuel or for other valuable substances in the agri-food or pharmaceutical industry.

Help at hand for schizophrenics Posted: 24 May 2013 07:41 AM PDT How can healthy people who hear voices help schizophrenics? Finding the answer for this is at the center of research conducted by a group of scientists in Norway.

Scientists put bowel cancer under the microscope Posted: 24 May 2013 07:41 AM PDT Researchers have begun a two-year study which could help prolong the lives of people with colorectal tumors.

A new strategy required in the search for Alzheimer's drugs? Posted: 24 May 2013 07:40 AM PDT In the search for medication against Alzheimer's disease, scientists have focused on -- among other factors -- drugs that can break down Amyloid beta (A-beta). After all, it is the accumulation of A-beta that causes the known plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The starting point for the formation of A-beta is APP.

Immune cell activation in multiple sclerosis: New indicator molecules visualize activation of auto-aggressive T cells Posted: 24 May 2013 07:40 AM PDT Biological processes are generally based on events at the molecular and cellular level. To understand what happens in the course of infections, diseases or normal bodily functions, scientists would need to examine individual cells and their activity directly in the tissue. The development of new microscopes and fluorescent dyes in recent years has brought this scientific dream tantalizingly close. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have now presented two studies introducing new indicator molecules which can visualize the activation of T cells. Their findings provide new insight into the role of these cells in the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS). The new indicators are set to be an important tool in the study of other immune reactions as well.

Nano-needles for cells: Tiny needles can force medicine into cells, even when they resist taking it Posted: 24 May 2013 07:40 AM PDT Nano-sized needles developed by researchers in Norway can force medicine into cells, even when the cell membranes offer resistance. The needles will make it easier to study the effects of medicines on cells.

New insights contradict promising Alzheimer's research Posted: 24 May 2013 07:40 AM PDT Approximately a year ago, the journal Science published an article about bexarotene as a potential Alzheimer's drug -- a significant breakthrough and an important starting point for further Alzheimer's research. Now other researchers have tested this candidate drug in various Alzheimer's animal test models. Their results were different, as were those of two American study groups. Therefore, they have recommended that bexarotene should not be tested on patients.

New microsphere-based methods for detecting HIV antibodies Posted: 24 May 2013 07:40 AM PDT Detection of HIV antibodies is used to diagnose HIV infection and monitor trials of experimental HIV/AIDS vaccines. New, more sensitive detection systems being developed use microspheres to capture HIV antibodies and can measure even small amounts of multiple antibodies at one time.

Why early human ancestors took to two feet Posted: 24 May 2013 07:40 AM PDT A new study by archaeologists challenges evolutionary theories behind the development of our earliest ancestors from tree dwelling quadrupeds to upright bipeds capable of walking and scrambling.

More than one in five parents believe they have little influence in preventing teens from using illicit substances Posted: 24 May 2013 07:35 AM PDT A new report indicates that more than one in five parents of teens aged 12 to 17 (22.3 percent) think what they say has little influence on whether or not their child uses illicit substances, tobacco, or alcohol. This report by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also shows one in ten parents said they did not talk to their teens about the dangers of using tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs -- even though 67.6 percent of these parents who had not spoken to their children thought they would influence whether their child uses drugs if they spoke to them.

Infantile myofibromatosis: First drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder Posted: 24 May 2013 07:35 AM PDT Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM) -- a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissue—may provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers.

Research aims for insecticide that targets malaria mosquitoes Posted: 24 May 2013 07:35 AM PDT A team of scientists is working toward an insecticide that would target malaria-carrying mosquitoes but do no harm to other organisms.

Researchers search for best feed for the 'king' of the rivers Posted: 24 May 2013 07:35 AM PDT The red mahseer is highly sought after by anglers and high end restaurants. Breeding them may be a bit easier now that researchers in Malaysia have found the best feed combination.

Observation of skyrmions (magnetic vortex structures) in a ferromagnet with centrosymmetry Posted: 24 May 2013 07:34 AM PDT Researchers using Lorentz electron microscopy have shown that magnetic skyrmions are spontaneously formed as nanomagnetic clusters in a ferromagnetic manganese oxide with centrosymmetry.

New coating method accelerates bonding with bone three times faster Posted: 24 May 2013 07:34 AM PDT Researchers in Japan have developed a coating method which accelerates bonding with bone by three times.

Formation of functionalized nanowires by control of self-assembly using multiple modified amyloid peptides Posted: 24 May 2013 07:34 AM PDT Researchers in Japan and US have developed a new technique for efficiently creating functionalized nanowires for the first time ever.

Consumers largely underestimating calorie content of fast food Posted: 23 May 2013 07:38 PM PDT People eating at fast food restaurants largely underestimate the calorie content of meals, especially large ones, according to a new article.

Statin use is linked to increased risk of developing diabetes, warn researchers Posted: 23 May 2013 07:38 PM PDT Treatment with high potency statins (especially atorvastatin and simvastatin) may increase the risk of developing diabetes, suggests a new article.

Future doctors unaware of their obesity bias Posted: 23 May 2013 07:37 PM PDT Two out of five medical students have an unconscious bias against obese people, according to a new study.

Heart healthy lifestyle may cut kidney disease patients' risk of kidney failure Posted: 23 May 2013 03:13 PM PDT Compared with kidney disease patients who had zero or one heart healthy lifestyle component in the ideal range, those with two, three, and four ideal factors had progressively lower risks for kidney failure over four years. No kidney disease patients with five to seven ideal factors developed kidney failure. Patients' risk of dying during the study followed a similar trend.

Advanced biological computer developed Posted: 23 May 2013 03:03 PM PDT Using only biomolecules, scientists have developed and constructed an advanced biological transducer, a computing machine capable of manipulating genetic codes, and using the output as new input for subsequent computations.

Diabetes' genetic underpinnings can vary based on ethnic background Posted: 23 May 2013 01:22 PM PDT Ethnic background plays a surprisingly large role in how diabetes develops on a cellular level, according to two new studies.

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