الثلاثاء، 8 أكتوبر 2013

ScienceDaily: Top News

ScienceDaily: Top News

New microfluidic approach for the directed assembly of functional materials

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 04:08 PM PDT

Researchers have developed a new approach with applications in materials development for energy capture and storage and for optoelectronic materials. The research shows that peptide precursor materials can be aligned and oriented during their assembly into polypeptides using tailored flows in microfluidic devices.

Building a better fish trap: Reducing fish bycatch with escape gaps in Africa

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 04:08 PM PDT

Scientists have achieved a milestone in Africa: they've helped build a better fish trap, one that keeps valuable fish in while letting undersized juvenile fish and non-target species out.

Methane seeps of the deep sea: A bacteria feast for lithodid crabs

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 04:08 PM PDT

Cold seeps are the basis for a surprising diversity in the desert-like deep sea. Off the coast of Costa Rica, an international team of scientists documented lithodid crabs of the genus Paralomis sp. grazing bacterial mats at a methane seep. The analysis show that not only sessile organisms benefit from the productivity around the cold seeps.

Making Martian clouds on Earth: Cloud-chamber experiments show that clouds on Mars form in much more humid conditions than clouds on Earth

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 01:24 PM PDT

Cloud-chamber experiments show that clouds on Mars form in much more humid conditions than clouds on Earth.

Wedded bliss or blues? Scientists link DNA to marital satisfaction

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 01:24 PM PDT

What makes some people more prone to wedded bliss or sorrow than others? Researchers have found a major clue in our DNA. A gene involved in the regulation of serotonin can predict how much our emotions affect our relationships, according to a new study that may be the first to link genetics, emotions, and marital satisfaction.

Delayed aging is better investment than cancer, heart disease

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 01:23 PM PDT

Research to delay aging and the infirmities of old age would have better population health and economic returns than advances in individual fatal diseases such as cancer or heart disease, reveals a new study.

Better robot vision: Neglected statistical tool could help robots better understand the objects in the world around them

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 12:18 PM PDT

A researcher finds that a neglected statistical tool could help robots better understand the objects in the world around them.

Study shows how neurons enable us to know smells we like and dislike, whether to approach or retreat

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 12:17 PM PDT

What underlying biological mechanisms account for our seemingly instant, almost unconscious ability to determine how attractive (or repulsive) a particular smell is? New research reveals a set of cells in the fruit fly brain that respond specifically to food odors. The degree to which these neurons respond when the fly is presented different food odors predicts "incredibly well how much the flies will 'like' a given odor."

Cells prefer nanodiscs over nanorods

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 12:16 PM PDT

For years scientists have been working to fundamentally understand how nanoparticles move throughout the human body. One big unanswered question is how the shape of nanoparticles affects their entry into cells. Now researchers have discovered that under typical culture conditions, mammalian cells prefer disc-shaped nanoparticles over those shaped like rods.

Unlocking biology with math

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 10:22 AM PDT

Scientists have created a mathematical model that explains and predicts the biological process that creates antibody diversity -- the phenomenon that keeps us healthy by generating robust immune systems through hypermutation.

Infanticide linked to wet-nursing in meerkats

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 09:25 AM PDT

Mothers who lose their pups to infanticide by the dominant female in a meerkat group often then provide the dominant female with a wet-nurse service, say researchers who have carried out the most comprehensive study of wet-nursing in a single species to date.

Numerically identifying pollen grains improves on conventional ID method

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 09:25 AM PDT

Researchers have developed a new quantitative -- rather than qualitative -- method of identifying pollen grains that is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Plastic waste is a hazard for subalpine lakes, too

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 09:25 AM PDT

Many subalpine lakes may look beautiful and even pristine, but new evidence suggests they may also be contaminated with potentially hazardous plastics. Researchers say those tiny microplastics are likely finding their way into the food web through a wide range of freshwater invertebrates too. The findings, based on studies of Italy's Lake Garda and reported on October 7th in Current Biology, suggest that the problem of plastic pollution isn't limited to the ocean.

Hurricane Sandy's impact on New Jersey coastal wetlands, one year later

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 09:24 AM PDT

In a stroke of good luck, scientists captured detailed measurements of water level and salinity at a range of coastal wetland sites, even as they were overtaken by Hurricane Sandy. After the storm, she began working on an intensive year-long project to evaluate ecosystem processes in New Jersey's salt marshes before, during, and for a year following Hurricane Sandy.

What makes triathletes so tough?

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 08:21 AM PDT

Why do triathletes have such remarkable endurance and exceptional athletic abilities? Researchers have found they may feel less pain than casual exercisers -- and this finding may lead to new therapies for chronic pain in others.

'White graphene' halts rust in high temps: Nano-thin films of hexagonal boron nitride protect materials from oxidizing

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 08:21 AM PDT

Films of hexagonal boron nitride a few nanometers thick protect materials from oxidizing at high temperatures.

Vaccination campaign doubles HBV mutations

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 08:21 AM PDT

A universal infant vaccination campaign in China has led the hepatitis B virus to more than double its rate of "breakout" mutations. These mutations may enable the virus to elude the vaccine, necessitating new vaccination strategies.

Video game technology: Motion tracking technology is extremely precise, inexpensive with minimal lag

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 08:21 AM PDT

Researchers have devised a motion tracking technology that could eliminate much of the annoying lag that occurs in existing video game systems that use motion tracking, while also being extremely precise and highly affordable.

Bile salts: Sea lampreys' newest scent of seduction

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:51 AM PDT

Bile salts scream seduction -- for sea lampreys, that is. New research shows that bile salts, secreted from the liver and traditionally associated with digestive functions, are being used as pheromones by sea lampreys. The interesting twist, though, is that this scent has evolved as the invasive species' cologne of choice.

UltraHaptics: It's magic in the air

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:49 AM PDT

A system that allows users to experience multi-point haptic feedback above an interactive surface without having to touch or hold any device will be unveiled at a conference for innovations in human-computer interfaces.

Dog's mood offers insight into owner's health

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:47 AM PDT

Researchers have demonstrated how remote-monitoring of a dog's behavior can be used to alert family and carers that an elderly relative is struggling to cope.

Minute traits and DNA link grass species from Old and New Worlds

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:46 AM PDT

It's not always the big and flashy traits that solve taxonomic puzzles. On the basis of minute and easily overlooked morphological characteristics and DNA analysis researchers link four grass species in a genus called Disakisperma for the first time.

2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic in cells

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 07:26 AM PDT

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has decided to award The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.

Extrusive volcanism formed the Hawaiian Islands

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:45 AM PDT

A recent study changes the understanding of how the Hawaiian Islands formed. Scientists have determined that it is the eruptions of lava on the surface, extrusion, which grow Hawaiian volcanoes, rather than internal emplacement of magma, as was previously thought.

Stress a key factor in causing bee colonies to fail

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:45 AM PDT

Extended periods of stress can cause bee colony failures, according to new research.

Genetically modified sweet corn can reduce insecticide use

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:45 AM PDT

A new study suggests that genetically modified sweet corn is better for the environment because it requires fewer pesticide applications than conventional corn.

Air pollution and psychological distress during pregnancy

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:45 AM PDT

Maternal psychological distress combined with exposure to air pollution during pregnancy have an adverse impact on children's behavioral development. The study shows that maternal demoralization, a measure of psychological distress that can affect a mother's ability to cope with stressful situations, was linked with several behavioral problems, including anxiety, depression, and attention problems. Effects of demoralization were greatest among children with higher levels of prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in air pollution.

Stroking could stress out your cat

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:43 AM PDT

Animal behavior specialists suggests that cats who reluctantly allow their owners to stroke them could be more stressed out than kitties who carefully avoid being petted.

Proof of human migration from Sweden to Poland during the Early Bronze Age

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:42 AM PDT

During the Early Bronze Age there was a very high level of territorial mobility of the Unetice culture in Silesia, a large community inhabiting the south western territories of Poland approximately 4,000 years ago. This research confirms the first case of human long-distance overseas journey to Silesia from Scandinavia, probably from southern Sweden.

Air pollution increases heart attacks

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:42 AM PDT

Air pollution increases heart attacks, according to research. Of particular note is that the study also found that older people (>65 years) and men were particularly susceptible to having arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation or acute coronary syndromes at increasing levels of air pollution.

Plant diversity may affect climate–vegetation interaction

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:40 AM PDT

Biologists have analyzed to what extent plant diversity influences the stability of climate–vegetation interaction.

Terahertz sensor aiming for Jupiter's moons

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:40 AM PDT

A high performance terahertz receiver aiming for space missions such as ESA's  "Jupiter icy moons explorer"  has now been developed.

Exceptional fossil fish reveals new evolutionary mechanism for body elongation

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:40 AM PDT

Snake and eel bodies are elongated, slender and flexible in all three dimensions. This striking body plan has evolved many times independently in the more than 500 million years of vertebrate animals history. Based on the current state of knowledge, the extreme elongation of the body axis occurred in one of two ways: either through the elongation of the individual vertebrae of the vertebral column, which thus became longer, or through the development of additional vertebrae and associated muscle segments. 

New drug candidate found for deadly fungal lung infections

Posted: 07 Oct 2013 06:37 AM PDT

On a molecular level, you have more in common with shower curtain mold or the mushrooms on your pizza than you might think. Humans and fungi share similar proteins, a biological bond that makes curing fungal infections difficult and expensive. Now for the first time in 20 years, researchers have discovered a new compound that could be developed as an antifungal drug to treat histoplasmosis and cryptococcosis, two types of fungal infections that are naturally drug-resistant.

6 new Sjögren's syndrome genes found by international team

Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:24 AM PDT

Six new Sjögren's syndrome-related genes have been discovered by an international group of researchers in a genome-wide association study. Previously, only one Sjögren's gene was known.

Neuroscientists identify class of cortical inhibitory neurons specializing in disinhibition

Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:24 AM PDT

New research reveals that one class of inhibitory neurons -- called VIP interneurons -- specializes in inhibiting other inhibitory neurons in multiple regions of cortex, and does so under specific behavioral conditions. The new research finds that VIP interneurons, when activated, release principal cells from inhibition, thus boosting their responses. This provides an additional layer of control over cortical processing, much like a dimmer switch can fine-tune light levels.

How detergent of the atmosphere is regenerated

Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:23 AM PDT

It sounds unlikely: a washing machine recycles used detergent in order to use it again for the next load of dirty washing. But this is just what happens during the degradation of pollutants in the atmosphere.

Skin infection linked to exposure to aquariums is under-diagnosed

Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:22 AM PDT

A skin infection linked to exposure to contaminated water in home aquariums is frequently under-diagnosed. Researchers say diagnosing and managing Mycobacterium marinum infection is difficult because skin lesions don't appear for two to four weeks after incubation, leading to delayed treatment and unnecessary and ineffective use of antifungal and antibacterial agents.

Study points to new heart drug targets with a key role for triglycerides

Posted: 06 Oct 2013 11:22 AM PDT

A global hunt for genes that influence heart disease risk has uncovered 157 changes in human DNA that alter the levels of cholesterol and other blood fats – a discovery that could lead to new medications.

Universal gown, glove use by employees in ICU reduces MRSA 40 percent

Posted: 04 Oct 2013 05:14 PM PDT

Health-care workers' use of disposable gowns and gloves upon entering all patient rooms on an ICU, versus only in rooms on standard isolation protocol, helped reduce patient acquisition of MRSA by approximately 40 percent. While the study did not show statistically significant results for preventing patient acquisition of VRE, use of gowns and gloves increased handwashing frequency among healthcare workers and did not result in any increase in adverse events for patients.

Biomarker, potential targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer discovered

Posted: 04 Oct 2013 05:14 PM PDT

Researchers have discovered a biomarker, known as phosphatidylserine, for pancreatic cancer that could be effectively targeted, creating a potential therapy for a condition that has a small survival rate.

Program improves sun protection practices among children of melanoma survivors

Posted: 04 Oct 2013 12:42 PM PDT

A new article outlines the results of a project investigating how directed programing affects behavior. This study is the first to evaluate impact of tailored information on a group at high risk for melanoma.

Unreliable commercial lab kits may be hindering fight against cancer

Posted: 04 Oct 2013 09:49 AM PDT

A new study shows for the first time that low quality commercial lab kits may be one factor hampering the progress of cancer diagnostics.
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