ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Topological insulators: Breaking symmetry for faster computers
• Scientists find brain region that helps you make up your mind
• Even if emissions stop, carbon dioxide could warm Earth for centuries
• Study identifies protein essential for immune recognition, response to viral infection
• Unusual greenhouse gases may have raised ancient Martian temperature
• Scientists develop novel X-ray device: New way to generate synchrotron X-rays
• X-rays reveal another feature of high-temperature superconductivity
• New genomic study provides a glimpse of how whales could adapt to ocean
• How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to produce electrical signals
• X-ray laser can solve protein structures from scratch
• How losing information can benefit quantum computing
• Diamond 'flaws' pave way for nanoscale MRI
• Gene-silencing study finds new targets for Parkinson's disease
• A new, flying jellyfish-like machine
• Update: 50 percent of patients in new brain cancer study alive after five years
• The secrets of owls' near noiseless wings
• Great lakes waterfowl die-offs: Finding the source
• The physics of beer tapping
• Continued increases in adhd diagnoses, treatment with meds among US children
• Study of human blood fluke parasites identifies drug resistance mutations
• New technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis
• Breaking the code on environmental illnesses

Topological insulators: Breaking symmetry for faster computers Posted: 24 Nov 2013 08:18 PM PST A new compound shows highly unusual conducting properties that could be used in future electronic components.

Scientists find brain region that helps you make up your mind Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST One of the smallest parts of the brain is getting a second look after new research suggests it plays a crucial role in decision making.

Even if emissions stop, carbon dioxide could warm Earth for centuries Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST Research suggests that even if carbon-dioxide emissions came to a sudden halt, the carbon dioxide already in Earth's atmosphere could continue to warm our planet for hundreds of years. Thus, it might take a lot less carbon than previously thought to reach the global temperature scientists deem unsafe.

Study identifies protein essential for immune recognition, response to viral infection Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST A research team has identified an immune cell protein that is critical to setting off the body's initial response against viral infection. They found that a protein called GEF-H1 is essential to the ability of macrophages -- major contributors to the innate immune system -- to respond to viral infections like influenza.

Unusual greenhouse gases may have raised ancient Martian temperature Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST Much like the Grand Canyon, Nanedi Valles snakes across the Martian surface suggesting that liquid water once crossed the landscape, according to a team of researchers who believe that molecular hydrogen made it warm enough for water to flow.

Scientists develop novel X-ray device: New way to generate synchrotron X-rays Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST A new laser-driven device could do for research-quality X-rays what the smart phone did for computing.

X-rays reveal another feature of high-temperature superconductivity Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST Classical and high-temperature superconductors differ hugely in their critical temperature when they lose electrical resistance. Powerful X-rays made possible to establish another big difference: high-temperature superconductivity cannot be accounted for by the mechanism that leads to conventional superconductivity. This is why other scenarios must now be developed to explain high-temperature superconductivity.

New genomic study provides a glimpse of how whales could adapt to ocean Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST Researchers have completed the first in-depth minke whale genome sequence and their new findings shed light on how whales successfully adapted to ocean environment. The data yielded in this study will contribute to future studies of marine mammal diseases, conservation and evolution.

How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to produce electrical signals Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST Scientists have figured out how cells do the improbable: pick the charged calcium ions out of vast sodium sea to generate electrical signals. The speed and accuracy of this selection is crucial to the beating of the heart and the flow of nerve impulses in the brain. The finding is likely to assist the development of new drugs, such as safer medications for chronic pain.

X-ray laser can solve protein structures from scratch Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST A study shows for the first time that X-ray lasers can be used to generate a complete 3-D model of a protein without any prior knowledge of its structure.

How losing information can benefit quantum computing Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST Suggesting that quantum computers might benefit from losing some data, physicists have now entangled -- linked the quantum properties of -- two ions by leaking judiciously chosen information to the environment.

Diamond 'flaws' pave way for nanoscale MRI Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST Breakthrough offers high-sensitivity nanoscale sensors, and could lead to magnetic imaging of neuron activity and thermometry on a single living cell.

Gene-silencing study finds new targets for Parkinson's disease Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST Scientists have used RNA interference technology to reveal dozens of genes that may represent new therapeutic targets for treating Parkinson's disease. The findings also may be relevant to several diseases caused by damage to mitochondria, the biological power plants found in cells throughout the body.

A new, flying jellyfish-like machine Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:00 PM PST Up, up in the sky: It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a . . . jellyfish? That's what researchers have built -- a small vehicle whose flying motion resembles the movements of those boneless, pulsating, water-dwelling creatures. The work demonstrates a new method of flight that could transport miniaturized future robots for surveillance, search-and-rescue, and monitoring of the atmosphere and traffic.

Update: 50 percent of patients in new brain cancer study alive after five years Posted: 24 Nov 2013 06:35 AM PST Eight of 16 patients participating in a study of an experimental immune system therapy directed against the most aggressive malignant brain tumors – glioblastoma multiforme – survived longer than five years after diagnosis, according to new research.

The secrets of owls' near noiseless wings Posted: 24 Nov 2013 06:35 AM PST Many owl species have developed specialized plumage to effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings – allowing them to hunt and capture their prey in silence. A research group is working to solve the mystery of exactly how owls achieve this acoustic stealth -- work that may one day help bring "silent owl technology" to the design of aircraft, wind turbines, and submarines.

Great lakes waterfowl die-offs: Finding the source Posted: 24 Nov 2013 06:35 AM PST A deadly menace stalks the loons, gulls and other water birds of the Great Lakes region: Type E botulism. Cases of the disease are on the rise, and to understand die-off origin and distribution, ocean engineers are developing a novel way of tracking waterfowl carcasses to determine the source of lethal outbreaks.

The physics of beer tapping Posted: 24 Nov 2013 06:35 AM PST An old, hilarious if somewhat juvenile party trick involves covertly tapping the top of someone's newly opened beer bottle and standing back as the suds foam out onto the floor. Now researchers have produced new insight into the science behind the foaming, exploring the phenomenon of cavitation.

Continued increases in adhd diagnoses, treatment with meds among US children Posted: 22 Nov 2013 08:27 AM PST New study reports that half of U.S. children diagnosed with ADHD received that diagnosis by age 6. The study found that an estimated two million more children in the United States (U.S.) have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) between 2003-04 and 2011-12. One million more U.S. children were taking medication for ADHD between 2003-04 and 2011-12.

Study of human blood fluke parasites identifies drug resistance mutations Posted: 21 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST An international group of scientists has identified the mutations that result in drug resistance in a parasite infecting 187 million people in South America, Africa and Asia. The new finding allows detailed understanding of the drugs' mechanism of action and raises prospects of improved therapies.

New technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis Posted: 21 Nov 2013 10:56 AM PST A team of researchers has demonstrated a technique, deformability cytometry, that measures the physical properties of individual cells and can diagnose cancer from body fluids with very high accuracy.

Breaking the code on environmental illnesses Posted: 21 Nov 2013 10:56 AM PST You may be sensitive to gluten, but you're not sure. Perhaps you can't put your finger on a recurring malaise, and your doctor is at a loss to figure it out. A diagnostic method recently developed can reveal -- on a molecular level -- the factors behind conditions thought to have environmental triggers.

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