ScienceDaily: Top News

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• 'Mosh pits' in star clusters a likely source of LIGO's first black holes
• Impact of antibiotic treatment on infant gut microbiome revealed
• Depressed, Out of Work? Study Suggests Skills to Help Land a Job
• Postpartum depression least severe form of depression in mothers
• Bioactive film improves how implants bond with bone in animal study
• Study offers explanation for why women leave engineering
• Invasive Asian carp respond strongly to carbon dioxide
• On the path toward bionic enzymes
• Misleading images in cell biology
• Did gravitational wave detector find dark matter?
• New study highlights power of crowd to transmit news on Twitter
• At any skill level, making art reduces stress hormones
• Personalized medicine will employ computer algorithms
• Shorter radiation course recommended for early-stage breast cancer patients
• Defining the consequences of genetic variation on a proteome-wide scale
• Antibiotics increase availability of nutrients in the gut, enabling growth of pathogens
• One-third of patients with low flow aortic stenosis do not improve with transcatheter aortic valve replacement, research finds
• Broken calorie sensing pathway: How overeating may lead to more eating
• New method opens door to development of many new medicines
• Smart light used by researchers to track human behavior
• Simple Numbers Game Seems to Make Kids Better at Math
• Black holes and the prospects for measuring gravitational waves
• When it comes to evolution, testes may play a key role, studies find
• Study resolves long-disputed theory about stem cell populations
• New X-ray method allows scientists to probe molecular explosions
• Piping hot drinks may lead to cancer of the esophagus
• Bee vampire picks the right host to suck
• Arthritis linked to suicide attempts
• Intervention helps newborns get screened for hearing loss, study finds
• The Muffin Study: Mono- vs. polyunsaturated fats in patients with metabolic syndrome
• Scientists provide proof of concept for potential new class of cancer drugs
• Antidepressive treatment during pregnancy can affect newborn brain activity
• Use of Camelid antibodies for structural biology
• Age, obesity, dopamine appear to influence preference for sweet foods
• Supercomputers predict new turbulent interactions in fusion plasmas
• Hotter all the way: Lithium wall contains plasma without cooling it
• How the butterfly got its spots
• New generation of high-efficiency solar thermal absorbers developed
• Remote sensing, forest inventories contribute to saving tropical forests
• New genetic research can significantly improve drug development
• Surprising new business opportunities for Greenland
• Plants More Vulnerable to Nanoparticles When Parents Grown in Contaminated Soil
• Hepatitis C: Once the viral infection has healed, high-risk portal vein hypertension also diminishes
• Painless, quick and reliable method for diagnosing helicobacter from exhaled air
• Americans are getting heart-healthier: Coronary heart disease decreasing in the US
• Scientists discover protective strategy against pesticide-linked Parkinson's disease
• For tropical mayflies, mountain passes are higher indeed
• New imaging technique could identify additional ovarian tumors not visible to surgeons' eyes
• Presurgery chemotherapy may make advanced ovarian cancers responsive to immunotherapy
• First detection of methyl alcohol in a planet-forming disc
• Droughts across Europe affect British trees most
• Diarrheal pathogen measures human body temperature
• Emotionally positive situations boost memory for similar future events
• New material, picked by computers, could boost power of vacuum electronics
• Underlying connection found between diverse materials with extreme magnetoresistance
• Physicists measured something new in the radioactive decay of neutrons
• Chemical structure paves the way for new broad spectrum antifungals

'Mosh pits' in star clusters a likely source of LIGO's first black holes Posted: 15 Jun 2016 12:18 PM PDT Astrophysicists have shown their theoretical predictions last year were correct: The merger of two massive black holes detected Sept. 14, 2015, could easily have formed through dynamic interactions in the star-dense core of a globular cluster. These binary black holes are born in the cluster's chaotic 'mosh pit,' kicked out of the cluster and then eventually merge into one black hole. LIGO's first detection of colliding black holes is perfectly consistent with their model.

Impact of antibiotic treatment on infant gut microbiome revealed Posted: 15 Jun 2016 12:17 PM PDT A comprehensive analysis of changes in the intestinal microbial population during the first three years of life has revealed some of the impacts of factors such as mode of birth -- vaginal versus cesarean section -- and antibiotic exposure, including the effects of multiple antibiotic treatments.

Depressed, Out of Work? Study Suggests Skills to Help Land a Job Posted: 15 Jun 2016 11:28 AM PDT Unemployed people were more likely to land a job if they used skills commonly taught as part of cognitive therapy for depression, a new study found.

Postpartum depression least severe form of depression in mothers Posted: 15 Jun 2016 11:26 AM PDT Postpartum depression -- a household term since actress Brooke Shields went public in 2005 about her struggle with it -- is indeed serious. But depression that begins before or during pregnancy is often more severe because it lasts longer and usually goes undetected until the doctor screens for it after the birth of the baby, according to a new study.

Bioactive film improves how implants bond with bone in animal study Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:52 AM PDT Researchers have developed a technique for coating polymer implants with a bioactive film that significantly increases bonding between the implant and surrounding bone in an animal model. The advance could significantly improve the success rate of such implants, which are often used in spinal surgeries.

Study offers explanation for why women leave engineering Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:52 AM PDT Women who go to college intending to become engineers stay in the profession less often than men. Why is this? While multiple reasons have been offered in the past, a new study develops a novel explanation: The negative group dynamics women tend to experience during team-based work projects makes the profession less appealing.

Invasive Asian carp respond strongly to carbon dioxide Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:52 AM PDT Bighead carp and silver carp are species of invasive Asian carp that threaten the Great Lakes. Adding carbon dioxide gas to water, a process similar to making carbonated soda water, could help control the movement and behavior of invasive carp in the Great Lakes basin, according to a recent study. Both carp species avoided carbon dioxide-infused water in a research pond.

On the path toward bionic enzymes Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:51 AM PDT Chemists have successfully married chemistry and biology to create reactions never before possible. They did this by replacing the iron normally found in the muscle protein myoglobin with iridium, a noble metal not known to be used by living systems.

Misleading images in cell biology Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:51 AM PDT Virtually all membrane proteins have been reported to be organized as clusters on cell surfaces, when in fact many of them are just single proteins which have been counted multiple times. A new method can now distinguish between both cases.

Did gravitational wave detector find dark matter? Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:49 AM PDT When an astronomical observatory detected two black holes colliding in deep space, scientists celebrated confirmation of Einstein's prediction of gravitational waves. A team of astrophysicists wondered something else: Had the experiment found the "dark matter" that makes up most of the mass of the universe?

New study highlights power of crowd to transmit news on Twitter Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:49 AM PDT The tiny fraction of headlines that news editors push out on Twitter draw a large share of eyeballs, but it's the stories recommended by friends that trigger more clicks. In what may be the first independent study of news consumption on social media, researchers found that reader referrals drove 61 percent of the nearly 10 million clicks in a random sample of news stories posted on Twitter.

At any skill level, making art reduces stress hormones Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:49 AM PDT No matter a person's skill level, taking time to make art is likely to reduce their stress hormone levels, a new study found.

Personalized medicine will employ computer algorithms Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:49 AM PDT Scientists have developed a software program enabling them to quickly compare sets of DNA of microorganisms living in different environments. The researchers have already suggested exactly how the new program could be applied in practice. Using the algorithm to compare the microflora of a healthy person with the microflora of a patient, specialists would be able to detect previously unknown pathogens and their strains, which can aid the development of personalized medicine.

Shorter radiation course recommended for early-stage breast cancer patients Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:47 AM PDT Early-stage breast cancer patients receiving a shorter course of whole breast radiation with higher radiation doses per fraction reported equivalent cosmetic, functional and pain outcomes over time as those receiving a longer, lower-dose per fraction course of treatment, according to researchers.

Defining the consequences of genetic variation on a proteome-wide scale Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:47 AM PDT Combining two emerging large-scale technologies for the first time -- multiplexed mass spectrometry and a mouse population with a high level of natural genetic diversity -- researchers can crack an outstanding question in biology and medicine: how genetic variants affect protein levels.

Antibiotics increase availability of nutrients in the gut, enabling growth of pathogens Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:47 AM PDT A newly discovered mechanism helps explain how antibiotics change the gut microbiota, increasing nutrients that benefit the growth of pathogens, like Salmonella.

One-third of patients with low flow aortic stenosis do not improve with transcatheter aortic valve replacement, research finds Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:47 AM PDT For patients with low flow aortic stenosis, TAVR -- a minimally invasive procedure which corrects the damaged aortic valve -- is often the best option for restoring the heart's normal pumping function. However, approximately one-third of these patients treated with TAVR continue to suffer persistent low flow AS. Researchers have examined this high-risk patient population to determine the cause and evaluate risk of mortality.

Broken calorie sensing pathway: How overeating may lead to more eating Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:44 AM PDT Overeating reduces levels of a hormone that signals the feeling of fullness in the brain, potentially promoting more eating, new research indicates.

New method opens door to development of many new medicines Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:43 AM PDT Scientists have developed a powerful new method for finding drug candidates that bind to specific proteins, an advance that can be applied to a large set of proteins at once, even to the thousands of distinct proteins directly in their native cellular environment.

Smart light used by researchers to track human behavior Posted: 15 Jun 2016 10:43 AM PDT Using the power of the light around us, researchers have significantly improved their innovative light-sensing system that tracks a person's behavior continuously and unobtrusively in real time.

Simple Numbers Game Seems to Make Kids Better at Math Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:23 AM PDT Although math skills are considered notoriously hard to improve, researchers boosted kindergarteners' arithmetic performance simply by exercising their intuitive number sense with a quick computer game.

Black holes and the prospects for measuring gravitational waves Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:18 AM PDT The supermassive black holes found at the centre of every galaxy, including our own Milky Way, may, on average, be smaller than we thought, according to new work. New research suggests that the gravitational waves produced when they merge will be harder to detect than previously assumed.

When it comes to evolution, testes may play a key role, studies find Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:17 AM PDT The gonads play a larger role than previously thought in evolution, a pair of studies on dark-eyed juncos has found. The first paper compares the subspecies in their expression of enzymes that make testosterone within the gonad. The second paper investigates how the subspecies' gonads differ in the expression of stress hormone receptor genes, which are known to lower testosterone.

Study resolves long-disputed theory about stem cell populations Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:17 AM PDT A team of researchers has helped identify key characteristics that distinguish reserve stem cells from other stem cell populations that had been purported to have similar properties. The work, which employed single-cell gene expression analyses as well as other cutting-edge techniques, demonstrated that, in the intestines, reserve stem cells are a distinct population from so-called 'label-retaining cells.' The two populations were long believed to be one and the same.

New X-ray method allows scientists to probe molecular explosions Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:17 AM PDT Researchers have used the high-intensity, quick-burst X-rays to look at how the atoms in a molecule change when the molecule is bombarded with X-rays.

Piping hot drinks may lead to cancer of the esophagus Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:17 AM PDT Drinking piping hot coffee, tea and the caffeine-infused beverage yerba mate probably causes cancer, the World Health Organization has announced.

Bee vampire picks the right host to suck Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:17 AM PDT New insights into the reproductive secrets of one of the world's tiniest and most destructive parasites -- the Varroa mite -- has scientists edging closer to regulating them. The new research explores the fertility of the notorious mite, a pest that is devastating honeybee populations worldwide.

Arthritis linked to suicide attempts Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:17 AM PDT One in every 26 men with arthritis have attempted suicide compared to one in 50 men without arthritis. Women with arthritis also had a higher prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts than women without arthritis (5.3 percent vs. 3.2 percent), according to a recent study.

Intervention helps newborns get screened for hearing loss, study finds Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:16 AM PDT Targeted intervention helps improve follow-up rates by more than 70 percent for newborns who fail initial hearing screenings at birth hospitals, scientists have found.

The Muffin Study: Mono- vs. polyunsaturated fats in patients with metabolic syndrome Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:13 AM PDT A batch of muffins, made with a special recipe formulated by the US Department of Agriculture, yielded unexpected health benefits in patients with metabolic syndrome during a first-of-its-kind clinical study. The study compared polyunsaturated fats with monounsaturated fats as a substitute for saturated fats. Muffins made with polyunsaturated fats were more effective for dietary management in the metabolic syndrome.

Scientists provide proof of concept for potential new class of cancer drugs Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:13 AM PDT A small-molecule inhibitor of the Notch pathway has been discovered by scientists, paving the way for a potential new class of personalized cancer medicines. Aberrant activity in the Notch pathway contributes to the initiation and maintenance of cancer stem cells.

Antidepressive treatment during pregnancy can affect newborn brain activity Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:13 AM PDT Fetal exposure to commonly used SRI drugs may affect brain activity in newborns, new research shows. The researchers suggest that the effects of drugs on fetal brain function should be assessed more carefully. Furthermore, indications for preventive medication should be critically evaluated, and non-pharmacological interventions should be the first-line treatment for depression and anxiety during pregnancy.

Use of Camelid antibodies for structural biology Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:13 AM PDT The use of Camelid antibodies has important implications for future development of reagents for diagnosis and therapeutics in diseases involving a group of enzymes called serine proteases, report scientists.

Age, obesity, dopamine appear to influence preference for sweet foods Posted: 15 Jun 2016 08:09 AM PDT As young people reach adulthood, their preferences for sweet foods typically decline. But a research team has found that for people with obesity, the drop-off may not be as steep, and the brain's reward system may be operating differently.

Supercomputers predict new turbulent interactions in fusion plasmas Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:27 AM PDT By more completely capturing the dynamics of plasma turbulence across an unprecedented range of spatial and temporal scales, researchers have reproduced experimental levels of heat loss observed experimentally where they previously could not.

Hotter all the way: Lithium wall contains plasma without cooling it Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:26 AM PDT You may have known lithium from its role in rechargeable batteries, but did you know it may be a vital in fusion reactors? These reactors require walls that don't sputter out metals or overly cool the plasma at the heart of the reaction. Researchers showed that lithium-coated walls can handle heat.

How the butterfly got its spots Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:26 AM PDT By tweaking just one or two genes, Cornell University researchers have altered the patterns on a butterfly's wings. It's not just a new art form, but a major clue to understanding how the butterflies have evolved, and perhaps to how color patterns -- and other patterns and shapes -- have evolved in other species.

New generation of high-efficiency solar thermal absorbers developed Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:25 AM PDT Researchers are one step closer to developing a new generation of low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells.  The structure is one of the world's first examples of a tri-layer metasurface absorber using a carbon interlayer.

Remote sensing, forest inventories contribute to saving tropical forests Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:24 AM PDT REDD+ aims to save and protect tropical forests, thus playing a major role in combating climate change and protecting biological diversity. However, many tropical countries lack the necessary forest monitoring method required for REDD+ funding, such as remote sensing with radar satellites and nation-wide forest inventories.

New genetic research can significantly improve drug development Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:24 AM PDT With drug development costs topping $1.2bn to get a single treatment to the point it can be sold and used in the clinic, could genetic analysis save hundreds of millions of dollars?

Surprising new business opportunities for Greenland Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:22 AM PDT In recent years, mackerel have appeared in Greenland waters, and in their wake new and economically important fisheries have emerged.The first mackerel were caught in Greenland in 2011. And already three years later, in 2014, mackerel fishing had grown to make up entire 23 per cent of the Greenlandic export earnings (78,000 tonnes of mackerel).

Plants More Vulnerable to Nanoparticles When Parents Grown in Contaminated Soil Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:22 AM PDT Plants are more vulnerable to toxic nanoparticles if their parents were grown in contaminated soil, according to the first multi-generational study on the safety of cerium oxide nanoparticles in agriculture. The results highlight the importance of improving and increasing research on the impact of nanomaterials on plants.

Hepatitis C: Once the viral infection has healed, high-risk portal vein hypertension also diminishes Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:22 AM PDT This inflammatory viral infection of the liver causes inflexible scar tissue to form. This in turn impedes blood flow through the organ, with resulting hypertension in the portal vein. Portal hypertension is responsible for most of the lethal complications of liver cirrhosis. A research group has now demonstrated that portal vein hypertension also diminishes once the viral infection is healed. This is a relief for patients, because it means they can stop taking drugs with unpleasant side-effects and they do not need to undergo stressful check-ups quite as frequently.

Painless, quick and reliable method for diagnosing helicobacter from exhaled air Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:22 AM PDT In the future, several illnesses can be quickly and painlessly diagnosed by the optical analysis of isotopes contained in exhaled air. With a new prototype device, researchers say that it is possible to determine painlessly and with absolute certainty during the appointment whether the patient's stomach troubles are caused by Helicobacter.

Americans are getting heart-healthier: Coronary heart disease decreasing in the US Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:03 AM PDT Coronary heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. A new study evaluating recent trends in the prevalence of CHD in the US population aged 40 years and older showed that CHD rates have decreased significantly, from 10.3 percent in 2001-2002 to 8.0 percent in 2011-2012.

Scientists discover protective strategy against pesticide-linked Parkinson's disease Posted: 15 Jun 2016 07:03 AM PDT A new study sheds light on the toxicity of the pesticides related to Parkinson's while also suggesting a strategy that may help protect against the disease.

For tropical mayflies, mountain passes are higher indeed Posted: 15 Jun 2016 06:51 AM PDT Insect populations in the tropics exhibit a higher number of distinct species than in the Rockies, researchers have discovered. But the distinctions between those species consist of subtle, genetic differences that aren't readily visible. These are called cryptic species -- by the looks of things identical, but actually genetically distinct.

New imaging technique could identify additional ovarian tumors not visible to surgeons' eyes Posted: 15 Jun 2016 06:51 AM PDT A newly devised tumor-specific fluorescent agent and imaging system guided surgeons in real time to remove additional tumors in ovarian cancer patients that were not visible without fluorescence or could not be felt during surgery, say researchers.

Presurgery chemotherapy may make advanced ovarian cancers responsive to immunotherapy Posted: 15 Jun 2016 06:51 AM PDT Metastatic ovarian cancer patients treated with chemotherapy prior to surgery had altered immune cells in their tumors, and specific alterations identified suggest that immunotherapy given after chemotherapy may help in preventing the cancer from coming back.

First detection of methyl alcohol in a planet-forming disc Posted: 15 Jun 2016 06:51 AM PDT The organic molecule methyl alcohol (methanol) has been found in the TW Hydrae protoplanetary disc. This is the first such detection of the compound in a young planet-forming disc. Its detection helps astronomers understand the chemical processes that occur during the formation of planetary systems and that ultimately lead to the creation of the ingredients for life.

Droughts across Europe affect British trees most Posted: 15 Jun 2016 06:51 AM PDT Environmental scientists have found beech forests across western Europe are increasingly at risk from drought -- with areas of southern England worst affected.

Diarrheal pathogen measures human body temperature Posted: 15 Jun 2016 06:51 AM PDT Using cutting-edge high-throughput sequencing methods, researchers have mapped all RNA structures of a diarrheal pathogen at once. In the process, they identified a number of temperature-responsive structures, so-called RNA thermometers. Up to now, the search for them had been a time-consuming endeavor.

Emotionally positive situations boost memory for similar future events Posted: 15 Jun 2016 06:51 AM PDT Combining a positive emotional component with a given stimulus promotes memory for future stimuli of the same type, report scientists.

New material, picked by computers, could boost power of vacuum electronics Posted: 14 Jun 2016 06:45 PM PDT Modern tools like microwave ovens and X-ray machines that are powered by intense, focused beams of electrons are ubiquitous, but many of the materials in those devices have remained largely unchanged for decades. Now, electrical and materials engineers have identified a substance that could vastly improve the technology.

Underlying connection found between diverse materials with extreme magnetoresistance Posted: 14 Jun 2016 06:44 PM PDT Researchers studying the intersection of materials chemistry and physics have found a connection in the underlying physics of materials with extreme magnetoresistance, a property that could be very useful in magnetic memory.

Physicists measured something new in the radioactive decay of neutrons Posted: 14 Jun 2016 06:24 PM PDT New research has enhanced scientists' understanding of how free neutrons decay into other particles. The work provides the first measurement of the energy spectrum of the photons that are released in the otherwise extensively measured process known as neutron beta decay. The details of this decay process are important because they help to explain the observed amounts of hydrogen and other light atoms created just after the Big Bang.

Chemical structure paves the way for new broad spectrum antifungals Posted: 14 Jun 2016 12:59 PM PDT A promising new target for antifungals has emerged: stopping the production of trehalose, a chemical cousin to table sugar that the deadly pathogenic fungi Cryptococcus, Candida, and Aspergillus need to survive in human hosts. Researchers have solved the structure of an enzyme called Tps2 that is required to synthesize the double sugar trehalose, paving the way for the development of new antifungal drugs targeting this enzyme that is critical for pathogenic fungi.

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