|  Insulin plays role in mediating worms' perceptions and behaviors  | In the past few years, as imaging tools and techniques have improved, scientists have been working tirelessly to build a detailed map of neural connections in the human brain -- with the ultimate hope of understanding how the mind works. | Read More » Hypertension researcher encourages colleagues to expand their focus  | One researcher has a simple message for fellow hypertension researchers: Think endothelin. | Read More » Pinpointing the molecular path that makes antidepressants act quicker  | The reasons behind why it often takes people several weeks to feel the effect of newly prescribed antidepressants remains somewhat of a mystery – and likely, a frustration to both patients and physicians. How an antidepressant works on the biochemistry and behavior in mice lets researchers tease out the relative influence of two brain proteins on the pharmacology of an antidepressant. They found increased nerve-cell generation in the hippocampus and a quicker response to the antidepressant. | Read More » Evidence to support controversial theory of 'buckyball' formation  | Researchers report the first experimental evidence that supports the theory that a soccer ball-shaped nanoparticle commonly called a buckyball is the result of a breakdown of larger structures rather than being built atom-by-atom from ground up. | Read More » Scientists discover cosmic factory for making building blocks of life  | Scientists have discovered a "cosmic factory" for producing the building blocks of life, amino acids. | Read More » Concepts for Houston, Texas flood barrier  | This month it will be exactly five years ago that Hurricane Ike caused enormous damage in and around Houston and Galveston in the US state of Texas. With more than $38 billion in damage and over 100 deaths, Ike ranks third in the list of the costliest hurricanes in US history. But it could have been a lot worse. With more than two million inhabitants, Houston is not only the fourth largest city in the United States, it is also the centre of the oil and gas industry. The Port of Houston fulfils a crucial economic role and generates around $178 million in revenues each year. Given the vulnerability of the area, it is a question of when rather than whether the city will again be hit by a major hurricane. | Read More » Fish skin immune responses resemble those of the gut  | A new study has found that, not only does fish skin resemble the gut morphologically, but key components of skin immune responses are also akin to those of the gut. | Read More » Superconductivity to meet humanity's greatest challenges  | The stage is now set for superconductivity to branch out and meet some of the biggest challenges facing humanity today. A new article explains how superconducting technologies can move out of laboratories and hospitals and address wider issues such as water purification, earthquake monitoring and the reduction of greenhouse gases. | Read More » Snake robot on Mars?  | The ESA wants its operations on other planets to have greater mobility and manoeuvrability. Researchers are looking into whether snake robots could be the answer. | Read More » New tech embeds mass customized hidden data in credit cards and plastics during manufacture  | Bank card and other plastic product manufacturers will have access to a powerful new technology that will help the fight against counterfeiting of their products and which can provide an additional security feature for credit cards, thanks to new technology. The technology will allow manufacturers to rapidly embed individual, unique and hidden individual pieces of data in each item made in large production runs of plastic products or credit cards as they are being created by injection molding. | Read More » Magnetic jet shows how stars begin their final transformation  | Astronomers have for the first time found a jet of high-energy particles emanating from a dying star. The discovery is a crucial step in explaining how some of the most beautiful objects in space are formed – and what happens when stars like the sun reach the end of their lives. | Read More » Marine species distribution changes reflect local climate conditions  | Climate change has resulted in shifts in where and at what depths many marine species are found. These shifts have not been uniform, and sometimes have occurred at different rates and in different ways than expected. Researchers from the US and Canada suggest that climate velocity -- the rate and direction that climate shifts in a particular region or landscape -- explains observed shifts in distribution far better than biological or species characteristics. | Read More » Graphene photodetector integrated into computer chip  | Today, most information is transmitted by light – for example in optical fibers. Computer chips, however, work electronically. Somewhere between the optical data highway and the electronic chips, photons have to be converted into electrons using light-detectors. Scientists have now managed to combine a graphene photodetector with a standard silicon chip. It can transform light of all important frequencies used in telecommunications into electrical signals. | Read More » Time is in the eye of the beholder: Time perception in animals depends on their pace of life  | Scientists have shown that animals' ability to perceive time is linked to their pace of life. The rate at which time is perceived varies across animals. For example, flies owe their skill at avoiding rolled up newspapers to their ability to observe motion on finer timescales than our own eyes can achieve, allowing them to avoid the newspaper in a similar fashion to the "bullet time" sequence in the popular film The Matrix. In contrast, one species of tiger beetle runs faster than its eyes can keep up, essentially becoming blind and requiring it to stop periodically to re-evaluate its prey's position. Even in humans, athletes in various sports have also been shown to quicken their eyes' ability to track moving balls during games. | Read More » Climate change to shift Kenya's breadbaskets  | Kenyan farmers and agriculture officials need to prepare for a possible geographic shift in maize production as climate change threatens to make some areas of the country much less productive for cultivation while simultaneously making others more maize-friendly. | Read More » Diminishing fear vicariously by watching others  | Phobias -- whether it's fear of spiders, clowns, or small spaces -- are common and can be difficult to treat. New research suggests that watching someone else safely interact with the supposedly harmful object can help to extinguish these conditioned fear responses, and prevent them from resurfacing later on. | Read More » Projected climate change in West Africa not likely to worsen malaria situation  | A new model of malaria transmission combined with global forecasts for temperature and rainfall results in improved predictions of malaria with climate change. | Read More » Specific sugar molecule causes growth of cancer cells  | The process of glycosylation, where sugar molecules are attached to proteins, has long been of interest to scientists, particularly because certain sugar molecules are present in very high numbers in cancer cells. It now turns out that these sugar molecules are not only present but actually aid the growth of the malignant cells. In the long term this discovery is an important step towards a cure that can stop the growth of cancer cells. | Read More » White blood cell levels tied to meal time  | A new link between meal times and daily changes in the immune system has been identified, and has led them to question assumptions about the roles of specific immune cells in infection and allergy. | Read More » Weather affects crop yield, especially hot days  | A study has determined the relationship between long-term weather and yield of 11 horticultural crops and one field crop in Wisconsin. The number of hot days during the growing season was determined to be the most important factor among the weather conditions examined. Results revealed the importance of the amount and frequency of seasonal precipitation, showed the negative effects of extreme temperatures on vegetable crop yields, and emphasized the importance of breeding vegetables for heat tolerance. | Read More » Obese stomachs tell us diets are doomed to fail  | The way the stomach detects and tells our brains how full we are becomes damaged in obese people but does not return to normal once they lose weight, according to new research. | Read More » Birds appear to lack important anti-inflammatory protein  | Bird diseases can have a vast impact on humans, so understanding their immune systems can be a benefit for people. An important element in the immune system of many animals is the protein TTP, which plays an anti-inflammatory role, yet researchers have been unable to find it in birds. New research suggests birds are an anomaly. | Read More » Arachnophobic entomologists: When two more legs make a big difference  | For some entomologists, an apparent paradox exists: despite choosing a career working with insects, they exhibit negative feelings toward spiders which range from mild disgust to extreme arachnophobia. | Read More » New model should expedite development of temperature-stable nano-alloys  | Researchers have developed a new theoretical model that will speed the development of new nanomaterial alloys that retain their advantageous properties at elevated temperatures. | Read More » Environmentally friendly cement is stronger than ordinary cement  | Cement made with waste ash from sugar production is stronger than ordinary cement. The research shows that the ash helps to bind water in the cement so that it is stronger, can withstand higher pressure and crumbles less. At the same time, energy is saved and pollution from cement production is reduced. | Read More » Hospital study finds connection between dementia, delirium and declining health  | More than half of all patients with pre-existing dementia will experience delirium while hospitalized. Failing to detect and treat their delirium early leads to a faster decline of both their physical and mental health, according to health researchers. | Read More » Doing research in the pub  | A research team has analysed how the body language of the potential customer helps the bartenders to identify who would like to place an order and who does not. The team found that real-life observations were at odds with the widespread belief that customers wave for signalling that they would like to order a drink. | Read More » New potential for touch screens at your fingertips  | Our sense of touch is clearly more acute than many realize. A new study demystifies the "unknown sense" with first-ever measurements of human tactile perception. When a finger is drawn over a surface, vibrations occur in the finger. People feel these vibrations differently on different structures. The friction properties of the surface control how hard we press on the surface as we explore it. A high friction surface requires us to press less to achieve the optimum friction force. | Read More » Automated telephone calls improve blood pressure control  | Patients who received automated telephone calls inviting them to get their blood pressure checked at a walk-in clinic were more likely to have controlled hypertension than patients who did not receive calls, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension. | Read More » Diet is associated with risk of depression  | A healthy diet may reduce the risk of severe depression, according to a prospective follow-up study of more than 2,000 men. In addition, weight loss in the context of a lifestyle intervention was associated with a reduction in depressive symptoms. | Read More » Potential treatment for a specific kind of pancreatic cancer  | Researchers have identified a potentially treatable subtype of pancreatic cancer, which accounts for about 2 percent of new cases. This subtype expresses high levels of the HER2 gene. HER2-amplified breast and gastric cancers are currently treated with Herceptin. | Read More » Gut microbes closely linked to proper immune function, other health issues  | A new understanding of the essential role of gut microbes in the immune system may hold the key to dealing with some of the more significant health problems facing people in the world today, researchers say in a new analysis. | Read More » Non-traditional mathematics curriculum results in higher standardized test scores  | Researchers have found high school students in the United States achieve higher scores on a standardized mathematics test if they study from a curriculum known as integrated mathematics. | Read More » Birth of Earth's continents: New research points to crust stacking, rather than upwelling of hot material  | New research provides strong evidence against continent formation above a hot mantle plume, similar to an environment that presently exists beneath the Hawaiian Islands. | Read More » Space weather may be to blame for some satellite failures  | A new study finds that high-energy electrons in space may be to blame for some satellite failures. | Read More » Score system to predict likelihood of diabetes remission after weight-loss surgery  | Researchers have developed a simple scoring system, based on four readily available preoperative patient characteristics, that can predict which candidates for gastric bypass surgery are likely to achieve type 2 diabetes remission within 5 years. A predictive model is likely to help patients and clinicians better manage the disease and could even save lives. | Read More » World's most vulnerable areas to climate change mapped  | Using data from the world's ecosystems and predictions of how climate change will impact them, scientists have produced a roadmap that ID's the world's most and least vulnerable areas in the Age of Climate Change. | Read More » Extremely potent, improved derivatives of successful anticancer drug created  | Scientists have found a way to make dramatic improvements to the cancer cell-killing power of vinblastine, one of the most successful chemotherapy drugs of the past few decades. The team's modified versions of vinblastine showed 10 to 200 times greater potency than the clinical drug. | Read More » Invention jet prints nanostructures with self-assembling material  | Engineers have developed a new approach to the fabrication of nanostructures for the semiconductor and magnetic storage industries. This approach combines advanced ink-jet printing technology with self-assembling block copolymers. | Read More » Flame cultivation promising as weed control method for cranberry  | Cranberries are important agricultural commodities in states such as Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Washington, and Oregon. But cranberry-growing operations are challenged by weeds, which compete for precious resources and often decrease fruit yields and revenues. Producers currently rely on weed management strategies such as flooding and sanding cranberry beds, hand-weeding, or applications of pre- and postemergence herbicides. Recent interest in reducing chemical inputs into cranberry growing systems has led researchers to evaluate alternative methods such as flame cultivation as a potential nonchemical weed control option. | Read More » Novel biomarker identified for diabetes risk  | Researchers have identified a biomarker that can predict diabetes risk up to 10 years before onset of the disease. | Read More » TV drug ads: The whole truth?  | Consumers should be wary when watching those advertisements for pharmaceuticals on the nightly TV news, as six out of 10 claims could potentially mislead the viewer, say researchers. | Read More » Wide-faced men make others act selfishly  | Researchers have previously shown that men with wider faces are more aggressive, less trustworthy and more prone to engaging in deception. Now they have shown, in a series of four studies, that individuals behave more selfishly when interacting with men with wider faces and this selfish behavior elicits selfish behavior in others. | Read More » Risk of birth defects among women who take antihistamines in pregnancy  | Antihistamines are a group of medications that are used to treat various conditions, including allergies and nausea and vomiting. Some antihistamines require a prescription, but most are available over-the-counter, and both prescription and OTC antihistamines are often used by women during pregnancy. Until recently, little information was available to women and their health care providers on the possible risks and relative safety of these medications in pregnancy, particularly when it came to specific birth defects. | Read More » Women can lower their risk for gynecologic cancers  | From losing weight to knowing their family history, there are several things women can do to lower their risk of developing certain types of cancer, and improve their chances for survival if they do develop one of them. | Read More » Cold sore linked to mutation in gene  | Why some people are troubled by cold sores while others are not has finally been explained by scientists. Cold sores affect around one in five people but, until now, no one has been sure why some are more prone to the virus that causes them. | Read More » | |
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