|  Young apes manage emotions like humans  | Researchers studying young bonobos in an African sanctuary have discovered striking similarities between the emotional development of the bonobos and that of children, suggesting these great apes regulate their emotions in a human-like way. This is important to human evolutionary history because it shows the socio-emotional framework commonly applied to children works equally well for apes. | Read More » Stepping out in style: Toward an artificial leg with a natural gait  | Humans rarely walk the straight and narrow; something's always in the way. So scientists are developing a computer-controlled artificial limb that can turn like a flesh-and-blood foot. | Read More » From football to flies: Lessons about traumatic brain injury  | Faced with news of suicides and brain damage in former professional football players, geneticists have bemoaned the lack of model systems for studying the insidious and often delayed consequences linked to head injuries. | Read More » A blueprint for restoring touch with a prosthetic hand  | New research is laying the groundwork for touch-sensitive prosthetic limbs that one day could convey real-time sensory information to amputees via a direct interface with the brain. | Read More » First evidence that dust and sand deposits in China are controlled by rivers  | New research has found the first evidence that large rivers control desert sands and dust in Northern China. | Read More » Bending world's thinnest glass shows atoms' dance  | Watch what happens when the world's thinnest sheet of glass breaks. Well, not exactly breaks, but close to it. Scientists have used an electron microscope to bend, deform and melt one molecule-thick glass. These are all things that happen just before glass shatters, and for the first time, the researchers have directly imaged such deformations and the resulting "dance" of rearranging atoms in silica glass, which forms the basis for everyday windowpanes. | Read More » Bending world's thinnest glass shows atoms' dance  | Watch what happens when you bend and break the world's thinnest glass. This glass was recently featured in the Guinness Book of World Records and is made of the same compounds as everyday windowpanes. Scientists used an electron microscope to bend, deform and melt the one-molecule-thick glass. These are all things that happen just before glass shatters, and for the first time, the researchers have directly imaged such deformations and the resulting "dance" of rearranging atoms in silica glass. | Read More » New evidence on lightning strikes: Mountains a lot less stable than we think  | Lightning strikes causing rocks to explode have for the first time been shown to play a huge role in shaping mountain landscapes in southern Africa, debunking previous assumptions that angular rock formations were necessarily caused by cold temperatures, and proving that mountains are a lot less stable than we think. | Read More » Evidence of unsustainable fishing in the Great Barrier Reef  | Sea cucumber fishing in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park shows worrying signs of being unsustainable. Many species being targeted are endangered and vulnerable to extinction, as determined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. | Read More » Giving health workers their own hand gel reduces operating room contamination significantly  | Simple remedies – from keeping the antibacterial gel dispenser clean to giving health care workers their own hand sanitizer – can help keep patients safe by decreasing contamination in operating and recovery rooms, suggest two studies. | Read More » Promising long-term treatment for chronic headache sufferers  | For the more than 45 million Americans who suffer from chronic headaches, relief may be on the way in the form of an electric pulse. Electric stimulation of the peripheral nerve reduced average headache intensity by more than 70 percent. | Read More » Does putting your feet up equal power?  | A new set of studies by researchers at three universities has found that the previously assumed link between expansive body postures and power is not fixed, but depends on the type of posture enacted and people's cultural background. | Read More » Climate change creates complicated consequences for North America's forests  | Climate change affects forests across North America -- in some cases permitting insect outbreaks, plant diseases, wildfires and other problems -- but researchers say warmer temperatures are also making many forests grow faster and some less susceptible to pests, which could boost forest health and acreage, timber harvests, carbon storage, water recycling and other forest benefits in some areas. | Read More » Mammalian body cells lack ancient viral defense mechanism, study suggests  | Scientists have the first positive evidence that RNA interference does not play a role as an antiviral in most body, or "somatic," cells in mammals. | Read More » Newly discovered mechanism propels micromotors  | Scientists studying the behavior of platinum particles immersed in hydrogen peroxide may have discovered a new way to propel microscopic machines. | Read More » How Earth's rotation affects vortices in nature, such as hurricanes and ocean currents  | What do smoke rings, tornadoes and the Great Red Spot of Jupiter have in common? They are all examples of vortices, regions within a fluid (liquid, gas or plasma) where the flow spins around an imaginary straight or curved axis. Understanding how geophysical (natural world) vortices behave can be critical for tasks such as weather forecasting and environmental pollution monitoring. | Read More » Football-shaped particles bolster body's defense against cancer  | Researchers have succeeded in making flattened, football-shaped artificial particles that impersonate immune cells. These football-shaped particles seem to be better than the typical basketball-shaped particles at teaching immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells in mice. | Read More » Diet, lifestyle advice for those with diabetes should be no different from that for general public  | New research suggests that lifestyle advice for people with diabetes should be no different from that for the general public, although those with diabetes may benefit more from that same advice. | Read More » Four genetic variants linked to esophageal cancer and its precursor, Barrett's esophagus  | An international consortium of reseearchers has identified four genetic variants associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer and its precursor, a condition called Barrett's esophagus. | Read More » Researchers 'fish new pond' for antibiotics  | Discovery of chemical compounds that block the ability of bacteria to make vitamins and amino acids, processes that are emerging as Achilles' heels for bacteria that infect the human body. | Read More » Happiness lowers blood pressure  | A synthetic gene module controlled by the happiness hormone dopamine produces an agent that lowers blood pressure. This opens up new avenues for therapies that are remote-controlled via the subconscious. | Read More » World record: Wireless data transmission at 100 Gbit/s  | Extension of cable-based telecommunication networks requires high investments in both conurbations and rural areas. Broadband data transmission via radio relay links might help to cross rivers, motorways or nature protection areas at strategic node points, and to make network extension economically feasible. Researchers have now presented a method for wireless data transmission at a world-record rate of 100 gigabits per second. | Read More » Illinois river otters exposed to chemicals banned decades ago  | Researchers report that river otters in Central Illinois are being exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls and pesticides that were banned in the US in the 1970s and '80s. | Read More » New analysis of US elementary school mathematics finds half-century of problematic 'strands' structure  | An expert argues that the "strands" of structure used in mathematics education have significantly weakened the effectiveness of US school mathematics. | Read More » Women leave their handprints on the cave wall  | Plaster handprints from kindergarten, handprint turkeys, handprints outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood -- are all part of modern life, but ancient people also left their handprints on rocks and cave walls. Now, an anthropologist can determine the sex of some of the people who left their prints, and the majority of them were women. | Read More » New micro water sensor can aid growers  | Researchers have developed a microfluidic water sensor within a fingertip-sized silicon chip that is a hundred times more sensitive than current devices. The researchers are now completing soil tests and will soon test their design in plants, embedding their "lab on a chip" in the stems of grape vines, for example. They hope to mass produce the sensors for as little as $5 each. The new sensor will benefit crop growers, wine grape and other fruit growers, food processors and even concrete makers. | Read More » Physical activity may reduce risk of esophageal cancer  | Physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of esophageal cancer, particularly esophageal adenocarcinoma, according to a new meta-analysis of published observational studies. | Read More » Researchers discover new approach to improve personalized cancer treatments  | Researchers have successfully shown that a new method for targeting mutated cells could create a major breakthrough in a personalized medicine approach to treat cancer. | Read More » Device speeds concentration step in food-pathogen detection  | Researchers have developed a system that concentrates foodborne salmonella and other pathogens faster than conventional methods by using hollow thread-like fibers that filter out the cells, representing a potential new tool for speedier detection. | Read More » What makes telenovelas so popular?  | A particular type of consumer enjoys stories with plots, characters, and imagery that allow them to get lost in the narrative, according to a new study | Read More » What makes consumers support their favorite businesses?  | When a shop is authentic and the workers are friendly, it can feel like a second home for consumers. | Read More » VIP loyalty programs: Consumers prefer awards they can share  | Consumers appreciate being able to share their perks with others, and will sacrifice exclusivity to do so. | Read More » Why do discounts backfire when you make consumers wait?  | Consumers like to reap the benefits of discounts immediately (not later). Consumers enjoy discounted products much less if they have to wait for them. | Read More » Suited for treatment of brain damage  | For those with brain damage or neurological disorders - such as MS or Parkinson's - treatment could be as close as the wardrobe. | Read More » Herbal, weight loss supplements, energy drink associated with liver damage, liver failure  | Severe liver damage, and even failure, has been associated with the consumption of weight loss supplements, an herbal supplement and an energy drink, according to four separate case reports. Use of herbal and dietary supplements is widespread for a variety of health problems. Because many patients do not disclose supplement use to their physicians, important drug side effects can be missed. | Read More » Biomarker in bile VEGF can correctly identify pancreatic cancer  | A marker in bile known as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in the growth of cancerous tumors according to new research. Researchers found that VEGF levels from bile aspirated from the pancreas can accurately distinguish pancreatic cancer from other causes of common problems in the bile duct. The results of this pilot study indicated that using this marker in bile can correctly identify pancreas cancer with high sensitivity, detecting pancreas cancer accurately in 93 percent of cases. | Read More » New 3-D method used to grow miniature pancreas  | An international team of researchers has successfully developed an innovative 3-D method to grow miniature pancreas from progenitor cells. The future goal is to use this model to help in the fight against diabetes. | Read More » How do consumers see a product when they hear music?  | Shoppers are more likely to buy a product from a different location when a pleasant sound coming from a particular direction draws attention to the item, according to a new study. | Read More » Rapid reversal of diabetes after gastric banding surgery  | Clinical researchers have shown that a form of weight loss surgery, known as 'gastric banding', brings about reversal of diabetes in some patients, and dramatic improvement of glucose tolerance in others, within 12 weeks. | Read More » To live and learn: Making memories has to be a speedy business  | Researchers have discovered that nerve cells have a special "pre-assembly" technique to expedite the manufacture of proteins at nerve cell connections (synapses), enabling the brain to rapidly form memories and be plastic. | Read More » Sisters serve as confidants, mentors, sources of support during intimate conversations  | Sisters often take on key roles of confidants, sources of support and mentors during conversations about romantic relationships, a researcher has found. | Read More » Will power alone is not enough  | How do we motivate ourselves when studying for an exam or working to a tight deadline? The more unpleasant the task, the more will power we need to rise to the challenge. Unfortunately, our reserves of willpower are quickly depleted. Which means that other mechanisms are required to motivate people to continually perform at a high level. And now scientists have shown that internal, unconscious motivation can significantly improve performance capabilities. | Read More » 2013 Ocean Health Index shows food provision remains an area of great concern  | In the 2013 Ocean Health Index –– an annual assessment of ocean health –– scientists point to food provision as the factor that continues to require serious attention. | Read More » Beyond antibiotics: 'PPMOS' offer new approach to bacterial infection, other diseases  | Researchers today announced the successful use of a new type of antibacterial agent called a PPMO, which appears to function as well or better than an antibiotic, but may be more precise and also solve problems with antibiotic resistance. The new PPMOs offer a fundamentally different way to attack bacterial infection. | Read More » No joke: Learning the tricks of standup comedy  | There is a science to crafting a good bit and delivering a funny one-liner. And like any skill, some believe it's one students in Comedy College course at university can learn – no joke, they can learn to be funny. | Read More » Unearthed: A treasure trove of jewel-like beetles  | The histerid beetle genus Baconia is distinguishable by the peculiar flat shape and the metallic body coloration ranging between beautiful blue, green and violet tones. A recent article provides a pioneering detailed revision of the genus, solving taxonomic puzzles around this enigmatic group of beetles and adding an impressive 85 new species. | Read More » How tiny organisms make a big impact on clean water  | Nearly every body of water contains microscopic organisms that live attached to rocks, plants, and animals. These sessile suspension feeders are critical to aquatic ecosystems and play an important role in cleaning up environmental contaminants by consuming bacteria. A study reveals that by changing the angle of their bodies relative to the surfaces, these feeders overcome the physical constraints presented by underwater surfaces, maximize their access to fresh, nutrient-rich water, and filter the surrounding water. | Read More » Older Americans' attitudes on work and retirement  | The results of a major new survey exploring the views of older Americans about their plans for work and retirement have been released. The study provides in-depth information about a rapidly growing segment of the population that by choice or circumstance is working longer. The Great Recession has had a marked impact on retirement plans. | Read More » | |
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