|  New study redefines how plaques grow in heart disease  | The growth of deadly plaque inside the walls of arteries may not happen as scientists believed, researchers have found. New research also suggests a new potential target in the treatment of atherosclerosis, a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and death globally. | Read More » Greenland ice is melting - even from below: Heat flow from the mantle contributes to the ice melt  | The Greenland ice sheet is melting from below, caused by a high heat flow from the mantle into the lithosphere. This influence is very variable spatially and has its origin in an exceptionally thin lithosphere. Consequently, there is an increased heat flow from the mantle and a complex interplay between this geothermal heating and the Greenland ice sheet. | Read More » Magnetization controlled at picosecond intervals  | A terahertz laser makes it possible to control a material's magnetization at a timescale of picoseconds (0.000,000,000,001 seconds). In their experiment, the researchers shone extremely short light pulses from the laser onto a magnetic material, where the magnetic moments - "elementary magnets" - were all aligned in parallel. The light pulse's magnetic field was able to deflect the magnetic moments from their idle state in such a way that they exactly followed the change of the laser's magnetic field with only a minor delay. | Read More » Device captures signatures and fingerprints with tiny LEDs  | Researchers want to put your signature up in lights. Using thousands of nanometer-scale wires, the researchers have developed a sensor device that converts mechanical pressure – from a signature or a fingerprint – directly into light signals that can be captured and processed optically. | Read More » New data reveal extent of genetic overlap between major mental disorders  | The largest genome-wide study of its kind has determined how much five major mental illnesses are traceable to the same common inherited genetic variations. Researchers found that the overlap was highest between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; moderate for bipolar disorder and depression and for ADHD and depression; and low between schizophrenia and autism. Overall, common genetic variation accounted for 17-28 percent of risk for the illnesses. | Read More » Computer simulations reveal universal increase in electrical conductivity  | Computer simulations have revealed how the electrical conductivity of many materials increases with a strong electrical field in a universal way. This development could have significant implications for practical systems in electrochemistry, biochemistry, electrical engineering and beyond. | Read More » Neuroscientists identify protein linked to Alzheimer's-like afflictions  | A team of neuroscientists has identified a modification to a protein in laboratory mice linked to conditions associated with Alzheimer's Disease. Their findings also point to a potential therapeutic intervention for alleviating memory-related disorders. | Read More » Newly identified genetic factors drive severe childhood epilepsies  | Researchers have identified two new genes and implicated 25 distinct mutations in serious forms of epilepsy, suggesting a new direction for developing tailored treatments of the neurological disorders. | Read More » Rethinking the genetic code  | A decade ago, gene expression seemed so straightforward: genes were either switched on or off. Not both. Then in 2006, a blockbuster finding reported that developmentally regulated genes in mouse embryonic stem cells can have marks associated with both active and repressed genes, and that such genes, which were referred to as "bivalently marked genes", can be committed to one way or another during development and differentiation. | Read More » Whole-genome sequencing uncovers the mysteries of the endangered Chinese alligator  | Scientists have completed the genome sequencing and analysis of the endangered Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis). This is the first published crocodilian genome, providing a good explanation of how terrestrial-style reptiles adapt to aquatic environments and temperature-dependent sex determination. | Read More » Largest study of epilepsy patients ever conducted reveals new and surprising genetic risk factors  | Neurologists and epilepsy researchers have discovered 329 random genetic mutations associated with two of the most severe forms of epilepsy, according to a new article. | Read More » Cosmology in the lab using laser-cooled ions  | Scientists would love to know which forces created our universe some 14 billion years ago. How could – due to a breaking of symmetry – matter, and thus stars and galaxies, be created from an originally symmetrical universe in which the same conditions prevailed everywhere shortly after the Big Bang. Now, the Big Bang is an experiment that cannot be repeated. But the principle of symmetry and its disturbance can definitely be investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. | Read More » Scientists have found new evidence to show how early humans migrated into Europe  | Humans originated in Africa. But what route did they take as they began to disperse around the world 60,000 years ago? A professor has played a key role in finding the answer to one of the most fundamental questions in the history of humankind. | Read More » Killer fish with teeth? Danish swimmers escape waters fearing killer fish  | The capture in the Danish/Swedish strait of Oresund of a fish some twenty centimeters in size and with long sharp teeth has caused Danish swimmers to leave the water fearing an invasion of meat eating killer fish, Piranhas. There is however no cause for panic say experts. The fish, though exotic, is a Pacu, not a piranha. None the less they caution male swimmers to protect their privates when swimming in the sound. | Read More » California seafloor mapping reveals hidden treasures  | Science and technology have peeled back a veil of water just offshore of California, revealing the hidden seafloor in unprecedented detail. | Read More » Sense of smell: The nose and the brain make quite a team... in disconnection  | Scientists have just shown that the representation of an odor evolves after the first breath, and that an olfactory retentivity persists at the central level. | Read More » School lunch and TV time linked with childhood obesity  | Among middle-school children, the behaviors most often linked with obesity are school lunch consumption and two hours or more of daily TV viewing. | Read More » New clue on the origin of Huntington's disease  | The synapses in the brain act as key communication points between approximately one hundred billion neurons. They form a complex network connecting various centres in the brain through electrical impulses. New research suggests that it is precisely here, in the synapses, that Huntington's disease might begin. | Read More » A cautionary note on oxytocin as a treatment for psychiatric disorders  | The hormone oxytocin is known for its widespread effects on social and reproductive processes, and recent data from intranasal administration in humans has produced hope for its use as a therapeutic in autism, schizophrenia, and other disorders. However, this leap to human use is happening without previous animal studies of long-term oxytocin administration, and without knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the behavioral findings. A new study indicates that the promising short-term effects often observed after a single dose of oxytocin may not translate to positive effects after long-term administration. | Read More » Simulating flow from volcanoes and oil spills  | Some time around 37,000 BCE a massive volcano erupted in the Campanian region of Italy, blanketing much of Europe with ash, stunting plant growth and possibly dooming the Neanderthals. While our prehistoric relatives had no way to know the ash cloud was coming, a recent study provides a new tool that may have predicted what path volcanic debris would take. | Read More » Scientists develop method that ensures safe research on deadly flu viruses: Strategy turns molecules in human lung cells into viral scissors that cut H5N1 bird flu and similar bugs into pieces  | The strategy will enable healthy molecules in human lung cells to latch on to these viruses and cut the bugs up before they have a chance to infect the human host. | Read More » Communicating nightingales: Older males trill better  | Older male nightingales perform faster and more demanding trills than their younger rivals. With up to 100 trill elements a second, nightingales belong to the fastest singers. | Read More » Protein that delays cell division in bacteria may lead to identification of new antibiotics  | Bacteria adjust to wide fluctuations in food supply by controlling how big they get and how often they divide. Scientists have just worked out the control system E. coli use to delay division so they can bulk up when food suddenly becomes abundant. What can be delayed can also be stopped, so the control system may provide an opportunity to design a new class of antibiotics. | Read More » New insights into neuroblastoma tumor suppressor may provide clues for improved treatment  | Loss of a gene required for stem cells in the brain to turn into neurons may underlie the most severe forms of neuroblastoma, a deadly childhood cancer of the nervous system, according to a new study. The findings also provide clues about how to improve the treatment of this often-incurable tumor. | Read More » Rules for gene-therapy vectors developed  | Researchers are making strides toward a set of rules to custom-design viral vectors for gene therapy. They have adapted a computer algorithm to find the parts of two distantly related adeno-associated viruses that could be recombined into new and useful viruses for gene therapy. They intend to determine the rules by which custom viruses can easily be designed for therapies. | Read More » | |
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