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Theatre offers promise for youth with autism

A novel autism intervention program using theatre to teach reciprocal communication skills is improving social deficits in adolescents with the disorder that now affects an estimated one in 88 children.

Are you ready to retire?

In a paper published last month, authors present a partial differential equation model governing the value of defined pension plans including the option for early retirement.

Earthquake-triggered landslides pose significant hazard for Seattle, new study details potential damage

A new study suggests the next big quake on the Seattle fault may cause devastating damage from landslides, greater than previously thought and beyond the areas currently defined as prone to landslides. New research offers a framework for simulating hundreds of earthquake scenarios for the Seattle area.

Baby's innate number sense predicts future math skill

A new study suggests that the strength of an infant's innate sense of numerical quantities can be predictive of that child's mathematical abilities three years later.

Mutual fund managers invest similarly because of competitive pressures, might miss good investments

A researcher has found that institutional mutual fund investors tend to invest in companies that have an independent board of directors because it is perceived as a "safer" option, even though no evidence exists that demonstrates these companies perform better in the stock market.

Researchers advance scheme to design seamless integrated circuits etched on graphene

Researchers have introduced an integrated circuit design scheme in which transistors and interconnects are monolithically patterned seamlessly on a sheet of graphene, a 2-D plane of carbon atoms.

4-D printing technology for composite materials developed

Researchers have successfully added a fourth dimension to their printing technology, opening up exciting possibilities for the creation and use of adaptive, composite materials in manufacturing, packaging and biomedical applications.

The mysterious scarab beetles: Two new species of the endangered ancient genus Gyronotus

Famous as the sacred beetles of ancient Egypt the scarab beetle group in fact represents much greater diversity around the globe. Scientists discover two new species of the ancient and highly important from a conservation point of view genus Gyronotus.

Brief risk-reduction counseling at HIV testing does not result in reduction of STIs

Brief risk-reduction counseling at the time of a rapid human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test was not effective for reducing new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) during the subsequent 6 months among persons at risk for HIV, according to a study.

Flu vaccine associated with lower risk of cardiovascular events

Receiving an influenza vaccination was associated with a lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events such as heart failure or hospitalization for heart attack, with the greatest treatment effect seen among patients with recent acute coronary syndrome.

Screening guidelines may miss ten percent of colon cancers

For people with a family history of adenomas (colon polyps that lead to colon cancer), up to 10 percent of colorectal cancers could be missed when current national screening guidelines are followed.

Researchers propose social network modeling to fight hospital infections

Researchers are helping to prevent costly and deadly infections acquired by hospitalized patients by using computer models that simulate interactions between patients and health care workers to determine if these interactions are a source for spreading multi-drug resistant organisms.

New artificial protein mimics part of HIV outer coat

A team of scientists has created an artificial protein coupled with a sugar molecule that mimics a key site on the outer coat of HIV where antibodies can bind to neutralize a wide variety of HIV strains.

Effective arts integration improves test scores

Effective classroom arts integration can reduce or eliminate educational achievement gaps for economically disadvantaged students, according to a report.

New device stores electricity on silicon chips

Solar cells that produce electricity 24/7. Cell phones with built-in power cells that recharge in seconds and work for weeks between charges: These are just two of the possibilities raised by a novel supercapacitor design invented by material scientists.

How did supermassive black holes grow so big?

Galaxies may look pretty and delicate, with their swirls of stars of many colors -- but don't be fooled. At the heart of every galaxy, including our own Milky Way, lies a supermassive black hole.

Advanced light source provides a new look at vanadium dioxide

Researchers have taken a new look at vanadium dioxide, a correlated material that could be used to make energy-efficient ultrafast electronic switches.

New radar system inspired by dolphins to detect hidden surveillance and explosive devices

Inspired by the way dolphins hunt using bubble nets, scientists have developed a new kind of radar that can detect hidden surveillance equipment and explosives. The twin inverted pulse radar (TWIPR) is able to distinguish true 'targets', such as certain types of electronic circuits that may be used in explosive or espionage devices, from 'clutter' (other metallic items like pipes, drinks cans, nails for example) that may be mistaken for a genuine target by traditional radar and metal detectors.

People tend to communicate with similar people, even more than previously thought

People's tendency to communicate with similar people is stronger than earlier believed, which restricts the flow of information and ideas in social networks.

Intercepting asteroids to avoid Armageddon

Potential asteroid impact on Earth can have disastrous consequences. In order to prevent such collisions, earthbound space objects must be deflected. This could be accomplished using a space probe to impact the asteroid.

Super song learners: Mechanism for improving song learning in juvenile zebra finches uncovered

Most songbirds learn their songs from an adult model, mostly from the father. However, there are relatively large differences in the accuracy how these songs are copied. Researchers have now found in juvenile zebra finches a possible mechanism that is responsible for the differences in the intensity of song learning. They provided the nerve growth factor "BDNF" to the song control system in the brain. With this treatment the learning ability in juvenile males could be enhanced in such a way that they were able to copy the songs of the father as good as it had been observed in the best learners in a zebra finch nest.

The molecular clock of the common buzzard: Influence of genes on dispersal behavior revealed

Be it hibernation or the routes of migratory birds: all animal behavior that is subject to annual rhythms is controlled by a molecular clock. Although this has been known for a long time, in many cases it is still unclear how far genes are involved in setting this internal clock. Up to now, this also applied to the common buzzard and its migration from parental breeding grounds.

New eye treatment effective in laboratory tests

A promising technique for treating human eye disease has proven effective in preclinical studies and may lead to new treatments to prevent blindness.

How are Open Access publishing and Massive Open Online Courses disrupting the academic community?

Supporters of open academic content have long touted its ability to widen the impact and productivity of scholarship while relieving cost pressures in academia. While the development of open-access (OA) publishing and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been labeled a disruption to publishing and the academic community, a new study finds that OA has a more tempered impact on scholarship while the impact of MOOCs on teaching is more severe.

Mass producing pocket labs

There is certainly no shortage of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices, but in most cases manufacturers have not yet found a cost-effective way to mass produce them. Scientists are now developing a platform for series production of these pocket laboratories.

People don't put a high value on climate protection

People are bad at getting a grip on collective risks. Climate change is a good example of this: the annual climate summits have so far not led to specific measures. The reason for this is that people attach greater value to an immediate material reward than to investing in future quality of life. Therefore, cooperative behavior in climate protection must be more strongly associated with short-term incentives such as rewards or being held in high esteem.

A trace of memory, explored

Most of our behavior – and thus our personality – is shaped by previous experience. To store the memory of these experiences and to be able to retrieve the information at will is therefore considered one of the most basic and important functions of the brain. The current model in neuroscience poses that memory is stored as long-lasting anatomical changes in synapses, the specialized structures by which nerve cells connect and signal to each other.

What a difference a grade makes: First graders with attention problem lag for years afterward, Second graders, less so

Children with attention problems that emerge in first grade show poorer school performance for years afterward, including scoring lower on fifth grade reading. The poor performance occurred even if the attention problems were fleeting and improved after first grade. By contrast, children who developed attention problems starting in second grade performed as well as their peers in later years.

A young Picasso or Beethoven could be the next Edison

Good news for parents: Those pricey piano lessons or random toy parts littering your floors may one day lead to the next scientific breakthrough. That's according to new research linking childhood participation in arts and crafts activities to patents generated and businesses launched as adults.

Vinyl flooring linked to potentially harmful substances at schools and daycare centers

Large areas of vinyl flooring in daycares and schools appear to expose children to a group of compounds called phthalates, which have been linked to reproductive and developmental problems, scientists are reporting.

A step towards early Alzheimer's diagnosis

If Alzheimer's disease is to be treated in the future, it requires an early diagnosis, which is not yet possible. Now researchers at higher education institutions have identified six proteins in spinal fluid that can be used as markers for the illness.

Long-term memory helps chimpanzees in their search for food

Searching for bountiful fruit crops in the rain forest, chimpanzees remember past feeding experiences.

Putting together the pieces of the Parkinson's puzzle

Parkinson's disease continues to puzzle physicians and biologists alike - even though it is well-established that symptoms like muscle tremors, rigidity, and immobility can all be traced back to the death of a certain type of brain cell called a dopaminergic neuron. The underlying cause of this cellular death is a complex web of interrelated genetic molecular processes as well as external factors. Now for the first time ever, researchers have published an interactive picture containing the current knowledge about the underlying genetic and molecular causes of Parkinson's disease.

RNA signatures from suspected TB patients could form basis of diagnostic test

A set of RNA transcriptional signatures expressed in the blood of patients might provide the basis of a diagnostic test that can distinguish active tuberculosis (TB) from latent TB, and also from other diseases that have similar clinical symptoms and signs.

HIV elimination in South Africa could be achieved by current treatment policy

The current antiretroviral treatment policy in South Africa could lead to elimination of HIV within the country over the next 24 to 34 years, but a universal test and treat approach could achieve elimination 10 years earlier according to new research.

Keeping it local: Protecting the brain starts at the synapse

New research by scientists shows that one of the brain's fundamental self-protection mechanisms depends on coordinated, finely calibrated teamwork among neurons and non-neural cells knows as glial cells, which until fairly recently were thought to be mere support cells for neurons.

Gilding the gum tree: Scientists strike gold in leaves

Eucalyptus trees -- or gum trees as they are known -- are drawing up gold particles from the earth via their root system and depositing it their leaves and branches.

A functional forest ecosystem is more than just trees

In 2011, the University of Jyväskylä held an academic conference on the ecological restoration of forests. The conference was visited by 53 researchers from 10 European countries. Now the researchers' ideas and discussions have been published in the appreciated Biological Conservation publication series.

Researchers link DDT, obesity

Researchers say ancestral exposures to environmental compounds like the insecticide DDT may be a factor in high rates of obesity. The finding comes as DDT is getting a second look as a tool against malaria.

Delaying gratification, when the reward is under our noses

How can some people resist the attraction of immediate pleasures and pursue long-term goals, while others easily succumb and compromise their ultimate expectations? A recent study has found that the brain's memory systems help in resisting temptations. One factor which might explain the difference in people's ability to resist temptation might lie in the activity of a deep brain structure: the hippocampus.

Test may improve diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis in HIV-infected individuals

Tuberculous meningitis is a serious and often fatal illness that is difficult to diagnose particularly in resource-poor areas, and is especially common in individuals infected with HIV. Now, a new DNA test is available that can be used in resource-poor settings and is generally used to detect TB in sputum, to detect TB DNA in cerebrospinal fluid.

Older siblings' cells can be passed from female dogs to their puppies in the womb

Researchers have found that microchimerism, a condition where some people possess a small number of cells in their bodies that are not genetically their own, can be passed from a female dog to her offspring while they are still in the womb. Microchimerism most often occurs when a mother gives birth to a child. In some cases, cells from that child are left in the mothers' body and continue to live, despite being of a different genetic makeup than surrounding cells. Researchers have identified evidence that those cells can then be passed on to other children the mother may give birth to at a later time.

The reins of Casimir: Engineered nanostructures could offer way to control quantum effect

You might think that a pair of parallel plates hanging motionless in a vacuum just a fraction of a micrometer away from each other would be like strangers passing in the night -- so close but destined never to meet. Thanks to quantum mechanics, you would be wrong.

Futuristic copper foam batteries get more bang for the buck

Scientists report steps toward safer, cheaper, longer-lasting, and faster-charging solid-state battery.

Plants use sugars to tell the time of day

Scientists are studying how plants are able to set and maintain this internal clock. They have found that the sugars produced by plants are key to timekeeping.

Chemists use MRI to peek at temperatures of gases inside catalytic reactors

Chemists report a new "green chemistry" method that may have far-reaching applications. In a significant step toward improving the design of future catalysts and catalytic reactors, the chemists have developed a method to map the temperatures of reacting gases inside a catalytic reactor at the microscale.

Astronomers discover the most distant known galaxy: Galaxy seen as it was just 700 million years after Big Bang

Astronomers have discovered the most distant galaxy ever found. The galaxy is seen as it was just 700 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only about 5 percent of its current age of 13.8 billion years.

'Getting the edge' on photon transport in silicon

Scientists have a new way to edge around a difficult problem in quantum physics, now they have demonstrated how particles of light flow within a novel device.

Value, limitations of patient assistance programs for women with breast cancer

Patient assistance programs can help breast cancer patients meet a variety of needs that can interfere with getting recommended adjuvant therapies such as radiation, chemotherapy, and hormonal treatments, according to a study.

Wood chips to biofuel in hours

Until now, it has taken weeks to make biofuel from trees. This slow pace has been a bottleneck for the industry. Researchers have now shortened the process to a few hours.

Multiple ssclerosis: Functional change in brain as cause of cognitive disorders

Over the course of the disease, multiple sclerosis is very often combined with a deteriorating memory and attention deficits. Researchers have now demonstrated by means of a meta-analysis of functional image data that increased activations in the involuntary attention system in the brain are responsible for these disorders in MS patients.

Insights into how TB tricks the immune system could help combat the disease

Researchers have identified a potential way to manipulate the immune system to improve its ability to fight off tuberculosis (TB). TB is a major problem for both humans and cattle and the new findings could help scientists to create better drugs to combat the disease in both.

Novel autism candidate genes identified

A scientific study identifies new genes involved in autism, a polygenic disorder that is difficult to diagnose and treat. Autism spectrum disorders represent a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which affect one out of 80-100 children. Autism's aetiology remains mainly unknown but there is strong evidence that genetic factors play a major role. International research has identified candidate genes that explain the origin and development of the disease.

Predicting the fate of stem cells

Researchers have developed a method that can rapidly screen human stem cells and better control what they will turn into. The technology could have potential use in regenerative medicine and drug development.

Birthing a new breed of materials

New research shows scientists' first steps into the unexplored territory of interfacial materials that could someday yield smaller, faster, more energy-efficient devices.

Uncovering the tricks of nature's ice-seeding bacteria

New discoveries could impact applications ranging from artificial snowmaking to global climate models.

Deciding when 'not' to maximize profits: How and why some corporations sabotage their own subsidiaries

Corporate America doesn't always maximize profits -- companies sometimes deliberately leave money on the table in an effort to "get along" with and not upset their competitors. Corporate leaders "selectively intervene" in the everyday business of a subsidiary to deliberately sabotage decisions that could positively shift the balance of power in the marketplace. This "collusive behavior" and "mutual forbearance" reduces competitive aggressiveness in the market place and less competition usually hurts consumers.

Vacuums provide solid ground for new definition of kilogram

The weight of the kilogram may soon rest on the emptiness of a vacuum.

Force to be reckoned with: Laser power measured with portable scale

Researchers have demonstrated a novel method for measuring laser power by reflecting the light off a mirrored scale, which acts as a force detector.

First-ever information systems job index shows healthy market for college students majoring in information systems

Despite a 7.2 percent national unemployment rate, the job market is a healthy one for college students majoring in information systems, with nearly three quarters of students receiving at least one job offer, according to the U.S. nationwide IS Job Index.

Natural compound can be used for 3-D printing of medical implants

Biomedical engineering researchers have discovered that a naturally-occurring compound can be incorporated into three-dimensional printing processes to create medical implants out of non-toxic polymers. The compound is riboflavin, which is better known as vitamin B2.

Changes in epigenetic DNA functions links diabetes predisposition to Alzheimer's disease

Diabetes and dementia are rising dramatically in the United States and worldwide. In the last few years, epidemiological data has accrued showing that older people with diabetes are significantly more likely to develop cognitive deterioration and increased susceptibility to onset of dementia related to Alzheimer's disease.

Study links youth obesity to TV fast food advertising

Youth obesity is associated with receptiveness to TV fast food advertising researchers have found.

Internet therapy may help postnatal depression

Researchers have teamed up with online forum Netmums in a pilot study which has shown that postnatal depression can be treated effectively using online therapy. Rates of postnatal depression are high -- between 10 to 30 percent of mothers are affected -- but many cases go unreported and few women seek help.

Early-life exposure of frogs to herbicide increases mortality from fungal disease

A new study shows the herbicide atrazine increased mortality from chytridiomycosis, a disease causing worldwide amphibian declines.

The math says Red Sox have a big edge in the World Series

Now that the World Series is about to begin, a math professor has announced the probability of each of the contenders winning the best 4 out of 7 game contest. "The Boston Red Sox have a nearly 70 percent chance of winning the series", he says. But he gives the caveat that the St. Louis Cardinals have defeated both the competition and his mathematical model in each of their previous series.

TopoChip reveals the Braille code of cells

A new tool is uncovering the fundamentals of how cells respond to surfaces and could potentially improve the effectiveness of biomedical implants.

Anthropologist examines the motivating factors behind hazing

It happens in military units, street gangs and even among athletes on sports teams. In some cultures, the rituals mark the transition from adolescence to adulthood. And in fraternities and sororities, it's practically a given. With a long history of seemingly universal acceptance, the practice of hazing is an enduring anthropological puzzle.

Induced pluripotent stem cells reveal differences between humans and great apes

Researchers have, for the first time, taken chimpanzee and bonobo skin cells and turned them into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), a type of cell that has the ability to form any other cell or tissue in the body.

New research illustrates Mississippi River's role in the transport and fate of the oil following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident

A new study has shown that the complex circulation from the Mississippi River plume played a substantial role in the transport and fate of the oil following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident. These findings provide new information on the transport of oil and other pollutants in the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers discover potential new treatment for colitis

A drug currently on the market to treat leukemia reversed symptoms of colitis in lab tests.

Development of novel robots funded to assist people with disabilities, aid doctors

As part of the National Robotics Initiative, NIH has awarded funding for three projects to develop the next generation of robots that work cooperatively with people.

What Should You Know About E-cigarettes?

E-cigarettes are becoming increasingly popular and widely available as the use of regular cigarettes drops. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that e-cigarette use by children doubled from 2011 and 2012. The health effects of e-cigarettes have not been effectively studied and the ingredients have little or no regulation.

Testosterone therapy may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease

Research suggests that testosterone treatment in hypogonadal (testosterone deficient) men restores normal lipid profiles and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Stealth nanoparticles lower drug-resistant tumors' defenses

Some of the most dangerous cancers are those that can outmaneuver the very drugs designed to defeat them, but researchers are now reporting a new Trojan-horse approach. In a preliminary study focusing on a type of breast cancer that is highly resistant to current therapies, they describe a way to sneak small particles into tumor cells, lower their defenses and attack them with drugs, potentially making the therapy much more effective.

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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

FeedaMail: ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

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