|  Did inefficient cellular machinery evolve to fight viruses and jumping genes?  | It might seem obvious that humans are elegant and sophisticated beings in comparison to lowly bacteria, but when it comes to genes, a scientist wants to turn conventional wisdom about human and bacterial evolution on its head. | Read More » Food blogs serve as source of nutritionally balanced recipes? Analysis of six popular food blogs  | More people are cooking at home, and more people are finding their recipes online via food blogs. The photos of dishes posted on the blogs, however, may attract potential cooks more than the nutritional value of the recipes. In addition, many food companies sponsor these sites, so the recipes become advertisements for their products. This has the potential to change the healthfulness of the recipes. | Read More » Plant cell architecture: Growth toward a light source  | Inside every plant cell, a cytoskeleton provides an interior scaffolding to direct construction of the cell's walls, and thus the growth of the organism as a whole. Environmental and hormonal signals that modulate cell growth cause reorganization of this scaffolding. New research provides surprising evidence as to how this reorganization process works, with important evidence as to how the direction of a light source influences a plant's growth pattern. | Read More » Preparing for hell and high water: Researchers advocate for climate adaptation science  | As climate changes get more pronounced, people everywhere will have to adjust. In this week's issue of the journal Science, an international group of researchers urge the development of science needed to manage climate risks and capitalize on unexpected opportunities. | Read More » Babies named for fathers, not mothers, reflect US cultural ideologies  | From Cal Ripkin, Jr., to Robert Downey, Jr., finding men named after their fathers -- with so-called patronyms -- is easy. But what about matronymns -- names for a mother or grandmother? New research shows that matronymns are rare and that family naming trends follow a regional pattern in the United States: people in states that place higher emphasis on honor are more likely to use patronyms, especially in the face of a terrorist threat. | Read More » Small RNA molecule in blood could help diagnose pancreatic cancer  | A cancer researcher has demonstrated that a particular molecule is present in the blood of most pancreatic cancer patients, suggesting it could someday be a diagnostic marker for the disease. | Read More » Tobacco myths persist 50 years after US Surgeon General warned Americans of smoking dangers  | Tobacco misconceptions prevail in the United States despite the dramatic drop in smoking rates since the release of the first Surgeon General's Report on smoking and health in January 1964. Cancer experts dispel common myths and share new educational resources to address this persistent challenge. | Read More » Study shows trustworthy people perceived to look similar to ourselves  | When a person is deemed trustworthy, we perceive that person's face to be more similar to our own, according to a new study. | Read More » Nanoparticles can overcome drug resistance in breast cancer cells  | Nanoparticles filled with chemotherapeutic drugs can kill drug-resistant breast cancer cells, according to a study published. | Read More » New method predicts time from Alzheimer's onset to nursing home, death  | A research team has clinically validated a new method for predicting time to nursing home residence or death for patients with Alzheimer's. The method uses data from a single patient visit, and is based on a complex model of Alzheimer's progression developed by consecutively following two sets of Alzheimer's patients for 10 years each. | Read More » Social symptoms in autistic children may be caused by hyper-connected neurons  | The brains of children with autism show more connections than the brains of typically developing children do. What's more, the brains of individuals with the most severe social symptoms are also the most hyper-connected. The findings reported in two independent studies are challenge the prevailing notion in the field that autistic brains are lacking in neural connections. | Read More » Researchers discover new driver of breast cancer  | A team of researchers has found that as cholesterol is metabolized, a potent stimulant of breast cancer is created – one that fuels estrogen-receptor positive breast cancers, and that may also defeat a common treatment strategy for those cancers. | Read More » DNA software identifies people by testing relatives' DNA  | New software is able to identify people from their relatives' DNA. The software has already been used to identify the victims – the majority of whom were Dutch – of the 2010 Tripoli airplane crash, and in 2012 to find out who had murdered a young Dutch woman, Marianne Vaatstra, in 1999. | Read More » White-lipped peccary trails lead to archeological discovery in Brazil: 4,000- to 10,000-year-old cave drawings  | While tracking white-lipped peccaries and gathering environmental data in forests that link Brazil's Pantanal and Cerrado biomes, researchers discovered ancient cave drawings made by hunter-gatherer societies thousands of years ago. | Read More » Exploring public perceptions of future wearable computing  | As scientists develop the next wave of smartwatches and other wearable computing, they might want to continue focusing their attention on the arms and the wrists. According to a recent study, portable electronic devices placed on the collar, torso, waist or pants may cause awkwardness, embarrassment or strange looks. | Read More » Plan to address hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico urged by experts  | Despite a 12-year action plan calling for reducing the hypoxia zone in the Gulf of Mexico, little progress has been made, and there is no evidence that nutrient loading to the Gulf has decreased during this period. Researchers have identified some of the biophysical and social barriers to progress and propose a way forward. | Read More » Wireless device converts 'lost' energy into electric power: Metamaterial cells provide electric power as efficiently as solar panels  | Using inexpensive materials configured and tuned to capture microwave signals, researchers have designed a power-harvesting device with efficiency similar to that of modern solar panels. | Read More » New species of shark: Carolina hammerhead  | A research team has recently described a new species of hammerhead shark. This discovery is the result of years of study of the rivers and coastal waters of South Carolina. | Read More » Bacterial toxin sets the course for infection  | Every year gastro-intestinal diseases have lethal consequences for more than five million individuals. Scientists have now discovered what makes a specific strain of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis so dangerous: the bacteria produce a molecule called CNFy that facilitates the infection process for them. It changes the host cells in a manner that enables the injection apparatus of Yersinia, which injects toxins into the cells, to work more efficiently. This strengthens the gastrointestinal infection and leads to inflammation of the tissue. | Read More » Solar activity playing a minimal role in global warming, research suggests  | Changes in solar activity have contributed no more than 10 per cent to global warming in the twentieth century, a new study has found. | Read More » Novel genetic patterns may make us rethink biology and individuality  | Scientists have made two novel discoveries: 1) a person can have several DNA mutations in parts of their body, with their original DNA in the rest -- resulting in several different genotypes in one individual -- and 2) some of the same genetic mutations occur in unrelated people. We think of each person's DNA as unique, but if a person can have more than one genotype, this may have broad implications. | Read More » Artificial heart to pump human waste into future robots  | A new device capable of pumping human waste into the "engine room" of a self-sustaining robot has been created by a group of researchers. | Read More » Creating accountable anonymity online: Systems that currently allow users complete anonymity are being abused  | Researchers are working to add some accountability to online anonymity. They've developed a technology that offers anonymity for honest users and accountability for dishonest users. | Read More » How body clock affects inflammation: Discovery could accelerate body's response to infection, autoimmune disorders  | Researchers report that disrupting the light-dark cycle of mice increased their susceptibility to inflammatory disease, indicating that the production of a key immune cell is controlled by the body's circadian clock. | Read More » It's complicated: Dawn spacecraft spurs rewrite of asteroid Vesta's story  | Just when scientists thought they had a tidy theory for how the giant asteroid Vesta formed, a new paper from NASA's Dawn mission suggests the history is more complicated. If Vesta's formation had followed the script for the formation of rocky planets like our own, heat from the interior would have created distinct, separated layers of rock (generally, a core, mantle and crust). In that story, the mineral olivine should concentrate in the mantle. However, that's not what Dawn's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) instrument found. | Read More » Black holes don't make a big splash  | Throughout our universe, tucked inside galaxies far, far away, giant black holes are pairing up and merging. As the massive bodies dance around each other in close embraces, they send out gravitational waves that ripple space and time themselves, even as the waves pass right through our planet Earth. Scientists know these waves, predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, exist but have yet to directly detect one. In the race to catch the waves, one strategy -- called pulsar-timing arrays -- has reached a milestone not through detecting any gravitational waves, but in revealing new information about the frequency and strength of black hole mergers. | Read More » Living in the southern United States can increase children's risk of hay fever  | If you think your child's stuffy nose is due to an autumn cold, you might want to consider allergies, especially if you live in the southern region of the United States. Hay fever is more prevalent in children living in the southeastern and southern states. | Read More » Allergic to gummy bears? Be cautious getting the flu shot  | Do marshmallows make your tongue swell? Gummy bears make you itchy? If you've answered yes and are allergic to gelatin, you will want to take some precautions when getting the flu shot. | Read More » Peptide derived from cow's milk kills human stomach cancer cells in culture  | New research indicates that a peptide fragment derived from cow's milk, known as lactoferricin B25 (LFcinB25), exhibited potent anticancer capability against human stomach cancer cell cultures. The findings provide support for future use of LFcinB25 as a potential therapeutic agent for gastric cancer. | Read More » Super-Typhoon Haiyan lashes the Philippines  | Super-Typhoon Haiyan was lashing the central and southern Philippines on Nov. 7 bringing maximum sustained winds of a Category 5 hurricane. The U.S. National Hurricane Center website indicates that a Category 5 hurricane/typhoon would cause catastrophic damage: A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months. | Read More » NASA's GRAIL mission puts a new face on the moon  | Scientists using data from the lunar-orbiting twins of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission are gaining new insight into how the face of the moon received its rugged good looks. | Read More » New insight into how antidepressants work in the brain  | New research is giving scientists a never-before-seen view of how nerve cells communicate with each other. That new view can give scientists a better understanding of how antidepressants work in the human brain -- and could lead to the development of better antidepressants with few or no side effects. | Read More » 'Tiger stripes' underneath Antarctic glaciers slow the flow  | Researchers have discovered that most resistance to the movement of glaciers over the underlying bedrock comes from narrow, high-friction stripes that lie within large, extremely slippery areas underneath the glacier. These stripes are thought to govern the speed at which Antarctic glaciers are moving. | Read More » Robotic advances promise artificial legs that emulate healthy limbs  | Recent advances in robotics technology make it possible to create prosthetics that can duplicate the natural movement of human legs which promises to dramatically improve the mobility of lower-limb amputees. | Read More » Tracking young salmon's first moves in the ocean  | Basic ocean conditions such as current directions and water temperature play a huge role in determining the behavior of young migrating salmon as they move from rivers and hit ocean waters for the first time, according to new research. How the fish fare during their first few weeks in the ocean has a profound impact on species' ability to survive into adulthood. | Read More » High bat mortality from wind turbines  | A new estimate of bat deaths caused by wind turbines concludes that more than 600,000 of the mammals likely died this way in 2012 in the contiguous United States. The estimate used sophisticated statistical techniques to infer the probable number of bat deaths at wind energy facilities from the number of dead bats found at 21 locations, correcting for the installed power capacity of the facilities. The high mortality is worrisome because bat populations grow only very slowly. | Read More » Novel LEDs pave the way to cheaper displays  | Researchers have developed a novel type of organic light-emitting diode (OLED). These lights are suitable for the design of particularly energy-efficient cheap displays, which find applications in smart phones, tablet PCs or TVs. Applications in lighting such as in luminescent tiles are also conceivable. | Read More » Volunteers join scientists in finding out who gets rid of cow dung  | With more than a billion cows around the world, an immense amount of dung is produced each day. Most of these droppings will evidently disappear, as the world is still green rather than brown. Now a team of scientists have joined forces with local volunteers to find out who decomposes the most of it in Finland, Northern Europe. | Read More » An albacore tuna tagged off the coast of Gipuzkoa had managed to cover a record distance when recaptured in Venezuela  | 6,370 kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean. That is the vast distance, as the crow flies, which has been covered by an albacore tuna tagged and released into the sea off a Gipuzkoan locality, 20 km to the north of Donostia-San Sebastian in October 2006. The specimen has recently been caught by Venezuelan fishermen just off the coast of their country. This is a record distance. | Read More » Defending food crops: Whitefly experimentation to prevent contamination of agriculture  | Agricultural researchers have developed a new technique to aid in the development of defenses against diseases threatening food crops worldwide. | Read More » Edited RNA plus invasive DNA add individuality  | An enzyme that edits RNA may loosen the genome's control over invasive snippets of DNA that affect how genes are expressed, according to new research. In fruit flies, that newly understood mechanism appears to contribute to differences among individuals such as eye color and life span. | Read More » Winter wonderland? Mountain hares feel more comfortable away from winter tourists  | The mountain hare is rarely seen in the wild. It lives in the higher regions of the Alps and is famous for its beautiful white winter coat. Now, however, climate change and winter tourism are threatening the mountain hare's natural habitat. Researchers have confirmed for the first time that mountain hares suffer more stress in areas that are visited by large numbers of tourists than their conspecifics in quieter areas. Stressed hares expend more energy, and that can be life-threatening in the cold Alpine winter. | Read More » Origins of cattle farming in China uncovered  | Scientists have produced the first multi-disciplinary evidence for management of cattle populations in northern China, around the same time cattle domestication took place in the Near East, over 10,000 years ago. | Read More » Super-Typhoon Haiyan maintains strength crossing Philippines  | Super-Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the eastern Philippines as the strongest tropical cyclone of the year, and today, Nov. 8, is exiting the country and moving into the South China Sea. | Read More » Bisphenol A is affecting us at much lower doses than previously thought  | A group of scientists that study endocrine disruption worked together to update and refine a 2007 review of the low dose effects of BPA. The group not only added hundreds of more recent studies, but they also used an integrative biological approach to scrutinize low dose effects of BPA at multiple levels of biological organization: on cells, animals and human populations. | Read More » Unique change in protein structure guides production of RNA from DNA  | One of biology's most fundamental processes is transcription. It is just one step of many required to build proteins -- and without it life would not exist. However, many aspects of transcription remain shrouded in mystery. But now, scientists are shedding light on key aspects of transcription, and in so doing are coming even closer to understanding the importance of this process in the growth and development of cells -- as well as what happens when this process goes awry. | Read More » Century old question about 3-D structure of mitotic chromosomes answered  | Scientists have shown new evidence for a general principal of condensed, mitotic chromosome organization and structure that is highly adaptable and common to all cells. This new insight into how chromosomes are disassembled and reassembled during cell division will allow researchers to begin answering basic questions about epigenetic inheritance, as well as human disease such as chromosome disorders and cancer. | Read More » | |
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