ScienceDaily: Top News

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• NASA Mars rover finds mineral vein deposited by water
• Changes in bioelectric signals trigger formation of new organs: Tadpoles made to grow eyes in back, tail
• Safe way to repair sickle cell disease genes, study suggests
• Multiple sclerosis often starts in brain's outer layers
• Stress reduction and mindful eating curb weight gain among overweight women
• Novel drug wipes out deadliest malaria parasite through starvation
• Researchers suggest unconventional approach to control HIV epidemics
• Why does the same mutation kill one person but not another?
• SETI search resumes at Allen Telescope Array, targeting new planets
• Drug duo kills chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer cells, researchers find
• Why aren't we smarter already? Evolutionary limits on cognition
• A 'wild card' in your genes
• Sewage treatment plants may contribute to antibiotic resistance problem
• Gene expression in mouse neural retina sequenced
• One of the world's smallest electronic circuits created
• North America's biggest dinosaur revealed
• Solar power much cheaper to produce than most analysts realize, study finds
• First realistic 3D reconstruction of a brain circuit
• Traumatic injury sets off a 'genomic storm' in immune system pathways
• World's first super predator had remarkable vision
• Research could help people with declining sense of smell
• Drug reverses aging-associated changes in brain cells, animal study shows
• Maternal care influences brain chemistry into adulthood, animal study shows
• Best routes found to self-assembling 3-D shapes
• Vampire star reveals its secrets
• Geneticists help show bitter taste perception is not just about flavors
• New '3-D' transistors promising future chips, lighter laptops
• Computer simulations shed light on the physics of rainbows
• Insecticides an increasing problem in future for streams in Europe

NASA Mars rover finds mineral vein deposited by water Posted: 07 Dec 2011 03:20 PM PST NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found bright veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water. Analysis of the vein will help improve understanding of the history of wet environments on Mars.

Changes in bioelectric signals trigger formation of new organs: Tadpoles made to grow eyes in back, tail Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:57 PM PST For the first time, scientists have altered natural bioelectrical communication among cells to directly specify the type of new organ to be created at a particular location within a vertebrate organism. Using genetic manipulation of membrane voltage in Xenopus (frog) embryos, biologists were able to cause tadpoles to grow eyes outside of the head area. The researchers achieved most surprising results when they manipulated membrane voltage of cells in the tadpole's back and tail, well outside of where the eyes could normally form.

Safe way to repair sickle cell disease genes, study suggests Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:57 PM PST Researchers have developed a way to use patients' own cells to potentially cure sickle cell disease and many other disorders caused by mutations in a gene that helps produce blood hemoglobin.

Multiple sclerosis often starts in brain's outer layers Posted: 07 Dec 2011 02:56 PM PST Multiple sclerosis may progress from the outermost layers of the brain to its deep parts, and isn't always an "inside-out" process as previously thought, reported a new study. The traditional understanding is that the disease begins in the white matter that forms the bulk of the brain's inside, and extends to involve the brain's superficial layers, the cortex. Study findings support an opposite, outside-in process.

Stress reduction and mindful eating curb weight gain among overweight women Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:24 PM PST Mastering simple mindful eating and stress-reduction techniques helped prevent weight gain even without dieting in overweight women.

Novel drug wipes out deadliest malaria parasite through starvation Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:24 PM PST An antimalarial agent proved effective at clearing infections caused by the malaria parasite most lethal to humans -- by literally starving the parasites to death.

Researchers suggest unconventional approach to control HIV epidemics Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:24 PM PST A new weapon to prevent HIV infection, called pre-exposure prophylaxis, Because PrEP is based on the same drugs used to treat HIV-infected individuals, the big public health scare is that the dual use of these drugs will lead to skyrocketing levels of drug resistance. In fact, say researchers in a new study, that is not the case and indeed, the exact opposite is likely to happen.

Why does the same mutation kill one person but not another? Posted: 07 Dec 2011 12:23 PM PST The vast majority of genetic disorders (schizophrenia or breast cancer, for example) have different effects in different people. Moreover, an individual carrying certain mutations can develop a disease, whereas another one with the same mutations may not. This holds true even when comparing two identical twins who have identical genomes. But why does the same mutation have different effects in different individuals?

SETI search resumes at Allen Telescope Array, targeting new planets Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:48 AM PST The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is once again searching planetary systems for signals that would be evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Among its first targets are some of the exoplanet candidates recently discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope.

Drug duo kills chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer cells, researchers find Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST The use of two drugs never tried in combination before in ovarian cancer resulted in a 70 percent destruction of cancer cells already resistant to commonly used chemotherapy agents, say researchers.

Why aren't we smarter already? Evolutionary limits on cognition Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST We put a lot of energy into improving our memory, intelligence, and attention. There are even drugs that make us sharper, such as Ritalin and caffeine. But maybe smarter isn't really all that better. A new warns warns that there are limits on how smart humans can get, and any increases in thinking ability are likely to come with problems.

A 'wild card' in your genes Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST The human genome and the endowments of genes in other animals and plants are like a deck of poker cards containing a "wild card" that in a genetic sense introduces an element of variety and surprise that has a key role in life. That's what scientists are describing in a review of more than 100 studies on the topic.

Sewage treatment plants may contribute to antibiotic resistance problem Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST Water discharged into lakes and rivers from municipal sewage treatment plants may contain significant concentrations of the genes that make bacteria antibiotic-resistant. That's the conclusion of a new study on a sewage treatment plant on Lake Superior in the Duluth, Minn., harbor.

Gene expression in mouse neural retina sequenced Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:30 AM PST Researchers have gained new insights into neural disease genes by sequencing virtually all the gene expression in the mouse neural retina. The technology to obtain such a "transcriptome" has become accessible enough that full-scale sequencing is becoming the preferred method for asking genetics questions.

One of the world's smallest electronic circuits created Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST Scientists have engineered one of the world's smallest electronic circuits. It is formed by two wires separated by only about 150 atoms or 15 nanometers.

North America's biggest dinosaur revealed Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST New research has unveiled enormous bones from North America's biggest dinosaur. Researchers collected two gigantic vertebrae and a femur in New Mexico. The bones belong to the sauropod dinosaur Alamosaurus sanjuanensis: a long-necked plant eater related to Diplodocus. The Alamosaurus roamed what is now the southwestern United States and Mexico about 69 million years ago.

Solar power much cheaper to produce than most analysts realize, study finds Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST The public is being kept in the dark about the viability of solar photovoltaic energy, according to a new study.

First realistic 3D reconstruction of a brain circuit Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST Researchers report that, using a conceptually new approach and state-of-the-art research tools, they have created the first realistic three-dimensional diagram of a thalamocortical column in the rodent brain. This is the first step toward creating a complete computer model of the brain, and may ultimately lead to an understanding of how the brain computes and how it goes awry in disease.

Traumatic injury sets off a 'genomic storm' in immune system pathways Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST Serious traumatic injuries, including major burns, set off a "genomic storm" in human immune cells, altering around 80 percent of the cells' normal gene expression patterns.

World's first super predator had remarkable vision Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST Scientists working on fossils from Kangaroo Island, South Australia, have found eyes belonging to a giant 500 million-year-old marine predator that sat at the top of the earth's first food chain.

Research could help people with declining sense of smell Posted: 07 Dec 2011 10:26 AM PST Cells in the nose – smell sensors, primarily – are constantly replaced as old ones die off. Olfactory stem cells are the source for these new cells, but how do they determine when to form mature cells? Neuroscientists have now found a genetic trigger – a transcription factor – that acts as a brake on differentiation. Removing it makes stem cells change into mature olfactory cells at the expense of self-renewal.

Drug reverses aging-associated changes in brain cells, animal study shows Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:35 AM PST Drugs that affect the levels of an important brain protein involved in learning and memory reverse cellular changes in the brain seen during aging, according to an animal study.

Maternal care influences brain chemistry into adulthood, animal study shows Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:30 AM PST The effect of the messenger substance neuropeptide Y depends on the behavior of the mother during infancy.

Best routes found to self-assembling 3-D shapes Posted: 07 Dec 2011 08:30 AM PST Researchers have found optimal configurations for creating 3-D geometric shapes — like tiny, highly simplified geodesic domes that assemble by themselves. The team developed the algorithmic tools and tested selected configurations. The research may lead to advances from drug-delivery containers to 3-D sensors and electronic circuits.

Vampire star reveals its secrets Posted: 07 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST Astronomers have obtained the best images ever of a star that has lost most of its material to a vampire companion. By combining the light captured by telescopes at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory they created a virtual telescope 130 meters across with vision 50 times sharper than the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Surprisingly, the new results show that the transfer of mass from one star to the other in this double system is gentler than expected.

Geneticists help show bitter taste perception is not just about flavors Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; Some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait. Beyond showing the ancient origins of the gene, the researchers discovered something unexpected: Something other than taste must have driven its evolution.

New '3-D' transistors promising future chips, lighter laptops Posted: 06 Dec 2011 12:15 PM PST Researchers have created a new type of transistor made from a material that could replace silicon and have a 3-D structure instead of conventional flat computer chips.

Computer simulations shed light on the physics of rainbows Posted: 06 Dec 2011 12:15 PM PST Computer scientists who set out to simulate all rainbows found in nature, wound up answering questions about the physics of rainbows as well. The scientists recreated a wide variety of rainbows by using an improved method for simulating how light interacts with water drops of various shapes and sizes. Their new approach even yielded realistic simulations of difficult-to-replicate "twinned" rainbows that split their primary bow in two.

Insecticides an increasing problem in future for streams in Europe Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST Europe's streams will in future be more heavily polluted with insecticides than before. The risks for streams caused by the use of insecticides in agriculture will increase significantly in many regions of Europe, and particularly in Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and in Central Europe, according to scientists.

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