ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Discovery may lead to safer treatments for asthma, allergies and arthritis
• Researchers measure nanometer scale temperature
• Hellbender salamander study seeks answers for global amphibian decline
• Snipping key nerves may help life threatening heart rhythms, study suggests
• Middle-age blood pressure changes affect lifetime heart disease, stroke risk
• Novel use of drug saves children from deadly E. coli bacteria disease
• Research could improve laser-manufacturing technique
• A major step forward towards drought tolerance in crops
• Cockroach hookup signal could benefit endangered woodpecker
• Babies remember even as they seem to forget
• Quantum computing has applications in magnetic imaging
• One trait has huge impact on whether alcohol makes you aggressive
• Tipping plant growth
• Gene therapy for ears
• New kind of metal in the deep Earth: Iron oxide undergoes transition under intense pressures and temperatures
• Data-driven tools cast geographical patterns of rainfall extremes in new light
• Towards artificial photosynthesis for solar hydrogen generation: Algal protein gives boost to electrochemical water splitting
• Living 'neon signs' composed of millions of glowing bacteria
• Chemicals and biofuel from wood biomass
• What are the prospects for sustaining high-quality groundwater?
• Plant-eating dinosaur discovered in Antarctica
• Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies are bright star clusters
• Tissue structure delays cancer development
• First aid after tick bites
• Sensational bird discovery in China
• Immunological defense mechanism leaves malaria patients vulnerable to deadly infection
• Scientists uncover evidence on how drug-resistant tuberculosis cells form

Discovery may lead to safer treatments for asthma, allergies and arthritis Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:39 PM PST Scientists have discovered a missing link between the body's biological clock and sugar metabolism system, a finding that may help avoid the serious side effects of drugs used for treating asthma, allergies and arthritis.

Researchers measure nanometer scale temperature Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:39 PM PST Researchers have developed a new kind of electro-thermal nanoprobe that can independently control voltage and temperature at a nanometer-scale point contact. It can also measure the temperature-dependent voltage at a nanometer-scale point contact.

Hellbender salamander study seeks answers for global amphibian decline Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:39 PM PST A new study on the endangered Ozark Hellbender giant salamander is the first to detail its skin microbes, the bacteria and fungi that defend against pathogens.

Snipping key nerves may help life threatening heart rhythms, study suggests Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:38 PM PST According to a new study, cutting key nerves to the heart that control the adrenaline-driven "flight or fight" stress response may help alleviate life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. This is one of the first studies to assess the impact of performing this type of surgery on both sides of the heart to control arrhythmias, called a bilateral cardiac sympathetic denervation.

Middle-age blood pressure changes affect lifetime heart disease, stroke risk Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:38 PM PST Changes in blood pressure during middle age can affect lifetime risk for heart disease and stroke. People who maintain or reduce their blood pressure to normal levels during middle age have the lowest lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, while those with an increase in blood pressure have the highest risk. Age and duration of blood pressure changes can help determine individualized lifetime risk for -- and prevention of -- cardiovascular disease.

Novel use of drug saves children from deadly E. coli bacteria disease Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:35 PM PST A physician saved the life of a child and, by doing so, became the first to find a new use for a drug in the fight against deadly E. coli bacteria. In fact, after a little girl was admitted to hospital to treat severe complications, her physician, running out of options, thought about using the drug eculizumab, which is usually prescribed for another disorder with similar symptoms. Her intuition paid off and the little girl survived. The dramatic improvement experienced by the young patient and two others is explained in a new article.

Research could improve laser-manufacturing technique Posted: 19 Dec 2011 12:27 PM PST Engineers have discovered details about the behavior of ultrafast laser pulses that may lead to new applications in manufacturing, diagnostics and other research.

A major step forward towards drought tolerance in crops Posted: 19 Dec 2011 12:25 PM PST When a plant encounters drought, it does its best to cope with this stress by activating a set of protein molecules called receptors. Plant cell biologists have discovered how to rewire this cellular machinery to heighten the plants' stress response -- a finding that can be used to engineer crops to give them a better shot at surviving and displaying increased yield under drought conditions.

Cockroach hookup signal could benefit endangered woodpecker Posted: 19 Dec 2011 12:25 PM PST A discovery of the unique chemical composition of a cockroach signal -- a "Let's hook up" sex pheromone emitted by certain female wood cockroaches to entice potential mates -- could have far-ranging benefits, including improved conservation of an endangered woodpecker.

Babies remember even as they seem to forget Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:52 AM PST Fifteen years ago, textbooks on human development stated that babies of six months of age or younger had no sense of "object permanence" -- the psychological term that describes an infant's belief that an object still exists even when it is out of sight. That meant that if mom or dad wasn't in the same room with junior, junior didn't have the sense that his parents were still in the world. These days, psychologists know that isn't true: for young babies, out of sight doesn't automatically mean out of mind. But how much do babies remember about the world around them, and what details do their brains need to absorb in order to help them keep track of those things? Babies may not remember what they saw, but they remember that they saw something.

Quantum computing has applications in magnetic imaging Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:52 AM PST Quantum computing -- considered the powerhouse of computational tasks -- may have applications in areas outside of pure electronics, according to experts.

One trait has huge impact on whether alcohol makes you aggressive Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:52 AM PST Drinking enough alcohol to become intoxicated increases aggression significantly in people who have one particular personality trait, according to new research. But people without that trait don't get any more aggressive when drunk than they would when they're sober. That trait is the ability to consider the future consequences of current actions.

Tipping plant growth Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:50 AM PST The growth of multicellular organisms is fueled not only by cell division but also by cell growth. Normally cells enlarge all over the surface. However, in many organisms, there are also specialized cells that grow only at their tip. How the necessary materials are delivered to the growing tip, is largely unknown. A new study now suggests that tip growth is not mediated by targeted trafficking to the growing site of the cell surface but rather depends on a specific recycling pathway.

Gene therapy for ears Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:50 AM PST Gene therapy may someday in the future replace the use of implants in deaf people. The carrier for this gene medicine may be derived from shrimp shells.

New kind of metal in the deep Earth: Iron oxide undergoes transition under intense pressures and temperatures Posted: 19 Dec 2011 08:22 AM PST The intense pressures and temperatures in Earth's deep interior squeeze atoms and electrons so close they interact differently. New experiments and supercomputer computations have revealed that iron oxide undergoes a new kind of transition under deep Earth conditions. It is a component of the second most abundant mineral at Earth's lower mantle, ferropericlase. The finding could alter our understanding of deep Earth dynamics and the behavior of the protective magnetic field, which shields our planet.

Data-driven tools cast geographical patterns of rainfall extremes in new light Posted: 19 Dec 2011 08:22 AM PST Using statistical analysis methods to examine rainfall extremes in India, a team of researchers has made a discovery that resolves an ongoing debate and offers new insights.

Towards artificial photosynthesis for solar hydrogen generation: Algal protein gives boost to electrochemical water splitting Posted: 19 Dec 2011 08:20 AM PST Water splitting in photo-electrochemical cells to yield hydrogen is a promising way to sustainable fuels. Scientists have now made major progress in developing highly efficient electrodes – made of an algal protein, thus mimicking a central step in natural photosynthesis.

Living 'neon signs' composed of millions of glowing bacteria Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:22 AM PST In an example of life imitating art, biologists and bioengineers have created a living neon sign composed of millions of bacterial cells that periodically fluoresce in unison like blinking light bulbs.

Chemicals and biofuel from wood biomass Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:22 AM PST A new method makes it possible to use microbes to produce butanol suitable for biofuel and other industrial chemicals from wood biomass. Butanol is particularly suited as a transport fuel because it is not water soluble and has higher energy content than ethanol.

What are the prospects for sustaining high-quality groundwater? Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:20 AM PST New research has looked at nitrate transport from agricultural land to water in the Thames basin in the UK.

Plant-eating dinosaur discovered in Antarctica Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:20 AM PST For the first time, the presence of large bodied herbivorous dinosaurs in Antarctica has been recorded. Until now, remains of sauropoda had been recovered from all continental landmasses, except Antarctica. The identification of the remains of the sauropod dinosaur suggests that advanced titanosaurs achieved a global distribution at least by the Late Cretaceous.

Ultra-compact dwarf galaxies are bright star clusters Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:20 AM PST A new statistical study sheds light on the so-called 'ultra-compact dwarf galaxies' (UCDs). A team of astronomers has investigated how many of these UCDs exist in nearby galaxy clusters and groups. They show that the properties of UCDs match those of bright star clusters.

Tissue structure delays cancer development Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:18 AM PST Cancer growth normally follows a lengthy period of development. Over the course of time, genetic mutations often accumulate in cells, leading first to pre-cancerous conditions and ultimately to tumor growth. Using a mathematical model, scientists have now shown that spatial tissue structure, such as that found in the colon, slows down the accumulation of genetic mutations, thereby delaying the onset of cancer.

First aid after tick bites Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:18 AM PST They come out in the spring, and each year they spread further – the ticks. Thirty percent of them transmit borrelia pathogens, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis that can damage joints and organs. The disease often goes undetected. In the future, a new type of gel is intended to prevent an infection – if applied after a tick bite.

Sensational bird discovery in China Posted: 19 Dec 2011 07:18 AM PST In June 2011, a team of Chinese and Swedish researchers rediscovered the breeding area for the poorly known Blackthroat Luscinia obscura, in the Qinling mountains, Shaanxi province, north central China.

Immunological defense mechanism leaves malaria patients vulnerable to deadly infection Posted: 18 Dec 2011 12:02 PM PST The link between malaria and Salmonella infections has been explained for the first time, opening the way to more effective treatments.

Scientists uncover evidence on how drug-resistant tuberculosis cells form Posted: 15 Dec 2011 11:16 AM PST A new study provides a novel explanation as to why some tuberculosis cells are inherently more difficult to treat with antibiotics.

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