ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• NASA's Swift narrows down origin of important supernova class
• Serious risks of vascular disease with two-arm blood pressure difference
• Not just for the birds: Human-made noise has ripple effects on plants, too
• Japan shares space station SMILES via atmospheric data distribution
• Cassini sees Saturn stressing out Enceladus
• Nuclear fusion simulation shows high-gain energy output
• What was B.F. Skinner really like? A new study parses his traits
• Protein critical for tissue regeneration discovered
• Low-calorie diet may be harmful for bowel disease patients
• New method for cleaning up nuclear waste
• Pain relievers could be spiking your blood pressure
• Test to improve peanut allergy diagnosis
• Oil from Deepwater Horizon disaster entered food chain in the Gulf of Mexico
• Explosive stars with good table manners
• Pesticide additives cause drifting droplets, but can be controlled
• Proteins shine a brighter light on cellular processes: Cyan fluorescent protein will make cellular imaging more sensitive
• Engineers enlist weather model to optimize offshore wind plan
• Nanotherapy: Treating deadly brain tumors by delivering big radiation with tiny tools
• A basic -- and slightly acidic -- solution for hydrogen storage
• Better organic electronics: Researchers show the way forward for improving organic and molecular electronic devices
• Super-Earth unlikely able to transfer life to other planets
• Bisphenol A (BPA) could affect reproductive capabilities, cause infection of the uterus
• Detection of cosmic effect may bring universe's formation into sharper focus
• Feeding your baby on demand 'may contribute to higher IQ'
• Watching Harry Potter films enhances creativity in children
• The cause and effect of migraines
• Greenhouse gas can find a home underground
• Neurotoxin resistance in snakes around the world

NASA's Swift narrows down origin of important supernova class Posted: 20 Mar 2012 04:58 PM PDT Studies using X-ray and ultraviolet observations from NASA's Swift satellite provide new insights into the elusive origins of an important class of exploding star called Type Ia supernovae.

Serious risks of vascular disease with two-arm blood pressure difference Posted: 20 Mar 2012 04:57 PM PDT The findings of the study support that there is a link between a difference in blood pressure between arms and vascular disease and mortality -- and further emphasizes the need for two-arm blood pressure checks to become the norm.

Not just for the birds: Human-made noise has ripple effects on plants, too Posted: 20 Mar 2012 04:57 PM PDT A growing body of research shows that animals change their behavior in response to human-made noise. But human clamor doesn't just affect animals. Because many animals also pollinate plants or eat or disperse their seeds, human noise can have ripple effects on plants too, finds a new study. In cases where noise has ripple effects on long-lived plants like trees, the consequences could last long after the source of the noise goes away, researchers say.

Japan shares space station SMILES via atmospheric data distribution Posted: 20 Mar 2012 01:38 PM PDT Did you panic when you heard in recent news that two massive solar flares from the Sun were hitting Earth's atmosphere? The coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, typically produced by solar flares might pose a danger, if not for Earth's protective atmosphere and magnetosphere. Using International Space Station research and technology, scientists continue to learn more about the atmosphere, adding important new data to the collective understanding of this important defensive veil.

Cassini sees Saturn stressing out Enceladus Posted: 20 Mar 2012 01:35 PM PDT Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have, for the first time, enabled scientists to correlate the spraying of jets of water vapor from fissures on Saturn's moon Enceladus with the way Saturn's gravity stretches and stresses the fissures.

Nuclear fusion simulation shows high-gain energy output Posted: 20 Mar 2012 01:15 PM PDT A computer simulation that shows a release of high-yield fusion energy much greater than previously achieved at Sandia's Z accelerator is being prepared for testing in 2013.

What was B.F. Skinner really like? A new study parses his traits Posted: 20 Mar 2012 01:14 PM PDT Besides Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner was the most famous and perhaps the most influential psychologist of the 20th century. But who was Skinner? Psychologists have now use source materials and standard measures of personality traits to describe him and compare him with other eminent scientists. Their study reveals a complex man -- but nothing like the monster his detractors called him.

Protein critical for tissue regeneration discovered Posted: 20 Mar 2012 01:13 PM PDT Researchers have shown that a protein found in humans stops regeneration when disabled in planaria, providing a potential strategy for preventing the growth of cancer cells.

Low-calorie diet may be harmful for bowel disease patients Posted: 20 Mar 2012 12:20 PM PDT In a surprising result, researchers looking at the effects of diet on bowel disease found that mice on a calorie-restricted diet were more likely to die after being infected with an inflammation-causing bacterial pathogen in the colon.

New method for cleaning up nuclear waste Posted: 20 Mar 2012 12:19 PM PDT A new crystalline compound can be tailored to safely absorb radioactive ions from nuclear waste streams, experts say.

Pain relievers could be spiking your blood pressure Posted: 20 Mar 2012 11:21 AM PDT Both doctors and patients should be aware that many common over-the-counter and prescription medications can be the underlying cause of hypertension, one researcher says. He warns that while many of the chemicals in these drugs can raise blood pressure, both patients and doctors remain dangerously uninformed.

Test to improve peanut allergy diagnosis Posted: 20 Mar 2012 11:21 AM PDT Researchers have identified a new way to accurately test for peanut allergy.

Oil from Deepwater Horizon disaster entered food chain in the Gulf of Mexico Posted: 20 Mar 2012 11:21 AM PDT Since the explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April of 2010, scientists have been working to understand the impact the disaster has had on the environment. For months, crude oil gushed into the water before the well was capped. A new study confirms that oil from the Macondo well made it into the ocean's food chain through the tiniest of organisms, zooplankton.

Explosive stars with good table manners Posted: 20 Mar 2012 11:20 AM PDT In two comprehensive studies of SN 2011fe -- the closest Type Ia supernova in the past two decades -- there is new evidence that indicates that the white dwarf progenitor was a particularly picky eater, leading scientists to conclude that the companion star was not likely to be a sun-like star or an evolved giant.

Pesticide additives cause drifting droplets, but can be controlled Posted: 20 Mar 2012 11:19 AM PDT Chemical additives that help agricultural pesticides adhere to their targets during spraying can lead to formation of smaller "satellite" droplets that cause those pesticides to drift into unwanted areas, researchers have found.

Proteins shine a brighter light on cellular processes: Cyan fluorescent protein will make cellular imaging more sensitive Posted: 20 Mar 2012 11:19 AM PDT Scientists have designed a molecule which, in living cells, emits turquoise light three times brighter than possible until recently. This improves the sensitivity of cellular imaging, a technique where biological processes inside a living organism are imaged at high resolution.

Engineers enlist weather model to optimize offshore wind plan Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:57 AM PDT Using a sophisticated weather model, environmental engineers have defined optimal placement of a grid of four wind farms off the US East Coast. The model successfully balances production at times of peak demand and significantly reduces costly spikes and zero-power events.

Nanotherapy: Treating deadly brain tumors by delivering big radiation with tiny tools Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:57 AM PDT For the past 40 years, radiation has been used to treat deadly brain tumors. But beams of radiation still must pass through healthy brain tissue to reach the tumor, and large amounts cause serious side effects. Medical researchers can now deliver nanoparticle radiation directly to the tumor and keep it there, dosing the tumor itself with much higher levels of radiation but sparing a much greater area of brain tissue.

A basic -- and slightly acidic -- solution for hydrogen storage Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:57 AM PDT Sometimes, solutions for hard problems can turn out to be pretty basic. That's especially true researchers where the solution for a hard problem they were working on turned out to be pretty basic ... and also a bit acidic. The hard problem they were working on was how to store hydrogen fuel.

Better organic electronics: Researchers show the way forward for improving organic and molecular electronic devices Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:56 AM PDT Scientists have provided the first experimental determination of the pathways by which electrical charge is transported from molecule-to-molecule in an organic thin film. These results also show how such organic films can be chemically modified to improve conductance for superior organic electronics.

Super-Earth unlikely able to transfer life to other planets Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:56 AM PDT While scientists believe conditions suitable for life might exist on the so-called "super-Earth" in the Gliese 581 system, it's unlikely to be transferred to other planets within that solar system.

Bisphenol A (BPA) could affect reproductive capabilities, cause infection of the uterus Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:56 AM PDT Researchers have found evidence that, in addition to affecting the heart, brain and nervous system, bisphenol A (BPA), could affect a mammal's ability to reproduce by altering the structure of the uterus in ways that can progress to a potentially fatal infection.

Detection of cosmic effect may bring universe's formation into sharper focus Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:56 AM PDT The first observation of a cosmic effect theorized 40 years ago could provide astronomers with a more precise tool for understanding the forces behind the universe's formation and growth, including the enigmatic phenomena of dark energy and dark matter.

Feeding your baby on demand 'may contribute to higher IQ' Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:51 AM PDT A new study suggests that babies who are breast-fed or bottle-fed to a schedule do not perform academically as well at school as their demand-fed peers. The finding is based on the results of IQ tests and school-based SATs tests carried out between the ages of five and 14, which show that demand-feeding was associated with higher IQ scores. The IQ scores of eight-year-old children who had been demand-fed as babies were between four and five points higher than the scores of schedule-fed children, says the new study.

Watching Harry Potter films enhances creativity in children Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:51 AM PDT Parents who feel guilty about letting their young children watch too many fantasy movies on TV can relax. Researchers have discovered that youngsters who watch films like Harry Potter improve their imagination and creativity. This is believed to be the first attempt to study whether there any educational benefits in exposing children to magical content like witches and wizards, Santa Claus, the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy.

The cause and effect of migraines Posted: 20 Mar 2012 08:45 AM PDT A migraine is the most common type of headache that propels patients to seek care from their doctors. Roughly 30 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches, with women affected almost three times more often than men, according to statistics.

Greenhouse gas can find a home underground Posted: 19 Mar 2012 01:38 PM PDT A new study shows that there is enough capacity in deep saline aquifers in the United States to store at least a century's worth of carbon dioxide emissions from the nation's coal-fired powerplants. Though questions remain about the economics of systems to capture and store such gases, this study addresses a major issue that has overshadowed such proposals.

Neurotoxin resistance in snakes around the world Posted: 19 Mar 2012 12:11 PM PDT Biologists have found that snakes from different regions of the world have evolved a similar, remarkable resistance to a deadly neurotoxin.

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