ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Paralysis promises smart silk technology
• Groundbreaking pain research
• Worm research: Right combination of sugars regulates brain development
• 'Cascade of events' caused sudden explosion of animal life
• Geologists simulate deep earthquakes in lab
• Circadian clock is key to firing up cell's furnace
• Scientists reveal how beta-amyloid may cause Alzheimer's
• Seismologists puzzle over largest deep earthquake ever recorded
• Clues to growth of colossus in Coma cluster of galaxies
• Disarming HIV with a pop
• Could dog food additive prevent disabling chemo side effect?
• New insights into the ribosome; important implications for disease
• Strategy for helping 'tired' cells affected by mitochondrial disease
• Protein 'motif' crucial to telomerase activity
• New protein knowledge offers hope for better cancer treatment
• How lethal bird flu viruses evolved
• Oldest and youngest stag-moose in North America
• Endocrine-disrupting chemicals pose global health threat, experts say
• Turtle eye muscle adapts to deal with obstructed vision
• Researchers tease apart workings of a common gene
• World Cup football (soccer) is a risk factor for domestic violence
• Islet cell transplant procedure offers improved outcomes for type 1 diabetes
• A brake in the head: New insights into the working of the brain
• Immune cells open window to breast cancer risk
• Promising way to boost body's immune surveillance via p53 in fight against cancer
• In water as in love, likes can attract
• Got calcium? Mineral is key to restoring acid rain-damaged forests
• Earthworms can survive and recover after three-week drought stress
• After the storms, a different opinion on climate change
• Bracing is effective in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis, study suggests
• Gulf of Finland's coastal waters same as last year: Oxygen on deep-sea floors deteriorating
• Giant prehistoric elephant slaughtered by early humans
• Are both the economic development and spatial impacts of High Speed Rail worth it?
• Researchers develop a method that automatically delimits areas of brain in medical images
• The piano as a typewriter
• Glass or plastic? Container's material properties affect the viscosity of water at the nanoscale
• Blood biomarker could mark severe cognitive decline, quicker progression among Parkinson’s patients
• Can vitamin B supplements help stave off stroke?

Paralysis promises smart silk technology Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:46 PM PDT Researchers have harnessed the natural defense mechanism of silkworms, which causes paralysis, in what is a major step towards the large-scale production of silks with tailor-made properties.

Groundbreaking pain research Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:22 AM PDT The bodies of mammals, including humans, respond to injury by releasing endogenous opioids -- compounds that mitigate acute pain. A team of researchers has uncovered groundbreaking new information about how the body responds to traumatic injury with the development of a surprisingly long-lasting opioid mechanism of natural chronic pain control. Remarkably, the body develops both physical and physiological dependence on this opioid system, just as it does to opiate narcotic drugs.

Worm research: Right combination of sugars regulates brain development Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:22 AM PDT If the development of our nervous system is disturbed, we risk developing serious neurological diseases, impairing our sensory systems, movement control or cognitive functions. This is true for all organisms with a well-developed nervous system, from human to worm. New research reveals how a tiny molecule called mir-79 regulates neural development in roundworms.

'Cascade of events' caused sudden explosion of animal life Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:22 AM PDT The explosion of animal life on Earth around 520 million years ago was the result of a combination of interlinked factors rather than a single underlying cause, according to a new study.

Geologists simulate deep earthquakes in lab Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:22 AM PDT Geologists have shown how deep earthquakes can be simulated in the laboratory. The experiments were performed using a new type of apparatus that uses synchrotron X-rays.

Circadian clock is key to firing up cell's furnace Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:21 AM PDT Each of our cells has an energy furnace, and it is called a mitochondrion. A research team now has identified a new mode of timekeeping that involves priming the cell's furnace to properly use stored fuel when we are not eating. The interdisciplinary team has identified the "match" and "flint" responsible for lighting this tiny furnace. And the match is only available when the circadian clock says so, underscoring the importance of the biological timing system to metabolism.

Scientists reveal how beta-amyloid may cause Alzheimer's Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:21 AM PDT Scientists have shown how a protein fragment known as beta-amyloid, strongly implicated in Alzheimer's disease, begins destroying synapses before it clumps into plaques that lead to nerve cell death.

Seismologists puzzle over largest deep earthquake ever recorded Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:21 AM PDT A magnitude 8.3 earthquake that struck deep beneath the Sea of Okhotsk on May 24, 2013, has left seismologists struggling to explain how it happened. At a depth of about 609 kilometers, the intense pressure on the fault should inhibit the kind of rupture that took place.

Clues to growth of colossus in Coma cluster of galaxies Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:21 AM PDT Astronomers have discovered enormous arms of hot gas in the Coma cluster of galaxies. These features, which span at least half a million light years, provide insight into how the Coma cluster has grown through mergers of smaller groups and clusters of galaxies to become one of the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity.

Disarming HIV with a pop Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:06 AM PDT Pinning down an effective way to combat the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus, the viral precursor to AIDS, has long been challenge task for scientists and physicians, because the virus is an elusive one that mutates frequently and, as a result, quickly becomes immune to medication. A team of researchers is trying to get one step ahead of the virus with a microbicide they've created that can trick HIV into "popping" itself into oblivion.

Could dog food additive prevent disabling chemo side effect? Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:06 AM PDT Working with cells in test tubes and in mice, researchers have discovered that a chemical commonly used as a dog food preservative may prevent the kind of painful nerve damage found in the hands and feet of four out of five cancer patients taking the chemotherapy drug Taxol.

New insights into the ribosome; important implications for disease Posted: 19 Sep 2013 09:23 AM PDT In a first-of-its-kind study that broadly examines the composition of the riboproteome, a scientific team reveals previously unappreciated components of the ribosome, uncovering a large and dynamic structure that, among other things, can be altered in cancer.

Strategy for helping 'tired' cells affected by mitochondrial disease Posted: 19 Sep 2013 09:23 AM PDT New research findings have the potential to change the lives of patients with mitochondrial diseases, a group of pathologies characterized by malfunction of mitochondria, the organelles that supply the energy vital for cell function.

Protein 'motif' crucial to telomerase activity Posted: 19 Sep 2013 09:23 AM PDT In an effort to understand and control telomerase activity, researchers have discovered a protein "motif," named TFLY, which is crucial to the function of telomerase. Altering this motif disrupts telomerase function, they found, a fact that they believe will help them in their efforts to identify inhibitors of telomerase with potential cancer therapeutic properties.

New protein knowledge offers hope for better cancer treatment Posted: 19 Sep 2013 09:22 AM PDT Researchers have developed a sophisticated method for identifying modified proteins that affect a cell's ability to repair DNA damage. This offers hope for improving treatment options for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer using the latest type of treatments involving the so-called PARP inhibitors.

How lethal bird flu viruses evolved Posted: 19 Sep 2013 09:22 AM PDT An in-depth evolutionary analysis of whole-genome sequences of different types of avian flu viruses has revealed that new H7N9 viruses emerged from distinct H9N2 viruses in a two-step process, first occurring in wild birds and then continuing in domestic birds.

Oldest and youngest stag-moose in North America Posted: 19 Sep 2013 09:19 AM PDT While most bones discovered in North America turn out to be from deer, bison, horses or cows, some discoveries turn out to be highly unusual, as was the case with an antler from an extinct Ice Age animal known as a stag-moose or elk-moose.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals pose global health threat, experts say Posted: 19 Sep 2013 09:19 AM PDT Endocrine experts agreed that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) pose a threat to human health and to the ecosystems of Earth. The editorial comes in response to a commentary (Dietrich et al. Chem Biol Interact) signed by a number of editors of toxicology journals that dismisses the state-of-the-science on EDCs and argues for the status quo in the regulation of these hazardous substances.

Turtle eye muscle adapts to deal with obstructed vision Posted: 19 Sep 2013 09:18 AM PDT While researchers expected that the pond turtle's eyes would operate like other animals with eyes on the side of their heads, this particular species of turtle appears to have characteristics of both front and side-eyed animals.

Researchers tease apart workings of a common gene Posted: 19 Sep 2013 08:27 AM PDT Researchers have discovered why a tiny alteration in a brain gene, found in 20 percent of the population, contributes to the risk for anxiety, depression and memory loss.

World Cup football (soccer) is a risk factor for domestic violence Posted: 19 Sep 2013 08:27 AM PDT Domestic abuse increases during England World Cup football matches – especially if the team lose.

Islet cell transplant procedure offers improved outcomes for type 1 diabetes Posted: 19 Sep 2013 07:58 AM PDT The latest approach to islet transplantation has produced substantially improved results for patients with type 1 diabetes, and may offer a more durable alternative to a whole pancreas transplant. Participants in the study received islet cells isolated from the pancreas of organ donors to help their bodies produce insulin. The new approach, which allowed the harvested cells a short period of rest prior to transplant, resulted in increased levels of insulin production to the degree that patients were able to discontinue daily insulin injections.

A brake in the head: New insights into the working of the brain Posted: 19 Sep 2013 07:58 AM PDT Scientists have managed to acquire new insights into the functioning of a region in the brain that normally is involved in spatial orientation, but is damaged by the Alzheimer's disease. They investigated how nerve signals are suppressed inside the so-called entorhinal cortex. According to the researchers, this neuronal inhibition leads nerve cells to synchronize their activity.

Immune cells open window to breast cancer risk Posted: 19 Sep 2013 07:54 AM PDT Researchers have made a major discovery that highlights the important role played by immune cells in the risk of developing breast cancer.

Promising way to boost body's immune surveillance via p53 in fight against cancer Posted: 19 Sep 2013 06:37 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a new mechanism involving p53, the famous tumor suppressor, to fight against aggressive cancers. This strategy works by sabotaging the ability of the cancer cells to hide from the immune system. This research opens a new avenue to improve targeted cancer therapy by harnessing the body's own immune system to control and eliminate cancer cells.

In water as in love, likes can attract Posted: 19 Sep 2013 06:37 AM PDT Researchers have shown that, contrary to the scientific axiom that only opposite charges attract, when hydrated in water, positively charged ions can pair up with one another.

Got calcium? Mineral is key to restoring acid rain-damaged forests Posted: 19 Sep 2013 06:37 AM PDT Scientists have reversed the decline of a New Hampshire watershed by gradually adding calcium back into the soil over 15 years. The experimental forest had suffered depletion of key soil nutrients due to acid rain. The study not only illustrates the impact of acid rain, but a potential treatment to help reverse the damage.

Earthworms can survive and recover after three-week drought stress Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:58 AM PDT A study suggests that earthworms could be established in drought-prone dryland soils to improve soil quality.

After the storms, a different opinion on climate change Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:58 AM PDT Extreme weather may lead people to think more seriously about climate change, according to new research. In the wake of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, New Jersey residents were more likely to show support for a politician running on a "green" platform, and expressed a greater belief that climate change is caused by human activity.

Bracing is effective in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis, study suggests Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:58 AM PDT A multi-center study examining whether wearing back braces would prevent the need for spinal correction surgery in children with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis was cut short when early results were overwhelmingly in favor of bracing.

Gulf of Finland's coastal waters same as last year: Oxygen on deep-sea floors deteriorating Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:57 AM PDT The oxygen situation on deep-sea floors, in open seas in the Gulf of Finland, has deteriorated compared to last year. Results obtained during an expedition by the research vessel Aranda in early summer shows an increase in salinity stratification in the Gulf of Finland, which has weakened the oxygen situation. At these sites, zoobenthic communities had also declined compared to last year. During the expedition in August, water layers close to the sea floor were found to be anoxic at these same sites. Hydrogen sulphide was found at sites on the Estonian side of the Gulf.

Giant prehistoric elephant slaughtered by early humans Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:57 AM PDT Archaeologists have found evidence that early humans, who lived thousands of years before Neanderthals, were able to work together in groups to hunt and slaughter animals as large as the prehistoric elephant.

Are both the economic development and spatial impacts of High Speed Rail worth it? Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:56 AM PDT With the High Speed Rail project being debated widely in both the U.K. parliament and the media, it is important to review and understand the economic impacts of HSR. Scientists now make the link between past studies on HSR economic impacts and future predictions, while evaluating both the positive and negative effects of HSR on Planning and Urban form transformations.

Researchers develop a method that automatically delimits areas of brain in medical images Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:54 AM PDT Researchers have developed a method that improves the delimitation of tumors in medical images.

The piano as a typewriter Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:54 AM PDT It is quite simple for pianists like the Chinese virtuoso Lang Lang: Whether it is music by Mozart, Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky, they can play the piano quickly.  Researchers transferred this skill in piano playing to text entry by developing a computational approach that assigns words and letters to notes and chords. In this way experienced as well as hobby-pianists can enter text as fast professional typists.

Glass or plastic? Container's material properties affect the viscosity of water at the nanoscale Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:52 AM PDT Water pours into a cup at about the same rate regardless of whether the water bottle is made of glass or plastic. But at nanometer-size scales for water and potentially other fluids, whether the container is made of glass or plastic does make a significant difference.

Blood biomarker could mark severe cognitive decline, quicker progression among Parkinson’s patients Posted: 18 Sep 2013 03:01 PM PDT A genetic mutation, known as GBA, that leads to early onset of Parkinson's disease and severe cognitive impairment (in about 4 to 7 percent of all patients with the disease) also alters how specific lipids, ceramides and glucosylceramides are metabolized. Researchers have found that Parkinson's patients who do not carry the genetic mutation also have higher levels of these lipids in the blood, and high blood levels were also more likely to have cognitive impairment and dementia.

Can vitamin B supplements help stave off stroke? Posted: 18 Sep 2013 02:55 PM PDT New evidence suggests that taking vitamin B supplements may help reduce the risk of stroke.

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