ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Suspect gene corrupts neural connections: Diseases of synapses' demo'd in a dish
• How children's brains memorize math facts
• DNA methylation involved in Alzheimer's disease
• A shift in the code: New method reveals hidden genetic landscape
• Evolutionary misfit: Misunderstood worm-like fossil finds its place in the Tree of Life
• Stuck in neutral: Brain defect traps schizophrenics in twilight zone
• Fascinating rhythm: Light pulses illuminate a rare black hole
• 'Cavity protection effect' helps to conserve quantum information
• Microchip reveals how tumor cells transition to invasion
• New mechanism of erosion: Gorges are eradicated by downstream sweep erosion
• FDA-approved drug restores hair in patients with alopecia areata
• 8,000-year-old mutation key to human life at high altitudes: Study identifies genetic basis for Tibetan adaptation
• Hubble stirs up galactic soup
• Curiosity Mars rover prepares for fourth rock drilling
• NASA's Chandra Observatory searches for trigger of nearby supernova

Suspect gene corrupts neural connections: Diseases of synapses' demo'd in a dish Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:01 PM PDT Researchers have demonstrated in patients' cells how a rare mutation in a suspect gene corrupts the turning on and off of dozens of other genes underlying synapses -- the connections between neurons. In a 'disease-in-a-dish' study, induced neurons of patients from families affected by a mutation associated with schizophrenia and other major mental illness expressed 80 percent lower-than-normal levels of a protein made by a suspect gene.

How children's brains memorize math facts Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:01 PM PDT As children learn basic arithmetic, they gradually switch from solving problems by counting on their fingers to pulling facts from memory. The shift comes more easily for some kids than for others, but no one knows why. Now, new brain-imaging research gives the first evidence drawn from a longitudinal study to explain how the brain reorganizes itself as children learn math facts.

DNA methylation involved in Alzheimer's disease Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:01 PM PDT A new study reveals how early changes in brain DNA methylation are involved in Alzheimer's disease. The research is the first large-scale study employing epigenome-wide association (EWAS) studies -- which look at chromosomal make-up and changes -- in relation to the brain and Alzheimer's disease.

A shift in the code: New method reveals hidden genetic landscape Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:01 PM PDT With three billion letters in the human genome, it seems hard to believe that adding or removing a base could have much of an effect on our health. Yet, such insertions and deletions can dramatically alter biological function. It is has been difficult to detect these mutations. Scientists have devised a new way to analyze genome sequences that pinpoints insertions and deletions in people with diseases such as autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, and Tourette syndrome.

Evolutionary misfit: Misunderstood worm-like fossil finds its place in the Tree of Life Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:00 PM PDT One of the most bizarre-looking fossils ever found -- a worm-like creature with legs, spikes and a head difficult to distinguish from its tail -- has found its place in the evolutionary tree of life, definitively linking it with a group of modern animals for the first time.

Stuck in neutral: Brain defect traps schizophrenics in twilight zone Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:00 PM PDT People with schizophrenia struggle to turn goals into actions because brain structures governing desire and emotion are less active and fail to pass goal-directed messages to cortical regions affecting human decision-making, new research reveals.

Fascinating rhythm: Light pulses illuminate a rare black hole Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:00 PM PDT Astronomers have accurately measured -- and thus confirmed the existence of -- a rare intermediate-mass black hole about 400 times the mass of our sun in a galaxy 12 million light years from the Milky Way. The finding uses a technique never applied in this way before, and opens the door to new studies of these mysterious objects.

'Cavity protection effect' helps to conserve quantum information Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:00 PM PDT Two different quantum systems are being coupled by researchers to create a powerful hybrid quantum system. Using a strong coupling effect, the coherence time could now be considerably prolonged.

Microchip reveals how tumor cells transition to invasion Posted: 17 Aug 2014 07:00 PM PDT A microscopic obstacle course of carefully spaced pillars enables researchers to observe cancer cells directly as they break away from a tumor mass and move more rapidly across the microchip. The device could be useful for testing cancer drugs and further research on the mechanics of metastasis.

New mechanism of erosion: Gorges are eradicated by downstream sweep erosion Posted: 17 Aug 2014 06:59 PM PDT Local surface uplift can block rivers, particularly in mountainous regions. The impounded water, however, always finds its way downstream, often cutting a narrow gorge into the rocks. Subsequent erosion of the rocks can lead to a complete eradication of this initial incision, until not a trace is left of the original breakthrough. In extreme cases the whole gorge disappears, leaving behind a broad valley with a flat floodplain. Previously, the assumption was that this transition from a narrow gorge to a wide valley was driven by gorge widening and the erosion of the walls of the gorges.

FDA-approved drug restores hair in patients with alopecia areata Posted: 17 Aug 2014 06:58 PM PDT Researchers have identified the immune cells responsible for destroying hair follicles in people with alopecia areata, a common autoimmune disease that causes hair loss, and have tested an FDA-approved drug that eliminated these immune cells and restored hair growth in a small number of patients.

8,000-year-old mutation key to human life at high altitudes: Study identifies genetic basis for Tibetan adaptation Posted: 17 Aug 2014 06:58 PM PDT In an environment where others struggle to survive, Tibetans thrive in the thin air of the Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of 14,800 feet. A new study is the first to find a genetic cause for the adaptation and demonstrate how it contributes to the Tibetans' ability to live in low oxygen conditions.

Hubble stirs up galactic soup Posted: 16 Aug 2014 12:48 PM PDT A new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a whole host of colorful and differently shaped galaxies; some bright and nearby, some fuzzy, and some so far from us they appear as small specks in the background sky. Together they appear as kind of galactic soup.

Curiosity Mars rover prepares for fourth rock drilling Posted: 16 Aug 2014 12:38 PM PDT The team operating NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has chosen a rock that looks like a pale paving stone as the mission's fourth drilling target, if it passes engineers' evaluation. They call it "Bonanza King."

NASA's Chandra Observatory searches for trigger of nearby supernova Posted: 16 Aug 2014 12:34 PM PDT New data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory offer a glimpse into the environment of a star before it exploded earlier this year, and insight into what triggered one of the closest supernovas witnessed in decades.

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