ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Patterns in sand dunes explained
• Why common tree is toxic to snowshoe hares
• Metabolic 'breathalyzer' reveals early signs of disease
• School Closures Slow Spread of pH1N1
• Domestic cats, and wild bobcats and pumas, living in same area have same diseases
• A bug's (sex) life: Diving beetles offer unexpected clues about sexual selection
• Clues to common birth defect found in gene expression data
• Copper + love chemical = big sulfur stink
• Fossil cricket reveals Jurassic love song
• Discovery predicts patient sensitivity to important drug target in deadly brain cancer
• More environmental rules needed for shale gas, says geophysicist
• Satellite tracking reveals sea turtle feeding hotspots
• It's not solitaire: Brain activity differs when one plays against others
• Researchers examine consequences of non-intervention for infectious disease in African great apes
• Exercise triggers stem cells in muscle
• Why people can hold visual information in great detail in their working memory
• Raw milk is a dangerous raw deal for farmers and consumers, experts say
• Key finding in stem cell self-renewal
• New species of bamboo-feeding plant lice found in Costa Rica
• Playing RFID tag with sheets of paper
• Engineers weld nanowires with light
• Strategy shift with age can lead to navigational difficulties
• Children hospitalized at alarming rate due to abuse, U.S. study finds
• Positive parenting during early childhood may prevent obesity
• Did your surgeons miss something? New system to prevent retained surgical items

Patterns in sand dunes explained Posted: 06 Feb 2012 02:43 PM PST In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns. The new work represents a contribution to basic science, but the findings may also hold implications for identifying when dune landscapes like those in Nebraska's Sand Hills may reach a "tipping point" under climate change, going from valuable grazing land to barren desert.

Why common tree is toxic to snowshoe hares Posted: 06 Feb 2012 02:42 PM PST Biologists have uncovered why the chemical defenses in birch, a common type of tree found in North America, are toxic to snowshoe hares.

Metabolic 'breathalyzer' reveals early signs of disease Posted: 06 Feb 2012 02:42 PM PST The future of disease diagnosis may lie in a "breathalyzer"-like technology currently under development.

School Closures Slow Spread of pH1N1 Posted: 06 Feb 2012 02:42 PM PST Using high-quality data about the incidence of influenza infections in Alberta during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, the researchers show that when schools closed for the summer, the transmission of infection from person to person was sharply reduced.

Domestic cats, and wild bobcats and pumas, living in same area have same diseases Posted: 06 Feb 2012 01:46 PM PST Scientists found evidence that domestic cats and wild cats that share the same outdoor areas in urban environments also can share diseases such as Bartonellosis and Toxoplasmosis. Both can be spread from cats to people.

A bug's (sex) life: Diving beetles offer unexpected clues about sexual selection Posted: 06 Feb 2012 12:41 PM PST Studies of diving beetles suggest sperm evolution may be driven by changes in female reproductive organs, challenging the paradigm of post-mating sexual selection being driven mostly by competition among sperm. In the process, the researchers discovered an unexpected and stunning variety of sperm form and behavior.

Clues to common birth defect found in gene expression data Posted: 06 Feb 2012 12:41 PM PST Researchers have uncovered 27 new candidate genes for congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a common and often deadly birth defect. Their sophisticated data-filtering strategy offers a new, efficient and potentially game-changing approach to gene discovery.

Copper + love chemical = big sulfur stink Posted: 06 Feb 2012 12:41 PM PST When a researcher set out to study a chemical in male mouse urine called MTMT that attracts female mice, he didn't think he would stumble into a new field of study. But the research has led scientists to the discovery that it's the copper in our bodies that makes mammals recoil from sulfur chemical smells.

Fossil cricket reveals Jurassic love song Posted: 06 Feb 2012 12:41 PM PST The love song of an extinct cricket that lived 165 million years ago has been brought back to life by scientists. The song – possibly the most ancient known musical song documented to date – was reconstructed from microscopic wing features on a fossil discovered in North East China. It allows us to listen to one of the sounds that would have been heard by dinosaurs and other creatures roaming Jurassic forests at night.

Discovery predicts patient sensitivity to important drug target in deadly brain cancer Posted: 06 Feb 2012 11:41 AM PST A recent discovery enables the prediction of patient sensitivity to proposed drug therapies for glioblastoma – the most common and most aggressive malignant brain tumor in humans.

More environmental rules needed for shale gas, says geophysicist Posted: 06 Feb 2012 11:41 AM PST In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama praised the potential of the country's tremendous supply of natural gas buried in shale. But the "Halliburton exclusion" passed by Congress says gas companies don't have to disclose the chemicals used in fracturing fluids. That was a real mistake because it makes the public needlessly paranoid, says a geophysicist.

Satellite tracking reveals sea turtle feeding hotspots Posted: 06 Feb 2012 11:39 AM PST Satellite tracking of threatened loggerhead sea turtles has revealed two previously unknown feeding "hotspots" in the Gulf of Mexico that are providing important habitat for at least three separate populations of the turtles.

It's not solitaire: Brain activity differs when one plays against others Posted: 06 Feb 2012 11:39 AM PST Researchers have found a way to study how our brains assess the behavior -- and likely future actions -- of others during competitive social interactions. Their study is the first to use a computational approach to tease out differing patterns of brain activity during these interactions, the researchers report.

Researchers examine consequences of non-intervention for infectious disease in African great apes Posted: 06 Feb 2012 11:39 AM PST Infectious disease has joined poaching and habitat loss as a major threat to the survival of African great apes as they have become restricted to ever-smaller populations. Despite the work of dedicated conservationists, efforts to save our closest living relatives from ecological extinction are largely failing, and new scientific approaches are necessary to analyze major threats and find innovative solutions.

Exercise triggers stem cells in muscle Posted: 06 Feb 2012 11:39 AM PST Researchers have determined that an adult stem cell present in muscle is responsive to exercise, a discovery that may provide a link between exercise and muscle health. The findings could lead to new therapeutic techniques using these cells to rehabilitate injured muscle and prevent or restore muscle loss with age.

Why people can hold visual information in great detail in their working memory Posted: 06 Feb 2012 11:38 AM PST A new study may explain why people can hold visual information in great detail in their working memory.

Raw milk is a dangerous raw deal for farmers and consumers, experts say Posted: 06 Feb 2012 11:38 AM PST Researchers and experts on food safety have commented on the danger presented to farmers and consumers by the raw milk movement.

Key finding in stem cell self-renewal Posted: 06 Feb 2012 09:27 AM PST Scientists have proposed a mechanism for the control of whether embryonic stem cells continue to proliferate and stay stem cells, or differentiate into adult cells like brain, liver or skin. The work has implications in two areas. In cancer treatment, it is desirable to inhibit cell proliferation.

New species of bamboo-feeding plant lice found in Costa Rica Posted: 06 Feb 2012 09:26 AM PST Several periods of field work during 2008 have led to the discovery of a new species of bamboo-feeding plant lice in Costa Rica's high-altitude region Cerro de la Muerte. The discovery was made thanks to molecular data analysis of mitochondrial DNA. The collected records have also increased the overall knowledge of plant lice (one of the most dangerous agricultural pests worldwide) from the region with more that 20 percent.

Playing RFID tag with sheets of paper Posted: 06 Feb 2012 07:29 AM PST Researchers in France have developed a way to deposit a thin aluminum RFID tag onto paper that not only reduces the amount of metal needed for the tag, and so the cost, but could open up RFID tagging to many more systems, even allowing a single printed sheet or flyer to be tagged.

Engineers weld nanowires with light Posted: 06 Feb 2012 06:26 AM PST At the nano level, researchers have discovered a new way to weld together meshes of tiny wires. Their work could lead to exciting new electronics and solar applications. To succeed, they called upon plasmonics.

Strategy shift with age can lead to navigational difficulties Posted: 06 Feb 2012 06:26 AM PST A researcher believes studying people's ability to find their way around may help explain why loss of mental capacity occurs with age.

Children hospitalized at alarming rate due to abuse, U.S. study finds Posted: 06 Feb 2012 06:26 AM PST In one year alone, over 4,500 children in the United States were hospitalized due to child abuse, and 300 of them died of their injuries, researchers report in a new study.

Positive parenting during early childhood may prevent obesity Posted: 06 Feb 2012 06:25 AM PST Programs that support parents during their child's early years hold promise for obesity prevention, according to a new study.

Did your surgeons miss something? New system to prevent retained surgical items Posted: 06 Feb 2012 06:25 AM PST It may sound like something from a TV medical drama, but the incidence of surgeons leaving something behind in the body is very real at hospitals across the country. But researchers have now created a new system using state-of-the-art technologies to insure that no foreign objects are left behind during surgery.

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