ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Both maternal and paternal age linked to autism
• Night, weekend delivery OK for babies with birth defects
• Protein libraries in a snap
• The power of estrogen: Male snakes attract other males
• A mineral way to catalysis?
• High school students test best with 7 hours of sleep at night
• Controlling parents more likely to have delinquent children
• What lies beneath: Mapping hidden nanostructures within materials, and perhaps cells
• Unpicking HIV's 'invisibility cloak'
• Accounting for missing meson particles
• Ultraviolet protection molecule in plants yields its secrets
• Tell me how you are, and I know how long you will live
• Drug quickly reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice
• Barriers to the use of fingerprint evidence in court is unlocked by statistical model

Both maternal and paternal age linked to autism Posted: 10 Feb 2012 10:34 AM PST Older maternal and paternal age are jointly associated with having a child with autism, according to a recent study.

Night, weekend delivery OK for babies with birth defects Posted: 10 Feb 2012 10:33 AM PST Weekday delivery is no better than night/weekend delivery for infants with birth defects, according to a new study. Researchers found that infants with birth defects that were delivered at night or over the weekend fared just as well as those delivered on a weekday -- they stayed at the hospital for the same amount of time, were admitted to the NICU at the same rate, and were given antibiotics or got help breathing just as often.

Protein libraries in a snap Posted: 10 Feb 2012 10:33 AM PST One undergraduate student will depart university with not only a degree but also a possible patent for his invention of an efficient way to create protein libraries, an important component of biomolecular research.

The power of estrogen: Male snakes attract other males Posted: 10 Feb 2012 08:13 AM PST A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest snake in the neighborhood -- attracting dozens of other males eager to mate.

A mineral way to catalysis? Posted: 10 Feb 2012 08:05 AM PST Catalytic materials, which lower the energy barriers for chemical reactions, are used in everything from the commercial production of chemicals to catalytic converters in car engines. However, with current catalytic materials becoming increasingly expensive, scientists are exploring viable alternatives.

High school students test best with 7 hours of sleep at night Posted: 10 Feb 2012 08:05 AM PST New research finds that 16- to 18-year-olds perform better academically when they shave about two hours off what current guidelines prescribe.

Controlling parents more likely to have delinquent children Posted: 10 Feb 2012 07:59 AM PST Authoritarian parents whose child-rearing style can be summed up as "it's my way or the highway" are more likely to raise disrespectful, delinquent children who do not see them as legitimate authority figures than authoritative parents who listen to their children and gain their respect and trust, according to new research.

What lies beneath: Mapping hidden nanostructures within materials, and perhaps cells Posted: 10 Feb 2012 07:47 AM PST A new method to map nanostructures within materials may lead to biological imaging of the internal organization of cells.

Unpicking HIV's 'invisibility cloak' Posted: 10 Feb 2012 07:47 AM PST Drug researchers hunting for alternative ways to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections may soon have a novel target -- its camouflage coat. HIV hides inside a cloak unusually rich in a sugar called mannose, which it uses to slip past the immune system before infecting its host's cells. Recently, however, biochemists discovered a family of chemical compounds that stick strongly to mannose. Understanding how this mechanism works could reveal a way to make drugs adhere to and kill HIV.

Accounting for missing meson particles Posted: 10 Feb 2012 07:47 AM PST Measurements from high-energy collision experiments lead to a better understanding of why meson particles disappear.

Ultraviolet protection molecule in plants yields its secrets Posted: 09 Feb 2012 02:28 PM PST Lying around in the sun all day is hazardous not just for humans but also for plants. Ultraviolet radiation from the sun can damage proteins and DNA inside cells, leading to poor growth and even death. But plants have evolved some powerful adaptive defenses, including a complex array of protective responses orchestrated by a UV-sensing protein molecule known as UVR8. Now, scientists have put together a detailed picture of UVR8's structure and inner workings.

Tell me how you are, and I know how long you will live Posted: 09 Feb 2012 02:28 PM PST The way people rate their health determines their probability of survival in the following decades. Researchers have demonstrated that for ratings ranging from "excellent," "good," "fair," and "poor" to "very poor," the risk of mortality increases steadily – independently of such known risk factors as smoking, low education levels or pre-existing diseases.

Drug quickly reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice Posted: 09 Feb 2012 11:40 AM PST Neuroscientists have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The use of a drug appears to quickly reverse the pathological, cognitive and memory deficits caused by the onset of Alzheimer's in mice.

Barriers to the use of fingerprint evidence in court is unlocked by statistical model Posted: 09 Feb 2012 07:20 AM PST Fingerprints that are potential key pieces of evidence in court currently are not being considered due to shortcomings in the way this evidence is reported. Now, a statistical model has been developed that enables the weight of fingerprint evidence to be expressed in quantitative terms, paving the way for its full inclusion in the process of identifying criminals, according to a new report.

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