ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Thickest parts of Arctic ice cap melting faster
• New infant formula ingredients boost babies' immunity by feeding their gut bacteria
• Who's in the know? To a preschooler, the person doing the pointing
• Reversing Alzheimer's gene 'blockade' can restore memory, other cognitive functions
• Effects of a concussion may last longer than symptoms
• Earthworms to blame for decline of ovenbirds in northern Midwest forests
• How insects 'remodel' their bodies between life stages
• Reawakening neurons: Researchers find an epigenetic culprit in memory decline
• Blockade of learning and memory genes may occur early in Alzheimer's disease: Treatable in mice
• Finding a potent new energy source by listening for Earth's gas bubbles?
• Astronomers rediscover life on Earth -- by looking at the moon
• Oldest fossilized forest: Entire fossil forest dating back 385 million years unearthed
• When continents collide: New twist to 50-million-year-old tale
• Old drug reveals new tricks: How interferon works to suppress virus in patients with HIV, hepatitis
• The ever-expanding definition of 'diversity'
• Two genes do not make a voter
• Genetics of endangered African monkey suggest troubles from warming climate
• No workout? No worries: Scientists prevent muscle loss in mice, despite disease and inactivity
• Gluten-free, casein-free diet may help some children with autism, research suggests
• Foot bones allow researchers to determine sex of skeletal remains
• Winning makes people more aggressive toward the defeated
• Unlocking the secrets of sea turtle migration
• New model provides different take on planetary accretion: Collapse may take place in 3-D cold dust cloud
• Inherited epigenetics produced record fast evolution
• T. rex has most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal ever
• Sea level rise to alter economics of California beaches: Certain beaches will shrink, others remain large
• Scientists discover new 'off switch' in immune response

Thickest parts of Arctic ice cap melting faster Posted: 29 Feb 2012 04:00 PM PST A new study revealed that the oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is disappearing at a faster rate than the younger and thinner ice at the edges of the Arctic Ocean's floating ice cap.

New infant formula ingredients boost babies' immunity by feeding their gut bacteria Posted: 29 Feb 2012 12:55 PM PST Adding prebiotic ingredients to infant formula helps colonize the newborn's gut with a stable population of beneficial bacteria, and probiotics enhance immunity in formula-fed infants, two studies report.

Who's in the know? To a preschooler, the person doing the pointing Posted: 29 Feb 2012 12:55 PM PST If you want a preschooler to get the point, point. That's a lesson that can be drawn from a new study. As part of their investigation of how small children know what other people know, the authors found they were able to mislead preschoolers with the simple introduction of a pointing gesture.

Reversing Alzheimer's gene 'blockade' can restore memory, other cognitive functions Posted: 29 Feb 2012 12:55 PM PST Neuroscientists have shown that an enzyme overproduced in the brains of Alzheimer's patients creates a blockade that shuts off genes necessary to form new memories. Furthermore, by inhibiting that enzyme in mice, the researchers were able to reverse Alzheimer's symptoms.

Effects of a concussion may last longer than symptoms Posted: 29 Feb 2012 12:50 PM PST A new study shows that physiological problems stemming from a concussion may continue to present in the patient even after standard symptoms subside.

Earthworms to blame for decline of ovenbirds in northern Midwest forests Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:22 AM PST A recent decline in ovenbirds, a ground-nesting migratory songbird, in forests in the northern Midwest United States is being linked by scientists to a seemingly unlikely culprit: earthworms.

How insects 'remodel' their bodies between life stages Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:22 AM PST How is it that an insect can remake itself so completely that it appears to be a different creature altogether, not just once, but several times in its lifetime? Working with fruit flies scientists found that genes whose expression is induced by pulses of steroid hormone are key to these transformations. A similar mechanism may underlie puberty -- the human analog of metamorphosis.

Reawakening neurons: Researchers find an epigenetic culprit in memory decline Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:21 AM PST In a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, memory problems stem from an overactive enzyme that shuts off genes related to neuron communication. Researchers genetically blocked the enzyme HDAC2, and 'reawakened' some of the neurons -- restoring the animals' cognitive function.

Blockade of learning and memory genes may occur early in Alzheimer's disease: Treatable in mice Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:21 AM PST A repression of gene activity in the brain appears to be an early event affecting people with Alzheimer's disease, researchers have found. In mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, this epigenetic blockade and its effects on memory were treatable.

Finding a potent new energy source by listening for Earth's gas bubbles? Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:21 AM PST What if we could cheaply and efficiently detect a potent new energy source, while also monitoring for environmental safety? Physicists are using the symphony of sound produced in the ocean to do just that.

Astronomers rediscover life on Earth -- by looking at the moon Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:08 AM PST By observing the Moon using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have found evidence of life in the universe -- on Earth. Finding life on our home planet may sound like a trivial observation, but the novel approach may lead to future discoveries of life elsewhere in the universe.

Oldest fossilized forest: Entire fossil forest dating back 385 million years unearthed Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:08 AM PST Researcher who previously found evidence of the Earth's earliest tree, has gone one step further. The research team has now unearthed and investigated an entire fossil forest dating back 385 million years.

When continents collide: New twist to 50-million-year-old tale Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:06 AM PST Fifty million years ago, India slammed into Eurasia, a collision that gave rise to the tallest landforms on the planet, the Himalaya Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau.

Old drug reveals new tricks: How interferon works to suppress virus in patients with HIV, hepatitis Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:06 AM PST A drug once taken by people with HIV/AIDS but long ago shelved after newer, modern antiretroviral therapies became available has now shed light on how the human body uses its natural immunity to fight the virus—work that could help uncover new targets for drugs.

The ever-expanding definition of 'diversity' Posted: 29 Feb 2012 09:11 AM PST Diversity has become a goal for all sorts of institutions -- but what it means may depend on who you ask. A new study finds that people's ideologies help determine what they count as "diverse."

Two genes do not make a voter Posted: 29 Feb 2012 09:11 AM PST Voting behavior cannot be predicted by one or two genes as previous researchers have claimed, according to a professor of public policy and political science.

Genetics of endangered African monkey suggest troubles from warming climate Posted: 29 Feb 2012 07:52 AM PST A rare and endangered monkey in an African equatorial rainforest is providing a look into our climatic future through its DNA. Its genes show that wild drills, already an overhunted species, may see a dramatic population decline if the forest dries out and vegetation becomes sparser amid warming temperatures, researchers report.

No workout? No worries: Scientists prevent muscle loss in mice, despite disease and inactivity Posted: 29 Feb 2012 07:51 AM PST If you want big muscles without working out, there's hope. Scientists report a family of protein transcription factors, called "Forkhead (Fox0)," that plays a significant role in the regulation of skeletal muscle mass. Interfering with Fox0 prevented muscle wasting associated with cancer and sepsis, and even promoted muscle growth. This is likely relevant to any disease, condition or lifestyle that leads to muscle wasting.

Gluten-free, casein-free diet may help some children with autism, research suggests Posted: 29 Feb 2012 07:51 AM PST A gluten-free, casein-free diet may lead to improvements in behavior and physiological symptoms in some children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to researchers. The research is the first to use survey data from parents to document the effectiveness of a gluten-free, casein-free diet on children with ASD.

Foot bones allow researchers to determine sex of skeletal remains Posted: 29 Feb 2012 07:51 AM PST Law enforcement officials who are tasked with identifying a body based on partial skeletal remains have a new tool at their disposal. A new paper from North Carolina State University researchers details how to determine the biological sex of skeletal remains based solely on measurements of the seven tarsal bones in the feet.

Winning makes people more aggressive toward the defeated Posted: 29 Feb 2012 07:47 AM PST In this world, there are winners and losers – and, for your own safety, it is best to fear the winners.

Unlocking the secrets of sea turtle migration Posted: 29 Feb 2012 07:47 AM PST Sea turtles have long and complex lives; they can live into their 70s or 80s and they famously return to their birthplace to nest. But new research suggests this isn't the only big migration in a sea turtle's life.

New model provides different take on planetary accretion: Collapse may take place in 3-D cold dust cloud Posted: 29 Feb 2012 06:19 AM PST The prevailing model for planetary accretion assumes that the solar system's planets formed in an extremely hot, two-dimensional disk of gas and dust, post-dating the sun. Scientists now propose a radically different model, in which collapse takes place in a cold, three-dimensional dust cloud.

Inherited epigenetics produced record fast evolution Posted: 29 Feb 2012 06:18 AM PST The domestication of chickens has given rise to rapid and extensive changes in genome function. Scientists have established that the changes are heritable, although they do not affect the DNA structure.

T. rex has most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal ever Posted: 28 Feb 2012 05:38 PM PST Research, using computer models to reconstruct the jaw muscle of Tyrannosaurus rex, has suggested that the dinosaur had the most powerful bite of any living or extinct terrestrial animal.

Sea level rise to alter economics of California beaches: Certain beaches will shrink, others remain large Posted: 28 Feb 2012 08:43 AM PST Rising sea levels are likely to change Southern California beaches in the coming century, but not in ways you might expect. While some beaches may shrink or possibly disappear, others are poised to remain relatively large -- leaving an uneven distribution of economic gains and losses for coastal beach towns, according to a new study.

Scientists discover new 'off switch' in immune response Posted: 28 Feb 2012 08:43 AM PST Scientists have discovered a new "off switch" in our immune response which could be boosted in diseases caused by over-activation of our immune system, or blocked to improve vaccines.

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