ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Which plants will survive droughts, climate change?
• Impact of warming climate doesn't always translate to streamflow
• Coordinating the circadian clock: Molecular pair controls time-keeping and fat metabolism
• 12-mile-high Martian dust devil caught in act
• Ecosystems dependent on snowy winters most threatened, long term research confirms
• Women cannot rewind the 'biological clock'
• Food ingredients most prone to fraudulent economically motivated adulteration
• Novel method used to combat malaria drug resistance
• Recovery from propofol anesthesia may be sped up by use of common stimulant
• Study shows unified process of evolution in bacteria and sexual eukaryotes
• Purified lung and thyroid progenitors derived from embryonic stem cells
• Tiny hitchhikers attack cancer cells: Gold nanostars first to deliver drug directly to cancer cell nucleus
• Shifting sands: New model predicts how sand and other granular materials flow
• How embryonic stem cells orchestrate human development
• Psychological testing may predict success in soccer
• How to make high-end perfumes without whale barf
• Microflora have decisive role with autoimmune illnesses, some good, some bad
• Possible clues found to why HIV vaccine showed modest protection
• First targeted nanomedicine to enter human clinical studies
• Treatment hope for muscular dystrophy

Which plants will survive droughts, climate change? Posted: 06 Apr 2012 11:18 AM PDT Biologists aim to predict which plant species will escape extinction from climate change. Droughts are worsening around the world, which poses a great challenge to plants in gardens and forests. Scientists have debated for more than a century how to predict which species are most vulnerable.

Impact of warming climate doesn't always translate to streamflow Posted: 06 Apr 2012 11:17 AM PDT An analysis of 35 headwater basins in the United States and Canada found that the impact of warmer air temperatures on streamflow rates was less than expected in many locations, suggesting that some ecosystems may be resilient to certain aspects of climate change.

Coordinating the circadian clock: Molecular pair controls time-keeping and fat metabolism Posted: 06 Apr 2012 11:17 AM PDT Disruption in circadian rhythms leads to increased incidence of many diseases, including cancer. Each cell of the body has its own internal timing mechanism. A clock protein, called Rev-erb alpha, was thought to have a subordinate role because the clock runs fairly normally in its absence. New work has found that a closely related protein called Rev-erb beta serves as a back-up. When both are not functioning, the cellular clock loses its time-keeping function.

12-mile-high Martian dust devil caught in act Posted: 06 Apr 2012 07:57 AM PDT A Martian dust devil roughly 12 miles high (20 kilometers) was captured whirling its way along the Amazonis Planitia region of Northern Mars on March 14. It was imaged by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Despite its height, the plume is little more than three-quarters of a football field wide (70 yards, or 70 meters).

Ecosystems dependent on snowy winters most threatened, long term research confirms Posted: 06 Apr 2012 05:28 AM PDT As global temperatures rise, the most threatened ecosystems are those that depend on a season of snow and ice, scientists say. In semi-arid regions like the southwestern United States, mountain snowpacks are the dominant source of water for human consumption and irrigation. New research shows that as average temperatures increase in these snowy ecosystems, a significant amount of stream water is lost to the atmosphere.

Women cannot rewind the 'biological clock' Posted: 05 Apr 2012 07:47 PM PDT Many women do not fully appreciate the consequences of delaying motherhood, and expect that assisted reproductive technologies can reverse their aged ovarian function, researchers have reported.

Food ingredients most prone to fraudulent economically motivated adulteration Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:42 AM PDT The top seven adulterated ingredients in a food database are olive oil, milk, honey, saffron, orange juice, coffee and apple juice.

Novel method used to combat malaria drug resistance Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:42 AM PDT Researchers have developed a "gene chip" to contribute to the identification of malaria drug resistance, an effort that will allow for real-time response in modified treatment strategies for this devastating disease.

Recovery from propofol anesthesia may be sped up by use of common stimulant Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:42 AM PDT The ability of the commonly used stimulant methylphenidate (Ritalin) to speed recovery from general anesthesia appears to apply both to the inhaled gas isoflurane, as previously reported, and to the intravenous drug propofol.

Study shows unified process of evolution in bacteria and sexual eukaryotes Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:21 AM PDT Bacteria adapt to habitats through random genetic mutations and gene exchange. But how does an advantageous mutation spread from a bacterium to a population? Does the gene sweep through a population or does an individual bacterium obtain the gene, then replicate its genome to form an adapted population? Researchers have shown that genes can sweep through populations, indicating that the process of evolution in bacteria is very similar to that of sexual eukaryotes.

Purified lung and thyroid progenitors derived from embryonic stem cells Posted: 05 Apr 2012 10:16 AM PDT Researchers have derived a population of pure lung and thyroid progenitor cells in vitro that successfully mimic the developmental milestones of lung and thyroid tissue formation.

Tiny hitchhikers attack cancer cells: Gold nanostars first to deliver drug directly to cancer cell nucleus Posted: 05 Apr 2012 10:15 AM PDT Nanotechnology offers powerful new possibilities for targeted cancer therapies, but the design challenges are many. Scientists have now developed a nanoparticle that can deliver a drug directly to a cancer cell's nucleus. They have also directly imaged nanoscale dimensions showing how nanoparticles interact with the nucleus, which dramatically changes shape. The researchers found this shape change linked to cells dying and the cell population becoming less viable.

Shifting sands: New model predicts how sand and other granular materials flow Posted: 05 Apr 2012 10:15 AM PDT Sand in an hourglass might seem simple and straightforward, but such granular materials are actually tricky to model. From far away, flowing sand resembles a liquid, streaming down the center of an hourglass like water from a faucet. But up close, one can make out individual grains that slide against each other, forming a mound at the base that holds its shape, much like a solid.

How embryonic stem cells orchestrate human development Posted: 05 Apr 2012 10:14 AM PDT Researchers show in detail how three genes within human embryonic stem cells regulate development, a finding that increases understanding of how to grow these cells for therapeutic purposes.

Psychological testing may predict success in soccer Posted: 05 Apr 2012 06:29 AM PDT Measuring what are known as executive functions, which reflect the cognitive ability to deal with sudden problems, may make it possible to predict how good an elite soccer player will become in the future. Scientists believe that they have finally found the scientific key to what has previously been described as "game intelligence" in successful soccer players.

How to make high-end perfumes without whale barf Posted: 05 Apr 2012 04:53 AM PDT Researchers have identified a gene in balsam fir trees that could facilitate cheaper and more sustainable production of plant-based fixatives and scents used in the fragrance industry and reduce the need for ambergris, a substance harvested from whale barf.

Microflora have decisive role with autoimmune illnesses, some good, some bad Posted: 05 Apr 2012 04:52 AM PDT When the right microorganisms are at work, immune cells involved in the development of autoimmune illnesses like psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and arthritis, can develop anti-inflammatory properties. Scientists have now demonstrated that particular fungi activate the immune cells involved in the development of certain illnesses, whereas other microorganisms, in particular bacteria that are found naturally on our skin, lend an anti-inflammatory function to them.

Possible clues found to why HIV vaccine showed modest protection Posted: 04 Apr 2012 06:00 PM PDT Insights into how the first vaccine ever reported to modestly prevent HIV infection in people might have worked were recently published.

First targeted nanomedicine to enter human clinical studies Posted: 04 Apr 2012 11:43 AM PDT Scientists have found promising effects of a first-in-class targeted cancer drug called BIND-014 in treating solid tumors.

Treatment hope for muscular dystrophy Posted: 04 Apr 2012 10:37 AM PDT Medical researchers have found that increasing a specific protein in muscles could help treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a severe and progressive muscle wasting disease that affects young boys.

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