ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• The wasp that never cries wolf
• Meddling with male malaria mosquito 'mating plug' to control an epidemic
• Rover's laser instrument zaps first Martian rock
• National education policy -- oh, how it's changed
• Middle-class children: Squeaky wheels in training
• Work has more benefits than just a paycheck for moms: Working moms are healthier than stay-at-home moms
• Researchers make quantum processor capable of factoring a composite number into prime factors
• Massachusetts butterflies move north as climate warms
• Inspired by genetics, chemistry finally takes hold of its own code: Chemists can attain more complex supramolecular structures?
• 'DNA wires' could help physicians diagnose disease
• Improving water quality can help save coral reefs
• A new route to dissipationless electronics
• Sociologist examines the challenges of women in professional football
• Relationship between marriage and alcohol examined
• God as a drug: The rise of American megachurches
• Young adults from middle income families at higher risk for student loan debt than their poorer peers
• Red wine compound could help seniors walk away from mobility problems
• Good mood foods: Some flavors in some foods resemble a prescription mood stabilizer
• New space-age insulating material for homes, clothing and other everyday uses
• New technology combats global pandemic of drug counterfeiting
• Simple new test to combat counterfeit drug problem in developing countries
• Artificial intelligence allows automated worm sorting
• What’s best for very low birth weight babies

The wasp that never cries wolf Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:12 PM PDT European paper wasps (Polistes dominula) advertise the size of their poison glands to potential predators. The brighter the color, the larger the poison gland. Aposematism is used by many different animals to warn potential predators that they are poisonous. Usually this takes the form of distinctive coloration or patterns which predators quickly learn to avoid.

Meddling with male malaria mosquito 'mating plug' to control an epidemic Posted: 19 Aug 2012 06:11 PM PDT Using information about the unique mating practices of the male malaria mosquito - which, unlike any other insect, inserts a plug to seal its sperm inside the female - scientists are zeroing in on a birth-control drug for Anopheles mosquitoes, deadly carriers of the disease that threatens 3 billion people, has infected more than 215 million and kills 655,000 annually.

Rover's laser instrument zaps first Martian rock Posted: 19 Aug 2012 01:52 PM PDT NASA's Mars rover Curiosity fired its laser for the first time on Mars, using the beam from a science instrument to interrogate a fist-size rock called "Coronation." The mission's Chemistry and Camera instrument, or ChemCam, hit the fist-sized rock with 30 pulses of its laser during a 10-second period. Each pulse delivers more than a million watts of power for about five one-billionths of a second.

National education policy -- oh, how it's changed Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:39 PM PDT The way legislators, experts and other opinion leaders discuss the role of parents and schools in reducing educational inequalities has changed dramatically since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act first passed in 1965. Parents were viewed as part of the problem then, with schools seen as the solution. In recent years, with No Child Left Behind and more school choice options, these roles have flipped.

Middle-class children: Squeaky wheels in training Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:38 PM PDT A new study found that working-class and middle-class parents often take very deliberate but different approaches to helping their children with their school experiences. Working-class parents, she found, coached their children on how to avoid problems, often through finding their own solution and by being deferential to authority figures. Middle-class parents were more likely to encourage their kids to ask questions or ask for help.

Work has more benefits than just a paycheck for moms: Working moms are healthier than stay-at-home moms Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:38 PM PDT Working moms striving to "have it all" now can add another perk to their list of benefits -- health. New research finds that moms who work full time are healthier at age 40 than stay-at-home moms, moms who work part time, or moms who have some work history, but are repeatedly unemployed.

Researchers make quantum processor capable of factoring a composite number into prime factors Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT Computing prime factors may sound like an elementary math problem, but try it with a large number, say one that contains more than 600 digits, and the task becomes enormously challenging and impossibly time-consuming. Now, a group of researchers has designed and fabricated a quantum processor capable of factoring a composite number -- in this case the number 15 -- into its constituent prime factors, 3 and 5. Factoring very large numbers is at the heart of cybersecurity protocols, such as the most common form of encoding, known as RSA encryption.

Massachusetts butterflies move north as climate warms Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT A new study shows that, over the past 19 years, a warming climate has been reshaping Massachusetts butterfly communities. Subtropical and warm-climate species -- many of which were rare or absent in Massachusetts as recently as the late 1980s -- show sharp increases in abundance. At the same time, more than three quarters of northerly species -- species with a range centered north of Boston -- are now declining in Massachusetts, many of them rapidly.

Inspired by genetics, chemistry finally takes hold of its own code: Chemists can attain more complex supramolecular structures? Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT Nature proves every day that it is both complex and efficient. Organic chemists are envious of it; their conventional tools confine them to simpler achievements. These limitations could become a thing of the past. New research offers a new kind of code to chemists, allowing them to access new levels of complexity.

'DNA wires' could help physicians diagnose disease Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT Scientists have found that Mother Nature uses DNA as a wire to detect the constantly occurring genetic damage and mistakes that can result in diseases like cancer. DNA wires are potentially useful in identifying people at risk for certain diseases.

Improving water quality can help save coral reefs Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:36 PM PDT Researcher have found that an imbalance of nutrients in reef waters can increase the bleaching susceptibility of reef corals. Corals are made up of many polyps that jointly form a layer of living tissue covering the calcareous skeletons. They depend on single-celled algae called zooxanthellae, which live within the coral polyps. The coral animal and the associated zooxanthellae depend on each other for survival in a symbiotic relationship, where the coral supplies the algae with nutrients and a place to live. In turn, the algae offer the coral some products of their photosynthesis, providing them with an important energy source. High water temperatures can block photosynthetic reactions in the algal cells causing a build-up of toxic oxygen compounds, which threaten the coral and can result in a loss of the zooxanthellae.

A new route to dissipationless electronics Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:36 PM PDT A team of researchers has demonstrated a new material that promises to eliminate loss in electrical power transmission. The surprise is that their methodology for solving this classic energy problem is based upon the first realization of a highly exotic type of magnetic semiconductor first theorized less than a decade ago - a magnetic topological insulator.

Sociologist examines the challenges of women in professional football Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:35 PM PDT Women playing full-contact tackle football face challenges beyond the playing field —- yet there's little research about this niche in athletics.

Relationship between marriage and alcohol examined Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:35 PM PDT New research examining relationships and the use of alcohol finds that while a long-term marriage appears to curb men's drinking, it's associated with a slightly higher level of alcohol use among women.

God as a drug: The rise of American megachurches Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:35 PM PDT American megachurches use stagecraft, sensory pageantry, charismatic leadership and an upbeat, unchallenging vision of Christianity to provide their congregants with a powerful emotional religious experience, according to new research.

Young adults from middle income families at higher risk for student loan debt than their poorer peers Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:35 PM PDT Young adults from middle income families are more likely to rack up student loan debt—and in greater amounts—than students from both lower and higher income backgrounds, finds new research.

Red wine compound could help seniors walk away from mobility problems Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:34 PM PDT In a stride toward better health in later life, scientists have reported that resveratrol, the so-called "miracle molecule" found in red wine, might help improve mobility and prevent life-threatening falls among older people.

Good mood foods: Some flavors in some foods resemble a prescription mood stabilizer Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:34 PM PDT New evidence reveals the possibility of mood-enhancing effects associated with some flavors, stemming at least in part from natural ingredients bearing a striking chemical similarity to valproic acid, a widely used prescription mood-stabilizing drug, scientists have reported. This effect joins those previously reported for chocolate, teas and some other known comfort foods.

New space-age insulating material for homes, clothing and other everyday uses Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:34 PM PDT A major improvement in the world's lightest solid material and best solid insulating material may put more of this space-age wonder into insulated clothing, refrigerators with thinner walls that hold more food, building insulation and other products.

New technology combats global pandemic of drug counterfeiting Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:34 PM PDT Drug counterfeiting is so common in some developing countries that patients with serious diseases in Southeast Asia and elsewhere have been more likely to get a fake drug than one with ingredients that really treat their illness, a scientist involved in combating the problem says.

Simple new test to combat counterfeit drug problem in developing countries Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:34 PM PDT In a thrust against the major problem of counterfeit medicines sold in developing countries, which causes thousands of illnesses and deaths annually, scientists have developed a simple, paper-strip test that people could use to identify counterfeit versions of one of the most-frequently faked medicines in the world.

Artificial intelligence allows automated worm sorting Posted: 19 Aug 2012 12:34 PM PDT Scientists have demonstrated an automated system that uses artificial intelligence and cutting-edge image processing to rapidly examine large numbers of individual nematodes -- a species widely used in biological research.

What’s best for very low birth weight babies Posted: 16 Aug 2012 05:15 PM PDT While the health benefits of breast feeding baby are well known, a new study finds that, for very low birth weight (VLBW) babies, a small amount of fortification can improve growth rates without sacrificing the benefits associated with mother's milk. Human milk provides babies with exactly the right nutrients for growth and also helps protect against infections and diseases. Breast fed babies are less likely to have diarrhea or vomiting, they have fewer chest and ear infections, and long term are less likely to become obese or develop eczema. However, in hospitals human milk is also associated with slower growth in the first few months of life compared to formula-fed infants.

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