ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Oh, my stars and hexagons! DNA code shapes gold nanoparticles
• Hyenas that think outside the box solve problems faster
• Test vaccine successfully protects monkeys from Nipah virus
• Scientists show two-drug combination has potential to fight cocaine addiction
• Chronic exposure to staph bacteria may be risk factor for lupus
• Shark teeth help scientists uncover predator's history
• New phenomenon in nanodisk magnetic vortices
• Researchers collect and reuse enzymes while maintaining bioactivity
• Why do older adults display more positive emotion? It might have to do with what they're looking at
• Early human ancestors had more variable diet
• New atmospheric compound tied to climate change, human health
• Hibernation altered by climate change takes a toll on Rocky Mountain animal species
• New Kenyan fossils shed light on early human evolution
• Physics and math shed new light on biology by mapping the landscape of evolution
• A molecule central to diabetes is uncovered
• One in three post-partum women suffers PTSD symptoms after giving birth: Natural births a major cause of post-traumatic stress, study suggests
• Diversity keeps grasslands resilient to drought, climate change
• Protein that boosts longevity may protect against diabetes: Sirtuins help fight off disorders linked to obesity
• Boys appear to be more vulnerable than girls to the insecticide chlorpyrifos: Lower IQs seen in boys exposed in the womb to comparable amounts of the chemical
• New substances 15,000 times more effective in destroying chemical warfare agents
• Advanced explosives detector sniffs out previously undetectable amounts of TNT
• Leveraging bacteria in drinking water to benefit consumers
• July 2012 marked hottest month on record for contiguous U.S.; Drought expands to cover nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48
• Unusual weather events identified during 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia
• Molecular economics: New computer models calculate systems-wide costs of gene expression
• New model synapse could shed light on disorders such as epilepsy and anxiety
• First BOSS data: 3-D map of 500,000 galaxies, 100,000 quasars
• New global warming culprit: Methane emissions jump dramatically during dam drawdowns
• No difference in death rates among patients exposed to common rheumatoid arthritis drugs, study suggests
• Learning: Stressed people use different strategies and brain regions
• Scientists discover the truth behind Colbert's 'truthiness'
• More effective treatments for throat and cervical cancer?
• Patterns in adolescent brains could predict heavy alcohol use

Oh, my stars and hexagons! DNA code shapes gold nanoparticles Posted: 08 Aug 2012 01:32 PM PDT DNA holds the genetic code for all sorts of biological molecules and traits. But researchers have found that DNA's code can similarly shape metallic structures. The team found that DNA segments can direct the shape of gold nanoparticles -- tiny gold crystals that have many applications in medicine, electronics and catalysis. Each of the four DNA bases codes for a different gold particle shape: rough round particles, stars, flat round discs, and hexagons.

Hyenas that think outside the box solve problems faster Posted: 08 Aug 2012 01:32 PM PDT Innovative problem solving requires trying many different solutions. That's true for humans, and now Michigan State University researchers show that it's true for hyenas, too.

Test vaccine successfully protects monkeys from Nipah virus Posted: 08 Aug 2012 11:21 AM PDT Researchers have successfully tested in monkeys a vaccine against Nipah virus, a human pathogen that emerged in 1998 during a large outbreak of infection and disease among pigs and pig farmers in Southeast Asia. This latest advance builds upon earlier work by the scientists, who found that the same vaccine can protect cats from Nipah virus and ferrets and horses from the closely related Hendra virus.

Scientists show two-drug combination has potential to fight cocaine addiction Posted: 08 Aug 2012 11:21 AM PDT A fine-tuned combination of two existing pharmaceutical drugs has shown promise as a potential new therapy for people addicted to cocaine -— a therapy that would reduce their craving for the drug and blunt their symptoms of withdrawal.

Chronic exposure to staph bacteria may be risk factor for lupus Posted: 08 Aug 2012 11:20 AM PDT Chronic exposure to even small amounts of staph bacteria could be a risk factor for the chronic inflammatory disease lupus, new research shows.

Shark teeth help scientists uncover predator's history Posted: 08 Aug 2012 11:19 AM PDT Biologists are studying living great whites and other sharks – as well as fossilized shark teeth – to gain insight into shark behavior and ancestry using the latest in computed tomography scans to analyze shark tooth anatomy, development and evolution.

New phenomenon in nanodisk magnetic vortices Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT New findings suggest that the road to magnetic vortex RAM might be more difficult to navigate than previously supposed, but there might be unexpected rewards as well. Contrary to suppositions, the formation of magnetic vortices in ferromagnetic nanodisks is an asymmetric phenomenon.

Researchers collect and reuse enzymes while maintaining bioactivity Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT Researchers are collecting and harvesting enzymes while maintaining the enzyme's bioactivity. The new model system may impact cancer research.

Why do older adults display more positive emotion? It might have to do with what they're looking at Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT Research has shown that older adults display more positive emotions and are quicker to regulate out of negative emotional states than younger adults. Given the declines in cognitive functioning and physical health that tend to come with age, we might expect that age would be associated with worse moods, not better ones. So what explains older adults' positive mood regulation?

Early human ancestors had more variable diet Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT New research sheds more light on the diet and home ranges of early hominins belonging to three different genera, notably Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo -- that were discovered at sites such as Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai in the Cradle of Humankind, about 50 kilometers from Johannesburg. Australopithecus existed before the other two genera evolved about 2 million years ago.

New atmospheric compound tied to climate change, human health Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a surprising new chemical compound in Earth's atmosphere that reacts with sulfur dioxide to form sulfuric acid, which is known to have significant impacts on climate and health. The new compound, a type of carbonyl oxide, is formed from the reaction of ozone with alkenes, which are a family of hydrocarbons with both natural and human-made sources.

Hibernation altered by climate change takes a toll on Rocky Mountain animal species Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT Climate change is causing a late wake-up call from hibernation for a species of Rocky Mountain ground squirrel and the effect is deadly. Biologists have examined data on a population of Columbian ground squirrels and found a trend of late spring snow falls has delayed the animals' emergence from hibernation by 10 days over the last 20 years.

New Kenyan fossils shed light on early human evolution Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT Exciting new fossils discovered east of Lake Turkana confirm that there were two additional species of our genus -- Homo -- living alongside our direct human ancestral species, Homo erectus, almost two million years ago.

Physics and math shed new light on biology by mapping the landscape of evolution Posted: 08 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT Researchers capture evolutionary dynamics in a new theoretical framework that could help explain some of the mysteries of how and why species change over time.

A molecule central to diabetes is uncovered Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:19 AM PDT At its most fundamental level, diabetes is a disease characterized by stress -- microscopic stress that causes inflammation and the loss of insulin production in the pancreas, and system-wide stress due to the loss of that blood-sugar-regulating hormone.

One in three post-partum women suffers PTSD symptoms after giving birth: Natural births a major cause of post-traumatic stress, study suggests Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:19 AM PDT Doctors are still divided about whether childbirth qualifies as a "traumatic event." But new research now indicates that approximately one-third of all post-partum women exhibit some symptoms of PTSD, and a smaller percentage develop full-blown PTSD following labor.

Diversity keeps grasslands resilient to drought, climate change Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:19 AM PDT Grasslands should come out as the winner with increased periods and intensity of drought predicted in the future.

Protein that boosts longevity may protect against diabetes: Sirtuins help fight off disorders linked to obesity Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:19 AM PDT According to a new study, a protein that slows aging in mice and other animals also protects against the ravages of a high-fat diet, including diabetes.

Boys appear to be more vulnerable than girls to the insecticide chlorpyrifos: Lower IQs seen in boys exposed in the womb to comparable amounts of the chemical Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:19 AM PDT A new study is the first to find a difference between how boys and girls respond to prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Researchers have found that, at age seven, boys had greater difficulty with working memory, a key component of IQ, than girls with similar exposures.

New substances 15,000 times more effective in destroying chemical warfare agents Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:19 AM PDT In an advance that could be used in masks to protect against nerve gas, scientists are reporting development of proteins that are up to 15,000 times more effective than their natural counterpart in destroying chemical warfare agents.

Advanced explosives detector sniffs out previously undetectable amounts of TNT Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:19 AM PDT With the best explosive detectors often unable to sniff out the tiny amounts of TNT released from terrorist bombs in airports and other public places, scientists are reporting a potential solution. New research describes the development of a device that concentrates TNT vapors in the air so that they become more detectable.

Leveraging bacteria in drinking water to benefit consumers Posted: 08 Aug 2012 09:18 AM PDT Contrary to popular belief, purified drinking water from home faucets contains millions to hundreds of millions of widely differing bacteria per gallon, and scientists have discovered a plausible way to manipulate those populations of mostly beneficial microbes to potentially benefit consumers.

July 2012 marked hottest month on record for contiguous U.S.; Drought expands to cover nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48 Posted: 08 Aug 2012 08:50 AM PDT According to NOAA scientists, the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 77.6°F, 3.3°F above the 20th century average, marking the hottest July and the hottest month on record for the nation. The previous warmest July for the nation was July 1936 when the average U.S. temperature was 77.4°F. The warm July temperatures contributed to a record-warm first seven months of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895.

Unusual weather events identified during 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia Posted: 08 Aug 2012 07:45 AM PDT Research has revealed that the extremely hot, dry and windy conditions on Black Saturday in the Australian state of Victoria combined with structures in the atmosphere called 'horizontal convective rolls' -- similar to streamers of wind flowing through the air -- which likely affected fire behavior.

Molecular economics: New computer models calculate systems-wide costs of gene expression Posted: 08 Aug 2012 06:39 AM PDT Bioengineers have developed a method of modeling, simultaneously, an organism's metabolism and its underlying gene expression. In the emerging field of systems biology, scientists model cellular behavior in order to understand how processes such as metabolism and gene expression relate to one another and bring about certain characteristics in the larger organism.

New model synapse could shed light on disorders such as epilepsy and anxiety Posted: 08 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT A new way to study the role of a critical neurotransmitter in disorders such as epilepsy, anxiety, insomnia, depression, schizophrenia, and alcoholism has been developed. The new method involves molecularly engineering a model synapse that can precisely control a variety of receptors for a neurotransmitter that is important in brain chemistry. The research opens the door to the possibility of creating safer and more-efficient drugs that target GABA receptors and that cause fewer side effects.

First BOSS data: 3-D map of 500,000 galaxies, 100,000 quasars Posted: 08 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT Now available to the public: spectroscopic data from over 500,000 galaxies up to 7 billion light years away, over 100,000 quasars up to 11.5 billion light years away, and many thousands of other astronomical objects in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Data Release 9. This is the first data from BOSS, the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, the largest spectroscopic survey ever for measuring evolution of large-scale galactic structure.

New global warming culprit: Methane emissions jump dramatically during dam drawdowns Posted: 08 Aug 2012 05:14 AM PDT Researchers have documented an underappreciated suite of players in global warming: dams, the water reservoirs behind them, and surges of greenhouse gases as water levels go up and down. In separate studies, researchers saw methane levels jump 20- and 36-fold during drawdowns.

No difference in death rates among patients exposed to common rheumatoid arthritis drugs, study suggests Posted: 08 Aug 2012 05:13 AM PDT New research confirms no significant difference in the rates of death among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who were exposed to one of several TNF inhibitors used to treat RA, adalimumab (Humira), etanercept (Enbrel), and infliximab (Remicade).

Learning: Stressed people use different strategies and brain regions Posted: 08 Aug 2012 05:13 AM PDT Stressed and non-stressed people use different brain regions and different strategies when learning. Non-stressed individuals applied a deliberate learning strategy, while stressed subjects relied more on their gut feeling.

Scientists discover the truth behind Colbert's 'truthiness' Posted: 08 Aug 2012 05:13 AM PDT A picture inflates the perceived truth of true and false claims. Trusting research over their guts, scientists in New Zealand and Canada examined the phenomenon Stephen Colbert, comedian and news satirist, calls "truthiness" -- the feeling that something is true. In four different experiments they discovered that people believe claims are true, regardless of whether they actually are true, when a decorative photograph appears alongside the claim.

More effective treatments for throat and cervical cancer? Posted: 08 Aug 2012 05:13 AM PDT A breakthrough could lead to more effective treatments for throat and cervical cancer. The discovery could see the development of new therapies, which would target the non-cancerous cells surrounding a tumor, as well as treating the tumor itself.

Patterns in adolescent brains could predict heavy alcohol use Posted: 08 Aug 2012 04:37 AM PDT Heavy drinking is known to affect an adolescents' developing brain, but certain patterns of brain activity may also help predict which teens are at risk of becoming problem drinkers, according to a new study.

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