Futurity

• Most Topular Stories

• ‘Nano-cotton’ filters Third World water

  Futurity.org: Stanford University

  Louis Bergeron-Stanford

  3 Sep 2010 | 7:06 am

• Wired towns edge out big cities

  Futurity.org

  Andy Henion-Michigan State

  3 Sep 2010 | 12:08 pm

  MICHIGAN STATE (US)—A city’s size no longer is the key factor in building vibrant local economies. It’s all about connections to other places, a new study suggests. The rise of commercial aviation, high-speed rail, the Internet, and other technological advances have allowed smaller cities to compete with urban powers such as New York and Chicago, says [...]

• Pepper pill gets to root of deer problem

  Futurity.org: Earth & Environment

  Patty Mattern-Minnesota

  2 Sep 2010 | 9:32 am

  U. MINNESOTA (US)—Delivering hot pepper concentrate right to the roots keeps pesky deer and mice from devouring plants before they make it to the dinner table. And unlike spray deterrents, it can’t wash off. Tom Levar, a forestry and horticulture specialist at the University of Minnesota, adapted a plant formulation of Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to move [...]

• Accidents kill minority pedestrians more often

  Futurity.org: Health & Medicine

  Dennis O'Shea-JHU

  2 Sep 2010 | 12:17 pm

  JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—Uninsured or minority pedestrians hit by cars are significantly more likely to die than insured whites with similar injuries. The death rate disparity is compounded by the fact that minority pedestrians are far more likely than white pedestrians to be struck by motor vehicles. “It’s a double whammy,” says Adil Haider, assistant professor of surgery [...]

• Exploding supernova spews star guts

  Futurity.org: Science & Technology

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  3 Sep 2010 | 11:19 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Astronomers have been able to measure the velocity and composition of “star guts” being ejected into space following the explosion of a nearby supernova, thanks to a newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope. The team detected significant brightening of emissions from Supernova 1987A—the closest exploding star to Earth—which were consistent with some theoretical predictions about [...]

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  Futurity.org

• Wired towns edge out big cities

  Andy Henion-Michigan State

  3 Sep 2010 | 12:08 pm

  MICHIGAN STATE (US)—A city’s size no longer is the key factor in building vibrant local economies. It’s all about connections to other places, a new study suggests. The rise of commercial aviation, high-speed rail, the Internet, and other technological advances have allowed smaller cities to compete with urban powers such as New York and Chicago, says [...]

• Exploding supernova spews star guts

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  3 Sep 2010 | 11:19 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Astronomers have been able to measure the velocity and composition of “star guts” being ejected into space following the explosion of a nearby supernova, thanks to a newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope. The team detected significant brightening of emissions from Supernova 1987A—the closest exploding star to Earth—which were consistent with some theoretical predictions about [...]

• Spouses start out a lot alike

  Andy Henion-Michigan State

  3 Sep 2010 | 10:42 am

  MICHIGAN STATE (US)—Contrary to popular belief, married couples do not become more similar over time. A new study suggests people tend to pick their spouse based on shared personality traits. Details are reported in the latest issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences. “Existing research shows that spouses are more similar than random people,” says Mikhila [...]

• Hourly workers hit hard by recession

  William Harms-Chicago

  3 Sep 2010 | 10:16 am

  U. CHICAGO (US)—A record number of U.S. workers are involuntarily working part-time due to reduced hours or the inability to find a full-time job. Hourly workers—the majority of the wage and salary workforce—are especially susceptible to reduced, irregular, and fluctuating hours—and the myriad of challenges associated with them—according to a new report. Although much has been made [...]

• ‘Nano-cotton’ filters Third World water

  Louis Bergeron-Stanford

  3 Sep 2010 | 7:06 am

  STANFORD (US)—Plain cotton cloth available at discount stores can be transformed into a high-speed, low-cost filter to purify water in the developing world. By dipping the cotton into a high-tech broth full of silver nanowire and carbon nanotubes, the filter allows bacteria to flow through with the water, instead of physically trapping it as most [...]

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  Futurity.org: Earth & Environment

• Pepper pill gets to root of deer problem

  Patty Mattern-Minnesota

  2 Sep 2010 | 9:32 am

  U. MINNESOTA (US)—Delivering hot pepper concentrate right to the roots keeps pesky deer and mice from devouring plants before they make it to the dinner table. And unlike spray deterrents, it can’t wash off. Tom Levar, a forestry and horticulture specialist at the University of Minnesota, adapted a plant formulation of Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to move [...]

• Why traveling birds need army ants

  Bob Roseth-UW

  1 Sep 2010 | 4:56 am

  U. WASHINGTON-SEATTLE (US)—The health of some migratory birds in the United States may depend in part on colonies of army ants that inhabit the foothills near Monteverde, Costa Rica. This is one of the conclusions of a study recently published in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology. Sean O’Donnell, professor of psychology at the University of Washington and [...]

• Gators thrived on swampy Arctic island

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:06 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Ancient alligators and giant tortoises were able to flourish on Ellesmere Island well above the Arctic Circle some 50 million years ago, even as they endured six months of darkness each year. Now scientists think they know why. Findings from a new study, which looked at temperatures during the early Eocene period 52 to [...]

• Minimal dairy antibiotics reach groundwater

  Sylvia Wright-UC Davis

  30 Aug 2010 | 12:25 pm

  UC DAVIS (US)—A wide range of antibiotics given to dairy cows routinely end up on the ground and in manure lagoons, but are mostly broken down before they reach groundwater, according to a new study. The findings should help alleviate longstanding fears that dairy farms, and the fields fertilized with their waste, might lead to large-scale [...]

• Soot hits Arctic ice with double whammy

  Louis Bergeron-Stanford

  30 Aug 2010 | 9:54 am

  STANFORD (US)—The quickest and best way to slow the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice is to reduce soot emissions from the burning of fossil fuel, wood, and dung, according to a new study. Eliminating soot could reduce warming above parts of the Arctic Circle in the next 15 years by up to 1.7 degrees Celsius. Soot [...]

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  Futurity.org: Health & Medicine

• Accidents kill minority pedestrians more often

  Dennis O'Shea-JHU

  2 Sep 2010 | 12:17 pm

  JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—Uninsured or minority pedestrians hit by cars are significantly more likely to die than insured whites with similar injuries. The death rate disparity is compounded by the fact that minority pedestrians are far more likely than white pedestrians to be struck by motor vehicles. “It’s a double whammy,” says Adil Haider, assistant professor of surgery [...]

• Structural defects precede heart failure

  Jennifer Brown-Iowa

  2 Sep 2010 | 11:03 am

  U. IOWA (US)—The disruption of a structural component in heart muscle cells associated with heart failure appears to occur even before heart function starts to decline, according to a new study. Researchers believe that understanding how the disruption occurs may lead to new ways to diagnose or treat heart failure. The structure is a highly organized network [...]

• Stay hungry to stay awake

  Michael Purdy-WUSTL

  2 Sep 2010 | 10:21 am

  WASHINGTON U.-ST. LOUIS (US)—Being hungry may provide a way to stay awake without feeling groggy or mentally challenged, according to new research with fruit flies. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis found that starvation allows the need for nourishment to push aside the need for sleep. The study appears online this week in PLoS Biology. Like [...]

• Mosquitoes sniff out prey with multi-sensors

  David Salisbury-VU

  1 Sep 2010 | 8:48 am

  VANDERBILT (US)—To track human prey, malaria mosquitoes use several different kinds of odor sensors, according to a new study. The discovery may help in the development of new and more effective forms of mosquito lures and repellents. The findings provide striking new evidence that Anopheles gambiae—the species of mosquito that spreads malaria that infects some 250 million [...]

• Cigarette smoking: Unsafe at any level

  Krishna Ramanujan-Cornell

  1 Sep 2010 | 6:09 am

  CORNELL (US)—Exposure to even low-levels of cigarette smoke may put people at risk for future lung disease, including lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a new study. The findings further support public smoking bans, researchers say. Details of the study, which is the first to show that even minimal exposure to tobacco smoke triggers [...]

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  Futurity.org: Science & Technology

• Exploding supernova spews star guts

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  3 Sep 2010 | 11:19 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Astronomers have been able to measure the velocity and composition of “star guts” being ejected into space following the explosion of a nearby supernova, thanks to a newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope. The team detected significant brightening of emissions from Supernova 1987A—the closest exploding star to Earth—which were consistent with some theoretical predictions about [...]

• ‘Nano-cotton’ filters Third World water

  Louis Bergeron-Stanford

  3 Sep 2010 | 7:06 am

  STANFORD (US)—Plain cotton cloth available at discount stores can be transformed into a high-speed, low-cost filter to purify water in the developing world. By dipping the cotton into a high-tech broth full of silver nanowire and carbon nanotubes, the filter allows bacteria to flow through with the water, instead of physically trapping it as most [...]

• What’s the sound of yellow ochre?

  William Raillant-Clark-McGill

  2 Sep 2010 | 12:09 pm

  MCGILL (CAN)—Chemists have discovered that a technique known as photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy could help identify the composition of pigments used in artwork that is decades or even centuries old. Details of the work are reported in the journal Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy. The technique is based on Alexander Graham Bell’s 1880 discovery that [...]

• It’s rocket science: Wastewater treatment

  Mark Shwartz-Stanford

  1 Sep 2010 | 12:18 pm

  STANFORD (US)—Engineers are developing a new sewage treatment process that would actually increase the production of two greenhouse gases—nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas) and methane—to be used to power the treatment plant. “Normally, we want to discourage these gases from forming,” says Craig Criddle, professor of civil and environmental engineering and senior fellow at Stanford University. “But [...]

• Front row seat to ultrafast chemical reaction

  Nancy Ross-Flanigan-Michigan

  1 Sep 2010 | 10:59 am

  U. MICHIGAN (US)—To best observe chemical transformations in solution, molecular spectators have to be close to the action. Scientists have known for decades that molecules that comprise the “first solvation shell” sense and dictate the fate of nearly every chemical reaction, but it has been virtually impossible to watch them respond for several reasons. First, fundamental steps [...]

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  Futurity.org: Society & Culture

• Wired towns edge out big cities

  Andy Henion-Michigan State

  3 Sep 2010 | 12:08 pm

  MICHIGAN STATE (US)—A city’s size no longer is the key factor in building vibrant local economies. It’s all about connections to other places, a new study suggests. The rise of commercial aviation, high-speed rail, the Internet, and other technological advances have allowed smaller cities to compete with urban powers such as New York and Chicago, says [...]

• Spouses start out a lot alike

  Andy Henion-Michigan State

  3 Sep 2010 | 10:42 am

  MICHIGAN STATE (US)—Contrary to popular belief, married couples do not become more similar over time. A new study suggests people tend to pick their spouse based on shared personality traits. Details are reported in the latest issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences. “Existing research shows that spouses are more similar than random people,” says Mikhila [...]

• Gay parents don’t mar school success

  Adam Gorlick-Stanford

  2 Sep 2010 | 6:38 am

  STANFORD (US)—Children being raised by same-sex couples have nearly the same educational achievement as children raised by married heterosexual couples, according to a new study that used data from the 2000 U.S. Census. “The census data show that having parents who are the same gender is not in itself any disadvantage to children,” says Michael Rosenfeld, [...]

• How social work has failed black men

  William Harms-Chicago

  31 Aug 2010 | 2:16 pm

  U. CHICAGO (US)—Among disadvantaged people in the United States, the most needy and least helped are perhaps African-American men, according to a new book that details the disadvantages that black men face and suggests ways social workers can help. Black men suffer in a variety of ways, including being stereotyped as reckless and having little regard [...]

• Teens with ADHD more likely to drop out

  Phyllis Brown-UC Davis

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:05 am

  UC DAVIS (US)—Teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity are less likely to finish high school on time than students with other mental-health disorders that often are considered more serious, according to a new study. Nearly one third of students with ADHD, twice the proportion as students with no psychiatric disorder, either drop out or delay high school graduation. There are [...]

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  Futurity.org: Brown University

• Is the moon (still) shrinking?

  Anne Ju-Cornell

  24 Aug 2010 | 7:54 am

  CORNELL (US)—The highest-resolution images ever taken of the moon have revealed clifflike formations called scarps that suggest the lunar surface shrank within the last 1 billion years—and possibly more recently than that. Researchers analyzed images captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Details are published in the Aug. 20 issue of Science. The team based their work [...]

• Diet linked to changes in breast cancer DNA

  Richard Lewis-Brown

  30 Jul 2010 | 12:11 pm

  BROWN (US)—A new study suggests that epigenetic profiles of breast cancer tumors have a direct association with diet, alcohol, and tumor size. The finding could offer a new way to predict the severity of the disease. “We undertook this study to help illuminate how diet and environmental factors might contribute to differences observed among breast cancers,” [...]

• Mayan treasures discovered in king’s tomb

  Futurity-Jenny Leonard

  19 Jul 2010 | 8:45 am

  BROWN (US)—A well-preserved tomb of an ancient Mayan king has been discovered in Guatemala. The tomb is packed with carvings, ceramics, textiles, and the bones of six children, who may have been sacrificed at the time of the king’s death. In May a team of archeologists uncovered the tomb, which dates from about 350 to 400 [...]

• Is indoor tanning ever safe?

  Nick Hanson-Minnesota

  12 Jul 2010 | 1:38 pm

  U. MINNESOTA (US)—The largest study of its kind definitively links the use of indoor tanning devices to increased risk of melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. The study involving 2,268 Minnesotans found that people who use any type of tanning bed for any amount of time are 74 percent more likely to develop melanoma. Frequent [...]

• Bacteria skedaddle when relatives start dying

  David Bricker-Indiana

  30 Jun 2010 | 8:58 am

  INDIANA U. (US)—The deaths of nearby relatives have a curious effect on the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus—surviving cells lose their stickiness. Harmless Caulobacter live in nutrient-poor, aqueous environments like lakes, rivers, and even tap water. Like many other bacteria, Caulobacter form biofilms, aggregations of cells held in place by a sticky matrix produced by the bacteria themselves. Bacteria [...]

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  Futurity.org: California Institute of Technology

• Computer models shake up plate tectonics

  Kathy Svitil-Caltech

  27 Aug 2010 | 12:32 pm

  CALTECH / U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—New computer algorithms allow for the first time simultaneous modeling of the earth’s mantle flow, large-scale tectonic plate motions, and the behavior of individual fault zones. The result is an unprecedented view of plate tectonics and the forces that drive it. A paper describing the whole-earth model and its underlying algorithms will [...]

• Flies check horizon to control altitude

  Lori Oliwenstein-Caltech

  27 Aug 2010 | 8:44 am

  CALTECH (US)—Airborne fruit flies use horizontal landmarks—not the ground beneath them—to regulate altitude, researchers have discovered. This mechanism for controlling altitude—in which the insects use their eyes to track horizontal edges in their environment—is very similar to the strategy insects use to steer left and right, the researchers note. “For people interested in how the tiny brains [...]

• Alien planets dance around dying star

  Kathy Svitil-Caltech

  29 Jul 2010 | 8:08 am

  CALTECH/U. FLORIDA (US)—While most extrasolar planets orbit too far from one another to feel each other’s gravity, researchers have found two systems with pairs of gas giant planets locked in an orbital embrace. In one system—a planetary pair orbiting the massive, dying star HD 200964, located roughly 223 light-years from Earth—the intimate dance is closer and [...]

• Gut bacteria’s role in multiple sclerosis

  Kathy Svitil-Caltech

  26 Jul 2010 | 1:23 pm

  CALTECH (US)—Biologists have demonstrated a connection between multiple sclerosis (MS)—an autoimmune disorder that affects the brain and spinal cord—and gut bacteria. Details of the findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Multiple sclerosis results from the progressive deterioration of the protective fatty myelin sheath surrounding nerve cells. Although the cause of MS is [...]

• Changing lake depths on Saturn’s Titan

  Kathy Svitil-Caltech

  22 Jul 2010 | 11:49 am

  CALTECH (US)—For the first time, scientists have found compelling evidence of lake-level changes on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, that are very similar to the rise and fall of Earth lake levels. Titan is the only other place in the solar system seen to have a hydrological cycle with standing liquid on the surface. Using data gathered by [...]

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  Futurity.org: Carnegie Mellon University

• Neuron diversity’s no ‘bug of biology’

  Jocelyn Duffy-Carnegie Mellon

  1 Sep 2010 | 4:42 am

  CARNEGIE MELLON (US)—Much like snowflakes, no two neurons are exactly alike. But it’s not the size or shape that sets one neuron apart from another, it’s the way it responds to incoming stimuli. Researchers have discovered that this diversity is critical to overall brain function and essential to how neurons process complex stimuli and code information. The [...]

• Intensity mapping shines light on dark energy

  Jocelyn Duffy-Carnegie Mellon

  23 Jul 2010 | 7:35 am

  CARNEGIE-MELLON (US)—A new tool for tracking large cosmic structures—called intensity mapping—is expected to provide valuable clues about the nature of the “dark energy” believed to constitute nearly three-fourths of the mass and energy of the universe. Discovered in 1998, dark energy is the label scientists have given to what is causing the universe to expand at [...]

• When do newborns first feel cold?

  Carl Marziali-USC

  18 Jun 2010 | 10:57 am

  USC (US)—Cold sensing neural circuits in newborn mice take around two weeks to become fully active, according to a new study. The finding adds to understanding of the cold sensing protein TRPM8 (pronounced trip-em-ate), first identified in a Nature paper in 2002 by David McKemy of the University of Southern California. McKemy’s latest study, published online by [...]

• Controlling for quality in clinical trials

  Shilo Raube-Carnegie Mellon

  25 May 2010 | 8:02 am

  CARNEGIE MELLON (US)—Scientists and regulators alike often focus on how individual patients should be protected from risk and as a result, overlook how medical advance itself can be negatively affected by poorly designed clinical trials, a new study reports. “Right now, ethical oversight is highly focused on protecting research participants and giving individuals access to scientific [...]

• Findings weaken autism theory

  James Devitt-NYU

  14 May 2010 | 8:52 am

  NYU (US)—The mirror neuron system, which is thought to play a central role in social communications, appears to respond normally in individuals with autism. The finding counters theories suggesting that a mirror system dysfunction causes the social difficulties related to the disorder. The mirror neuron system, the focal point of the study reported in the journal [...]

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  Futurity.org: Cornell University

• Cigarette smoking: Unsafe at any level

  Krishna Ramanujan-Cornell

  1 Sep 2010 | 6:09 am

  CORNELL (US)—Exposure to even low-levels of cigarette smoke may put people at risk for future lung disease, including lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a new study. The findings further support public smoking bans, researchers say. Details of the study, which is the first to show that even minimal exposure to tobacco smoke triggers [...]

• Men who earn less, cheat more

  George Lowery-Cornell

  31 Aug 2010 | 9:24 am

  CORNELL (US)—Men who aren’t the primary breadwinners in a relationship are more likely to be unfaithful, according to a new study. But, it’s not about the money, says the lead researcher. It’s about sexual identity. “Any identity that’s important to you, if you feel it’s threatened, you’re going to engage in behavior that will reinstate your [...]

• Oxide goes from dull to dreamy

  Anne Ju-Cornell

  24 Aug 2010 | 9:02 am

  CORNELL (US)—There’s nothing particularly exciting about the oxide compound europium titanate—until it’s sliced nanometers thin and physically stretched on a specially designed template. That’s when the compound takes on properties that could revolutionize the electronics industry, according to a study published in the journal Nature. A team led by researchers from Cornell University report that thin films [...]

• Is the moon (still) shrinking?

  Anne Ju-Cornell

  24 Aug 2010 | 7:54 am

  CORNELL (US)—The highest-resolution images ever taken of the moon have revealed clifflike formations called scarps that suggest the lunar surface shrank within the last 1 billion years—and possibly more recently than that. Researchers analyzed images captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Details are published in the Aug. 20 issue of Science. The team based their work [...]

• Aphid immunity shaped by friendly bacteria

  Krishna Ramanujan-Cornell

  20 Aug 2010 | 12:23 pm

  CORNELL (US)—Conventional thinking says that animal immune systems have evolved to defend against harmful microorganisms, but what role do friendly bacteria play in shaping animal immunity? All animals are colonized by bacteria—in fact, humans have 10 times as many bacteria as cells—and different animals are associated with different kinds of beneficial microorganisms. Yet, there are virtually no [...]

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  Futurity.org: Duke University

• Stretched polymer snaps back smaller

  Karl Bates-Duke

  27 Aug 2010 | 9:22 am

  DUKE (US)—Crazy Bands are cool because no matter how long they’ve been stretched around a kid’s wrist, they return to their original shape. But when chemists stretch a springy polymer molecule, it snaps back much smaller than it was before. Details are reported this week in Science. Researchers at Duke University have been systematically hunting through a [...]

• Grafts yield patterned nano-brushes

  Richard Merritt-Duke

  25 Aug 2010 | 10:05 am

  DUKE (US)—Engineers have developed a novel approach to synthesize miniscule bristles known as nano-brushes, which are currently being used in biologic sensors and microscopic devices, such as microcantilevers. Nano-brushes can help reduce friction along surfaces at the molecular level. They are typically made of polymer molecules grown on flat surfaces with strands of the molecules growing [...]

• Roots of world poverty misunderstood

  David Jarmul-Duke

  12 Aug 2010 | 1:46 pm

  DUKE (US)—Too much focus is spent on finding new ways to lift people out of poverty instead of coming to terms with why they became poor in the first place, according to a new book. “It seems almost as if we have taken it for granted that all poor people are born poor—which they are not,” [...]

• Hotter nights threaten Asia’s rice crops

  Tim Lucas-Duke

  10 Aug 2010 | 1:35 pm

  DUKE / UC BERKELEY / UC SAN DIEGO (US)—Global climate change and rising temperatures will harm the production of rice, the world’s most important crop for ensuring global food security and addressing poverty, according to an international team of scientists. The research team found evidence that the net impact of projected temperature increases will be to [...]

• Suicidal cells go ‘pop’

  Richard Merritt-Duke

  9 Aug 2010 | 10:27 am

  DUKE (US)—Bioengineers have observed a phenomenon in bacteria that causes cells to self-destruct by popping. The “popping” turns out to be an example of a more generalized occurrence that must be considered by scientists creating living, synthetic circuits out of bacteria. Even when given the same orders, no two cells will behave the same. The researchers believe [...]

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  Futurity.org: Emory University

• Ancient beer brewed to include antibiotic

  Carol Clark-Emory

  2 Sep 2010 | 6:58 am

  EMORY (US)—A chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians shows that they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer. The finding is the strongest evidence yet that the art of making antibiotics, which officially dates to the discovery of penicillin in 1928, was common practice nearly 2,000 years ago. The research, led by Emory [...]

• ADHD links back to early pesticide exposure

  Sarah Yang-Berkeley

  23 Aug 2010 | 7:58 am

  UC BERKELEY (US)—Children exposed to pesticides while still in their mother’s womb are more likely to develop attention disorders years later, according to a new study. The new findings are the first to examine the influence of prenatal exposure on the later development of attention problems. Researchers found that prenatal levels of organophosphate metabolites were significantly linked [...]

• HIV, aging combine to break down bone

  Jennifer Johnson-Emory

  3 Aug 2010 | 12:37 pm

  EMORY (US)—Although individuals who are HIV-positive can now expect to live longer because of the availability of anti-retroviral drugs, the combination of aging and HIV appears to have a destructive impact on bone health. It is estimated that the majority of the HIV-infected population in the United States will be older than 50 by 2015. Researchers at [...]

• Why math brains fall for rock climbing

  Carol Clark-Emory

  28 Jul 2010 | 12:02 pm

  EMORY (US)—What’s it like to fall 40 feet down a sheer cliff face, while dangling from a rope hundreds of feet from the ground? Watch the video of Emory University mathematician Skip Garibaldi describe his rock climbing experiences on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He also explains some basic climbing math, such as the fall factor [...]

• Melting needles make vaccines painless

  Holly Korschun-Emory

  21 Jul 2010 | 8:17 am

  EMORY/GEORGIA TECH (US)—A patch with hundreds of microscopic needles that dissolve into the skin could make it possible to painlessly administer vaccines—while providing improved immunization against diseases such as influenza. Applied easily to the skin, the patches could be self-administered during pandemics, simplifying large-scale immunization programs in developing nations. Details about the patches and immunization benefits observed [...]

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  Futurity.org: Indiana University

• Dark-matter search plunges to new depths

  Steve Koppes-Chicago

  12 Aug 2010 | 12:15 pm

  U. CHICAGO (US)—Researchers are expecting a bubble chamber more than a mile underground will reveal dark matter’s secret identity. Scientists are deploying a 4-kilogram bubble chamber at SNOLab, part of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Ontario, Canada, in anticipation that dark matter particles will leave bubbles in their tracks when passing through the liquid in one [...]

• Bacteria skedaddle when relatives start dying

  David Bricker-Indiana

  30 Jun 2010 | 8:58 am

  INDIANA U. (US)—The deaths of nearby relatives have a curious effect on the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus—surviving cells lose their stickiness. Harmless Caulobacter live in nutrient-poor, aqueous environments like lakes, rivers, and even tap water. Like many other bacteria, Caulobacter form biofilms, aggregations of cells held in place by a sticky matrix produced by the bacteria themselves. Bacteria [...]

• Kidney treatment via IV skips surgery

  Eric Schoch-Indiana

  24 Jun 2010 | 7:18 am

  INDIANA U. (US)—A protein whose primary role is in the embryonic development of kidneys may play a future role in treating kidney failure. Researchers have successfully treated acute kidney injury in laboratory experiments using cells that were genetically reprogrammed to produce the protein, suggesting there could be a potential future treatment using such cells delivered intravenously [...]

• Do white women benefit most from exercise?

  Tracy James-Indiana

  26 May 2010 | 6:49 am

  INDIANA U. (US)—The benefits of exercise are no surprise. The fact that exercise is more beneficial for some more than others may be. A new study finds that when it comes to working out, white women are the big winners. In a study involving more than 12,000 people in a nationally representative sample of U.S. 20- [...]

• Virtual appearance matters to men

  Cindy Fox Aisen-Indiana

  14 May 2010 | 2:15 pm

  INDIANA U. (US)—In a recent study, men’s decisions were strongly affected by certain appearance aspects of computer-generated women, such as jerky movements, while women’s decisions were not. Virtual humans are increasingly taking on roles that were once reserved for real humans. The study by researchers at Indiana University showed how appearance, motion quality, and other characteristics [...]

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  Futurity.org: Iowa State University

• Spitzer goes to extremes with Milky Way

  Mike Krapfl-Iowa State

  31 Aug 2010 | 8:59 am

  IOWA STATE (US)—The Spitzer Space Telescope is now taking aim at the outer reaches of the Milky Way. The data is allowing Massimo Marengo, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Iowa State University, to study big, cool-temperature stars and the dusty disks that forms around these and other stars as their planetary systems evolve. He [...]

• The downside of high heels

  Mike Ferlazzo-Iowa State

  29 Jul 2010 | 9:42 am

  IOWA STATE (US)—Stilettos, wedges, and pumps may be fashionable, but prolonged wearing of and walking in high heels can contribute to joint degeneration and knee osteoarthritis, a new study suggests. “Obviously with research like this, you can’t say with any certainty that if you wear high heels regularly you will develop osteoarthritis. We don’t know that,” [...]

• Climate change impacts ‘medium’ meadows

  Dan Kuester-Iowa State

  9 Jul 2010 | 9:54 am

  IOWA STATE (US)—The effects of drought on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the Rocky Mountains provide a glimpse of how changing climate affects the diversity of meadow plants and animals. As the Earth’s temperature rises, the area’s climate becomes drier, leading to changes in the types of plants and animals that live there, says Diane Debinski, [...]

• Pay attention, kids: Unplug to tune in

  Mike Ferlazzo-Iowa State

  6 Jul 2010 | 7:02 am

  IOWA STATE (US)—Parents looking to get their kid’s attention—or keep them focused at home and in the classroom—should try to limit their television viewing and video game play. Elementary school-age and college-age participants who exceed two hours per day of screen time are as much as twice as likely to be above average in attention problems. “There [...]

• Radiohead video features real-time, 3-D

  Mike Krapfl-Iowa State

  18 Jun 2010 | 7:41 am

  IOWA STATE (US)—A high-resolution, 3-D imaging system can project perfect facsimiles of faces on a screen in real time. The result is an image that looks like a moving mask, digitally and exactly executed. A stylized version of the technology was featured in the “House of Cards” music video by the band Radiohead, and the band [...]

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  Futurity.org: Johns Hopkins University

• Accidents kill minority pedestrians more often

  Dennis O'Shea-JHU

  2 Sep 2010 | 12:17 pm

  JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—Uninsured or minority pedestrians hit by cars are significantly more likely to die than insured whites with similar injuries. The death rate disparity is compounded by the fact that minority pedestrians are far more likely than white pedestrians to be struck by motor vehicles. “It’s a double whammy,” says Adil Haider, assistant professor of surgery [...]

• Bugs take a taste before they bite

  Maryalice Yakutchik-JHU

  26 Aug 2010 | 7:50 am

  JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—Scientists now know how bug repellants like DEET and citronella-scented candles work to keep mosquitoes and other insects from putting the bite on you. And knowing just what in bugs’ molecular makeup allows these products to protect you will aid the search for even more effective repellants, says the Johns Hopkins University scientist who [...]

• Is the moon (still) shrinking?

  Anne Ju-Cornell

  24 Aug 2010 | 7:54 am

  CORNELL (US)—The highest-resolution images ever taken of the moon have revealed clifflike formations called scarps that suggest the lunar surface shrank within the last 1 billion years—and possibly more recently than that. Researchers analyzed images captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Details are published in the Aug. 20 issue of Science. The team based their work [...]

• Biomarkers for heart disease risk identified

  Melanie Haberstroh-King's College London

  6 Aug 2010 | 6:43 am

  KING’S COLLEGE LONDON (UK)—A world-wide consortium of researchers has identified 59 novel regions of the human genome that are involved in lipid metabolism. Lipid concentrations in the blood are one of the key risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). Details of the study were reported in the journal Nature. This study represents the most comprehensive analysis [...]

• Device detects preterm labor in pregnancy

  Phil Sneiderman-JHU

  29 Jul 2010 | 9:11 am

  JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—An invention designed to pick up very early signs that a woman is going into labor too soon could help doctors prevent premature births, its inventors say. When a child is born too early, serious health problems for the baby and steep medical bills for the family can result. “The problem is, the technology now [...]

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  Futurity.org: McGill University

• What’s the sound of yellow ochre?

  William Raillant-Clark-McGill

  2 Sep 2010 | 12:09 pm

  MCGILL (CAN)—Chemists have discovered that a technique known as photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy could help identify the composition of pigments used in artwork that is decades or even centuries old. Details of the work are reported in the journal Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy. The technique is based on Alexander Graham Bell’s 1880 discovery that [...]

• Are atom-scale devices on the horizon?

  William Raillant-Clark-McGill

  25 Aug 2010 | 11:48 am

  MCGILL (CAN)—Researchers have discovered how to control the piezoelectric effect in nanoscale semiconductors called “quantum dots,” enabling the development of incredibly tiny new products. The piezoelectric effect is the generation of an electric field by the compression and expansion of solid materials, and it has a wide range of applications ranging from everyday items such as [...]

• Glimpse of prehistoric Earth in Arctic rock

  Cynthia Lee-McGill

  18 Aug 2010 | 5:38 am

  McGILL (CAN)—Geochemical evidence from volcanic rocks collected on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic suggests that a region of mantle beneath the Earth’s surface has largely escaped billions of years of melting and geological churning. The discovery appears to offer clues to the early chemical evolution of the Earth. The newly identified mantle “reservoir” dates from just [...]

• Extreme spring points to life on Mars

  William Raillant-Clark-McGill

  7 Jun 2010 | 11:56 am

  McGILL (CAN)—Methane-eating bacteria are able to survive in a highly unique spring located on Axel Heiberg Island in the Nunavut Territory in Canada’s extreme North. The Lost Hammer spring is similar to possible past or present springs on Mars, leading researchers to believe that they too, may be able to support life. The subzero water in the [...]

• Mother Nature issues a wake-up call

  Susan Hagen-Rochester

  4 Jun 2010 | 8:14 am

  U. ROCHESTER (US)—Being outside in nature makes people feel more alive—and that sense of vitality exists above and beyond the energizing effects of physical activity and social interaction, new research shows. “Nature is fuel for the soul,” says Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester and lead author of a series of studies. “Often [...]

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  Futurity.org: New York University

• Sodium MRI gives arthritis an early look

  James Devitt-NYU

  30 Aug 2010 | 8:11 am

  NYU (US)—An innovative way to look at the development of osteoarthritis in the knee joint relies on the examination of sodium ions in cartilage. Researchers believe the new method may provide a non-invasive method to diagnose the condition in its very early stages. The concentration of sodium ions, which are distributed in the body, is known to [...]

• Genomes of ultra-social ants sequenced

  Dorie Klissas-NYU

  27 Aug 2010 | 7:32 am

  NYU (US)—Scientists have at last sequenced the entire genome of two very different species of ant. The insights gleaned from the genetic blueprints are already yielding clues to their fascinating social behavior. The work by researchers at New York University is detailed this week in the journal Science. Comparing the two ant species—Jerdon’s jumping ant and the [...]

• Is foam a hidden danger in helmets?

  Kathleen Hamilton-NYU

  9 Aug 2010 | 7:59 am

  NYU (US)—In a counter-intuitive finding, scientists report that the foam used in helmets and other body armor indeed absorbs damage when compressed slowly, but can cause as much injury as a hard object when hit at high speeds. The materials scientists at New York University (NYU) also found that bones themselves fracture differently according to loading—another [...]

• Gum disease may increase Alzheimer’s risk

  Christopher James-NYU

  6 Aug 2010 | 9:54 am

  NYU (US)—Periodontal (gum) disease may increase the risk of cognitive dysfunction associated with Alzheimer’s disease in healthy individuals as well as in those who already are cognitively impaired. Researchers examined 20 years of data and found fresh evidence that links gum disease to brain inflammation, neurodegeneration, and Alzheimer’s disease. “The research suggests that cognitively normal subjects with [...]

• Thank your neck for a better brain

  Krishna Ramanujan-Cornell

  4 Aug 2010 | 8:51 am

  CORNELL/NYU (US)—By deciphering the genetics in humans and fish, scientists now believe that the neck—the lowly body part between head and shoulders—gave humans so much freedom of movement that it played a major role in the evolution of the human brain. Details of the research are reported in the journal Nature Communications. Scientists had assumed that because [...]

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  Futurity.org: Northwestern University

• Committed relationships ease stress

  William Harms-Chicago

  18 Aug 2010 | 12:43 pm

  U. CHICAGO (US)—Being married has often been associated with improving people’s health. Now a new study suggests that having that long–term bond also alters hormones in a way that reduces stress. Unmarried people in a committed, romantic relationship show the same reduced responses to stress as do married people, says Dario Maestripieri, professor of comparative human [...]

• Nanopatterns on the cheap with Shrinky Dinks

  Megan Fellman-Northwestern

  18 Aug 2010 | 7:32 am

  NORTHWESTERN (US)—Researchers are using sheets of Shrinky Dinks—an arts and crafts material used by children since the 1970s—as the backbone of a new inexpensive way to create, test, and mass-produce large-area patterns on the nanoscale. “It is a simple, low-cost, and high-throughput nanopatterning method that can be done in any laboratory,” says Teri Odom, associate professor [...]

• What’s zinc got to do with fertility?

  Marla Paul-Northwestern

  9 Aug 2010 | 11:33 am

  NORTHWESTERN (US)—New research reveals that healthy eggs need a tremendous amount of zinc to reach maturity and be ready for fertilization—a finding that may ultimately help physicians assess which eggs isolated from a woman will produce the best embryos. “Understanding zinc’s role may eventually help us measure the quality of an egg and lead to advances [...]

• Biomarkers for heart disease risk identified

  Melanie Haberstroh-King's College London

  6 Aug 2010 | 6:43 am

  KING’S COLLEGE LONDON (UK)—A world-wide consortium of researchers has identified 59 novel regions of the human genome that are involved in lipid metabolism. Lipid concentrations in the blood are one of the key risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). Details of the study were reported in the journal Nature. This study represents the most comprehensive analysis [...]

• Beam pens write nanotech’s next chapter

  Megan Fellman-Northwestern

  3 Aug 2010 | 11:42 am

  NORTHWESTERN (US)—Researchers have drawn 15,000 identical skylines with tiny beams of light using an innovative nanofabrication technology called beam-pen lithography (BPL). The technology could do for nanofabrication what the desktop printer has done for printing and information transfer, by rapidly and inexpensively making and prototyping circuits, optoelectronics, and medical diagnostics. The technology also holds promise for many [...]

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  Futurity.org: Penn State

• Dash of oregano curbs cow burps

  A'ndrea Elyse Messer-Penn State

  27 Aug 2010 | 11:58 am

  PENN STATE (US)—An oregano-based supplement appears to decrease cow belches, a major source of greenhouse gases. In a series of laboratory experiments and a live animal test, the supplement not only decreased methane emissions in dairy cows by 40 percent, but also improved milk production, according to Alexander Hristov, an associate professor of dairy nutrition at [...]

• Dark side of healthy antioxidants

  A'ndrea Elyse Messer-Penn State

  24 Aug 2010 | 1:18 pm

  PENN STATE (US)—Health benefits from polyphenol antioxidants—substances found in many fruits and vegetables—may come at a serious cost for some people. Eating certain polyphenols decreases the amount of iron the body absorbs, which can increase the risk of developing an iron deficiency. “Polyphenols have been known to have many beneficial effects for human health, such as preventing [...]

• Oxide goes from dull to dreamy

  Anne Ju-Cornell

  24 Aug 2010 | 9:02 am

  CORNELL (US)—There’s nothing particularly exciting about the oxide compound europium titanate—until it’s sliced nanometers thin and physically stretched on a specially designed template. That’s when the compound takes on properties that could revolutionize the electronics industry, according to a study published in the journal Nature. A team led by researchers from Cornell University report that thin films [...]

• End-of-week mergers often get missed

  Wyatt DuBois-Penn State

  19 Aug 2010 | 9:02 am

  PENN STATE (US)—Announcing a merger at the end of the week may not be the best idea, according to a new study that finds investor inattention usually results in lower trading reactions to Friday announcements. “If people were not distracted on Fridays, we would not observe any difference in the trading volume between transactions announced on [...]

• Do advertising bans deter youth?

  A'ndrea Elyse Messer-Penn State

  16 Aug 2010 | 9:25 am

  PENN STATE (US)—Bans on alcohol and tobacco marketing are among the least effective tactics for combating underage drinking and smoking, a recent research review shows. “My conclusion is that the emphasis on advertising bans and similar regulations in the public health literature is misplaced,” says Jon Nelson, professor emeritus of economics at Penn State. “More effective [...]

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  Futurity.org: Princeton University

• The 4 types of evangelical bigwigs

  David Ruth-Rice

  26 Aug 2010 | 8:42 am

  RICE (US)—A new study based on interviews with hundreds of American leaders who are evangelical Christians (including CEOs, presidents, and chairs of large businesses and their equivalents in government and politics, nonprofits, arts, entertainment, the media, and sports) finds enormous variety in how leaders engage their personal faith in workplace decision-making. “While everyone in the workplace [...]

• Sponge fossils may be earliest animals

  Hilary Parker-Princeton

  17 Aug 2010 | 1:49 pm

  PRINCETON (US)—Scientists may have discovered the oldest fossils of animal bodies, suggesting that primitive sponge-like creatures were living in ocean reefs about 650 million years ago. The findings push back the clock on the scientific world’s thinking about when animal life appeared on Earth. The shelly fossils, found beneath a 635 million-year-old glacial deposit in South Australia, [...]

• Cravings 101: Control can be learned

  Bill Hathaway-Yale

  2 Aug 2010 | 1:29 pm

  YALE (US)—Smokers can decrease their cravings for cigarettes—they just need to be taught how. Standard therapeutic techniques decrease cravings of cigarette smokers by regulating activity in two separate but related areas of the brain. Smokers who are taught cognitive strategies, such as thinking about the long-term consequences of smoking, show increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, an [...]

• Faster circuits with superhero electrons?

  Kitta MacPherson-Princeton

  20 Jul 2010 | 8:58 am

  PRINCETON (US)—On a quest to discover new states of matter, a team of scientists has found that electrons on the surface of specific materials act like miniature superheroes. They’re relentlessly dodging the cliff-like obstacles of imperfect microsurfaces, sometimes moving straight through barriers. The work represents the first time such behavior of electrons has been tracked and recorded, [...]

• Neurons glow when brain is ‘On Air’

  Kitta MacPherson-Princeton

  14 Jul 2010 | 8:21 am

  PRINCETON (US)—A new method for studying brain connectivity works in a similar way to a complex circuit board where wires split at random and then connect in strange and unexpected ways. Because of its intricate organization, figuring out the wiring diagram that explains how the billions of neurons in the brain are connected, and determining how [...]

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  Futurity.org: Rice University

• Silicon chips could push limits of small

  David Ruth-Rice

  1 Sep 2010 | 5:08 am

  RICE (US)—Scientists have created the first two-terminal memory chips that use only silicon, one of the most common substances on the planet, in a way that should be easily adaptable to nanoelectronic manufacturing techniques. The work promises to extend the limits of miniaturization subject to Moore’s Law, a prediction made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that [...]

• The 4 types of evangelical bigwigs

  David Ruth-Rice

  26 Aug 2010 | 8:42 am

  RICE (US)—A new study based on interviews with hundreds of American leaders who are evangelical Christians (including CEOs, presidents, and chairs of large businesses and their equivalents in government and politics, nonprofits, arts, entertainment, the media, and sports) finds enormous variety in how leaders engage their personal faith in workplace decision-making. “While everyone in the workplace [...]

• Humans flip Texas river’s native carbon cycle

  David Ruth-Rice

  17 Aug 2010 | 6:45 am

  RICE (US)—Damming and other human activity has completely obscured the natural carbon dioxide cycle in Texas’ longest river, the Brazos. “The natural factors that influence carbon dioxide cycling in the Brazos are fairly obvious, and we expected the radiocarbon signature of the river to reflect those influences,” says Caroline Masiello, assistant professor of Earth science at [...]

• With home video, content beats quality

  David Ruth-Rice

  13 Aug 2010 | 11:43 am

  RICE (US)—Home video quality doesn’t matter that much as long as the viewer enjoys what’s on, according to a new study. “Research has been done asking if people can detect video quality differences,” says Philip Kortum, professor of psychology and faculty fellow at Rice University. “What we were looking at was how video quality affects viewers in [...]

• Microscope a marvel for Third World countries

  Mike Williams-Rice

  5 Aug 2010 | 12:00 pm

  RICE (US)—A compact, inexpensive microscope operated by a battery is able to diagnose signs of tuberculosis on par with devices that retail for as much as $40,000. The 2.5 pound microscope was developed by Rice University alumnus Andrew Miller, as his senior design project last year. The goal was to make an inexpensive, portable, and highly capable [...]

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  Futurity.org: Rutgers

• Last ice age finished with a fizz

  Ken Branson-Rutgers

  26 Aug 2010 | 12:42 pm

  RUTGERS (US)—Imagine the Earth like an uncapped soda, fizzing and foaming and then returning to normal. Researchers have found evidence that a grand fizz of sorts took place over a 1,000 year period after the end of the last ice age. According to a paper published this month in the journal Nature, the last ice age [...]

• Why tin is ‘magic’ for physicists

  Carl Blesch-Rutgers

  9 Aug 2010 | 7:08 am

  RUTGERS (US)—In the journal Nature, physicists recently reported studies on tin that add knowledge to a concept known as magic numbers—while perhaps helping scientists to explain how heavy elements are made in exploding stars. Their research methods also could help scientists and engineers develop next-generation nuclear reactors. Physicists who study the nuclei of atoms—the dense cluster of [...]

• Why modest guys might not get the job

  Steve Manas-Rutgers

  29 Jul 2010 | 8:55 am

  RUTGERS (US)—A new study finds a backlash against men who act modestly in a job interview. According to Corinne Moss-Racusin, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Rutgers, applicants in staged interviews were judged equally competent, but the “modest” males were less liked—a sign of social backlash. Modesty was viewed as a sign of weakness, a low-status character [...]

• Database tracks bees’ comings and goings

  Krishna Ramanujan-Cornell

  23 Jul 2010 | 12:57 pm

  CORNELL (US)—Bees—key pollinators for one-third of all plant food crops—have declined over the last 50 years, with die-offs in recent years stumping scientists and making headlines. A $1.5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) multi-institutional grant will consolidate data from 10 natural history bee collections across the United States and enter them into a searchable, publicly available [...]

• Might as well face it: We’re addicted to love

  Jacob Levich-Stony Brook

  22 Jul 2010 | 7:14 am

  STONY BROOK (US)—Breaking up really is hard to do according to a new study that connects the anguish of rejection to areas of the brain concerned with addiction cravings, motivation, and reward. “This brain imaging study of individuals who were still ‘in love’ with their rejecter supplies further evidence that the passion of  ‘romantic love’ is [...]

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  Futurity.org: Stanford University

• ‘Nano-cotton’ filters Third World water

  Louis Bergeron-Stanford

  3 Sep 2010 | 7:06 am

  STANFORD (US)—Plain cotton cloth available at discount stores can be transformed into a high-speed, low-cost filter to purify water in the developing world. By dipping the cotton into a high-tech broth full of silver nanowire and carbon nanotubes, the filter allows bacteria to flow through with the water, instead of physically trapping it as most [...]

• Gay parents don’t mar school success

  Adam Gorlick-Stanford

  2 Sep 2010 | 6:38 am

  STANFORD (US)—Children being raised by same-sex couples have nearly the same educational achievement as children raised by married heterosexual couples, according to a new study that used data from the 2000 U.S. Census. “The census data show that having parents who are the same gender is not in itself any disadvantage to children,” says Michael Rosenfeld, [...]

• It’s rocket science: Wastewater treatment

  Mark Shwartz-Stanford

  1 Sep 2010 | 12:18 pm

  STANFORD (US)—Engineers are developing a new sewage treatment process that would actually increase the production of two greenhouse gases—nitrous oxide (aka laughing gas) and methane—to be used to power the treatment plant. “Normally, we want to discourage these gases from forming,” says Craig Criddle, professor of civil and environmental engineering and senior fellow at Stanford University. “But [...]

• Soot hits Arctic ice with double whammy

  Louis Bergeron-Stanford

  30 Aug 2010 | 9:54 am

  STANFORD (US)—The quickest and best way to slow the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice is to reduce soot emissions from the burning of fossil fuel, wood, and dung, according to a new study. Eliminating soot could reduce warming above parts of the Arctic Circle in the next 15 years by up to 1.7 degrees Celsius. Soot [...]

• Sodium MRI gives arthritis an early look

  James Devitt-NYU

  30 Aug 2010 | 8:11 am

  NYU (US)—An innovative way to look at the development of osteoarthritis in the knee joint relies on the examination of sodium ions in cartilage. Researchers believe the new method may provide a non-invasive method to diagnose the condition in its very early stages. The concentration of sodium ions, which are distributed in the body, is known to [...]

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  Futurity.org: Syracuse University

• ‘Grow light’ may give algae biofuel edge

  Ariel DuChene-Syracuse

  26 Aug 2010 | 9:35 am

  SYRACUSE (US)—Engineers have found a way to create accelerated photosynthesis and make biofuel-friendly algae grow faster. The discovery is a promising step toward an efficient, economical, and sustainable way to produce biofuels from non-edible sources. The work is covered in this month’s issue of Nature. The Syracuse University research team developed a new bioreactor that can enhance [...]

• New model gives quantum theory a shove

  Judy Holmes-Syracuse

  6 Aug 2010 | 10:14 am

  SYRACUSE U. (US)—Physicists recently developed a new theoretical model to explain how, under certain rare conditions, more than one electron can simultaneously occupy the same quantum state. Their model, published in Physical Review Letters, may help explain how matter behaves at the edges of black holes and contribute to the ongoing scientific quest for a unified [...]

• Stressors choking life out of NY rivers

  Carissa Matthews-Syracuse

  11 May 2010 | 12:17 pm

  SYRACUSE U. (US)—More than one-third of the 90-kilometer length of Central New York’s Three Rivers system failed to meet the state’s water quality oxygen standard in a recent study. Oxygen levels in the Oswego, Oneida, and Seneca rivers were found to be degraded by several stressors, including the impact of wastewater treatment plants, nonpoint runoff, an [...]

• Glowing green sperm get around

  Rob Enslin-Syracuse

  19 Mar 2010 | 3:47 am

  “Despite nearly a century of intensive and innovative work on the reproductive biology of the fruit fly, much of what we know about the female reproductive tract is a mystery,” says Scott Pitnick. “Our jaws hit the floor the first time we looked through a microscope and saw these glowing sperm. It turns out that [...]

• Turning up the noise for better mammograms

  Sara Miller-Syracuse

  23 Dec 2009 | 11:41 am

  The left image is the detection result obtained by a standard mammography method; the right image is the detection result obtained by using stochastic resonance noise. (Blue points denote the detected positives.) Compared to the standard method, the stochastic resonance noise method significantly reduces the false diagnosis rate. SYRACUSE (US)—Researchers have found that an obscure phenomenon [...]

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  Futurity.org: Texas A&M University

• Ancient galaxy cluster is shockingly modern

  Chris Jarvis-Texas A&M

  19 Aug 2010 | 10:50 am

  TEXAS A&M (US)—An international team of astronomers has discovered that a significant fraction of ancient galaxies is still actively forming stars. Scientists have spent the past four months analyzing images taken from the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS), essentially looking back in time nearly 10 billion years at a high red-shift cluster known as CLG [...]

• Doctors assume their beliefs match patients’

  Sherylon Carroll-Texas A&M

  11 Aug 2010 | 12:16 pm

  PENN STATE / TEXAS A&M (US)—American physicians are often poor judges of their patients’ health beliefs, a new study shows. Physicians’ understanding improves, however, with increases in patient involvement, such as asking questions, expressing concerns, and stating their beliefs and preferences for care. An analysis of how patients’ health beliefs differ from their physicians’ perception of these [...]

• Lithium could be gold mine for Afghanistan

  Sherylon Carroll-Texas A&M

  15 Jul 2010 | 6:20 am

  TEXAS A&M (US)—Afghanistan has mineral deposits that could potentially turn it from being one of the poorest countries on Earth to one of the richest. Industrial metals such as copper and lithium could put the war-torn country in high demand for high-tech industry. Reports that as much as $1 trillion worth of minerals may lie in Afghan [...]

• Genes reveal differences in breast vs. bottle

  Phyllis Picklesimer-Illinois

  19 May 2010 | 10:49 am

  U. ILLINOIS (US)—While breast-fed and formula-fed babies both gain weight and seem to develop similarly, genetic tracking of an infant’s intestines offers new proof that the difference between the two are very real. “For the first time, we can see that breast milk induces genetic pathways that are quite different from those in formula-fed infants,” says [...]

• Step closer to genetically engineered E. coli?

  Chris Jarvis-Texas A&M

  26 Apr 2010 | 9:44 am

  Biochemists have introduced two new amino acids into a single E. coli protein. Previously it had only been possible to introduce a single new amino acid into a protein. The discovery means that bacteria could soon be genetically engineered to produce proteins that have been modified with various characteristics of interest for researchers, says Wenshe [...]

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  Futurity.org: University at Buffalo

• What makes us happy can make us sad

  Patricia Donovan-Buffalo

  30 Aug 2010 | 11:01 am

  U. BUFFALO (US)—The best and worst experiences in life are likely to involve not individual accomplishments, but interactions with other people and the fulfillment of an urge for social connection. “Most of us spend much of our time and effort focused on individual achievements such as work, hobbies, and schooling,” says Shira Gabriel, associate professor of [...]

• Addicts get hooked at the pharmacy

  Lois Baker-Buffalo

  22 Aug 2010 | 1:45 pm

  U. BUFFALO (US)—If you want to know how people become addicted and why they keep using drugs, ask the people who are addicted. Thirty-one of 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification told University at Buffalo physicians they first got hooked on drugs legitimately prescribed for pain. Another 24 began with a friend’s left-over prescription pills or pilfered [...]

• Why kids should skip the school bus

  Charlotte Hsu-Buffalo

  11 Aug 2010 | 8:31 am

  U. BUFFALO (US)—Simply walking to school can reduce stress in children and may curb increases in heart rate and blood pressure that can lead to cardiovascular disease later in life. In a new study, published in the August issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, children who took a simulated walk to [...]

• Back pain eased by a little adversity

  Patricia Donovan-Buffalo

  6 Aug 2010 | 11:57 am

  U. BUFFALO (US)—A little adversity may actually be beneficial and protective to those with chronic back pain, a new study finds. These individuals experience less physical impairment and spend less time in doctor’s offices or health clinics, says Mark Seery, assistant professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo. Seery emphasizes that the key to the benefit [...]

• Tongue studs can cause dental divide

  Sara Saldi-UB

  2 Aug 2010 | 11:05 am

  U. BUFFALO (US)—Tiny barbell-shaped tongue studs can create a small space in the teeth that can cost thousands of dollars of orthodontic bills to correct, according to a new study. “It is a basic tenet of orthodontics that force, over time, moves teeth,” explains Sawsan Tabbaa, assistant professor of orthodontics at the University at Buffalo School [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of California at Berkeley

• Gators thrived on swampy Arctic island

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:06 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Ancient alligators and giant tortoises were able to flourish on Ellesmere Island well above the Arctic Circle some 50 million years ago, even as they endured six months of darkness each year. Now scientists think they know why. Findings from a new study, which looked at temperatures during the early Eocene period 52 to [...]

• DNA sniffs out better artificial nose

  Louis Bergeron-Stanford

  23 Aug 2010 | 11:02 am

  STANFORD (US)—A new approach to building an artificial nose that uses fluorescent compounds and DNA could accelerate the use of sniffing sensors into the realm of mass production and widespread use, according to new research. If the method lives up to its promise, it could one day detect everything from sour milk to high explosives. By sticking [...]

• ADHD links back to early pesticide exposure

  Sarah Yang-Berkeley

  23 Aug 2010 | 7:58 am

  UC BERKELEY (US)—Children exposed to pesticides while still in their mother’s womb are more likely to develop attention disorders years later, according to a new study. The new findings are the first to examine the influence of prenatal exposure on the later development of attention problems. Researchers found that prenatal levels of organophosphate metabolites were significantly linked [...]

• Biofuel success hinges on diverse feedstock

  Jennifer Shike-Illinois

  19 Aug 2010 | 1:43 pm

  U. ILLINOIS (US)—A highly productive perennial grass that grows throughout Canada and the midwestern United States may offer the best bet to produce ethanol sustainably without taking up more of the land currently used for food and feed production. Researchers believe Miscanthus, along with sugarcane, could produce enough ethanol to replace the US’s use of petroleum [...]

• Lower speed limit posted for protein assembly

  Mark Fellows-Michigan State

  17 Aug 2010 | 8:29 am

  MICHIGAN STATE (US)—The apparently random self-assembly of molecular threads into the proteins that make the body work is far less frantic than previously thought, according to new research. The discovery may help clarify the nature of some diseases, including Alzheimer’s, ALS, cystic fibrosis, and diabetes. How proteins spontaneously “fold” from wiggling chains of amino acids into a [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of California at Davis

• Breast cancer protein purified

  Andy Fell-UC Davis

  31 Aug 2010 | 3:06 pm

  UC DAVIS (US)—Two research teams have taken a key step toward understanding the origins of familial breast cancer, opening new possibilities for diagnosing and perhaps treating the disease. Scientists at the University of California at Davis have purified, for the first time, the protein produced by the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2 and used it to [...]

• Teens with ADHD more likely to drop out

  Phyllis Brown-UC Davis

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:05 am

  UC DAVIS (US)—Teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity are less likely to finish high school on time than students with other mental-health disorders that often are considered more serious, according to a new study. Nearly one third of students with ADHD, twice the proportion as students with no psychiatric disorder, either drop out or delay high school graduation. There are [...]

• Minimal dairy antibiotics reach groundwater

  Sylvia Wright-UC Davis

  30 Aug 2010 | 12:25 pm

  UC DAVIS (US)—A wide range of antibiotics given to dairy cows routinely end up on the ground and in manure lagoons, but are mostly broken down before they reach groundwater, according to a new study. The findings should help alleviate longstanding fears that dairy farms, and the fields fertilized with their waste, might lead to large-scale [...]

• Last ice age finished with a fizz

  Ken Branson-Rutgers

  26 Aug 2010 | 12:42 pm

  RUTGERS (US)—Imagine the Earth like an uncapped soda, fizzing and foaming and then returning to normal. Researchers have found evidence that a grand fizz of sorts took place over a 1,000 year period after the end of the last ice age. According to a paper published this month in the journal Nature, the last ice age [...]

• Database tracks bees’ comings and goings

  Krishna Ramanujan-Cornell

  23 Jul 2010 | 12:57 pm

  CORNELL (US)—Bees—key pollinators for one-third of all plant food crops—have declined over the last 50 years, with die-offs in recent years stumping scientists and making headlines. A $1.5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) multi-institutional grant will consolidate data from 10 natural history bee collections across the United States and enter them into a searchable, publicly available [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Chicago

• Hourly workers hit hard by recession

  William Harms-Chicago

  3 Sep 2010 | 10:16 am

  U. CHICAGO (US)—A record number of U.S. workers are involuntarily working part-time due to reduced hours or the inability to find a full-time job. Hourly workers—the majority of the wage and salary workforce—are especially susceptible to reduced, irregular, and fluctuating hours—and the myriad of challenges associated with them—according to a new report. Although much has been made [...]

• How social work has failed black men

  William Harms-Chicago

  31 Aug 2010 | 2:16 pm

  U. CHICAGO (US)—Among disadvantaged people in the United States, the most needy and least helped are perhaps African-American men, according to a new book that details the disadvantages that black men face and suggests ways social workers can help. Black men suffer in a variety of ways, including being stereotyped as reckless and having little regard [...]

• Committed relationships ease stress

  William Harms-Chicago

  18 Aug 2010 | 12:43 pm

  U. CHICAGO (US)—Being married has often been associated with improving people’s health. Now a new study suggests that having that long–term bond also alters hormones in a way that reduces stress. Unmarried people in a committed, romantic relationship show the same reduced responses to stress as do married people, says Dario Maestripieri, professor of comparative human [...]

• Dark-matter search plunges to new depths

  Steve Koppes-Chicago

  12 Aug 2010 | 12:15 pm

  U. CHICAGO (US)—Researchers are expecting a bubble chamber more than a mile underground will reveal dark matter’s secret identity. Scientists are deploying a 4-kilogram bubble chamber at SNOLab, part of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Ontario, Canada, in anticipation that dark matter particles will leave bubbles in their tracks when passing through the liquid in one [...]

• Kids with injured brains tell shorter stories

  William Harms-Chicago

  30 Jul 2010 | 1:13 pm

  U. CHICAGO (US)—Children with brain lesions have difficulty developing storytelling skills even though other language abilities, such as vocabulary, tend to catch up with other children as they mature, research shows. “Our findings suggest that there may be limitations to the remarkable flexibility for language functions displayed by children with brain injuries,” says Özlem Ece Demir, [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Colorado at Boulder

• Exploding supernova spews star guts

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  3 Sep 2010 | 11:19 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Astronomers have been able to measure the velocity and composition of “star guts” being ejected into space following the explosion of a nearby supernova, thanks to a newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope. The team detected significant brightening of emissions from Supernova 1987A—the closest exploding star to Earth—which were consistent with some theoretical predictions about [...]

• Gators thrived on swampy Arctic island

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  31 Aug 2010 | 10:06 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Ancient alligators and giant tortoises were able to flourish on Ellesmere Island well above the Arctic Circle some 50 million years ago, even as they endured six months of darkness each year. Now scientists think they know why. Findings from a new study, which looked at temperatures during the early Eocene period 52 to [...]

• Is sun causing thermosphere to shrink?

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:08 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Large changes in the sun’s energy output may drive unexpectedly dramatic fluctuations in Earth’s outer atmosphere, according to a new study. The research, linking a recent, temporary shrinking of a high atmospheric layer with a sharp drop in the sun’s ultraviolet radiation levels, indicates that the sun’s magnetic cycle, which produces differing numbers of [...]

• Baby asteroids make a break for it

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  27 Aug 2010 | 10:52 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—While the common perception of asteroids is that they are giant rocks lumbering about in orbit, a new study shows they actually are constantly changing “little worlds” that can give birth to smaller asteroids that split off to start their own lives as they circle around the sun. Astronomers have known that small asteroids [...]

• Ancient ice core holds climate future clues

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  12 Aug 2010 | 10:47 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—An international science team working on the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project has hit bedrock after two summers of work, drilling down more than 1.5 miles in an effort to assess the risks of abrupt future climate change. The team recovered ice from the Eemian interglacial period from about 115,000 to 130,000 [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Florida

• 5 reasons to keep filthy flies off food

  Mickie Anderson-Florida

  31 Aug 2010 | 7:16 am

  U. FLORIDA (US)—Researchers have documented five bacteria species carried by house flies that cause illness in humans, ranging from food poisoning to respiratory infections. In the current issue of Florida Entomologist, the researchers from the University of Florida describe collecting house flies near rear entrances and trash bins at four restaurants in Gainesville. About 20 flies [...]

• When pain isn’t very painful

  Ron Wayne-U. Florida

  24 Aug 2010 | 12:18 pm

  U. FLORIDA (US)—Scientists have identified two genetic mutations that cause congenital insensitivity to pain: a condition that affects how strongly pain signals are sent to the brain. “This is a gene that, depending on how it is modified, has the ability to affect pain sensitivity to a large degree,” says Roland Staud, professor of medicine at [...]

• Tylenol’s good for heartaches, too?

  Cathy Keen-Florida

  12 Aug 2010 | 10:02 am

  U. FLORIDA (US)—A new study shows that acetaminophen, an ingredient in the popular over-the-counter pain reliever Tylenol, may relieve social pain from hurt feelings. The findings suggest for the first time that emotional and physical pain are interrelated, says Gregory Webster, a University of Florida psychologist who coauthored the study with a team of researchers. “We think [...]

• Donkey DNA identifies ancient African roots

  Ron Wayne-U. Florida

  9 Aug 2010 | 10:48 am

  U. FLORIDA (US)—The critically endangered African wild ass—which today exists only in small numbers in eastern Africa, zoos, and wildlife preserves—is the living ancestor of the modern donkey, according to new research. Donkeys were domesticated by mobile, pastoral people who had to recruit animals to help them survive the harsh Saharan landscape in northern Africa more [...]

• Alien planets dance around dying star

  Kathy Svitil-Caltech

  29 Jul 2010 | 8:08 am

  CALTECH/U. FLORIDA (US)—While most extrasolar planets orbit too far from one another to feel each other’s gravity, researchers have found two systems with pairs of gas giant planets locked in an orbital embrace. In one system—a planetary pair orbiting the massive, dying star HD 200964, located roughly 223 light-years from Earth—the intimate dance is closer and [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Illinois

• Fishy baby food that’s yuck-free

  Phyllis Picklesimer-Illinois

  25 Aug 2010 | 8:52 am

  U. ILLINOIS (US)—Food scientist Susan Brewer says there are two important reasons to turn toddlers on to fish. That’s why she’s developing a salmon baby food that kids will actually eat. “Babies need a lot of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish for brain, nerve, and eye development, and when they switch from breast milk [...]

• More efficient biofuels from better yeast

  Phyllis Picklesimer-Illinois

  23 Aug 2010 | 12:38 pm

  U. ILLINOIS (US)—Engineers believe a new strain of yeast with increased alcohol tolerance is the first step toward more efficient and economical production of biofuels. Biofuels are produced through microbial fermentation of biomass crops, which yield the alcohol-based fuels ethanol and iso-butanol if yeast is used as the microbe to convert sugars from biomass into biofuels. “However, [...]

• Biofuel success hinges on diverse feedstock

  Jennifer Shike-Illinois

  19 Aug 2010 | 1:43 pm

  U. ILLINOIS (US)—A highly productive perennial grass that grows throughout Canada and the midwestern United States may offer the best bet to produce ethanol sustainably without taking up more of the land currently used for food and feed production. Researchers believe Miscanthus, along with sugarcane, could produce enough ethanol to replace the US’s use of petroleum [...]

• Peeking inside the mind of a piglet

  Jennifer Shike-Illinois

  11 Aug 2010 | 8:37 am

  U. ILLINOIS (US)—Researchers have found that neonatal piglets are capable of being trained in traditional learning and memory tests. As a result, these piglets can provide critical information that could directly benefit human health. Details of the work are reported in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. “Studies suggest that inadequate nutrition, stress, and infection leave fingerprints [...]

• Swimming pool or toxic brew?

  Jennifer Shike-Illinois

  29 Jul 2010 | 1:43 pm

  U. ILLINOIS (US)—Splashing around in a swimming pool on a hot summer day may not be as safe as you think. A recent study links the application of disinfectants in recreational pools to health problems such as asthma and bladder cancer. While disinfection of recreational pools is critical to prevent outbreaks of infectious disease, Michael Plewa, [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Iowa

• Structural defects precede heart failure

  Jennifer Brown-Iowa

  2 Sep 2010 | 11:03 am

  U. IOWA (US)—The disruption of a structural component in heart muscle cells associated with heart failure appears to occur even before heart function starts to decline, according to a new study. Researchers believe that understanding how the disruption occurs may lead to new ways to diagnose or treat heart failure. The structure is a highly organized network [...]

• Cell interaction determines development

  Gary Galluzzo-Iowa

  4 Aug 2010 | 6:16 am

  U. IOWA (US)—New findings on how cells make specific interactions during development should help scientists better understand why the points of communication between nerve cells at times go awry—causing developmental disorders like autism and mental retardation. Cell adhesion is the way in which one cell binds itself to another cell by using specific molecules, one large [...]

• Why black carbon’s in the climate hotseat

  Gary Galluzzo-Iowa

  30 Jul 2010 | 8:26 am

  U. IOWA (US)—Increasing the ratio of black carbon to sulphate in the atmosphere increases climate warming, finds a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Black carbons—arising from such sources as diesel engine exhaust and cooking fires—are widely considered a factor in global warming and are an important component of air pollution around the world, [...]

• Coral protection efforts miss the mark

  Gary Galluzzo-Iowa

  24 Jun 2010 | 4:56 am

  U. IOWA (US)—Conservation efforts aimed at protecting endangered Caribbean corals may be overlooking regions where corals are best equipped to evolve in response to global warming and other climatic challenges. “Current conservation priorities are calculated on the basis of species richness, endemism (geographical uniqueness), and threats,” says Ann Budd, professor of geoscience at the University of [...]

• Hijacking HIV protein rendered in 3-D

  Jennifer Brown-Iowa

  11 Jun 2010 | 1:44 pm

  U. IOWA (US)—Creation of a three-dimensional picture of an important protein that is involved in how HIV is produced in human cells may help researchers design drugs that can prevent the virus from reproducing. Researchers combined protein chemistry and X-ray crystallography—a technique for observing protein structures—to produce the first crystal structure of the HIV protein called [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Kansas

• Is ’spin’ in for next-gen computers?

  Brendan Lynch-KU

  24 Aug 2010 | 12:07 pm

  U. KANSAS (US)—Using powerful lasers, researchers have discovered a new way to recognize currents of spinning electrons within a semiconductor. The findings, published in the journal Nature Physics, could lead the way to development of superior computers and electronics, and could help advance the field of “spintronics.” “The goal is to replace everything—from computers to memory devices—to [...]

• Is climate change helping marmots bulk up?

  Shemina Davis-Sheffield

  21 Jul 2010 | 10:35 am

  U. SHEFFIELD (UK)—Longer summers brought on by climate change are giving mountain marmots an earlier wake-up call from hibernation, allowing them more time to gain weight and reproduce, according to a new study. Details of the 33-year study appear in Nature. Scientists from the U.K. and U.S. looked at a population of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris), which [...]

• Autism’s unique vocal signature revealed

  Jill Jess-Kansas

  21 Jul 2010 | 8:23 am

  U. KANSAS (US)—Pre-verbal vocalizations of very young children with autism are distinctly different from those of typically developing children, according to new automated vocal analysis technology. The LENA (Language Environment Analysis) system was able to make the distinction with 86 percent accuracy and also differentiated typically developing children and children with autism from children with language [...]

• Monarchs fly north toward uncertain future

  Jill Jess-Kansas

  11 May 2010 | 2:06 pm

  U. KANSAS (US)—Low temperatures, storms, and habitat destruction made it a tough winter in Mexico for monarch butterflies, but the news is not all doom and gloom. “I spend a lot of time fretting over the status of the monarch population and I’m always searching for factors or data that will help me understand the past [...]

• Cheating in college? Prepare to fail

  Brendan Lynch-KU

  24 Mar 2010 | 8:26 am

  “People believe that students copy because of their poor academic skills,” Young-Jin Lee says. “But we found that repetitive copiers—students who copy over 30 percent of their homework problems—had enough knowledge, at least at the beginning of the semester. But they didn’t put enough effort in. They didn’t start their homework long enough ahead of [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Michigan

• Front row seat to ultrafast chemical reaction

  Nancy Ross-Flanigan-Michigan

  1 Sep 2010 | 10:59 am

  U. MICHIGAN (US)—To best observe chemical transformations in solution, molecular spectators have to be close to the action. Scientists have known for decades that molecules that comprise the “first solvation shell” sense and dictate the fate of nearly every chemical reaction, but it has been virtually impossible to watch them respond for several reasons. First, fundamental steps [...]

• Wasps punish peers for posing

  Nancy Ross-Flanigan-Michigan

  22 Aug 2010 | 5:19 pm

  U. MICHIGAN (US)—Falsely advertising fighting ability is a no-no in paper wasp societies. Such deception is discouraged through punishment, according to new research published in the journal Current Biology. Rather than wasting energy by constantly fighting with rivals, many animals use signals that say, in effect, “Don’t mess with me; I can whip you.” But what’s [...]

• Smart job seekers skip Mad Men martinis

  Bernie DeGroat-Michigan

  10 Aug 2010 | 12:41 pm

  U. MICHIGAN/U. PENNSYLVANIA (US)—Drinking alcohol during a lunch or dinner job interview—even when the boss does—could lower the likelihood of getting hired, according to a new study. “Alcohol consumption plays a prominent role in many professional interactions, including job interviews, negotiations, and informal meetings,” says Scott Rick, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan. “By [...]

• Scaffold sizes up stem cell force

  Nicole Casal Moore-Michigan

  10 Aug 2010 | 7:57 am

  U. MICHIGAN/U. PENN (US)—Within 24 hours of culturing adult human stem cells on a new type of matrix, researchers were able to make predictions about how the cells would differentiate, or what type of tissue they would become. Differentiation is the process of stem cells morphing into other types of cells. Understanding it is key to [...]

• Biomarkers for heart disease risk identified

  Melanie Haberstroh-King's College London

  6 Aug 2010 | 6:43 am

  KING’S COLLEGE LONDON (UK)—A world-wide consortium of researchers has identified 59 novel regions of the human genome that are involved in lipid metabolism. Lipid concentrations in the blood are one of the key risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). Details of the study were reported in the journal Nature. This study represents the most comprehensive analysis [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• All-purpose antidote to chem warfare?

  Patric Lane-UNC

  18 Aug 2010 | 8:39 am

  UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US)—In chemical warfare, nerve agents inhibit an enzyme that is crucial for muscle control, causing victims to suffocate. A research team has engineered a similar enzyme to act like a bio-scavenger—destroying all known nerve agents before they can do harm. Biochemist Andy Hemmert has been working on the project for the past five years [...]

• Biomarkers for heart disease risk identified

  Melanie Haberstroh-King's College London

  6 Aug 2010 | 6:43 am

  KING’S COLLEGE LONDON (UK)—A world-wide consortium of researchers has identified 59 novel regions of the human genome that are involved in lipid metabolism. Lipid concentrations in the blood are one of the key risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). Details of the study were reported in the journal Nature. This study represents the most comprehensive analysis [...]

• Enzyme puts kibosh on chronic pain

  Leslie Lang-UNC

  4 Aug 2010 | 6:59 am

  UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US)—Researchers have identified an enzyme that blocks chronic pain by robbing a major pain pathway of a key molecule. “It has the potential to block or dramatically reduce pain, possibly in surgical settings,” says lead researcher Mark Zylka, assistant professor in the cell and molecular physiology department at the University of North Carolina at [...]

• Nano-protein pair kill cancer cells

  Patric Lane-UNC

  28 Jul 2010 | 8:20 am

  UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US)—A normally benign protein found in the human body appears to be able—when paired with nanoparticles—to zero in on and kill certain cancer cells, without the use of chemotherapy drugs. The finding could lead to a new strategy for targeted cancer therapies, according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists who [...]

• Why are stem cells so willing to change?

  Tom Hughes-UNC

  21 Jul 2010 | 1:51 pm

  UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US)—A protein called Tet1 appears to play a critical role in helping stem cells do what they do best: renew and become any type of cell in the body—a quality known as pluripotency. “This may be one component of a cocktail to reprogram a specialized cell to ‘go back’ to the undifferentiated, embryonic stem [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Oregon

• Chinese meditation boosts brain activity

  Jim Barlow-Oregon

  16 Aug 2010 | 12:42 pm

  U. OREGON (US)—Just 11 hours of learning a Chinese meditation technique boosts efficiency in a part of the brain that helps a person regulate behavior, according to new research. The technique—integrative body-mind training (IBMT)—has been the focus of scrutiny by researchers led by Yi-Yuan Tang of Dalian University of Technology in collaboration with University of Oregon [...]

• Americans crave self-respect over security

  Jim Barlow-Oregon

  11 Jun 2010 | 11:05 am

  U. OREGON (US)—The desire for self-respect has risen significantly in the last two decades as a core value for Americans. Meanwhile, the needs for both security and a sense of belonging have declined in the last 30 years. In the world of marketing and advertising, the findings indicate that people have shifted from a desire of [...]

• Academic probation hits college guys harder

  Jim Barlow-Oregon

  13 May 2010 | 2:03 pm

  OREGON (US)—Male college students, especially those who did well in high school, are much more likely than females to drop out when placed on academic probation after their first year in school. College students who bounce back from academic probation subsequently do improve their grades and improve their graduation prospects, a new study also finds. Details [...]

• Digital sink or swim for college undergrads

  Jim Barlow-Oregon

  12 Apr 2010 | 12:25 pm

  Computer technology and Internet access are keys to success in college, but students often leave high school with very little skill, says Joanna Goode. “Once you walk onto campus, you can’t enroll in classes, you can’t get financial aid, you can’t get onto Blackboard, you can’t answer e-mails. If you have no technology knowledge, you [...]

• The sibling side effect of autism

  Jim Barlow-Oregon

  9 Mar 2010 | 9:25 am

  Siblings of children with autism probably should be watched with appropriate academic supports in place, says Laura Lee McIntyre. “Our findings are rather positive overall, but these kids should be on our radar screens,” she adds. “It has been shown that around 30 percent of siblings of autistic children have some associated difficulties in behavior, [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Pennsylvania

• Sodium MRI gives arthritis an early look

  James Devitt-NYU

  30 Aug 2010 | 8:11 am

  NYU (US)—An innovative way to look at the development of osteoarthritis in the knee joint relies on the examination of sodium ions in cartilage. Researchers believe the new method may provide a non-invasive method to diagnose the condition in its very early stages. The concentration of sodium ions, which are distributed in the body, is known to [...]

• Genomes of ultra-social ants sequenced

  Dorie Klissas-NYU

  27 Aug 2010 | 7:32 am

  NYU (US)—Scientists have at last sequenced the entire genome of two very different species of ant. The insights gleaned from the genetic blueprints are already yielding clues to their fascinating social behavior. The work by researchers at New York University is detailed this week in the journal Science. Comparing the two ant species—Jerdon’s jumping ant and the [...]

• Gene linked to Lou Gehrig’s disease

  Jordan Reese-Penn

  25 Aug 2010 | 11:11 am

  U. PENN (US)—Researchers have found evidence that mutations in a specific gene are a risk factor for Lou Gehrig’s disease, a condition also known as ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania shows that expansions of a run of the amino acid glutamine in the ataxin 2 gene are [...]

• Smart job seekers skip Mad Men martinis

  Bernie DeGroat-Michigan

  10 Aug 2010 | 12:41 pm

  U. MICHIGAN/U. PENNSYLVANIA (US)—Drinking alcohol during a lunch or dinner job interview—even when the boss does—could lower the likelihood of getting hired, according to a new study. “Alcohol consumption plays a prominent role in many professional interactions, including job interviews, negotiations, and informal meetings,” says Scott Rick, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan. “By [...]

• Fish-gut clue to human immunity

  Jordan Reese-Penn

  10 Aug 2010 | 10:17 am

  U. PENN (US)—Researchers have identified the function of one of the earliest antibodies in the animal kingdom, an ancient immunoglobulin that helps explain the evolution of human intestinal immune responses. It plays a predominant role in the guts of fish and paves the way for a better understanding of human gut immunity—as well as for safer, [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Rochester

• Old drug puts up a fight against lung bug

  Tom Rickey-Rochester

  23 Aug 2010 | 5:48 am

  U. ROCHESTER (US)—A drug to treat inflammation plays a surprising role reducing the level of infection caused by an opportunistic bug that is deadly for AIDS and cancer patients and others with weakened immune systems. The drug, sulfasalazine, spurs the body to get rid of the fungal evaders by enhancing its ability to chew them up [...]

• Early flaw brings on muscular dystrophy

  Tom Rickey-Rochester

  20 Aug 2010 | 1:43 pm

  U. ROCHESTER (US)—Nearly two decades after they identified the specific genetic flaw that causes a common type of muscular dystrophy, scientists believe they have figured out how that flaw brings about the disease. The finding by an international team of researchers settles a longstanding question about the roots of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy or FSHD. The work was [...]

• Membrane gets permeable in purple light

  Alan Blank-Rochester

  2 Aug 2010 | 9:34 pm

  U. ROCHESTER (US)—A newly developed membrane blocks gas from flowing through it when one color of light is shined on its surface, and permits gas to flow through when another color of light is used. It is the first time that scientists have developed a membrane that can be controlled in this way by light. The membrane [...]

• Gals go gaga over guys in red

  Susan Hagen-Rochester

  2 Aug 2010 | 8:44 am

  U. ROCHESTER (US)—Simply wearing the color red—or being bordered by the rosy hue—makes a man more attractive and sexually desirable to women, a new study finds. Interestingly, the study also shows that women are unaware of red’s arousing effect. Full details are reported in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. The cherry color’s charm ultimately lies in [...]

• Evolution on the fly: Look, Ma! No genes!

  Alan Blank-Rochester

  15 Jul 2010 | 4:42 am

  U. ROCHESTER (US)—Researchers have identified a new mechanism for evolution that bypasses genes altogether. A research team has chronicled a striking example of a bacteria infecting an animal, giving the animal a reproductive advantage, and being passed from mother to children. This symbiotic relationship between host animal and bacteria gives the host animal a readymade defense against [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Southern California

• Is sun causing thermosphere to shrink?

  Jim Scott CU-Boulder

  30 Aug 2010 | 7:08 am

  U. COLORADO (US)—Large changes in the sun’s energy output may drive unexpectedly dramatic fluctuations in Earth’s outer atmosphere, according to a new study. The research, linking a recent, temporary shrinking of a high atmospheric layer with a sharp drop in the sun’s ultraviolet radiation levels, indicates that the sun’s magnetic cycle, which produces differing numbers of [...]

• Nitric oxide increases children’s asthma risk

  James Grant-USC

  19 Jul 2010 | 6:59 am

  USC (US)—Children with elevated levels of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) are at increased risk for developing asthma, particularly among children without a parental history of the disease, according to a new study. The findings suggest that FeNO may be a useful biomarker for identifying children at risk for the disease, and in developing strategies for preventing [...]

• When do newborns first feel cold?

  Carl Marziali-USC

  18 Jun 2010 | 10:57 am

  USC (US)—Cold sensing neural circuits in newborn mice take around two weeks to become fully active, according to a new study. The finding adds to understanding of the cold sensing protein TRPM8 (pronounced trip-em-ate), first identified in a Nature paper in 2002 by David McKemy of the University of Southern California. McKemy’s latest study, published online by [...]

• Mantle flow can move mountains

  Carl Marziali-USC

  3 Jun 2010 | 8:12 am

  USC (US)—If tectonic plate collisions cause volcanic eruptions, why do some volcanoes erupt far from a plate boundary? A study in the journal Nature suggests that volcanoes and mountains in the Mediterranean can grow from the pressure of the semi-liquid mantle pushing on Earth’s crust from below. “The rise and subsidence of different points of the earth [...]

• Who’s the vital link in your social network?

  Meghan Lewit-USC

  7 May 2010 | 9:05 am

  “Past research has focused on identifying central individuals, or leaders, in the group to accelerate behavior change or stem disease spread within groups, organizations, or communities,” says public health expert Thomas Valente. “This study shows that identifying bridging individuals who connect two otherwise disconnected subgroups is a more efficient way to achieve these same goals.” [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Texas at Austin

• Drink a day keeps Grim Reaper away

  Tim Green-U. Texas

  31 Aug 2010 | 12:28 pm

  U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—Moderate drinking—about one to two drinks per day—reduces mortality among older and middle-aged adults. A study appearing in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, finds the health benefits of drinking among older adults are intrinsically linked to moderation. Using data gathered from a larger study of late-life patterns of drinking, Charles Holahan, professor of psychology at [...]

• Computer models shake up plate tectonics

  Kathy Svitil-Caltech

  27 Aug 2010 | 12:32 pm

  CALTECH / U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—New computer algorithms allow for the first time simultaneous modeling of the earth’s mantle flow, large-scale tectonic plate motions, and the behavior of individual fault zones. The result is an unprecedented view of plate tectonics and the forces that drive it. A paper describing the whole-earth model and its underlying algorithms will [...]

• Green at heart, but not in the wallet

  Tim Green-U. Texas

  24 Aug 2010 | 9:13 am

  U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—While 40 percent of consumers say they are willing to buy green products, only 4 percent actually do, according to a new study. Published in the Journal of Marketing, the study finds that while most people like to give the impression that environmental friendliness is a factor in shopping decisions, many would rather choose [...]

• Foreclosures one piece of crime rate puzzle

  Tim Green-U. Texas

  18 Aug 2010 | 10:03 am

  U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—High levels of foreclosures in a community do not independently lead to increased crime rates, as previously believed. More than 6.4 million U.S. properties entered foreclosure between 2007 and 2009, according to RealtyTrac, the largest foreclosure database in the nation. “Foreclosures do not independently affect crime,” says David Kirk, assistant professor of sociology at the [...]

• What drives extremists to ultimate sacrifice?

  Tim Green-U. Texas

  13 Aug 2010 | 6:42 am

  U. TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—People with extremely strong ties to their countries or groups are not only willing, but eager, to sacrifice themselves to save their fellow members, according to a new study. The majority of “fused” people, those who view themselves as completely immersed in a group (be it ethnic, national, or other), are willing to commit [...]

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  Futurity.org: University of Washington

• Why traveling birds need army ants

  Bob Roseth-UW

  1 Sep 2010 | 4:56 am

  U. WASHINGTON-SEATTLE (US)—The health of some migratory birds in the United States may depend in part on colonies of army ants that inhabit the foothills near Monteverde, Costa Rica. This is one of the conclusions of a study recently published in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology. Sean O’Donnell, professor of psychology at the University of Washington and [...]

• Mobile sign language that’s 3G friendly

  Hannah Hickey-UW

  17 Aug 2010 | 6:59 am

  U. WASHINGTON-SEATTLE (US)—Engineers are developing the first device able to transmit American Sign Language over U.S. cellular networks. The tool is just completing its initial field test by participants in a University of Washington summer program for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. “This is the first study of how deaf people in the United States use mobile video [...]

• Pain relief (sans trip) via body’s ‘marijuana’?

  Leila Gray-UW

  16 Aug 2010 | 1:01 pm

  U. WASHINGTON-SEATTLE (US)—A newly discovered molecular mechanism helps control the amount and effectiveness of a substance that mimics an active ingredient in marijuana, but that is produced by the body’s own nerve cells. Researchers from the University of Washington reported results in the journal Nature Neuroscience. In previous work, scientists showed that the body manufactures several cell [...]

• Designing safer drivers

  Hannah Hickey-UW

  16 Aug 2010 | 11:17 am

  U. WASHINGTON-SEATTLE (US)—There may be good news for drivers swerving while sending one last text message—not to mention those worried about ending up in their path. Early research shows an in-car coach has the strongest effect on drivers most prone to distraction. A recent study, published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering, classified young drivers as [...]

• Tea Party sites far right of National Review?

  Bob Roseth-UW

  12 Aug 2010 | 8:28 am

  U. WASHINGTON-SEATTLE (US)—A new study of official Tea Party movement websites in almost a dozen states suggests the group’s political concerns lie beyond the American mainstream—and the conservative mainstream as well. “To the extent that contemporary conservatism rests on a belief in small government, the views we found on the websites are not consistent with those [...]

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  Futurity.org: Vanderbilt University

• Mosquitoes sniff out prey with multi-sensors

  David Salisbury-VU

  1 Sep 2010 | 8:48 am

  VANDERBILT (US)—To track human prey, malaria mosquitoes use several different kinds of odor sensors, according to a new study. The discovery may help in the development of new and more effective forms of mosquito lures and repellents. The findings provide striking new evidence that Anopheles gambiae—the species of mosquito that spreads malaria that infects some 250 million [...]

• ‘Bendable’ brain adapts to what eyes see

  Jennifer Johnston-Vanderbilt

  3 Aug 2010 | 8:52 am

  VANDERBILT (US)—The human brain never stops adapting to its environment in a quest to formulate what the mind perceives based on what the eyes see, according to a new study. The research adds credence to the notion that adult brains can be retrained following trauma or surgery or even from the effects of aging or eye [...]

• Putting the brakes on impulsive behavior

  Jennifer Johnston-Vanderbilt

  3 Aug 2010 | 7:07 am

  VANDERBILT (US)—Why some people are more susceptible to rash behavior and act without thinking is related to a specific deficit in the way the brain regulates dopamine signaling, according to new research. The findings are important because impulsive personality traits are strongly associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity and antisocial personality disorders, and impulsivity is a key risk [...]

• How water helps us lose weight

  David Salisbury-VU

  12 Jul 2010 | 7:59 am

  VANDERBILT (US)—Ordinary water—without any additives—does more than just quench thirst. It increases the activity of the sympathetic—fight or flight—nervous system, which raises alertness, blood pressure, and energy expenditure. Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center first observed water’s curious ability to increase blood pressure about 10 years ago, in patients who had lost their baroreflexes—the system that [...]

• Pump out peptides for low-cost drugs

  David Salisbury-VU

  28 Jun 2010 | 8:44 am

  VANDERBILT (US)—A new way to chemically synthesize peptides promises to lower the cost and increase the availability of drugs based on natural compounds. Researchers from Vanderbilt University describe the technique in the journal Nature. Peptides are polymers made by stringing together two or more amino acids, the chemical building blocks of life, in a linear chain and [...]

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  Futurity.org: Washington University in St. Louis

• Stay hungry to stay awake

  Michael Purdy-WUSTL

  2 Sep 2010 | 10:21 am

  WASHINGTON U.-ST. LOUIS (US)—Being hungry may provide a way to stay awake without feeling groggy or mentally challenged, according to new research with fruit flies. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis found that starvation allows the need for nourishment to push aside the need for sleep. The study appears online this week in PLoS Biology. Like [...]

• To win, brain says ’show me the money’

  Tony Fitzpatrick-WUSTL

  20 Aug 2010 | 8:58 am

  WASHINGTON U.-ST. LOUIS (US)—When there’s money on the table, some people always find a way to win. New research suggests that a specific brain area helps “money players” use the prospect of success to better prepare their thoughts and actions—and increase the odds of winning reward. The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, identified a [...]

• Donkey DNA identifies ancient African roots

  Ron Wayne-U. Florida

  9 Aug 2010 | 10:48 am

  U. FLORIDA (US)—The critically endangered African wild ass—which today exists only in small numbers in eastern Africa, zoos, and wildlife preserves—is the living ancestor of the modern donkey, according to new research. Donkeys were domesticated by mobile, pastoral people who had to recruit animals to help them survive the harsh Saharan landscape in northern Africa more [...]

• Biomarkers for heart disease risk identified

  Melanie Haberstroh-King's College London

  6 Aug 2010 | 6:43 am

  KING’S COLLEGE LONDON (UK)—A world-wide consortium of researchers has identified 59 novel regions of the human genome that are involved in lipid metabolism. Lipid concentrations in the blood are one of the key risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD). Details of the study were reported in the journal Nature. This study represents the most comprehensive analysis [...]

• Orangutans rule as couch potato kings

  Neil Schoenherr-WUSTL

  4 Aug 2010 | 7:17 am

  WASHINGTON U.-ST. LOUIS (US)—Orangutans living in a large indoor/outdoor habitat use less energy, relative to body mass, than nearly any eutherian mammal ever measured, including sedentary humans. All this despite activity levels similar to orangutans in the wild. “It’s like finding a sloth in your family tree,” says Herman Pontzer, assistant professor of anthropology at Washington University [...]

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  Futurity.org: Yale University

• Mosquitoes sniff out prey with multi-sensors

  David Salisbury-VU

  1 Sep 2010 | 8:48 am

  VANDERBILT (US)—To track human prey, malaria mosquitoes use several different kinds of odor sensors, according to a new study. The discovery may help in the development of new and more effective forms of mosquito lures and repellents. The findings provide striking new evidence that Anopheles gambiae—the species of mosquito that spreads malaria that infects some 250 million [...]

• Gene mutation behaving (not so) badly

  Bill Hathaway-Yale

  26 Aug 2010 | 11:34 am

  YALE (US)—Researchers have unraveled the secrets of a rare phenomenon with potential therapeutic implications: disease-causing genes that show a high frequency of self-repair. In today’s issue of Science Express, the Yale University team describes how one mutated copy of a gene called keratin 10 causes a severe skin disease known as ichthyosis with confetti. However, amidst the [...]

• Antidepressant has ‘magic’ properties

  Bill Hathaway-Yale

  19 Aug 2010 | 11:56 am

  YALE (US)—Researchers have discovered how a novel antidepressant can take effect in hours, rather than the weeks or months usually required for most drugs currently on the market. The findings should speed development of a safe and easy-to-administer form of the antidepressant ketamine, which has already proven effective in treating severely depressed patients. Scientists found that in [...]

• Chinese herbs ease chemo side effects

  Bill Hathaway-Yale

  18 Aug 2010 | 2:14 pm

  YALE (US)—A combination of Chinese herbs in use for more than 1,800 years reduced the gastrointestinal side effects of chemotherapy in mice, while actually enhancing the effects of the cancer treatment, researchers report. The formula used in the experiment consists of four herbs, called PHY906, and is based on a herbal recipe called Huang Qin Tang, [...]

• Are brains born programmed for obesity?

  Karen Peart-Yale

  4 Aug 2010 | 2:25 pm

  YALE (US)—Why is it that two people can consume the same high-fat, high-calorie Western diet and one becomes obese and prone to diabetes while the other maintains a slim frame? A recent study provides a simple explanation: Weight is set before birth in the developing brain. Researchers analyzed the question in specific groups of rats. These animals [...]