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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


Nanotechnology used to hunt for hidden pathogens

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 02:59 PM PDT

Researchers have developed a novel technique that may give doctors a faster and more sensitive tool to detect pathogens associated with inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease. The new nanoparticle-based technique also may be used for detection of other microbes that have challenged scientists for centuries because they hide deep in human tissue and are able to reprogram cells to successfully evade the immune system.

Social stress changes immune system gene expression in primates

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 01:45 PM PDT

The ranking of a monkey within her social environment and the stress accompanying that status dramatically alters the expression of nearly 1,000 genes, a new scientific study reports. The research is the first to demonstrate a link between social status and genetic regulation in primates on a genome-wide scale, revealing a strong, plastic link between social environment and biology.

Loss of predators in Northern Hemisphere affecting ecosystem health

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:39 AM PDT

A survey done on the loss in the Northern Hemisphere of large predators, particularly wolves, concludes that current populations of moose, deer, and other large herbivores far exceed their historic levels and are contributing to disrupted ecosystems. They are crippling the growth of young trees and reducing biodiversity. This also contributes to deforestation and results in less carbon sequestration, a potential concern with climate change.

Opening the gate to robust quantum computing: New technique for solid-state quantum info processing

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:39 AM PDT

Scientists have overcome a major hurdle facing quantum computing: How to protect quantum information from degradation by the environment while simultaneously performing computation in a solid-state quantum system.

NASA spacecraft spot something new on the sun

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:38 AM PDT

One day in the fall of 2011, a solar scientist did what he always does -- look through the daily images of the sun from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. But on this day he saw something he'd never noticed before: A pattern of cells with bright centers and dark boundaries occurring in the sun's atmosphere, the corona.

'Nanobubbles' plus chemotherapy equals single-cell cancer targeting

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 10:37 AM PDT

Using light-harvesting nanoparticles to convert laser energy into "plasmonic nanobubbles," researchers have developed methods for delivering chemotherapy drugs directly into cancer cells. In tests on drug-resistant cancer, the researchers found the methods were up to 30 times more deadly to cancer cells than traditional chemotherapy and required less than one-tenth the clinical dose.

Maternal obesity, diabetes associated with autism, other developmental disorders

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 07:39 AM PDT

A major study of the relationships between maternal metabolic conditions and the risk that a child will be born with a neurodevelopmental disorder has found strong links between maternal diabetes and obesity and the likelihood of having a child with autism or another developmental disability.

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