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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


Understanding how salamanders grow new limbs provides insights into potential of human regenerative medicine

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 12:21 PM PDT

By studying amphibians that can regenerate missing limbs, scientists have discovered that it isn't enough to activate genes that kick start the regenerative process. In fact, one of the first steps is to halt the activity of so-called jumping genes. In a new paper, researchers show that in the Mexican axolotl, jumping genes have to be shackled or they might move around in the genomes of cells in the tissue destined to become a new limb, and disrupt the process of regeneration.

Lab encodes collagen: Program defines stable sequences for synthesis, could help fight disease, design drugs

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:37 AM PDT

In a discovery with implications for drug design, tissue engineering and the treatment of disease, researchers have created a program to encode self-assembling collagen proteins.

Language use is simpler than previously thought, study suggests

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:35 AM PDT

For more than 50 years, language scientists have assumed that sentence structure is fundamentally hierarchical, made up of small parts in turn made of smaller parts, like Russian nesting dolls. But a new study suggests language use is simpler than they had thought.

Scientists prevent heart failure in mice

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:32 AM PDT

Cardiac stress -- for example, a heart attack or high blood pressure -- frequently leads to pathological heart growth and subsequently to heart failure. Two tiny RNA molecules play a key role in this detrimental development in mice, as researchers have now discovered. When they inhibited one of those two specific molecules, they were able to protect the rodent against pathological heart growth and failure. With these findings, the scientists hope to be able to develop therapeutic approaches that can protect humans against heart failure.

Human brains develop wiring slowly, differing from chimpanzees

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:26 AM PDT

Research comparing brain development in humans and our closest nonhuman primate relatives, chimpanzees, reveals how quickly myelin in the cerebral cortex grows, shedding light on the evolution of human cognitive development and the vulnerability of humans to psychiatric disorders. Myelin is the fatty insulation surrounding axon connections of the brain.

Best constraint on mass of photons, using observations of super-massive black holes

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:26 AM PDT

A global team of scientists has determined the best constraint on the mass of photons so far, using observations of super-massive black holes. The researchers found a way to use astrophysical observations to test a fundamental aspect of the Standard Model -- namely, that photons have no mass -- better than anyone before.

Farthest ever view of the universe assembled by combining 10 years of NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:25 AM PDT

Like photographers assembling a portfolio of best shots, astronomers have assembled a new, improved portrait of humankind's deepest-ever view of the universe. Called the eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, the photo was assembled by combining 10 years of NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken of a patch of sky at the center of the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The XDF is a small fraction of the angular diameter of the full Moon.

Urban coyotes never stray: New study finds 100 percent monogamy

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 11:25 AM PDT

Coyotes living in cities don't ever stray from their mates, according to a new study. The finding sheds light on why the North American cousin of the dog and wolf, which is originally native to deserts and plains, is thriving today in urban areas.

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