ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Human brain treats prosthetic devices as part of the body
• Brain injury may be autoimmune phenomenon, like multiple sclerosis
• Hidden layer of genome unveils how plants may adapt to environments throughout the world
• How the body's energy molecule transmits three types of taste to the brain
• Circuitry of cells involved in immunity, autoimmune diseases exposed: Connections point to interplay between salt and genetic factors
• Flip of a single molecular switch makes an old mouse brain young
• Universe measured more accurately than ever before: New results pin down distance to galaxy next door
• Alzheimer's risk gene discovered by screening brain's connections: Signs of disease decades before illness strike
• Probing extreme matter through observations of neutron stars
• Robotic fish gain new sense: Navigate water currents and turbulence
• Curtains down for the black hole firewall paradox: Making gravity safe for Einstein again
• Females butterflies can smell if a male butterfly is inbred
• Lizards facing mass extinction from climate change
• Novel storage mechanism allows command, control of memory
• Scientists make mouse model of human cancer, demonstrate cure
• Chemists develop efficient material for carbon capture
• Black hole collision may have sparked celestial fireworks in the Milky Way several million years ago

Human brain treats prosthetic devices as part of the body Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:11 PM PST People with spinal cord injuries show a strong association of wheelchairs as part of their body, not an extension of immobile limbs. The human brain can learn to treat relevant prosthetics as a substitute for a non-working body part, according to new research.

Brain injury may be autoimmune phenomenon, like multiple sclerosis Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:11 PM PST A new study suggests that brain injury from repeat blows to the head – observed among football players and soldiers – might not be a traumatic phenomenon, but an autoimmune phenomenon. It indicates that brain injury may be the result of an out-of-control immune response, much like multiple sclerosis. This is an entirely new way of thinking about how trauma could cause long term degeneration and opens the door to investigating a vaccine/drug to prevent head trauma.

Hidden layer of genome unveils how plants may adapt to environments throughout the world Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:43 AM PST Scientists have identified patterns of epigenomic diversity that not only allow plants to adapt to various environments, but could also benefit crop production and the study of human diseases.

How the body's energy molecule transmits three types of taste to the brain Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:43 AM PST Scientists have discovered how ATP -- the body's main fuel source -- is released as the neurotransmitter from sweet, bitter, and umami, or savory, taste bud cells. The CALHM1 channel protein, which spans a taste bud cell's outer membrane to allow ions and molecules in and out, releases ATP to make a neural taste connection. The other two taste types, sour and salt, use different mechanisms.

Circuitry of cells involved in immunity, autoimmune diseases exposed: Connections point to interplay between salt and genetic factors Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST New work expands the understanding of how Th17 cells develop, and how their growth influences the development of immune responses. By figuring out how these cells are "wired," the researchers make a surprising connection between autoimmunity and salt consumption, highlighting the interplay of genetics and environmental factors in disease susceptibility.

Flip of a single molecular switch makes an old mouse brain young Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now researchers have reversed the process, recreating a youthful brain that facilitated both learning and healing in the adult mouse.

Universe measured more accurately than ever before: New results pin down distance to galaxy next door Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:40 AM PST After nearly a decade of careful observations astronomers have measured the distance to our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, more accurately than ever before. This new measurement also improves our knowledge of the rate of expansion of the Universe — the Hubble Constant — and is a crucial step towards understanding the nature of the mysterious dark energy that is causing the expansion to accelerate.

Alzheimer's risk gene discovered by screening brain's connections: Signs of disease decades before illness strike Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:38 AM PST Scientists have discovered a new genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease by screening people's DNA and then using an advanced type of scan to visualize their brains' connections. The researchers discovered a common abnormality in our genetic code that increases the risk of Alzheimer's. To find the gene, they used a new imaging method that screens the brain's connections -- the wiring, or circuitry, that communicates information. Switching off such Alzheimer's risk genes (nine of them have been implicated over the last 20 years) could stop the disorder in its tracks or delay its onset by many years.

Probing extreme matter through observations of neutron stars Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:38 AM PST Neutron stars, the ultra-dense cores left behind after massive stars collapse, contain the densest matter known in the Universe outside of a black hole. New results have provided one of the most reliable determinations yet of the relation between the radius of a neutron star and its mass. These results constrain how nuclear matter – protons and neutrons, and their constituent quarks – interact under the extreme conditions found in neutron stars.

Robotic fish gain new sense: Navigate water currents and turbulence Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:42 AM PST Scientists have developed robots with a new sense -- lateral line sensing. All fish have this sensing organ but so far it had no technological counterpart on human-made underwater vehicles.

Curtains down for the black hole firewall paradox: Making gravity safe for Einstein again Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:41 AM PST Scientists have revealed new insights into the life and death of black holes. Their findings dispel the so-called firewall paradox which shocked the physics community when it was announced in 2012 since its predictions about large black holes contradicted Einstein's crowning achievement -- the theory of general relativity. Those results suggested that anyone falling into a black hole would be burned up as they crossed its edge -- the so-called event horizon.

Females butterflies can smell if a male butterfly is inbred Posted: 05 Mar 2013 05:04 PM PST The mating success of male butterflies is often lower if they are inbred. But how do female butterflies know which males to avoid? New research reveals that inbred male butterflies produce significantly less sex pheromones, making them less attractive to females.

Lizards facing mass extinction from climate change Posted: 05 Mar 2013 05:03 PM PST Climate change could see dozens of lizard species becoming extinct within the next 50 years, according to new research. The often one-directional evolutionary adaptation of certain lizard species' reproductive modes could see multiple extinctions as the global temperature increases.

Novel storage mechanism allows command, control of memory Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:11 AM PST Introductions at a party seemingly go in one ear and out the other. However, if you meet someone two or three times during the party, you are more likely to remember his or her name. Your brain has taken a short-term memory -- the introduction -- and converted it into a long-term one. The molecular key to this activity is mTORC2 (mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2), according to researchers.

Scientists make mouse model of human cancer, demonstrate cure Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:04 AM PST Scientists report the first successful blocking of tumor development in a genetic mouse model of an incurable human cancer.

Chemists develop efficient material for carbon capture Posted: 05 Mar 2013 07:09 AM PST Chemists have discovered a more efficient, less expensive and reusable material for carbon dioxide capture and separation.

Black hole collision may have sparked celestial fireworks in the Milky Way several million years ago Posted: 01 Mar 2013 12:32 PM PST There is growing evidence that several million years ago the center of the Milky Way galaxy was site of all manner of celestial fireworks and a pair of astronomers propose that a single event -- a black hole collision -- can explain all the "forensic" clues.

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