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Monday, November 25, 2013

ScienceDaily: Top News

ScienceDaily: Top News


Topological insulators: Breaking symmetry for faster computers

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 08:18 PM PST

A new compound shows highly unusual conducting properties that could be used in future electronic components.

Scientists find brain region that helps you make up your mind

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

One of the smallest parts of the brain is getting a second look after new research suggests it plays a crucial role in decision making.

Even if emissions stop, carbon dioxide could warm Earth for centuries

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

Research suggests that even if carbon-dioxide emissions came to a sudden halt, the carbon dioxide already in Earth's atmosphere could continue to warm our planet for hundreds of years. Thus, it might take a lot less carbon than previously thought to reach the global temperature scientists deem unsafe.

Study identifies protein essential for immune recognition, response to viral infection

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

A research team has identified an immune cell protein that is critical to setting off the body's initial response against viral infection. They found that a protein called GEF-H1 is essential to the ability of macrophages -- major contributors to the innate immune system -- to respond to viral infections like influenza.

Unusual greenhouse gases may have raised ancient Martian temperature

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

Much like the Grand Canyon, Nanedi Valles snakes across the Martian surface suggesting that liquid water once crossed the landscape, according to a team of researchers who believe that molecular hydrogen made it warm enough for water to flow.

Scientists develop novel X-ray device: New way to generate synchrotron X-rays

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

A new laser-driven device could do for research-quality X-rays what the smart phone did for computing.

X-rays reveal another feature of high-temperature superconductivity

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

Classical and high-temperature superconductors differ hugely in their critical temperature when they lose electrical resistance. Powerful X-rays made possible to establish another big difference: high-temperature superconductivity cannot be accounted for by the mechanism that leads to conventional superconductivity. This is why other scenarios must now be developed to explain high-temperature superconductivity.

New genomic study provides a glimpse of how whales could adapt to ocean

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

Researchers have completed the first in-depth minke whale genome sequence and their new findings shed light on how whales successfully adapted to ocean environment. The data yielded in this study will contribute to future studies of marine mammal diseases, conservation and evolution.

How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to produce electrical signals

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

Scientists have figured out how cells do the improbable: pick the charged calcium ions out of vast sodium sea to generate electrical signals. The speed and accuracy of this selection is crucial to the beating of the heart and the flow of nerve impulses in the brain. The finding is likely to assist the development of new drugs, such as safer medications for chronic pain.

X-ray laser can solve protein structures from scratch

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

A study shows for the first time that X-ray lasers can be used to generate a complete 3-D model of a protein without any prior knowledge of its structure.

How losing information can benefit quantum computing

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

Suggesting that quantum computers might benefit from losing some data, physicists have now entangled -- linked the quantum properties of -- two ions by leaking judiciously chosen information to the environment.

Diamond 'flaws' pave way for nanoscale MRI

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

Breakthrough offers high-sensitivity nanoscale sensors, and could lead to magnetic imaging of neuron activity and thermometry on a single living cell.

Gene-silencing study finds new targets for Parkinson's disease

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:05 PM PST

Scientists have used RNA interference technology to reveal dozens of genes that may represent new therapeutic targets for treating Parkinson's disease. The findings also may be relevant to several diseases caused by damage to mitochondria, the biological power plants found in cells throughout the body.

A new, flying jellyfish-like machine

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 05:00 PM PST

Up, up in the sky: It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a . . . jellyfish? That's what researchers have built -- a small vehicle whose flying motion resembles the movements of those boneless, pulsating, water-dwelling creatures. The work demonstrates a new method of flight that could transport miniaturized future robots for surveillance, search-and-rescue, and monitoring of the atmosphere and traffic.

Update: 50 percent of patients in new brain cancer study alive after five years

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 06:35 AM PST

Eight of 16 patients participating in a study of an experimental immune system therapy directed against the most aggressive malignant brain tumors – glioblastoma multiforme – survived longer than five years after diagnosis, according to new research.

The secrets of owls' near noiseless wings

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 06:35 AM PST

Many owl species have developed specialized plumage to effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings – allowing them to hunt and capture their prey in silence. A research group is working to solve the mystery of exactly how owls achieve this acoustic stealth -- work that may one day help bring "silent owl technology" to the design of aircraft, wind turbines, and submarines.

Great lakes waterfowl die-offs: Finding the source

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 06:35 AM PST

A deadly menace stalks the loons, gulls and other water birds of the Great Lakes region: Type E botulism. Cases of the disease are on the rise, and to understand die-off origin and distribution, ocean engineers are developing a novel way of tracking waterfowl carcasses to determine the source of lethal outbreaks.

The physics of beer tapping

Posted: 24 Nov 2013 06:35 AM PST

An old, hilarious if somewhat juvenile party trick involves covertly tapping the top of someone's newly opened beer bottle and standing back as the suds foam out onto the floor. Now researchers have produced new insight into the science behind the foaming, exploring the phenomenon of cavitation.

Continued increases in adhd diagnoses, treatment with meds among US children

Posted: 22 Nov 2013 08:27 AM PST

New study reports that half of U.S. children diagnosed with ADHD received that diagnosis by age 6. The study found that an estimated two million more children in the United States (U.S.) have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) between 2003-04 and 2011-12. One million more U.S. children were taking medication for ADHD between 2003-04 and 2011-12.

Study of human blood fluke parasites identifies drug resistance mutations

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 11:21 AM PST

An international group of scientists has identified the mutations that result in drug resistance in a parasite infecting 187 million people in South America, Africa and Asia. The new finding allows detailed understanding of the drugs' mechanism of action and raises prospects of improved therapies.

New technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 10:56 AM PST

A team of researchers has demonstrated a technique, deformability cytometry, that measures the physical properties of individual cells and can diagnose cancer from body fluids with very high accuracy.

Breaking the code on environmental illnesses

Posted: 21 Nov 2013 10:56 AM PST

You may be sensitive to gluten, but you're not sure. Perhaps you can't put your finger on a recurring malaise, and your doctor is at a loss to figure it out. A diagnostic method recently developed can reveal -- on a molecular level -- the factors behind conditions thought to have environmental triggers.

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