RefBan

Referral Banners

Saturday, December 14, 2013

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

ScienceDaily: Strange Science News


Jailhouse wine not as delicious as it sounds, could be deadly

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 10:55 AM PST

In a case series seemingly tailor-made for cinematic tragedy or farce, emergency physicians report severe botulism poisoning from a batch of potato-based "wine" (also known as pruno) cooked up in a Utah prison.

Clot-busters, caught on tape

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 10:53 AM PST

Ultrasound-stimulated microbubbles have been showing promise in recent years as a non-invasive way to break up dangerous blood clots. But though many researchers have studied the effectiveness of this technique, not much was understood about why it works. Now a team of researchers has collected the first direct evidence showing how these wiggling microbubbles cause a blood clot's demise.

Scientists improve human self-control through electrical brain stimulation

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:49 AM PST

If you have ever said or done the wrong thing at the wrong time, you should read this. Neuroscientists have successfully demonstrated a technique to enhance a form of self-control through a novel form of brain stimulation.

Chimpanzees are rational, not conformists, researchers find

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:49 AM PST

Chimpanzees are sensitive to social influences but they maintain their own strategy to solve a problem rather than conform to what the majority of group members are doing. However, chimpanzees do change their strategy when they can obtain greater rewards, researchers found.

Wrist fracture significantly raises risk of hip fracture

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:48 AM PST

A new study showed that patients with Colles' fracture are at higher risk than patients with osteoporosis to have a subsequent hip fracture within one year; Colles' fracture and osteoporosis together further increase the risk of hip fracture.

True story: Not everyone lies frequently

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:48 AM PST

Does everybody lie? We are taught that this is common sense and that most people tell little white lies. But perhaps this isn't true. A recent paper found that many people are honest most of the time, that many are honest about their lying, and that some lie a lot.

Simple mathematical formula describes human struggles

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 03:59 PM PST

The world seems to be getting more complex every day -- some might say too complex. But what if every interaction, every potential conflict we have is really very simple and easy to understand? Mathematicians have found a mathematical formula demonstrating just that: the dynamics of every escalating conflict human beings find themselves in, from children who won't stop crying to international terrorism, can be explained rather easily.

Using air transportation data to predict pandemics

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 11:21 AM PST

Computational work has led to a new mathematical theory for understanding the global spread of epidemics. The resulting insights could not only help identify an outbreak's origin but could also significantly improve the ability to forecast the global pathways through which a disease might spread. Scientists could use the theory to reconstruct outbreak origins with higher confidence, compute epidemic spreading speed and forecast when an epidemic wave front is to arrive at any location worldwide.

Collapse of the universe is closer than ever before

Posted: 12 Dec 2013 08:30 AM PST

Maybe it happens tomorrow. Maybe in a billion years. Physicists have long predicted that the universe may one day collapse, and that everything in it will be compressed to a small hard ball. New calculations now confirm this prediction -- and they also conclude that the risk of a collapse is even greater than previously thought.

Scientists resolve decades-old mystery of ‘chlamydial anomaly’

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:39 AM PST

A 50-year-old mystery surrounding the existence of a cell wall in the bacterial pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis, or chlamydia, has been solved. Chlamydia is the leading cause of sexually transmitted infections worldwide, infecting nearly 1.5 million Americans each year. It can cause sterility and other complications, and is the leading cause of preventable blindness. Other types of chlamydia cause a variety of diseases in humans and animals, including two strains of the bacterium that are threatening survival of the koala population in Australia.

No comments: