RefBan

Referral Banners

Friday, April 11, 2014

ScienceDaily: Most Popular News

ScienceDaily: Most Popular News


Scientists reconstruct ancient impact that dwarfs dinosaur-extinction blast

Posted: 09 Apr 2014 09:58 AM PDT

Picture this: A massive asteroid almost as wide as Rhode Island and about three to five times larger than the rock thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs slams into Earth. The collision punches a crater into the planet's crust that's nearly 500 kilometers (about 300 miles) across: greater than the distance from Washington, D.C. to New York City, and up to two and a half times larger in diameter than the hole formed by the dinosaur-killing asteroid.

Processing new information during sleep compromises memory

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 06:33 PM PDT

New research highlights the important role sleep plays in strengthening and maintaining the accuracy of a memory and hints at why the brain shuts out sensory information during periods of deep sleep. The study found that introducing new odor information to an animal while it sleeps compromises its ability to remember the difference between new and previously encountered smells while awake.

Language structure: You're born with it

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 09:23 AM PDT

Humans are unique in their ability to acquire language. But how? A new study shows that we are in fact born with the basic fundamental knowledge of language, thus shedding light on the age-old linguistic 'nature vs. nurture' debate.

Surprising truth about obsessive-compulsive thinking

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 09:21 AM PDT

People who check whether their hands are clean or imagine their house might be on fire are not alone. New global research shows that 94 percent of people experience unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images and/or impulses. The study people on six continents, and found that the thoughts, images and impulses symptomatic of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are widespread.

Patients with paraplegia regain voluntary movement after spinal stimulation

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 04:46 AM PDT

Four people with paraplegia are able to voluntarily move previously paralyzed muscles as a result of a novel therapy involving electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, according to a new study. All four participants were classified with a chronic motor complete spinal cord injury and were unable to move their lower extremities prior to the implantation of an epidural stimulator.

Natural protein Elafin against gluten intolerance?

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 04:27 PM PDT

Elafin, a human protein, plays a key role against the inflammatory reaction typical of celiac disease (gluten intolerance), research has shown. The researchers have also developed a probiotic bacterium able to deliver Elafin in the gut of mice. This innovation paves the way to new strategies to treat gluten intolerance.

Permafrost thawing could accelerate global warming

Posted: 07 Apr 2014 12:39 PM PDT

Researchers have found new evidence that permafrost thawing is releasing large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere via plants, which could accelerate warming trends. Permafrost is soil that is frozen year round and is typically located in polar regions. As the world has gotten slightly warmer, that permafrost is thawing and decomposing, which is producing increased amounts of methane.

No comments: