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Tuesday, December 2, 2014

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


Brain folding study defines two distinct groups of mammals

Posted: 01 Dec 2014 01:33 PM PST

Programs that control the production of neurons during brain development determine how the brain folds, researchers report. The researchers analyzed the gyrencephaly index, indicating the degree of cortical folding, of 100 mammalian brains and identified a threshold value that separates mammalian species into two distinct groups: Those above the threshold have highly folded brains, whereas those below it have only slightly folded or unfolded brains. The research team also found that differences in cortical folding did not evolve linearly across species.

Ability of HIV to cause AIDS is slowing, research suggests

Posted: 01 Dec 2014 01:32 PM PST

The rapid evolution of HIV, which has allowed the virus to develop resistance to patients' natural immunity, is at the same time slowing the virus's ability to cause AIDS, according to new research. The study also indicates that people infected by HIV are likely to progress to AIDS more slowly -- in other words the virus becomes less 'virulent' -- because of widespread access to antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Clue to why females live longer than males

Posted: 01 Dec 2014 09:51 AM PST

Male flies die earlier than their female counterparts when forced to evolve with the pressures of mate competition and juvenile survival. The results could help researchers understand the mechanisms involved in aging.

Research confirms how global warming links to carbon emissions

Posted: 01 Dec 2014 08:30 AM PST

Research has identified, for the first time, how global warming is related to the amount of carbon emitted. A team of researchers has derived the first theoretical equation to demonstrate that global warming is a direct result of the build-up of carbon emissions since the late 1800s when human-made carbon emissions began. The results are in accord with previous data from climate models.

Ground-based detection of super-Earth transit paves way to remote sensing of exoplanets

Posted: 01 Dec 2014 07:03 AM PST

Astronomers have measured the passing of a super-Earth in front of a bright, nearby Sun-like star using a ground-based telescope for the first time. The transit of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e is the shallowest detected from the ground yet. Since detecting a transit is the first step in analyzing a planet's atmosphere, this success bodes well for characterizing the many small planets that upcoming space missions are expected to discover in the next few years.

Breast cancer vaccine shows promise in small clinical trial

Posted: 01 Dec 2014 06:03 AM PST

A breast cancer vaccine is safe in patients with metastatic breast cancer, results of an early clinical trial indicate. Preliminary evidence also suggests that the vaccine primed the patients' immune systems to attack tumor cells and helped slow the cancer's progression.

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