ScienceDaily: Top News

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• How cells in the nose detect odors: Braking mechanism in olfactory neurons helps generate amazing diversity of sensors
• New ancient shark species gives insight into origin of great white
• Paper-and-scissors technique rocks the nano world: Future nanofluidic devices for batteries, water purification systems
• Even moderate drinking in pregnancy can affect a child's IQ
• Oldest fossil of giant panda family discovered
• Why yawning is contagious in bonobos: As with humans, yawning Is more contagious when individuals are closely related
• Remixed brain waves reveal soundtrack of the human brain
• Captive animals show signs of boredom, study finds
• Gene nearly triples risk of Alzheimer's, international research team finds
• Discovery could lead to faster diagnosis for some chronic fatigue syndrome cases
• Heart failure in older breast cancer patients linked to medication
• Research breakthrough could halt melanoma metastasis, study suggests
• Exploring the financial costs of sadness
• Meningitis A vaccine breaks barrier; first to gain approval to travel outside cold chain
• Bug repellent for supercomputers proves effective
• Traumatic brain injury patients, supercomputer simulations studied to improve helmets
• Scientists 'clone' carbon nanotubes to unlock their potential for use in electronics
• In financial ecosystems, big banks trample economic habitats and spread fiscal disease
• What lies beneath? New survey technique offers detailed picture of our changing landscape
• Could poor sleep contribute to symptoms of schizophrenia?
• Pig genomes provide massive amount of genomic data for human health
• Pig genome offers insights into the feistiest of farm animals
• Tropical Indo-Pacific climate shifts to a more El Niño-like state
• New dating of sea-level records reveals rapid response between ice volume and polar temperature
• Tolerance to malaria by means of iron control
• Rare parasitic fungi could have anti-flammatory benefits
• Sisyphean task for polar molecules
• 20-year-old stroke patient part of growing trend of strokes in young people
• Exposure to light at night may cause depression, learning issues, mouse study suggests
• Pacific fishing zones: Lifeline for overfished tuna?
• Life and death in a star-forming cloud
• Nanometer-scale diamond tips improve nano-manufacturing
• Changing climate, not tourism, seems to be driving decline in chinstrap-penguin populations
• Cancer therapy: Nanokey opens tumors to attack
• Headshaking in horses: New treatment has 50% success rate
• New brain gene gives us edge over apes, study suggests
• Pancreas stem cell discovery may lead to new diabetes treatments
• Leggiest animal on Earth lives in outskirts of Silicon Valley
• Brain waves make waves
• Engineering a photo-switch for nerve cells in the eye and brain
• PCBs, other pollutants may play role in pregnancy delay
• Not what you consciously thought: How we can do math problems and read phrases nonconsciously
• A risk gene for cannabis psychosis
• Smoking affects allergy-relevant stem cells
• Melting glaciers raise sea level
• Triclosan in cosmetics and personal care products can increase allergy risk
• Lost in space: Rogue planet spotted? Orphaned world may help to explain how planets and stars form
• BPA shown to disrupt thyroid function in pregnant animals and offspring
• Timing of first menstual cycle may be predictor of cardiovascular disease risk in women
• Climate change increases stress, need for restoration on grazed public lands
• Grasshoppers change their tune to stay tuned over traffic noise
• Cancer: Exercise reduces tiredness
• How threat, reward and stress come together to predict problem drinking
• Metals versus microbes: The biocidal effect of metalloacid-coated surfaces
• Relatives of people who die suddenly from heart problems have greatly increased risk of cardiovascular disease
• Bacterial DNA sequence used to map an infection outbreak

How cells in the nose detect odors: Braking mechanism in olfactory neurons helps generate amazing diversity of sensors Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:29 PM PST A team of scientists has studied the olfactory receptor for detecting carbon dioxide in Drosophila, and identified a large multi-protein complex in olfactory neurons, called MMB/dREAM, that plays a major role in selecting the carbon dioxide receptors to be expressed in appropriate neurons.

New ancient shark species gives insight into origin of great white Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:29 PM PST The great white shark is one of the largest living predatory animals and a magnet for media sensationalism, yet its evolutionary history is as misunderstood as its role as a menace.

Paper-and-scissors technique rocks the nano world: Future nanofluidic devices for batteries, water purification systems Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:29 PM PST Sometimes simplicity is best. Researchers have discovered an easy way to make nanofluidic devices: using paper and scissors. And they can cut a device into any shape and size, adding to the method's versatility. Nanofluidic devices are attractive because their thin channels can transport ions -- and with them a higher than normal electric current -- making them promising for use in batteries and new systems for water purification, harvesting energy and DNA sorting.

Even moderate drinking in pregnancy can affect a child's IQ Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:28 PM PST Relatively small levels of exposure to alcohol while in the womb can influence a child's IQ, according to a new study using data from over 4,000 mothers and their children.

Oldest fossil of giant panda family discovered Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:28 PM PST New fossils found in Spain are thought to be of the oldest recorded ancestor of the giant panda. The fossils reveal the origins of this unique bear.

Why yawning is contagious in bonobos: As with humans, yawning Is more contagious when individuals are closely related Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:28 PM PST Being socially close to another bonobo is more likely to make bonobo apes yawn in response to the other's yawns, according to new research. The researchers found that yawning in bonobos is more contagious when individuals are strongly bonded to one another as kin or close friends.

Remixed brain waves reveal soundtrack of the human brain Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:28 PM PST Scientists have combined and translated two kinds of brain wave recordings into music, transforming one recording (EEG) to create the pitch and duration of a note, and the other (fMRI) to control the intensity of the music. The research reveals an improved method to reflect the physiological processes of the scale-free brain in music.

Captive animals show signs of boredom, study finds Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:28 PM PST Wondering if your caged hamster gets bored? It's highly likely if the critter has nothing to do all day. Those are the findings of researchers in the first study to empirically demonstrate boredom in confined animals.

Gene nearly triples risk of Alzheimer's, international research team finds Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:17 PM PST A gene so powerful it nearly triples the risk of Alzheimer's disease has been discovered by an international team of researchers. It is the most potent genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's identified in the past 20 years.

Discovery could lead to faster diagnosis for some chronic fatigue syndrome cases Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:17 PM PST For the first time, researchers have landed on a potential diagnostic method to identify at least a subset of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome - testing for antibodies linked to latent Epstein-Barr virus reactivation.

Heart failure in older breast cancer patients linked to medication Posted: 14 Nov 2012 01:26 PM PST Heart failure is a relatively common complication in older women with breast cancer, but the risk is even higher in those patients treated with adjuvant trastuzumab, researchers report.

Research breakthrough could halt melanoma metastasis, study suggests Posted: 14 Nov 2012 12:32 PM PST In laboratory experiments, scientists have eliminated metastasis, the spread of cancer from the original tumor to other parts of the body, in melanoma by inhibiting a protein known as melanoma differentiation associated gene-9 (mda-9)/syntenin.

Exploring the financial costs of sadness Posted: 14 Nov 2012 12:32 PM PST Your emotions can certainly impact your decisions, but you might be surprised by the extent to which your emotions affect your pocketbook. New research explores how impatience brought on by sadness can in turn produce substantial financial loss.

Meningitis A vaccine breaks barrier; first to gain approval to travel outside cold chain Posted: 14 Nov 2012 12:32 PM PST Signaling a potential breakthrough for immunization programs in resource-poor countries, researchers will for the first time allow a vaccine in Africa to be transported and stored for as long as four days without refrigeration or even an icepack.

Bug repellent for supercomputers proves effective Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:47 AM PST Researchers have used the Stack Trace Analysis Tool, a highly scalable, lightweight tool to debug a program running more than one million MPI processes on the IBM Blue Gene/Q-based Sequoia supercomputer.

Traumatic brain injury patients, supercomputer simulations studied to improve helmets Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:47 AM PST Researchers are comparing supercomputer simulations of blast waves on the brain with clinical studies of veterans suffering from mild traumatic brain injuries to help improve helmet designs.

Scientists 'clone' carbon nanotubes to unlock their potential for use in electronics Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:47 AM PST Scientists have developed a method of "cloning" carbon nanotubes for use as semiconductors in electronics.

In financial ecosystems, big banks trample economic habitats and spread fiscal disease Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:46 AM PST Researchers have applied methods inspired by ecosystem stability and contagion models to banking meltdowns and found that large national and international banks wield an influence and potentially destructive power that far exceeds their actual size. As a result, the capital that current regulations require large banks to maintain should be based on the institution's systemic importance.

What lies beneath? New survey technique offers detailed picture of our changing landscape Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:46 AM PST A new surveying technique is giving geologists their first detailed picture of how ground movement associated with historical mining is changing the face of our landscape.

Could poor sleep contribute to symptoms of schizophrenia? Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:45 AM PST Neuroscientists studying the link between poor sleep and schizophrenia have found that irregular sleep patterns and desynchronized brain activity during sleep could trigger some of the disease's symptoms. The findings suggest that these prolonged disturbances might be a cause and not just a consequence of the disorder's debilitating effects.

Pig genomes provide massive amount of genomic data for human health Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:45 AM PST Researchers provide a whole-genome sequence and analysis of number of pig breeds, including a miniature pig that serves a model for human medical studies and therapeutic drug testing.

Pig genome offers insights into the feistiest of farm animals Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:45 AM PST The pig and its cousin the wild boar have much in common with humans. They are world travelers. They often damage their own habitat. They are easy to seduce (with food) and susceptible to domestication, but when conditions allow, they revert to a feral lifestyle. A new genomic analysis reveals some new, unexpected and potentially beneficial similarities between pigs and humans, and a few distinct differences.

Tropical Indo-Pacific climate shifts to a more El Niño-like state Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:45 AM PST Climate models predict a slowdown of the Walker circulation with global warming. Atmospheric models, however, have failed to reproduce the slowdown already observed over the last 60 years, casting doubt on their ability to simulate slow climate change. Now a study has succeeded in simulating the slowdown and shows that changes in the sea surface temperature pattern across the Indo-Pacific are the cause.

New dating of sea-level records reveals rapid response between ice volume and polar temperature Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:40 AM PST A new study has revealed a rapid response between global temperature and ice volume/sea-level, which could lead to sea-levels rising by over one meter. During the last few million years, global ice-volume variability has been one of the main feedback mechanisms in climate change, because of the strong reflective properties of large ice sheets. Ice volume changes in ancient times can be reconstructed from sea-level records. However, detailed assessment of the role of ice volume in climate change is hindered by inadequacies in sea-level records and/or their timescales. Now, for the first time, scientists are able to accurately date continuous sea-level records, to allow detailed comparisons of the ice-volume variability with independently dated ice-core records from Antarctica and Greenland.

Tolerance to malaria by means of iron control Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:40 AM PST Malaria is a life-threatening condition that exposes approximately half of the world's population to the risk of developing a severe and often lethal form of disease. Researchers have discovered that the development of severe forms of malaria can be prevented by a simple mechanism that controls the accumulation of iron in tissues of the infected host.

Rare parasitic fungi could have anti-flammatory benefits Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:40 AM PST Caterpillar fungi are rare parasites found on hibernating caterpillars in the mountains of Tibet. For centuries they have been highly prized as a traditional Chinese medicine - just a small amount can fetch hundreds of dollars.

Sisyphean task for polar molecules Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:40 AM PST A new cooling method for polyatomic molecules paves the way for the investigation of molecular gases near absolute zero temperature.

20-year-old stroke patient part of growing trend of strokes in young people Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:39 AM PST Michelle Nimmerrichter was only 20 when she suffered a stroke that left her in a coma and on a ventilator. She appears to be part of a trend -- a recent study found that strokes are affecting people at younger ages.

Exposure to light at night may cause depression, learning issues, mouse study suggests Posted: 14 Nov 2012 10:39 AM PST For most of history, humans rose with the sun and slept when it set. Enter Thomas Edison and colleagues, and with a flick of a switch, night became day, enabling us to work, play and post cat and kid photos on Facebook into the wee hours. According to a new study of mice, however, this typical 21st-century scenario may come at a serious cost: When people routinely burn the midnight oil, they risk suffering depression and learning issues, and not only because of lack of sleep. The culprit could also be exposure to bright light at night from lamps, computers and even iPads.

Pacific fishing zones: Lifeline for overfished tuna? Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:38 AM PST Marine zoning in the Pacific Ocean, in combination with other measures, could significantly improve numbers of heavily overfished bigeye tuna and improve local economies, a fish modelling study has found.

Life and death in a star-forming cloud Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:38 AM PST The aftershock of a stellar explosion rippling through space is captured in this new view of supernova remnant W44, which combines far-infrared and X-ray data from ESA's Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories.

Nanometer-scale diamond tips improve nano-manufacturing Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:38 AM PST One of the most promising innovations of nanotechnology has been the ability to perform rapid nanofabrication using nanometer-scale tips. The fabrication speed can be dramatically increased by using heat. High speed and high temperature have been known to degrade the tip… until now. Researchers have created a new type of nano-tip for thermal processing, which is made entirely out of diamond.

Changing climate, not tourism, seems to be driving decline in chinstrap-penguin populations Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:38 AM PST The breeding population of chinstrap penguins has declined significantly as temperatures have rapidly warmed on the Antarctic Peninsula, according to new research.

Cancer therapy: Nanokey opens tumors to attack Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:38 AM PST There are plenty of effective anticancer agents around. The problem is that, very often, they cannot gain access to all the cells in solid tumors. A new gene delivery vehicle may provide a way of making tracks to the heart of the target.

Headshaking in horses: New treatment has 50% success rate Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:37 AM PST A study has found a pioneering new surgical procedure, called caudal compression of the infraorbital nerve, could be a viable option for headshaking in horses with a long-term success rate of nearly 50 percent.

New brain gene gives us edge over apes, study suggests Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:34 AM PST Scientists have taken a step forward in helping to solve one of life's greatest mysteries -- what makes us human?

Pancreas stem cell discovery may lead to new diabetes treatments Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:34 AM PST Stem cells in the adult pancreas have been identified that can be turned into insulin producing cells, a finding that means people with type 1 diabetes might one day be able to regenerate their own insulin-producing cells.

Leggiest animal on Earth lives in outskirts of Silicon Valley Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:34 AM PST With 750 legs, the millipede Illacme plenipes is the leggiest animal on Earth. Once believed extinct, scientists rediscovered the species in 2005 -- more than 80 years after it was first described. This exceedingly rare millipede is known from a single 4.5 km2 area in California, and the millipede has a beautifully intricate anatomy including the ability to spin silk from long hairs covering its back.

Brain waves make waves Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:33 AM PST Naturally, our brain activity waxes and wanes. When listening, this oscillation synchronizes to the sounds we are hearing. Researchers have found that this influences the way we listen. Hearing abilities also oscillate and depend on the exact timing of one's brain rhythms. This discovery that sound, brain, and behavior are so intimately coupled will help us to learn more about listening abilities in hearing loss.

Engineering a photo-switch for nerve cells in the eye and brain Posted: 14 Nov 2012 08:29 AM PST Chemists and vision scientists have designed a light-sensitive molecule that can stimulate a neural response in cells of the retina and brain -- a possible first step to overcoming degenerative eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration, or to quieting epileptic seizures.

PCBs, other pollutants may play role in pregnancy delay Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:40 AM PST Couples with high levels of PCBs and similar environmental pollutants take longer to achieve pregnancy in comparison to other couples with lower levels of the pollutants, according to a preliminary study.

Not what you consciously thought: How we can do math problems and read phrases nonconsciously Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:39 AM PST Can we actually read words and phrases and solve multi-step mathematical problems without our having consciously been aware of them? A team of psychologists has conducted a series of experiments that give a positive answer: people can read and do math nonconsciously.

A risk gene for cannabis psychosis Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:39 AM PST The ability of cannabis to produce psychosis has long been an important public health concern. This concern is growing in importance as there is emerging data that cannabis exposure during adolescence may increase the risk of developing schizophrenia, a serious psychotic disorder. Further, with the advent of medical marijuana, a new group of people with uncertain psychosis risk may be exposed to cannabis.

Smoking affects allergy-relevant stem cells Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:39 AM PST Environmental contaminants, such as smoking, are harmful to the human organism in relation to the occurrence of allergies. Until now, researchers had never investigated whether and to what extent environmental contaminants also affect allergy-relevant stem cells. For the first time, researchers have found evidence that smoking affects the development of peripheral allergy-relevant stem cells in the blood.

Melting glaciers raise sea level Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:38 AM PST Anthropogenic climate change leads to melting glaciers and rising sea level. Between 1902 and 2009, melting glaciers contributed 11 cm to sea level rise. They were therefore the most important cause of sea level rise. Scientists have numerically modeled the changes of each of the world's 300,000 glaciers. Until 2100, glaciers could lead to an additional 22 cm of sea level rise.

Triclosan in cosmetics and personal care products can increase allergy risk Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:38 AM PST Triclosan - an antibacterial chemical found in toothpaste and other products - can contribute to an increased risk of allergy development in children.

Lost in space: Rogue planet spotted? Orphaned world may help to explain how planets and stars form Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:34 AM PST Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope have identified a body that is very probably a planet wandering through space without a parent star. This is the most exciting free-floating planet candidate so far and the closest such object to the Solar System at a distance of about 100 light-years. Its comparative proximity, and the absence of a bright star very close to it, has allowed the team to study its atmosphere in great detail. This object also gives astronomers a preview of the exoplanets that future instruments aim to image around stars other than the Sun.

BPA shown to disrupt thyroid function in pregnant animals and offspring Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:32 AM PST In utero exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) can be associated with decreased thyroid function in newborn sheep, according to a recent study.

Timing of first menstual cycle may be predictor of cardiovascular disease risk in women Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:32 AM PST Age at onset of menarche (first menstrual cycle) is associated with increased body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and overall obesity in adulthood, according to a recent study.

Climate change increases stress, need for restoration on grazed public lands Posted: 14 Nov 2012 05:32 AM PST Eight researchers in a new report say that climate change is causing additional stress to many western rangelands, and as a result land managers should consider a significant reduction, or in some places elimination of livestock and other large animals from public lands.

Grasshoppers change their tune to stay tuned over traffic noise Posted: 13 Nov 2012 06:49 PM PST Grasshoppers are having to change their song -- one of the iconic sounds of summer -- to make themselves heard above the din of road traffic, ecologists have discovered. The study is the first to show that human-made noise affects natural insect populations.

Cancer: Exercise reduces tiredness Posted: 13 Nov 2012 06:49 PM PST Aerobic exercise can help relieve the fatigue often associated with cancer and cancer treatment, according to researchers. Their updated systematic review strengthens findings from an earlier version on cancer-related fatigue.

How threat, reward and stress come together to predict problem drinking Posted: 13 Nov 2012 06:46 PM PST Having a drink after a stressful day at work may seem like a natural response for some, but can your neural circuits predict when a drink or two will become problem drinking? A new study suggests that may be the case. The study describes a highly novel mechanism predicting problem drinking in college students from fMRI data measuring individual differences in the functioning of reward and threat circuits in the brain.

Metals versus microbes: The biocidal effect of metalloacid-coated surfaces Posted: 13 Nov 2012 06:46 PM PST A new study reports of a phenomenon that could help control the spread of hospital-acquired infections: a surface-coating of metalloacids kills off microbial strains, even in multidrug-resistant microorganisms.

Relatives of people who die suddenly from heart problems have greatly increased risk of cardiovascular disease Posted: 13 Nov 2012 06:46 PM PST Relatives of young people who have died suddenly from a heart-related problem are at greatly increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.

Bacterial DNA sequence used to map an infection outbreak Posted: 13 Nov 2012 06:46 PM PST For the first time, researchers have used DNA sequencing to help bring an infectious disease outbreak in a hospital to a close. Researchers used advanced DNA sequencing technologies to confirm the presence of an ongoing outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a Special Care Baby Unit in real time. This assisted in stopping the outbreak earlier, saving possible harm to patients. This approach is much more accurate than current methods used to detect hospital outbreaks.

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