ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Waterfall-climbing fish use same mechanism to climb waterfalls and eat algae
• Long-term consequences for those suffering traumatic brain injury
• Gene therapy reprograms scar tissue in damaged hearts into healthy heart muscle
• New way to study permafrost soil, above and below ground
• Shifting the balance between good fat and bad fat
• Pioneering research on Type 2 diabetes
• Pronunciation of 's' sounds impacts perception of gender, researcher finds
• Physicians call for change in cancer tissue handling
• Researchers seek longer battery life for electric locomotive
• Rainfall, brain infection linked in sub-Saharan Africa
• When will genomic research translate into clinical care -- and at what cost? New study applies quantitative modeling to genomics
• Basic math skills linked to PSAT math success
• Why good resolutions about taking up a physical activity can be hard to keep
• Drainage ditches can help clean up field runoff
• Waste removal in worms reveals new mechanism to regulate calcium signaling
• Under the weather, literally: More rainfall and bigger storms may lead to more stomach upsets
• A temperature below absolute zero: Atoms at negative absolute temperature are the hottest systems in the world
• Consumers judge their risk of catching an illness by the cost of the cure
• How prostate cancer therapies compare by cost and effectiveness
• Pesticides and Parkinson's: Further proof of a link uncovered
• Induction of adult cortical neurogenesis by an antidepressant
• Photosynthesis: The last link in the chain
• Dinosaur shook tail feathers for mating show
• Structural studies of a toxin from Bacillus cereus that causes diarrhea
• Breast milk contains more than 700 species of bacteria, Spanish researchers find
• Possibility of surfaces that can be manipulated
• Jumping droplets help heat transfer

Waterfall-climbing fish use same mechanism to climb waterfalls and eat algae Posted: 04 Jan 2013 05:38 PM PST Going against the flow is always a challenge, but some waterfall-climbing fish have adapted to their extreme lifestyle by using the same set of muscles for both climbing and eating, according to new research.

Long-term consequences for those suffering traumatic brain injury Posted: 04 Jan 2013 12:51 PM PST Researchers studying the long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) using rat models, have found that, overtime, TBI results in progressive brain deterioration characterized by elevated inflammation and suppressed cell regeneration. However, therapeutic intervention, even in the chronic stage of TBI, may still help prevent cell death.

Gene therapy reprograms scar tissue in damaged hearts into healthy heart muscle Posted: 04 Jan 2013 12:51 PM PST A cocktail of three specific genes can reprogram cells in the scars caused by heart attacks into functioning muscle cells, and the addition of a gene that stimulates the growth of blood vessels enhances that effect, said researchers.

New way to study permafrost soil, above and below ground Posted: 04 Jan 2013 12:50 PM PST Scientists have developed a new way to explore the little-known world of permafrost soils, which store almost as much carbon as the rest of the world's soils and about twice as much as is in the atmosphere. The new approach combines several remote-sensing tools to study the Arctic landscape, above and below ground, in high resolution and over large spatial scales.

Shifting the balance between good fat and bad fat Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:37 AM PST Researchers have a new theory about what causes the body to store more fat and burn less energy in obesity -- a protein called p62. According to a new study, when p62 is missing in fat, the body's metabolic balance shifts -- inhibiting "good" brown fat, while favoring "bad" white fat. These findings indicate that p62 might make a promising target for new therapies aimed at obesity.

Pioneering research on Type 2 diabetes Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:37 AM PST While legions of medical researchers have been looking to understand the genetic basis of disease and how mutations may affect human health, one group of biomedical researchers is studying the metabolism of cells and their surrounding tissue, to ferret out ways in which certain diseases begin. This approach, which includes computer modeling, can be applied to Type 2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases, among others.

Pronunciation of 's' sounds impacts perception of gender, researcher finds Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:37 AM PST A person's style of speech -- not just the pitch of his or her voice -- may help determine whether the listener perceives the speaker to be male or female, according to a researcher who studied transgender people transitioning from female to male.

Physicians call for change in cancer tissue handling Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST Physicians say that traditional specimen handling methods threaten to slow the benefits of using genetic sequencing to diagnose and treat cancer. Routine freezing of tissue would retain its genetic coding while preserving it for future analysis.

Researchers seek longer battery life for electric locomotive Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST Norfolk Southern Railway No. 999 is the first all-electric, battery-powered locomotive in the United States. But when one of the thousand lead-acid batteries that power it dies, the locomotive shuts down. To combat this problem, researchers are developing more cost-effective ways to prolong battery life.

Rainfall, brain infection linked in sub-Saharan Africa Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST The amount of rainfall affects the number of infant infections leading to hydrocephalus in Uganda, according to a team of researchers who are the first to demonstrate that these brain infections are linked to climate.

When will genomic research translate into clinical care -- and at what cost? New study applies quantitative modeling to genomics Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST Researchers find that the same tools that can successfully predict hurricanes and election outcomes can be applied to pharmacogenomics and clinical outcomes.

Basic math skills linked to PSAT math success Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST New research provides brain imaging evidence that students well-versed in very basic single digit arithmetic (5+2=7 or 7-3=4) are better equipped to score higher on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, an examination sat by millions of students in the United States each year in preparation for college admission tests.

Why good resolutions about taking up a physical activity can be hard to keep Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST Physical inactivity is a major public health problem that has both social and neurobiological causes. According to the results of a new survey the French have put "taking up a sport" at the top of their list of good resolutions for 2013.

Drainage ditches can help clean up field runoff Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST Vegetated drainage ditches can help capture pesticide and nutrient loads in field runoff, scientists report. These ditches -- as common in the country as the fields they drain -- give farmers a low-cost alternative for managing agricultural pollutants and protecting natural resources.

Waste removal in worms reveals new mechanism to regulate calcium signaling Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST Calcium is so much more than the mineral that makes our bones and teeth strong: It's a ubiquitous signaling molecule that provides crucial information inside of and between cells. Scientists have discovered a new way that calcium signaling may be controlled. In worms, a specific microRNA fine tunes such signaling, a finding that should be of great help to the thousands of scientists who study the important role of calcium signaling in health and disease.

Under the weather, literally: More rainfall and bigger storms may lead to more stomach upsets Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:35 AM PST We can blame all sorts of things on the weather. But a stomach bug? It seems unlikely. Yet, scientists say greater quantities of rainfall and bigger storms will lead to more stomach upsets in parts of Europe.

A temperature below absolute zero: Atoms at negative absolute temperature are the hottest systems in the world Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:35 AM PST On the absolute temperature scale, which is used by physicists and is also called the Kelvin scale, it is not possible to go below zero – at least not in the sense of getting colder than zero kelvin. According to the physical meaning of temperature, the temperature of a gas is determined by the chaotic movement of its particles – the colder the gas, the slower the particles. At zero kelvin (minus 273 degrees Celsius) the particles stop moving and all disorder disappears. Thus, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the Kelvin scale. Physicists have now created an atomic gas in the laboratory that nonetheless has negative Kelvin values. These negative absolute temperatures have several apparently absurd consequences: although the atoms in the gas attract each other and give rise to a negative pressure, the gas does not collapse – a behavior that is also postulated for dark energy in cosmology.

Consumers judge their risk of catching an illness by the cost of the cure Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:34 AM PST Consumers make irrational inferences about their health risks based on the price of their medicine.

How prostate cancer therapies compare by cost and effectiveness Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:34 AM PST The most comprehensive retrospective study ever conducted comparing how the major types of prostate cancer treatments stack up to each other in terms of saving lives and cost effectiveness have been reported.

Pesticides and Parkinson's: Further proof of a link uncovered Posted: 04 Jan 2013 07:14 AM PST Researchers have found a link between Parkinson's disease and the pesticide Benomyl, whose toxicological effects still linger in the environment, 10 years after it was banned by the EPA. More important, the research suggests the way this pesticide does its damage may occur in other people with Parkinson's, even for those who were not exposed to this pesticide.

Induction of adult cortical neurogenesis by an antidepressant Posted: 04 Jan 2013 07:14 AM PST The production of new neurons in the adult normal cortex in response to the antidepressant, fluoxetine, is reported in a new study.

Photosynthesis: The last link in the chain Posted: 04 Jan 2013 07:11 AM PST For almost 30 years, researchers have sought to identify a particular enzyme that is involved in regulating electron transport during photosynthesis. Biologists have now found the missing link, which turns out to be an old acquaintance.

Dinosaur shook tail feathers for mating show Posted: 04 Jan 2013 05:31 AM PST A researcher's examination of fossilized dinosaur tail bones has led to a breakthrough finding: some feathered dinosaurs used tail plumage to attract mates, much like modern-day peacocks and turkeys.

Structural studies of a toxin from Bacillus cereus that causes diarrhea Posted: 04 Jan 2013 05:31 AM PST Food poisoning caused by Bacillus cereus can lead to diarrhea which is probably caused by a 3-component toxin which is produced by this bacteria strain and which perforates and kills cells. New research has revealed one of the protein structures of this toxin and has led to a better understanding of the mechanisms behind multi-component, pore-forming toxins. These findings can enhance food safety.

Breast milk contains more than 700 species of bacteria, Spanish researchers find Posted: 04 Jan 2013 05:31 AM PST Researchers have traced the bacterial microbiota map in breast milk and identified the species of microbes taken from breast milk by infants. The study has revealed a larger microbial diversity than originally thought: more than 700 species. The breast milk received from the mother is one of the factors determining how the bacterial flora will develop in the newborn baby. The study reveals that the milk of overweight mothers or those who put on more weight than recommended during pregnancy contains a lesser diversity of species.

Possibility of surfaces that can be manipulated Posted: 04 Jan 2013 05:30 AM PST A chemist has studied a number of polymer blends that can be used to produce manipulatable surfaces.

Jumping droplets help heat transfer Posted: 03 Jan 2013 11:32 AM PST Scalable nanopatterned surfaces could make for more efficient power generation and desalination.

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