ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Bats not bothered by forest fires, study finds
• Siberian fossil revealed to be one of the oldest known domestic dogs
• Human brain treats prosthetic devices as part of the body
• Brain injury may be autoimmune phenomenon, like multiple sclerosis
• New clues to causes of peripheral nerve damage
• Folate and vitamin B12 reduce disabling schizophrenia symptoms in some patients
• Origin of aggressive ovarian cancer discovered
• Hidden layer of genome unveils how plants may adapt to environments throughout the world
• How the body's energy molecule transmits three types of taste to the brain
• Circuitry of cells involved in immunity, autoimmune diseases exposed: Connections point to interplay between salt and genetic factors
• Flip of a single molecular switch makes an old mouse brain young
• Use it or lose it: Molecular mechanism for why a stimulating environment protects against Alzheimer's disease
• Study pinpoints, prevents stress-induced drug relapse in rats
• Solving the 'Cocktail Party Problem': How we can focus on one speaker in noisy crowds
• Universe measured more accurately than ever before: New results pin down distance to galaxy next door
• How the brain suppresses pain during times of stress
• Deadly fungus detected in Southeast Asia's amphibian trade
• Alzheimer's risk gene discovered by screening brain's connections: Signs of disease decades before illness strike
• Probing extreme matter through observations of neutron stars
• One region, two functions: Multitasking key to overall brain function
• Portion of hippocampus found to play role in modulating anxiety
• Herschel space observatory to complete its mission soon
• Comet to make close flyby of Red Planet in October 2014
• New solution proposed to ensure biofuel plants don't become noxious weeds
• Schizophrenia: A disorder of neurodevelopment and accelerated aging?
• Robotic fish gain new sense: Navigate water currents and turbulence
• Early evidence shows 'good' cholesterol could combat abdominal aortic aneurysm
• Family intervention improves mood symptoms in children and adolescents at risk for bipolar disorder
• Curtains down for the black hole firewall paradox: Making gravity safe for Einstein again
• New opportunities for 3-D technology in medicine
• Genomic screening to detect preventable rare diseases in healthy people?
• Visceral fat causally linked to intestinal cancer
• Newly identified biomarkers may help predict progression of Barrett's esophagus to esophageal adenocarcinoma
• Females butterflies can smell if a male butterfly is inbred
• Handedness in marsupials is dependent on gender, research shows
• Lizards facing mass extinction from climate change

Bats not bothered by forest fires, study finds Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:11 PM PST A survey of bat activity in burned and unburned areas after a major wildfire in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains found no evidence of detrimental effects on bats one year after the fire. The findings suggest that bats are resilient to high-severity fire, and some species may even benefit from the effects of fire on the landscape.

Siberian fossil revealed to be one of the oldest known domestic dogs Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:11 PM PST Analysis of DNA extracted from a fossil tooth recovered in southern Siberia confirms that the tooth belonged to one of the oldest known ancestors of the modern dog.

Human brain treats prosthetic devices as part of the body Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:11 PM PST People with spinal cord injuries show a strong association of wheelchairs as part of their body, not an extension of immobile limbs. The human brain can learn to treat relevant prosthetics as a substitute for a non-working body part, according to new research.

Brain injury may be autoimmune phenomenon, like multiple sclerosis Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:11 PM PST A new study suggests that brain injury from repeat blows to the head – observed among football players and soldiers – might not be a traumatic phenomenon, but an autoimmune phenomenon. It indicates that brain injury may be the result of an out-of-control immune response, much like multiple sclerosis. This is an entirely new way of thinking about how trauma could cause long term degeneration and opens the door to investigating a vaccine/drug to prevent head trauma.

New clues to causes of peripheral nerve damage Posted: 06 Mar 2013 07:08 PM PST Although peripheral neuropathies afflict some 20 million Americans, their underlying causes are not completely understood. Now, scientists have shown that damage to energy factories in Schwann cells, which grow alongside neurons and enable nerve signals to travel from the spinal cord to the tips of the fingers and toes, may play a central role.

Folate and vitamin B12 reduce disabling schizophrenia symptoms in some patients Posted: 06 Mar 2013 01:22 PM PST Adding the dietary supplements folate and vitamin B12 to treatment with antipsychotic medication improved a core symptom component of schizophrenia in a study of more than 100 patients. The study focused on negative symptoms of schizophrenia -- which include apathy, social withdrawal, and a lack of emotional expressiveness. While the level of improvement across all participants was modest, results were more significant in individuals carrying specific variants in genes involved with folate metabolism.

Origin of aggressive ovarian cancer discovered Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:44 AM PST Researchers have discovered a likely origin of epithelial ovarian cancer (ovarian carcinoma), the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States.

Hidden layer of genome unveils how plants may adapt to environments throughout the world Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:43 AM PST Scientists have identified patterns of epigenomic diversity that not only allow plants to adapt to various environments, but could also benefit crop production and the study of human diseases.

How the body's energy molecule transmits three types of taste to the brain Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:43 AM PST Scientists have discovered how ATP -- the body's main fuel source -- is released as the neurotransmitter from sweet, bitter, and umami, or savory, taste bud cells. The CALHM1 channel protein, which spans a taste bud cell's outer membrane to allow ions and molecules in and out, releases ATP to make a neural taste connection. The other two taste types, sour and salt, use different mechanisms.

Circuitry of cells involved in immunity, autoimmune diseases exposed: Connections point to interplay between salt and genetic factors Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST New work expands the understanding of how Th17 cells develop, and how their growth influences the development of immune responses. By figuring out how these cells are "wired," the researchers make a surprising connection between autoimmunity and salt consumption, highlighting the interplay of genetics and environmental factors in disease susceptibility.

Flip of a single molecular switch makes an old mouse brain young Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now researchers have reversed the process, recreating a youthful brain that facilitated both learning and healing in the adult mouse.

Use it or lose it: Molecular mechanism for why a stimulating environment protects against Alzheimer's disease Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST Researchers provide specific pre-clinical scientific evidence supporting the concept that prolonged and intensive stimulation by an enriched environment, especially regular exposure to new activities, may have beneficial effects in delaying one of the key negative factors in Alzheimer's disease.

Study pinpoints, prevents stress-induced drug relapse in rats Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST Scientists have identified specific key steps in the chain of events that causes stress-related drug relapse. They identified the exact region of the brain where the events take place in rat models and showed that by blocking a step, they could prevent stress-related relapse to drug seeking.

Solving the 'Cocktail Party Problem': How we can focus on one speaker in noisy crowds Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:42 AM PST In the din of a crowded room, paying attention to just one speaker's voice can be challenging. Research demonstrates how the brain homes in on one speaker to solve this "Cocktail Party Problem." Researchers discovered that brain waves are shaped so the brain can selectively track the sound patterns from the speaker of interest while excluding competing sounds from other speakers. The findings could have important implications for helping individuals with a range of deficits.

Universe measured more accurately than ever before: New results pin down distance to galaxy next door Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:40 AM PST After nearly a decade of careful observations astronomers have measured the distance to our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, more accurately than ever before. This new measurement also improves our knowledge of the rate of expansion of the Universe — the Hubble Constant — and is a crucial step towards understanding the nature of the mysterious dark energy that is causing the expansion to accelerate.

How the brain suppresses pain during times of stress Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:40 AM PST How does the brain suppress pain? For the first time, it has been shown that suppression of pain during times of fear involves complex interplay between marijuana-like chemicals and other neurotransmitters in a brain region called the amygdala.

Deadly fungus detected in Southeast Asia's amphibian trade Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:38 AM PST Scientists have revealed in a new study, for the first time, the presence of the pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) in amphibians sampled in Singapore. And the American bullfrog may be a central player in the spread of the disease.

Alzheimer's risk gene discovered by screening brain's connections: Signs of disease decades before illness strike Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:38 AM PST Scientists have discovered a new genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease by screening people's DNA and then using an advanced type of scan to visualize their brains' connections. The researchers discovered a common abnormality in our genetic code that increases the risk of Alzheimer's. To find the gene, they used a new imaging method that screens the brain's connections -- the wiring, or circuitry, that communicates information. Switching off such Alzheimer's risk genes (nine of them have been implicated over the last 20 years) could stop the disorder in its tracks or delay its onset by many years.

Probing extreme matter through observations of neutron stars Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:38 AM PST Neutron stars, the ultra-dense cores left behind after massive stars collapse, contain the densest matter known in the Universe outside of a black hole. New results have provided one of the most reliable determinations yet of the relation between the radius of a neutron star and its mass. These results constrain how nuclear matter – protons and neutrons, and their constituent quarks – interact under the extreme conditions found in neutron stars.

One region, two functions: Multitasking key to overall brain function Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:38 AM PST A region of the brain known to play a key role in visual and spatial processing has a parallel function: sorting visual information into categories. Different types of information can be simultaneously encoded within the posterior parietal cortex.

Portion of hippocampus found to play role in modulating anxiety Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:38 AM PST Researchers have found the first evidence that selective activation of the dentate gyrus, a portion of the hippocampus, can reduce anxiety without affecting learning. The findings suggest that therapies that target this brain region could be used to treat certain anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder and PTSD, with minimal cognitive side effects.

Herschel space observatory to complete its mission soon Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:17 AM PST The Herschel space observatory is expected to exhaust its supply of liquid helium coolant in the coming weeks, after spending more than three years studying the cool universe and surpassing the expectations of the international team of scientists involved.

Comet to make close flyby of Red Planet in October 2014 Posted: 06 Mar 2013 10:14 AM PST Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) will make a very close approach to Mars in October 2014.

New solution proposed to ensure biofuel plants don't become noxious weeds Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:42 AM PST Scientist propose innovative solution to ensure lucrative biofuel plants such as arundo donax do not become invasive weeds that can destroy fragile ecosystems.

Schizophrenia: A disorder of neurodevelopment and accelerated aging? Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:42 AM PST Many lines of evidence indicate that schizophrenia is a disorder of neurodevelopment. For example, genes implicated in the heritable risk for schizophrenia are also implicated in the development of nerve cells and their connections. Numerous findings in brain imaging studies describe the changes in brain structure and function associated with schizophrenia as emerging early in the course of the disorder. Some early brain imaging studies even found little or no evidence of progression of structural deficits. Yet, a new generation of studies now also describes degenerative processes in schizophrenia that resemble accelerated aging.

Robotic fish gain new sense: Navigate water currents and turbulence Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:42 AM PST Scientists have developed robots with a new sense -- lateral line sensing. All fish have this sensing organ but so far it had no technological counterpart on human-made underwater vehicles.

Early evidence shows 'good' cholesterol could combat abdominal aortic aneurysm Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:41 AM PST New research provides early evidence that 'good' cholesterol may possess anti-aneurysm forming properties. In laboratory-based investigations, scientists found that increased levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), the so-called good cholesterol, blocked the development of aneurysms – dangerous 'ballooning' in the wall of a blood vessel – in the body's largest artery, the aorta.

Family intervention improves mood symptoms in children and adolescents at risk for bipolar disorder Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:41 AM PST Psychologists have found that children and adolescents with major depression or subthreshold forms of bipolar disorder - and who had at least one first-degree relative with bipolar disorder - responded better to a 12-session family-focused treatment than to a briefer educational treatment.

Curtains down for the black hole firewall paradox: Making gravity safe for Einstein again Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:41 AM PST Scientists have revealed new insights into the life and death of black holes. Their findings dispel the so-called firewall paradox which shocked the physics community when it was announced in 2012 since its predictions about large black holes contradicted Einstein's crowning achievement -- the theory of general relativity. Those results suggested that anyone falling into a black hole would be burned up as they crossed its edge -- the so-called event horizon.

New opportunities for 3-D technology in medicine Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:39 AM PST Until now, physicians have largely been skeptical of the advantages of 3-D technology. But this may be about to change: the findings of a new study show that even experienced surgeons stand to benefit from the third dimension.

Genomic screening to detect preventable rare diseases in healthy people? Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:38 AM PST Millions of people unknowingly carry rare gene mutations that put them at high risk of developing preventable diseases such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and several catastrophic blood vessel disorders. Experts now propose that screening healthy adults for these and other specific, rare genetic disorders could potentially prevent these diseases.

Visceral fat causally linked to intestinal cancer Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:38 AM PST Visceral fat, or fat stored deep in the abdominal cavity, is directly linked to an increased risk for colon cancer, according to new data from a mouse study.

Newly identified biomarkers may help predict progression of Barrett's esophagus to esophageal adenocarcinoma Posted: 06 Mar 2013 05:38 AM PST A series of microRNA expression signatures may help to define progression of the precancerous condition Barrett's esophagus into esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Females butterflies can smell if a male butterfly is inbred Posted: 05 Mar 2013 05:04 PM PST The mating success of male butterflies is often lower if they are inbred. But how do female butterflies know which males to avoid? New research reveals that inbred male butterflies produce significantly less sex pheromones, making them less attractive to females.

Handedness in marsupials is dependent on gender, research shows Posted: 05 Mar 2013 05:03 PM PST Boys are right-handed, girls are left ... Well at least this is true for sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) and grey short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica). New research shows that handedness in marsupials is dependent on gender. This preference of one hand over another has developed despite the absence of a corpus collosum, the part of the brain which in placental mammals allows one half of the brain to communicate with the other.

Lizards facing mass extinction from climate change Posted: 05 Mar 2013 05:03 PM PST Climate change could see dozens of lizard species becoming extinct within the next 50 years, according to new research. The often one-directional evolutionary adaptation of certain lizard species' reproductive modes could see multiple extinctions as the global temperature increases.

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