Category Archives: Science News

Student’s Research With Disney Giraffes May Help Conserve Several Species:

University of Central Florida doctoral student Jennifer Fewster is studying giraffe excrement at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge in Lake Buena Vista in an effort to figure out what the animals eat in the wild and to improve the nutrition of those in captivity.
Fewster’s research, conducted in January and February, could potentially help conserve a wide array of herbivores, including endangered ones.
“I find it fascinating, but I forget people find it odd,” Fewster said. “It’s not the most glamorous work. In fact, it can be a bit boring at times, but the goal is worthwhile and it has applications for the wild and for the better care and nutrition of animals in captivity.”

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As always, see how well the press release matches the actual paper:

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Fruit Flies And Global Warming: Some Like It Hot:

Researchers working in Australia have discovered ways in which fruit flies might react to extreme fluctuations in temperature. Short-term exposure to high heat stress (“heat hardening”) has been known to have negative effects on Drosophila. But Loeschcke and Hoffmann discovered that it can have advantages too. Flies exposed to heat hardening were much more able to find their way to bait on very hot days than were the flies that were exposed to cooler temperatures, but the heat hardened flies did poorly on cool days.

Beating Heart Muscle With Built-In Blood Supply Created From Stem Cells:

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have created new heart muscle with its own blood supply using human embryonic stem cells. The researchers say the newly engineered muscle could replace cardiac tissue damaged in heart attacks. Their study was published online January 11 in the journal Circulation Research.

Complex Channels: Scientists Discover How Ion Channels Are Organized To Control Nerve Cell Communication:

The messages passed in a neuronal network can target something like 100 billion nerve cells in the brain alone. These, in turn communicate with millions of other cells and organs in the body. How, then, do whole cascades of events trigger responses that are highly specific, quick and precisely timed? A team at the Weizmann Institute of Science has now shed light on this mysterious mechanism. Their discovery could have important implications for the future development of drugs for epilepsy and other nervous system diseases. These findings were recently published in the journal Neuron.
The secret is in the control over electrical signals generated by cells. These signals depend on ion channels — membrane proteins found in excitable cells, such as nerve cells — that allow them to generate electrical signals, depending on whether the channels are opened or closed. Prof. Eitan Reuveny, together with Ph.D. students Inbal Riven and Shachar Iwanir of the Weizmann Institute’s Biological Chemistry Department, studied channels that work on potassium ions and are coupled to a protein called the G protein, which when activated, causes the channel to open. Opening the channel inhibits the conductance of electrical signals, a fact that might be relevant, for example, in the control of seizures.

Fish Can Determine Their Social Rank By Observation Alone, Study Finds:

A male fish can size up potential rivals, and even rank them from strongest to weakest, simply by watching how they perform in territorial fights with other males, according to a new study by Stanford University scientists. The researchers say their discovery provides the first direct evidence that fish, like people, can use logical reasoning to figure out their place in the pecking order.

Genetic Evaluations Help Breed Better Bossies:

Breeding dairy cattle is an inexact science, so many gene-linked traits must be considered. Some of the major ones are quantity of milk produced, its fat and protein content, mothers’ pregnancy rates, calving ease and, most recently, stillbirth rate. Such evaluating of genetic traits has allowed dairy farmers to increase milk production to all-time highs.

Living Near A Highway Affects Lung Development In Children, Study Shows:

Children who live near a major highway are not only more likely to develop asthma or other respiratory diseases, but their lung development may also be stunted. According to a study that will appear in the February 17 issue of The Lancet and now available online, researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) found that children who lived within 500 meters of a freeway, or approximately a third of a mile, since age 10 had substantial deficits in lung function by the age of 18 years, compared to children living at least 1500 meters, or approximately one mile, away.

As always, put the press releases under the dissecting microscopes:
Thinking With The Spinal Cord?:

Two scientists from the University of Copenhagen have demonstrated that the spinal cord use network mechanisms similar to those used in the brain. The discovery is featured in the current issue of Science.

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How Fishes Conquered The Ocean:

Scientists at the University of Bergen, Norway have deduced how bony fishes conquered the oceans by duplicating their yolk-producing genes and filling their eggs with the water of life — the degradation of yolk proteins from one of the duplicated genes causes the eggs to fill with vital water and float. This is the major solution realized by extant marine teleosts that showed an unprecedented radiation during the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene Periods. The work is a unique hypothesis that integrates the cellular and molecular physiology of teleost reproduction with their evolutionary and environmental history.

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Scientists Discover New Species Of Distinctive Cloud-forest Rodent:

A strikingly unusual animal was recently discovered in the cloud-forests of Peru. The large rodent is about the size of a squirrel and looks a bit like one, except its closest relatives are spiny rats. The nocturnal, climbing rodent is beautiful yet strange looking, with long dense fur, a broad blocky head, and thickly furred tail. A blackish crest of fur on the crown, nape and shoulders add to its distinctive appearance.
Isothrix barbarabrownae, as the new species has been named, is described in the current issue of Mastozoología Neotropical (Neotropical mammalogy), the principal mammalogy journal of South America. A color illustration of the bushy rodent graces the cover of the journal.

‘Terror Bird’ Arrived In North America Before Land Bridge, Study Finds:

A University of Florida-led study has determined that Titanis walleri, a prehistoric 7-foot-tall flightless “terror bird,” arrived in North America from South America long before a land bridge connected the two continents. UF paleontologist Bruce MacFadden said his team used an established geochemical technique that analyzes rare earth elements in a new application to revise the ages of terror bird fossils in Texas and Florida, the only places in North America where the species has been found. Rare earth elements are a group of naturally occurring metallic elements that share similar chemical and physical properties.

[more under the fold…]

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Dogs May Be Responding To Psychological Seizures, Not Epilepsy Seizures:

Reports of dogs that can predict their owners’ epilepsy seizures have been anecdotal and not objectively confirmed by doctors and researchers. Some people obtain service dogs trained specifically for people with seizures. In two new studies published in the January 23, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, researchers found that in some cases these dogs are responding to seizures caused not by epilepsy, but by psychological conditions.

Bumblebee House Warming: It Takes A Village:

All bumblebees always aren’t as busy as, well, a bee. It all depends on what their job is. Researchers have known that a key to the insects’ success in adapting to cooler climates is their ability to maintain fairly stable body temperatures when flying to flowers. Whether and how they maintained nest temperature was poorly understood. But now scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Puget Sound have peered into bumblebee colonies and have discovered some answers.

New Form Of Sleeping Sickness Discovered In India Stems From Deficiency In Natural Immunity Protein:

Human trypanosomiases are commonly known as sleeping sickness in Africa and Chagas disease in South America. The first case of human trypanosomiasis has now been discovered in India. The specialist investigations conducted, at the request of WHO and the Maharashtra Public Health Department, India, by an IRD scientist (1), has led to the identification of the parasite and the treatment of the patient, a farmer from the State of Maharashtra. He proved to be infected by Trypanosoma evansi, a trypanosome which is usually a parasite of various animals, particularly cattle. The mode of infection has not yet been clearly determined, but the discovery of this first human case of T. evansi raises questions both as to the evolution and adaptation of the parasite and on the real size of the problem.

An Advance In Mimicking Mother Nature:

Birds use them to reduce the weight of their feathers. Polar bears rely on them to keep warm in the Arctic cold. Now scientists in China report what they believe to be the first easy, straightforward method for making the kind of multi-channel microtubes found in birds, polar bears and other animals.

As always, comment on the studies and reporting of them in the comments….
Male Fish Turn To Cannibalism When Uncertain Of Paternity:

A study from the February issue of the American Naturalist is the first to demonstrate that male fish are more likely to eat their offspring when they have been cuckolded during the act of spawning. Moreover, the more males that are present during spawning, the more likely it is that a male will try to eat the eggs when they are laid, as it is less likely that he fertilized them.

…more under the fold….

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Bats In Flight Reveal Unexpected Aerodynamics:

The maneuverability of a bat in flight makes even Harry Potter’s quidditch performance look downright clumsy. While many people may be content to simply watch these aerial acrobats in wonder, Kenneth Breuer and Sharon Swartz are determined to understand the detailed aerodynamics of bat flight – and ultimately the evolutionary path that created it.

…more under the fold:

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As always, fell free to rip apart either the papers or the pre-releases in the comments (if they deserve that, of course – some are OK:
Code Pink: Extreme Weather Leaves Flamingos Hungry:

Lesser flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor) at Lake Bogoria, Kenya, are suffering from malnutrition, report Earthwatch-supported scientists working there. The scientists are investigating the causes of recent large-scale mortality events, resulting in the death of thousands of lesser flamingos in Kenya last year and at least half a million birds during the 1990s. Post-mortem examinations on several flamingos found dead at Bogoria in late 2006 revealed that the birds weighed just 63 per cent of their normal body mass, approximately 1,050 grams. An analysis of the lake water confirmed that very low levels of spirulina (a blue-green bacteria that is the primary food source for lesser flamingos) were leaving the birds with only 10 per cent of their minimum daily food requirements.

Age Is More Than A Number: In Barn Owls, It Reveals How Susceptible One Is To Climate Change:

Fluctuations in weather and the environment affect survival and reproduction of animals. But are all individuals within a population equally susceptible? Theory on the evolution in age-structured populations suggests not — those life stages that are more important for overall fitness should be less susceptible to environmental variation than other life stages. Empirical support for this prediction is rare because detailed data need to be collected over many years, and true variation tends to be inflated through the way in which natural populations are sampled.
In the January issue of The American Naturalist, Res Altwegg (University of Cape Town and University of Victoria), Michael Schaub (Swiss Ornithological Institute and University of Bern), and Alexandre Roulin (University of Lausanne), examined temporal variation in survival and reproduction of barn owls in western Switzerland that had been observed over the past fifteen years. Using recently developed statistical tools, they were able to show that those fitness components that experienced stronger selection were indeed less variable over the years.
“Our results help explain why certain age classes are more susceptible to adverse weather, and they will help us understand how climatic variation affects populations of organisms in nature. This is important for predicting the effect of climate change on populations,” the authors said.

Big Vegetarian Mammals Can Play A Critical Role In Maintaining Healthy Ecosystems, Study Finds:

Removing large herbivorous mammals from the African savanna can cause a dramatic shift in the relative abundance of species throughout the food chain, according to scientists from Stanford University, Princeton University and the University of California-Davis. Their findings were published in the Jan. 2 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). In the study, the research team used large electric fences to exclude cattle, elephants, zebras and other herbivorous mammals from experimental plots on a ranch in central Kenya from May 2004 to December 2005. During that time, the scientists monitored changes in the populations of trees, beetles, lizards and other plant and animal species.

It Takes A Village: Female Ducks Negotiate Joint Rearing Of Ducklings:

Female eider ducks are well known to team up and share the work of rearing ducklings, but it now appears that they also negotiate not only how much effort each puts into the partnership, but also profit-sharing. An international group of scientists used a long-running study of the eider population in a Finnish archipelago to test predictions about how each hen seeks to maximize her benefits from the partnership without making it so unattractive that other hens withdraw their participation. As hens arrive at the rearing-area with their ducklings, a period of intense socializing ensues. The hens then sort themselves into cliques — pairs, trios, or quartets — with each hen in a group assuming a distinct role.

Mushrooms Have A Future In Fighting A Fowl Parasite:

Wide use of a mushroom extract to protect poultry against a major parasitic disease is now closer, thanks to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist and her South Korean colleagues. The researchers–led by immunologist Hyun Lillehoj at the ARS Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.–developed a technique for controlling coccidiosis, which costs the world’s poultry industry billions of dollars in losses annually.

Researchers Discover Drug That Blocks Malaria Parasites:

Northwestern University researchers have discovered how malaria parasites persuade red blood cells to engulf them — and how to block the invading parasites. The malaria marauders hack into the red cell’s signaling system and steal the molecular equivalent of its password to spring open the door to the cell. The researchers have found that a common blood pressure medication — propranolol — jams the signal to prevent the parasite from breaking in.
Scientists had long been perplexed by malaria’s ability to hijack red blood cells, then wildly multiply and provoke the life-threatening symptoms of malaria.

Patients With Amnesia ‘Live In The Present’:

Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, have shown that people with damage to the hippocampus, the area of the brain that plays a crucial role in learning and memory, not only have trouble remembering the past but also in imagining new and future experiences. Damage to the hippocampus can be caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain, for example during a cardiac arrest, or various other illnesses such as limbic encephalitis or Alzheimer’s disease.

New Study Examines The Influence And Impact Of Conspiracy Theories Surrounding The Death Of Princess Diana:

In their forthcoming paper The hidden impact of conspiracy theories: Perceived and actual influence of theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana, Dr Karen Douglas and Dr Robbie Sutton from the University of Kent show that people are persuaded by conspiracy theories about Princess Diana’s death even though they do not necessarily know it. In their study, which is to be published in the Journal of Social Psychology, the authors find that while people accurately judge the extent to which others are influenced by conspiracy theories, they are unaware of the extent to which their own attitudes have changed — a change that may actually serve to perpetuate the theories.

Spouse’s Personality May Be Hazardous To Your Health:

To the long list of things to consider when choosing a mate, there is now evidence suggesting that your spouse’s personality can have a major influence on your own ability to recover from – and perhaps even survive – a major challenge to your health. It is a finding drawn from a study by a team of researchers including John M. Ruiz, an assistant professor of psychology at Washington State University, as well as Karen A. Matthews and Richard Schulz, at the University of Pittsburgh, and Michael F. Scheier with Carnegie Mellon University.

Why Are Lions Not As Big As Elephants?:

Carnivores are some of the widest ranging terrestrial mammals for their size, and this affects their energy intake and needs. This difference is also played out in the different hunting strategies of small and large carnivores. Smaller species less than 15-20 kg in weight specialize on very small vertebrates and invertebrates, which weigh a small fraction of their own weight, whereas larger species (>15-20 kg) specialize on large vertebrate prey near their own mass. While carnivores around the size of a lynx or larger can obtain higher net energy intake by switching to relatively large prey, the difficulty of catching and subduing these animals means that a large-prey specialist would expend twice as much energy as a small-prey specialist of equivalent body size. In a new article published by PLoS Biology, Dr. Chris Carbone and colleagues from the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London reveal how this relationship might have led to the extinction of large carnivores in the past and why our largest modern mammalian carnivores are so threatened.

Closing A Loophole In The RNA World Hypothesis:

New scientific research may close a major loophole in the RNA world hypothesis, the idea that ribonucleic acid — not the fabled DNA that makes up genes in people and other animals — was the key to life’s emergence on Earth 4.6 billion years ago. That hypothesis states that RNA catalyzed all the biochemical reactions necessary to produce living organisms. Only later were those self-replicating RNA units joined by organisms based on DNA, which evolved into more advanced forms of life.

Marine Bacteria Can Create Environmentally Friendly Energy Source:

Bacteria in the world’s oceans can efficiently exploit solar energy to grow, thanks to a unique light-capturing pigment. This discovery was made by researchers at University of Kalmar in Sweden, in collaboration with researchers in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Spain. The findings are described in an article in the journal Nature.
“It was long thought that algae were the only organisms in the seas that could use sunlight to grow,” says Jarone Pinhassi, a researcher in Marine Microbiology at Kalmar University College. These microscopic algae carry out the same process as green plants on land, namely, photosynthesis with the help of chlorophyll.
In 2000 scientists in the U.S. found for the first time that many marine bacteria have a gene in their DNA that codes for a new type of light-capturing pigment: proteorhodopsin.
Proteorhodopsin is related to the pigment in the retina that enables humans to see colors. It should be possible for this pigment to enable marine bacteria to capture solar light to generate energy, but until now it had not been possible to confirm this hypothesis.

An Animated Key To The World Of Young People:

Animated films produced by children offer wide-ranging insights into how the younger generation see the world around them. This was the conclusion of an extensive project run by the “Zoom” Children’s Museum in Vienna, Austria. During a number of workshops, children and young people were given the opportunity to make their own animated films. The messages these films contain have now been interpreted as part of the project, which is supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Initial results indicate that the young generation is in two minds about technological progress and is extremely worried about our impact on the environment. The study also showed that gender stereotypes are far from being overcome.

New Group Of Algae Discovered: Picobiliphytes:

An international group of researchers has succeeded in identifying a previously unknown group of algae. As currently reported in the scientific journal Science, the newly discovered algae are found among the smallest members of photosynthetic plankton – the picoplankton (‘Picobiliphytes: A marine picoplanktonic algal group with unknown affinities to other Eukaroytes” Science, Vol. 316’). On account of the minute size of the organisms (no more than a few thousandth of a millimetre) and the appearance of phycobili-proteins, researchers have termed the new group Picobiliphyta.

Lost Dogs Found More Often Than Lost Cats, Study Suggests:

A lost dog is more likely to be reunited with its owner than a lost cat, according to two new studies. In one city in southwestern Ohio , researchers found that 71 percent of lost dogs were found, compared to just 53 percent of lost cats. More than a third of the recovered dogs were found by a call or visit to an animal shelter. More than one in four dogs were found because the animal wore a dog license or identification tag at the time of its disappearance.

Genetic Marker Predicts Pig Litter Size:

Bigger is often better where litter size is concerned, especially when it comes to piglets. Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., have identified a genetic marker that could help pig breeders select animals for increased uterine capacity and litter size. This genetic discovery could give swine breeding a boost in efficiency.

Rare Plant From Dinosaur Age:

A relic plant that once co-existed with dinosaurs has taken up residence in the University of Wisconsin-Madison botany greenhouses. Known as the Wollemi pine, the plant was presumed extinct until a “bushwalker” named David Noble discovered it in an Australian national park in 1994. As part of a worldwide effort to conserve and propagate the tree species – one of the oldest and rarest on earth – botany greenhouse director Mo Fayyaz recently purchased a foot-tall Wollemi pine seedling. A limited number of the plants just became available in the United States through National Geographic.

Stealth Technology Maintains Fitness After Sex: How ‘DNA Parasites’ Can Increase Spread Of Antibiotic Resistance:

Pathogens can become superbugs without their even knowing it, research published today in Science shows. ‘Stealth’ plasmids – circular ‘DNA parasites’ of bacteria that can carry antibiotic-resistance genes – produce a protein that increases the chances of survival and spread of the antibiotic-resistant strain. Low-cost plasmids, described for the first time in the study are a threat to use of antibiotics.

Large Size Crucial For Amazon Forest Reserves:

An international research team has discovered that the size of Amazon forest reserves is yet more important than previously thought. Their findings, to be published this week (January 12th) in the journal Science, underscore the importance of protecting the Amazon in large stretches of primary forest. The article summarizes bird survey results from the world’s largest and longest running experimental study of forest fragmentation — the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, sponsored by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Institute for Amazon Research, in Brazil.

States With Higher Levels Of Gun Ownership Have Higher Homicide Rates:

Firearms are used to kill two out of every three homicide victims in America.. In the first nationally representative study to examine the relationship between survey measures of household firearm ownership and state level rates of homicide, researchers at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center found that homicide rates among children, and among women and men of all ages, are higher in states where more households have guns. The study appears in the February 2007 issue of Social Science and Medicine.

There’s No Scent Like Home: New Research Shows Larval Fish Use Smell To Return To Coral Reefs:

Tiny larval fish living among Australia’s Great Barrier Reef spend the early days of their lives swept up in ocean currents that disperse them far from their places of birth. Given such a life history, one might assume that fish populations would be genetically homogeneous within the dispersal area. Yet the diversity of reef fish species is high and individual reefs contain different fish populations. For such rich biodiversity to have evolved, some form of population isolation is required. New research from MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) Associate Scientist Gabriele Gerlach, MBL Adjunct Senior Scientist Jelle Atema, and their colleagues shows that some fish larvae can discriminate odors in ocean currents and use scent to return to the reefs where they were born. The olfactory imprinting of natal reefs sheds light on how such a wide diversity of species arose. The homing behavior of reef fishes, the researchers contend, could support population isolation and genetic divergence that may ultimately lead to the formation of new species.

World’s Largest Flower Evolved From Family Of Much Tinier Blooms:

The plant with the world’s largest flower — typically a full meter across, with a bud the size of a basketball — evolved from a family of plants whose blossoms are nearly all tiny, botanists write this week in the journal Science. Their genetic analysis of rafflesia reveals that it is closely related to a family that includes poinsettias, the trees that produce natural rubber, castor oil plants, and the tropical root crop cassava. [—] “For nearly 200 years rafflesia’s lineage has confounded plant scientists,” says Davis, an assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “As a parasite living inside the tissue of a tropical vine, the plant lacks leaves, shoots, or roots, making it difficult to compare to more conventional plants. Most efforts to place plants in the botanical tree of life in the past 25 years have tracked ancestry using molecular markers in genes governing photosynthesis. Rafflesia is a non-photosynthetic parasite, and those genes have apparently been abandoned, meaning that to determine its lineage we had to look at other parts of the plant’s genome.”

Prenatal Cocaine’s Lasting Cellular Effects:

Although the “crack baby” hysteria of the 1980s was greatly exaggerated, cocaine use during pregnancy can cause subtle but disabling cognitive impairments — attention deficits, learning disabilities and emotional problems. A recent study by investigators at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development may help explain the long-term behavioral and neurological problems associated with prenatal exposure to cocaine. In a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, Gregg Stanwood, Ph.D., and Pat Levitt, Ph.D., report that prenatal cocaine exposure in rabbits causes a long lasting displacement of dopamine receptors in certain brain cells, which alters their ability to function normally.

Musician In The Mirror: New Study Shows Brain Rapidly Forms Link Between Sounds And Actions That Produce Them:

A new imaging study shows that when we learn a new action with associated sounds, the brain quickly makes links between regions responsible for performing the action and those associated with the sound.

Big-brained Birds Survive Better In Nature:

Birds with brains that are large in relation to their body size have a lower mortality rate than those with smaller brains, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The research provides the first evidence for what scientists describe as the ‘cognitive buffer’ hypothesis – the idea that having a large brain enables animals to have more flexible behaviours and survive environmental challenges.

The Price Of Vanity: Mating With Showy Males May Reduce Offspring’s Ability To Fight Off Pathogens:

In many animals, males advertise to potential mates with showy traits, many of which are linked to testosterone levels. However, a new study suggests that, in fish, choosing a flashier mate may cause future generations to be more susceptible to pathogens. In the January 2007 issue of The American Naturalist, a new study by Judith Mank (Uppsala University, Sweden) finds that mating with males who possess showy traits — such as bright colors or long tails and fins — results in higher testosterone levels in males over many generations. Because male and female testosterone levels are correlated, female choice also results in an increase in female testosterone levels.

How Are Phenotypic Differences Between Sexes Related To Phenotypic Variation Within Sexes?:

It has long been recognized that sexually dimorphic traits — traits that are systematically different between members of different sex in the same species, such as peacocks’ tail feathers — tend to vary a great deal among individual males, and that much of this within-sex variation depends on individual condition. Indeed, theory predicts that sexual dimorphism will evolve based on condition dependence so that, among traits, a more pronounced difference between male and female should be associated with a stronger response to variation in condition.

Beavers Helping Frogs And Toads Survive:

The humble beaver, besides claiming a spot of honour on the Canadian nickel, is also helping fellow species survive. Though considered a pest because of the culvert-clogging dams it builds on streams, the beaver is an ally in conserving valuable wetland habitat for declining amphibian populations, a University of Alberta study shows.

Scientists Discover Stage At Which An Embryonic Cell Is Fated To Become A Stem Cell:

Cambridge scientists have discovered the stage at which some of the cells of a fertilised mammalian egg are fated to develop into stem cells and why this occurs. The findings of the study, which overturn the long-held belief that cells are the same until the fourth cleavage (division) of the embryo, are reported in the journal Nature.

A Curry A Day Keeps The Doctor Away?:

The chemical that gives spicy food its kick could hold the key to the next generation of anti-cancer drugs that will kill tumours with few or no side effects for the patient, say academics at The University of Nottingham. A study by the scientists, published online in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, has proven for the first time that the chemical compound capsaicin — which is responsible for the burning sensation when we eat chillies — can kill cells by directly targeting their energy source.

Controlling Sexual Compatibility Can Help Control Spread Of Some Invasive Species:

University of California, Riverside genetics Professor Norman Ellstrand led a team of researchers whose findings suggest that harnessing the sexual requirements of some plants can help control the establishment of invasive species. Using the California wild radish as their model, Ellstrand and graduate student Caroline Ridley at the UCR Department of Botany and Plant Sciences co-authored the research study titled Population size and relatedness affect fitness of self-incompatible invasive plants, published in the Dec. 29 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The current article originated from a doctoral dissertation project by former UCR graduate student Diane Elam. Fellow graduate student Karen Goodell also worked on the project. Elam is now with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sacramento office. Karen Goodell now teaches at Ohio State University.

Why Doesn’t The Immune System Attack The Small Intestine? New Study Provides Unexpected Answer:

Answering one of the oldest questions in human physiology, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered why the body’s immune system – perpetually on guard against foreign microbes like bacteria — doesn’t attack tissues in the small intestine that harbor millions of bacteria cells. In a study in the February issue of Nature Immunology, and which is currently available on the journal’s Web site as an advanced online publication, investigators led by Shannon Turley, PhD, of Dana-Farber identify an unlikely group of peacemakers: lymph node cells that instruct key immune system cells to leave healthy tissue alone. The finding, which illuminates a previously unknown corner of the human immune system, may lead to new forms of treatment for autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

European Space Agency Launches New Project To Protect Biodiversity:

The world’s biodiversity is vanishing at an unprecedented rate – around 100 species every day – due to factors such as land use change and pollution. Addressing this threat, world governments agreed through the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to reduce significantly the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. To support this initiative, ESA has kicked off its new DIVERSITY project.

Researcher Placing Eye Implants In Cats To Help Humans See:

In “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Geordi La Forge is a blind character who can see through the assistance of special implants in his eyes. While the Star Trek character “lives” in the 24th century, people living in the 21st century may not have to wait that long for the illuminating technology. Kristina Narfstrom, a University of Missouri-Columbia veterinary ophthalmologist, has been working with a microchip implant to help blind animals “see.” According to Narfstrom, the preliminary results are promising.

Children’s Packed Lunches: Are They Even Worse Than Turkey Twizzlers?:

Packed lunches taken to school by 7-year olds are even less healthy than school meals used to be before English TV chef Jamie Oliver set out to reform them. The Children of the 90s study, based at the University of Bristol, has revealed that in the year 2000, school meals were every bit as bad as Jamie Oliver suggested – but that children given packed lunches instead were even worse off nutritionally.

Adding Activity To Video Games Fights Obesity, Study Shows:

If playing video games makes kids less active — and contributes to obesity — why not create more video games that require activity? That’s the question prompted by a Mayo Clinic research study published in the current issue of the medical journal Pediatrics.

Benefits Of Testosterone Treatment Unknown, Research Shows:

Little research exists demonstrating that testosterone is both safe from the cardiovascular standpoint and effective to treat sexual dysfunction, reveal Mayo Clinic researchers in two new studies. In articles published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic physicians call for large studies to help clinicians and patients make informed decisions about when testosterone should be prescribed.

Education Does Not Protect Against Age-related Memory Loss, Say Researchers:

Adults over 70 with higher levels of education forgot words at a greater rate than those with less education, according to a new study from the University of Southern California. The findings, published in the current issue of Research on Aging, suggest that after age 70, educated adults may begin to lose the ability to use their schooling to compensate for normal, age-related memory loss.

We’re Sorry This Is Late … We Really Meant To Post It Sooner: Research Into Procrastination Shows Surprising Findings:

A University of Calgary professor in the Haskayne School of Business has recently published his magnum opus on the subject of procrastination — and it’s only taken him 10 years. Joking aside, Dr. Piers Steel is probably the world’s foremost expert on the subject of putting off until tomorrow what should be done today. His comprehensive analysis of procrastination research, published in the recent edition of the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Bulletin, presents some surprising conclusions on the subject, such as:
* Most people’s New Year’s resolutions are doomed to failure
* Most self-help books have it completely wrong when they say perfectionism is at the root of procrastination, and
* Procrastination can be explained by a single mathematical equation
“Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task,” Steel says. “Perfectionism is not the culprit. In fact, perfectionists actually procrastinate less, but they worry about it more.”

Milk Eliminates Cardiovascular Health Benefits Of Tea, Researchers Warn:

Research published online in European Heart Journal has found that the protective effect tea has on the cardiovascular system is totally wiped out by adding milk.

Healthy Eating Is At A Supermarket Near You:

Supermarket “grocery store tours” could be the key to healthier lifestyles and prevent chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease (CHD) concludes a study published in the Health & Fitness Journal. Although healthy eating advice is generally well understood, it isn’t always easy to put into practice. To address this, researchers at the University of Bristol’s Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences arranged for practical nutrition-education sessions ‘with a difference’ to ta

New Study Sheds Light On ‘Dark States’ In DNA:

Chemists at Ohio State University have probed an unusual high-energy state produced in single nucleotides — the building blocks of DNA and RNA — when they absorb ultraviolet (UV) light.

Tumor-suppressor Gene Is Critical For Placenta Development:

An important cancer-related gene may play a critical role in the development of the placenta, the organ that controls nutrient and oxygen exchange between a mother and her fetus during pregnancy, and perhaps in miscarriages. Those conclusions come from a new study of the retinoblastoma (Rb) gene in mice. In humans, this gene, when mutated, raises the risk of a rare cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma. Two decades ago, it was identified as the first tumor-suppressor gene, a class of genes that protects cells from becoming cancerous. It has since been shown to be inactivated in many cancers.

Plants Point The Way To Coping With Climate Change:

Roses flowering at Christmas and snow-free ski resorts this winter suggest that climate change is already with us and our farmers and growers will need ways of adapting. Scientists studying how plants have naturally evolved to cope with the changing seasons of temperate climates have made a discovery that could help us to breed new varieties of crops, able to thrive in a changing climate. The importance of the discovery is that it reveals how a species has developed different responses to different climates in a short period of time.

How Fish Species Suffer As A Result Of Warmer Waters:

Ongoing global climate change causes changes in the species composition of marine ecosystems, especially in shallow coastal oceans. This applies also to fish populations. Previous studies demonstrating a link between global warming and declining fish stocks were based entirely on statistical data. However, in order to estimate future changes, it is essential to develop a deeper understanding of the effect of water temperature on the biology of organisms under question.

How Trees Manage Water In Arid Environments:

Water scarcity is slowly becoming a fact of life in increasingly large areas. The summer of 2006 was the second warmest in the continental United States since records began in 1895, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Moderate to extreme drought conditions were evident in about 40 percent of the country.

Saving Endangered Whales At No Cost:

By comparing the productivity of lobster fishing operations in American and Canadian waters of the Gulf of Maine, researchers have identified ways in which cost-saving alterations in fishing strategies can substantially reduce fishing-gear entanglements of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The findings appear in the January 9th issue of the journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press, and are reported by Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, along with colleagues there and at the University of Rhode Island, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the University of New Hampshire.

Did We ‘Kill’ Martian Microbes? New Analysis Of Viking Mission Points To Life On Mars:

We may already have ‘met’ Martian organisms, according to a paper presented Sunday (Jan. 7) at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle. Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University and Joop Houtkooper of Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany, argue that even as new missions to Mars seek evidence that the planet might once have supported life, we already have data showing that life exists there now–data from experiments done by the Viking Mars landers in the late 1970s.

Feeling Tired? You May Be Less Likely To Get Hurt, Researcher Says:

Sleepiness and sleep deprivation have long been associated with an increased risk of injury. However, the results of a recent study by a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher suggest that this commonly accepted theory might not be true. In a study of more than 2,500 patients, Daniel Vinson, professor of community and family medicine, found that patients who reported feeling sleepy were, surprisingly, less likely to be injured. Patients who reported better sleep quality in the previous seven days also were less likely to be injured, but patients who reported getting more sleep in the 24 hours before an injury than they did in the previous 24 hours were found to have a higher risk of injury.
“It could be that people who feel sleepy change their behavior,” Vinson said. “If I’m feeling really tired, maybe I’ll stop driving, maybe I won’t play sports. If we’re changing what we’re doing when we’re feeling tired, that may be what lowers our risk of injury.”

Trusting Your Instincts Leads You To The Right Answer:

A UCL (University College London) study has found that you are more likely to perform well if you do not think too hard and instead trust your instincts. The research, published online in the journal Current Biology, shows that, in some cases, instinctive snap decisions are more reliable than decisions taken using higher-level cognitive processes. Participants, who were asked to pick the odd one out on a screen covered in over 650 identical symbols, including one rotated version of the same symbol, actually performed better when they were given no time at all to linger on the symbols and so were forced to rely entirely on their subconscious.

Getting Livestock Vaccines Past A Maternal Block:

Use of a virus linked to the common cold is among the novel approaches Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Iowa are using to bypass maternal defenses that thwart vaccination of very young livestock.

Age, Gender Major Factors In Severity Of Auto-accident Injuries:

Understanding the differences among drivers in different gender and age categories is crucial to preventing serious injuries, said researchers in a new study showing stark statistical differences in traffic-accident injuries depending on the gender and age of drivers.

Headaches Form Over A Possible New Form Of Aspirin:

New scientific insights into the packaging of molecules in solids may tempt jokesters to add a second line to that old medical axiom, “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” Insiders familiar with an unfolding controversy about aspirin — more than 100 billion tablets of which are produced worldwide each year — might quip, “Well, doctor, should I take Form I or Form II?”

Imaging Pinpoints Brain Regions That ‘See The Future’:

Human memory, the ability to recall vivid mental images of past experiences, has been studied extensively for more than a hundred years. But until recently, there’s been surprisingly little research into cognitive processes underlying another form of mental time travel — the ability to clearly imagine or “see” oneself participating in a future event.

Renegade RNA: Clues To Cancer And Normal Growth:

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a tiny piece of genetic code apparently goes where no bit of it has gone before, and it gets there under its own internal code. A report on the renegade ribonucleic acid, and the code that directs its movement, will be published Jan. 5 in Science.

Under the fold, due to MT malfunction….

Continue reading →

New Orleans Termites Dodge Katrina Bullet:

Tales of survival have been trickling out of New Orleans ever since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. But few have focused on what might be considered the city’s most tenacious residents–its subterranean termites. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologists recently confirmed what many termite researchers and city officials were hoping against. Despite the high waters, winds and other havoc unleashed by Katrina over a year ago, the invasive Formosan subterranean termite is persisting in New Orleans.

Wetlands Curb Hog Hormones In Waste Water:

Constructed wetlands may help reduce hormones in wastewater from hog farms, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-led team reported recently in Environmental Science and Technology. Recently, hog-farm operators have begun incorporating constructed wetlands into their wastewater treatments to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus in the effluent so that it can be spread onto crop fields without causing environmental harm. But little, if any, research has investigated the system’s potential to diminish hormones that hogs excrete into wastewater.

‘Marathon Mice’ Elucidate Little-known Muscle Type:

Researchers report in the January issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press, the discovery of a genetic “switch” that drives the formation of a poorly understood type of muscle. Moreover, they found, animals whose muscles were full of the so-called IIX fibers were able to run farther and at higher work loads than normal mice could.

Doctors Neglect Insomnia In Older Patients, Study Finds:

The sleep problems of older people are often not addressed by their primary care physicians, even though treatment of those sleep disorders could improve their physical and mental health and enhance their quality of life. That’s the finding of new research from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. When patients 60 years and older visited their primary care doctors, physicians did not note sleep problems in the patients’ charts. This was significant because independent social workers, who interviewed those same patients after their doctors’ visits, learned that 70 percent of them had at least one sleep complaint and 45 percent said they had “difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or being able to sleep.”

Estrogen Curbs Appetite In Same Way As The Hormone Leptin:

Estrogen regulates the brain’s energy metabolism in the same way as the hormone leptin, leading the way to a viable approach to tackling obesity in people resistant to leptin, researchers at Yale School of Medicine report in the December 31 online issue of Nature Medicine. “We found that estrogen suppresses appetite using the same pathways in the brain as the adipose hormone leptin,” said lead author Tamas L. Horvath, chair and professor of Comparative Medicine and professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine.

Mouse Lemur Species Not Determined By Coat Color:

A team of researchers has found that nocturnal lemurs thought to belong to different species because of their strikingly different coat colors are not only genetically alike, but belong to the same species. The team, which includes Laurie R. Godfrey, professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and UMass graduate student Emilienne Rasoazanabary, has just published its findings in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.
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The lemurs they tested had three different coat colors and lived in different types of forest locations in southern Madagascar — classic characteristics of separate nocturnal species. Surprisingly, the researchers found that although the lemurs appeared to be different species because they were visually distinct, they did not differ genetically. According to the sequence of this specific gene, all belong to the same previously identified species, Microcebus griseorufus.
The authors also show that lemurs with each of the three different coat colors could be found in all three geographical locations in similar proportions. They note that lemurs are nocturnal animals and tend to depend on auditory cues, or smell, more than on visual cues to recognize each other. They say that this could explain why a certain amount of variation in coat color does not affect species recognition in the mouse lemurs.

Cool-Water Wash For Eggs Can Help Prevent Microbial Contamination:

Using cooler water to wash shell eggs during a second washing can help cool them quicker. This reduces the potential of foodborne pathogen growth both inside the eggs and on the eggshell surface, according to scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

To Catch A Pest, Scientists Fine-Tune Traps:

Airborne volatile compounds that attract plant-feeding insects to alfalfa could help growers control cotton pests with fewer pesticides.
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Another study combined the chemical cues with a green-light-emitting diode (LED), which imitated a visual cue that attracts plant-feeding insects. Alone, the LED drew several females, but when combined with volatile or synthetic cues, it attracted both males and females at all stages of maturity. In some tests, the LED-synthetic compound combination drew positive responses of 80 percent or higher.

Bisexual Fruit Flies Show New Role For Neurochemical:

Fruit flies’ ability to discern one sex from another may depend on the number of receptors on the surface of nerve cells, and the number of receptors is controlled by levels of a ubiquitous brain chemical, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have found.
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A UIC research team led by David Featherstone, assistant professor of biological sciences, has discovered that receptor numbers are controlled by the brain’s level of glutamate. But it is not the same glutamate that most neuroscientists think about — the neurotransmitter that moves in message packets across the synapse. Instead, it is what Featherstone calls ambient extracellular glutamate, which just floats around the nervous system and has generally been ignored because no one knew where it came from or what it was doing.
For years, scientists failed to identify glutamate as a key neurotransmitter precisely because there was so much of it.
“It made no sense,” said Featherstone. “People figured you couldn’t use glutamate to send messages because there was too much glutamate background noise in the brain. It turns out that this background noise plays an important part in regulating information transfer.”
Featherstone and his lab team found that glia cells are the source of the excess ambient glutamate. Along with neurons, these poorly understood “support” cells fill the brain.

New Species Of Lizard Found In Borneo:

Chris Austin, assistant curator of herpetology at LSU’s Museum of Natural Science, or LSUMNS, and adjunct professor in biological sciences, recently discovered a new species of lizard while conducting field research in Borneo.

Sleep Disturbances, Nightmares Are Common Among Suicide Attempters:

In the first known report of its kind, a study published in the January 1st issue of the journal SLEEP finds that sleep disturbances are common among suicide attempters, and that nightmares are associated with suicidality.

Narcolepsy May Be Caused By Environmental Exposures:

In a possible contradiction to common belief that a person’s body mass index, immune responses and stressful life events are factors that may cause narcolepsy, a comprehensive review published in the January 1st issue of the journal SLEEP finds that, as with other diseases characterized by selective cell loss, narcolepsy may be caused by environmental exposures before the age of onset in genetically susceptible individuals.

High Aflatoxin Levels In Wild Bird Feed:

Wild birdseed contained higher levels of aflatoxins and other mycotoxins than any other kind of pet food analyzed in studies done around the world, a new review of those studies reports in an article scheduled for the Dec. 27 issue of ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Link Between Insomnia And Hypersomnia, Depression In Children:

According to a study published in the January 1st issue of the journal SLEEP, sleep-disturbed children are more severely depressed and have more depressive symptoms and comorbid anxiety disorders compared with children without sleep disturbance. To ensure the most effective care, parents of sleep-disturbed children are advised to first consult with the child’s pediatrician, who may issue a referral to a sleep specialist for comprehensive testing and treatment.

Zebrafish Study Yield Novel Genes Critical In Organ Development:

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a group of novel genes that are critical in organ development. The scientists studied the roles of genes in the zebrafish secretome. This group of genes makes proteins that are located on the surface or outside of cells in the body, and are responsible for directing “patterning” in the body, or ensuring that cells divide, differentiate and migrate to properly form vital organs in the correct places during development.

Climate Experts Search For Answers In The Oceans:

By absorbing half of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, the oceans have a profound influence on climate. However, their ability to take up this carbon dioxide might be impaired as a result of climate change. To determine their response to global warming, ESA has backed two projects that provide systematic data on key oceanic variables – colour and temperature.

What Crawls Beneath: Ground Spider Diversity Linked To Healthy Habitats:

None of Takesha Henderson’s discoveries are named Charlotte, but they are weaving a new chapter in Texas entomology. Her graduate studies at Texas A&M University have led to the discovery of 25 new spiders in Brazos County and one species found for the first time in Texas.

Do Galaxies Follow Darwinian Evolution?:

Using VIMOS on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, a team of French and Italian astronomers have shown the strong influence the environment exerts on the way galaxies form and evolve. The scientists have for the first time charted remote parts of the Universe, showing that the distribution of galaxies has considerably evolved with time, depending on the galaxies’ immediate surroundings. This surprising discovery poses new challenges for theories of the formation and evolution of galaxies.

U.S. Proposes Listing Polar Bears As Threatened Species:

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has announced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and initiating a comprehensive scientific review to assess the current status and future of the species.

To Elude Bats, A Moth Keeps Its Hearing In Tune:

Current understanding of the co-evolution of bats and moths has been thrown into question following new research reported in the journal Current Biology. Dr James Windmill from the University of Bristol, UK, has shown how the Yellow Underwing moth changes its sensitivity to a bat’s calls when the moth is being chased. And in case there is another attack, the moth’s ear remain tuned in for several minutes after the calls stop.

Adults Living With Children Eat More Fat Than Do Other Adults:

Adults living with children eat more saturated fat — the equivalent of nearly an entire frozen pepperoni pizza each week — than do adults who do not live with children, according to a University of Iowa and University of Michigan Health System study.

Sex Ends As Seasons Shift And Kisspeptin Levels Plummet:

A hormone implicated in the onset of human puberty also appears to control reproductive activity in seasonally breeding rodents, report Indiana University Bloomington and University of California at Berkeley scientists in the March 2007 issue of Endocrinology. The paper is now accessible online via the journal’s rapid electronic publication service. The researchers present evidence that kisspeptin, a recently discovered neuropeptide encoded by the KiSS-1 gene, mediates the decline of male Siberian hamsters’ libido and reproduction as winter approaches and daylight hours wane.

Research Upsetting Some Notions About Honey Bees:

Genetic research, based on information from the recently released honey bee genome, has toppled some long-held beliefs about the honey bee that colonized Europe and the U.S.
According to research published recently in Science, an international professional journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the four most common subspecies of honey bee originated in Africa and entered Europe in two separate migrations, said Dr. Spencer Johnston, entomologist with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and one of the authors of the article.
A large number of different bee species exist in Asia, where it had long been thought the honey bee originated, Johnston said.
“Their origin in Africa was suggested in other studies, but our result shows it dramatically to be true,” he said.

Researchers Discover New Species Of Fish In Antarctic:

What’s 34 centimeters (13.39 inches) long, likes the cold and has an interorbital pit with two openings? The answer is Cryothenia amphitreta, a newly discovered Antarctic fish discovered by a member of a research team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Complexity Constrains Evolution Of Human Brain Genes:

Despite the explosive growth in size and complexity of the human brain, the pace of evolutionary change among the thousands of genes expressed in brain tissue has actually slowed since the split, millions of years ago, between human and chimpanzee, an international research team reports in the December 26, 2006, issue of the journal, PLOS Biology.

How Many Genes Does It Take To Learn? Lessons From Sea Slugs:

Scientists analyzing the genomics of a marine snail have gotten an unprecedented look at brain mechanisms, discovering that the neural processes in even a simple sea creature are far from sluggish. At any given time within just a single brain cell of sea slug known as Aplysia, more than 10,000 genes are active, according to scientists writing in Friday’s (Dec. 29, 2006) edition of the journal Cell. The findings suggest that acts of learning or the progression of brain disorders do not take place in isolation – large clusters of genes within an untold amount of cells contribute to major neural events.

Watching With Intent To Repeat Ignites Key Learning Area Of Brain:

Watch and learn. Experience says it works, but how? University of Oregon researchers have seen the light, by imaging the brain, while test subjects watched films of others building objects with Tinker Toys. As detailed in the Dec. 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, found that when a person watches someone else perform a task with the intention of later replicating the observed performance, motor areas of the brain are activated in a fashion similar to that with accompanies actual movement.

Zoo trumpets birth of rare African okapi :

The Brookfield Zoo announced this week the birth of a baby okapi – an endangered African animal that looks as if it were put together by committee.
With a dark brown body and striped upper hind legs, the 1-month-old female looks a bit like a zebra, but claims closer ties to a giraffe. Her name, Sauda, means “dark beauty” in Swahili.
Not yet on public display, except through a video feed from her quiet nesting area with her mother, baby Sauda will make her debut in the zoo’s African forest exhibit in the spring.
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The zoo is recording Sauda’s movements so scientists can learn more about okapi behavior, Petric said. First discovered by Westerners in the animals’ native Congo in the early 1900s, the secretive okapi, known to live only in a forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, still hold many mysteries for researchers.

Hat-tip: Russ Williams

How Zebra Finches Learn Songs: Cellular Killer Also Important To Memory:

A protein known primarily for its role in killing cells also plays a part in memory formation, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report. Their work exploring how zebra finches learn songs could have implications for treatment of neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
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“Graham had this intuition that growth and memory is really a kind of remodeling,” said Clayton, who is a professor of cell and structural biology. “You can’t have growth without death.”

How Does A Zebrafish Grow A New Tail? The Answer May Help Treat Human Injuries:

If a zebrafish loses a chunk of its tail fin, it’ll grow back within a week. Like lizards, newts, and frogs, a zebrafish can replace surprisingly complex body parts. A tail fin, for example, has many different types of cells and is a very intricate structure. It is the fish version of an arm or leg.

Researchers Uncover New Way Nature Turns Genes On And Off:

Peering deep within the cells of fruit flies, developmental biologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia may have discovered a new way that genes are turned on and off during development. If they’re right, and the same processes are at work in higher organisms, including mammals, the findings could eventually have implications for improving the understanding of a range of diseases, including childhood cancer.

Mapping The Mouse Genome:

In a new study published online in the open access journal PLoS Biology, Sagiv Shifman, Jonathan Flint, and colleagues present a high resolution genetic map for the mouse genome–one of the most detailed genetic maps now available aside from that for humans.

Unfolded Proteins May Protect Cells From Dying:

When cells get stressed, their proteins go unfolded. It’s a reaction with a straightforward name: the unfolded protein response. Now, new research from Rockefeller University shows that this phenomenon actually serves a protective role; rather than a sign that the cell has given up, it may be a mechanism by which the cells cope with adversity. The findings were reported as an advance online publication in the EMBO Journal on the Dec. 14.

A Reason Why Video Games Are Hard To Give Up:

Kids and adults will stay glued to video games this holiday season because the fun of playing actually is rooted in fulfilling their basic psychological needs. Psychologists at the University of Rochester, in collaboration with Immersyve, Inc., a virtual environment think tank, asked 1,000 gamers what motivates them to keep playing. The results published in the journal Motivation and Emotion this month suggest that people enjoy video games because they find them intrinsically satisfying.

Maternal Diet During Pregnancy Can Impact Offspring For Generations, Study Shows:

A new study by scientists at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) is the first to show that a mother’s diet during pregnancy influences the health of her grandchildren by changing the behavior of a specific gene. The study was conducted using mice of an unique strain called “viable yellow agouti” also known as Avy in scientific terms. These mice possess a gene that influences the color of their coats as well as their tendency to become obese and develop diabetes and cancer. The new research shows that the diet consumed by a pregnant Avy mouse affects the health of not only her pups, but also their pups — her grandchildren.

Africa’s Least-known Carnivore In Tanzania: Mongoose Is One More Rare Find:

The Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced that a camera-trap study in the mountains of Southern Tanzania has now recorded Africa’s least-known and probably rarest carnivore: Jackson’s mongoose, known only from a few observations and museum specimens.

Pet Owners Are Sick More Often And Exercise Less Than Other Working-aged People, Study Finds:

A common perception is that pet owner is a young person who is full of action, exercises a lot, and actively plays with a pet, particularly with a dog. The reality is different, however.

Tweaking The Treatment For Restless Legs:

Last Super Bowl, a TV commercial lauded the power of Requip (ropinirole), the first drug approved to treat restless leg syndrome, a condition whose signature feature is creepy-crawly leg sensations that interfere with sleep and rest in nearly 1 of every 10 adults.

Singing For Survival: Gibbons Scare Off Predators With ‘Song’:

It is well known that animals use song as a way of attracting mates, but researchers have found that gibbons have developed an unusual way of scaring off predators — by singing to them. The primatologists at the University of St Andrews discovered that wild gibbons in Thailand have developed a unique song as a natural defence to predators. Literally singing for survival, the gibbons appear to use the song not just to warn their own group members but those in neighbouring areas.

Scanner Offers Humane Way To Look At Bird Bones:

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the University of Alberta for a bone scan. Dr. Douglas Korver, a professor of poultry nutrition in the U of A Department of Agricultural, Food, and Nutritional Science, has been using some innovative technology to save cash for the poultry industry, and save the chickens from excess pain and suffering. The department’s Quantitative Computed Tomography (QCT) scanner is being used to measure and calculate the bone density in laying chickens, in order to find ways to prevent osteoporosis and bone breaks in the birds.

Neurons Targeted By Dementing Illness May Have Evolved For Complex Social Cognition:

Von Economo neurons (VENs) are uniquely shaped brain cells that seem to have evolved in a select group of socially complex species: great apes, humans, and, as reported last month, whales. Across species, VENs are localized to frontal brain regions associated with cognition, emotion and social behavior. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a common neurodegenerative condition, is characterized by early breakdown in social and emotional awareness and is accompanied by atrophy and dysfunction in the brain areas where VENs are located.

Expedition Observes Little Known Beaked Whales:

On the 17th of December, Meike Scheidat & Linn Lehnert, the whale watchers on board the research icebreaker Polarstern, made a remarkable cetaceans sighting: Four Arnoux’s Beaked Whales (Berardius arnuxii), observed from the helicopter. The Arnoux’s Beaked Whales is one of the least known species of the Beaked Whales family (Ziphidae), itself poorly known in general. Arnoux’s is one of the biggest species amongst beaked whales. The ones observed were probably 9 metre long. These deep-sea feeding whales are particularly sensitive to underwater acoustic disturbances.

Gene Tied To Longevity Also Preserves Ability To Think Clearly:

A gene variant linked to living a very long life–to 90 and beyond–also serves to help very old people think clearly and retain their memories, according to new research by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

Cyberspace May Overcome Ethical Constraints In Experiments:

Psychological experiments that stopped 40 years ago because of ethical concerns could instead be conducted in cyberspace in the future. By repeating the Stanley Milgram’s classic experiment from the 1960s on obedience to authority — that found people would administer apparently lethal electrical shocks to a stranger at the behest of an authority figure — in a virtual environment, the UCL (University College London) led study demonstrated for the first time that participants reacted as though the situation was real.

Wolves Are Suffering Less From Inbreeding Than Expected:

Increasing levels of inbreeding is a threat against the viability of the Scandinavian wolf population. A study just coming out in the new journal PLoS ONE now demonstrates that inbreeding is not affecting the wolves as badly as expected. The results show that it is the most genetically variable wolf individuals that are recruited into the breeding population. An important consequence of this action of natural selection is that the negative effects of inbreeding are accumulating much slower than previously believed.

Squirrels Winning At Outwitting Trees’ Survival Strategy:

If you look at evolutionary biology as a big game of “Survivor,” it’s squirrels: one, spruce trees: zero. In the Dec. 22 edition of Science, Andrew McAdam, an assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State University, outlines how red squirrels have figured out a way around the elaborate ruse trees have used to protect their crops of tasty seeds. The remarkable part: The squirrels are divining the arrival of bumper crops of spruce cones months before the cones ever materialize and then betting on those crops with the most expensive evolutionary collateral – a second litter of pups.

Study On Accidental Introduction Of Invasive Snails With Parasitic Flatworms May Help Mitigate Spread Of Disease:

A paper that authors are calling a “home run” study on the spread of disease is published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study traces — through genetic analysis — the accidental introduction of invasive snails with parasitic flatworms. The invaders were probably transported with Japanese seed oysters imported into the waters of the Pacific Northwest over a century ago. It is the first comprehensive genetic analysis of an invasive marine host and its parasites. The study points to broad implications for identifying and mitigating spreading disease in a globalized economy.

Ho! Ho! Huh? Researchers Measure Holiday Spirit:

The holidays just wouldn’t be the same without the decorations. From a single wreath or child’s picture of Santa taped to a window, to displays so elaborate that they can almost be seen from outer space, the festive season seems to spur the need to express the holiday spirit to our neighbors in addition to our closest kin. But neighborhoods also vary in the vigor of their holiday displays, as anyone who tours the streets of their town or city can attest. Scientists at Binghamton University, State University of New York, have decided to measure the holiday spirit. A simple scoring system was developed that ranged from zero (no decorations whatsoever) to four (representing different categories of decorations). A high score does not require wealth; even the humble residents of a trailer can score a four if they have the holiday spirit. A special category was even created for the kind of “over the top” display.
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“We have already created GIS maps measuring the quality of neighborhoods based on survey data,” Wilson reports. “Holiday decorations represent a natural expression of community spirit that we can correlate with the survey data.”
According to Wilson, neighborhood-based research in other cities has shown that community spirit, which is also called “social capital,” can have an important influence on everything from crime to healthy child development. Winter holiday decorations might be unduly influenced by a single religious tradition (Christianity), but Wilson and his volunteers mounted a similar effort during Halloween, a holiday with pagan roots.
“No single measure of community spirit is perfect,” Wilson stresses. “So we must be careful to include multiple measurements.”
Whatever it means, the GIS map of Binghamton’s winter holiday decorations is aesthetically pleasing. I’m sending it to all my colleagues, friends, and relations, ” Wilson smiles. “It might be the first holiday card that includes a methods section.”

Today’s crop of science news is particularly fascinating and I wish I had time to devote a whole post to each item. Hopefully, some of my SciBlings or other science bloggers will write something more about these new studies:
Contrary To Common Wisdom, Scientist Discovers Some Mammals Can Smell Objects Under Water:

For some time, Kenneth Catania had noticed that the star-nosed moles he studies blow a lot of bubbles as they swim around underwater. But it wasn’t until recently that he really paid attention to this behavior and, when he did, he discovered that the moles were blowing bubbles in order to smell underwater objects. “This came as a total surprise because the common wisdom is that mammals can’t smell underwater,’ says the assistant professor of biology. “When mammals adapt to living in water, their sense of smell usually degenerates. The primary example of this are the cetaceans — whales and dolphins — many of which have lost their sense of smell.”

Snuggling Skunks: Is It Better To Brave Winter Alone Or In A Group?:

A fascinating new study in the January/February 2007 issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology looks at the benefits of huddling vs. solitude, comparing strategies used by striped skunks to get through long, cold winters in northern climates. While most male skunks den underground alone during the winter, a group of female skunks will often snuggle together with one male in communal dens.
Yeen Ten Hwang (University of Western Ontario) and coauthors found that skunks that choose to go it alone reach torpor — the state during which an animal reduces its metabolism and lowers its temperature to save energy and conserve water — almost ten times more every day. Indeed, the researchers were surprised to find that male skunks who huddle with females do not enter torpor at all, perhaps staying physically alert to defend the den.

Dinosaurs: Stones Did Not Help With Digestion:

The giant dinosaurs had a problem. Many of them had narrow, pointed teeth, which were more suited to tearing off plants rather than chewing them. But how did they then grind their food? Until recently many researchers have assumed that they were helped by stones which they swallowed. In their muscular stomach these then acted as a kind of ‘gastric mill’. But this assumption does not seem to be correct, as scientists at the universities of Bonn and Tübingen have now proved.

Durable Critters Providing Insight For Human Egg Preservation:

A tiny, six-legged critter that suspends all biological activity when the going gets tough may hold answers to a better way to cryopreserve human eggs, researchers say. Tardigrades, also called water bears, can survive Himalayan heights or ocean depths as long as they have moisture. When they don’t, they produce a sugar, trehalose, slowly dehydrate and essentially cease functioning until the rain comes, says Dr. Ali Eroglu, reproductive biologist and cryobiologist at the Medical College of Georgia.

Go To Church And Breathe Easier:

“Pulmonary function is an important indicator of respiratory and overall health, yet little is known about the psychosocial factors that might predict pulmonary function. At the same time, religious activity is emerging as a potential health promoting factor, especially among the elderly. We wanted to determine whether there was a connection between the two,” Maselko said.

Too Mellow For Our Predatory World: Flight Behaviour Of Marine Iguanas:

Marine iguanas on the Galápagos Islands live without predators – at least this was the case up until 150 years ago. Since then they have been confronted with cats and dogs on some islands of the Archipelago. For scientists, they are therefore a suitable model of study in order to discover if such generally tame animals are capable of adapting their behaviour and endocrine stress response to novel predation threats. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, the University of Ulm Tufts University and Princeton University were able to show that the stress response induced by corticosterone (CORT) is absent in predator-naïve animals but can be fully restored with experience. However, as the researchers found out, the flight distance of the reptiles does not sufficiently increase, which limits their ability to successfully escape from newly introduced predators

Fish Species Plays Surprise Role In Aiding Coral Reef Recovery:

In a study that marks progress in understanding the basis of coral reef recovery, researchers have revealed the critical importance of a rare batfish, Platax pinnatus, in promoting the return to health of a disturbed coral reef overgrown with algae.

Study Gives Clues About How Deadly Bacterium Gains Foothold:

How a potentially deadly bacterium that could be used as a bioterrorist tool eludes being killed by the human immune system is now better understood.

Malaria Vaccine Prompts Victims’ Immune System To Eliminate Parasite From Mosquitoes:

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine that could, theoretically, eliminate malaria from entire geographic regions, by eradicating the malaria parasite from an area’s mosquitoes. The vaccine, so far tested only in mice, would prompt the immune system of a person who receives it to eliminate the parasite from the digestive tract of a malaria-carrying mosquito, after the mosquito has fed upon the blood of the vaccinated individual. The vaccine would not prevent or limit malarial disease in the person who received it.

Fossil Discovery Turns Scientific Theory On Its Head :

An international team led by University of Adelaide palaeontologist Trevor Worthy has discovered a unique, primitive type of land mammal that lived at least 16 million years ago on New Zealand.

This Party Doesn’t Start Until The Hosts Arrive: Parasite Invasions May Depend On Host Invasions:

Disease-causing organisms can be present in some areas where their hosts are not. If their hosts arrive, novel disease outbreaks may result.

Air Rich With Bacteria, Study Finds:

Want biodiversity? Look no further than the air around you. It could be teeming with more than 1,800 types of bacteria, according to a first-of-its-kind census of airborne microbes recently conducted by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

Climate Change Has Surprising Effect On Endangered Naked Carp:

Forthcoming in the January/February 2007 issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, a groundbreaking study reveals an unanticipated way freshwater fish may respond to water diversion and climate change. Endangered naked carp migrate annually between freshwater rivers, where they spawn, and a lake in Western China, where they feed and grow. However, Lake Qinghai is drying up and becoming increasingly more saline–leading to surprising adjustments to the carps’ metabolic rate.
Naked carp take seven to ten years to reach reproductive size. Although historically abundant, overfishing and destruction of spawning habitat through dam-building caused the species to become endangered during the 1990s. Diversion of water for agriculture from the lake has been compounded by climate change, leading to a decline in water level in the lake of 10–12 cm per year during the past fifty years (see accompanying image).
However, Chris M. Wood (McMaster University) and coauthors found that naked carp respond to the increased salinity of the lake water in a surprising way–by taking a “metabolic holiday.” In the first forty-eight hours after transitioning from the freshwater river system to lake water, the carps’ oxygen consumption falls –eventually reaching just 60 percent of that in river fish.
Both gill and kidney functions also decline. The sodium/potassium pump (Na+/K+-ATPase), which is a protein critical for cellular function, operated at only 30 percent of its capacity in lake-water fish compared to river-water fish. Ammonia-N secretion by the kidneys declines by a surprising 70 percent, and urine flow decreases drastically to less than 5 percent of its rate in the freshwater river water.

Sniffers Show That Humans Can Track Scents, And That Two Nostrils Are Better Than One:

University of California, Berkeley, graduate student Allen Liu last Friday donned coveralls, a blindfold, earplugs and gloves, then got down on all fours and sniffed out a 33-foot chocolate trail through the grass. This was no fraternity initiation, but part of an experiment to find out whether mammals compare information coming from their two nostrils in order to aid scent-tracking performance, much like they compare information from their ears in order to locate a sound.

Developing Our Brightest Minds:

Who will be the next Albert Einstein? The next Stephen Hawking? A new report from Vanderbilt University reveals the complex mix of factors that create these intellectual leaders: cognitive abilities, educational opportunities, investigative interests and old-fashioned hard work.

Phototherapy For Neonatal Jaundice Associated With Increased Risk Of Skin Moles In Childhood:

Children who received light therapy (phototherapy) for jaundice as infants appear to have an increased risk of developing skin moles in childhood, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Some types of moles are risk factors for developing the skin cancer melanoma.

Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells

Shoulder Ligament A Linchpin In The Evolution Of Flight:

Brown and Harvard scientists have learned that a single ligament at the shoulder joint stabilizes the wings of birds during flight. In an advanced online publication of Nature, they explain how this tough bit of tissue evolved to become a linchpin for today’s fliers.

Internal Compass Of Immune Cell Discovered:

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered how neutrophils — specialized white blood cells that play key roles in inflammation and in the body’s immune defense against bacteria — navigate to sites of infection and inflammation. These findings could potentially lead to new treatments for serious infections and inflammatory diseases in patients.

Pesticides Need Sunscreen To Beat The Heat:

A pesticide with a new in-built sunscreen could reduce costs to farmers and the environment. Special capsules shield the pesticide from sunshine, which normally causes rapid degradation.

A Green Way To Slag Off Bunnies:

Using slag on wheat plants deters rabbits from eating, and consequently damaging the plant. Calcium silicate gives the leaves a bitter taste, putting the bunnies off their food.

For Pacific White Shrimp, Gender Matters When Competing For Food:

A new study in Journal of the World Aquaculture Society suggests that, while larger shrimp consistently win over smaller shrimp of the same gender when competing for food, male shrimp will almost always beat female shrimp – even though adult males of the species are typically much smaller than the adult females of the same age.

Steering Toward The Much-discussed Lab-on-a-chip:

Scientists are reporting discovery of technology that may simplify construction of those much-discussed Micro Total Analysis Systems (micro-TASs) — “labs-on-a-chip” with whole medical and scientific laboratories shrunk to the size of computer chips.

Small Furry Mammal Was Capable Of Gliding Flight Possibly Before Birds:

An American Museum of Natural History paleontologist and his colleagues have named a new order of mammals based on their description of a fossil of a bat- or squirrel-sized Mesozoic mammal, called Volaticotherium antiquus (meaning “ancient gliding beast”), which was capable of gliding flight.

New Male-specific Gene In Algae Unveils An Origin Of Male And Female:

By studying the genetics of two closely related species of green algae that practice different forms of sexual reproduction, researchers have shed light on one route by which evolution gave rise to reproduction though the joining of distinct sperm and egg cells. The findings, which indicate that a gene underlying a more primitive system of reproduction was likely co-opted during evolution to participate in sex-specific sperm development, are reported by Hisayoshi Nozaki and colleagues at the University of Tokyo, Rikkyo (St. Paul’s) University, and Osaka University.

Squid-inspired Design Could Mean Better Handling Of Underwater Vehicles:

Inspired by the sleek and efficient propulsion of squid, jellyfish and other cephalopods, a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher has designed a new generation of compact vortex generators that could make it easier for scientists to maneuver and dock underwater vehicles at low speeds and with greater precision.

Mmmmm, jellyfish are not cephalopods…ScienceDaily can do better than this!

Two Central Mysteries In Genome Inheritance Solved:

The dance of the chromosomes during cell division, first described in the late 1800s and familiar to all high-school students from movies shown in biology classes, has long fascinated biologists. However, the molecular nature of a key component of cell division, the “chromosome-spindle” connection, which is critical for the inheritance of genetic information as cells divide, has remained elusive.

Many Children Discontinuing Use Of ADHD Medication:

Social stigma and feeling lifeless and/or alienated from one’s peers are some of the reasons why children and adolescents stop taking prescription stimulant medications used to treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new study published in the Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing.

Study Finds Gender Differences Related To Eating And Body Image:

In the new study of observed eating behavior in a social setting, young men and women who perceived their bodies as being less than “ideal” ate differing amounts of food after they were shown images of “ideal-bodied” people of their own gender.

Discovery May Help Predict When Toxoplasma Can Be Deadly :

Toxoplasma is arguably the most successful animal parasite on earth: It infects hundreds of species of warm-blooded animals, most notably half of humanity. Its unusual ability to overcome the numerous challenges of infecting and reproducing inside such a wide range of creatures has long intrigued scientists, and now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified two of the proteins critical to its ability to thrive.

One Gene 90 Percent Responsible For Making Common Parasite Dangerous:

More than a decade of searching for factors that make the common parasite Toxoplasma gondii dangerous to humans has pinned 90 percent of the blame on just one of the parasite’s approximately 6,000 genes.

Microbe Fixes Nitrogen At A Blistering 92 C, May Offer Clues To Evolution Of Nitrogen Fixation:

A heat-loving archaeon capable of fixing nitrogen at a surprisingly hot 92 degrees Celsius, or 198 Fahrenheit, may represent Earth’s earliest lineages of organisms capable of nitrogen fixation, perhaps even preceding the kinds of bacteria today’s plants and animals rely on to fix nitrogen.

Wild Tigers Need Cat Food:

A landmark study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says tigers living in one of India’s best-run national parks lose nearly a quarter of their population each year from poaching and natural mortality, yet their numbers remain stable due to a combination of high reproductive rates and abundant prey. The study, which appears in the journal Ecology, underscores the need of maintaining protected areas with high prey densities in an overall tiger conservation strategy, along with anti-poaching efforts and eliminating trade in tiger body parts.

For Crickets, Parasitic Flies Can Stop The Music:

Male crickets draw not only females with their songs but also parasitic flies. The uninvited guests then deposit larvae that burrow into their amorous hosts, grow for about a week and then tear their way out in “Alien” fashion, killing the cricket as they emerge.
Now, University of Florida zoologists have found that the danger posed by the flies has apparently affected when crickets sing. In experiments with Southeastern U.S. field crickets, known scientifically as Gryllus rubens, they discovered that considerably fewer male crickets sing in the autumn when the parasitic flies are abundant. They also found that female crickets are reluctant to approach singing males in the fall, perhaps unknowingly avoiding becoming the target of the flies themselves.

Intelligent Children More Likely To Become Vegetarian:

Recent evidence suggests that vegetarianism may be linked to lower cholesterol levels and a reduced risk of obesity and heart disease. This might help to explain why children who score higher on intelligence tests tend to have a lower risk of coronary heart disease in later life.

Options Improving For Patients With Acromegaly And Gigantism, Says Endocrinology Expert:

Scientific, technological and medical advances made in the past two decades are leading to more definitive diagnoses, earlier and more effective treatment options and better outcomes for patients suffering from a condition called acromegaly, according to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine and authored by a specialist in endocrinology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Two Studies On Bee Evolution Reveal Surprises:

The discovery of a 100-million-year old bee embedded in amber — perhaps the oldest bee ever found — “pushes the bee fossil record back about 35 million years,” according to Bryan Danforth, Cornell associate professor of entomology.

Tiny Bones Rewrite Textbooks: First New Zealand Land Mammal Fossil:

Small but remarkable fossils found in New Zealand will prompt a major rewrite of prehistory textbooks, showing for the first time that the so-called “land of birds” was once home to mammals as well.
The tiny fossilised bones – part of a jaw and hip – belonged to a unique, mouse-sized land animal unlike any other mammal known and were unearthed from the rich St Bathans fossil bed, in the Otago region of South Island.
But the real shock to scientists was that it was there at all: until now, decades of searching had shown no hint that the furry, warm-blooded animals that thrived and prospered so widely in other lands had ever trodden on New Zealand soil.
The fact that even one land mammal had lived there, at least 16 million years ago, has put paid to the theory that New Zealand’s rich bird fauna had evolved there because they had no competition from land mammals.

Worms Produce Surprise Insight Into Human Fever:

Give or take a few dozen trillions, a human adult has about 70 trillion cells. An adult Caenorhabditis elegans roundworm has exactly 959 cells.
Yet we have an awful lot in common, says Alejandro Aballay of Duke University, who has been exploring two “highly conserved” cell-signaling pathways for innate immunity shared by worms and humans. For one, we have a lot of common enemies, particularly soil-borne pathogens. C. elegans, of course, lives in the soil. Human populations merely ingest soil by the ton in our food, on our hands, and suspended in our drinking water.

Oysters Can Take Heat And Heavy Metals, But Not Both:

Pollution is bad for the sea life and so is global warming, but aquatic organisms can be resilient. However, even organisms tough enough to survive one major onslaught may find that a double whammy is more than their molecular biology can take.

Feet, Rather Than Fists, The Most Dangerous Bodily Weapon To Use In Assaults:

The researchers base their findings on an assessment of nearly 25,000 people treated in emergency care in and around Cardiff, Wales between 1999 and 2005. All had sustained injuries during acts of violence.

Online Journal Combines Teaching Math And Studying How Students Learn:

When instructors at Bronx-area community colleges applied for a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to study how students think about fundamental concepts of calculus, they hoped to gain a better understanding of how college students learn mathematics. During the 4-year project, the teacher-researchers integrated ongoing research theories with classroom teaching. As a result, their project has evolved into a tool for helping students reason their way through complex calculus.

Novel Brain Areas Associated With The Recognition Of Gender, Ethnicity And The Identity Of Faces:

Researchers in Southern California have isolated brain regions that respond selectively to the cues of gender, ethnicity and identity in faces. Using a novel adaptation technique, they found evidence for neurons that are selectively tuned for gender, ethnicity and identity cues in an area not previously thought to be associated with face processing. Led by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC), the work is a collaboration between USC, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). The findings appear Dec. 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gas On Your Mind: Snail’s Brain Provides Insights Into Human Learning :

Scientists at the University of Leicester are to gain a greater insight into the workings of the human mind — through the study of a snail’s brain.
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Dr Straub commented: “The gas nitric oxide has two faces. It can be highly toxic and kill. However, it is also found naturally in the brain where it is used by nerve cells to communicate with each other. So, whilst it can be poisonous, the body also uses it beneficially as an internal signal.”
“During brain development, nitric oxide can promote the growth of nerve cells and the formation of connections between nerve cells. Learning also triggers the formation of new connections between nerve cells and in many cases requires nitric oxide.”
Despite the recognition of the importance of nitric oxide for the formation of nerve cell connections, scientists know little about the mechanisms. The Leicester BBSRC-funded project will study directly the relationship between the effects of nitric oxide on the growth of nerve cells and the formation of nerve cell connections.

Mandarin Language Is Music To The Brain:

It’s been shown that the left side of the brain processes language and the right side processes music; but what about a language like Mandarin Chinese, which is musical in nature with wide tonal ranges?

Number Of Siblings Predicts Risk Of Brain Tumors:

How many brothers and sisters you have, especially younger ones, could predict your chances of developing a brain tumor, according to a study published in the December 12, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
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According to Altieri, the finding that brain tumor rates were higher among people with younger siblings, and not older siblings, suggests infections or re-infections in late childhood may play an important role in causing the disease, while exposure to infections in infancy, birth to five months old, may be beneficial.

Laugh And The Whole World Laughs With You: Why The Brain Just Can’t Help Itself:

Cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew’s description of Ian Botham’s freak dismissal, falling over his own stumps — “He couldn’t quite get his leg over” — was all it took to send himself and the late Brian Johnston into paroxysms of laughter. Laughter is truly contagious, and now, scientists studying how our brain responds to emotive sounds believe they understand why.

Embryonic Patterning Makes The Feathers Fly: Dots Versus Stripes In Chicken Feathers Controlled By Patterning Pathway :

At the American Society for Cell Biology’s 2006 conference, scientists will describe their latest research on patterning, on the molecular and systems level.

Midges Send Undeniable Message: Planet Is Warming :

Small insects that inhabit some of the most remote parts of the United States are sending a strong message about climate change.

Research Highlights How Farmers’ Agri-environment Schemes Could Do More For Wildlife:

New research offers an explanation for why numbers of many countryside bird species continue to decline, despite Government financial support for farmers to improve their habitat through agri-environment schemes.

Genetic Map Offers New Tool For Malaria Research:

An international research team has created a genome-wide map that charts the genetic variability of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

Study Questions The ‘Biodiversity Hotspot’ Approach To Wildlife Conservation:

In recent years, major international conservation groups have focused their limited resources on protecting a small number of “biodiversity hotspots”-threatened habitats that are home to many of the world’s rarest plants and animals.

Doctors’ Extended Duration Work Shifts Are Associated With Medical Errors And Adverse Events:

A study from the U.S. of doctors in their first postgraduate year (interns) has showed that working extended shifts is associated with increased reporting by the doctors of medical errors, adverse patient events and attentional failures.

Vibrating Odor Molecules? Rogue Theory May Help Explain Sense Of Smell:

A controversial theory that explains the molecular mechanism which gives our sense of smell razor-sharp precision has been given a boost thanks to a study by a team of UCL researchers at the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN).

Why We ‘Never Forget A Face’:

New research from Vanderbilt University suggests that we can remember more faces than other objects and that faces “stick” the best in our short-term memory. The reason may be that our expertise in remembering faces allows us to package them better for memory.

Hysteria is real, study finds:

Hitherto unexplained cases of partial paralysis or numbness may have a physical cause after all, scientists say.

Why laughter is contagious:

You can catch it without asking for it, or even necessarily wanting it. Now, scientists say they have an idea of why.

Humor beats disease, researchers find:

Scientists are reporting what they call most direct evidence yet that ability to laugh saves lives.

New Insights Into The Origin Of Life On Earth:

In an advance toward understanding the origin of life on Earth, scientists have shown that parts of the Krebs cycle can run in reverse, producing biomolecules that could jump-start life with only sunlight and a mineral present in the primordial oceans.
The Krebs cycle is a series of chemical reactions of central importance in cells — part of a metabolic pathway that changes carbohydrates, fats and proteins into carbon dioxide and water to generate energy.
Scot T. Martin and Xiang V. Zhang explain that a reverse version of the cycle, which makes enzymes and other biomolecules from carbon dioxide, has been getting attention from scientists studying the origin of life. If the reverse cycle worked on a lifeless Earth, it could have produced the fundamental biochemicals needed for the development of more-advanced biological systems like RNA that could reproduce themselves.

Inheritance Outside DNA: Screening For Colon Cancer By Analyzing Our Non-DNA Epigenetic Inheritance:

At the 2006 American Society for Cell Biology conference, scientists will report an increase in tumor frequency in mice with mutations in a cancer-associated gene, called Apc.

Artificial Butterfly: Wing Scales Provide Template For Complex Photonic Structures :

By replicating the complex micron- and nanometer-scale photonic structures that help give butterfly wings their color, researchers have demonstrated a new technique that uses biotemplates for fabricating nanoscale structures that could serve as optical waveguides, optical splitters and other building blocks of photonic integrated circuits.

Small, Smaller, Smallest: The Plight Of The Vaquita:

Research published in the academic journal Mammal Review has uncovered the missing link in the depleting population of the vaquita. With a body less than 1.5 m long, the vaquita is the smallest living cetacean (the order Cetacea consists of whales, dolphins and porpoises). It also has one of the smallest ranges (c. 2235 km2) and one of the smallest populations (< 600 individuals based on a 1997 survey).

Engineer Make Muscle, Bone Cell Differentiation With Aid Of Ink-jet Printer:

A Pittsburgh-based research team has created and used an innovative ink-jet system to print “bio-ink” patterns that direct muscle-derived stem cells from adult mice to differentiate into both muscle cells and bone cells. The results, which could revolutionize the design of replacement body tissues, will be presented Sunday, Dec. 10 at the 46th annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Diego by Julie (Jadlowiec) Phillippi, a Carnegie Mellon University post-doctoral research fellow supported by the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative.

Evolution And The Workaround: Do Aggressive Cancers Pile Up Extra Chromosomes As Genomic ‘Backup’ Systems?:

Living things are resourceful, which is a comforting thought unless the living thing in question is a pathogen or a cancer cell. Noxious cells excel at developing drug resistance, outwitting immune systems, and evading cellular controls. They even show an unhealthy talent for surviving internal perturbations such as mutations that affect the function of vital genes, and they do this by evolving new mechanisms to perform old tasks. Somehow the bad guys find a workaround.

Calls For A New Food Safety Regulatory Agency Follow Spinach Tragedy:

The recent contamination of spinach with E. coli bacteria is fostering renewed calls for a single, independent federal food safety agency that would regulate animal and plant production in an integrated way.

Extreme Life, Marine Style, Highlights 2006 Ocean Census:

A host of record-breaking discoveries and revelations that stretch the extreme frontiers of marine knowledge were achieved by the Census of Marine Life in 2006, highlights of which were released today.

Volcanic Blast Likely Killed And Preserved Juvenile Fossil Plesiosaur Found In Antarctica:

Amid 70-mile-an-hour winds and freezing Antarctic conditions, an American-Argentine research team has recovered the well-preserved fossil skeleton of a juvenile plesiosaur–a marine reptile that swam the waters of the Southern Ocean roughly 70 million years ago.

Queen Bee Promiscuity Boosts Hive Health:

Though promiscuity may be risky behavior for humans, it’s healthy for honeybees: Queen honeybees who indulge in sexual surfeits with multiple drones produce more disease-resistant colonies than monogamous monarchs.

Smokers Who Cut Back On Cigarettes May Negate Benefit Through ‘Compensatory Smoking’:

Researchers observed that the more that heavy smokers reduced their smoking, the more likely they were to increase their exposure to toxicants per cigarette presumably because they took more frequent puffs or inhaled deeper or longer on each cigarette, a process referred to as “compensatory smoking.” As a result, smokers who decreased their smoking to as little as one to three cigarettes per day experienced a four- to eight-fold increased exposure to toxins per cigarette as compared with light smokers.

Bonuses Boost Performance 10 Times More Than Merit Raises:

Giving a 1 percent raise boosts employee job performance by roughly 2 percent, but offering that same money in the form of a bonus that is strongly linked to a job well done can improve job performance by almost 20 percent, finds a new Cornell study on the relationship between pay and performance.

Why Applying Insulin To Wounds Significantly Enhances Healing:

At the American Society for Cell Biology’s 2006 conference, researchers will report that applying insulin directly to skin wounds significantly enhanced the healing process.

Regional Nuclear War Could Devastate Global Climate:

Even a small-scale, regional nuclear war could produce as many direct fatalities as all of World War II and disrupt the global climate for a decade or more, with environmental effects that could be devastating for everyone on Earth, university researchers have found.

Fuels Made From Prairie Biomass Reduce Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide:

Highly diverse mixtures of native prairie plant species have emerged as a leader in the quest to identify the best source of biomass for producing sustainable, bio-based fuel to replace petroleum.