ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

Gecko grippers get a microgravity test flight

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:54 PM PST

There are no garbage trucks equipped to leave the atmosphere and pick up debris floating around Earth. But what if we could send a robot to do the job? Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are working on adhesive gripping tools that could grapple objects such as orbital debris or defunct satellites that would otherwise be hard to handle.

Sun sizzles in high-energy X-rays

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:53 PM PST

For the first time, a mission designed to set its eyes on black holes and other objects far from our solar system has turned its gaze back closer to home, capturing images of our sun. NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has taken its first picture of the sun, producing the most sensitive solar portrait ever taken in high-energy X-rays.

Modern genetics confirm ancient relationship between fins and hands

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 01:54 PM PST

Efforts to connect the evolutionary transition from fish fins to wrist and fingers with the genetic machinery for this adaptation have fallen short because they focused on the wrong fish. Now, researchers describe the genetic machinery for autopod assembly in a non-model fish, the spotted gar.

Cells 'feel' their surroundings using finger-like structures

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 01:54 PM PST

Cells have finger-like projections that they use to feel their surroundings. They can detect the chemical environment and they can 'feel' their physical surroundings using ultrasensitive sensors. New research shows how the finger-like structures, called filopodia, can extend themselves, contract and bend in dynamic movements.

Tales from a Martian rock: New chemical analysis of ancient Martian meteorite provides clues to planet's history of habitability

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 01:50 PM PST

A new analysis of a Martian rock that meteorite hunters plucked from an Antarctic ice field 30 years ago this month reveals a record of the planet's climate billions of years ago, back when water likely washed across its surface and any life that ever formed there might have emerged.

Hunter-gatherer past shows our fragile bones result from inactivity since invention of farming

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 01:50 PM PST

Latest analysis of prehistoric bones show there is no anatomical reason why a person born today could not develop the skeletal strength of a prehistoric forager or a modern orangutan. Findings support the idea that activity throughout life is the key to building bone strength and preventing osteoporosis risk in later years, say researchers.

New non-invasive method can detect Alzheimer's disease early

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 11:30 AM PST

A noninvasive MRI approach that can detect the Alzheimer's disease in a living animal, well before typical Alzheimer's symptoms appear, has been developed by researchers. The research team created an MRI probe that pairs a magnetic nanostructure with an antibody that seeks out the amyloid beta brain toxins responsible for onset of the disease. The accumulated toxins, because of the associated magnetic nanostructures, show up as dark areas in MRI scans of the brain.

Mysteries of 'molecular machines' revealed: Phenix software uses X-ray diffraction spots to produce 3-D image

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 11:30 AM PST

Scientists are making it easier for pharmaceutical companies and researchers to see the detailed inner workings of molecular machines.

Crowdsourcing with mobile apps brings 'big data' to psychological research

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:15 AM PST

A fast-paced game app where players pretend they are baggage screening officers operating airport x-ray scanners has provided researchers with billions of pieces of data in record time, according to an article. "Mobile devices offer researchers an exciting new means to crowdsource an experiment using games that are actually tests of cognition or other brain functions," said the lead author of the report. "Questions that could have taken decades to answer in a laboratory setting, or that could not be realistically answered in a lab, can be examined using big data gathered in a relatively short time."

Decision 'cascades' in social networks

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:15 AM PST

People in social networks are often influenced by each other's decisions, resulting in a run of behaviors in which their choices become highly correlated, causing a cascade of decisions.

Study pumps up the volume on understanding of marine invertebrate hearing

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:15 AM PST

Noise pollution in the ocean is increasingly recognized as harmful to marine mammals, affecting their ability to communicate, find mates, and hunt for food. But what impact does noise have on invertebrates -- a critical segment of the food web?

Distribution of fish on northeast US shelf influenced by both fishing, climate

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:15 AM PST

Scientists studying the distribution of four commercial and recreational fish stocks in Northeast US waters have found that climate change can have major impacts on the distribution of fish, but the effects of fishing can be just as important and occur on a more immediate time scale. The four species studied -- black sea bass, scup, summer flounder, and southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Bight winter flounder -- have varied in abundance and have experienced heavy fishing pressure at times over the past 40 years.

Shape-shifting may help some species cope with climate change

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:15 AM PST

Researchers have found that a Rocky Mountain mustard plant alters its physical appearance and flowering time in response to different environmental conditions, suggesting some species can quickly shape-shift to cope with climate change without having to migrate or evolve.

Smoke signals: New evidence links air pollution to congenital defects

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:15 AM PST

The health effects of air pollution are a major concern for urban populations all over the world. A new study provides new evidence linking high exposure to air pollution to an increased risk of congenital malformations.

Universality of charge order in cuprate superconductors

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:15 AM PST

Scientists have now identified charge order in HgBa2CuO4 , a pristine cuprate material. A further important result of the study is the finding that the charge order is closely related to quantum oscillations under a magnetic field. Finding a universal connection between the period of these quantum oscillations and the spatial period of the charge order is one of the achievements of the study.

Suicide risk linked to insomnia, alcohol use, study shows

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:13 AM PST

Insomnia symptoms mediate the relationship between alcohol use and suicide risk, and that this mediation is moderated by gender, a new study demonstrates for the first time. The study suggests that the targeted assessment and treatment of specific sleep problems may reduce the risk of suicide among those who use alcohol.

Coral reveals long-term link between Pacific winds, global climate

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:13 AM PST

New research indicates that shifts in Pacific trade winds played a key role in twentieth century climate variation and are likely again influencing global temperatures. The study uses a novel method of analyzing coral chemistry to reveal winds from a century ago.

Using light to understand the brain

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:13 AM PST

An innovative way to understand how the brain works by using flashes of light, has been developed by researchers, allowing them to both 'read' and 'write' brain signals.The new technique combines two cutting-edge technologies for reading and writing electrical activity in the brain.

Piezoelectricity in a 2-D semiconductor: Piezoelectricty in molybdenum disulfide holds promise for future MEMS

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:13 AM PST

Researchers have opened the door to low-power off/on switches in micro-electro-mechanical systems, MEMS, and nanoelectronic devices, as well as ultrasensitive bio-sensors, with the first observation of piezoelectricity in a free standing two-dimensional semiconductor.

Light-emitting e-readers before bedtime can adversely impact sleep

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:13 AM PST

Use of a light-emitting electronic device (LE-eBook) in the hours before bedtime can adversely impact overall health, alertness, and the circadian clock which synchronizes the daily rhythm of sleep to external environmental time cues, according to new research that compared the biological effects of reading an LE-eBook compared to a printed book.

Clarithromycin-statin mix can cause drug interactions, requiring hospitalization

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 10:13 AM PST

The combination of the common antibiotic clarithromycin with some statins increases the risk of adverse events, which may require hospital admission for older people, according to a new study. Statins, used to lower cholesterol, are one of the most widely prescribed drugs, with projections estimated at more than 1 billion people around the globe. Although uncommon, severe adverse events can occur in some patients when certain medications interact with the statin and affect the way it is metabolized.

Existing drug, riluzole, may prevent foggy 'old age' brain, research shows

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:19 AM PST

Forgetfulness, it turns out, is all in the head. Scientists have shown that fading memory and clouding judgment, the type that comes with advancing age, show up as lost and altered connections between neurons in the brain. But new experiments suggest an existing drug, known as riluzole and already on the market as a treatment for ALS, may help prevent these changes.

New, fundamental mechanism for how resveratrol provides health benefits uncovered

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:19 AM PST

Resveratrol, the red-wine ingredient once touted as an elixir of youth, powerfully activates an evolutionarily ancient stress response in human cells, scientists have found. The finding should dispel much of and controversy about how resveratrol really works.

Diverse autism mutations lead to different disease outcomes

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:19 AM PST

People with autism have a wide range of symptoms, with no two people sharing the exact type and severity of behaviors. Now a large-scale analysis of hundreds of patients and nearly 1000 genes has started to uncover how diversity among traits can be traced to differences in patients' genetic mutations.

New cell marking technique to help understand how our brain works

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:17 AM PST

A new technique to mark individual brain cells to help improve our understanding of how the brain works has been developed by researchers. In neuroscience research, it is a challenge to individually label cells and to track them over space or time. Our brain has billions of cells and to be able to distinguish them at the single-cell level, and to modify their activity, is crucial to understand such a complex organ. The new marking technique, known as multicolour RGB tracking, allows single cells to be encoded with a heritable color mark generated by a random combination of the three basic colours (red, green and blue).

New connection between metabolism, regulation

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:17 AM PST

In cells, ribonucleic acids (RNAs) are most commonly known as messengers or scaffold molecules, but they can also accelerate key biochemical reactions and regulate metabolic pathways. These regulatory RNAs were discovered just a few years ago. In studies on bacteria, scientists have now found previously unknown modifications in the RNAs that contribute to their stability against the degradation mechanisms of the cell. Among other things, regulatory RNAs are associated with cancer development and bacterial infections.

Limit imaging scans for headache? Neurosurgeons raise concerns

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:16 AM PST

Recent guidelines seeking to reduce the use of neuroimaging tests for patients with headaches run the risk of missing or delaying the diagnosis of brain tumors, according to neurosurgeons.

Alternative for pain control after knee replacement surgery

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:16 AM PST

Injecting a newer long-acting numbing medicine called liposomal bupivacaine into the tissue surrounding the knee during surgery may provide a faster recovery and higher patient satisfaction, a new study has found.

Suppressing a protein reduces cancer spread in mice

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:16 AM PST

A specific protein called 'chitinase 3-like-1' appears key in enabling malignant melanoma or breast cancer to spread to the lungs of mice, researchers have found. Decreasing its levels or blocking the protein dramatically reduced that spread.

New technology makes tissues, someday maybe organs

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:16 AM PST

A new device for building large tissues from living components of three-dimensional microtissues borrows on ideas from electronics manufacturing. The Bio-Pick, Place, and Perfuse is a step toward someday making whole organs.

Blocking excessive division of cell powerhouses reduces liver cell death in cholestasis

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:16 AM PST

The power plants that fuel liver cells rapidly splinter when exposed to bile salts that aid digestion, prompting cell death, but blocking this excessive fission appears to protect the liver, scientists report.

Fast-food consumption linked to lower test score gains in 8th graders

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:16 AM PST

The amount of fast food children eat may be linked to how well they do in school, a new America-wide study suggests. This study can't say why fast-food consumption is linked to lower grades, but other studies have shown that fast food lacks certain nutrients, especially iron, that help cognitive development. In addition, diets high in fat and sugar -- similar to fast-food meals -- have been shown to hurt immediate memory and learning processes.

Scientists 'map' water vapor in Martian atmosphere

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:16 AM PST

Scientists have created a 'map' of the distribution of water vapor. Their research includes observations of seasonal variations in atmospheric concentrations using data collected over ten years by the Russian-French SPICAM spectrometer aboard the Mars Express orbiter. This is the longest period of observation and provides the largest volume of data about water vapor on Mars.

Disadvantaged men more likely to do 'women's work' reveals new study

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:16 AM PST

Men who are disabled and from an ethnic minority are significantly more likely to do jobs traditionally associated with women, a new study show. The work analyzed the workforce across the lowest grade in a very large FTSE company, focusing on the lowest paid, low skilled and often part-time jobs.

Methane is leaking from permafrost offshore Siberia

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:15 AM PST

Images of craters on Yamal Peninsula, caused by collapsing permafrost, have become world famous. But did you know that this permafrost extends to the ocean floor? And it is thawing.

Over two hundred interesting new species in 2014

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:15 AM PST

In 2014, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added 221 new plant and animal species to our family tree. The new species include 110 ants, 16 beetles, three spiders, 28 fishes, 24 sea slugs, two marine worms, 9 barnacles, two octocorals, 25 plants, one waterbear, and one tiny mammal.

The psychology of gift-giving and receiving

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 08:15 AM PST

Researchers are exploring various aspects of gift-giving and receiving, such as how givers choose gifts, how gifts are used by recipients, and how gifts impact the relationship between givers and receivers.

'Kiddie caudal' anesthesia seems safe, but still more to learn

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:45 AM PST

A recent report provided anesthesiologists with reassuring data on the safety of caudal nerve block—sometimes called the "kiddie caudal"—for infants and young children undergoing surgery. But an editorial in the same journal draws attention to some important limitations of the study and to the need for further research on the safety and efficacy of this widely used pediatric anesthesia technique.

Variety is the spice of humble moth's sex life

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:43 AM PST

A small brown moth, the gold swift moth (Phymatopus hecta), has one of the most complex sex lives in the insect world, new research has found. Despite the insect's unassuming appearance, a new study reports a variety and complexity in its mating patterns and sexual positions worthy of an insect Karma Sutra.

New distance rehabilitation system developed for patients with heart pathologies

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:43 AM PST

A new distance heart rehabilitation system based on physical exercise routines for people affected by heart pathologies has been developed by researchers. The system is designed for both chronic patients and the recovery of people who have suffered a heart event (for instance, a heart attack) or if they have had heart surgery. In any of these cases, it helps patients to exercise and adopt a healthy lifestyle.

The Milky Way's new neighbor: Tiny and isolated dwarf galaxy discovered

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:43 AM PST

The Milky Way, the galaxy we live in, is part of a cluster of more than 50 galaxies that make up the 'Local Group', a collection that includes the famous Andromeda galaxy and many other far smaller objects. Now a Russian-American team has added to the canon, finding a tiny and isolated dwarf galaxy almost 7 million light years away. The new galaxy, named KKs3 is located in the southern sky in the direction of the constellation of Hydrus and its stars have only one ten-thousandth of the mass of the Milky Way.

Drug helps Huntington’s disease-afflicted mice, and their offspring

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:43 AM PST

Famine, drug abuse and even stress can "silence" certain genes, causing health problems in generations to come. Now scientists are wondering: Could therapies that change gene expression in parents help their children?

Consumer purchases of cakes, cookies and pies have decreased by 24 percent

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:39 AM PST

There has been little change in the nutritional content of ready-to-eat grain-based desserts manufactured or purchased between 2005 and 2012; however overall consumer purchases of ready-to-eat grain-based desserts declined by 24 percent during that same time period.

Lung Cancer: New Genetic Anomalies Discovered

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:39 AM PST

By analyzing the DNA and RNA of lung cancers, researchers have found that patients whose tumors contained a large number of gene fusions had worse outcomes than patients with fewer gene fusions. In addition, the researchers identified several new genetic anomalies that occur in lung cancer, including in patients with a history of smoking.

Bone loss drugs may help prevent endometrial cancer

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:39 AM PST

Women who use bisphosphonates -- medications commonly used to treat osteoporosis and other bone conditions -- have about half the risk of developing endometrial cancer as women who do not use the drugs, a new analysis shows.

Radiologist recommendations for chest CT have high clinical yield

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 05:39 AM PST

A substantial percentage of patients who receive radiologist recommendations for chest CT to evaluate abnormal findings on outpatient chest X-rays have clinically relevant findings, including cancer, according to a new study. Researchers said the findings show that radiologist recommendations for additional imaging (RAIs) after chest X-rays represent valuable contributions to patient care.

First successful vaccination against 'mad cow'-like wasting disease in deer

Posted: 21 Dec 2014 03:37 PM PST

Researchers say that a vaccination they have developed to fight a brain-based, wasting syndrome among deer and other animals may hold promise on two additional fronts: protecting US livestock from contracting the disease, and preventing similar brain infections in humans.

One in every three people with type 1 diabetes produces insulin years post-diagnosis

Posted: 21 Dec 2014 03:37 PM PST

About one-third of people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) produce insulin, as measured by C-peptide, a byproduct of insulin production, even upward of forty years from initial diagnosis, according to a first-of-its-kind, large-scale study. This sheds new light on the long-accepted belief that these patients lose all ability to produce any insulin, and could have significant policy implications, said the researchers.

Researchers move closer to new range of biosensors

Posted: 20 Dec 2014 08:43 PM PST

Researchers have found a way of binding peptides to the surface of gallium nitride in a way that keeps the peptides stable even when exposed to water and radiation. The discovery moves researchers one step closer to developing a new range of biosensors for use in medical and biological research applications.

Alaska fish adjust to climate change by following the food

Posted: 20 Dec 2014 08:43 PM PST

Not all species may suffer from climate change. A new analysis shows that Dolly Varden, a species of char common in southeast Alaska, adjust their migrations so they can keep feasting on a key food source -- salmon eggs -- even as shifts in climate altered the timing of salmon spawning.

Trade winds ventilate the tropical oceans: Explanation for increasing oxygen deficiency

Posted: 20 Dec 2014 08:35 PM PST

Long-term observations indicate that the oxygen minimum zones in the tropical oceans have expanded in recent decades. The reason is still unknown. Now scientists have found an explanation with the help of model simulations: A natural fluctuation of the trade winds.

Microplastics in the ocean: Biologists study effects on marine animals

Posted: 20 Dec 2014 08:35 PM PST

Ingestion of microplastic particles does not mechanically affect marine isopods, according to new research. The study marks the launch of a series of investigations aimed at forming a risk matrix on the sensitivity of different marine species to microplastic pollution.