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Complex Wiring of the Nervous System May Rely on a Just a Handful of Genes and Proteins
Researchers have discovered a
startling feature of early brain
development that helps to explain
how complex neuron wiring patterns
are programmed using just a
handful of critical genes. The
... > full story
- more on:
Hovering Not Hard If You're Top-Heavy
Top-heavy structures are more
likely to maintain their balance
while hovering in the air than are
those that bear a lower center of
gravity, researchers have found.
Their findings are counter to
common perceptions that flight
stability can be achieved only
... > full story
- more on:
The Power of Estrogen: Male Snakes Attract Other Males
A new study has shown that
boosting the estrogen levels of
male garter snakes causes them to
secrete the same pheromones that
females use to attract suitors,
and turned the males into just
about the sexiest snake in the
neighborhood -- attracting dozens
... > full story
- more on:
Cannabis Use Doubles Chances of Vehicle Crash, Review Finds
Drivers who consume cannabis
within three hours of driving are
nearly twice as likely to cause a
vehicle collision as those who are
not under the influence of drugs
or alcohol, according to a new
review. ... > full story
- more on:
Electrical Engineers Build 'No-Waste' Laser
Researchers have built the
smallest room-temperature
nanolaser to date, as well as an
even more startling device: a
highly efficient, "thresholdless"
laser that funnels all its photons
into lasing, without any waste. ... > full story
- more on:
'Dark Plasmons' Transmit Energy
Microscopic channels of gold
nanoparticles have the ability to
transmit electromagnetic energy
that starts as light and
propagates via "dark plasmons,"
according to researchers. ... > full story
- more on:
Hydrogen from Acidic Water: Potential Low Cost Alternative to Platinum for Splitting Water
A technique for creating a new
molecule that structurally and
chemically replicates the active
part of the molybdenite catalyst
paves the way for developing
catalytic materials that can serve
... > full story
- more on:
Drug Quickly Reverses Alzheimer's Symptoms in Mice
Neuroscientists have made a
dramatic breakthrough in their
efforts to find a cure for
Alzheimer's disease. The use of a
drug appears to quickly reverse
the pathological, cognitive and
memory deficits caused by the
onset of Alzheimer's in mice. ... > full story
- more on:
Ocean Microbe Communities Changing, but Long-Term Environmental Impact Is Unclear
As oceans warm due to climate
change, water layers will mix less
and affect the microbes and
plankton that pump carbon out of
the atmosphere – but
researchers say it's still unclear
... > full story
- more on:
Gene Therapy Boosts Brain Repair for Demyelinating Diseases
Our bodies are full of tiny
superheroes -- antibodies that
fight foreign invaders, cells that
regenerate, and structures that
ensure our systems run smoothly.
One such structure is myelin, a
material that forms a protective
... > full story
- more on:
Roll over headlines to view top news summaries:
- Complex Neural Wiring Relies on Few Key Genes
- Hovering Not Hard If You're Top-Heavy
- Estrogen Makes Male Snakes Attract Other Males
- Cannabis Use Doubles Chances of Vehicle Crash
- Electrical Engineers Build 'No-Waste' Laser
- 'Dark Plasmons' Transmit Energy
- Hydrogen from Acidic Water
- Alzheimer's Symptoms Quickly Reversed in Mice
- Ocean Microbe Communities Changing
- Gene Therapy Boosts Brain Repair
- more top science stories
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Top Medical News
Both Maternal and Paternal Age Linked to Autism
Older maternal and paternal age are jointly associated with having a child with autism, according to a recent ... > full story
Top Technology News
New Method for Creating Tissue Engineering Scaffolds
Researchers have developed a new method for creating scaffolds for tissue engineering applications, providing an alternative that is more flexible and less time-intensive than current ... > full story
- Seismic Resistance: Model Analyzes Shape-Memory Alloys for Use in Earthquake-Resistant Structures
- New Battery Could Lead to Cheaper, More Efficient Solar Energy
- Nanotube Therapy Takes Aim at Breast Cancer Stem Cells
- Barriers to the Use of Fingerprint Evidence in Court Is Unlocked by Statistical Model
- more top technology stories
Top Environment News
Deconstructing a Mystery: What Caused Snowmaggedon?
Scientists are using computer models to help unravel the mystery of a record-setting snowfall in the Washington, DC area in early ... > full story
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11 am EST
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Baby Knows Best: Baby-Led Weaning Promotes Healthy Food Preferences
February 9, 2012 — A new study has shown that babies who are weaned using solid finger food are more likely to develop healthier food preferences and are less likely to become overweight as children than those who are spoon-fed pureed ... > full story -
Children's Health; Child Psychology; Attention Deficit Disorder; Child Development; Educational Psychology; Infant's Health;
Physically Abused Children Report Higher Levels of Psychosomatic Symptoms
February 9, 2012 — Children who display multiple psychosomatic symptoms, such as regular aches and pains and sleep and appetite problems, are more than twice as likely to be experiencing physical abuse at home than children who do not display symptoms. Researchers who ... > full story -
Secrets of Immune Response Illuminated in New Study
February 9, 2012 — When disease-causing invaders like bacteria infect a human host, cells of various types swing into action, coordinating their activities to address the threat. Scientists have now investigated the coordination of a particular type of immune ... > full story -
Obesity Is Associated With Altered Brain Function
February 9, 2012 — Researchers have found new evidence for the role of the brain in ... > full story -
Right Hand or Left? How the Brain Solves a Perceptual Puzzle
February 9, 2012 — When you see a picture of a hand, how do you know whether it's a right or left hand? This "hand laterality" problem may seem obscure, but it reveals a lot about how the brain sorts out confusing perceptions. Now, a new study challenges the long-held ... > full story
8 am EST
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What Kind of Chocolate Is Best? The Last You Taste, Says a New Study
February 9, 2012 — Like to save the best for last? Here's good news: If it's the last, you'll like it the ... > full story -
Scientists Sound Alarm Over Threat of Untreatable Gonorrhea in United States
February 9, 2012 — The threat of multi-drug resistant gonorrhea is rising. Cephalosporins, the last line of defense, are rapidly losing effectiveness. The likelihood of treatment failures in the United States calls for urgent action to control the spread of gonorrhea, ... > full story -
Piranha Vs. Arapaima: Engineers Find Inspiration for New Materials in Piranha-Proof Armor
February 9, 2012 — It's a matchup worthy of a late-night cable movie: put a school of starving piranha and a 300-pound fish together, and who comes out the winner? The surprising answer -- given the notorious guillotine-like bite of the piranha -- is Brazil's massive ... > full story -
New Target for Alzheimer's Drugs
February 9, 2012 — UC Riverside biomedical scientists have identified a new link between a protein (beta-arrestin) and short-term memory that could open new doors for the therapeutic treatment of neurological disorders, particularly Alzheimer's disease. They show that ... > full story -
Cellular Switches: From the RNA World to the 'Modern' Protein World
February 9, 2012 — Scientists have discovered the molecular mechanism of a G protein family. G proteins play a central role in cellular signal processing. They are described as molecular switches that oscillate between 'on' and 'off', regulated by effectors. ... > full story
5 am EST
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Fruit Fly Turn-On: A Sexy, Youthful Smell May Make Up for Advancing Age
February 9, 2012 — Beauty is more than skin deep, at least for fruit flies studied in new research that demonstrates how age-related changes in pheromone production can reduce sexual ... > full story -
Global Sea Level Rise: NASA Mission Takes Stock of Earth's Melting Land Ice
February 9, 2012 — In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, researchers have used NASA data to calculate how much Earth's melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise. Using satellite measurements from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity ... > full story -
Continental Mosquito With 'Vector' Potential Found Breeding in UK After 60 Year Absence
February 8, 2012 — A species of mosquito has been discovered breeding in the UK that has not been seen in the country since 1945. Populations of the mosquito, found across mainland Europe and known only by its Latin name Culex modestus, were recorded at a number of ... > full story -
Presdisposition to Common Heart Disease 'Passed on from Father to Son'
February 8, 2012 — A common heart disease which kills thousands each year may be passed genetically from father to son, according to a new ... > full story -
Tiny Primate Is Ultrasonic Communicator
February 8, 2012 — Tarsiers' ultrasonic calls -- among the most extreme in the animal kingdom -- give them a "private channel" of communication, says an ... > full story
2 am EST
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Health Policy; Today's Healthcare; Public Health; Pharmacology; Diseases and Conditions; Teen Health;
Financial Burden of Prescription Drugs Is Dropping, U.S. Study Finds
February 8, 2012 — The financial challenge Americans face paying out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs has declined, but the costs remain a burden to many families, according to a new study. Despite the improvement, more than 8 million non-elderly Americans live ... > full story -
Memory Strengthened by Stimulating Key Site in Brain
February 8, 2012 — Ever gone to the movies and forgotten where you parked the car? New research may one day help you improve your memory. Neuroscientists have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory in human patients by stimulating a critical junction in the ... > full story -
January 2012 Fourth Warmest for Contiguous United States, but Alaska Extremely Cold
February 8, 2012 — During January, warmer-than-average conditions enveloped most of the contiguous United States, with widespread below-average precipitation. The overall weather pattern for the month was reflected in the lack of snow for much of the Northern Plains, ... > full story -
DNA Sequencing Helps Identify Cancer Cells for Immune System Attack
February 8, 2012 — DNA sequences from tumor cells can be used to direct the immune system to attack cancer, according to scientists. The immune system relies on an intricate network of alarm bells, targets and safety brakes to determine when and what to attack. The ... > full story -
Transformational Fruit Fly Genome Catalog Completed
February 8, 2012 — Scientists searching for the genomics version of the holy grail – more insight into predicting how an animal’s genes affect physical or behavioral traits – now have a reference manual that should speed gene discoveries in ... > full story
11 pm EST
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Fasting Weakens Cancer in Mice
February 8, 2012 — New study finds that short fasting cycles can work as well as chemotherapy, and the two combined greatly improve ... > full story -
Eye Care; Gene Therapy; Diseases and Conditions; Personalized Medicine; Immune System; Birth Defects;
Gene Therapy for Inherited Blindness Succeeds in Patients' Other Eye
February 8, 2012 — Gene therapy for congenital blindness took another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye. The patients were better able to see in dim light, with no adverse ... > full story -
Sound Rather Than Sight Can Activate 'Seeing' for the Blind, Say Researchers
February 8, 2012 — Scientists have tapped onto the visual cortex of the congenitally blind by using sensory substitution devices (SSDs), enabling the blind in effect to "see" and even describe objects. SSDs are non-invasive sensory aids that provide visual ... > full story -
New Image Captures 'Stealth Merger' of Dwarf Galaxies
February 8, 2012 — New images of a nearby dwarf galaxy have revealed a dense stream of stars in its outer regions, the remains of an even smaller companion galaxy in the process of merging with its host. The host galaxy, known as NGC 4449, is the smallest primary ... > full story -
Milky Way's Black Hole Found Grazing on Asteroids
February 8, 2012 — The giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way may be vaporizing and devouring asteroids, which could explain the frequent flares observed, according to ... > full story
8 pm EST
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Wildfires; Wind Energy; Renewable Energy; Construction; Natural Disasters; Energy and the Environment;
Report on Texas Fire Urges Firefighters to Consider Wind Effects
February 8, 2012 — Wind conditions at a fire scene can make a critical difference on the behavior of the blaze and the safety of firefighters, even indoors, according to a new ... > full story -
Octagonal Window of Opportunity for Carbon Capture
February 8, 2012 — Scientists have gathered new insight into the performance of a material called a zeolite that may filter carbon dioxide far more efficiently than current industrial "scrubbers" ... > full story -
Flipping a Light Switch in the Cell: Quantum Dots Used for Targeted Neural Activation
February 8, 2012 — By harnessing quantum dots, researchers have developed a new and vastly more targeted way to stimulate neurons in the brain. Being able to switch neurons on and off and monitor how they communicate with one another is crucial for understanding -- ... > full story -
Unusual 'Collapsing' Iron Superconductor Sets Record for Its Class
February 8, 2012 — Scientists have found an iron-based superconductor that operates at the highest known temperature for a material in its class. The discovery inches iron-based superconductors closer to being useful in many practical ... > full story -
Heart Disease May Be a Risk Factor for Prostate Cancer
February 8, 2012 — In a large analysis of men participating in a prostate drug trial, researchers found a significant correlation between coronary artery disease and prostate cancer, suggesting the two conditions may have shared ... > full story
5 pm EST
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Arsenic Criticality Poses Concern for Modern Technology
February 8, 2012 — Risks related to the critical nature of arsenic -- used to make high-speed computer chips that contain gallium arsenide -- outstrip those of other substances in a group of critical materials needed to sustain modern technology, a new study has ... > full story -
'Shish Kebab' Structure Provides Improved Form of 'Buckypaper'
February 8, 2012 — Scientists are reporting development of a new form of buckypaper, which eliminates a major drawback of these sheets of carbon nanotubes -- 50,000 times thinner than a human hair, 10 times lighter than steel, but up to 250 times stronger -- with ... > full story -
Lull in Ship Noise After Sept. 11 Attacks Eased Stress on Right Whales
February 8, 2012 — Exposure to low-frequency ship noise may be associated with chronic stress in whales, according to a new study. The study, conducted in Canada's Bay of Fundy, has implications for all baleen whales in areas with heavy ship traffic, and for the ... > full story -
Materials Science; Alternative Fuels; Nanotechnology; Energy Technology; Inorganic Chemistry; Chemistry;
Bubble-Powered Microrockets Zoom Have Potential to Zoom Through the Human Stomach, Other Acidic Environments
February 8, 2012 — Scientists have developed a new kind of tiny motor -- which they term a "microrocket" -- that can propel itself through acidic environments, such as the human stomach, without any external energy source, opening the way to a variety of medical and ... > full story -
Obstacles No Barrier to Higher Speeds for Worms
February 8, 2012 — Obstacles in an organism's path can help it to move faster, not slower, researchers have found through a series of experiments and computer simulations. Their findings have implications for a better understanding of basic locomotion strategies found ... > full story
2 pm EST
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Growing Up on a Farm Directly Affects Regulation of the Immune System, Study Finds
February 8, 2012 — A new study has shown, for the first time, that growing up on a farm directly affects the regulation of the immune system and causes a reduction in the immunological responses to food ... > full story -
Low Dopamine Levels During Withdrawal Promote Relapse to Smoking
February 8, 2012 — Mark Twain said, "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." Many smokers would agree that it's difficult to stay away from cigarettes. A new study now suggests that low dopamine levels that ... > full story -
How DNA Finds Its Match
February 8, 2012 — It's been more than 50 years since James Watson and Francis Crick showed that DNA is a double helix of two strands that complement each other. But how does a short piece of DNA find its match, out of the millions of 'letters' in even a small genome? ... > full story -
Scientists Make Iron Transparent: For First Time, Experiment Shows That Atomic Nuclei Can Become Transparent
February 8, 2012 — At the high-brilliance synchrotron light source PETRA III, scientists have succeeded in making atomic nuclei transparent with the help of X-ray light. At the same time they have also discovered a new way to realize an optically controlled light ... > full story -
Nervous System; Brain Injury; Neuroscience; Disorders and Syndromes; Parkinson's Research; Behavior;
Roots of Hunger and Eating: Plasticity in the Brain's Wiring Controls Feeding Behavior in Mice
February 8, 2012 — Synaptic plasticity -- the ability of the synaptic connections between the brain's neurons to change and modify over time -- has been shown to be a key to memory formation and the acquisition of new learning behaviors. Now researchers reveal that ... > full story
Health & Biomedical Sciences
Health & Medicine
Feast or Famine? How Appetite Cells in the Brain Respond to Fasting
Previous work has shown that the AgRP neurons promote feeding and weight gain, while the POMC cells have been linked with appetite suppression and weight loss. Now a new study uncovers a neural pathway that links fasting with activation of AgRP ... > full story
Mind & Brain
Gaining Insight Into a Gene's Protective Role in Parkinson's
Researchers have identified how a specific gene protects dopamine-producing neurons from dying in both animal models and in cultures of human ... > full story
Living Well
Some Formerly Cohabiting Couples With Children Keep Romantic Relationship
When low-income cohabiting couples with children decide to no longer live together, that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of their romantic relationship, a new study ... > full story
Biological & Earth Sciences
Plants & Animals
Molecular Path from Internal Clock to Cells Controlling Rest and Activity Revealed
The molecular pathway that carries time-of-day signals from the body's internal clock to ultimately guide daily behavior is like a black box, says a researcher. Now, new research is taking a peek inside, describing a molecular pathway and its inner ... > full story
Earth & Climate
Dramatic Improvements and Persistent Challenges for Women in Science
The underrepresentation of women in science has received significant attention. However, there have been few studies in which longitudinal data were used to assess changes over time. Now researchers find that women in the field of ecological studies ... > full story
Fossils & Ruins
Charter Service: Encasing the Magna Carta
You often hear about the Framers of the Constitution, but not so much the framers of the Magna Carta. They work for the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Not the authors, of course; they've been dead 700 years. But a NIST ... > full story
Physical & Applied Sciences
Space & Time
NASA Small Explorer Mission Celebrates 10 Years and 40,000 X-Ray Flares
On February 5, 2002, NASA launched what was then called the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) into orbit. Renamed within months as the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) after Reuven Ramaty, a deceased NASA scientist ... > full story
Matter & Energy
Mars-Bound NASA Rover Carries Coin for Camera Checkup
The camera at the end of the robotic arm on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has its own calibration target, a smartphone-size plaque that looks like an eye chart supplemented with color chips and an attached penny. When Curiosity lands on Mars in ... > full story
Computers & Math
Fall of Communism Changed Mathematics in US
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992 brought an influx of Soviet mathematicians to US institutions, and those scholars' differing areas of specialization have changed the way math is studied and taught in this country, according to new ... > full story
- Scientists Develop Biological Computer to Encrypt and Decipher Images
- Hard Drive Breakthrough: New Magnetic Recording Technique Uses Heat to Process Information Much Faster Than Current Technology
- Facebook Use Elevates Mood, New Study Shows
- Engineers Boost Computer Processor Performance by Over 20 Percent
- more stories
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