Curated News: Staff Picks

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Released: 1-Jun-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Nanocars Taken for a Rough Ride
Rice University

Rice, NC State researchers test single-molecule cars in open air.

Released: 1-Jun-2016 1:05 PM EDT
New Muscular Dystrophy Drug Target Identified
University of Liverpool

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered that muscle cells affected by muscular dystrophy contain high levels of an enzyme that impairs muscle repair. This finding provides a new target for potential drug treatments for the disease, which currently has no cure.

Released: 1-Jun-2016 1:05 PM EDT
'Jumping Gene' Took Peppered Moths to the Dark Side
University of Liverpool

Researchers from the University of Liverpool have identified and dated the genetic mutation that gave rise to the black form of the peppered moth, which spread rapidly during Britain's industrial revolution.

27-May-2016 4:10 PM EDT
Americans Accept and Engage in Same-Sex Experiences More Than Ever
Florida Atlantic University

A new study shows a fundamental shift in Americans’ attitudes about same-sex behavior. Since the 1990s, the percentage of adults who accept same-sex behavior has quadrupled, and those who have participated in same-sex experiences has doubled. These increases were among all generations, with Millennials leading the way.

Released: 31-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Scientists Find Brain Area Responsible for Learning From Immediate Experience
University of Oxford

Mediodorsal thalamus allows us to incorporate new information in decision-making.

   
27-May-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Mapping Neural Networks to Strengthen Circadian Rhythms
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

While the evidence behind this age-related weakening of the circadian rhythm has been established in medical literature, the mechanisms behind it, and the connectivity structure of the neurons, have remained elusive. To better understand these neuronal and hormonal mechanisms and help develop potential treatments, researchers have conducted experimental analyses of the SCN’s connections, with the goal of determining its degree of heterogeneity. They discuss their work in this week’s CHAOS.

Released: 31-May-2016 9:05 AM EDT
How the Brain Makes – and Breaks – a Habit
University of California San Diego

Not all habits are bad. Some are even necessary. But inability to switch from acting habitually to acting in a deliberate way can underlie addiction and obsessive compulsive disorders. Working with a mouse model, an international team of researchers demonstrates what happens in the brain for habits to control behavior.

Released: 31-May-2016 9:00 AM EDT
Ecologists Advise an Increase in Prescribed Grassland Burning to Maintain Ecosystem, Livelihood
Kansas State University

At least 50 percent of the tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills is burned every three to four years or less frequently and is susceptible to becoming shrubland if fire frequencies are not increased.

Released: 31-May-2016 9:00 AM EDT
Researchers Create First 3-D Mathematical Model of Uterine Contractions
Washington University in St. Louis

Although researchers have been seeking the origins of preterm birth for many years, the causes are still relatively unknown. By studying the electrical activity that causes contractions, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and their collaborators have developed a multiscale model they believe may aid in predicting preterm birth.

25-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Increased Marrying, and Mating, by Education Level Not Affecting Genetic Make-Up, New Study Finds
New York University

While the latter half of the 20th century showed a widening gap between the more and less educated with respect to marriage and fertility, this trend has not significantly altered the genetic makeup of subsequent generations, a team of researchers has found.

   
Released: 27-May-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Fast, Stretchy Circuits Could Yield New Wave of Wearable Electronics
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers has created the world's fastest stretchable, wearable integrated circuits, an advance that could drive the Internet of Things and a much more connected, high-speed wireless world.

Released: 27-May-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Organism Responsible for Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning May Affect Fisheries
University of Hawaii at Manoa

The toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium fundyense, is a photosynthetic plankton--a microscopic organism floating in the ocean, unable to swim against a current. New research by scientists at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) suggests that ingestion of this dinoflagellate changes the energy balance and reproductive potential of a particular copepod--a small crustacean--in the North Atlantic, which is key food source for young fishes, including many commercially important species.

Released: 27-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Fungi -- a Promising Source of Chemical Diversity
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

Moulds and plants share similar ways in alkaloid biosynthesis.

Released: 27-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Imaging Study Shows Promising Results for Patients with Schizophrenia
Lawson Health Research Institute

Increase in the brain's grey matter proof that the brain has the ability to rescue itself.

Released: 27-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Genomic Study Tracks African-American Dispersal in the Great Migration
PLOS

Data from cohort studies helps reconstruct African-American heritage from before Civil War.

Released: 27-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Research Reveals That Sharks Have Individual Personalities
Wiley

A new study indicates that sharks of the same species can have different personalities.

Released: 27-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Slithery New Species
Harvard University

Researchers discover Silver Boa in the Bahamas Islands.

Released: 27-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Remains of Bizarre Group of Extinct Snail-Eating Australian Marsupials Discovered
University of New South Wales

Fossil remains of a previously unknown family of carnivorous Australian marsupials that lived 15 million years ago have been discovered at the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil Site in north-western Queensland by a UNSW Australia-led team of researchers.

Released: 27-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Migration Back to Africa Took Place During the Paleolithic
University of the Basque Country

A piece of international research led by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has retrieved the mitogenome of a fossil belonging to the first Homo sapiens population in Europe.

Released: 27-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
The Dying Child: Room for Improvement in End-of-Life Care
Elsevier BV

Many pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists believe that their clinical care extends from treating ill children through end-of-life care. However, are pediatricians actually meeting the needs of families and their dying child? In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers surveyed bereaved parents and found that pediatric end-of-life care needs improvement.

Released: 27-May-2016 12:05 PM EDT
New Compound Switches Between Liquid and Solid States When Exposed to Light or Heat
Kobe University

A research group led by Professor Mochida Tomoyuki (Kobe University Graduate School of Science) and Dr. Funasako Yusuke (Tokyo University of Science, Yamaguchi) has developed a metal-containing compound which transforms into a solid when exposed to light and returns to liquid form when heated.

Released: 27-May-2016 9:05 AM EDT
Researchers Identify Genetic Subtypes Linked to Increased Risk of Ovarian Cancer
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

Researchers in the Center for Immunotherapy at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) have evaluated the human leukocyte antigen (HLA), a group of genes that help regulate the body’s immune system, for underlying differences in ovarian cancer patients’ response to therapy. The scientists report that women with certain types of HLA may have an increased risk of ovarian cancer and may also respond better to immunotherapy. The research was recently published online ahead of print in the journal Gynecologic Oncology.

Released: 26-May-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Fasting-Like Diet Reduces Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms
University of Southern California (USC)

Evidence is mounting that a diet mimicking the effects of fasting has health benefits beyond weight loss, with a new USC-led study indicating that it may reduce symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

Released: 26-May-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Why Everyone Wants to Help the Sick -- but Not the Unemployed
Aarhus University

New research from Aarhus BSS at Aarhus University explains why healthcare costs are running out of control, while costs to unemployment protection are kept in line. The answer is found deep in our psychology, where powerful intuitions lead us to view illness as the result of bad luck and worthy of help.

Released: 26-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Antarctic Fossils Reveal Creatures Weren't Safer in the South During Dinosaur Extinction
University of Leeds

A study of more than 6,000 marine fossils from the Antarctic shows that the mass extinction event that killed the dinosaurs was sudden and just as deadly to life in the polar regions.

Released: 26-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Why Fruit Fly Sperm Are Giant
University of Zurich

In the animal kingdom, sperm usually are considerably smaller than eggs, which means that males can produce far more of them. Large numbers of tiny sperm can increase the probability of successful fertilization, especially when females mate with several males.

Released: 26-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Malnutrition Results From More Than Just Inadequate Diet
Queen Mary University of London

Malnourished children are most likely to die from common infections, not starvation alone, and immune disorder may be part of the cause, according to a review led by Queen Mary University of London.

Released: 26-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Genes That Increase Children's Risk of Blood Infection Identified
University of Oxford

African study finds genes that double the chance of developing bacteraemia when infected with the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.

Released: 26-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Top-Down Design Brings New DNA Structures to Life
Arizona State University (ASU)

Among the valuable holdings in London's Wellcome Library is a rough pencil sketch made in 1953 by Francis Crick. The drawing is one of the first to show the double-helix structure of DNA--Nature's blueprint for the design of sea snails, human beings, and every other living form on earth.

Released: 26-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Small Offshore Oil Spills Put Seabirds at Risk: Industry Self-Monitoring Failing
York University

Seabirds exposed to even a dime-sized amount of oil can die of hypothermia in cold-water regions, but despite repeated requests by Environment Canada, offshore oil operators are failing when it comes to self-monitoring of small oil spills, says new research out of York University.

Released: 26-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Astronomers Find Giant Planet Around Very Young Star
Rice University

In contradiction to the long-standing idea that larger planets take longer to form, U.S. astronomers today announced the discovery of a giant planet in close orbit around a star so young that it still retains a disk of circumstellar gas and dust.

23-May-2016 11:00 PM EDT
How a Huge Landslide Shaped Zion National Park
University of Utah

A Utah mountainside collapsed 4,800 years ago in a gargantuan landslide known as a “rock avalanche,” creating the flat floor of what is now Zion National Park by damming the Virgin River to create a lake that existed for 700 years.

24-May-2016 11:45 AM EDT
How Do You Kill a Malaria Parasite? Clog It with Cholesterol
Drexel University

Drexel scientists have discovered an unusual mechanism for how two antimalarial drugs kill Plasmodium parasites. Amidst growing concerns about drug resistance, these findings could help to develop more effective drugs against the disease.

Released: 26-May-2016 12:00 PM EDT
Spring Snow a No-Go?
University of Utah

Spring snowpack, relied on by ski resorts and water managers throughout the Western United States, may be more vulnerable to a warming climate in coming decades, according to a new University of Utah study.

Released: 25-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Tiny Vampires
University of California, Santa Barbara

Paleobiologist Susannah Porter finds evidence of predation in ancient microbial ecosystems dating back more than 740 million years.

Released: 25-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Is Symptom Expression a Form of Communication?
Arizona State University (ASU)

Symptoms of illness are not inevitably tied to an underlying disease --rather, many organisms, including humans, adapt their symptom expression to suit their needs. That's the finding of Arizona State University's Leonid Tiokhin, whose research appears in the Quarterly Review of Biology.

23-May-2016 1:45 PM EDT
Scientists Block Breast Cancer Cells From Hiding in Bones
Duke Health

Scientists at the Duke Cancer Institute have identified a molecular key that breast cancer cells use to invade bone marrow in mice, where they may be protected from chemotherapy or hormonal therapies that could otherwise eradicate them.

25-May-2016 2:00 PM EDT
‘Wonderful’ and ‘Thankful’ Versus ‘Battle’ and ‘Enemy’ -- Do Women and Men Communicate Differently?
Stony Brook University

In a computational analysis of the words used by more than 65,000 consenting Facebook users in some 10 million messages, it was discovered that women use language that is warmer and more agreeable than men.

Released: 25-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Female Meerkats Compete to Outgrow Their Sisters
University of Cambridge

Meerkats live in groups of up to 50 individuals, yet a single dominant pair will almost completely monopolise reproduction, while subordinates help to raise offspring through feeding and babysitting.

Released: 25-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Supermassive Black Holes in 'Red Geyser' Galaxies Cause Galactic Warming
University of Kentucky

An international team of scientists, including the University of Kentucky's Renbin Yan, is solving one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in galaxy evolution.

Released: 25-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
A 100 Million-Year Partnership on the Brink of Extinction
University of Cambridge

A symbiotic relationship that has existed since the time of the dinosaurs is at risk of ending, as habitat loss and environmental change mean that a species of Australian crayfish and the tiny worms that depend on them are both at serious risk of extinction.

Released: 25-May-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Antiretroviral Therapy May Not Be Enough to Reduce HIV-Associated Arterial Inflammation
Massachusetts General Hospital

Additional immune-system-modulatory approaches may help reduce risk of cardiovascular disease.

23-May-2016 11:00 PM EDT
Brit Accents Vex U.S. Hearing-Impaired Elderly
University of Utah

Older Americans with some hearing loss shouldn’t feel alone if they have trouble understanding British TV sagas like “Downton Abbey.” A small study from the University of Utah suggests hearing-impaired senior citizens have more trouble than young people comprehending British accents when there is background noise.

Released: 25-May-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Is Aging Inevitable? Not Necessarily for Sea Urchins
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDI)

Study shows that sea urchins defy aging, regardless of lifespan.

Released: 25-May-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Many Unknown Chemicals in the Baltic Sea
Stockholm University

The researchers examined data from research and monitoring reports from the years 2000-2012, to see what chemicals have been analysed in Baltic Sea fish.

Released: 25-May-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Lung Cancer Survival Rate Increases by 73 Percent if Caught Early
University of Liverpool

The UK Lung cancer screening trial (UKLS) has been successfully completed and demonstrated that patients with a high risk of developing lung cancer can be identified with early stage disease and have up to a 73% chance of surviving for five years or more. The UKLS trial was conducted by experts in the University of Liverpool.

Released: 25-May-2016 10:05 AM EDT
Spring Comes Sooner to Urban Heat Islands, with Potential Consequences for Wildlife
University of Wisconsin–Madison

With spring now fully sprung, a new study by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers shows that buds burst earlier in dense urban areas than in their suburban and rural surroundings. This may be music to urban gardeners’ ears, but that tune could be alarming to some native and migratory birds and bugs.

25-May-2016 5:00 AM EDT
Zika Virus May Be Linked to More Eye Problems in Brazilian Babies with Microcephaly
American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO)

Researchers from Brazil and Stanford University report on an ocular case study of three Brazilian infants with microcephaly presumed to be caused by Zika virus. Findings will appear in Ophthalmology, journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Released: 24-May-2016 3:05 PM EDT
New Research Confirms Continued, Unabated and Large-Scale Amphibian Declines
US Geological Survey (USGS)

New U.S. Geological Survey-led research suggests that even though amphibians are severely declining worldwide, there is no smoking gun - and thus no simple solution - to halting or reversing these declines.

Released: 24-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
New Way of Growing Blood Vessels Could Boost Regenerative Medicine
University of Bath

In addition the technique to grow the blood vessels in a 3D scaffold cuts down on the risk of transplant rejection because it uses cells from the patient. It was developed by researchers from the University of Bath's Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, working with colleagues at Bristol Heart Institute.



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