ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• NASA quiet sonic boom research effort ends with a whisper
• Dawn soars over asteroid Vesta in 3-D
• NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft eyes the future
• What's that sparkle in Cassini's eye?
• Course excellent, adjustment postponed: Mars Science Laboratory mission status report
• Probiotics reduce infections for patients in intensive care, study finds
• Swiss scientist prove durability of quantum network
• Lower antioxidant level might explain higher skin-cancer rate in males
• New evidence of an unrecognized visual process
• A vaccination against social prejudice
• Drop in carbon dioxide levels led to polar ice sheet, study finds
• Unique geologic insights from 'non-unique' gravity and magnetic interpretation
• Adult stem cells use special pathways to repair damaged muscle, researchers find
• Sharp decline in pollution from U.S. coal power plants, NASA satellite confirms
• Bitter sensitive children eat more vegetables with help of dip
• When babies awaken: New study shows surprise regarding important hormone level
• Plunge in CO₂ put the freeze on Antarctica
• Rise of atmospheric oxygen more complicated than previously thought
• New insights into responses of Yellowstone wolves to environmental changes
• Christmas burst reveals neutron star collision
• Some atheist scientists with children embrace religious traditions, according to new research
• China's demand for oil will equal US demand by 2040, study predicts
• Age-old remedies using white tea, witch hazel and rose may be beneficial, study suggests
• Researchers recommend exercise for breast cancer survivors, lymphedema patients
• New switch could improve electronics
• Scientists propose new names for elements 114 and 116
• Strange new 'species' of ultra-red galaxy discovered
• Serendipitous news reading online is gaining prominence, study shows
• Not all cellular reprogramming is created equal
• Amplification of multiple cell-growth genes found in some brain tumors
• World's first view of Type 1 diabetes as it unfolds
• Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
• Two out of three medical students do not know when to wash their hands
• Moral dilemma: Would you kill one person to save five?
• Cancer cells' DNA repair disrupted to increase radiation sensitivity
• Archaeologists find new evidence of animals being introduced to prehistoric Caribbean
• Children with HIV/AIDS falling through the cracks of treatment scale-up efforts
• Danish HIV patients can live as long as the general population when treated optimally
• Aggression prevents the better part of valor ... in fig wasps
• World's first captive breeding of Ozark hellbenders

NASA quiet sonic boom research effort ends with a whisper Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:11 PM PST NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center recently completed NASA's latest quiet sonic boom research study at Edwards Air Force Base. The Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response, or WSPR, project gathered data from a select group of more than 100 volunteer Edwards Air Force Base residents on their individual attitudes toward sonic booms produced by aircraft in supersonic flight over Edwards.

Dawn soars over asteroid Vesta in 3-D Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:09 PM PST Glide over the giant asteroid Vesta with NASA's Dawn spacecraft in a new 3-D video. Dawn has been orbiting Vesta since July 15, obtaining high-resolution images of its bumpy, cratered surface and making other scientific measurements.

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft eyes the future Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:06 PM PST NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft completed a 140-second firing of its onboard rocket motors on Thursday, Nov. 24. The rocket burn was performed to keep the venerable comet hunter's options open for yet another exploration of a solar system small body.

What's that sparkle in Cassini's eye? Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:05 PM PST The moon Enceladus, one of the jewels of the Saturn system, sparkles peculiarly bright in new images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The images of the moon, the first ever taken of Enceladus with Cassini's synthetic aperture radar, reveal new details of some of the grooves in the moon's south polar region and unexpected textures in the ice. These images, obtained on Nov. 6, 2011, are the highest-resolution images of this region obtained so far.

Course excellent, adjustment postponed: Mars Science Laboratory mission status report Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:03 PM PST Excellent launch precision for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission has forestalled the need for an early trajectory correction maneuver, now not required for a month or more.

Probiotics reduce infections for patients in intensive care, study finds Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:02 PM PST Traumatic brain injury is associated with a profound suppression of the patient's ability to fight infection. At the same time the patient also often suffers hyper-inflammation, due to the brain releasing glucocorticoids. New research shows that including probiotics with nutrients, supplied via the patient's feeding tube, increased interferon levels, reduced the number of infections, and even reduced the amount of time patients spent in intensive care.

Swiss scientist prove durability of quantum network Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:02 PM PST Scientists and engineers have proven the worth of quantum cryptography in telecommunication networks by demonstrating its long-term effectiveness in a real-time network. Their international network, created in collaboration with ID Quantique and installed in the Geneva metropolitan area and crossing over to the site of CERN in France, ran for more than one-and-a-half years from the end of March 2009 to the beginning of January 2011.

Lower antioxidant level might explain higher skin-cancer rate in males Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:42 PM PST A new study may help explain why men are three times more likely than women to develop a common form of skin cancer. The study found that male mice had lower levels of an important skin antioxidant than female mice and higher levels of certain cancer-linked inflammatory cells. As a result, men may be more susceptible to oxidative stress in the skin, which may raise their risk of skin cancer compared to women.

New evidence of an unrecognized visual process Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:42 PM PST We don't see only what meets the eye. The visual system constantly takes in ambiguous stimuli, weighs its options, and decides what it perceives. This normally happens effortlessly. Sometimes, however, an ambiguity is persistent, and the visual system waffles on which perception is right. Such instances interest scientists because they help us understand how the eyes and the brain make sense of what we see.

A vaccination against social prejudice Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:42 PM PST Evolutionary psychologists suspect that prejudice is rooted in survival: Our distant ancestors had to avoid outsiders who might have carried disease. Research still shows that when people feel vulnerable to illness, they exhibit more bias toward stigmatized groups. But a new study suggests there might be a modern way to break that link.

Drop in carbon dioxide levels led to polar ice sheet, study finds Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:42 PM PST A drop in carbon dioxide appears to be the driving force that led to the Antarctic ice sheet's formation, according to a recent study of molecules from ancient algae found in deep-sea core samples.

Unique geologic insights from 'non-unique' gravity and magnetic interpretation Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:42 PM PST In many fields of applied science, such as geology, there are often tensions and disagreements between scientists who specialize in analyses of problems using mathematical models to describe sets of collected data, and those that rely on on-the-ground observations and empirical analyses.

Adult stem cells use special pathways to repair damaged muscle, researchers find Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:36 PM PST Researchers recently found how even distant satellite cells could help with the repair, and are now learning how the stem cells travel within the tissue. This knowledge could ultimately help doctors more effectively treat muscle disorders such as muscular dystrophy, in which the muscle is easily damaged and the patient's satellite cells have lost the ability to repair.

Sharp decline in pollution from U.S. coal power plants, NASA satellite confirms Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:36 PM PST A team of scientists have used the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's Aura satellite to confirm major reductions in the levels of a key air pollutant generated by coal power plants in the eastern United States. The pollutant, sulfur dioxide, contributes to the formation of acid rain and can cause serious health problems.

Bitter sensitive children eat more vegetables with help of dip Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:36 PM PST Close to 70 percent of children have a sensitivity to bitter tasting foods, and that can cause them to avoid many of the leafy, green vegetables they should be eating for healthy development. But new research has found that adding a small amount of dip can help children with this sensitivity eat more of their vegetables.

When babies awaken: New study shows surprise regarding important hormone level Posted: 01 Dec 2011 11:28 AM PST Cortisol may be the Swiss Army knife of hormones in the human body -- just when scientists think they understand what it does, another function pops up. While many of these functions are understood for adults, much less is known about how cortisol operates in babies and toddlers, especially when it comes to an important phenomenon called the cortisol awakening response, or CAR.

Plunge in CO<sub>2</sub> put the freeze on Antarctica Posted: 01 Dec 2011 11:28 AM PST Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels plunged by 40 percent before and during the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet 34 million years ago, according to a new study. The finding helps solve a long-standing scientific puzzle and confirms the power of CO2 to dramatically alter global climate.

Rise of atmospheric oxygen more complicated than previously thought Posted: 01 Dec 2011 11:27 AM PST The appearance of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere probably did not occur as a single event, but as a long series of starts and stops, according to an international team of researchers who investigated rock cores from the FAR DEEP project.

New insights into responses of Yellowstone wolves to environmental changes Posted: 01 Dec 2011 11:27 AM PST A study of the wolves of Yellowstone National Park has improved predictions of how these animals will respond to environmental changes. The study, which is part of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, involved tracking changes in various characteristics of the wolves of Yellowstone National Park ever since these animals were reintroduced to the park in 1995.

Christmas burst reveals neutron star collision Posted: 01 Dec 2011 11:10 AM PST A strangely powerful, long-lasting gamma-ray burst on Christmas Day, 2010 has finally been analyzed to the satisfaction of a multinational research team. Called the Christmas Burst, GRB 101225A was freakishly lengthy and it produced radiation at unusually varying wavelengths. But by matching the data with a model developed in 1998, the team was able to characterize the star explosion as a neutron star spiraling into the heart of its companion star.

Some atheist scientists with children embrace religious traditions, according to new research Posted: 01 Dec 2011 10:25 AM PST Some atheist scientists with children embrace religious traditions for social and personal reasons, according to new research.

China's demand for oil will equal US demand by 2040, study predicts Posted: 01 Dec 2011 10:25 AM PST Despite aggressive demand-management policies announced in recent years, China's oil use could easily reach levels comparable to today's US levels by 2040, according to a new energy study.

Age-old remedies using white tea, witch hazel and rose may be beneficial, study suggests Posted: 01 Dec 2011 10:25 AM PST Age-old remedies could hold the key to treating a wide range of serious medical problems, as well as keeping skin firmer and less wrinkled, according to scientists. Experts have discovered that white tea, witch hazel and the simple rose hold potential health and beauty properties which could be simply too good to ignore.

Researchers recommend exercise for breast cancer survivors, lymphedema patients Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:54 AM PST Lymphedema, a chronic swelling condition common in breast cancer survivors, affects three million people in the US. In the past, most people believed that exercise might induce or worsen lymphedema. After reviewing the literature, researchers say the benefits of exercise outweigh the risks for breast cancer survivors and patients with lymphedema.

New switch could improve electronics Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:54 AM PST Researchers have invented a new type of electronic switch that performs electronic logic functions within a single molecule. The incorporation of such single-molecule elements could enable smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient electronics.

Scientists propose new names for elements 114 and 116 Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:54 AM PST The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has recommended new proposed names for elements 114 and 116, the latest heavy elements to be added to the periodic table. Scientists proposed the names are Flerovium for element 114 and Livermorium for element 116.

Strange new 'species' of ultra-red galaxy discovered Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:53 AM PST In the distant reaches of the universe, almost 13 billion light-years from Earth, a strange species of galaxy lay hidden. Cloaked in dust and dimmed by the intervening distance, even the Hubble Space Telescope couldn't spy it. It took the revealing power of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to uncover not one, but four remarkably red galaxies. And while astronomers can describe the members of this new "species," they can't explain what makes them so ruddy.

Serendipitous news reading online is gaining prominence, study shows Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:53 AM PST New research shows that Internet users often do not make the conscious decision to read news online, but they come across news when they are searching for other information or doing non-news related activities online, such as shopping or visiting social networking sites.

Not all cellular reprogramming is created equal Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:51 AM PST Tweaking the levels of factors used during the reprogramming of adult cells into induced pluriopotent stem (iPS) cells can greatly affect the quality of the resulting iPS cells, according to researchers. This finding explains at least in part the wide variation in quality and fidelity of iPS cells created through different reprogramming methods.

Amplification of multiple cell-growth genes found in some brain tumors Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:51 AM PST A small percentage of the deadly brain tumors called glioblastomas, which usually resist treatment with drugs targeting mutations in cell-growth genes, appears to contain extra copies of two or three of these genes at the same time. The surprising discovery has major implications for the understanding of tumor biology – including the evolution of tumor cell populations – and for targeted cancer therapies.

World's first view of Type 1 diabetes as it unfolds Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:51 AM PST A war is being waged in the pancreases of millions of people throughout the world. The siege leads to the development of Type 1 diabetes and has been a battlefield largely hidden from view -- until now. Researchers have created the first cellular movies showing the destruction underlying Type 1 diabetes in real-time in mouse models.

Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:26 AM PST They should prove a challenge for the athletes, but not put them in danger: bobsled runs have to be simulated before being built. This simulation is based on the friction levels of the runners on the ice. Now it has become possible to measure these levels accurately. These results will help build the run for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Two out of three medical students do not know when to wash their hands Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST Only 21 percent of surveyed medical students could identify five true and two false indications of when and when not to wash their hands in the clinical setting, according to a new study.

Moral dilemma: Would you kill one person to save five? Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST Nine out of 10 people would kill one person to save five others, according to a provocative new morality study.

Cancer cells' DNA repair disrupted to increase radiation sensitivity Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST Shortening end caps on chromosomes in human cervical cancer cells disrupts DNA repair signaling, increases the cells' sensitivity to radiation treatment and kills them more quickly, according to a new study. Researchers would to like see their laboratory findings lead to safer, more effective combination therapies for hard-to-treat pediatric brain cancers. To this end, they are starting laboratory tests on brain cancer cells.

Archaeologists find new evidence of animals being introduced to prehistoric Caribbean Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST An archaeological research team has found one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric non-native animal remains in the Caribbean, on the tiny island of Carriacou. The find contributes to our understanding of culture in the region before the arrival of Columbus, and suggests Carriacou may have been more important than previously thought.

Children with HIV/AIDS falling through the cracks of treatment scale-up efforts Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:54 AM PST Less than one-quarter (23 percent) of children with HIV/AIDS who need treatment are getting it, according to a new report. Although treatment coverage for adults has been steadily climbing and has now reached approximately half of those in need, coverage for children is lagging far behind.

Danish HIV patients can live as long as the general population when treated optimally Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:53 AM PST Researchers who have been following Danish HIV patients for more than fifteen years now see that the patients may live as long as other Danes if they take their medicine.

Aggression prevents the better part of valor ... in fig wasps Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:53 AM PST Researchers have confirmed a unique behavior within the male population of tiny fig wasps that pollinate fig trees -- they team up to help pregnant females, regardless of whether they have mated themselves.

World's first captive breeding of Ozark hellbenders Posted: 01 Dec 2011 06:47 AM PST After a decade-long effort, conservation experts report that Ozark hellbenders have been bred in captivity -- a first! Endangered in the wild, this amphibian has fossil records dating back 15 million years. Today its numbers are rapidly declining.

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