Wednesday, 7 December 2011

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News


NASA's TRMM satellite sees the power in Tropical Storm Alenga

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:13 PM PST

The first tropical storm of the Southern Indian Ocean season has been renamed from Tropical Storm 01S to Tropical Storm Alenga as it continues to strengthen. NASA's TRMM satellite was able to capture a look at the rainfall rates and cloud heights within Alenga recently.

Reusing pacemakers from deceased patients is safe and effective, study finds

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:13 PM PST

Many heart patients in India are too poor to afford pacemakers. But a new study has found that removing pacemakers from deceased Americans, re-sterilizing the devices and implanting them in Indian patients "is very safe and effective."

Solar storms could sandblast the moon

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST

Solar storms and associated Coronal Mass Ejections can significantly erode the lunar surface according to a new set of computer simulations by NASA scientists. In addition to removing a surprisingly large amount of material from the lunar surface, this could be a major method of atmospheric loss for planets like Mars that are unprotected by a global magnetic field.

Supercomputer reveals new details behind drug-processing protein model

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST

Supercomputer simulations are giving scientists unprecedented access to a key class of proteins involved in drug detoxification.

Rotating night shift work linked to increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in women, study finds

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST

Women who work a rotating (irregular) schedule that includes three or more night shifts per month, in addition to day and evening working hours in that month, may have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes when compared with women who only worked days or evenings, according to a new study.

Baby see, baby do? Yes, unless you trick them

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:19 AM PST

Babies love to imitate. Ask any parent and they'll report how infants mimic sounds, facial expressions and actions they observe. Now new research shows that infants can even differentiate between credible and non-credible sources. Simply put, most babies won't follow along if they have been previously tricked by an adult.

Mayo Clinic makes kidney and pancreas transplant available to HIV-infected patients

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:19 AM PST

Mayo Clinic in Florida is now offering kidney and pancreas transplants to HIV positive patients with advanced kidney disease and diabetes. Evidence is now solid that HIV-positive patients have the same favorable outcome in terms of patient and allograft survival as non-HIV positive organ transplant recipients, say experts.

The definition of a musical instrument

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST

The sounds produced by a fiddle are not always musical, but the fiddle is still nevertheless regarded as a musical instrument. However, if one uses sticks or car engines to create music – do they become musical instruments?

New tick-borne disease discovered in Sweden

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST

Researchers have discovered a brand new tick-borne infection. Since the discovery, eight cases have been described around the world, three of them in Sweden.

Sleeping giants discovered: Largest black holes ever measured found in 'nearby' galaxies

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:52 AM PST

Astronomers recently discovered the most massive black holes to date. Found in two separate nearby galaxies roughly 300 million light years away from Earth, each black hole has a mass equivalent to 10 billion suns.

Genetic markers help feds enforce seafood regulations

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:52 AM PST

New discoveries in "marine forensics" will allow federal seafood agents to genetically test blue marlin to quickly and accurately determine their ocean of origin. The test is needed to ensure that the blue marlin sold in US seafood markets were not taken from the Atlantic Ocean. Regulation of Atlantic blues reflects overfishing and a troubling drop in population.

Is climate change altering humans' vacation plans?

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:52 AM PST

Researchers have found peak attendance in US national parks that have experienced climate change is happening earlier, compared to 30 years ago.

What we want to see on TV: Handsome politicians

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:50 AM PST

The better the looks of United States Congresspersons, the more television coverage they receive, shows a new study. The reason behind this? Television journalists think their viewers prefer to see physically attractive people. "Physical appearance ranked third in the criteria for gaining television coverage, and ranked higher than seniority, position in Congress and legislative activity in this respect," noted the authors of the study.

New horned dinosaur announced nearly 100 years after discovery

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:50 AM PST

A new species of horned dinosaur was just announced by an international team of scientists, nearly 100 years after the initial discovery of the fossil. The animal, named Spinops sternbergorum, lived approximately 76 million years ago in southern Alberta, Canada. Spinops was a plant-eater that weighed around two tons when alive, a smaller cousin of Triceratops.

Inbreeding in bed bugs: One key to massive increases in infestations

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:50 AM PST

New research on the bed bug's ability to withstand the genetic bottleneck of inbreeding provides new clues to explain the rapidly growing problem of bed bugs across the United States and globally. After mostly disappearing in the US in the 1950s, the common bed bug has reappeared with a vengeance over the past decade.

Sandeels with a full stomach swim for a longer time

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 08:42 AM PST

Researchers have shed light on the peculiar behavior of the commercially and ecologically valuable sandeel.

Global Carbon Project annual emissions summary

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 07:25 AM PST

Global carbon dioxide emissions increased by a record 5.9 per cent in 2010 following the dampening effect of the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis, according to scientists working with the Global Carbon Project.

Poorly contracting uterus in diabetic women increases risk of caesarean birth, researchers find

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 07:25 AM PST

Researchers have found that the strength of uterine contractions in diabetic pregnant women is significantly weaker than in non-diabetic women, increasing the risk of emergency caesarean birth.

Ancient meat-loving predators survived for 35 million years

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 07:14 AM PST

A species of ancient predator with saw-like teeth, sleek bodies and a voracious appetite for meat survived a major extinction at a time when the distant relatives of mammals ruled the earth.

New insights into how the nervous system becomes wired during early development

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 06:56 AM PST

Thanks to a new study of the retina, scientists have developed a greater understanding of how the nervous system becomes wired during early development.

Promising multiple sclerosis treatment targets immune cells to increase neuroprotection, study shows

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:29 AM PST

Laquinimod is an orally available synthetic compound that has been successfully evaluated in phase II/III clinical studies for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. The mechanism of action of laquinimod has not been fully elucidated, but a new study suggests that laquinimod triggers immune cells within the central nervous system to produce and release brain-derived neurotrophic factor, contributing to the repair or survival of neurons and thus limiting brain damage.

New NASA Dawn visuals show Vesta's 'color palette'

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:27 AM PST

Vesta appears in a splendid rainbow-colored palette in new images obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The colors, assigned by scientists to show different rock or mineral types, reveal Vesta to be a world of many varied, well-separated layers and ingredients. Vesta is unique among asteroids visited by spacecraft to date in having such wide variation, supporting the notion that it is transitional between the terrestrial planets -- like Earth, Mercury, Mars and Venus -- and its asteroid siblings.

Global sea surface temperature data provides new measure of climate sensitivity over the last half million years

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:27 AM PST

Scientists have developed important new insight into the sensitivity of global temperature to changes in Earth's radiation balance over the last half million years.

Random noise helps make signals clearer; Model shows that signal clarity only improves if specific energy conditions are met

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:27 AM PST

Scientists have shown the energy conditions, under which a weak signal supplied to a physical system emerges as a stronger signal at the output thanks to the presence of random noise (a process known as stochastic resonance).

New move to use robots for stroke rehabilitation

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:26 AM PST

Researchers have just begun a three-year project, which uses robots to help people to recover from strokes.

New all-sky map shows the magnetic fields of the Milky Way with the highest precision

Posted: 06 Dec 2011 05:25 AM PST

With a unique new all-sky map, scientists have made significant progress toward measuring the magnetic field structure of the Milky Way in unprecedented detail. Specifically, the map is of a quantity known as Faraday depth, which among other things, depends strongly on the magnetic fields along a particular line of sight. To produce the map, data were combined from more than 41,000 individual measurements using a novel image reconstruction technique. The new map not only reveals the structure of the galactic magnetic field on large scales, but also small-scale features that provide information about turbulence in the galactic gas.

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