ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• NCAA mandatory sickle cell screening program not enough to save athletes' lives, study finds
• Divers retrieve prehistoric wood from Lake Huron
• Rose torture: Severe heat in Texas yields better varieties for research
• Why do people defend unjust, inept, and corrupt systems?
• Bigger, scarier weapons help spiders get the girl
• The case of the dying aspens
• New vaccine attacks breast cancer in mice
• Study debunks myths about gender and math performance
• A small step for lungfish, a big step for the evolution of walking
• Affordable solar?
• Diamonds and dust for better cement
• Massive DNA search uncovers new mutations driving blood cancer
• Gene mutation signals a high risk of recurrence in some older acute-leukemia patients
• Targeted proton transfer within a molecule: Smallest conceivable switch
• Hundreds of threatened species not on official US list
• Study of two sisters sheds light on lymphoma evolution
• Test for Alzheimer's disease predicts cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease
• Earliest known bug-repellant plant bedding found at South African rock shelter
• A whole new meaning for thinking on your feet: Brains of small spiders overflow into legs
• Improved medication use could reduce severe asthma attacks
• New finding clears malaria in mice
• Disappearance of the elephant caused rise of modern humans: Dietary change led to modern humans in Middle East 400,000 years ago
• 'Matrix'-style effortless learning? Vision scientists demonstrate innovative learning method
• As climate change sets in, plants and bees keep pace
• Early black holes grew big eating cold, fast food
• Working moms feel better than stay-at-home moms, study finds
• World's smallest frogs discovered in New Guinea
• Star explosion leaves behind a rose
• Cassini to make a double play
• Tapping the brain orchestra
• Breast cancer survivors struggle with cognitive problems several years after treatment
• Few allergies in unstressed babies
• Friends and loved ones yawn together
• Ten years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, human health cost is still being counted
• Novel way to improve outcomes from umbilical cord blood transplants
• Immune system in leukemia patients repaired following chemotherapy
• Butterflies: 'Twice-punished' by habitat fragmentation and climate change

NCAA mandatory sickle cell screening program not enough to save athletes' lives, study finds Posted: 12 Dec 2011 07:10 PM PST In response to a lawsuit after a college football player died from complications due to sickle cell trait (SCT) during a workout, the NCAA implemented mandatory SCT screening of all Division I student-athletes. A new study evaluated the impact of that policy and found that testing alone will help identify more than 2,000 athletes with SCT, but warns that screening alone will not prevent death.

Divers retrieve prehistoric wood from Lake Huron Posted: 12 Dec 2011 07:10 PM PST Under the cold clear waters of Lake Huron, researchers have found a five-and-a-half foot-long, pole-shaped piece of wood that is 8,900 years old. The wood, which is tapered and beveled on one side in a way that looks deliberate, may provide important clues to a mysterious period in North American prehistory.

Rose torture: Severe heat in Texas yields better varieties for research Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST At least one person admits that the extreme heat in Texas this year was beneficial. But all the same, he'd opt next time for a handmade torture chamber. "Some people will complain about the heat, but from my viewpoint as a breeder, I love stress," said a rose breeder.

Why do people defend unjust, inept, and corrupt systems? Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST Why do we stick up for a system or institution we live in -- a government, company, or marriage -- even when anyone else can see it is failing miserably? Why do we resist change even when the system is corrupt or unjust? A new article illuminates the conditions under which we're motivated to defend the status quo -- a process called "system justification."

Bigger, scarier weapons help spiders get the girl Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST If you're a red-headed guy with eight bulging eyes and a unibrow, size does indeed matter for getting the girl. More specifically, the bigger a male jumping spider's weapons appear to be, the more likely his rival will slink away without a fight, leaving the bigger guy a clear path to the waiting female.

The case of the dying aspens Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST Over the past 10 years, the death of forest trees due to drought and increased temperatures has been documented on all continents except Antarctica. This can in turn drive global warming by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by trees and by releasing carbon locked up in their wood. New research offers evidence for the physiological mechanism governing tree death in a drought.

New vaccine attacks breast cancer in mice Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST Researchers have developed a vaccine that dramatically reduces tumors in a mouse model that mimics 90 percent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases -- including those that are resistant to common treatments. The vaccine reveals a promising new strategy for treating cancers that share the same distinct carbohydrate signature, including ovarian and colorectal cancers.

Study debunks myths about gender and math performance Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST A major study of recent international data on school mathematics performance casts doubt on some common assumptions about gender and math achievement -- in particular, the idea that girls and women have less ability due to a difference in biology.

A small step for lungfish, a big step for the evolution of walking Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:31 PM PST The eel-like body and scrawny "limbs" of the African lungfish would appear to make it an unlikely innovator for locomotion. But its improbable walking behavior, newly described, redraws the evolutionary route of life on Earth from water to land.

Affordable solar? Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:42 AM PST A new analysis shows that solar photovoltaic systems are very close to achieving the tipping point in many regions: they can make electricity that's as cheap -- sometimes cheaper -- than what consumers pay their utilities.

Diamonds and dust for better cement Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:42 AM PST Scientists are seeking ways to use cement more efficiently and reduce the carbon emissions associated with its manufacture have revealed new properties of the mineral tobermorite. Using X-ray-diffraction to probe its crystalline structure, which corresponds to Portland cement's most important component, they squeezed the mineral in a diamond anvil cell to pressures equivalent to 100 miles deep in the Earth.

Massive DNA search uncovers new mutations driving blood cancer Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:42 AM PST The most comprehensive search to date of DNA abnormalities in chronic lymphocytic leukemia has unearthed several new altered genes that drive this common blood cancer, a finding that could potentially help doctors predict whether an individual patient's disease will progress rapidly or remain indolent for years, say scientists.

Gene mutation signals a high risk of recurrence in some older acute-leukemia patients Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:42 AM PST Older people with acute myeloid leukemia and normal looking chromosomes in their cancer cells have a higher risk of recurrence if they have mutations in the ASXL1gene, according to a new study. The study is the first to investigate the influence of these gene mutations on prognosis in these patients and in conjunction with other prognostic gene mutations. The findings could lead to more effective targeted therapies and improved cure rates for these patients.

Targeted proton transfer within a molecule: Smallest conceivable switch Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:26 AM PST For a long time miniaturization has been the magic word in electronics. Physicists have now presented a novel molecular switch. Decisive for the functionality of the switch is the position of a single proton in a porphyrin ring with an inside diameter of less than half a nanometer. The physicists can set four distinct states on demand.

Hundreds of threatened species not on official US list Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:26 AM PST Many of the animal species at risk of extinction in the United States have not made it onto the country's official Endangered Species Act list, according to new research.

Study of two sisters sheds light on lymphoma evolution Posted: 12 Dec 2011 10:26 AM PST A woman received a transplant from her sister to treat leukemia. Both sisters later developed lymphoma, suggesting transfer of a common ancestor. Finding gives scientists new insight into lymphoma development.

Test for Alzheimer's disease predicts cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:47 AM PST A method of classifying brain atrophy patterns in Alzheimer's disease patients using MRIs can also detect cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease, according to a new study. Researchers also found that higher baseline Alzheimer's patterns of atrophy predicted long-term cognitive decline in cognitively normal Parkinson's patients. The study is published online in Brain.

Earliest known bug-repellant plant bedding found at South African rock shelter Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:47 AM PST Rare finds such as early ornaments, cave drawings and Middle Stone Age engravings are the subjects of a good deal of anthropological study and they provide clues. But in a new study, an international team of researchers report another find that could give additional insight. What's more, it could place the use of herbal medicines much earlier than previously known.

A whole new meaning for thinking on your feet: Brains of small spiders overflow into legs Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:47 AM PST Smithsonian researchers report that the brains of tiny spiders may fill their body cavities and overflow into their legs. As part of research to understand how miniaturization affects brain size and behavior, researchers measured the central nervous systems of nine species of spiders, from rainforest giants to spiders smaller than the head of a pin. As the spiders get smaller, their brains get proportionally bigger, filling up more and more of their body cavities.

Improved medication use could reduce severe asthma attacks Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:46 AM PST Researchers have found that one-quarter of severe asthma attacks could be prevented if only patients consistently took their medication as prescribed. Moreover, an asthma attack was only significantly reduced when patients used at least 75 percent of their prescribed dose, according to the study.

New finding clears malaria in mice Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:46 AM PST Researchers have discovered how malaria manipulates the immune system to allow the parasite to persist in the bloodstream. By rescuing this immune system pathway, the research team was able to cure mice of bloodstream malaria infections.

Disappearance of the elephant caused rise of modern humans: Dietary change led to modern humans in Middle East 400,000 years ago Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:46 AM PST Scientists have connected evidence about diet with other cultural and anatomical clues to conclude that the disappearance of the elephants led to the emergence of Homo sapiens in the Middle East much earlier than first suspected. The findings set the stage for a new, revolutionary understanding of human history.

'Matrix'-style effortless learning? Vision scientists demonstrate innovative learning method Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:46 AM PST It may be possible to use brain technology to learn to play a piano, reduce mental stress or hit a curve ball with little or no conscious effort, new research suggests. It's the kind of thing seen in Hollywood's "Matrix" franchise.

As climate change sets in, plants and bees keep pace Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:46 AM PST An analysis of bee collection data over the past 130 years shows that spring arrives about 10 days earlier than in the 1880s, and bees and flowering plants have kept pace by arriving earlier in lock-step.

Early black holes grew big eating cold, fast food Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:45 AM PST Researchers have discovered what caused the rapid growth of early supermassive black holes -- a steady diet of cold, fast food. Computer simulations show that thin streams of cold gas flow uncontrolled into the center of the first black holes, causing them to grow faster than anything else in the universe.

Working moms feel better than stay-at-home moms, study finds Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:45 AM PST Mothers with jobs tend to be healthier and happier than moms who stay at home during their children's infancy and preschool years, according to a new study.

World's smallest frogs discovered in New Guinea Posted: 12 Dec 2011 09:39 AM PST Field research has uncovered the world's smallest frogs in southeastern New Guinea. The discovery also makes them the world's smallest tetrapods (non-fish vertebrates). The frogs belong to the genus Paedophryne, all of whose species are extremely small, with adults of the two new species -- named Paedophryne dekot and Paedophryne verrucosa -- only 8 to 9 millimeters in length.

Star explosion leaves behind a rose Posted: 12 Dec 2011 07:02 AM PST About 3,700 years ago, people on Earth would have seen a brand-new bright star in the sky. It slowly dimmed out of sight and was eventually forgotten, until modern astronomers later found its remains, called Puppis A. In this new image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Puppis A looks less like the remains of a supernova explosion and more like a red rose.

Cassini to make a double play Posted: 12 Dec 2011 07:01 AM PST In an action-packed day and a half, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be making its closest swoop over the surface of Saturn's moon Dione and scrutinizing the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

Tapping the brain orchestra Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:37 AM PST Researchers have developed a new method for detailed analyses of electrical activity in the brain. The method can help doctors and researchers to better interpret brain cell signals. In turn, this may lead to considerable steps forward in terms of interpreting for example EEG measurements, making diagnoses and treatment of various brain illnesses.

Breast cancer survivors struggle with cognitive problems several years after treatment Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:37 AM PST A new analysis has found that breast cancer survivors may experience problems with certain mental abilities several years after treatment, regardless of whether they were treated with chemotherapy plus radiation or radiation only.

Few allergies in unstressed babies Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:27 AM PST A new study shows that infants with low concentrations of the stress-related hormone cortisol in their saliva develop fewer allergies than other infants. Hopefully this new knowledge will be useful in future allergy prevention.

Friends and loved ones yawn together Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:26 AM PST Yawning is contagious, as everybody knows. A new study shows that "yawn transmission" is more frequent, and faster, between people sharing an emotional bond: close friends, kin, and mates.

Ten years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, human health cost is still being counted Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:26 AM PST The World Trade Center disaster exposed nearly half a million people to hazardous chemicals, environmental toxins, and traumatic events. According to recent research, this has resulted in increased risk of developing physical and mental health conditions after 9/11.

Novel way to improve outcomes from umbilical cord blood transplants Posted: 11 Dec 2011 07:20 PM PST A new method to boost the number of immune cells in umbilical cord blood prior to cord blood transplants for cancer patients appears to lead to a quicker rebuilding of a new immune system in the patient's body than with a conventional cord blood transplant procedure, according to new research.

Immune system in leukemia patients repaired following chemotherapy Posted: 11 Dec 2011 07:20 PM PST A new treatment using leukemia patients' own infection-fighting cells appears to protect them from infections and cancer recurrence following treatment with fludarabine-based chemotherapy, according to new research.

Butterflies: 'Twice-punished' by habitat fragmentation and climate change Posted: 09 Dec 2011 09:32 AM PST Butterflies dispersal is strongly related to demography and ecological specialization, new research shows. Butterfly with narrow tolerance to temperature are also those species that have weak dispersal ability. For such species, the combination of habitat fragmentation and climate warming are a kind of 'double penalty'.

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