ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Self-affirmation may break down resistance to medical screening
• Paint-on solar cells developed
• Do you hear what I hear? Noise exposure surrounds us
• Astronomers discover rare galaxy at dawn of time
• How diving marine mammals manage decompression
• Breakthrough in treatment to prevent blindness
• Crucial advances in 'brain reading' demonstrated
• Some nearby young stars may be much older than previously thought
• How pregnancy changes a woman's brain
• Astronomers discover planets that survived their star's expansion
• Prejudice comes from a basic human need and way of thinking, new research suggests
• How the brain cell works: A dive into its inner network
• We are natural born multi-taskers
• Discovery of two Earth-size planets raises questions about the evolution of stars
• Astronomers discover deep-fried planets: Two Earth-sized planets around dying star that has passed the red giant stage
• How normal cells fuel tumor growth
• NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtains first low altitude images of Vesta
• Do our medicines boost pathogens?
• The biology behind severe PMS

Self-affirmation may break down resistance to medical screening Posted: 21 Dec 2011 06:13 PM PST People resist medical screening, or don't call back for the results, because they don't want to know they're sick or at risk for a disease. But many illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS and cancer, have a far a better prognosis if they're caught early. How can health care providers break down that resistance?

Paint-on solar cells developed Posted: 21 Dec 2011 06:13 PM PST Imagine if the next coat of paint you put on the outside of your home generates electricity from light -- electricity that can be used to power the appliances and equipment on the inside. Scientists have just created an inexpensive "solar paint" that uses semiconducting nanoparticles to produce energy.

Do you hear what I hear? Noise exposure surrounds us Posted: 21 Dec 2011 06:12 PM PST Nine out of 10 city dwellers may have enough harmful noise exposure to risk hearing loss, and most of that exposure comes from leisure activities.

Astronomers discover rare galaxy at dawn of time Posted: 21 Dec 2011 06:12 PM PST Astronomers have discovered that one of the most distant galaxies known is churning out stars at a shockingly high rate. The blob-shaped galaxy, called GN-108036, is the brightest galaxy found to date at such great distances and is 12.9 billion light-years away.

How diving marine mammals manage decompression Posted: 21 Dec 2011 12:17 PM PST How do marine mammals, whose very survival depends on regular diving, manage to avoid decompression sickness or "the bends?" Do they, indeed, avoid it?

Breakthrough in treatment to prevent blindness Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:07 AM PST A new study shows a popular treatment for a potentially blinding eye infection is just as effective if given every six months versus annually. This randomized study on trachoma, the leading cause of infection-caused blindness in the world, could potentially treat twice the number of patients using the same amount of medication.

Crucial advances in 'brain reading' demonstrated Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:07 AM PST A new study demonstrates several crucial advances in "brain reading" or "brain decoding" using computerized machine learning methods. Researchers classified data taken from people being scanned while watching videos meant to induce nicotine cravings and detected whether people were watching and resisting cravings, indulging in them, or watching videos that were unrelated to smoking or cravings.

Some nearby young stars may be much older than previously thought Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:06 AM PST New research concludes that the stars of Upper Scorpius are twice as old as previously thought.

How pregnancy changes a woman's brain Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:06 AM PST We know a lot about the links between a pregnant mother's health, behavior, and moods and her baby's cognitive and psychological development once it is born. But how does pregnancy change a mother's brain?

Astronomers discover planets that survived their star's expansion Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:06 AM PST Astronomers have discovered two Earth-sized planets that survived their star's red-giant expansion. Researchers say that this is a snapshot of what our solar system might look like in several billion years.

Prejudice comes from a basic human need and way of thinking, new research suggests Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:06 AM PST Where does prejudice come from? Not from ideology, say the authors of a new article. Instead, prejudice stems from a deeper psychological need, associated with a particular way of thinking. People who aren't comfortable with ambiguity and want to make quick and firm decisions are also prone to making generalizations about others.

How the brain cell works: A dive into its inner network Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:05 AM PST Scientists are developing the first systematic survey of protein interactions within brain cells. The team is aiming to reconstruct genome-wide in situ protein-protein interaction networks within the neurons of a multicellular organism.

We are natural born multi-taskers Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:04 AM PST Scientists have found that we are natural-born multi-taskers. They found evidence that we can pay attention to more than one thing at a time.

Discovery of two Earth-size planets raises questions about the evolution of stars Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:03 AM PST Researchers have detected two planets of sizes comparable to Earth orbiting around an old star that has just passed the red giant stage. This planetary system is located near Lyra and Cygnus constellations at a distance of 3900 light years. This discovery may shed new light on the destiny of stellar and planetary systems.

Astronomers discover deep-fried planets: Two Earth-sized planets around dying star that has passed the red giant stage Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:03 AM PST Two Earth-sized planets have been discovered around a dying star that has passed the red giant stage. The discovery marks the first known case of planets surviving being engulfed by their parent star and may shed new light on the destiny of stellar and planetary systems, including our solar system.

How normal cells fuel tumor growth Posted: 21 Dec 2011 07:58 AM PST A new study has discovered how normal cells in tumors can fuel cancer progression. The study examines what happens when normal cells called fibroblasts in tumors lose an important tumor-suppressor gene. The findings suggest new strategies for controlling tumor growth, they provide insight into the mechanisms that control the co-evolution of cancer cells and their surrounding normal cells in tumors, and they demonstrate how this gene normally suppresses cancer development.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtains first low altitude images of Vesta Posted: 21 Dec 2011 07:52 AM PST NASA's Dawn spacecraft has sent back the first images of the giant asteroid Vesta from its low-altitude mapping orbit. The images, obtained by the framing camera, show the stippled and lumpy surface in detail never seen before, piquing the curiosity of scientists who are studying Vesta for clues about the solar system's early history.

Do our medicines boost pathogens? Posted: 21 Dec 2011 06:17 AM PST Scientists have discovered a parasite that not only had developed resistance against a common medicine, but at the same time had become better in withstanding the human immune system. With some exaggeration: Medical practice helped in developing a superbug. For it appears the battle against the drug also armed the bug better against its host.

The biology behind severe PMS Posted: 21 Dec 2011 06:17 AM PST Sensitivity to allopregnanolone, a hormone that occurs naturally in the body after ovulation and during pregnancy, changes during the course of the menstrual cycle and is different in women with severe PMS compared with women without PMS complaints.

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