ScienceDaily: Latest Science News

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• Renewable energy potential in every U.S. state, study shows
• Writing graphics software gets much easier: New programming language yields code that’s much shorter and clearer -- but also faster
• Wrecks and effects: Fewer fans watching NASCAR for the crashes
• Biologists discover female spiders produce mating plugs to prevent unwanted sex from males
• Are Americans ready to solve the weight of the nation?
• Drug combo better for common type of metastatic breast cancer, study suggests
• Teen survival expectations predict later risk-taking behavior
• Test flight over Peru ruins could revolutionize archaeological mapping
• Molecular switch identified that controls key cellular process: Gives insight into cancer
• Coffee may help some Parkinson's disease movement symptoms, research suggests
• Peptide controls blood sugar in people with congenital hyperinsulinism, pilot study suggests
• Breaking the barriers for low-cost energy storage: Battery could help transition to renewable energy sources
• Adolescents' personalities and coping habits affect social behaviors
• New computational technique relieves logjam from massive amounts of data
• Forget blizzards and hurricanes, heat waves are to die for
• Brain imaging can predict how intelligent you are: 'Global brain connectivity' explains 10 percent of variance in individual intelligence
• Slower, longer sperm outcompete faster rivals, surprising finding shows
• Recurring shoulder instability injuries likely among young athletes playing contact sports
• Unique cell type in implicated in multiple sclerosis
• Reviled substance involved in Alzheimer's can reverse paralysis in mice with multiple sclerosis
• Jailhouse phone calls reveal when domestic abusers most likely to attack
• In fly DNA, the footprint of a fly virus
• Running mechanics, not metabolism, are the key to performance for elite sprinters
• More code cracking: Three related studies help uncover the rules governing gene transcription
• Potential cancer roadblock found
• Northwest earthquake risk in U.S. looms large: 40% chance of major earthquake within 50 years
• Discovering new uses for old drugs
• Artificial butter flavoring ingredient linked to key Alzheimer's disease process
• Wrinkled surfaces could have widespread applications
• Difficult to diagnose cases of infectious endocarditis solved with SPECT/CT imaging agent
• New treatment target for deadly brain tumors
• Roots and microbes: Bringing a complex underground ecology into the lab
• Electromagnetic 'swamps' don't always bog electrons down
• Promising step forward toward muscular dystrophy treatment: Symptoms reversed in mice
• HIV-infected T cells help transport the virus throughout the body
• Earth's oceans and other ecosystems still absorbing about half the greenhouse gases emitted by people
• Getting to the root -- unearthing the plant-microbe quid pro quo
• Dramatic miniaturization of metamaterials? Reluctant electrons enable 'extraordinarily strong' negative refraction
• Tropical climate in the Antarctic: Palm trees once thrived on today’s icy coasts 52 million years ago
• Lower hybrid drift waves in Earth's magnetosphere investigated
• Americans gaining more weight than they say
• Theoretical physicists probe the Majorana mystery
• Air pollution worsening worldwide: Cut emissions further, experts urge
• Childhood defiance correlated with drug dependence
• Gene network restores cystic fibrosis protein function
• Fruit flies on methamphetamine die largely as a result of anorexia
• Molecular link between circadian clock disturbances and inflammatory diseases discovered
• Gene technology helps deceive greedy pest insects
• A blue whirlpool in the river: Tranquil galaxy home to violent events
• Auroras and thin current sheets in space
• Too cool to follow the law: Viscous materials do not follow standard laws below a sub-melting point threshold
• Energy efficiency: New drywall building material can cut buildings' energy consumption by 40%
• Strangers on a bus: Study reveals lengths commuters go to avoid each other
• Sleep affects potency of vaccines

Renewable energy potential in every U.S. state, study shows Posted: 01 Aug 2012 04:43 PM PDT A new study of renewable energy's technical potential finds that every state in the United States has the space and resource to generate clean energy.

Writing graphics software gets much easier: New programming language yields code that’s much shorter and clearer -- but also faster Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT A new programming language for image-processing algorithms yields code that's much shorter and clearer -- but also faster.

Wrecks and effects: Fewer fans watching NASCAR for the crashes Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT Many car race fans do, indeed, watch NASCAR races because they want to see car wrecks, but more of them have been tuning in to see who actually wins the race since the circuit adopted its Chase for the Cup championship series in 2004.

Biologists discover female spiders produce mating plugs to prevent unwanted sex from males Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT Scientists have discovered a new mechanism of animal mating plug production. In the giant wood spider Nephila pilipes, a highly sexually dimorphic and polygamous species, many small males compete with one other for access to a few huge females. During copulation these males are known to sever their own genitals in an attempt to plug the female, thereby gaining paternity advantage by preventing other males from mating with her.

Are Americans ready to solve the weight of the nation? Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT Public health researchers have examined how recommendations in a new report from the Institute of Medicine -- "Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention: Solving the Weight of the Nation" -- square with American's opinions about the obesity epidemic.

Drug combo better for common type of metastatic breast cancer, study suggests Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT Postmenopausal women with the most common type of metastatic breast cancer now have a new treatment option that lengthens their lives.

Teen survival expectations predict later risk-taking behavior Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:51 PM PDT Some young people's expectations that they will not live long, healthy lives may actually foreshadow such outcomes.

Test flight over Peru ruins could revolutionize archaeological mapping Posted: 01 Aug 2012 01:55 PM PDT Archaeological sites that currently take years to map could be completed in minutes with a new system that uses an unmanned aerial vehicle that is currently being tested in Peru.

Molecular switch identified that controls key cellular process: Gives insight into cancer Posted: 01 Aug 2012 01:55 PM PDT Scientists discovered a critical molecular switch that regulates autophagy. They also studied the links between autophagy and a cellular process called senescence that stops cell growth permanently.

Coffee may help some Parkinson's disease movement symptoms, research suggests Posted: 01 Aug 2012 01:53 PM PDT While drinking caffeine each day does not appear to help improve sleepiness among people with Parkinson's disease, it may have a benefit in controlling movement, according to new research.

Peptide controls blood sugar in people with congenital hyperinsulinism, pilot study suggests Posted: 01 Aug 2012 01:53 PM PDT A pilot study in adolescents and adults has found that an investigational drug shows promise as the first potential medical treatment for children with the severest type of congenital hyperinsulinism.

Breaking the barriers for low-cost energy storage: Battery could help transition to renewable energy sources Posted: 01 Aug 2012 12:48 PM PDT Scientists have developed an air-breathing battery that uses the chemical energy generated by the oxidation of iron plates that are exposed to the oxygen in the air -- a process similar to rusting.

Adolescents' personalities and coping habits affect social behaviors Posted: 01 Aug 2012 12:48 PM PDT A new study by a human development expert describes how adolescents' developing personalities and coping habits affect their behaviors toward others.

New computational technique relieves logjam from massive amounts of data Posted: 01 Aug 2012 12:48 PM PDT It's relatively easy to collect massive amounts of data on microbes. But the files are so large that it takes days to simply transmit them to other researchers and months to analyze once they are received. Researchers have now developed a new computational technique that relieves the logjam that these "big data" issues create.

Forget blizzards and hurricanes, heat waves are to die for Posted: 01 Aug 2012 12:47 PM PDT When it comes to gnarly weather, tornadoes, blizzards and hurricanes seem to get most of our attention, perhaps because their destructive power makes for imagery the media can't ignore. But for sheer killing power, heat waves do in far more people than even the most devastating hurricane.

Brain imaging can predict how intelligent you are: 'Global brain connectivity' explains 10 percent of variance in individual intelligence Posted: 01 Aug 2012 12:47 PM PDT New research suggests that as much as 10 percent of individual differences in intelligence can be explained by the strength of neural pathways connecting the left lateral prefrontal cortex to the rest of the brain.

Slower, longer sperm outcompete faster rivals, surprising finding shows Posted: 01 Aug 2012 11:37 AM PDT When it comes to sperm meeting eggs in sexual reproduction, conventional wisdom holds that the fastest swimming sperm are most likely to succeed in their quest to fertilize eggs. That wisdom was turned upside down in a new study of sperm competition in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), which found that slower and/or longer sperm outcompete their faster rivals.

Recurring shoulder instability injuries likely among young athletes playing contact sports Posted: 01 Aug 2012 11:37 AM PDT Summer is a peak season for many sports, and with that comes sport-related injuries. Among those injuries is shoulder joint dislocation.

Unique cell type in implicated in multiple sclerosis Posted: 01 Aug 2012 11:37 AM PDT Researchers have found evidence that a unique type of immune cell contributes to multiple sclerosis (MS). Their discovery helps define the effects of one of the newest drugs under investigation for treating MS -- daclizumab -- and could lead to a new class of drugs for treating MS and other autoimmune disorders.

Reviled substance involved in Alzheimer's can reverse paralysis in mice with multiple sclerosis Posted: 01 Aug 2012 11:37 AM PDT A molecule widely assailed as the chief culprit in Alzheimer's disease unexpectedly reverses paralysis and inflammation in several distinct animal models of a different disorder -- multiple sclerosis, researchers have found.

Jailhouse phone calls reveal when domestic abusers most likely to attack Posted: 01 Aug 2012 11:35 AM PDT An analysis of jailhouse phone calls between men charged with felony domestic violence and their victims allowed researchers for the first time to see exactly what triggered episodes of violent abuse.

In fly DNA, the footprint of a fly virus Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT In a curious evolutionary twist, several species of a commonly studied fruit fly appear to have incorporated genetic material from a virus into their genomes, according to new research. The discovery could enable research on whether animals hijack viral genes as an anti-viral defense.

Running mechanics, not metabolism, are the key to performance for elite sprinters Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT Contrary to traditional scientific understanding, sprint and endurance exercise differ fundamentally in the relationship between exercise mechanics, metabolism and performance, according to new research. Prevailing theory holds that the availability of metabolic energy limits the performance of sprinters and endurance runners alike. But new findings indicate that sprinting performance is limited by musculoskeletal forces and the rapidity with which those forces are impaired by fatigue.

More code cracking: Three related studies help uncover the rules governing gene transcription Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT A trio of groundbreaking publications report important methodological advances that will enable a better understanding of how gene expression is regulated, both in normal cells and in cancer cells. This knowledge could lead to the development of more effective therapeutic agents to treat cancer patients. The three studies focus on nucleosomes, a basic unit of DNA packaging, and may help to uncover the rules governing gene transcription.

Potential cancer roadblock found Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT By identifying a key protein that tells certain breast cancer cells when and how to move, researchers hope to better understand the process by which breast cancer spreads, or metastasizes.

Northwest earthquake risk in U.S. looms large: 40% chance of major earthquake within 50 years Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:27 AM PDT A comprehensive analysis of the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the Pacific Northwest coast confirms that the region has had numerous earthquakes over the past 10,000 years, and suggests that the southern Oregon coast may be most vulnerable based on recurrence frequency.

Discovering new uses for old drugs Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:26 AM PDT With the cost of putting a single new drug on the pharmacy shelves topping a staggering one billion dollars, scientists are reporting development of a way to determine if an already-approved drug might be used to treat a different disease. The technique for re-purposing existing medicines could cut drug development costs and make new medicine available to patients faster.

Artificial butter flavoring ingredient linked to key Alzheimer's disease process Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:26 AM PDT A new study raises concern about chronic exposure of workers in industry to a food flavoring ingredient used to produce the distinctive buttery flavor and aroma of microwave popcorn, margarines, snack foods, candy, baked goods, pet foods and other products. It found evidence that the ingredient, diacetyl, intensifies the damaging effects of an abnormal brain protein linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Wrinkled surfaces could have widespread applications Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:26 AM PDT Scientists have created wrinkled surfaces with precise sizes and patterns.

Difficult to diagnose cases of infectious endocarditis solved with SPECT/CT imaging agent Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:25 AM PDT When combined with standard diagnostic tests, functional imaging procedures have been shown to reduce the rate of misdiagnosed cases of infectious endocarditis.

New treatment target for deadly brain tumors Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:25 AM PDT Scientists provide new insight into why the most common, deadly kind of brain tumor in adults recurs and identify a potential target for future therapies.

Roots and microbes: Bringing a complex underground ecology into the lab Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT Beneath the surface of the earth, an influential community of microbes mingles with plant roots. In the first large-scale analysis of those communities, scientists have now cataloged and compared the hundreds of types of bacteria that associate with the roots of the model plant Arabidopsis under various conditions. The work establishes an experimental framework for examining how plants interact with a microbial community that can influence their growth and development, productivity, and impact on the environment.

Electromagnetic 'swamps' don't always bog electrons down Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT Scientists have designed a simple system to study how electrons travel through energy barriers instead of over them.

Promising step forward toward muscular dystrophy treatment: Symptoms reversed in mice Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT Scientists have reversed symptoms of myotonic muscular dystrophy in mice by eliminating a buildup of toxic RNA in muscle cells. After experimental antisense compounds were administered to mice twice a week for four weeks, symptoms of the disease were reduced for up to one year -- a significant portion of a mouse's lifespan. Investigators say that the work is an encouraging step forward against one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy.

HIV-infected T cells help transport the virus throughout the body Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT A new study has discovered one more way the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) exploits the immune system. Not only does HIV infect and destroy CD4-positive helper T cells -- which normally direct and support the infection-fighting activities of other immune cells -- the virus also appears to use those cells to travel through the body and infect other CD4 T cells.

Earth's oceans and other ecosystems still absorbing about half the greenhouse gases emitted by people Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT Earth's oceans, forests and other ecosystems continue to soak up about half the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by human activities, even as those emissions have increased, according to a new study. The scientists analyzed 50 years of global carbon dioxide measurements and found that the processes by which the planet's oceans and ecosystems absorb the greenhouse gas are not yet at capacity.

Getting to the root -- unearthing the plant-microbe quid pro quo Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT The microbial community or microbiome that inhabits the niches immediately surrounding and inside a plant's root facilitates the shuttling of nutrients and information into and out of the roots within the soil matrix. A new report sheds light on the mechanisms driving the subterranean formation of this "plant microbiome" and how plants can influence the presence of the microbiota in the rhizosphere and vice versa.

Dramatic miniaturization of metamaterials? Reluctant electrons enable 'extraordinarily strong' negative refraction Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:23 AM PDT A new technique using kinetic inductance shows promise for dramatic miniaturization of metamaterials.

Tropical climate in the Antarctic: Palm trees once thrived on today’s icy coasts 52 million years ago Posted: 01 Aug 2012 10:23 AM PDT Given the predicted rise in global temperatures in the coming decades, climate scientists are particularly interested in warm periods that occurred in the geological past. Knowledge of past episodes of global warmth can be used to better understand the relationship between climate change, variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide and the reaction of Earth's biosphere. Scientists have discovered an intense warming phase around 52 million years ago in drill cores obtained from the seafloor near Antarctica — a region that is especially important in climate research.

Lower hybrid drift waves in Earth's magnetosphere investigated Posted: 01 Aug 2012 08:44 AM PDT Scientists have detected and characterized lower hybrid drift waves, a special kind of plasma waves that develop in thin boundaries both in space and in the laboratory. The measurement of fundamental properties of these waves was possible when two of the spacecraft were flying very close to one another in the tail of Earth's magnetosphere. With wavelengths of about 60 km, these waves appear to play an important role in the dynamics of electrons and in the transfer of energy between different layers of plasma in the magnetosphere.

Americans gaining more weight than they say Posted: 01 Aug 2012 08:35 AM PDT Despite the increasing awareness of the problem of obesity in the United States, most Americans don't know whether they are gaining or losing weight, according to new research. Obesity increased in the US between 2008 and 2009, but in response to the questions about year-to-year changes in weight that were included in the most widespread public health survey, on average, people said that they lost weight.

Theoretical physicists probe the Majorana mystery Posted: 01 Aug 2012 08:35 AM PDT Physicists close in on a subatomic particle that could enable the next generation of supercomputers and illuminate the inscrutability of cosmic dark matter.

Air pollution worsening worldwide: Cut emissions further, experts urge Posted: 01 Aug 2012 08:26 AM PDT Most of the world's population will be subject to degraded air quality in 2050 if human-made emissions continue as usual. In this 'business-as-usual' scenario, the average world citizen 40 years from now will experience similar air pollution to that of today's average East Asian citizen. Air pollution is a major health risk that may worsen with increasing industrial activity. Currently, urban outdoor air pollution causes 1.3 million estimated deaths per year worldwide.

Childhood defiance correlated with drug dependence Posted: 01 Aug 2012 08:26 AM PDT Childhood defiance is correlated with drug dependence whereas inattention suggests a susceptibility to smoking.

Gene network restores cystic fibrosis protein function Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT Researchers have discovered a genetic process that can restore function to a defective protein, which is the most common cause of cystic fibrosis.

Fruit flies on methamphetamine die largely as a result of anorexia Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT A new study finds that, like humans, fruit flies exposed to methamphetamine drastically reduce their food intake and increase their physical activity. The study, which tracked metabolic and behavioral changes in fruit flies on meth, indicates that starvation is a primary driver of methamphetamine-related death in the insects.

Molecular link between circadian clock disturbances and inflammatory diseases discovered Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT Scientists have known for some time that throwing off the body's circadian rhythm can negatively affect body chemistry. In fact, workers whose sleep-wake cycles are disrupted by night shifts are more susceptible to chronic inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cancer.

Gene technology helps deceive greedy pest insects Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:38 AM PDT Worldwide cabbage farmers have vast problems with the diamond-back moth. It lays its eggs on the cabbage plants and the voracious appetite of the larvae ruins the yield. However scientists have developed a method to deceive the greedy insects.

A blue whirlpool in the river: Tranquil galaxy home to violent events Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:37 AM PDT A new image taken with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope shows the galaxy NGC 1187. This impressive spiral lies about 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus (The River). NGC 1187 has hosted two supernova explosions during the last thirty years, the latest one in 2007. This picture of the galaxy is the most detailed ever taken.

Auroras and thin current sheets in space Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:37 AM PDT Around Earth, the processes accelerating electrons which hit the atmosphere and cause beautiful auroras are often initiated in thin current sheets. Similar processes, auroras and thin current sheets are found around other planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. Plasma regions close to the hot solar surface are separated by thin current sheets, and similar boundaries should also be common around distant stars.

Too cool to follow the law: Viscous materials do not follow standard laws below a sub-melting point threshold Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:36 AM PDT So-called glass-formers are a class of highly viscous liquid materials that have the consistency of honey and turn into brittle glass once cooled to sufficiently low temperatures. Scientists have elucidated the behavior of these materials as they are on the verge of turning into glass. Although scientists do not yet thoroughly understand their behavior when approaching the glassy state, this new study, which relies on an additional type of dynamic measurements, clearly shows that they do not behave like more simple fluids, referred to as "activated" fluids.

Energy efficiency: New drywall building material can cut buildings' energy consumption by 40% Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:36 AM PDT Researchers have developed gypsum boards able to store thermal energy that can reduce up to 40% of energy consumption of a building. The boards, that are combined with passive strategies (sunlight, natural airing), can reduce energy consumption in building up to 40% what contributes to mitigate the problem of energy crisis.

Strangers on a bus: Study reveals lengths commuters go to avoid each other Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:36 AM PDT You're on the bus, and one of the only free seats is next to you. How, and why, do you stop another passenger sitting there? New research reveals the tactics commuters use to avoid each other, a practice the article describes as 'nonsocial transient behavior.'

Sleep affects potency of vaccines Posted: 01 Aug 2012 06:34 AM PDT As moms have always known, a good night's sleep is crucial to good health -- and now a new study shows that poor sleep can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

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