ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Sunday, May 15, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Sunday, May 15, 2011

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Sense of smell: Single giant interneuron in locusts controls activity in 50,000 neurons, enabling sparse codes for odours (May 14, 2011) -- The brain is a coding machine: it translates physical inputs from the world into visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile perceptions via the mysterious language of its nerve cells and the networks which they form. Neural codes could in principle take many forms, but in regions forming bottlenecks for information flow (e.g., the optic nerve) or in areas important for memory, sparse codes are highly desirable. Scientists have now discovered a single neuron in the brain of locusts that enables the adaptive regulation of sparseness in olfactory codes. ... > full story

Two defective proteins conspire to impair nerve cell's 'powerhouse' in Alzheimer's disease (May 14, 2011) -- Two proteins that are abnormally modified in the brains of patients with Alzheimer disease collude, resulting in ill effects on the crucial energy centers of brain cells, according to new findings. ... > full story

New algorithm offers ability to influence systems such as living cells or social networks (May 14, 2011) -- A new computational model can analyze any type of complex network -- biological, social or electronic -- and reveal the critical points that can be used to control the entire system. Potential applications of this work include reprogramming adult cells and identifying new drug targets. ... > full story

Protein responsible for the detection of extreme heat and pain discovered (May 14, 2011) -- The protein responsible for the detection of extreme heat and pain resulting from infections has been identified. The protein is a promising target for the development of new analgesic medications. ... > full story

Eucalyptus tree genome deciphered: Key to new possibilities for renewable bioproducts (May 14, 2011) -- A team of international researchers has completed the genome sequence for the forest tree species Eucalyptus grandis. The completed genome sequence, which unlocks new possibilities for biofuels and forestry, is available on the Internet. ... > full story

Teens use peers as gauge in search for autonomy, and consistently assume others have more freedoms than they do (May 14, 2011) -- Two new studies find that teens' perceptions of peer freedom predicted their own desired levels of autonomy, and that teens consistently overestimated the actual levels of their peers' autonomy, assuming that others had more freedoms than they did. The first study looked at 500 youths in 6th through 9th grades and in 12th grade; the second followed up on the 6th and 7th graders a year later, when they were in 7th and 8th grades. ... > full story

New calculations on blackbody energy set the stage for clocks with unprecedented accuracy (May 14, 2011) -- A team of physicists from the United States and Russia has developed a means for computing, with unprecedented accuracy, a tiny, temperature-dependent source of error in atomic clocks. Although small, the correction could represent a big step towards atomic timekeepers' longstanding goal of a clock with a precision equivalent to one second of error every 32 billion years, longer than the age of the universe. ... > full story

New pathway affecting lifespan identified: Discovery advances study of diet and longevity (May 14, 2011) -- A research team has identified a new role for a biological pathway that not only signals the body's metabolic response to nutritional changes, but also affects lifespan. ... > full story

Massive tornado onslaught raises questions about building practices, code enforcement (May 14, 2011) -- There is no practical, economic way to build structures that could stand up to the savagery of EF5 tornadoes like those that ripped through the South in late April, experts say, but damage from lesser storms could be reduced by better building practices and better enforcement of existing codes. ... > full story

Scientists design new anti-flu virus proteins using computational methods (May 14, 2011) -- Scientists have demonstrated the use of computational methods to design new antiviral proteins not found in nature, but capable of targeting specific surfaces of flu virus molecules. Such designer proteins may have diagnostic and therapeutic potential in identifying and fighting viral infections. The researchers created a protein that disabled the part of the 1918 pandemic flu virus involved in invading respiratory tract cells. It did so by preventing segment from reconfiguring. This same protein also disabled a similar section of an avian flu virus. ... > full story

Satellite images display extreme Mississippi River flooding from space (May 14, 2011) -- Recent Landsat satellite data captured by the USGS and NASA on May 10 shows the major flooding of the Mississippi River around Memphis, Tenn., and along the state borders of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Arkansas as seen from 438 miles above the Earth. ... > full story

Increase in Internet access parallels growth in prescription drug abuse (May 14, 2011) -- Increasing access to rogue online pharmacies that dispense medications without a doctor's prescription may be an important factor behind the rapid increase in the abuse of prescription drugs. U.S. states with the greatest expansion in high-speed Internet access from 2000 to 2007 also had the largest increase in admissions for treatment of prescription drug abuse. ... > full story