ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Sunday, July 10, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Sunday, July 10, 2011

Welcome to another edition of ScienceDaily's email newsletter. You can change your subscription options or unsubscribe at any time.

Sex -- as we know it -- works thanks to ever-evolving host-parasite relationships, biologists find (July 9, 2011) -- Biologists have found that, although sexual reproduction between two individuals is costly from an evolutionary perspective, it is favored over self-fertilization in the presence of coevolving parasites. Sex allows parents to produce offspring that are more resistant to the parasites, while self-fertilization dooms populations to extinction at the hands of their biological enemies. ... > full story

Scientists discover how best to excite brain cells (July 9, 2011) -- Oh, the challenges of being a neuron, responsible for essential things like muscle contraction, gland secretion and sensitivity to touch, sound and light, yet constantly bombarded with signals from here, there and everywhere. How on Earth are busy nerve cells supposed to pick out and respond to relevant signals amidst all that information overload? Somehow neurons do manage to accomplish the daunting task, and they do it with more finesse than anyone ever realized. ... > full story

Prototype 'optics table on a chip' places microwave photon in two colors at once (July 9, 2011) -- Researchers have created a tunable superconducting circuit on a chip that can place a single microwave photon in two frequencies, or colors, at the same time. ... > full story

First whole-genome lung cancer study: Review of lung tumor from a patient who never smoked (July 9, 2011) -- A first-of-its-kind study of a patient with lung cancer who never smoked is shedding new light on the deadly disease. Researchers for the first time sequenced the entire DNA and RNA of a patient with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung. ... > full story

Chesapeake Bay pesticides: Some diminish, some persist (July 9, 2011) -- Scientists are identifying factors that influence pesticide levels in the Chesapeake Bay airshed, including traces of "legacy" pesticides that still linger even though they are no longer being used. ... > full story

How visual cues help us understand bodily motion (July 9, 2011) -- The human visual system is tuned towards perceiving other people -- who they are, what they are doing, and what they intend to do. This process is called biological motion perception, and humans are so good at it that even a few dots on a screen representing the major joints of a body are enough to retrieve all the information we need—as long as they move. But what role does motion play in that process? Does the visual system use it only to connect the dots to create a coherent, or "global," structure? Researchers investigated this question in a new study. ... > full story

A change of heart: Researchers reprogram brain cells to become heart cells (July 9, 2011) -- Researchers are the first to demonstrate the direct conversion of a non-heart cell type into a heart cell by RNA transfer. ... > full story

Gene study offers clues on memory puzzle (July 9, 2011) -- Scientists have shed light on why it is easier to learn about things related to what we already know than it is to learn about unfamiliar things, according to a new study. ... > full story

Increased protection urgently needed for tunas, experts urge (July 9, 2011) -- For the first time, all species of scombrids (tunas, bonitos, mackerels and Spanish mackerels) and billfishes (swordfish and marlins) have been assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Of the 61 known species, seven are classified in a threatened category, being at serious risk of extinction. Four species are listed as Near Threatened and nearly two-thirds have been placed in the Least Concern category. ... > full story

Targeted agent addition to herceptin has positive effect on metastatic HER-2 breast cancer, study finds (July 9, 2011) -- Adding Afinitor to Herceptin, the main treatment for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, helps some women with disease that has been resistant to previous Herceptin-based therapies, according to a new study. ... > full story

Viruses bathe in rivers and at the beach, too, European study finds (July 9, 2011) -- European researchers have found viruses in nearly 40% of more than 1,400 bathing water samples gathered from coastal and inland areas in nine countries, including Spain. The concentrations found are low, but the scientists are calling for these microorganisms to be monitored in recreational waters, above all at times when their populations skyrocket, as is the case after heavy rains. ... > full story

Sexual orientation and gender conforming traits in women are genetic, study finds (July 9, 2011) -- Sexual orientation and 'gender conformity' in women are both genetic traits, according to a new study. Researchers report that a shared set of genes and shared set of random environmental factors are partially responsible both for gender nonconformity and female sexual orientation. ... > full story