ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Monday, October 17, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Monday, October 17, 2011

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New mystery on Mars' forgotten plains (October 17, 2011) -- One of the supposedly best understood and least interesting landscapes on Mars is hiding something that could rewrite the planet's history. Or not. In fact, about all that is certain is that decades of assumptions regarding the wide, flat Hesperia Planum are not holding up very well under renewed scrutiny with higher-resolution, more recent spacecraft data. ... > full story

Largest ever genetic study of liver function could point the way to new treatments (October 17, 2011) -- Researchers have identified a large number of areas in the human genetic code that are involved in regulating the way in which the liver functions, in a new study of over 61,000 people. The work identifies 42 genetic regions associated with liver function, 32 of which had not been linked to liver function before. ... > full story

Mobile electrons multiplied in quantum dot films (October 17, 2011) -- Researchers have demonstrated that several mobile electrons can be produced by the absorption of a single light particle in films of coupled quantum dots. These multiple electrons can be harvested in solar cells with increased efficiency. ... > full story

Promising new approach to treating debilitating nervous system disease (October 17, 2011) -- A groundbreaking study suggests what could become the first effective treatment for a debilitating and fatal disease of the central nervous system called SCA1. ... > full story

Oranges and mandarins are inspected using artificial vision (October 17, 2011) -- Scientists have created a machine that detects and separates rotten oranges, another that classifies mandarin segments according to their quality and another that helps citrus fruit pickers out in the field. All prototypes use computer vision to automatically inspect the fruits. ... > full story

Exercise before and during early pregnancy increases two beneficial proteins for mothers-to-be (October 17, 2011) -- Study suggests that exercise before conception and in the early stages of pregnancy may protect a mother-to-be by stimulating the expression of two proteins thought to play a role in blood vessel health. ... > full story

New technique unlocks secrets of ancient ocean (October 17, 2011) -- Earth's largest mass extinction event occurred some 252 million years ago. An estimated 90 percent of Earth's marine life was eradicated. To better understand the cause of this "mother of all mass extinctions," researchers used a new geochemical technique. The team measured uranium isotopes in ancient carbonate rocks and found that a large, rapid shift in the chemistry of the world's ancient oceans occurred around the extinction event. ... > full story

Estrogen may prevent younger menopausal women from strokes, study suggests (October 17, 2011) -- Estrogen may prevent strokes in premature or early menopausal women, researchers have found in a new study. Their findings challenge the conventional wisdom that estrogen is a risk factor for stroke at all ages. ... > full story

NASA's Dawn science team presents early science results (October 17, 2011) -- Scientists with NASA's Dawn mission are sharing with other scientists and the public their early information about the southern hemisphere of the giant asteroid Vesta. ... > full story

American Academy of Pediatrics expands ages for diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in children (October 17, 2011) -- Updated guidelines offer new information on diagnosing and treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in younger children and in adolescents. ... > full story

Reduce cyber attacks by protecting and rewarding secure networks on the Internet (October 17, 2011) -- Researchers have proposed a novel approach to network protection that could reduce the risk of cyber attack by rewarding those organizations that bolster the security on their networks to prevent the spread of malware and other problems. ... > full story

How to punish corporate wrongdoers to deter bad behavior (October 17, 2011) -- If courts were able to award appropriate punitive damages that punish wrongdoers at a level tied to a company's financial worth, then businesses big and small would be at risk of being put out of business by punitive damages unconscionable offenses and would be deterred from bad behavior in the first place, according to one expert. ... > full story

Subtly shaded map of moon reveals titanium treasure troves (October 15, 2011) -- A map of the Moon combining observations in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths shows a treasure trove of areas rich in Titanium ores. Not only is titanium a valuable element, it is key to helping scientists unravel the mysteries of the Moon's interior. ... > full story

Hidden genetic influence on cancer discovered (October 15, 2011) -- In findings with major implications for the genetics of cancer and human health, researchers have uncovered evidence of powerful new genetic networks and showed how it may work to drive cancer and normal development. ... > full story

Frustration inspires new form of graphene (October 15, 2011) -- Researchers have now developed a new form of graphene that does not stack. The new material -- inspired by a trash can full of crumpled-up papers -- is made by crumpling the graphene sheets into balls. ... > full story

Bone marrow cells migrate to tumors and can slow their growth (October 15, 2011) -- Bone marrow-derived cells participate in the growth and spread of tumors of the breast, brain, lung, and stomach. To examine the role of BMDCs, researchers developed a mouse model that could be used to track the migration of these cells while tumors formed and expanded. Their results strongly suggest that more effective cancer treatments may be developed by exploiting the mechanism by which bone marrow cells migrate to tumors and retard their proliferation. ... > full story

Psychopathic killers: Computerized text analysis uncovers the word patterns of a predator (October 15, 2011) -- As words can be the soul's window, scientists are learning to peer through it: Computerized text analysis shows that psychopathic killers make identifiable word choices -- beyond conscious control -- when talking about their crimes. This research could lead to new tools for diagnosis and treatment, and have implications law enforcement and social media. ... > full story

'Never married' men still more likely to die from cancer (October 15, 2011) -- It is known that the unmarried are in general more likely to die than their married counterparts and there is some indication that the divide is getting worse. New research looks at the changes in cancer survival over the past 40 years and show that the difference in mortality between the married and never married, especially between married and never married men, has also increased. ... > full story

Uncharted territory: Scientists sequence the first carbohydrate biopolymer (October 15, 2011) -- For the first time ever, a team of researchers has announced the sequence of a complete complex carbohydrate biopolymer. The surprising discovery provides the scientific and medical communities with an important and fundamental new view of these vital biomolecules, which play a role in everything from cell structure and development to disease pathology and blood clotting. ... > full story

Researchers block morphine's itchy side effect (October 15, 2011) -- Itching is one of the most prevalent side effects of powerful, pain-killing drugs like morphine, oxycodone and other opioids. Now in mice, researchers have shown they can control opioid-induced itching without interfering with a drug's ability to relieve pain. ... > full story

The future of airport passport control (October 15, 2011) -- Digital security specialists, major European electronics makers, and experts in biometrics worked together to make passport control at airports faster. The technology also could have broader applications on the way our identity documents are design and on the way we access public services. ... > full story

Reassurance for dementia sufferers on impact of common drugs (October 15, 2011) -- Researchers whose findings on the detrimental impact of some common medicines on elderly people were widely reported earlier in the summer have found that taking a few of these medicines does not appear to cause further cognitive impairment in those already suffering from dementia. ... > full story

One in six mobile phones in the UK is contaminated with fecal bacteria, researchers found (October 15, 2011) -- One in six mobile phones in Britain is contaminated with fecal matter, according to new research. Experts say the most likely reason for the potentially harmful bacteria festering on so many gadgets is people failing to wash their hands properly with soap after going to the toilet. ... > full story

How touch and movement contribute to the development of the brain (October 15, 2011) -- Neuroscientists have uncovered in an animal model the neuronal processes that underlay the development of sensory maps in the developing brain. ... > full story

Minority children less likely to wear a car seatbelt, putting them at greater risk of severe injury (October 15, 2011) -- Less than half of pediatric car passengers suffering injuries from motor vehicle crashes were restrained, with the lowest rates among blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, according to a new research. ... > full story

Delayed pediatric appendicitis treatment linked to complications, and even death (October 15, 2011) -- An in-hospital delay of appendicitis treatment beyond two days was linked to an increased likelihood of complications, including perforation and abscess formation; longer hospitalization; increased costs; and more rarely, death, according new research. ... > full story

How the zebra gets its stripes: A simple genetic circuit (October 14, 2011) -- Developmental processes that create stripes and other patterns are complex and difficult to untangle. To sort it out, a team of scientists has designed a simple genetic circuit that creates a striped pattern that they can control by tweaking a single gene. This genetic loop is made two linked modules that sense how crowded a group of cells has become and responds by controlling their movements. ... > full story

Breastfeeding reduces the risk of allergies, study suggests (October 14, 2011) -- Today, about one in four European children suffer from allergy, which makes this disease the non-infectious epidemic of the 21st century. Evidence suggests that lifestyle factors and nutritional patterns, such as breastfeeding, help to reduce the early symptoms of allergy. ... > full story

Polar bears ill from accumulated environmental toxins (October 14, 2011) -- Industrial chemicals are being transported from the industrialized world to the Arctic via air and sea currents. Here, the cocktail of environmental toxins is absorbed by the sea's food chains, of which the polar bear is the top predator. ... > full story

Women's heart disease tied to small blood vessels (October 14, 2011) -- After a heart attack, women's hearts are more likely to maintain their systolic function -- their ability to contract and pump blood from the chambers into the arteries. According to researchers, this suggests that heart disease manifests differently in women, affecting the microvasculature (small blood vessels) instead of the macrovasculature (major blood vessels) as it does in men. ... > full story

New study finds 400,000 farmers in southern Africa using 'fertilizer trees' to improve food security (October 14, 2011) -- On a continent battered by weather extremes, famine and record food prices, new research documents an exciting new trend in which hundreds of thousands of poor farmers in Southern Africa are now significantly boosting yields and incomes simply by using fast growing trees and shrubs to naturally fertilize their fields. ... > full story

Differing structures underlie differing brain rhythms in healthy and ill, virtual modeling reveals (October 14, 2011) -- Virtual brains modeling epilepsy and schizophrenia display less complexity among functional connections, and other differences compared to healthy brain models, researchers report. The researchers worked backward from brain rhythms -- the oscillating patterns of electrical activity in the brain recorded on electroencephalograms -- from both healthy and ill individuals. ... > full story

'Robot biologist' solves complex problem from scratch (October 14, 2011) -- Scientists have taken a major step toward developing robot biologists. They have shown that their system, the Automated Biology Explorer, can solve a complicated biology problem from scratch. ... > full story

Gender differences in blood pressure appears as early as adolescence, with girls faring worse (October 14, 2011) -- The female hormone estrogen is known to offer protection for the heart, but obesity may be taking away that edge in adolescent girls. New research finds that although obesity does not help teens of either gender, it has a greater impact on girls' blood pressure than it does on boys'. ... > full story

Researchers discover material with graphene-like properties (October 14, 2011) -- After the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to two scientists in 2010 who had studied the material graphene, this substance has received a lot of attention. Scientists have now developed and analyzed a material which possesses physical properties similar to graphene. ... > full story

MRIs could become powerful tools for monitoring cholesteral therapy (October 14, 2011) -- MRI scanning could become a powerful new tool for assessing how well cholesterol drugs are working, according to a cardiologist studying patients taking cholesterol medications. ... > full story

Redox flow batteries, a promising technology for renewable energies integration (October 14, 2011) -- Today there is a wide variety of energy storage technologies at very different stages of development. Among them, the Redox Flow Battery (RFB) is an innovative solution based on the use of liquid electrolytes stored in tanks and pumped through a reactor to produce energy. Researchers are currently working in the development of high performance RFBs. ... > full story

Minority children less likely to receive CT scans following head trauma (October 14, 2011) -- African-American and Hispanic children are less likely to receive a cranial computed tomography scan in an emergency department following minor head trauma than white children, according to new research. ... > full story

Carbon nanotube muscles generate giant twist for novel motors (October 14, 2011) -- Artificial muscles, based on carbon nanotubes yarn, that twist like the trunk of an elephant, but provide a thousand times higher rotation per length, have been developed by a team of researchers. ... > full story

Precision with stem cells a step forward for treating multiple sclerosis, other diseases (October 14, 2011) -- Scientists have improved upon previous efforts to pluck out just the right stem cells to address the brain problem at the core of multiple sclerosis and a large number of rare, fatal children's diseases. Details of how scientists isolated and directed stem cells from the human brain to become oligodendrocytes - the type of brain cell that makes myelin - were recently published. ... > full story

Tagging tumors with gold: Scientists use gold nanorods to flag brain tumors (October 14, 2011) -- When removing a brain tumor, even the slightest mistake could have serious health consequences. To help surgeons, researchers have proposed a way to harness the unique optical properties of gold nanoparticles to clearly distinguish a brain tumor from the healthy tissue that surrounds it. ... > full story

Preventing dangerous nonsense in human gene expression (October 14, 2011) -- Human genes are preferentially encoded by codons that are less likely to be mistranscribed (or "misread") into a STOP codon, according to a new study. ... > full story

Why many cells are better than one: Limited decision-making ability of individual cells is bolstered in masses (October 14, 2011) -- Researchers have quantified the number of possible decisions that an individual cell can make after receiving a cue from its environment, and surprisingly, it's only two. ... > full story

Earlier autism diagnosis could mean earlier interventions (October 14, 2011) -- Autism is normally diagnosed between the ages of 2 and 3. But new research is finding symptoms of autism spectrum disorders in babies as young as 12 months. If children could be diagnosed earlier, it might be possible to help them earlier -- and maybe even stop them from developing autism, according to experts. ... > full story

Tiny fossil fragment reveals giant-but-ugly truth: Part of biggest-ever toothed pterosaur from dinosaur era (October 14, 2011) -- New research has identified a small fossil fragment at the Natural History Museum, London as being part of a giant pterosaur -- setting a new upper limit for the size of winged and toothed animals. ... > full story

Gut bacteria may affect whether a statin drug lowers cholesterol (October 14, 2011) -- Statins can be effective at lowering cholesterol, but they have a perplexing tendency to work for some people and not others. Gut bacteria may be the reason. ... > full story

Engineers create touchscreen Braille writer (October 14, 2011) -- In a two-month summer course on high-performance computing, promising undergrads compete to create innovative applications. This summer's winner developed a touchscreen Braille writer that stands to revolutionize how the blind negotiate an unseen world by replacing devices costing up to 10 times more. ... > full story

Association between menopause, obesity and cognitive impairment (October 14, 2011) -- In a study of 300 post-menopausal women, obese participants performed better on three cognitive tests than participants of normal weight, leading researchers to speculate about the role of sex hormones and cognition. ... > full story