ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Monday, December 12, 2011

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Monday, December 12, 2011

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More shrubbery in a warming world (December 12, 2011) -- Scientists have used satellite data to confirm that more than 20 years of warming temperatures in northern Quebec, Canada, have resulted in an increase in the amount and extent of shrubs and grasses. ... > full story

Beating superbugs with a high-tech cleanser (December 12, 2011) -- Scientists have developed an efficient, cost-effective liquid solution that fights antibiotic-resistant bacteria on hospital surfaces and keeps patients safe from life-threatening infections. It's easy to prepare, easy to apply, non-toxic -- and it will cost just a few dollars per quart. ... > full story

Nanowrinkles, nanofolds yield strange hidden channels (December 12, 2011) -- Wrinkles and folds, common in nature, do something unusual at the nanoscale. Researchers have discovered that wrinkles on super-thin films have hidden long waves. The team also found that folds in the film produce nanochannels, like thousands of tiny subsurface pipes. The research could lead to advances in medicine, electronics and energy. ... > full story

Study may help physicians determine how patients will respond to immunomodulator therapy for multiple myeloma (December 12, 2011) -- Research on the same protein that was a primary mediator of the birth defects caused by thalidomide now holds hope in the battle against multiple myeloma, new research suggests. ... > full story

New solar-powered classroom brings science to schools in developing countries (December 12, 2011) -- An innovative project is using solar generators to provide IT resources and 'hands-on' science for students in developing countries. ... > full story

New approach to management of overeating in children (December 12, 2011) -- Overeating, whether in children or adults, often takes place even in the absence of hunger, resulting in weight gain and obesity. Current methods to treat such overeating in youth focus on therapies that restrict what kids may eat, requiring them to track their food intake and engage in intensive exercise. Psychiatrists are now developing new ways to treat overeating in children and adults. ... > full story

Multi-purpose photonic chip paves the way to programmable quantum processors (December 12, 2011) -- A multi-purpose optical chip which generates, manipulates and measures entanglement and mixture -- two quantum phenomena which are essential driving forces for tomorrow's quantum computers -- has now been developed. This work represents an important step forward in the race to develop a quantum computer. ... > full story

Ready-to-bake cookie dough not ready-to-eat, study of E. coli outbreak finds (December 12, 2011) -- The investigation of a 2009 multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, an important cause of bacterial gastrointestinal illness, led to a new culprit: ready-to-bake commercial prepackaged cookie dough. ... > full story

Inbreeding in bed bugs: One key to massive increases in infestations (December 12, 2011) -- New research on the bed bug's ability to withstand the genetic bottleneck of inbreeding provides new clues to explain the rapidly growing problem of bed bugs across the United States and globally. After mostly disappearing in the US in the 1950s, the common bed bug has reappeared with a vengeance over the past decade. ... > full story

Breast cancer patients face increasing number of imaging visits before surgery (December 12, 2011) -- Breast cancer patients frequently undergo imaging like mammograms or ultrasounds between their first breast cancer-related doctor visit and surgery to remove the tumor. Evaluations of these scans help physicians understand a person's disease and determine the best course of action. In recent years, however, imaging has increased in dramatic and significant ways, say researchers. More patients have repeat visits for imaging than they did 20 years ago. ... > full story

A hidden order unraveled: Microscopic views on quantum fluctuations (December 12, 2011) -- Fluctuations are fundamental to many physical phenomena in our everyday lives. Using a high resolution microscope, scientists have now been able to image quantum-correlated particle-hole pairs in a gas of ultracold atoms. This has allowed the physicists to unravel a hidden order in the crystal. ... > full story

Chronic pain in children and adolescents becoming more common (December 12, 2011) -- Children who suffer from persistent or recurring chronic pain may miss school, withdraw from social activities, and are at risk of developing internalizing symptoms such as anxiety, in response to their pain. In the first comprehensive review of chronic pain in children and adolescents in 20 years, a group of researchers found that more children now are suffering from chronic pain and that girls suffer more frequently from chronic pain than boys. ... > full story

Savanna chimps exhibit human-like sharing behavior, anthropologists say (December 11, 2011) -- Anthropologists report that chimpanzees in Senegal frequently share food and hunting tools with other chimps. This is thought to be the first study to document non-meat sharing behavior among chimpanzees. ... > full story

Anti-stress peptide may block alcohol dependence (December 11, 2011) -- New research underlines the power of an endogenous anti-stress peptide in the brain to prevent and even reverse some of the cellular effects of acute alcohol and alcohol dependence in animal models. The work could lead to the development of novel drugs to treat alcoholism. ... > full story

Synthetic cricket pricks up its 'ears' (December 11, 2011) -- The tiny hairs on the abdomen of a cricket have inspired researchers to make a new type of sensor which is ultra sensitive to air flows. These synthetic cricket hairs can now also be tuned very precisely for a certain range of frequencies: the hairs are 10 times more sensitive in this range. ... > full story

Smoking is strongly associated with squamous cell carcinoma among women (December 11, 2011) -- Women who have non-melanoma skin cancers are more likely to have smoked cigarettes compared to women without skin cancer, said researchers. ... > full story

Slow road to stability for emulsions (December 11, 2011) -- Physical equilibrium, assumed to be almost instant, may take months or years for particles in oil-water mixtures. By studying the behavior of tiny particles at an interface between oil and water, researchers have discovered that stabilized emulsions may take longer to reach equilibrium than previously thought. ... > full story

National pride brings happiness, but what you're proud of matters (December 11, 2011) -- Research shows that feeling good about your country also makes you feel good about your own life -- and many people take that as good news. But a political scientist and a sociologist suspected that the positive findings about nationalism weren't telling the whole story. ... > full story

Underground heat: Landsat satellites track Yellowstone's geothermal activity (December 10, 2011) -- Yellowstone National Park sits on top of a vast, ancient, and still active volcano. Heat pours off its underground magma chamber, and is the fuel for Yellowstone's famous features -- more than 10,000 hot springs, mud pots, terraces and geysers, including Old Faithful. But expected development by energy companies right outside Yellowstone's borders have some fearing that Old Faithful could be cheated out of its energy. ... > full story

Pig-induced pluripotent stem cells may be safer than previously thought (December 10, 2011) -- Pig stem cell research conducted by two animal scientists reveals a better way to determine the safety of future stem cell therapies than rodent-based models. ... > full story

Carving at the nanoscale (December 10, 2011) -- Researchers have successfully demonstrated a new method for producing a wide variety of complex hollow nanoparticles. The work applies well known processes of corrosion in a novel manner to produce highly complex cage-like nanoscale structures with potential applications in fields from medicine to industrial processing. ... > full story

Lipid-modifying enzyme: New target for pan-viral therapeutics (December 10, 2011) -- Three different disease-causing viruses -- poliovirus, coxsackievirus, and hepatitis C -- rely on their unwilling host for the membrane platforms enriched in a specific lipid, phosphatidylinositol 4 phosphate (PI4P) on which they can replicate, researchers report. ... > full story

Computerized method for matching images in photos, paintings, sketches created (December 10, 2011) -- Computers can mimic the human ability to find visually similar images, such as photographs of a fountain in summer and in winter, or a photograph and a painting of the same cathedral, by using a technique that analyzes the uniqueness of images, say researchers. The research team found that their surprisingly simple technique performed well on a number of visual tasks that normally stump computers, including matching sketches of automobiles with photographs of cars. ... > full story

Pharmacists crucial in plan for terrorist chemical weapons (December 10, 2011) -- Terrorist attacks with chemical weapons are a real possibility, according to a new study. Thanks to their extensive knowledge of toxic agents, and how to treat those who have been exposed, pharmacists are an invaluable resource in the event of an actual or potential chemical weapons attack. ... > full story

2010 spike in Greenland ice loss lifted bedrock, GPS reveals (December 9, 2011) -- An unusually hot melting season in 2010 accelerated ice loss in southern Greenland by 100 billion tons – and large portions of the island's bedrock rose an additional quarter of an inch in response. That's the finding from a network of nearly 50 GPS stations planted along the Greenland coast to measure the bedrock's natural response to the ever-diminishing weight of ice above it. ... > full story

New disinfection technique could revolutionize hospital room cleaning (December 9, 2011) -- A Queen's University infectious disease expert has collaborated in the development of a disinfection system that may change the way hospital rooms all over the world are cleaned as well as stop bed bug outbreaks in hotels and apartments. ... > full story

How Salmonella forms evil twins to evade the body's defenses (December 9, 2011) -- To swim or not? The same biological control that determines which capability genetically identical Salmonella will have impacts the virulence of the food pathogen. Swimmers do better in the gut, but non-motile Salmonella avoid triggering killer cells. An unusual protein turns on or off the manufacture of swimming apparatus in each new bacterium. ... > full story

Researchers develop a way to monitor engineered blood vessels as they grow in patients (December 9, 2011) -- New research describes how by using magnetic resonance imaging and nanoparticle technology, scientists can monitor the growth of laboratory-engineered blood vessels after implantation in patients. This is an important step toward ensuring that blood vessels, and tissues engineered from a patient's own biological material, are taking hold and working as expected. This is the first method for monitoring the growth and progress of engineered tissues once they are implanted. ... > full story

Microscopic worms could hold the key to living life on Mars (December 9, 2011) -- The astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes that if humanity is to survive we will have up sticks and colonize space. But is the human body up to the challenge? Scientists believe that Caenorhabditis elegans, a microscopic worm which has biologically similarities to human beings, could help us understand how humans might cope with long-duration space exploration. ... > full story

Oxytocin helps people feel more extroverted: Study finds people more sociable, open, trusting after taking oxytocin (December 9, 2011) -- New research has found an intranasal form of oxytocin can improve self-perception and make introverted individuals feel like socialites. ... > full story

Helping your fellow rat: Rodents show empathy-driven behavior, evidence suggests (December 9, 2011) -- The first evidence of empathy-driven helping behavior in rodents has been observed in laboratory rats that repeatedly free companions from a restraint, according to a new study by University of Chicago neuroscientists. The observation, published today in Science, places the origin of pro-social helping behavior earlier in the evolutionary tree than previously thought. ... > full story

Research could help people with declining sense of smell (December 9, 2011) -- Cells in the nose – smell sensors, primarily – are constantly replaced as old ones die off. Olfactory stem cells are the source for these new cells, but how do they determine when to form mature cells? Neuroscientists have now found a genetic trigger – a transcription factor – that acts as a brake on differentiation. Removing it makes stem cells change into mature olfactory cells at the expense of self-renewal. ... > full story

Extraordinary long gaseous tails in two groups of galaxies (December 9, 2011) -- An international group of astronomers has discovered extraordinary long one-sided gaseous tails in two groups of galaxies that are amongst the longest structures ever observed in such environments. The tails emanate from CGCG 097-026 and FGC1287, two spiral galaxies in small groups in the outskirts of the galaxy cluster known as Abell 1367 in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 300 million light years. The new work could lead to a major shift in our understanding of galaxy evolution. ... > full story

Aging human bodies and aging human oocytes run on different clocks (December 9, 2011) -- Reproductive and somatic aging use different molecular mechanisms that show little overlap between the types of genes required to keep oocytes healthy and the genes that generally extend life span, according to new research. ... > full story

Catching terrorists: Backpacks, not the bombs inside, key to finding DNA (December 9, 2011) -- Catching terrorists who detonate bombs may be easier by testing the containers that hide the bombs rather than the actual explosives, according to pioneering research. ... > full story

Humility key to effective leadership (December 9, 2011) -- Humble leaders are more effective and better liked, according to a new study. ... > full story

Decisions, decisions: House-hunting honey bees work like complex brains (December 9, 2011) -- Researchers have found a signal, overlooked until now, that plays a role when honey bees split off from their mother colony and go scouting for a new home. Called the "stop signal," it is a very short buzz delivered by a scout bee while butting her head against a dancing honey bee, and is similar to signals that occur between neurons in the brains of monkeys making decisions. ... > full story

Premature babies harbor fewer, but more dangerous microbe types (December 9, 2011) -- One of the most comprehensive studies to date of the microbes that are found in extremely low-birthweight infants found that hard-to-treat Candida fungus is often present, as well as some harmful bacteria and parasites. ... > full story

Atoms dressed with light show new interactions, could reveal way to observe enigmatic particle (December 9, 2011) -- Physicists have found a way to manipulate atoms' internal states with lasers that dramatically influences their interactions in specific ways. Such light-tweaked atoms can be used as proxies to study important phenomena that would be difficult or impossible to study in other contexts. ... > full story

New fluorescent imaging sorts microbiome in human mouth (December 9, 2011) -- New fluorescent labeling technology that distinguishes in a single image the population size and spatial distribution of 15 different taxa has uncovered new taxon pairings that indicate unsuspected cooperation -- and standoffishness -- between members of the microbe biofilm that covers teeth. ... > full story

For Midwesterners, more boxcars mean cleaner air (December 9, 2011) -- Shifting a fraction of truck-borne freight onto trains would have an outsized impact on air quality in the Midwest, according to researchers. ... > full story

If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective (December 9, 2011) -- A "sin tax" applied to sweetened goods on store shelves is not the most efficient, effective method of lowering caloric intake from sweet food and would be more disruptive to consumers than necessary, according to new research. ... > full story

Rebuilding the brain's circuitry (December 9, 2011) -- Scientists have rebuilt genetically diseased circuitry in a section of the mouse hypothalamus, an area controlling obesity and energy balance, demonstrating that complex and intricately wired circuitry of the brain long considered incapable of cellular repair can be rewired with the right type of neuronal "replacement parts." ... > full story

Breakthrough in regulating fat metabolism (December 9, 2011) -- Scientists have made an important discovery about the mechanism controlling the body's 'fat switch', shedding new light on our understanding of how proteins regulate appetite control and insulin secretion. ... > full story

NMR used to determine whether gold nanoparticles exhibit 'handedness' (December 9, 2011) -- Scientists have successfully used NMR to analyze the structure of infinitesimal gold nanoparticles, which could advance the development and use of the tiny particles in drug development. Their approach offers a significant advantage over routine methods for analyzing gold nanoparticles because it can determine whether the nanoparticles exist in a both right-handed and left-handed configuration, a phenomenon called chirality. ... > full story

Cellular automaton model predicts how hair follicle stem cells regenerate (December 9, 2011) -- Your hair -- or lack of hair -- is the result of a lifelong tug-of-war between activators that wake up, and inhibitors that calm, stem cells in every hair follicle on your body. ... > full story

Law enforcement vital for great ape survival: Greatest decrease in African great ape populations in areas with no protection from poaching (December 9, 2011) -- A recent study shows that, over the last two decades, areas with the greatest decrease in African great ape populations are those with no active protection from poaching by forest guards. ... > full story

Gene regulatory protein is reduced in bipolar disorder (December 9, 2011) -- A new study provides evidence that changes in gene regulation may contribute to the development of bipolar disorder. Researchers found low levels of a transcription factor in the brain's prefrontal cortex and cerebellum in postmortem samples from patients with bipolar disorder, suggesting a new target for drug therapy. ... > full story