ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Sunday, February 12, 2012

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Sunday, February 12, 2012

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

Pitchers: Elbow position not a predictor of injury (February 11, 2012) -- Elbow position alone appeared to not affect injury rates and performance in college-level, male pitchers say researchers. ... > full story

Environment's effects on evolution of survival traits (February 11, 2012) -- Advances in studying genes mean that scientists in evolutionary developmental biology or “evo-devo” can now explain more clearly than ever before how bats got wings, the turtle got its shell and blind cave fish lost their eyes, says an evolutionary biologist. ... > full story

Hovering not hard if you're top-heavy (February 10, 2012) -- Top-heavy structures are more likely to maintain their balance while hovering in the air than are those that bear a lower center of gravity, researchers have found. Their findings are counter to common perceptions that flight stability can be achieved only through a relatively even distribution of weight—and may offer new design principles for hovering aircraft. ... > full story

The power of estrogen: Male snakes attract other males (February 10, 2012) -- A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest snake in the neighborhood -- attracting dozens of other males eager to mate. ... > full story

Cannabis use doubles chances of vehicle crash (February 10, 2012) -- Drivers who consume cannabis within three hours of driving are nearly twice as likely to cause a vehicle collision as those who are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol claims a paper published today on bmj.com. ... > full story

Sleep breathing machine shows clear benefits in children with sleep apnea, study suggests (February 10, 2012) -- Children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea had substantial improvements in attention, anxiety and quality of life after treatment with positive airway pressure (PAP) —- a nighttime therapy in which a machine delivers a stream of air through a mask into the nose. ... > full story

Electrical engineers build 'no-waste' laser (February 9, 2012) -- Researchers have built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that funnels all its photons into lasing, without any waste. ... > full story

'Dark plasmons' transmit energy (February 9, 2012) -- Microscopic channels of gold nanoparticles have the ability to transmit electromagnetic energy that starts as light and propagates via "dark plasmons," according to researchers. ... > full story

Substance P causes seizures in patients infected by pork tapeworm (February 9, 2012) -- A neuropeptide called Substance P is the cause of seizures in patients with brains infected by the pork tapeworm. ... > full story

Deconstructing a mystery: What caused Snowmaggedon? (February 9, 2012) -- Scientists are using computer models to help unravel the mystery of a record-setting snowfall in the Washington, DC area in early 2010. ... > full story

Most lethal known species of prion protein identified (February 9, 2012) -- Scientists have identified a single prion protein that causes neuronal death similar to that seen in "mad cow" disease, but is at least 10 times more lethal than larger prion species. ... > full story

Hydrogen from acidic water: Potential low cost alternative to platinum for splitting water (February 9, 2012) -- A technique for creating a new molecule that structurally and chemically replicates the active part of the molybdenite catalyst paves the way for developing catalytic materials that can serve as effective low-cost alternatives to platinum for generating hydrogen gas from water. ... > full story