ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Saturday, March 3, 2012

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Saturday, March 3, 2012

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

Oxygen detected in atmosphere of Saturn's moon Dione: Discovery could mean ingredients for life are abundant on icy space bodies (March 2, 2012) -- An international research team has discovered molecular oxygen ions (O2+) in the upper-most atmosphere of Dione, one of the 62 known moons orbiting the ringed planet. The research was made possible via instruments aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft. ... > full story

New computers respond to students' emotions, boredom (March 2, 2012) -- Emotion-sensing computer software that models and responds to students' cognitive and emotional states -- including frustration and boredom -- has now been developed. ... > full story

World's best measurement of W boson mass points to Higgs mass and tests Standard Model (March 2, 2012) -- The latest measurement of the mass of the W boson from the Tevatron experiments. The new combined result is twice as precise as the previous world average, and places limits on the mass of the Higgs consistent with the limits from direct searches at the LHC and Tevatron. ... > full story

Lifestyle choices made in your 20s can impact your heart health in your 40s (March 2, 2012) -- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle from young adulthood into your 40s is strongly associated with low cardiovascular disease risk in middle age, according to a new study. ... > full story

Holding a mirror to brain changes in autism (March 2, 2012) -- Impaired social function is a cardinal symptom of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).  One of the brain circuits that enable us to relate to other people is the “mirror neuron” system. This brain circuit is activated when we watch other people, and allows our brains to represent the actions of others, influencing our ability to learn new tasks and to understand the intentions and experiences of other people. This mirror neuron system is impaired in individuals with ASD and better understanding the neurobiology of this system could help in the development of new treatments. ... > full story

Cocoa may enhance skeletal muscle function (March 2, 2012) -- A small clinical trial found that patients with advanced heart failure and type 2 diabetes showed improved mitochondrial structure after three months of treatment with epicatechin-enriched cocoa. Epicatechin is a flavonoid found in dark chocolate. ... > full story

Effects of environmental toxicants reach down through generations (March 2, 2012) -- Scientists have now demonstrated that a variety of environmental toxicants can have negative effects on not just an exposed animal but the next three generations of its offspring. The animal's DNA sequence remains unchanged, but the compounds change the way genes turn on and off -- the epigenetic effect, according to molecular biologists. The researchers saw females reaching puberty earlier, increased rates in the decay and death of sperm cells and lower numbers of ovarian follicles that later become eggs. ... > full story

Solved: Mystery of the nanoscale crop circles (March 2, 2012) -- A useful alloy of gold and silicon, called a eutectic, melts at a far lower temperature than either of its components. Until now, however, its odd behavior on the nanoscale has confounded researchers. By analyzing peculiar "nanoscale crop circles" formed from ultra-thin layers of gold on silicon, scientists have discovered the eutectic alloy's unique properties, including its special promise for engineering and processing nanoscale materials. ... > full story

Tortoise and the hare: New drug stops rushing cancer cells, slow and steady healthy cells unharmed (March 2, 2012) -- The American Cancer Society estimates that 44,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer will be diagnosed this year and that 37,000 people will die from the disease. These are not strong odds. A new drug, rigosertib, allows pancreatic cancer cells to rush through replication -- and then stops them cold, killing them in in the middle of a step called M phase. Healthy cells that don't rush are unharmed. ... > full story

R-loops break down gene silencing (March 2, 2012) -- Researchers have figured out how the human body keeps essential genes switched "on" and silences the vast stretches of genetic repeats and "junk" DNA. ... > full story

Protecting living fossil trees (March 2, 2012) -- Scientists are working to protect living fossil trees in Fiji from the impact of climate change with cutting-edge DNA sequencing technology. ... > full story

Nearby chimpanzee populations show much greater genetic diversity than distant human populations (March 2, 2012) -- Chimpanzee populations living in relatively close proximity are substantially more different genetically than humans living on different continents, according to a new study. The study suggests that genomics can provide a valuable new tool for use in chimpanzee conservation, with the potential to identify the population of origin of an individual chimpanzee or the provenance of a sample of bush meat. ... > full story