ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Thursday, March 29, 2012

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Thursday, March 29, 2012

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Milky Way image reveals detail of a billion stars (March 28, 2012) -- More than one billion stars in the Milky Way can be seen together in detail for the first time in a new image. Large structures of the Milky Way galaxy, such as gas and dust clouds where stars have formed and died, can be seen in the image. ... > full story

Key mechanism involved in Type 2 diabetes identified (March 28, 2012) -- Scientists have discovered a key protein that regulates insulin resistance -- the diminished ability of cells to respond to the action of insulin and which sets the stage for the development of the most common form of diabetes. This breakthrough points to a new way to potentially treat or forestall Type 2 diabetes, a rapidly growing global health problem. ... > full story

Health impact, interplay of diet soft drinks and overall diet unravelled (March 28, 2012) -- Are diet sodas good or bad for you? The jury is still out, but a new study sheds light on the impact that zero-calorie beverages may have on health, especially in the context of a person's overall dietary habits. ... > full story

With you in the room, bacteria counts spike -- by about 37 million bacteria per hour (March 28, 2012) -- A person's mere presence in a room can add 37 million bacteria to the air every hour -- material largely left behind by previous occupants and stirred up from the floor -- according to new research. ... > full story

Meditation improves emotional behaviors in teachers (March 28, 2012) -- Schoolteachers who underwent a short but intensive program of meditation were less depressed, anxious or stressed -- and more compassionate and aware of others' feelings. The novel project blended ancient meditation practices with the most current scientific methods for regulating emotions. ... > full story

New layer of genetic information helps determine how fast proteins are produced (March 28, 2012) -- A hidden and never before recognized layer of information in the genetic code has been uncovered by a team of scientists, thanks to a new technique called ribosome profiling, which enables the measurement of gene activity inside living cells. ... > full story

Ripping electrons from their cores: Physicists mix two lasers to create light at many frequencies (March 28, 2012) -- Physicists have seen the light, and it comes in many different colors. By aiming high- and low-frequency laser beams at a semiconductor, the researchers caused electrons to be ripped from their cores, accelerated, and then smashed back into the cores they left behind. This recollision produced multiple frequencies of light simultaneously. ... > full story

Danger of grill brushes identified (March 28, 2012) -- Physicians have identified a number of cases of accidental ingestion of wire grill brush bristles that required endoscopic or surgical removal. ... > full story

Weight Loss Surgery and Diabetes: Expert Interview Opportunity (March 28, 2012) -- Caroline Apovian, MD, a leading obesity medicine specialist specializing in medical treatments for obesity and monitoring type 2 diabetes, can provide insight into recent research suggesting that weight loss surgery may reverse type 2 diabetes. ... > full story

'Lucy' lived among close cousins: Discovery of foot fossil confirms two human ancestor species co-existed (March 28, 2012) -- Scientists have found a 3.4 million-year-old partial foot fossil in the Afar region of Ethiopia, showing that "Lucy," Australopithecus afarensis, and a much different-looking early hominin lived in the area at the same time. ... > full story

Fossil raindrop impressions imply greenhouse gases loaded early atmosphere (March 28, 2012) -- Evidence from fossilized raindrop impressions from 2.7 billion years ago indicates that an abundance of greenhouse gases most likely caused the warm temperatures on ancient Earth. ... > full story

Does BMI affect post-surgical complications, survival in esophageal adenocarcinoma? (March 28, 2012) -- Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have found – contrary to previous studies linking inferior outcomes in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies to higher body mass index (BMI) – that in their study of BMI and negative outcomes, there was no such link. They concluded that BMI was not associated with either surgical complications or esophageal cancer patient survival. ... > full story

Circle hooks lower catch rate for offshore anglers, impacting recreational fishing (March 28, 2012) -- Anglers are required to use circle hooks in some fishing tournaments because they are less likely to cause lethal injuries in billfish, such as marlin. However, new research shows that broadening circle hook requirements could adversely impact charter and recreational fishing, since they make it more difficult to catch non-billfish. ... > full story

How will widespread use of electric cars impact the power grid? (March 28, 2012) -- A resource to estimate the impact that greater use of electric vehicles will have on the national grid has been developed by a team of experts. ... > full story

Locating solid, experimental data about protein interactions (March 28, 2012) -- A new service makes it simple to find solid, experimental data about protein interactions. A new non-redundant experimental dataset will make it much easier for researchers to understand the complex set of protein interactions in cells. ... > full story

Online dating scammers looking for money, not love (March 28, 2012) -- Online romance scams, a new form of cybercrime, is under-reported and increasing, and has victimized an estimated 230,000 people in England, costing them nearly billion a year, according to a new article. ... > full story

Body mass index not linked to post-surgical complications, survival in esophageal adenocarcinoma, study suggests (March 28, 2012) -- Researchers have found – contrary to previous studies linking inferior outcomes in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies to higher body mass index (BMI) – that in their study of BMI and negative outcomes, there was no such link. They concluded that BMI was not associated with either surgical complications or esophageal cancer patient survival. ... > full story

Viral disease -- particularly from herpes -- gaining interest as possible cause of coral decline (March 28, 2012) -- As corals continue to decline in abundance around the world, researchers are turning their attention to a possible cause that's almost totally unexplored -- viral disease. It appears that corals harbor many different viruses -- particularly herpes. They also are home to the adenoviruses and other viral families that can cause human colds and gastrointestinal disease. ... > full story

Solar storm seen from inside and outside Earth's magnetosphere (March 28, 2012) -- For the first time, instrumentation aboard two NASA missions operating from complementary vantage points watched as a powerful solar storm spewed a two million-mile-per-hour stream of charged particles and interacted with the invisible magnetic field surrounding Earth. ... > full story

Many billions of rocky planets in habitable zones around red dwarfs in Milky Way (March 28, 2012) -- Rocky planets not much bigger than Earth are very common in the habitable zones around faint red stars, according to new research. The astronomers estimate that there are tens of billions of such planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone, and probably about one hundred in the Sun's immediate neighborhood. This is the first direct measurement of the frequency of super-Earths around red dwarfs, which account for 80 percent of the stars in the Milky Way. ... > full story

Stopping statin therapy increases risk of death for rheumatoid arthritis patients (March 28, 2012) -- Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who discontinue use of statin therapy are at increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease and other causes. ... > full story

Powerhouse in the Crab Nebula: MAGIC telescopes observe pulsar at highest energies yet and strongly challenge current theories (March 28, 2012) -- The pulsar at the center of the famous Crab Nebula is a veritable bundle of energy. Astronomers observed the pulsar in the area of very high energy gamma radiation from 25 up to 400 gigaelectronvolts (GeV), a region that was previously difficult to access with high energy instruments, and discovered that it actually emits pulses with the maximum energy of up to 400 GeV -- 50 to 100 times higher than theorists thought possible. These latest observations are difficult for astrophysicists to explain. ... > full story

Building lightweight trains (March 28, 2012) -- The less trains weigh, the more economical they are to run. A new material capable of withstanding even extreme stresses has now been developed. It is suitable for a variety of applications, not least diesel engine housings on trains -- and it makes these components over 35 percent lighter than their steel and aluminum counterparts. ... > full story

Wave character of individual molecules revealed (March 28, 2012) -- Quantum theory describes the world of atoms very precisely. Still, it defies our macroscopic conception of the everyday world due to its many anti-intuitive predictions. The wave-particle dualism probably is the best known example and means that matter may spread and interfere like waves. Now, scientists have recorded the interference process of individual molecules. "Seeing how the interference pattern develops with every light spot, molecule after molecule, and how a basic principle of quantum mechanics is visualized enhances our understanding of the atomic world," explains one of the researchers. ... > full story

How to save Europe's most threatened butterflies (March 28, 2012) -- New guidelines on how to save some of Europe’s most threatened butterfly species have now been published. The report covers 29 threatened species. The new report will provide crucial information on how to achieve this goal and meet their international biodiversity targets. ... > full story

Exploding dinosaur hypothesis implodes (March 28, 2012) -- A pregnant ichthyosaur female that perished 182 million years ago puzzled researchers for quite some time: The skeleton of the extinct marine reptile is almost immaculately preserved and the fossilized bones of the mother animal lie largely in their anatomical position. The bones of the ichthyosaur embryos, however, are a different story: For the most part, they lie scattered outside the body of the mother. Such peculiar bone arrangements are repeatedly found in ichthyosaur skeletons. According to the broadly accepted scientific doctrine, this is the result of exploding carcasses: Putrefaction gases produced during the decomposition process cause the carcass to swell and burst. However, sedimentologists, paleontologists and forensic scientists have now managed to dispel the myth of exploding dinosaur carcasses.  ... > full story

Odd lipid out may illuminate evolution (March 28, 2012) -- Spectroscopic evidence for the unusual handedness of a mammalian lipid may advance our understanding of evolution. ... > full story

Astronomers detect vast amounts of gas and dust around black hole in early universe (March 27, 2012) -- Astronomers have discovered a large reservoir of gas and dust in a galaxy that surrounds the most distant supermassive black hole known. Light from the galaxy, called J1120+0641, has taken so long to reach us that the galaxy is seen as it was only 740 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only 1/18th of its current age. ... > full story

Bacteria use chat to play the 'prisoner's dilemma' game in deciding their fate (March 27, 2012) -- When faced with life-or-death situations, bacteria -- and maybe even human cells -- use an extremely sophisticated version of "game theory" to consider their options and decide upon the best course of action. Scientists said microbes "play" a version of the classic "Prisoner's Dilemma" game. ... > full story

New gene therapy approach developed for red blood cell disorders (March 27, 2012) -- Scientists have designed what appears to be a powerful gene therapy strategy that can treat both beta-thalassemia disease and sickle cell anemia. They have also developed a test to predict patient response before treatment. ... > full story

New evidence that comets deposited building blocks of life on primordial Earth (March 27, 2012) -- New research provides further support for the idea that comets bombarding Earth billions of years ago carried and deposited the key ingredients for life to spring up on the planet. ... > full story

Hot pepper compound could help hearts (March 27, 2012) -- The food that inspires wariness is on course for inspiring even more wonder from a medical standpoint as scientists have reported the latest evidence that chili peppers are a heart-healthy food with potential to protect against the No. 1 cause of death in the developed world. ... > full story

Blocking 'oh-glick-nack' may improve long-term memory (March 27, 2012) -- Just as the familiar sugar in food can be bad for the teeth and waistline, another sugar has been implicated as a health menace and blocking its action may have benefits that include improving long-term memory in older people and treating cancer. Progress has been made toward finding such a blocker for the sugar — with the appropriately malicious-sounding name “oh-glick-nack.” ... > full story

Capsule for removing radioactive contamination from milk, fruit juices, other beverages (March 27, 2012) -- Amid concerns about possible terrorist attacks with nuclear materials, and fresh memories of environmental contamination from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, scientists have developed a capsule that can be dropped into water, milk, fruit juices and other foods to remove more than a dozen radioactive substances. ... > full story

Competition-linked bursts of testosterone are fundamental aspect of human biology, study of Amazonian tribe suggests (March 27, 2012) -- Though Tsimane men have a third less baseline testosterone compared with U.S. men, Tsimane show the same increase in testosterone following a soccer game, suggesting that competition-linked bursts of testosterone are a fundamental aspect of human biology. ... > full story

Transparent, flexible '3-D' memory chips may be the next big thing in small memory devices (March 27, 2012) -- New memory chips that are transparent, flexible enough to be folded like a sheet of paper, shrug off 1,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures -- twice as hot as the max in a kitchen oven -- and survive other hostile conditions could usher in the development of next-generation flash-competitive memory for tomorrow's keychain drives, cell phones and computers, scientists say. ... > full story

Nanostarfruits are pure gold for research (March 27, 2012) -- Starfruit-shaped gold nanorods could nourish applications that rely on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, such as medical imaging and chemical sensing. ... > full story

Researchers create cellular automation model to study complex tumor-host role in cancer (March 27, 2012) -- To better understand the role complex tumor-host interactions play in tumor growth, researchers have developed a cellular automation model for tumor growth in heterogeneous microenvironments. ... > full story

Writing graphene circuitry with ion 'pens' (March 27, 2012) -- Researchers coax graphene to grow in previously defined patterns, offering a promising new tool in the quest to develop graphene-based electronic devices. ... > full story

New process converts polyethylene into carbon fiber (March 27, 2012) -- Common material such as polyethylene used in plastic bags could be turned into something far more valuable through a new process. ... > full story

Wind turbines that learn like humans (March 27, 2012) -- A control algorithm inspired by human memory may increase wind turbine efficiency while requiring less computational power than other control methods. ... > full story

Nanoparticles and magnetic current used to damage cancerous cells in mice (March 27, 2012) -- Using nanoparticles and alternating magnetic fields, scientists have found that head and neck cancerous tumor cells in mice can be killed in half an hour without harming healthy cells. The findings mark the first time to the researchers' knowledge this cancer type has been treated using magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-induced hyperthermia, or above-normal body temperatures, in laboratory mice. ... > full story

Elusive Bururi long-fingered frog found after 62 years (March 27, 2012) -- Herpetologists have discovered a single specimen of the Bururi long-fingered frog during a research expedition to Burundi in December 2011. The frog was last seen by scientists in 1949 and was feared to be extinct after decades of turmoil in the tiny East African nation. ... > full story

Placenta on toast? Could we derive benefits from ingesting afterbirth? (March 27, 2012) -- Almost all non-human mammals eat placenta for good reasons. Are we missing something? Neuroscientists now suggest that ingesting components of afterbirth or placenta -- placentophagia -- may offer benefits to human mothers and perhaps to non-mothers and males. ... > full story

West Antarctic ice shelves tearing apart at the seams (March 27, 2012) -- A new study examining nearly 40 years of satellite imagery has revealed that the floating ice shelves of a critical portion of West Antarctica are steadily losing their grip on adjacent bay walls, potentially amplifying an already accelerating loss of ice to the sea. ... > full story

Some flame retardants make fires more deadly (March 27, 2012) -- Some of the flame retardants added to carpets, furniture upholstery, plastics, crib mattresses, car and airline seats and other products to suppress the visible flames in fires are actually increasing the danger of invisible toxic gases that are the No. 1 cause of death in fires. ... > full story

New evidence on effects of green coffee beans in weight loss (March 27, 2012) -- Scientists have reported striking new evidence that green, or unroasted, coffee beans can produce a substantial decrease in body weight in a relatively short period of time. ... > full story

Most extensive full face transplant to date (March 27, 2012) -- The most extensive full face transplant ever performed has just been completed. It included both jaws, teeth, and tongue. The 36-hour operation occurred on March 19-20, 2012 and involved a multi-disciplinary team of faculty physicians and a team of over 150 nurses and professional staff. ... > full story