Science

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    Scientific American

  • Shooting the Wheeze: Whooping Cough Vaccine Falls Short of Previous Shot s Protection

    21 May 2013 | 3:30 pm
    Protection against the disease pertussis, or whooping cough , doesn’t appear to be as strong with the currently administered vaccine when compared with the older version administered up until the 1990s, according to a new study in Pediatrics . During a pertussis outbreak in 2010–11 in California teens who had received four doses of the current vaccine were at almost six times more likely to get pertussis as those who had received four doses of the older preparation. [More]

  • Search for Survivors Races On as Dozens Feared Dead in Tornado-Hit Oklahoma

    21 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    Pre-dawn emergency workers searched feverishly for survivors in the rubble of homes, primary schools and an hospital in an Oklahoma City suburb ravaged by a massive Monday afternoon tornado feared to have killed up to 91 people and injured well over 200 residents. [More]

  • Why Penguins Cannot Fly

    21 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    From Nature magazine [More]

  • Drought Gobbles Up Texas Turkey Hunt

    20 May 2013 | 11:50 am
    Turkey hunting in Texas dried up along with the state's water due to the epic drought of 2011. And while the drought has relented, turkey season hasn't been the same. [More]

  • Heat Deaths in New York City Predicted to Rise

    20 May 2013 | 10:30 am
    Residents of Manhattan will not just sweat harder from rising temperatures in the future, says a new study; many may die. [More]
 
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    Popular Science

  • Xbox One Is The First Games Console For People Who Don't Like Games

    Dan Nosowitz
    21 May 2013 | 2:30 pm
    Microsoft Xbox One Microsoft At last: a game console that doesn't require gaming. "PlayStation" is a literal description of what you do with it: it's a station at which you play. Nintendo has released systems with "game" in the name--Game Boy, GameCube. But Xbox doesn't mean much of anything. Originally it stood for, in charming Microsoft fashion, "DirectX Box," as it used the familiar DirectX graphics technology. Now? It's just a box. Who knows what it does? And that's fitting, because the Xbox One, newly announced today, is barely a games device. Of course I'm going to get one. But I would…

  • IBM's Watson Is Bringing "Cognitive Computing" to Customer Service

    Clay Dillow
    21 May 2013 | 1:58 pm
    It will be powering smartphone apps by the end of the year too. IBM's Watson computing platform made a name for itself on Jeopardy, but its incremental roll-out into the real world has been no less impressive. It has worked in finance at Citi helping to assess risk and at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center sifting through medical cases and data to help oncologists make the right diagnoses. Now the supercomputer is rolling out to the masses as a computerized customer service agent designed specifically to help customers connect with the information they want at a variety of firms in a…

  • Xbox One: Here's What We Know About Microsoft's New Console

    Colin Lecher
    21 May 2013 | 1:30 pm
    Xbox One Microsoft Today Microsoft unveiled its next-gen console. Some of the rumors turned out to be spot-on. Others, not so much. Today, Microsoft unveiled its new console, Xbox One, from its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. There's still going to be news coming out between now and another announcement at E3 in June (which we'll be at), but this is what we saw so far. TV, TV, TV This is just barely a gaming console. Microsoft is pitching it as something more like a Living Room Entertainment Box. For about half of today's presentation, no games were even mentioned; instead, Microsoft…

  • Climate Change Will Increase Heat-Related Deaths In NYC, Study Says

    Shaunacy Ferro
    21 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
    New York City Heat Aurelien Guichard via Wikimedia Commons Summer in the city could get a whole lot more miserable in the coming decades, according to a new report. Warming weather could make summer in the city deadly in the next few decades, according to a study published this week in Nature Climate Change. By the 2020s, New York City will see 22 percent more heat-related deaths per year compared with 1980s, the researchers predicted. Urban centers like New York City are especially sensitive to extreme temperatures because of the heat island effect. The Environmental Protection Agency…

  • U.S. Has Depleted Two Lake Eries' Worth Of Groundwater Since 1900

    Francie Diep
    21 May 2013 | 12:30 pm
    Aquifers in the Continental US This map of major aquifers in the U.S. highlights the High Plains Aquifer (green) and the Dakota Aquifer (white, outlined in black). L.F. Konikow, U.S. Geological Survey Aquifer water levels are rapidly falling across most of the U.S., according to a new study. Over the last century, the U.S. has depleted enough of its underground freshwater supply to fill Lake Erie twice, according to a new study from the U.S. Geological Survey. Here's another way to understand how much water we've used. Just between 2000 and 2008, the latest period in the study and the period…
 
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    Futurity.org

  • Biology can’t run on genes alone

    Pat Bailey-UC Davis
    21 May 2013 | 10:57 am
    UC DAVIS (US) — Don’t lose the organism in the excitement over its genes, say biologists, who caution against straying too far from the actual plants, animals, and microorganisms. The team suggests that decades of focus on genes have led the scientific community away from a balanced exploration of the organisms that those genes define.

  • To be perfect, practice isn’t enough

    Andy Henion-Michigan State
    21 May 2013 | 10:53 am
    MICHIGAN STATE (US) — There may be more to perfection than a lot of practice, according to a small study of chess players and musicians.A study published in the journal Intelligence shows that even copious amount of practice is not enough to explain why people differ in level of skill in two widely studied activities: chess and music.

  • Early bilinguals pick up two ‘sound systems’

    Alexis Blue-U. Arizona
    21 May 2013 | 9:48 am
    U. ARIZONA (US) — People who learn two languages early in life can switch back and forth between separate sound codes for each language. The finding addresses enduring questions about how bilingual speakers hear and process sound in two different languages. “A lot of research has shown that bilinguals are pretty good at accommodating speech variation across languages, but there’s been a debate as to how,” says Kalim Gonzales, University of Arizona psychology doctoral student and lead author on the study.

  • Hear a heartbeat in space with this stethoscope

    Lisa Ercolano-Johns Hopkins
    21 May 2013 | 8:32 am
    JOHNS HOPKINS (US) — A new electronic stethoscope designed for NASA could deliver accurate heart and body sounds to medics assessing astronaut health in a noisy spacecraft.Space itself is silent; the lack of air prevents sound transmission. But inside the average spacecraft, with its whirring fans, humming computers, and buzzing instruments, it’s about as raucous as a party filled with laughing, talking people. “Imagine trying to get a clear stethoscope signal in an environment like that, where the ambient noise contaminates the faint heart signal. That is the problem we set out…

  • Thawing Arctic keeps its grip on carbon

    Sonia Fernandez-UCSB
    21 May 2013 | 8:02 am
    UC SANTA BARBARA (US) — The Arctic has warmed up over the last twenty years, but researchers find that the amount of carbon trapped in the soil remains steady. “We expected that because of the long-term warming, we would have lost carbon stored in the soil to the atmosphere,” says Josh Schimel, an environmental studies professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.
 
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    Science 2.0

  • Azithromycin Antibiotic Therapy Appears Beneficial In Treatment Of COPD

    News Account
    21 May 2013 | 7:30 pm
    Extended use of the common antibiotic azithromycin may prolong the time between hospitalizations for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter study which compared the hospitalization rates of patients treated with a 12-month course of azithromycin to the rates of those treated with placebo.  read more

  • The Storm System That Created The Oklahoma Tornado - As Seen From Space

    News Account
    21 May 2013 | 3:38 pm
    Yesterday, a monster tornado almost 2-miles wide tore through Moore, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, wiping out entire blocks and killing 24 people.  The National Weather Service upgraded its calculation of the storm's strength today, declaring it was a rare EF5, the most powerful ranking on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, and had winds exceeding 200 miles per hour and left a trail of destruction measuring about 17 miles long. Debris from the tornado fell as far as 100 miles away, reaching the city of Tulsa. read more

  • Nature, Not Nurture?

    News Account
    21 May 2013 | 2:49 pm
    Proteins may be more of a factor in shaping regulatory patterns than environment, according to a new study that looks at how cells' protein networks relate to a bacteria's genome. The lab of computer scientist Luay Nakhleh ar Rice University reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that when environmental factors are eliminated from an evolutionary model, mutations and genetic drift can give rise to the patterns that appear. They studied changes that show up in regulatory networks that determine the organism's characteristics. read more

  • Monoclonal Antibody Dupilumab Safe And Effective In Asthma Phase IIa Trial

    News Account
    21 May 2013 | 1:30 pm
    A novel approach to obstructing the runaway inflammatory response implicated in some types of asthma has shown promise in a Phase IIa clinical trial, according to researchers. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tested the efficacy and safety of the monoclonal antibody, dupilumab, in patients with "persistent, moderate-to-severe asthma" and elevated eosinophils, which are immune cells that mobilize in response to allergens and infections and are commonly seen in asthma. Dupilumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody discovered by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and being developed…

  • Chinese Bionic Head Progress

    martin_g
    21 May 2013 | 12:22 pm
    There are currently a number of research teams worldwide working towards the implementation of bionic heads and faces which can attempt to express human emotions, however “… most of them can not express continuous changing expressions effectively, and they just express limited pre-existing emotional state.” explain the developers of a new Chinese Bionic Head. read more
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    Sciencebase Science Blog

  • SIDS, cot death absolute risks

    David Bradley
    22 May 2013 | 1:18 am
    The tabloids were screaming at new parents this week desperately yelling at them not to share a bed with their newborn because it could be lethal, causing sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death. The research said so. SIDS is tragic, of course, but a little composure, please. As NHS Choices explains: “The researchers estimate that the absolute risk of SIDS for room-sharing infants was 0.00008 (eight per 100,000) when neither parent smoked and the baby was less than three months old, breastfed, and had no other risk factors.” That’s 8 of every 100,000 infant deaths for…

  • A design for life

    David Bradley
    7 May 2013 | 1:12 pm
    As the average age of the population goes up with people surviving many years more than their allegorical three score years and ten, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of senile dementia will rise too. Many people can suffer symptoms for many years and yet live independent lives or at least with minimal care intervention, so it is critical for designers and manufacturers to take this into account if their products are to have usability in this group and help not hinder users. Elderly cake baker image via Shutterstock Adam Glasgow and Peter Higgins of Swinburne…

  • How did feathers evolve?

    David Bradley
    3 May 2013 | 12:29 am
    Carl Zimmer offered some insights at TED-Ed into how dinosaurs got their plumage and evolved into the flying birds, excellent birds, we see today. This is witty animation plucks up the courage to fill in the gaps. On an entirely unrelated note, I wrote a song about flight, which you can hear on my SoundCloud page or via my Songs, Snaps and Science site. How did feathers evolve? is a post from the science blog of David Bradley, author of Deceived Wisdom Subscribe to our Email Newsletter

  • Win #DeceivedWisdom in our 10k competition

    David Bradley
    2 May 2013 | 8:02 am
    My publisher just added up all the sales of my book Deceived Wisdom including hardback sales since November, Kindle and ePub downloads and the Audible editions. The grand total so far…drum roll please…is 10,000 copies, which ain’t bad for a popular science book (although it was #1 on amazon for a while ahead of Sir David and ProfBrianCox) and my publisher E&T Book‘s first foray into science. Many thanks to everyone who took the book to heart and once again to my good friend Tim Lihoreau for inspiration, discussions and setting the ball rolling. Anyway, to mark…

  • We’ve got a lot of grounds to cover

    David Bradley
    30 Apr 2013 | 2:26 pm
    Next time you’re sipping on your skinny, frothy mochachocafrappalatteccino with maple syrup and cinnamon at the local Costabucksorthree coffee shop and surfing on their EasyHack(TM) wireless internet spare a thought for the grounds. The burnt out and scalded fragments of beans gone by that in this household are recycled via the compost bins but on the industrial scale represent an international commodity waste product you might not at first appreciate but represents a truly pressing issue. Big coffee drink image c/o Shutterstock Thankfully, there are researchers who are working on…
 
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    Newswise: SciNews

  • Gates Fellowship Addresses Parasite Infection in the Developing World

    Washington University in St. Louis
    21 May 2013 | 3:50 pm
    Washington University in St. Louis announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Tae Seok Moon, PhD, assistant professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project titled "Programmed Killing of Parasite Eggs by Probiotic Organisms."

  • Team Sets Upper Limit for Atmospheric Depth on Uranus and Neptune

    Weizmann Institute of Science
    21 May 2013 | 3:15 pm
    Since the '80s, when Voyager 2 discovered extremely high atmospheric winds on Uranus and Neptune, the vertical extent of those winds has been a puzzle. Now, a team led by the Weizmann Institute's Dr. Yohai Kaspi has found a way, based on a novel method for analyzing gravitational fields, to determine an upper limit for the atmospheric layer's thickness.

  • New Center Targets Ocean Contaminants and Human Health

    University of California, San Diego
    21 May 2013 | 3:00 pm
    Capitalizing on UC San Diego's unique ability to address environmental threats to public health, a new center based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will target emerging contaminants found naturally in common seafood dishes as well as man-made chemicals that accumulate in human breast milk.

  • Conservationists Release Manual on Protecting Great Apes in Forest Concessions

    Wildlife Conservation Society
    21 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
    A new report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) highlights the plight of great apes in the forest concessions of Central Africa and recommends actions to improve protection for gorillas and chimpanzees in these mixed-used landscapes, according to authors from the Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF, IUCN, Lincoln Park Zoo and Washington University.

  • Study Provides Better Understanding of Water's Freezing Behavior at Nanoscale

    George Washington University
    21 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    The results of a new study led by George Washington University Professor Tianshu Li provide direct computational evidence that nucleation of ice in small droplets is strongly size-dependent, an important conclusion in understanding water's behavior at the nanoscale.
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    Wired

  • The Way We Think about Cancer Must Evolve

    Mark Wolverton
    22 May 2013 | 3:30 am
    Right now, as you read these words, your life is in danger. Somewhere within the vast self-contained micro-universe known as you, in one and possibly more of your trillions of cells, something is going wrong. A vital protein, perhaps, is ...

  • Camera Traps Capture Rare and Beautiful Javan Leopards

    Nadia Drake
    21 May 2013 | 1:32 pm
    Camera traps placed in the Javan rainforest have captured striking images of beautiful and critically endangered Javan leopards.

  • Wired Space Photo of the Day: Valhalla Crater

    Wired Science Staff
    21 May 2013 | 11:58 am
    Valhalla Crater This close up of Callisto shows the heavily cratered surface and the prominent ring structure known as Valhalla. It was acquired by Voyager 1 on March 6, 1979. Valhalla’s bright central area is about 300 kilometers across with ...

  • Curiosity Rover Resumes Science Operations With Second Drilling

    Nadia Drake
    21 May 2013 | 11:46 am
    Curiosity's adventures on Mars continue with another drilling operation: On May 20, the rover drilled into a rock named Cumberland, creating a hole measuring a bit more than half an inch across.

  • Awesome Photos Show Efforts to Preserve Historic Apollo Rocket Engines

    Adam Mann
    21 May 2013 | 11:27 am
    Starting this Friday, you can watch the conservation of historical Apollo Saturn V engines that were recovered from the bottom of the ocean. That is, if you live near or are planning to visit Hutchinson, Kansas.
 
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    Neuromarketing

  • Brilliant Billboard Traps 230,000 Real Bugs

    Roger Dooley
    14 May 2013 | 5:32 am
    How do you promote a new outdoor insect spray, Orphea, on a billboard in Milan? This clever effort turned the portion of the corresponding to the “spray” from a pictured can into a giant piece of fly paper. Over a period of days, the sticky trap captured hundreds of thousands of real insects. Watch the [...]

  • Neuromarketing Meets Conversion Optimization: Free Webinar

    Roger Dooley
    9 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    Next week, conversion optimization expert Chris Goward and I will be doing a joint webinar: Neuromarketing Meets Conversion Optimization: Brainy Profit Boosters. I was excited to set this up with Chris, who’s the author of You Should Test That. Testing is critical. In nearly every speech I give, I include a quote from ad legend [...]

  • Persuade with Visual Metaphors

    Roger Dooley
    8 May 2013 | 11:37 am
    While we think of metaphors as mainly word-based, visual metaphors can be a potent selling tool. They can both engage the brain like text metaphors and stimulate the viewer’s senses in a way that words alone may not. I ran across an ad for Austin-based Elements Laser Spa that includes both a visual metaphor and [...]

  • Do Your Customers Feel Ignored?

    Jane Bromley
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:21 am
    No business intentionally ignores its customers. In fact, most managers think they do a reasonably good job of listening. But, if a customer feels ignored, big trouble lies ahead.

  • Brainfluence in Korean

    Roger Dooley
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:28 am
    I returned from my speaking swing through South America last week to find a nice surprise from Wiley, my publisher: a few sample copies of Brainfluence in Korean. The cover, amusingly enough, features a brain in a bottle! I neither speak nor read Korean, so to find out how the title might read, I turned [...]
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    Games with Words

  • Citizen Science at GamesWithWords.org: The VerbCorner Project

    GamesWithWords
    21 May 2013 | 3:30 am
    What do verbs mean? We'd like to know. For that reason, we just launched VerbCorner, a massive, crowd-sourced investigation into the meanings of verbs.  Why do we need this project? Why not just look up what verbs mean in a dictionary? While dictionaries are enormously useful (I think I own something like 15), they are far from perfect. For one thing, it's usually very easy to find counter-examples even for what seem like straight-forward definitions. Take the following: Bachelor: An unmarried man. So is the Pope a bachelor? Is Neil Patrick Harris? How about a married man from a country…

  • A Critical Period for Learning Language?

    GamesWithWords
    16 May 2013 | 5:30 am
    If you bring adults and children into the lab and try teaching them a new language, adults will learn much more of the language much more rapidly than the children. This is odd, because probably one of the most famous facts about learning languages -- something known by just about everyone whether you are a scientist who studies language or not -- is that adults have a lot less success at learning language than children. So whatever it is that children do better, it's something that operates on a timescale too slow to see in the lab.  This makes studying the differences between…

  • Living in an Imperfect World: Psycholinguistics Edition

    GamesWithWords
    13 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    You, sir, have tasted two whole worms. You have hissed all my mystery lectures and been caught fighting a liar in the quad. You will leave Oxford by the next town drain. -- Reverend Spooner. There is an old tension in psycholinguistic (or linguistic) theory, which boils down to two ways of looking at language comprehension. When somebody says something to you, what do you do with that linguistic input? Is your goal to decode the sentence and figure out what the sentence means, or do you try to figure out what message the speaker intended to convey? The tension comes in because…

  • Do You Speak Korean?

    GamesWithWords
    8 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Learning new languages is hard for many reasons. One of those reasons is that the meaning of an individual word can have a lot of nuances, and the degree to which those nuances match up with the nuances of similar words in your first language can make learning the new language easier; the degree to which the nuances diverge can make learning the new language harder. In a new experiment, we are looking at English-speakers learning Korean and Korean-speakers learning English. In particular, we are studying a specific set of words that previous research has suggested give foreign language…

  • Evolutionary Psychology, Proximate Causation, & Ultimate Causation

    GamesWithWords
    6 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Evolutionary psychology has always been somewhat controversial in the media for reasons that generally confuse me (Wikipedia has a nice rundown of the usual complaints). For instance, the good folks at Slate are particularly hostile (here, here and here), which is odd because they are also generally hostile towards Creationism (here, here and here).  Given the overwhelming evidence that nearly every aspect of the human mind and behavior is at least partly heritable (and so at least partially determined by our genes), the only way to deny the claim that our minds are at least…
 
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    Mind Hacks

  • Did the eyes really stare down bicycle crime in Newcastle?

    tomstafford
    16 May 2013 | 2:33 am
    This is the first fortnightly column I’ll be writing for The Conversation, a creative commons news and opinion website that launched today. The site has been set up by a number of UK universities and bodies such as the Wellcome Trust, Nuffield Foundation and HEFCE, following the successful model of the Australian version of the site. Their plan is to unlock the massive amount of expertise held by UK academics and inject it into the public discourse. My plan is to give some critical commentary on headlines from the week's news which focus on neuroscience and psychology. If…

  • A world of swearing

    vaughanbell
    15 May 2013 | 11:19 am
    The Boston Globe has a short but fascinating interview on the history of swearing where author Melissa Mohr describes how the meaning of the act of swearing has changed over time. IDEAS: Are there other old curses that 21st-century people would be surprised to hear about? MOHR: Because [bad words] were mostly religious in the Middle Ages, any part of God’s body you could curse with. God’s bones, nails, wounds, precious heart, passion, God’s death—that was supposedly one of Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite oaths. IDEAS: Have religious curses like that lost their power as the culture…

  • The ‘unnamed feeling’ named ASMR

    tomstafford
    13 May 2013 | 7:03 am
    Here’s my BBC Future column from last week. It’s about the so-called Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, which didn’t have a name until 2010 and I’d never heard of until 2012. Now, I’m finding out that it is surprisingly common. The original is here. It’s a tightening at the back of the throat, or a tingling around your scalp, a chill that comes over you when you pay close attention to something, such as a person whispering instructions. It’s called the autonomous sensory meridian response, and until 2010 it didn’t exist. I first heard about…

  • Disaster response psychology needs to change

    vaughanbell
    12 May 2013 | 3:54 am
    I’ve got an article in today’s Observer about how disaster response mental health services are often based on the erroneous assumption that everyone needs ‘treatment’ and often rely on single-session counselling sessions which may do more harm than good. Unfortunately, the article has been given a rather misleading headline (‘Minds traumatised by disaster heal themselves without therapy’) which suggests that mental health services are not needed. This is not the case and this is not what the article says. What it does say is that the common idea of disaster…

  • 2013-05-03 Spike activity

    vaughanbell
    4 May 2013 | 5:41 am
    Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news: I can’t recognise my own face! In my case, it’s because the Botox has worn off but for person described in the New Scientist article it’s because of prosopagnosia. The Guardian reports that the UK Government’s ‘Nudge Unit’ is set to become a commercial service. Nudge mercenaries! A greater use of “I” and “me” as a mark of interpersonal distress. An interesting study covered by the BPS Research Digest. Pacific Standard has an interesting piece about gun registers, felons and…
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    ScienceBlogs

  • A Lesson in Applied Probability [EvolutionBlog]

    jrosenhouse
    21 May 2013 | 12:50 am
    Nate Silver provides the antidote to some dubious statistical reasoning on the part of certain conservatives. He was replying in particular to this column from Peggy Noonan. A column, mind you, that opens with, “We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate.” Goodness! Then she presents evidence like this: The second part of the scandal is the auditing of political activists who have opposed the administration. The Journal’s Kim Strassel reported an Idaho businessman named Frank VanderSloot, who’d donated more than a million dollars to groups…

  • A man “emulates” Angelina Jolie by having preventative surgery? Not so fast… [Respectful Insolence]

    Orac
    21 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. OK, I know I use that line entirely too much, but I also don’t really care. When something fits, wear it. And if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit. Sorry, I’ll stop. I’m in a weird mood as I write this. But it’s really hard not to get into a weird mood after reading the lastest bit by that crank to rule all cranks, that quack who tries to rule all quacks, Mike Adams, founder of NaturalNews.com. Last week, he laid down the vile stupid fast and furious to attack Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo bilateral…

  • Why Global Warming’s Effects Will Be Worse Than You Were Thinking [Greg Laden's Blog]

    Greg Laden
    20 May 2013 | 6:24 pm
    The story of climate change has always been more of worst-case, or at least, worser-case scenarios developing and less about good news showing up out of nowhere and making us unexpectedly happy. A few decades ago, it became clear that the release of fossil Carbon into the atmosphere primarily as CO2 was going to cause a greenhouse effect (yes, dear reader, we’ve known this for looooong time … the idea that this is a recent and still untested idea is a lie you’ve been fed so many times some of you may have begun to believe it). At that time climate scientists thought,…

  • Mary’s Monday Metazoan: How ladylike! [Pharyngula]

    PZ Myers
    20 May 2013 | 5:46 pm
    It’s the lovely Pink Dragon millipede — it’s bright enough to belong in the girl’s aisle at the toy store. It also squirts cyanide at you if you annoy it.

  • Teenagers’ calorie consumption at McDonalds versus Subway [The Pump Handle]

    Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH
    20 May 2013 | 4:57 pm
    I’ve done it myself.   Ask a teenager a healthy place to eat, she’ll respond “Subway or Chipotle.”   What about a less healthy place? Response: “McDonald’s or Burger King.”   But do fast food restaurants that are perceived “healthier” by teens actually translate into fewer calories consumed by them? Researchers in southern California explored that question in a new paper published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.  They teamed up with the community-based group Youth, Family, School and Community Partnership in Action to recruit…
 
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    NPR

  • Quantum Or Not, New Supercomputer Is Certainly Something Else

    22 May 2013 | 12:03 am
    NASA and Google have come together to buy a new kind of computer that the manufacturer says runs on the strange laws of quantum mechanics. But some physicists counter that the machine, known as the D-Wave Two, has never demonstrated a phenomenon known as "quantum entanglement."» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Storm Chasers Seek Thrills, But Also Chance To Warn Others

    21 May 2013 | 2:41 pm
    When disaster strikes, our natural instinct is to take cover and seek shelter. But in severe weather, especially the type that breeds tornadoes like we saw in Oklahoma and parts of the Midwest this week, there are those who ride toward the storm.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Vertical 'Pinkhouses:' The Future Of Urban Farming?

    21 May 2013 | 12:16 pm
    Architects have come up with spectacular concepts for vertical farms that would grow crops in city skyscrapers. But many horticulturists think the future of vertical farming isn't in skyscrapers, but rather in large, indoor warehouses lit up magenta by superefficient LEDs.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • 'Nanogardens' Sprout Up On The Surface Of A Penny

    21 May 2013 | 9:55 am
    Engineers have figured out a way to get crystals to form rose and tulip sculptures, each smaller than a strand of hair. The gardens sprout up on a penny dipped in a salt solution. The technique is similar to 3-D printing and could one day be used to make any complex shape.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

  • Forecasters Had Chance To Warn Moore, Okla., Before Tornado

    20 May 2013 | 5:12 pm
    Melissa Block talks to Jon Hamilton about the science of tornadoes.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us
 
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    PLOS Biology: New Articles

  • Advances in Neuroprosthetic Learning and Control

    Jose M. Carmena
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Jose M. Carmena Significant progress has occurred in the field of brain–machine interfaces (BMI) since the first demonstrations with rodents, monkeys, and humans controlling different prosthetic devices directly with neural activity. This technology holds great potential to aid large numbers of people with neurological disorders. However, despite this initial enthusiasm and the plethora of available robotic technologies, existing neural interfaces cannot as yet master the control of prosthetic, paralyzed, or otherwise disabled limbs. Here I briefly discuss recent advances from our…

  • Elimination of Self-Reactive T Cells in the Thymus: A Timeline for Negative Selection

    Ivan Lilyanov Dzhagalov et al.
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Ivan Lilyanov Dzhagalov, Katherine Grace Chen, Paul Herzmark, Ellen A. Robey The elimination of autoreactive T cells occurs via thymocyte apoptosis and removal by thymic phagocytes, but the sequence of events in vivo, and the relationship between thymocyte death and phagocytic clearance, are unknown. Here we address these questions by following a synchronized cohort of thymocytes undergoing negative selection within a three-dimensional thymic tissue environment, from the initial encounter with a negative selecting ligand to thymocyte death and clearance. Encounter with cognate…

  • Bringing You Negative Selection, Live and in Color

    Caitlin Sedwick
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Caitlin Sedwick

  • Control of Translation and miRNA-Dependent Repression by a Novel Poly(A) Binding Protein, hnRNP-Q

    Yuri V. Svitkin et al.
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Yuri V. Svitkin, Akiko Yanagiya, Alexey E. Karetnikov, Tommy Alain, Marc R. Fabian, Arkady Khoutorsky, Sandra Perreault, Ivan Topisirovic, Nahum Sonenberg Translation control often operates via remodeling of messenger ribonucleoprotein particles. The poly(A) binding protein (PABP) simultaneously interacts with the 3′ poly(A) tail of the mRNA and the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4G (eIF4G) to stimulate translation. PABP also promotes miRNA-dependent deadenylation and translational repression of target mRNAs. We demonstrate that isoform 2 of the mouse heterogeneous nuclear…

  • Functional Interrogation of an Odorant Receptor Locus Reveals Multiple Axes of Transcriptional Regulation

    Alexander Fleischmann et al.
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Alexander Fleischmann, Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, Atef Sayed, Benjamin Shykind The odorant receptor (OR) genes constitute the largest mammalian gene family and are expressed in a monogenic and monoallelic fashion, through an unknown mechanism that likely exploits positive and negative regulation. We devised a genetic strategy in mice to examine OR selection by determining the transcriptional activity of an exogenous promoter homologously integrated into an OR locus. Using the tetracycline-dependent transactivator responsive promoter (teto), we observed that the OR locus imposes spatial and…
 
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    PLOS Computational Biology: New Articles

  • Coalescent Tree Imbalance and a Simple Test for Selective Sweeps Based on Microsatellite Variation

    Haipeng Li et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Haipeng Li, Thomas Wiehe Selective sweeps are at the core of adaptive evolution. We study how the shape of coalescent trees is affected by recent selective sweeps. To do so we define a coarse-grained measure of tree topology. This measure has appealing analytical properties, its distribution is derived from a uniform, and it is easy to estimate from experimental data. We show how it can be cast into a test for recent selective sweeps using microsatellite markers and present an application to an experimental data set from Plasmodium falciparum.

  • The Impact of a Ligand Binding on Strand Migration in the SAM-I Riboswitch

    Wei Huang et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Wei Huang, Joohyun Kim, Shantenu Jha, Fareed Aboul-ela Riboswitches sense cellular concentrations of small molecules and use this information to adjust synthesis rates of related metabolites. Riboswitches include an aptamer domain to detect the ligand and an expression platform to control gene expression. Previous structural studies of riboswitches largely focused on aptamers, truncating the expression domain to suppress conformational switching. To link ligand/aptamer binding to conformational switching, we constructed models of an S-adenosyl methionine (SAM)-I riboswitch RNA segment…

  • The Emergence of Environmental Homeostasis in Complex Ecosystems

    James G. Dyke et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by James G. Dyke, Iain S. Weaver The Earth, with its core-driven magnetic field, convective mantle, mobile lid tectonics, oceans of liquid water, dynamic climate and abundant life is arguably the most complex system in the known universe. This system has exhibited stability in the sense of, bar a number of notable exceptions, surface temperature remaining within the bounds required for liquid water and so a significant biosphere. Explanations for this range from anthropic principles in which the Earth was essentially lucky, to homeostatic Gaia in which the abiotic and biotic components of the…

  • Quantifying the Molecular Origins of Opposite Solvent Effects on Protein-Protein Interactions

    Vincent Vagenende et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Vincent Vagenende, Alvin X. Han, Han B. Pek, Bernard L. W. Loo Although the nature of solvent-protein interactions is generally weak and non-specific, addition of cosolvents such as denaturants and osmolytes strengthens protein-protein interactions for some proteins, whereas it weakens protein-protein interactions for others. This is exemplified by the puzzling observation that addition of glycerol oppositely affects the association constants of two antibodies, D1.3 and D44.1, with lysozyme. To resolve this conundrum, we develop a methodology based on the thermodynamic principles of…

  • Human Monogenic Disease Genes Have Frequently Functionally Redundant Paralogs

    Wei-Hua Chen et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Wei-Hua Chen, Xing-Ming Zhao, Vera van Noort, Peer Bork Mendelian disorders are often caused by mutations in genes that are not lethal but induce functional distortions leading to diseases. Here we study the extent of gene duplicates that might compensate genes causing monogenic diseases. We provide evidence for pervasive functional redundancy of human monogenic disease genes (MDs) by duplicates by manifesting 1) genes involved in human genetic disorders are enriched in duplicates and 2) duplicated disease genes tend to have higher functional similarities with their closest paralogs in…
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    PLOS Genetics: New Articles

  • Human Genetics in Rheumatoid Arthritis Guides a High-Throughput Drug Screen of the CD40 Signaling Pathway

    Gang Li et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Gang Li, Dorothée Diogo, Di Wu, Jim Spoonamore, Vlado Dancik, Lude Franke, Fina Kurreeman, Elizabeth J. Rossin, Grant Duclos, Cathy Hartland, Xuezhong Zhou, Kejie Li, Jun Liu, Philip L. De Jager, Katherine A. Siminovitch, Alexandra Zhernakova, Soumya Raychaudhuri, John Bowes, Steve Eyre, Leonid Padyukov, Peter K. Gregersen, Jane Worthington, Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium International (RACI) , Namrata Gupta, Paul A. Clemons, Eli Stahl, Nicola Tolliday, Robert M. Plenge Although genetic and non-genetic studies in mouse and human implicate the CD40 pathway in rheumatoid arthritis (RA),…

  • Congruence of Additive and Non-Additive Effects on Gene Expression Estimated from Pedigree and SNP Data

    Joseph E. Powell et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Joseph E. Powell, Anjali K. Henders, Allan F. McRae, Jinhee Kim, Gibran Hemani, Nicholas G. Martin, Emmanouil T. Dermitzakis, Greg Gibson, Grant W. Montgomery, Peter M. Visscher There is increasing evidence that heritable variation in gene expression underlies genetic variation in susceptibility to disease. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the similarity between relatives for transcript variation is warranted—in particular, dissection of phenotypic variation into additive and non-additive genetic factors and shared environmental effects. We conducted a gene expression study in…

  • The Secretory Pathway Calcium ATPase PMR-1/SPCA1 Has Essential Roles in Cell Migration during Caenorhabditis elegans Embryonic Development

    Vida Praitis et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Vida Praitis, Jeffrey Simske, Sarah Kniss, Rebecca Mandt, Leah Imlay, Charlotte Feddersen, Michael B. Miller, Juliet Mushi, Walter Liszewski, Rachel Weinstein, Adityarup Chakravorty, Dae-Gon Ha, Angela Schacht Farrell, Alexander Sullivan-Wilson, Tyson Stock Maintaining levels of calcium in the cytosol is important for many cellular events, including cell migration, where localized regions of high calcium are required to regulate cytoskeletal dynamics, contractility, and adhesion. Studies show inositol-trisphosphate receptors (IP3R) and ryanodine receptors (RyR), which release calcium into…

  • Clathrin and AP2 Are Required for Phagocytic Receptor-Mediated Apoptotic Cell Clearance in Caenorhabditis elegans

    Didi Chen et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Didi Chen, Youli Jian, Xuezhao Liu, Yuanya Zhang, Jingjing Liang, Xiaying Qi, Hongwei Du, Wei Zou, Lianwan Chen, Yongping Chai, Guangshuo Ou, Long Miao, Yingchun Wang, Chonglin Yang Clathrin and the multi-subunit adaptor protein complex AP2 are central players in clathrin-mediated endocytosis by which the cell selectively internalizes surface materials. Here, we report the essential role of clathrin and AP2 in phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. In Caenorhabditis elegans, depletion of the clathrin heavy chain CHC-1 and individual components of AP2 led to a significant accumulation of germ…

  • ATM–Dependent MiR-335 Targets CtIP and Modulates the DNA Damage Response

    Nathan T. Martin et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Nathan T. Martin, Kotoka Nakamura, Robert Davies, Shareef A. Nahas, Christina Brown, Rashmi Tunuguntla, Richard A. Gatti, Hailiang Hu ATM plays a critical role in cellular responses to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). We describe a new ATM–mediated DSB–induced DNA damage response pathway involving microRNA (miRNA): irradiation (IR)-induced DSBs activate ATM, which leads to the downregulation of miR-335, a miRNA that targets CtIP, which is an important trigger of DNA end resection in homologous recombination repair (HRR). We demonstrate that CREB is responsible for a large portion of…
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    PLOS Pathogens: New Articles

  • Uracil DNA Glycosylase Counteracts APOBEC3G-Induced Hypermutation of Hepatitis B Viral Genomes: Excision Repair of Covalently Closed Circular DNA

    Kouichi Kitamura et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Kouichi Kitamura, Zhe Wang, Sajeda Chowdhury, Miyuki Simadu, Miki Koura, Masamichi Muramatsu The covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) plays an essential role in chronic hepatitis. The cellular repair system is proposed to convert cytoplasmic nucleocapsid (NC) DNA (partially double-stranded DNA) into cccDNA in the nucleus. Recently, antiviral cytidine deaminases, AID/APOBEC proteins, were shown to generate uracil residues in the NC-DNA through deamination, resulting in cytidine-to-uracil (C-to-U) hypermutation of the viral genome. We investigated whether…

  • Orthobunyavirus Ultrastructure and the Curious Tripodal Glycoprotein Spike

    Thomas A. Bowden et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Thomas A. Bowden, David Bitto, Angela McLees, Christelle Yeromonahos, Richard M. Elliott, Juha T. Huiskonen The genus Orthobunyavirus within the family Bunyaviridae constitutes an expanding group of emerging viruses, which threaten human and animal health. Despite the medical importance, little is known about orthobunyavirus structure, a prerequisite for understanding virus assembly and entry. Here, using electron cryo-tomography, we report the ultrastructure of Bunyamwera virus, the prototypic member of this genus. Whilst Bunyamwera virions are pleomorphic in shape, they display a locally…

  • IL-21 Restricts Virus-driven Treg Cell Expansion in Chronic LCMV Infection

    Iwana Schmitz et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Iwana Schmitz, Christoph Schneider, Anja Fröhlich, Helge Frebel, Daniel Christ, Warren J. Leonard, Tim Sparwasser, Annette Oxenius, Stefan Freigang, Manfred Kopf Foxp3 regulatory T (Treg) cells are essential for the maintenance of immune homeostasis and tolerance. During viral infections, Treg cells can limit the immunopathology resulting from excessive inflammation, yet potentially inhibit effective antiviral T cell responses and promote virus persistence. We report here that the fast-replicating LCMV strain Docile triggers a massive expansion of the Treg population that directly…

  • Hemoglobinopathies: Slicing the Gordian Knot of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Pathogenesis

    Steve M. Taylor et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Steve M. Taylor, Carla Cerami, Rick M. Fairhurst Plasmodium falciparum malaria kills over 500,000 children every year and has been a scourge of humans for millennia. Owing to the co-evolution of humans and P. falciparum parasites, the human genome is imprinted with polymorphisms that not only confer innate resistance to falciparum malaria, but also cause hemoglobinopathies. These genetic traits—including hemoglobin S (HbS), hemoglobin C (HbC), and α-thalassemia—are the most common monogenic human disorders and can confer remarkable degrees of protection from severe, life-threatening…

  • Structural Basis of HCV Neutralization by Human Monoclonal Antibodies Resistant to Viral Neutralization Escape

    Thomas Krey et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Thomas Krey, Annalisa Meola, Zhen-yong Keck, Laurence Damier-Piolle, Steven K. H. Foung, Felix A. Rey The high mutation rate of hepatitis C virus allows it to rapidly evade the humoral immune response. However, certain epitopes in the envelope glycoproteins cannot vary without compromising virus viability. Antibodies targeting these epitopes are resistant to viral escape from neutralization and understanding their binding-mode is important for vaccine design. Human monoclonal antibodies HC84-1 and HC84-27 target conformational epitopes overlapping the CD81 receptor-binding site, formed by…
 
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    PLOS ONE Alerts: New Articles

  • Dynamic Regulation of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase (ERK) by Protein Phosphatase 2A Regulatory Subunit B56γ1 in Nuclei Induces Cell Migration

    Ei Kawahara et al.
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Ei Kawahara, Shiori Maenaka, Eri Shimada, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Hiroshi Sakurai Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signalling plays a central role in various biological processes, including cell migration, but it remains unknown what factors directly regulate the strength and duration of ERK activation. We found that, among the B56 family of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) regulatory subunits, B56γ1 suppressed EGF-induced cell migration on collagen, bound to phosphorylated-ERK, and dephosphorylated ERK, whereas B56α1 and B56β1 did not. B56γ1 was immunolocalized in nuclei. The…

  • Comprehensive Genomic Characterization of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma Cell Lines Derived from Metastatic Lesions by Whole-Exome Sequencing and SNP Array Profiling

    Ingrid Cifola et al.
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Ingrid Cifola, Alessandro Pietrelli, Clarissa Consolandi, Marco Severgnini, Eleonora Mangano, Vincenzo Russo, Gianluca De Bellis, Cristina Battaglia Cutaneous malignant melanoma is the most fatal skin cancer and although improved comprehension of its pathogenic pathways allowed to realize some effective molecular targeted therapies, novel targets and drugs are still needed. Aiming to add genetic information potentially useful for novel targets discovery, we performed an extensive genomic characterization by whole-exome sequencing and SNP array profiling of six cutaneous melanoma cell lines…

  • Brevilin A, a Novel Natural Product, Inhibits Janus Kinase Activity and Blocks STAT3 Signaling in Cancer Cells

    Xing Chen et al.
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Xing Chen, Yuping Du, Jing Nan, Xinxin Zhang, Xiaodong Qin, Yuxin Wang, Jianwen Hou, Qin Wang, Jinbo Yang Signal abnormalities in human cells usually cause unexpected consequences for individual health. We focus on these kinds of events involved in JAK-STAT signal pathways, especially the ones triggered by aberrant activated STAT3, an oncoprotein which participates in essential processes of cell survival, growth and proliferation in many types of tumors, as well as immune diseases. By establishing a STAT3 signal based high-throughput drug screening system in human lung cancer A549 cells,…

  • Saccade Adaptation Abnormalities Implicate Dysfunction of Cerebellar-Dependent Learning Mechanisms in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

    Matthew W. Mosconi et al.
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Matthew W. Mosconi, Beatriz Luna, Margaret Kay-Stacey, Caralynn V. Nowinski, Leah H. Rubin, Charles Scudder, Nancy Minshew, John A. Sweeney The cerebellar vermis (lobules VI-VII) has been implicated in both postmortem and neuroimaging studies of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This region maintains the consistent accuracy of saccadic eye movements and plays an especially important role in correcting systematic errors in saccade amplitudes such as those induced by adaptation paradigms. Saccade adaptation paradigms have not yet been used to study ASD. Fifty-six individuals with ASD and 53…

  • Sequence-Specific and Visual Identification of the Influenza Virus NS Gene by Azobenzene-Tethered Bis-Peptide Nucleic Acid

    Kunihiro Kaihatsu et al.
    21 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Kunihiro Kaihatsu, Shinjiro Sawada, Shota Nakamura, Takaaki Nakaya, Teruo Yasunaga, Nobuo Kato To rapidly and specifically identify highly virulent influenza virus strains, we prepared an azobenzene-tethered hairpin-type peptide nucleic acid, bisPNA-AZO, which has a complementary sequence against a highly conserved genomic RNA sequence within the ribonucleoprotein complex of the 2009 pandemic influenza A virus, H1N1 subtype. bisPNA-AZO recognizes the conserved virus genome sequence in a sequence-specific manner. Immobilization of bisPNA-AZO on a plate allowed capture of the target virus…
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    PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases: New Articles

  • DNA Topoisomerase II Is Involved in Regulation of Cyst Wall Protein Genes and Differentiation in Giardia lamblia

    Bo-Chi Lin et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Bo-Chi Lin, Li-Hsin Su, Shih-Che Weng, Yu-Jiao Pan, Nei-Li Chan, Tsai-Kun Li, Hsin-Chih Wang, Chin-Hung Sun The protozoan Giardia lamblia differentiates into infectious cysts within the human intestinal tract for disease transmission. Expression of the cyst wall protein (cwp) genes increases with similar kinetics during encystation. However, little is known how their gene regulation shares common mechanisms. DNA topoisomerases maintain normal topology of genomic DNA. They are necessary for cell proliferation and tissue development as they are involved in transcription, DNA replication, and…

  • Molecular Epidemiology and Genetic Variation of Pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Peru

    Ronnie G. Gavilan et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Ronnie G. Gavilan, Maria L. Zamudio, Jaime Martinez-Urtaza Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a foodborne pathogen that has become a public health concern at the global scale. The epidemiological significance of V. parahaemolyticus infections in Latin America received little attention until the winter of 1997 when cases related to the pandemic clone were detected in the region, changing the epidemic dynamics of this pathogen in Peru. With the aim to assess the impact of the arrival of the pandemic clone on local populations of pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus in Peru, we investigated the population…

  • Deciphering the Growth Behaviour of Mycobacterium africanum

    Florian Gehre et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Florian Gehre, Jacob Otu, Kathryn DeRiemer, Paola Florez de Sessions, Martin L. Hibberd, Wim Mulders, Tumani Corrah, Bouke C. de Jong, Martin Antonio Background Human tuberculosis (TB) in West Africa is not only caused by M. tuberculosis but also by bacteria of the two lineages of M. africanum. For instance, in The Gambia, 40% of TB is due to infections with M. africanum West African 2. This bacterial lineage is associated with HIV infection, reduced ESAT-6 immunogenicity and slower progression to active disease. Although these characteristics suggest an attenuated phenotype of M.

  • Differential Activation of Diverse Glutathione Transferases of Clonorchis sinensis in Response to the Host Bile and Oxidative Stressors

    Young-An Bae et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Young-An Bae, Do-Whan Ahn, Eung-Goo Lee, Seon-Hee Kim, Guo-Bin Cai, Insug Kang, Woon-Mok Sohn, Yoon Kong Background Clonorchis sinensis causes chronic cumulative infections in the human hepatobiliary tract and is intimately associated with cholangiocarcinoma. Approximately 35 million people are infected and 600 million people are at risk of infections worldwide. C. sinensis excretory-secretory products (ESP) constitute the first-line effector system affecting the host-parasite interrelationship by interacting with bile fluids and ductal epithelium. However, the secretory behavior of C.

  • Phylogenetic Findings Suggest Possible New Habitat and Routes of Infection of Human Eumyctoma

    G. Sybren de Hoog et al.
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by G. Sybren de Hoog, Sarah A. Ahmed, Mohammad J. Najafzadeh, Deanna A. Sutton, Maryam Saradeghi Keisari, Ahmed H. Fahal, Ursala Eberhardt, Gerard J. Verkleij, Lian Xin, Benjamin Stielow, Wendy W. J. van de Sande Eumycetoma is a traumatic fungal infection in tropical and subtropical areas that may lead to severe disability. Madurella mycetomatis is one of the prevalent etiologic agents in arid Northeastern Africa. The source of infection has not been clarified. Subcutaneous inoculation from plant thorns has been hypothesized, but attempts to detect the fungus in relevant material have…
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    PLOS Hubs for Clinical Trials: New Articles

  • A Randomized Controlled Trial of Cognitive Training Using a Visual Speed of Processing Intervention in Middle Aged and Older Adults

    Fredric D. Wolinsky et al.
    1 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Fredric D. Wolinsky, Mark W. Vander Weg, M. Bryant Howren, Michael P. Jones, Megan M. Dotson Background Age-related cognitive decline is common and may lead to substantial difficulties and disabilities in everyday life. We hypothesized that 10 hours of visual speed of processing training would prevent age-related declines and potentially improve cognitive processing speed. Methods Within two age bands (50–64 and≥65) 681 patients were randomized to (a) three computerized visual speed of processing training arms (10 hours on-site, 14 hours on-site, or 10 hours at-home) or (b) an on-site…

  • A Randomized, Observer-Blinded Immunogenicity Trial of Cervarix® and Gardasil® Human Papillomavirus Vaccines in 12-15 Year Old Girls

    Eve Draper et al.
    1 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Eve Draper, Sara L. Bissett, Rebecca Howell-Jones, Pauline Waight, Kate Soldan, Mark Jit, Nicholas Andrews, Elizabeth Miller, Simon Beddows Background The current generation of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, Cervarix® and Gardasil®, exhibit a high degree of efficacy in clinical trials against the two high-risk (HR) genotypes represented in the vaccines (HPV16 and HPV18). High levels of neutralizing antibodies are elicited against the vaccine types, consistent with preclinical data showing that neutralizing antibodies can mediate type-specific protection in the absence of other…

  • Impact of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Treatment on Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

    Hao Sun et al.
    1 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Hao Sun, Jingpu Shi, Min Li, Xin Chen Background It has been known for a long time that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with a decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the gold standard treatment for OSA; however, it is unknown whether or not CPAP treatment will improve the LVEF. The aim of the current study was to assess whether or not CPAP treatment improves the LVEF. A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effect of CPAP treatment on the LVEF among patients with OSA. Methods A literature search of PubMed, the…

  • Cinacalcet in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Cumulative Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

    Suetonia C. Palmer et al.
    30 Apr 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Suetonia C. Palmer, Ionut Nistor, Jonathan C. Craig, Fabio Pellegrini, Piergiorgio Messa, Marcello Tonelli, Adrian Covic, Giovanni F. M. Strippoli Background Calcimimetic agents lower serum parathyroid hormone levels in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but treatment effects on patient-relevant outcomes are uncertain. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the benefits and harms of calcimimetic therapy in adults with CKD and used cumulative meta-analysis to identify how evidence for calcimimetic treatment has developed in this clinical setting. Methods and…

  • In Vitro Drug Response and Efflux Transporters Associated with Drug Resistance in Pediatric High Grade Glioma and Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma

    Susanna J. E. Veringa et al.
    29 Apr 2013 | 2:00 pm
    by Susanna J. E. Veringa, Dennis Biesmans, Dannis G. van Vuurden, Marc H. A. Jansen, Laurine E. Wedekind, Ilona Horsman, Pieter Wesseling, William Peter Vandertop, David P. Noske, GertJan J. L. Kaspers, Esther Hulleman Pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGG), including diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG), are the leading cause of cancer-related death in children. While it is clear that surgery (if possible), and radiotherapy are beneficial for treatment, the role of chemotherapy for these tumors is still unclear. Therefore, we performed an in vitro drug screen on primary glioma cells,…
 
 
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    Reuters

  • Meteoroid impact triggers bright flash on the moon

    17 May 2013 | 4:49 pm
    CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An automated telescope monitoring the moon has captured images of an 88-pound (40 kg) rock slamming into the lunar surface, creating a bright flash of light, NASA scientists said on Friday.

  • Scientists create human stem cells through cloning

    16 May 2013 | 9:31 am
    NEW YORK (Reuters) - After more than 15 years of failures by scientists around the world and one outright fraud, biologists have finally created human stem cells by the same technique that produced Dolly the cloned sheep in 1996: They transplanted genetic material from an adult cell into an egg whose own DNA had been removed.

  • China says EU solar duties to "seriously harm" trade ties

    16 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    BEIJING (Reuters) - China warned the European Union on Thursday that imposing duties on Chinese solar panels would "seriously harm" bilateral trade ties, upping the tone of its criticism a week after the EU said it would move ahead with hefty penalties in June.

  • U.S. sees China launch as test of anti-satellite muscle -source

    16 May 2013 | 1:11 am
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government believes a Chinese missile launch this week was the first test of a new interceptor that could be used to destroy a satellite in orbit, a U.S. defense official told Reuters on Wednesday.

  • National Weather Service gets big computing boost

    15 May 2013 | 5:37 pm
    MIAMI (Reuters) - The U.S. National Weather Service is getting a quantum jump in computing power that will significantly improve its forecasting and storm tracking abilities to better protect the country from severe weather.
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    Sciencetext Tips and Tricks

  • 101 great ways not to waste time online

    David Bradley
    20 May 2013 | 7:34 am
    Switch off your phone and computer Post from: David Bradley's Sciencetext Tech Talk101 great ways not to waste time online Subscribe to our Email Newsletter Related Posts:Mobile phones send number to websiteYour online life is real life tooSaving time on your computerOn digital embarrassmentFind your lost mobile phone in India

  • Unintelligible twitter bios

    David Bradley
    2 May 2013 | 1:48 am
    I assume everyone else on twitter gets new followers with bizarre bios, here are a few of the most recent indecipherable, unitelligible, pointless, lame and downright hilarious personal statements and my first thoughts about those followers. Twitter twits image from Shutterstock “A current person I?????§ known by his appearance” – I was always told not to judge a book by it’s cover “Yung n’ Handsome” – Well, you’re not going to write “ugly old git”, are you? “I’m just me” – Well, who isn’t?

  • Why Pinterest isn’t Twinterest

    David Bradley
    1 May 2013 | 8:58 am
    There are four words that differentiate Pinterest from Twitter, according to DT: Use, look, want, and need. Those four verbs make Pinterest stand out because they highlight how so much of the network’s appeal is grounded in the idea of acquiring stuff. Pinterest users talk about possessing and observing things whereas a textual analysis of Twitter by comparison showed users favoring words like: now, tonight, watching and going, which suggests Twitter is more about commenting on timely events and about action. Pinterest has been most widely adopted in the US and the UK and there are…

  • Expletive rapping, hacking scum…

    David Bradley
    1 May 2013 | 12:21 am
    A rather offensive update appeared on my Facebook page yesterday, it was a repost link to a SoundCloud file from a hiphop act whose banter was laced with expletives from the opening bars. It announced to the world just how bad I’d got. I was down with the ‘hood, yo, bro etc…except, I wasn’t, I’m not, nothing against hiphop some of its finer purveyors make some groovy beats, but this wasn’t my style and Facebook friend and fellow guitar lover Steve Guest was quick with an “ooh err”. Once spotted I deleted, the repost, disconnected Facebook from…

  • What Michael Jackson can teach Google about Twitter

    David Bradley
    30 Apr 2013 | 1:12 pm
    Researchers at Google are hoping to learn about social influence and how message propagate on Twitter. Google software engineer Shaozhi Ye and colleague Felix Wu of the University of California, Davis, point out that while there have been extensive studies of the top online social networks (OSNs) it remains unclear how to characterise the propagation of information on those services and how to measure the social influence of individual members. Ryan DeBerardinis/Shutterstock The pair have analysed 58 million twitter messages, “tweets” collected from 700,000 users from the time of…
 
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    FlowingData

  • Meteorites seen falling since 2500BC visualized

    Nathan Yau
    22 May 2013 | 12:50 am
    About 35,000 meteorites have been recorded since 2500 BC, and a little over 1,000 of them were seen while they fell, based on data from the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society. Carlo Zapponi, a data visualization designer, visualized the latter in Bolides. We saw a mapped version of this data a while back, but Bolides takes a time-based approach. A bar chart shows the number and volume of meteorites that have been seen over time, and on the initial load, you get to watch the meteorites fall, one bright orange fireball at a time.

  • A quarter century of satellite imagery

    Nathan Yau
    21 May 2013 | 12:59 am
    In collaboration between USGS, NASA and TIME, Google released a quarter century of satellite imagery to see how the world has changed over time. The images were collected as part of an ongoing joint mission between the USGS and NASA called Landsat. Their satellites have been observing earth from space since the 1970s—with all of the images sent back to Earth and archived on USGS tape drives that look something like this example (courtesy of the USGS). We started working with the USGS in 2009 to make this historic archive of earth imagery available online. Using Google Earth Engine…

  • Convergence of Miss Korea faces

    Nathan Yau
    20 May 2013 | 3:53 am
    After seeing a Reddit post on the convergence of Miss Korea faces, supposedly due to high rates of plastic surgery, graduate student Jia-Bin Huang analyzed the faces of 20 contestants. Below is a short video of each face slowly transitioning to the other. From the video and pictures it's pretty clear that the photos look similar, but Huang took it a step further with a handful of computer vision techniques to quantify the likeness between faces. And again, the analysis shows similarity between the photos, so the gut reaction is that the contestants are nearly identical. However, you have to…

  • Coaches are highest paid public employees

    Nathan Yau
    17 May 2013 | 12:39 am
    Deadspin made a straightforward map that shows the highest paid public employee in each state. Based on data drawn from media reports and state salary databases, the ranks of the highest-paid active public employees include 27 football coaches, 13 basketball coaches, one hockey coach, and 10 dorks who aren't even in charge of a team.

  • Ratings of TV shows over time

    Nathan Yau
    16 May 2013 | 3:38 am
    The quality of television shows follow all kinds of patterns. Some shows stink in the beginning and slowly gain steam, whereas others are great at first and then lost momentum towards eventual cancellation. Using data from the Global Episode Opinion Survey, Andrew Clark visualized ratings over time for many popular shows in an interactive. The graph represents the average ranking for the show over time. The red lines indicate changepoints, estimations of when the properties of the time-series, typically the mean changes. The intensity of the plot varies according to the number of respondents.
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    Science Daily

  • Lost in translocation? How bird song could help save species

    21 May 2013 | 8:00 pm
    Translocation – or moving animals to safer places – is a vital tool for saving species from extinction. Many factors influence the success of these new populations, including habitat quality, predators, capture and release techniques, the number and sex of individuals, and their genetic diversity. Now new research, the first of its kind suggests bird song could also be important.

  • Study reveals how fishing gear can cause slow death of whales

    21 May 2013 | 4:42 pm
    Using a "patient monitoring" device attached to a whale entangled in fishing gear, scientists showed for the first time how fishing lines changed a whale's diving and swimming behavior. The monitoring revealed how fishing gear hinders whales' ability to eat and migrate, depletes their energy as they drag gear for months or years, and can result in a slow death.

  • Biomarkers discovered for inflammatory bowel disease

    21 May 2013 | 4:42 pm
    Researchers have identified a number of biomarkers for inflammatory bowel disease, which could help with earlier diagnosis and intervention in those who have not yet shown symptoms.

  • Changing cancer's environment to halt its spread

    21 May 2013 | 4:42 pm
    By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, scientists have identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer. The findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could potentially block metastasis in a variety of cancers.

  • Minus environment, patterns still emerge: Computational study tracks E. coli cells' regulatory mechanisms

    21 May 2013 | 4:41 pm
    Random mutations and genetic drift, rather than design principles, may explain the emergence of regulatory network properties in E. coli.
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    The Why Files

  • Toms River

    svmedaristwf
    21 May 2013 | 12:07 pm
    Toms River Dan Fagin • Bantam, 2013, 538 pp. In 1952, the Toms River Chemical Plant opened a vast factory in rural New Jersey, dedicated to making dyes based on a coal product, anthraquinone. Prized for bright, color-fast colors, the manufacturing process also produced prodigious streams of toxic waste. As the plant, eventually renamed Ciba after its owner, the Swiss chemical giant, prospered, streams of waste filtered into the sandy soil and reached the Atlantic through a leaky pipe. Less obvious at the time, a field of municipal water wells a mile or so from the plant fence were…

  • Ancient water = ancient habitat?

    svmedaristwf
    16 May 2013 | 2:21 pm
    Study uncorks possibility that ancient water supports ancient life Photo: J Telling Gas bubbles from briny water emerging from the floor of a deep mine. The water’s chemical composition could feed microbes, if any are living here, 2.4 kilometers underground. Water gushing from a deep mine in Ontario has been isolated from the surface for more than a billion years, a Canadian-United Kingdom scientific group reported today. Intriguingly, the water contains hydrogen and methane, which support bacteria and bigger organisms in the ocean depths, another location where sunlight, life’s…

  • A new iron age?

    svmedaristwf
    9 May 2013 | 12:55 pm
    Iron and steel: The billion-ton business We may call this the age of information, but we could also call it the age of steel. More than 1.5 billion tons of steel are made each year for bridges, concrete reinforcement, vehicles and building frameworks, among many other purposes. Photo: Wikimedia Commons The Hulme Arch Bridge, at Hulme, Manchester, England, is a harmonious construction of steel cables and arches. Steel is usually about 99 percent iron, and the tight bond between iron and oxygen in iron ore explains much of the environmental cost of making steel. Now MIT professor Donald Sadoway…

  • Exploring a volcano

    svmedaristwf
    2 May 2013 | 1:28 pm
    One of these days… A field of volcanoes you have never heard of will wake up, and if it fulfills its geologic potential, the consequences will be heard around the world. ENLARGE The Why Files. Placid, beautiful, mysterious: The Laguna del Maule caldera is all of these today. When will it wake up and reveal the molten rock that is driving one of the most active volcanoes on the planet? Curiously, Laguna del Maule, situated along the spine of the Andes, doesn’t even look like a volcano. No towering peak, no plume of smoke or steam, no stench of sulfur. But 36 times in the past 20,000 years,…

  • Monkey: When in Rome…

    svmedaristwf
    25 Apr 2013 | 1:05 pm
    Study: Monkeys ape the behavior of their group ENLARGE Image ©Erica van de Waal This adult male is eating pink corn with juveniles from his group. And that suggests that the survival advantages of changing food preferences to suit the “culture” in a new location may not fully explain the results, van de Waal says. “Maybe it confirms there is something social going on.” At any rate, you can’t fool the true experts, she says. “The females did not try the color he was eating. The dominant females are always conservative; he did not influence the dynamic of…
 
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    BBC

  • AUDIO: Attenborough: We're destroying things

    22 May 2013 | 1:45 am
    David Attenborough examines news that a "stocktake" of UK nature suggests 60% of animal and plant species have declined in the past 50 years - and one in 10 could end up disappearing.

  • VIDEO: 'Tough times for toads'

    22 May 2013 | 12:28 am
    A "stocktake" of UK nature suggests 60% of animal and plant species have declined in the past 50 years - and one in 10 could end up disappearing.

  • VIDEO: 'First crane egg in 400 years'

    21 May 2013 | 1:18 am
    The first crane egg in southern Britain in more than 400 years has been laid by a nesting bird.

  • VIDEO: Ant engineering seen in slow motion

    20 May 2013 | 12:58 pm
    Detailed slow-motion footage showing how ants tunnel their way through confined spaces could aid the design of search and rescue robots, say scientists.

  • VIDEO: Fight on to beat Ash Dieback fungus

    20 May 2013 | 7:27 am
    East Anglia is spearheading the fight to beat Ash Dieback fungus with a planting scheme designed to develop resistance.
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    PhysOrg

  • French-Asian firms reveal LNG contract in Canada

    22 May 2013 | 4:48 am
    A consortium comprising French, South Korean and Chinese companies has won a contract for a liquefied natural gas project in Canada, the French partner Technip said on Wednesday.

  • Sony mulls hedge fund's entertainment sale idea

    22 May 2013 | 4:41 am
    Sony's CEO Kazuo Hirai says the electronics giant's board will discuss a proposal by U.S. hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb to spin off up to 20 percent of its movie, TV and music division.

  • First Look: New Xbox elegant, but much unknown

    22 May 2013 | 3:56 am
    Will gamers want One? After four years of development, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One entertainment console and touted it as an all-in-one solution for playing games, watching TV and doing everything in between. Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be central to your living room and packed the new Xbox with such features as the ability to change TV channels through voice commands.

  • Apple case seen as possible spur to tax action

    22 May 2013 | 3:54 am
    Now that tech favorite Apple Inc. has been dragged front and center into the debate over the U.S. tax code, lawmakers are hoping that the spotlight on such a high-profile company could be the catalyst for Congress to take action to close loopholes or reform the law.

  • Australia set to cull 10,000 wild horses

    22 May 2013 | 3:15 am
    A controversial cull of up to 10,000 wild horses in Australia's harsh Outback reportedly began Wednesday in a bid to control the feral animals which officials say are destroying the land.
 
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    Bitesize Bio

  • 5 Misunderstood Chemicals That you are Using in the Lab

    Jason Erk
    21 May 2013 | 11:00 pm
    Common lab reagents may appear innocuous, but don’t be fooled! Sometimes even the most-used lab chemicals are hazardous to your health. It is important to make sure you have an understanding of the dangers a reagent can present before you use it. Which common chemicals should you look out for? Here is a brief look [...]

  • How to get Organised With Reference Managers for Science- EndNote

    Laura Fulford
    19 May 2013 | 11:00 pm
    Last week we discussed Papers, which is a well-known reference manager used by many academics. Today I am focusing on what might be the most well-known reference manager – EndNote. Thomson Reuters’ EndNote is often available free through Universities. And if you have this opportunity, you should definitely take advantage of it!  If you want [...]

  • One Part Science, Two Parts Murder: A Book Review of “The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York” by Deborah Blum

    Daniella Pizzurro
    14 May 2013 | 11:00 pm
    The canonical motto in Toxicology is ‘the dose makes the poison.’ That is, enough of anything can kill you. But, as Deborah Blum notes in the end of her book, “poison by water doesn’t unnerve us. The real scare comes from those elements and compounds whose toxicity is measured in drips and drops.” In The [...]

  • How To Get Organized With Reference Managers for Science – ReadCube

    Laura Fulford
    12 May 2013 | 11:00 pm
    In my last post on reference managers I discussed Mendeley, a well-established reference manager and the one I’m most familiar with. Today I am going to tell you about ReadCube, a more recent addition to the referencing software market brought to you from Labtiva. ReadCube was created by two Harvard students, Siniša Hrvatin and Robert [...]

  • Using Enzymes at the Bench — Keep it in the cooler? On ice? or at RT?

    Ellen Moran
    7 May 2013 | 11:00 pm
    Have you ever needed an enzyme but not had an ice bucket?  Have you been tempted to just grab the enzyme out of the freezer, take what you need and quickly return the tube to the freezer?  Do enzymes really need to be kept on ice all of the time?  I would say, Yes! Enzymes [...]
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    PHD Comics

  • 05/17/13 PHD comic: 'A Professor's Prayer'

    19 May 2013 | 9:21 pm
    Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "A Professor's Prayer" - originally published 5/17/2013 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

  • 05/14/13 PHD comic: 'Exoplanets Explained'

    14 May 2013 | 9:29 am
    Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "Exoplanets Explained" - originally published 5/14/2013 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

  • 05/10/13 PHD comic: 'It's in the syllabus'

    10 May 2013 | 4:50 pm
    Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "It's in the syllabus" - originally published 5/10/2013 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

  • 05/06/13 PHD comic: 'Crowdfunding Science'

    7 May 2013 | 3:57 am
    Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "Crowdfunding Science" - originally published 5/6/2013 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

  • 05/01/13 PHD comic: 'Show me'

    2 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "Show me" - originally published 5/1/2013 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!
 
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    Physics Today News Picks

  • Small steps taken to avert global solar panel price war

    Paul Guinnessy
    21 May 2013 | 12:04 pm
    New York Times: The Obama administration and the European Union have each decided to negotiate settlements involving China’s $30-billion-a-year exports of solar panels. The Financial Times reports that the EU in particular has faced pressure from the German government, because Chinese premier Li Keqiang will visit Germany next week. The proposed settlement, which might take months to negotiate, splits the globe into regional markets and eliminates steep import duties on Chinese solar panels. The price of panels will rise naturally: Quotas will be introduced which in turn, might make solar…

  • Accurately measuring the power of a tsunami

    Paul Guinnessy
    21 May 2013 | 7:51 am
    BBC: When an underwater earthquake generates a tsunami, every second counts because it takes only a few minutes before a wall of water can hit a shoreline. The current early warning system for tsunamis relies on seismographs to measure Earth movement and hence calculate the amount of energy dissipated into wave energy, but the technique is not reliable. A team from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences says that GPS sensors placed around the coastlines of vulnerable countries could make highly precise measurements of how underwater tremors shift the ground. In turn, the data could…

  • Using magnetic fields to detect brain damage

    Charles Day
    21 May 2013 | 7:48 am
    MIT Technology Review: A new and cheap helmet-shaped device can detect the accumulation of fluids that accompanies certain forms of brain damage. Designed by Cesar Gonzalez of Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute and his colleagues, the helmet works by inducing a magnetic field in a patient’s brain with a set of coils. Another set of coils measures changes in the magnetic field’s phase that depend on the amount of fluid present. Although the helmet can’t locate where fluid levels are anomalously high, it’s cheap enough and compact enough to identify patients…

  • Massive asteroid will fly by Earth on 31 May

    Charles Day
    21 May 2013 | 7:13 am
    Los Angeles Times: Asteroid 1998 QE2 measures 2.7 km across and is covered in a black, sooty material. It’s also on course to come within 5.8 million km of Earth on 31 May, just before 5 pm EDT. The close approach will give astronomers the chance to study the asteroid’s shape, rotation, and surface. Features as small as 3.5 meters should be resolvable by radio telescopes. Backyard astronomers, however, won’t be able to see it.

  • Planck full-sky map may show evidence of other universes

    Physics Today
    20 May 2013 | 9:42 am
    Daily Mail: In 2005 Laura Mersini-Houghton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Richard Holman of Carnegie Mellon University suggested that evidence for the existence of other universes would be found in the cosmic microwave background radiation. Early mapping efforts using the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe appeared to support some of their claims. Now Mersini-Houghton says that the highly detailed Planck map of that radiation, released in March, provides clear support for their hypothesis. She believes that the apparent imbalance in movement and structure and the…
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    Science

  • Smart cities: Urban areas set to be test beds

    21 May 2013 | 4:21 pm
    Man-made spaces have potential to become laboratories, reports Sarah Murray

  • Nasa tries recipe for Star Trek replicators

    21 May 2013 | 11:58 am
    Funding latest example of fast-expanding range of applications for 3D printing, which allows complex shapes to be built from complex ‘inks’

  • Space industry’s hopes ride on ‘Major Tim’

    20 May 2013 | 11:55 am
    The first British astronaut for more than 20 years has been handed a mission to boost the sector and help rebalance the national economy

  • The HIV hunter

    17 May 2013 | 10:44 am
    Thirty years ago, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi found an unidentified virus in a patient with Aids. She talks to Andrew Jack about the continuing battle with the disease

  • On the origin of universes

    17 May 2013 | 10:43 am
    How Darwin’s theory of natural selection is helping cosmologists to refine the idea that universes produce daughter universes via the formation of black holes. By Clive Cookson
 
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    Scienceray

  • Earthlike Exoplanets May be More Common Than We Thought

    29 Apr 2013 | 9:49 pm
    Stars come in all physical sizes, of course, ranging from tiny black holes and white dwarfs to supergiants and even bigger hypergiants (just to be clear: black holes are physically smaller-than-our-own-moon small bodies, but are fantastically dense, with matter so massive that a teaspoon full would plummet right through to the center of the Earth). Stars are made of all manner of things, from common hydrogen like our sun to exotic stars that burn carbon and beryllium. Red dwarfs are stars that are cooler than our own sun. They’re much smaller, about a third of the sun’s size, and…

  • The Third Rock From This Sun is Not So Nice

    25 Apr 2013 | 10:12 pm
    The Kepler telescope wanders the night sky, looking carefully at over 150,000 stars for the signs of distant planets that might harbor life. The target planets orbit these stars at a distance that is neither too close, nor too far, for the presence of liquid water to exist on them: the Goldilocks Zone. Kepler-37D is literally the third rock from the star Kepler-37. The innermost planet in that system is little Kepler-37B, a sun-blasted ball of rock only slightly bigger than our own sun-blasted moon. A sunny high noon on Kepler-37B, and they are all sunny, would most likely seem daytime high…

  • Mystery Planet Packs Enormous Surprise

    23 Apr 2013 | 9:39 pm
    Kepler rides far above us, looking for other worlds like our own. They are rare – of the 2,740 planets discovered so far, only 122 might, repeat might, be similar to Earth. Most of the planets are closer to Jupiter in size, and, like Jupiter, most are gas giants. At the beginning of April, 2013, however, a run-of-the-mile Jupiter-sized gas giant orbiting a red dwarf star turned out to be anything but run-of-the-mill. Scientists were astounding at the strange dance between this presumed planet and its host star. Kepler examines stars for two phenomena – occlusion and wobble. When…

  • Earth-like Planet Spotted Far From Home

    20 Apr 2013 | 9:11 pm
    The search for habitable exoplanets, planets the are of the right size and distance from their host stars to feature liquid water, has turned up two new planetary systems. The sun, now called Kepler, is about 2,700 light years away. Considering that a light year is roughly 5.8 trillion miles, and the Voyager spacecraft, launched over 30 years ago, are only ten billion miles away, it might take a while to get out there. Still, it’s quite an achievement to spot a planet in the star Kepler’s “Goldilocks Zone” at that astounding distance. A star’s “Goldilocks…

  • Information and Pictures of Canada Geese

    9 Apr 2013 | 12:52 pm
    The Canada Goose, or Branta canadensis, is native to North America, and well known around ponds and wetlands in Canada.  They fly south in the winter (in their famous V formation), but return to Canada every spring, usually returning the first weeks of April.  In some areas, where food is to be found, they may remain in Canada all year. Male and female Canada Geese look the same, but the females are slightly smaller than the males.  They have a black head and neck with white under the chin and on the cheek.  The chest is a lighter color, with a brownish body.  There…
 
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    Brain And Consciousness Research

  • Grammar errors? The brain detects them even when you are unaware

    22 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Your brain often works on autopilot when it comes to grammar. That theory has been around for years, but University of Oregon neuroscientists have captured elusive hard evidence that people indeed detect and process grammatical errors with no awareness of doing so.

  • Serotonin mediates exercise-induced generation of new neurons

    22 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Mice that exercise in running wheels exhibit increased neurogenesis in the brain. Crucial to this process is serotonin signaling. These are the findings of a study by researchers at the Max Delbr�ck Center Berlin-Buch. Surprisingly, mice lacking brain serotonin due to a genetic mutation exhibited normal baseline neurogenesis. However, in these serotonin-deficient mice, activity-induced proliferation was impaired, and wheel running did not induce increased generation of new neurons.

  • Brain frontal lobes not sole centre of human intelligence

    22 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Human intelligence cannot be explained by the size of the brain's frontal lobes, say researchers.

  • Brain, not eye mechanisms keep color vision constant across lifespan

    21 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Cone receptors in the human eye lose their color sensitivity with age, but our subjective experience of color remains largely unchanged over the years. This ability to compensate for age-related changes in color perception rests in higher levels of the visual system, according to research published May 8 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Sophie Wuerger from the University of Liverpool, UK.

  • Laughter perception networks in brain different for mocking, joyful or ticklish laughter

    21 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    A laugh may signal mockery, humor, joy or simply be a response to tickling, but each kind of laughter conveys a wealth of auditory and social information. These different kinds of laughter also spark different connections within the "laughter perception network" in the human brain depending on their context, according to research published May 8 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Dirk Wildgruber and colleagues from the University of Tuebingen, Germany.
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    ZME Science

  • Survivor Airport: How To Outwit, Outplay, Outlast Today’s Airports

    Henry Conrad
    21 May 2013 | 11:02 pm
    Don’t you feel like sometimes you’re playing some kind of insane TV game show whenever you go through airports? Except, thankfully, instead of being forced to eat frighteningly exotic cuisines, at airports, you’re forced to walk through security checks without your shoes on. That’s just the tip of the airport security check iceberg. Add the fact that you have to keep remembering the 3-1-1 rule: all passengers are limited to carry on one quart-sized zip-top bag of liquid toiletries no more than 3.4 ounces each, and you’ve got one less than enjoyable time at the airport. How do…

  • Italian ban on pesticides has major benefits on bee health

    Mihai Andrei
    21 May 2013 | 11:27 am
    In case you didn’t know, bee popullations all around the world are dwindling. The disorder which is causing this massive decline in bee numbers is called CCD – colony collapse disorder. In 2012 alone, a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder (CCD) wiped out about half of honeybee hives [read more here]. What happens in CCD is that basically worker bees go away from the hive and never return; it’s not yet clear why this happens and what are the exat causes, but there is a strong link with the more intensive use of pesticides. The pesticide industry is huge however, and,…

  • Why penguins can’t fly: you can’t be good at two things at once

    Tibi Puiu
    21 May 2013 | 9:06 am
    This little fellow on the left might look like he’s about to take off for a flight, but he knows better. (c) National Geographic Penguins are remarkable animals that have always garnered attention. For one they’re extremely cute (always an advantage in a world where humans are at the absolute top of the food chain), then they’re extremely fascinating to study. If you’re to closely look at the wings of a penguin, intuition would immediately tell you that these robust birds have no chance whatsoever of taking off with those puny things and you would not be mistaken.

  • Study measures how many calories you burn when you’re lazy

    Tibi Puiu
    21 May 2013 | 7:13 am
    Western society is becoming ever sedentary, as more and more jobs have transitioned to the office and technology offers people all kinds of comfortable reasons not to leave their homes. It’s well documented how a sedentary lifestyle can affect health, exposing the body to a slew of diseases, still a careful assessment of sedentary energy expenditure are remarkably fundamental to many researchers. Yes, your burn calories even when sitting on your butt for hours. Not too many though, as you’ll find out. A team of researchers Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge,…

  • Liquid air could be used to store renewable energy

    Tibi Puiu
    21 May 2013 | 6:08 am
    Renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, are gaining ground fast against fossil fuels in terms of energy production, but unfortunately not that fast as we’d hoped for. One big obstacle in the way of renewable energy is storage. A refined look at an older idea that dates back from the XIX century seeks to address this issue. Namely, engineers are currently entertaining the possibility of using liquefied air as an energy storage medium. Using electricity to cool down air to about 200 °C below zero, air enters its liquid form. When its energy needs to released, it is just allowed to…
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    BEYONDbones

  • Party with the planets this Memorial Day: See the closest gathering of any three planets until 2021

    James
    21 May 2013 | 9:33 am
    As you celebrate this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, take some time to appreciate an interesting sight in the sky — the gathering of Mercury, Venus and Jupiter low in the west-northwest at dusk. Right now, you notice Jupiter setting in the west at dusk. It outshines all stars we ever see at night, so it’s quite visible even during twilight. Because Earth is about to pass around the far side of the Sun from Jupiter’s position, we see Jupiter get a little lower to the horizon each night this month. Image courtesy of earthsky.org Perhaps, if your northwest horizon is clear enough,…

  • Emails from the other side: When it comes to ushabtis, is it possible to miss something you never had?

    Caroline
    20 May 2013 | 1:14 pm
    Our correspondence with Ankh Hap, the original Museum mummy, continues this week with a discussion of ushabtis — miniature funerary figurines placed in ancient Egyptian tombs and meant to take the place of the deceased should they be called upon to perform any manual labor in the afterlife. Apparently one can’t even count on death as a reprieve from hard work! And according to Ankh Hap, one doesn’t know luxury until one knows the benefits of an ushabti army. For more of Emails from the Other Side, review past Beyond Bones posts here. —————…

  • What do HMNS, Superman, Stargate and steampunk have in common? Find out on May 25 at Comicpalooza

    Daniel B
    17 May 2013 | 12:39 pm
    If you’ve been to the Wiess Energy Hall recently, you’ll remember the energy music video that starts off with “Energy is all around us.” Energy is all around us. It’s in the news every day. It’s also a prominent feature in sci-fi, comics and steampunk. For more than 45 years, we’ve had a certain Scottish engineer talk about the need to power his engines. The mighty Starship Enterprise was propelled across the galaxy by warping space around it using a matter-antimatter reaction. (Antimatter has the same mass as matter but is oppositely charged — positron to electron and…

  • Get started early: HMNS child development class Early Investigations doubles capacity for summer

    Caroline
    16 May 2013 | 1:59 pm
    Until recently, our Early Investigations program — designed to pique the interests of young scientists aged 5 to 8 — could only permit 50 kids per day. But due to popular demand, we’ve doubled our capacity to 100 children for our two most popular topics — Paleontology and Insect Zoo — beginning June 1. Beginning in September, tours of the new Hall of Ancient Egypt will also increase capacity to 100 students per day. Each hour-and-a-half course includes a 45-minute interactive class and 45-minute exhibit hall tour led by one of our expert HMNS docents. Intimate tour groups are…
 
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    Harvard Gazette

  • Hansjörg Wyss doubles his gift

    21 May 2013 | 11:00 am
    The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced today that Hansjörg Wyss (M.B.A. ’65), the entrepreneur and philanthropist who enabled the institute’s creation in 2009 with a $125 million gift, has donated a second $125 million gift to the University to further advance the institute’s pioneering work. The Wyss Institute seeks to solve some of the world’s most complex challenges in health care and the environment by drawing inspiration from nature’s design principles. In addition to uncovering new knowledge about how nature builds, controls,…

  • Shinagel’s legacy honored

    20 May 2013 | 12:08 pm
    As portraits of former deans and presidents looked down from the walls of University Hall, Michael Shinagel, Ph.D. ’64, received confirmation that he had set a record as the longest-serving dean in Harvard’s history. Shinagel was first appointed director of the Division of Continuing Education (DCE) in 1975 before being named dean of the Extension School in 1977, a position he has held until his retirement this year. (Shinagel’s official title is dean of continuing education and University Extension.) “The accomplishment is yours, but the benefit has certainly been ours,” said…

  • Attention, undivided

    20 May 2013 | 10:58 am
    Each day, an average of nine people are killed in the United States and more than 1,000 injured by drivers doing something other than driving. The totals—3,300 U.S. deaths and 387,000 injuries in 2011—show that laws in many states banning texting and hand-held cellphone use while driving aren’t getting the job done. Jay Winsten, Frank Stanton Director of the School of Public Health’s Center for Health Communication and associate dean for health communication, thinks it’s time to turn to a higher power: social norms. Winsten and the center hope to reduce distracted driving by…

  • Inside Pforzheimer House: GreekFest

    20 May 2013 | 9:58 am
    On the patio at Pforzheimer House, facing the lively Radcliffe Quad, the odd sight of a lamb roasting on a spit grabbed passersby’s attention. For the fourth consecutive year, the PfoHo dining services staff helped students and staff celebrate GreekFest by creating a delicious feast on May 1. In addition to the lamb, they cooked spanakopita, authentic Greek salad, a mezze bar of appetizers, baklava, and rice pudding. The celebration falls the week before Greek Orthodox Easter, celebrated this year on May 5. Students filled plates and sat at tables covered in blue and white tablecloths to…

  • Cultivating community in Shanghai

    20 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    This is part of a series about Harvard’s deep connections with Asia. SHANGHAI — Kate McFarlin got off the plane in Beijing not knowing a soul. It was 2003, the summer of SARS, and the recent Harvard graduate was there to spend a year at the Beijing Film Academy. McFarlin, armed with little more than what she described as “mediocre classroom Chinese” and the email address of a contact gleaned from her boss at a summer job, survived the yearlong fellowship. But she recalls her initial experience as an example of why it’s important for Harvard to have strong alumni networks in China…
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    Videos

  • Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures Brandon Explains Magnets

    RoosterTeeth
    8 May 2013 | 8:16 am
    Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures Brandon Explains Magnets Like the animated adventure? Check out all of the Rooster Teeth Podcast here: http://bit.ly/slOoBo In RTAA #96, Brandon explains to Gus how magnets work afte... From: RoosterTeeth Views: 775028 19191 ratings Time: 01:19 More in Comedy

  • Wringing out Water on the ISS - for Science!

    Canadian Space Agency
    16 Apr 2013 | 12:58 pm
    Wringing out Water on the ISS - for Science! CSA Astronaut Chris Hadfield performed a simple science experiment designed by grade 10 Lockview High School students Kendra Lemke and Meredith Faulkner. The... From: Canadian Space Agency Views: 7873805 37098 ratings Time: 03:19 More in Science & Technology

  • SPACE STRAW

    Vsauce
    6 Apr 2013 | 4:08 pm
    SPACE STRAW Click to subscribe for free! http://bit.ly/POIaN7 Links to learn more and sources below. http://www.twitter.com/tweetsauce http://www.facebook.com/VsauceGami... From: Vsauce Views: 1552302 60078 ratings Time: 10:13 More in Science & Technology

  • The True Science of Parallel Universes

    MinutePhysics
    2 Apr 2013 | 10:23 am
    The True Science of Parallel Universes Oh, Hey! MinuteEarth! http://youtube.com/minuteearth .........and you can also subscribe to MinutePhysics! http://dft.ba/-minutephysics_sub MinutePhysics is ... From: MinutePhysics Views: 2545804 41853 ratings Time: 04:56 More in Science & Technology

  • What If The Sun Disappeared?

    Vsauce
    31 Mar 2013 | 7:11 am
    What If The Sun Disappeared? Check out MinuteEarth: http://bit.ly/Xkxwmu Become a Vsaucer: http://bit.ly/POIaN7 For cool things every day: http://www.twitter.com/tweetsauce Tools & Links... From: Vsauce Views: 3649506 89497 ratings Time: 11:43 More in Science & Technology
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    NOVA | PBS

  • Deadly Crocodiles Down Under

    2 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Australians try to live safely with giant saltwater reptiles that will eat just about anything—including people.

  • The Limits of Facial Recognition

    2 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Our incomplete understanding of how humans perceive faces may be hindering advances in automated face recognition.

  • Manhunt—Boston Bombers

    2 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Which technologies worked—and which didn't—in the race to track down the men behind the marathon attack?

  • Dual Epidemics Threaten Koalas

    18 Apr 2013 | 7:00 am
    Devastated by disease, an iconic Australian species gets help from science and the public.

  • When to Worry About the Flu

    18 Apr 2013 | 7:00 am
    New strains are worrisome, but science offers a number of reasons why you shouldn't panic.
 
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    Mr Science Show

  • Ep 149: Zombies Part 2

    3 May 2013 | 11:52 pm
    In the second of a two part series on zombies, this week we go deeper in the dark world of the undead. In part one we managed, through a combination of drugs, to create zombie-like creatures who were sluggish and largely brain-dead. This week we have a shot at recreating the zombies of films such as I am Legend - creatures created through the transmission of a virus, who are filled with rage and enjoy the taste of brains. Topics covered include: Mad cow disease and the use of prions to transmit disease, Chimpanzees who eat brains, Methamphetamines for the creation of rage, Mathematical…

  • Ep 148: Zombies Part 1

    3 May 2013 | 11:49 pm
    Zombies have been fodder for science fiction books and movies for years, but could we actually create one in the lab? And why indeed would you want to do this? Surely the whole "eating brains" concept would mean that making one is probably not in your best interests. This week on the podcast, Dr Boob takes us on a journey through zombie science fiction, Haitian zombies and zombie-style animals in nature, including a fascinating scenario where ants are hijacked by a fungus. This episode is part 1 - next time we will tackle, among other things, brain parasites, eating brains (cultural, cooking…

  • Swimming - technique, drag and strength

    3 Apr 2013 | 2:18 pm
      The 2012 Olympics are now only days away. I put together this article for Plus Magazine - check out the original article on Plus for full coverage, and follow Plus closely during the Olympics as they will be running regular sporting articles - see their package on maths and sport. The men's and women's 100 metre freestyle swimming races are set to be two of the most glamorous events of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Much has been made of the swimming events for London 2012 because the previous 2008 Beijing Olympics saw an unprecedented number of new world records, due to the use of…

  • Ep 147: Time Travel and the movies part 2

    12 Mar 2013 | 3:22 am
    Time travel is one of the more interesting plot devices in scifi movies. In this episode and the second in the series, Dr Boob takes us on a journey through parallel universes, causal loops and the nature of time-lines. We look at Back to the Future, the Terminator series, Futurama, Looper, Red Dwarf and Twelve Monkeys. By the end, it got a bit deep and my brain hurt! There are a few spoilers in this episode, if somehow you haven't seen these classic time travel movies. And please excuse my cold! A good reference for attempting to explain the logic of time travel in the movies is Temporal…

  • Marathon finishing times

    9 Jan 2013 | 8:32 pm
    Statistical distributions arising from sporting events are a nerdy love of mine, so I found this chart form athlinks particularly interesting. They analysed marathon results from 2012 and found a number of invisible time barriers. You can read their original post on facebook and join their conversation.   The distributions show the psychological effects of goal times. The most striking are at 4 hours and 5 hours, with the sharp drops on the hour suggesting that a lot of runners are aiming at just beating that particular time. Indeed, if I ever ran one, I would probably be aiming at 4…
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    EurekAlert! - Breaking News

  • Study: Empathy plays a key role in moral judgments

    21 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    Utilitarian judgment may arise not simply from enhanced cognitive control but also from diminished emotional processing and reduced empathy, according to a report by Liane Young, assistant professor of psychology at Boston College in Massachusetts and Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht of the Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Favaloro University in Argentina.

  • Study links chemicals widely found in plastics and processed food to elevated blood pressure in children and teens

    21 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    Plastic additives known as phthalates are odorless, colorless and just about everywhere: They turn up in flooring, plastic cups, beach balls, plastic wrap, intravenous tubing and -- according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- the bodies of most Americans. Once perceived as harmless, phthalates have come under increasing scrutiny. A growing collection of evidence suggests dietary exposure to phthalates (which can leech from packaging and mix with food) may cause significant metabolic and hormonal abnormalities, especially during early development.

  • New archaeological 'high definition' sourcing sharpens understanding of the past

    21 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    A new method of sourcing the origins of artefacts in high definition is set to improve our understanding of the past.

  • Shorter duration steroid therapy may offer similar effectiveness in reducing COPD exacerbations

    20 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    Among patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requiring hospital admission, a 5-day glucocorticoid treatment course was non-inferior (not worse than) to a 14-day course with regard to re-exacerbation during 6 months of follow-up, according to a study published online by JAMA. The authors write that these findings support a shorter-course glucocorticoid treatment regimen, which would reduce glucocorticoid exposure and the risk of possible adverse effects.

  • Low radiation scans help identify cancer in earliest stages

    20 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    A study of veterans at high risk for developing lung cancer shows that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) can be highly effective in helping clinicians spot tiny lung nodules which, in a small number of patients, may indicate the earliest stages of the disease. LDCT uses less than a quarter of the radiation of a conventional CT scan.
 
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    The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, Tech

  • "The Google Brain" --Are Humans Entering a New Epoch of Evolution?

    dailygalaxy.com
    21 May 2013 | 8:05 am
    In June of 2012, The New York Times reported that inside Google's high-tech R&D "X" laboratory the search giant has been creating a simulation of the human brain. And rather than teaching it programs, Google's staff have been exposing it to information from the Net so that it learns organically, a little like the way we humans do. It's built by hooking together 16,000 processor cores with over one billion interconnections, in a model of the around 86 billion neurons in a typical adult human brain. In the past decade, we’ve examined our Solar System’s orbit through the Milky Way to ask…

  • Astronomers Probe 1st Large-scale Structures Produced by Dark Matter

    dailygalaxy.com
    21 May 2013 | 6:57 am
    “The first massive stars to form in the universe produced copious ultraviolet light that ionized gas from neutral hydrogen. CIBER observes in the near infrared, as the expansion of the universe stretched the original short ultraviolet wavelengths to long near-infrared wavelengths today," said Jamie Bock, CIBER principal investigator from the California Institute of Technology. CIBER investigates two telltale signatures of first star formation -- the total brightness of the sky after subtracting all foregrounds, and a distinctive pattern of spatial variations. CIBER is a cooperative…

  • "Quantum Weirdness" --New Insights

    dailygalaxy.com
    21 May 2013 | 4:20 am
    Entanglement, by general consensus of physicists, is the weirdest part of quantum science. To say that two particles, A and B, are entangled means that they are actually two parts of an inseparable quantum thing. An important consequence of this inherent kinship is that measuring a property of A (say, the particle's polarization) is necessarily to know the corresponding property of B, even if you're not there with a detector to observe B and even if (as explained below) the existence of that property had no prior fixed value until the moment particle A was detected. To create such…

  • Complex Biochemistry Possible at Origins of Life on Earth

    dailygalaxy.com
    20 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    A new study shows that RNA is capable of catalyzing electron transfer under conditions similar to those of the early Earth. Because electron transfer, the moving of an electron from one chemical species to another, is involved in many biological processes – including photosynthesis, respiration and the reduction of RNA to DNA – the study’s findings suggest that complex biochemical transformations may have been possible when life began. The study was sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, which established the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution (Ribo Evo) at Georgia Tech.

  • Giant Elliptical Galaxy Harbors Largest Known Black Hole in Universe

    dailygalaxy.com
    20 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    The black hole at the center of the super giant elliptical galaxy M87 in cluster Virgo fifty million light-years away is the most massive black hole for which a precise mass has been measured -6.6 billion solar masses. Orbiting the galaxy is an abnormally large population of about 12,000 globular clusters, compared to 150-200 globular clusters orbiting the Milky Way. The team theorized that the M87 black hole grew to its massive size by merging with several other black holes. M87 is the largest, most massive galaxy in the nearby universe, and is thought to have been formed by the merging of…
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    BenchFly

  • Using Your PhD Outside of Research

    Dora Farkas
    6 May 2013 | 8:08 am
    Dear Dora, Are there certain career paths outside of research where the PhD dramatically helps your career advancement? I’m a third-year grad student planning on leaving the bench (to do what, I’m not sure) but I feel like I’m half way there so if getting the letters is important I could tough it out. —MM, grad student Dear MM, There are many alternative paths where a PhD would enhance your career advancement (see Q&A column below on administrative positions). Other careers include patent law, science writing, and regulatory jobs (e.g. working for the FDA). Many…

  • The Broken Graduate Education Experience

    Nathan L. Vanderford
    11 Apr 2013 | 7:05 am
    The life of a scientist can be very hard. Some of us find ourselves fighting through graduate school and postdoctoral fellowships, battling for jobs in a saturated job market, and then bootstrapping our way through the progression of our career trajectory. Regardless of that, obtaining a PhD is extraordinarily rewarding and impactful to society! Let’s focus on the beginning: graduate school. Obtaining a PhD is hard and it should be. What I found was that graduate school was not impossibly difficult from an intellectual standpoint, but it was painfully hard from an emotional and physical…

  • The Conferencation: Adding Personal Time to a Scientific Meeting

    Dora Farkas
    29 Mar 2013 | 5:47 am
    Dear Dora, Any tips on how to tack a vacation on to a conference without my PI getting angry? I’m traveling to a conference in a great location and I want to stay an extra week after the conference (which itself is a week long), but I’m really nervous to tell the boss.  -RJ, graduate student   Dear RJ, Congratulations on going to a conference in an exciting location! The time that you spend at the conference does not come out of your vacation days. If you want to spend an extra week there, then you would need to take those days off. Most schools have policies regarding the…

  • My (non)Postdoc Story: Marketing at Scientific Publisher

    Christine Buske
    26 Mar 2013 | 7:20 am
    While nearly all of us face challenges during our postdoctoral years, we often feel alone in our struggles. In this series, we hope to share encouraging and uplifting stories of how other scientists were able to turn their situation around and move forward, despite a non-ideal situation. Like snowflakes, fingerprints, and nightmares, every postdoctoral experience is unique, so today we share the (non)Postdoc Story of another successful scientist. I. The Story In grad school I was a behavioral neuroscientist. Now, I’m working for Papers at Springer Science+Business Media as their…

  • Keeping Preliminary Results Private with an Overexcited PI

    Dora Farkas
    30 Jan 2013 | 4:45 am
    Dear Dora, Is there a nice way to tell your boss to “keep his trap shut”?! Every time I share preliminary results, I find out later he tells our collaborators and a few times this has backfired when I wasn’t able to validate my preliminary result. I know I could just stay quiet until the data are validated, but I value his input and don’t want to lose his insights and feedback simply because I can’t trust him to keep new results quiet. -Angie, graduate student Dear Angie, Many PI’s are very excited about preliminary results, and I have received this question…
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    LabGrab - Helping Science Share Discoveries, Science News, and Laboratory Research Findings

  • Scientists Found the Link between DNA Methylation and Human Ageing

    Creative Biomart
    21 May 2013 | 6:35 pm
    In a new research, researchers described a new marker and they used a new mode to quantify aging degree on genetic and molecular level. Their new way not only provides a more accurate method to ensure aging degree, but also brings some new sights for people to predict aging rates or develop new therapies. Read more... read more

  • Novel approaches to antiviral drugs and ways to fight viral infections

    Jack Payette
    17 Apr 2013 | 8:00 am
    Viruses from influenza to HIV cause health problems for many people in all different parts of the world. Researchers and doctors are working hard to fight viral infections but the problems they face are challenging because of the speed at which viruses can evolve and the complexity of the problem which is fundamentally different from the way bacterial infections are treated.  Read more... virology2_small.jpg read more

  • A new opportunity in neuroscience: Brain-to-Brain Interface (BBI)

    Chris Anderson
    11 Apr 2013 | 3:09 pm
    A concept long relegated to works of science fiction may soon become a reality: technlogy that allows two brains to exchange information.Read more... brain-to-brain1.jpg read more

  • Cytoplasmic HuR expression associated with bladder cancer prognosis

    Chris Anderson
    25 Mar 2013 | 1:12 pm
    A recent study from the University of Nebraska Medical center shows that cytoplasmic Human antigen R (HuR) plays an important role in cell proliferation, progression, and survival of bladder cancer patients. The findings may lead to more effective prognoses and prediction of bladder and other cancer cases.Read more... bladdercancer-graphic1.png read more

  • New azhdarchid pterosaur discovered in Upper Cretaceous Transylvanian Basin

    Chris Anderson
    28 Feb 2013 | 4:57 pm
    An exciting new discovery in the Upper Transylvanian Basin of Romania will provide further insight on the morphology, and stratigraphic and geographic distribution of European pterosaurs. The fossil remains identified as Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis comes from the collection of the Transylvanian Museum Society.Read more... Pterosaur1.png read more
 
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    News

  • "This Robot's Acrobatic Leaps Are the Coolest Thing You'll See Today" in IEEE Spectrum

    charity
    10 May 2013 | 6:35 am
    Is this an award?:  No Is this from an external media source?:  Yes Article Date:  05/08/2013 This Robot's Acrobatic Leaps Are the Coolest Thing You'll See Today By Evan Ackerman Posted 8 May 2013 | 18:52 GMTAnimals can jump. It’s one of the things that makes them so good at getting around. To be more specific, though, animals can generally jump in addition to whatever other method of movement that they employ.

  • ICRA 2013 Awards received by GRASP Lab Members

    charity
    9 May 2013 | 1:04 pm
    Is this an award?:  Yes Is this from an external media source?:  Yes Article Date:  05/10/2013 ICRA 2013 Awards received by GRASP Lab Members! Congratulations to All...Best Cognitive Robotics Paper Award: "Using robotic exploratory procedures to learn the meaning of haptic adjectives"Vivian Chu, Ian McMahon, Lorenzo Riano, Craig G. McDonald, Qin (Karen) He, Jorge Martinez Perez-Tejada, Michael Arrigo, Naomi Fitter, John Nappo, Trevor Darrell, and Katherine J. Kuchenbecker. 

  • UPennalizers First Place at RoboCup US Open 2013

    charity
    7 May 2013 | 9:54 am
    Is this an award?:  Yes Is this from an external media source?:  Yes Article Date:  04/19/2013 Congratulations to our UPennalizers, GRASP's robot soccer team, who spent the weekend competing in the US Open Robocup event up in Brunswick, Maine. The team was busy for the past three days preparing the robots, setting up their vision, localization, locomotion and behavior systems. This year, the league is using an expanded field (6 x 9 meters) playing 5v5 soccer, so this was the first time the team had a chance to test the robots in such an environment.

  • "Tiny flying robots! Meet the quadrotor" on CNN Tech

    charity
    2 May 2013 | 1:27 pm
    Is this an award?:  No Is this from an external media source?:  Yes Article Date:  05/01/2013 Tiny flying robots!

  • PR2 Learns Pick and Place Skills, Gives Baxter a Run for Its Way Less Money on IEEE Spectrum

    charity
    22 Apr 2013 | 11:25 am
    Is this an award?:  No Is this from an external media source?:  Yes Article Date:  04/22/2013 PR2 Learns Pick and Place Skills, Gives Baxter a Run for Its Way Less Money on IEEE Spectrum
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    Science Business

  • GSK Holds Challenge for Academic Drug Discovery Partners

    Alan
    21 May 2013 | 1:14 pm
    The global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is holding a competition for academic partners to conduct drug discovery research, with the winners receiving an opportunity to develop the therapy with the company. The Discovery Fast Track program aims to speed up the drug discovery process and is open to academic researchers in the U.S. and Canada. GSK says researchers should outline their proposals in one page with a clear hypothesis identifying therapeutic targets or pathways, as well as assay protocols and reagents. Research proposals should also describe the investigators’…

  • Inkjet Printing Process Devised for Graphene Circuits

    Alan
    21 May 2013 | 9:20 am
    Graphene molecular illustration (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Materials scientists at Northwestern University in Illinois developed an ink made of a graphene solution that can print patterns for electronic circuits and maintain their conductivity even after folding. The team led by engineering professor Mark Hersam published its findings online in a recent issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (paid subscription required). Graphene is closely related to graphite like that used in pencils, but consists of only a single atomic layer of carbon atoms. The material is very…

  • Start-Up Creating Audio Technology from UC Davis Research

    Alan
    20 May 2013 | 2:09 pm
    Dysonics chief technologist Robert Dalton demonstrates the company’s audio app and headphone device (University of California, Davis). A two year-old company spun-off from University California in Davis is designing a new type of audio experience based on research in the school’s engineering department. Dysonics Inc., located in San Francisco, was founded by three Davis engineering faculty members, bringing to market more than a decade of research on multi-dimensional audio from the university’s Center for Image Processing and Integrated Computing lab. The lab conducts…

  • IV Catheters Linked to Blood Clot Risk in Sickest Patients

    Alan
    20 May 2013 | 8:31 am
    Example of peripherally inserted central catheter (AHRQ.gov) Medical researchers at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor found a widely used catheter for intravenous (IV) drug delivery is linked to a higher risk of deep vein blood clots, particularly among critically ill patients or those with cancer. The findings of the team led by internal medicine professor Vineet Chopra, which show associations and not necessarily cause-and-effect, appear today online in the journal The Lancet (paid subscription required). Chopra’s team, including colleagues from the Ann Arbor Veterans Affairs…

  • Taking a Break

    Alan
    14 May 2013 | 6:49 am
    (A. Kotok) Science Business will take a break for a few days, to recharge our batteries — lithium-ion and otherwise. We will return to regular posting next Monday, 20 May.
 
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    Frontier Scientists

  • Ozone loss and recovery in the Arctic

    Laura
    14 May 2013 | 1:34 pm
    Laura Nielsen for Frontier Scientists The ozone hole is a problem which plagues the skies above Antarctica. Yet in 2011, Arctic skies experienced the most severe ozone depletion ever measured in the north. The reasons why are now explained in a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres headed by lead author Susan E. Strahan, an atmospheric scientists [...]

  • Monitoring volcanic activity at Mount Cleveland

    Laura
    7 May 2013 | 4:03 pm
    Laura Nielsen for Frontier Scientists On Saturday May 4th the Alaska Volcano Observatory detected a series of low-level explosions at Cleveland volcano. Three discrete explosions occurred at 5:00 am, 9:17 am, and 11:44 am Saturday, while subsequent less powerful rumbles on Sunday denoted an ongoing low-level eruption. The sequence of eruptions emitted ash, gas, and [...]

  • Big booms over the northland

    Laura
    30 Apr 2013 | 11:01 am
    by Ned Rozell Near a small village in Russia, Marina Ivanova stepped into cross-country skis and kicked toward a hole in the snow. The meteorite specialist with the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and Vernadsky Institute in Moscow was hunting for fragments of the great Chelyabinsk Meteorite that exploded three days earlier. This search was [...]

  • New insights: global warming drivers in the 20th century and beyond

    Laura
    23 Apr 2013 | 11:41 pm
    Laura Nielsen for Frontier Scientists Researchers have combed through the last 2,000 years of climate records. Their assessment affirms that a persistent long-term cooling trend concluded in the late 19th century, reversed by global warming. The study was performed by members of the “2K Network” of the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) Past Global Changes [...]

  • VIIRS as an Arctic Nightlight

    liz
    15 Apr 2013 | 11:07 pm
    by Liz O’Connell for Frontier Scientists During winter in the Arctic it’s “night” almost all the time, but thanks to the new Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) we no longer have to be in the dark about what’s going on with the weather.  Here is a VIIRS/DNB image of the Alaska [...]
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    Midwest Laboratories Blog

  • Take Precautions when swimming this summer

    Brent Pohlman
    21 May 2013 | 5:04 am
    A study from the Center For Disease Control found that 58% of the pools in the United States had a presence of e.Coli in their pool water. Make sure you take precautions with your children when it comes to going to the local public pool and dealing with the issue of bacteria this summer. Make [...]

  • Severe Weather is affecting the Central United States

    Brent Pohlman
    20 May 2013 | 5:26 am
    Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of yesterday’s severe weather which produced tornadoes and heavy rains across the central and Southeastern United States.    If you did not see the dramatic events, check out this news story from ABC. This slow moving storm will gradually move to the east affecting parts of [...]

  • Food Dates – Very Confusing

    Brent Pohlman
    17 May 2013 | 5:04 am
    Have you purchased a food item and looked at the label and tried to decipher what the dates mean like Use by “xx/xx/xx” date Sell by “xx/xx/xx” date Best by”xx/xx/xx” date Some items like baby foods have a date that is mandated by the government. Otherwise, the date on the package is up to the [...]

  • No-Till Planting Explained

    Brent Pohlman
    16 May 2013 | 5:21 am
    No-Till Planting is the tilling plan of choice for many growers and farmers.  I came across a great article, “What is No-Till” by Brian Scott and have quickly summarized some of the points in his article. It’s major advantage is the fact that the soil moisture and nutrients remain in the soil and are not [...]

  • How often should I have an oil change

    Brent Pohlman
    15 May 2013 | 5:39 am
    If you are like myself, you have one of those oil change reminder labels that lets us know when we should expect to have our oil changed. Typical time is 3,000 miles. If you are like me, it seems that sometimes this time frame can go by very fast and as a result it could [...]
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    EcoTone

  • the drones are coming

    katie@esa.org (Katie Kline)
    21 May 2013 | 6:03 pm
    Unmanned vehicles bring in the data By Liza Lester, ESA communications officer   Earlier this month, a couple of environmental scientists from NOAA and WWF turned up at a symposium on drones in company with journalists, law & order types, engineers, gearheads and think tank fellows. The scientists were on the pro-drone docket. Drones can [...]

  • ESA Policy News May 17

    katie@esa.org (Katie Kline)
    17 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Science Policy Analyst Terence Houston.  Read the full Policy News here. NSF: FORMER DIRECTORS EXPRESS CONCERN WITH DRAFT PEER REVIEW BILL On May 8, six former officials who headed the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Science Board during the Clinton and George W. [...]

  • Ecologists reaching out #reachingoutsci

    katie@esa.org (Katie Kline)
    16 May 2013 | 12:04 pm
      By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs Since the earliest days of the Ecological Society of America’s existence (it’s 98 years old) ecologists have sought to share scientific information.  In the 1950s, the Society created a public affairs committee and its members actively engaged with federal policy makers on some of the key [...]

  • Managing water with natural infrastructure: win-wins for people and wildlife

    katie@esa.org (Katie Kline)
    13 May 2013 | 1:58 pm
    By Terence Houston, Science Policy Analyst The US Senate is moving forward with a new Water Resources Development Act, a comprehensive bill that authorizes funding for Army Corps of Engineers projects related to flood management, environmental restoration and other water resources infrastructure issues. The bipartisan legislation (S. 601) is sponsored by Senate Environment and Public [...]

  • Zeal to ensure clean leafy greens takes bite out of riverside habitat in California

    katie@esa.org (Katie Kline)
    6 May 2013 | 3:13 pm
    Perceived food safety risk from wildlife drives expensive and unnecessary habitat destruction around farm fields By Liza Lester, ESA communications officer   Meticulous attention to food safety is a good thing. As consumers, we like to hear that produce growers and distributers go above and beyond food safety mandates to ensure that healthy fresh fruits [...]
 
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    weird thingsweird things | exploring science, technology, the strange and the unknown

  • from virtual reality pioneer to anti-singularitarian

    Greg Fish
    18 May 2013 | 7:21 am
    This is not the first time Jaron Lanier gets a post on Weird Things, in fact we met him before as he quickly went off the rails in describing AI, then became more incoherent while bemoaning all social media as a dehumanizing waste, all the while trying to pick a fight with the Singularitarian version of a machine-directed utopia. Now, the former virtual reality pioneer has moved on to a book length rumination on how technology is killing the middle class by eliminating jobs. And as per his current modus operandi, he starts off with a tiny kernel of a reasonable statement, and proceeds to…

  • psychologists, convenience samples, and really shoddy popular science writing

    Greg Fish
    16 May 2013 | 1:50 pm
    Psychology has occasionally been called "the study of college undergraduates" and while that would usually be a joke in the psych department, a few writers are raising red flags that it’s too common of a practice and might be affecting the quality of the science. The study they chose to highlight? A survey trying to make the link between someone’s first sexual experience and what sexual activity follows based on 319 heterosexual college students who started having sex only about two years prior to the study and were asked to describe their intimate activities with some…

  • conspiracy writers rediscover the cia’s sex slaves

    Greg Fish
    13 May 2013 | 2:42 pm
    Conspiracy theories about mind control are nothing new. In fact, I’ve lost count how many books from Jim Marrs and David Icke purport some sort of mind control beam, or wave, or program by the nefarious Illuminati altering our consciousness so we become mere puppets to the will of an evil intelligence. And considering how many of them are out there, they’re getting harder to sell, even to an audience primed to hear more stories about sinister mind control experiments which sound pulled right form the pages of the Illuminatus! Trilogy, so if you’re a conspiracy theorist with…

  • when you measure for the sake of measuring

    Greg Fish
    7 May 2013 | 2:52 pm
    One of Warren Buffet’s most famous pieces of advice to analytic managers is to measure the things that matter, not just the things that are measurable. It’s a lesson lost on Chris Dancy, the IT professional whose claim to fame is measuring every second of his workday. Every second. I meant it. Every call, meeting, bathroom break, document edit, e-mail reply, and work tweet has a special color coded entry in Google Calendar so his bosses will know exactly what he was doing at 1:13 PM last Tuesday and appreciate his ability to document every moment at the office. Just one thing is…

  • yes, sometimes it’s good to write for free

    Greg Fish
    4 May 2013 | 7:43 am
    In March, freelance journalist Nate Thayer is incandescent with rage. It wasn’t that he’s trying to make his living by writing and no one’s paying attention. In fact The Atlantic is knocking on his door and asking to run condensed versions of one of his blog posts. No, the big problem is that they were not offering to pay him for it, and their once upon a time talks of a $125,000 per year retainer never really came to anything because the editor working on it was killed in Iraq. Thayer was livid, saying that he can’t feed his kids, can’t pay for his internet…
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    bioBlogia

  • Vacuna contra la adicción a la cocaína pasa prueba clave

    Francisco P. Chávez
    14 May 2013 | 10:04 am
      Los investigadores de Weill Cornell Medical College han probado con éxito una novedosa vacuna contra la cocaína en primates, acercándolos a iniciar los ensayos clínicos en humanos. El estudio, publicado en línea por la revista Neuropsychopharmacology, utiliza una técnica radiológica para demostrar que la vacuna contra la cocaína impide que la droga llegue al cerebro y produce un aumento en los niveles de dopamina. La formulación de la vacuna contra la cocaína es novedosa ya se consume en la sangre como un pequeño Pac-man antes de que pueda llegar al cerebro. Esta estrategia…

  • Científicos descubren hormona que podría curar la diabetes

    Francisco P. Chávez
    7 May 2013 | 3:57 pm
    Los investigadores del Instituto de Células Madre de Harvard (HSCI) han descubierto una hormona que mantiene la promesa de un tratamiento radicalmente más eficaz de la diabetes tipo 2, una enfermedad metabólica que afecta a millones de personas en todo el mundo. Los investigadores creen que la hormona también podría tener un papel en el tratamiento de la diabetes tipo 1 y la juvenil. El trabajo, publicado en la prestigiosa revista Cell, descubrió que la La hormona llamada betatrophin, hace que los ratones para produzcan las células beta pancreáticas secretoras de insulina a…

  • Publican Anuario de Medicina Regenerativa 2013

    Francisco P. Chávez
    7 May 2013 | 1:58 pm
    La Alianza para la Medicina Regenerativa (ARM)acaba de publicar su Anuario 2013. Esta publicación ofrece no solo un panorama general del campo de la Medicina Regenerativa (MR) sino también incluye información detallada sobre los productos disponibles así como los ensayos clínicos en fase tardía y también información financiera y mercantil en este novedoso campo de la medicina. Es sin dudas unos de los compendios más completos en lo que a medicina regenerativa respecta. Con más de 100 productos de RM en el mercado, y un estimado de 2.500 ensayos clínicos en curso en todo el mundo,…

  • Secuencian genoma de un pez ancestral clave en el desarrollo de los mamíferos

    Francisco P. Chávez
    19 Apr 2013 | 1:24 pm
      Un equipo internacional de investigadores ha descifrado el genoma de una criatura cuya historia evolutiva es a la vez enigmática y esclarecedora: el celacanto africano. Una verdadera vivienda viva que se pensaba que se había extinguido.   Un celacanto vivo fue descubierto frente a las costas de África en 1938, y desde entonces, las preguntas sobre estos peces de aspecto antiguo y popularmente conocido como “fósiles vivientes”, han cobrado mucha importancia. Los celacantos hoy se parecen mucho a los esqueletos fosilizados de sus antepasados ​​de más de 300…

  • Desarrollan cerebros transparentes utilizando un proceso de hidrogel

    Francisco P. Chávez
    15 Apr 2013 | 10:38 am
      La transparencia nos gusta a todos y particularmente para los científicos poder observar un proceso es muchísimo mejor que solo describirlo o cuantificarlo. Los principales modelos animales que utilizo en mi laboratorio (el gusano C. elegans y el pez cebra) tienen en común el don de la transparencia por lo permite para observar mis bacterias y las células animales a través del animal, in vivo, sin necesidad de matarlo. ¿Qué hacemos entonces con los órganos que no son transparentes? La respuesta es hidrogel. Gracias a la combinación de la neurociencia y la ingeniería química,…
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    The Conversation - Science + Technology

  • From your wallet to Google Wallet: your digital payment options

    David Tuffley, Lecturer in Applied Ethics & Socio-Technical Studies at Griffith University
    21 May 2013 | 8:10 pm

  • Deep brain stimulation: the hidden challenges of a technological fix

    Adrian Carter, NHMRC Research Fellow at University of Queensland
    21 May 2013 | 1:34 pm
    Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a remarkable therapeutic innovation that has restored the lives of many individuals with intractable neurological disorders. Nowhere is this more evident than in crippling disorders like dystonia, Parkinson’s disease and Tourette’s syndrome. Last week on The Conversation, Amy Reichelt from UNSW provided a useful review of the therapeutic and scientific promise of DBS in these conditions. The success of DBS in neurologically-based movement disorders has encouraged clinicians and researchers to trial the technology in psychiatric conditions that do not…

  • Do not resuscitate: the journal impact factor declared dead

    Brendan Crabb, President of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes and Director and CEO at Burnet Institute
    20 May 2013 | 6:51 pm

  • Worker ant-ics could lead us to search and rescue robots

    Tanya Latty, ARC Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Sydney
    20 May 2013 | 1:36 pm
    When disaster strikes, search and rescue robots could save lives by finding and retrieving people buried under rubble. But designing robots that can descend rapidly through unstable and uneven rubble has proved to be a considerable technical challenge. A paper published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science shows how the fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), best known for its painful sting and highly invasive habits, can teach engineers how to build fast and agile rescue robots. Fire ants – not usually man’s best friend. A team of physicists and biologists from the Georgia…

  • Animals in research: C. elegans (roundworm)

    Hannah Nicholas, Lecturer in Molecular Biology at University of Sydney
    19 May 2013 | 7:52 pm
    Our series, Animals in Research, profiles the top organisms used for science experimentation. Here, we look at Caenorhabditis elegans – a roundworm. When you think of a worm, what do you see? For some it’s the squeamish thought of treading on one in bare feet after rain; for others it’s the periodical doses of dewormer for the family pet. Perhaps it’s even the slimy tubes that happily munch through the compost. C. elegans. Wikimedia Commons Well, now you can add “medical research star” to your list. One species of worm – Caenorhabditis elegans – has contributed more to medical…
 
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    Sciencebase Science Blog

  • SIDS, cot death absolute risks

    David Bradley
    22 May 2013 | 1:18 am
    The tabloids were screaming at new parents this week desperately yelling at them not to share a bed with their newborn because it could be lethal, causing sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death. The research said so. SIDS is tragic, of course, but a little composure, please. As NHS Choices explains: “The researchers estimate that the absolute risk of SIDS for room-sharing infants was 0.00008 (eight per 100,000) when neither parent smoked and the baby was less than three months old, breastfed, and had no other risk factors.” That’s 8 of every 100,000 infant deaths for…

  • A design for life

    David Bradley
    7 May 2013 | 1:12 pm
    As the average age of the population goes up with people surviving many years more than their allegorical three score years and ten, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of senile dementia will rise too. Many people can suffer symptoms for many years and yet live independent lives or at least with minimal care intervention, so it is critical for designers and manufacturers to take this into account if their products are to have usability in this group and help not hinder users. Elderly cake baker image via Shutterstock Adam Glasgow and Peter Higgins of Swinburne…

  • How did feathers evolve?

    David Bradley
    3 May 2013 | 12:29 am
    Carl Zimmer offered some insights at TED-Ed into how dinosaurs got their plumage and evolved into the flying birds, excellent birds, we see today. This is witty animation plucks up the courage to fill in the gaps. On an entirely unrelated note, I wrote a song about flight, which you can hear on my SoundCloud page or via my Songs, Snaps and Science site. How did feathers evolve? is a post from the science blog of David Bradley, author of Deceived Wisdom Subscribe to our Email Newsletter

  • Win #DeceivedWisdom in our 10k competition

    David Bradley
    2 May 2013 | 8:02 am
    My publisher just added up all the sales of my book Deceived Wisdom including hardback sales since November, Kindle and ePub downloads and the Audible editions. The grand total so far…drum roll please…is 10,000 copies, which ain’t bad for a popular science book (although it was #1 on amazon for a while ahead of Sir David and ProfBrianCox) and my publisher E&T Book‘s first foray into science. Many thanks to everyone who took the book to heart and once again to my good friend Tim Lihoreau for inspiration, discussions and setting the ball rolling. Anyway, to mark…

  • We’ve got a lot of grounds to cover

    David Bradley
    30 Apr 2013 | 2:26 pm
    Next time you’re sipping on your skinny, frothy mochachocafrappalatteccino with maple syrup and cinnamon at the local Costabucksorthree coffee shop and surfing on their EasyHack(TM) wireless internet spare a thought for the grounds. The burnt out and scalded fragments of beans gone by that in this household are recycled via the compost bins but on the industrial scale represent an international commodity waste product you might not at first appreciate but represents a truly pressing issue. Big coffee drink image c/o Shutterstock Thankfully, there are researchers who are working on…
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    QUEST

  • The Future of Water

    Andy Soth
    21 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    Photo by Virginia Smith An Expert Opinion: Sandra Postel Sandra Postel has been a leading authority on global freshwater issues for 25 years. Through her organization, The Global Water Policy Project, Postel conducts research, writes, and travels the world providing insights into water challenges and solutions. A former Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment, she is currently the National Geographic Society’s Freshwater Fellow —and she NEVER drinks bottled water if she can help it. You’ve said in the future the human story will become a water story, what do you mean by that?

  • Saved From Living Death: How Genetically Modifying Chestnuts Could Bring Them Back

    Dr. Barry Starr
    20 May 2013 | 8:43 am
    We are getting very close to being able to bring back these gorgeous trees that used to dominate forests in the Eastern U.S. Now the big question is whether we should. Image courtesy of Wikimedia commons. Around the turn of the 20th century, the forests in the eastern U.S. were dominated by the American chestnut. These “sequoia of the east” ruled the roost back then and were the cornerstone tree species. By midcentury, though, almost all of these majestic trees had been turned into shrubs. No, this wasn’t magic. Instead, a fungus arrived from Asia that prevented the trees from growing…

  • Thinking Like a Pirate – or a Scientist

    Clancy J. Wolf
    16 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    How Do Scientists Think?   Field Notes:  Clancy Wolf, IslandWood     What do you think of when you think of “science?” Do you get all nervous and think about chemistry class and trying to get the right answers on the labs? Forget the word “science” for a minute, and go back in your memory. Can you remember a time when, say as a young child, you played in a field, beach or barn?  Maybe you spent a whole day figuring out how to skip a rock across a lake. Or what exactly you had to do to stay balanced on your two-wheeled bicycle. Those memories are what “science” is all…

  • Are Doughnuts Destroying Forests?

    David Huppert
    14 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    An Expert Opinion: Frances Seymour The former Director General at the Center for International Forestry Research, Frances Seymour has been a world leader in the effort to understand and address the impacts of tropical deforestation for 20 years. Or as she puts it, since Ben and Jerry’s released their Rainforest Crunch ice cream. What got you interested in forests in the first place? Growing up in Chapel Hill, [North Carolina] I was always interested in nature and I tried to think of careers that could enable me to indulge that hobby. So when I was at UNC, I majored in zoology and thought…

  • Scientist Superheroes: The US Government's Crisis Science Team

    Peter Lollo
    13 May 2013 | 12:49 pm
    If your town were suddenly struck by an earthquake or hurricane, you could count on the arrival of police, firefighters, and medical technicians to aid in the emergency response. As of this past January, the US government has added a new team of responders to this list—scientists. The Strategic Sciences Group was formed under Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in order to help the department “act quickly, decisively and effectively when hurricanes, droughts, oil spills, wildfires or other crises strike.” The group was initially tested as a pilot program during the Deepwater Horizon…
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    As Many Exceptions As Rules

  • Biodiversity Counts!

    15 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Biology concepts – biodiversity, kingdoms of life, animalia, plantae, fungi, protist, archaea, bacteria, extant, extinctIt seems that contests counting things in jars always involve food. M&Ms, jellybeans, candies, and gumballs are common things to estimate. I like another estimate game – how many grains of sand can be held in one human hand? Amazingly, only about 10,000.At some point in our lives, we have all tried to win the prize by guessing how many jellybeans are in the jar. Number estimation is a skill few people possess, just try ordering mulch by the square yard – you end up…

  • It’s An Airtight Case

    8 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Biology concepts – respiration, aerobe, anaerobe, CAM plants, plastron respiration, cutaneous respiration Question of the Day – what living thing can hold its breath the longest?It may seem like an exaggeration, but people whose tissues are low on oxygen (hypoxic) can have a bluish hue (cyanosis). Blood that is oxygenated is redder than blood that is deoxygenated. In animals with more hemoglobin than humans, like whales, the blood can actually turn almost purple. Blue Man Group will turn you blue - from laughter, not disease.The world’s record for holding one’s breath (voluntarily)…

  • Venomous Plants – A Hairy Situation

    1 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Biology concepts – venom, toxin, poison, nettle, urticating hairs, trichomes, defense behavior The cobalt blue tarantula is a beautiful old world tarantula, but not very cleverly named. They are popular as pets, even though they are fast, aggressive and have a potent venom. Fortunately, they don’t have urticating hairs. A tarantula, a jellyfish, and an ongaonga tree walk into a bar – O.K., maybe not the best start. But these three organisms do have something in common, something that has been recognized since the time of their classification and naming. Follow along. Tarantula spiders…

  • A Death Apple A Day Keeps…..

    24 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    Biology concepts – toxin, poison, urushiol, oleander, hapten, allergic contact dermatitis A cloudburst threatens to ruin your summer hike. You dart under a tree for protection from the rain and break out a granola bar. You decide to wait it out, but after a few minutes, your skin starts to itch and your eyes sting. After a few more minutes, you notice a rash on your arms and your throat feels like it's closing. Is it bad granola? Is it acid rain? Are you going to die?The manchineel tree is toxic enough that just touching it can do you serious harm. The sign should say, “Don’t even get…

  • It’s An All Or None Proposition

    17 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    Biology concepts – toxin, venom, cnidarians, kleptocnidaeIn our discussions of venoms and toxins we have looked at many groups (phylums) of animals. In each phylum we have identified at least one venomous animal. We have talked venomous amphibians (frogs, salamanders), venomous reptiles (lizards, snakes), venomous arthropods (insects and spiders), and even venomous mammals. Even though we haven’t talked about them in this series, there are also venomous sponges, and sponges are the most primitive animals on Earth. Sinornithosaurus was a raptor dinosaur with feathers; a very early…
 
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    Laboratory News » News

  • Hunter-gatherers had a taste for fish

    admin
    20 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    The first study to directly address the often posed question, “why did humans make pots?” reveals that the earliest use of ceramic vessels was for cooking fish. Researchers carried out the first chemical analysis of food residues in pottery up to 15, 000 years old from the late glacial period. Through chemical analysis of organic compounds extracted from charred surface deposits, the team was able to determine the use of hunter-gatherer “Jōmon” ceramic vessels found in Japan. “Foragers first used pottery as a revolutionary new strategy in the processing of marine and freshwater…

  • 3D printed shapes mimic living tissue

    admin
    15 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    A custom-built programmable 3D printer that can print materials with the properties of living tissues has been developed by Oxford University researchers. The new type of printed material consists of thousands of connected water droplets, encapsulated within lipid films that are able to perform some of the same functions as our cells. “We aren’t trying to make materials that faithfully resemble tissues but rather structures that can carry out the functions of tissues,” said Professor Hagan Bayley at Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry, who led the research. “We’ve shown…

  • Young galaxy is surprisingly efficient star-factory

    admin
    13 May 2013 | 4:31 am
    Astronomers have discovered an extremely distant galaxy that has one of the largest star-formation rates they have ever seen. The new galaxy, called HFLS3, looks like a faint red smudge in images from the European Space Agency’s Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES). The images represent the galaxy producing new stars from gas and dust, which makes it a ‘starburst galaxy’. “This particular galaxy got our attention because it was bright, and yet very red compared to others like it,” said Herschel researcher Dr Dave Clements from the Department of Physics at Imperial…

  • Primordial soup secret revealed

    admin
    10 May 2013 | 4:24 am
    Scientists may have cracked a common conundrum about how objects from space could have kindled life on Earth. The study, led by Leeds University, revealed how a chemical, similar to one now found in all living cells, could have been created when phosphorus-containing meteorites landed in hot, acidic pools of liquid around volcanoes that were likely present across the early Earth. “The mystery of how living organisms sprung out of lifeless rock has long puzzled scientists, but we think the unusual phosphorus chemicals we found could be a precursor to the batteries that now power all life on…

  • Ring rain influences Saturn’s atmosphere

    admin
    8 May 2013 | 4:22 am
    Saturn’s atmosphere is home to more charged water particle “rain” than previously thought suggests a study led by the University of Leicester. Their findings reveal that this rain influences the composition and temperature structure of parts of the planet’s upper atmosphere. The research is published in Nature. “Saturn is the first planet to show significant interaction between its atmosphere and ring system,” said James O’Donoghue, the paper’s lead author and a postgraduate researcher at Leicester. “The main effect of ring rain is that it acts to ‘quench’ the ionosphere…
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    BioEdge

  • Jolie’s Choice

    18 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    Read more...

  • Jolie’s Choice

    18 May 2013 | 6:53 am
    Hollywood celebrity Angelina Jolie was hailed this week for her bravery in revealing that she has had a preventative double mastectomy. Read more...

  • DSM-5 to be launched next week

    18 May 2013 | 6:48 am
    The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) goes on sale on May 22 after more than a decade of revision by 1,500 experts. Read more...

  • Breakthrough in therapeutic cloning reignites debate

    18 May 2013 | 6:45 am
    Cloning humans might be one step closer, with scientists in the US managing to use adult skin cells to produce an embryo clone. Read more...

  • Are bioethicists a “priestly caste”?

    18 May 2013 | 6:40 am
    Is bioethics compatible with democracy? This is not a question that surfaces very often in policy debates featuring prestigious bioethicists. However, in a provocative column in The Guardian, Nathan Emmerich, a young bioethicist, asks whether bioethicists are turning into a priestly caste: Read more...
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    Science News from SciGuru.com

  • “Plastic” sensors for diagnosis of genetic and infectious diseases

    SciGuru.com Science News Desk
    21 May 2013 | 8:43 pm
    In recent years, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have attracted much attention due to their multifarious potential applications including in sensors, separations, catalysis, drug delivery and waste management. To prepare MIPs, functional monomers are initially self-assembled around the template molecule via interaction between functional groups on both the template and the monomers. The self-assembled functional monomers are subsequently cross-linked.read more

  • Changing cancer's environment to halt its spread

    SciGuru.com Science News Desk
    21 May 2013 | 1:24 pm
    By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, a trans-Atlantic research team has identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer. The findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could potentially block metastasis in a variety of cancers.read more

  • Possibility of drugs that can prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease

    SciGuru.com Science News Desk
    21 May 2013 | 12:32 pm
    Imagine a pharmaceutical prevention, treatment or even cure for Alzheimer’s disease. It is almost impossible to overstate how monumental a development that would be and how it would answer the prayers of millions. Though science isn’t there yet, a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience spearheaded by USC Davis School of Gerontology researchers offers a tantalizing glimpse of potential solutions.read more

  • Resistance to last-line antibiotic makes bacteria resistant to immune system

    SciGuru.com Science News Desk
    21 May 2013 | 7:49 am
    Bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin are also commonly resistant to antimicrobial substances made by the human body, according to a study in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Cross-resistance to colistin and host antimicrobials LL-37 and lysozyme, which help defend the body against bacterial attack, could mean that patients with life-threatening multi-drug resistant infections are also saddled with a crippled immune response.read more

  • Practice makes perfect? Not so much

    SciGuru.com Science News Desk
    21 May 2013 | 7:43 am
    Turns out, that old “practice makes perfect” adage may be overblown. New research led by Michigan State University’s Zach Hambrick finds that a copious amount of practice is not enough to explain why people differ in level of skill in two widely studied activities, chess and music. In other words, it takes more than hard work to become an expert. Hambrick, writing in the research journal Intelligence, said natural talent and other factors likely play a role in mastering a complicated activity.read more
 
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    Patexia Rss Feed

  • "Thrombosis" contest online

    17 May 2013 | 2:44 pm
    The latest contest is a search for licensing opportunities for a stent technology to reduce complications associated with stent thrombosis--or blood clots in a blood vessel--after coronary surgery. Can you find a commercial use of magnesium to prevent stent thrombosis? Enter the contest!

  • Patent Monetization Webinar

    16 May 2013 | 10:51 am
    Learn about Patent Monetization Strategies (how to get the most out of your patents) from Peter Kim, Principal at Irvine Pointe and former Director of IP Strategy at Rabmus, in the next Patexia IP Matters webinar. The webinar will take place on June 13th at 1:30PM ET (10:30AM PT) and will last twenty minutes. This is a rare opportunity to learn about these issues from a former insider at a top IP licensing company.  Especially for free! The event is invite only, you can register...

  • Invitation to submit your application for the policy-making 2.0 prize

    10 May 2013 | 6:01 am
      Dear all The Crossover project, together with UNDP CIS, the Democratic Society and Euractiv, is organising the first "Policy-Making 2.0" prize. It goal is to raise awareness and consolidate the community about a new set of tools to support policy making, such as as open and big data, visualisation, opinion mining, collaborative governance, modeling and simulation, serious gaming.   We think that your application would be a great candidate for the prize, and we...

  • Registration for Patent Types Webinar Closes Soon

    7 May 2013 | 4:12 pm
    If you want to see the patent types webinar on May 9th, make sure you register by Thursday. The webinar will cover the parts and types of patents. It will be given by Daniel Porter, case research manager here at Patexia, will start at 1:30 PM ET, and will last 20 minutes. Looking forward to seeing you there. Patents and Patent Types | Patexia.com Patents and Patent Types

  • A new direction for legal services?

    6 May 2013 | 7:47 am
    Interesting application of a tried and true model... Why This Successful Website Is Going Brick and Mortar | Inc.com There's H&R Block for taxes and walk-in clinics for patients. This company is betting the same model can work for legal advice shops.
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    Citizen Science Center

  • About Hummingbirds

    Chandra Clarke
    16 May 2013 | 7:46 am
    Hummingbird (Photo credit: Wikipedia)I’ve always had a soft spot for hummingbirds; they are tiny, pugnacious, fast, and beautiful. They are tough too; many hummingbirds migrate incredibly long distances.All of that comes at a cost, however: hummingbirds must eat several times their weight in nectar daily to stay alive. This means they may be especially vulnerable to climate change, as changes in local flower crops can mean starvation for the bitty birds. Recent studies suggest that there could be a mismatch between flowering times and the arrival of hummingbirds in their breeding…

  • A space warp on your desktop

    Chandra Clarke
    14 May 2013 | 8:19 am
    Einstein Ring Gravitational Lens (SDSS J162746.44-005357.5); diameter 2.08 ± 0.08″ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The latest citizen science project from Zooninverse wants you to help scientists find zoom lenses in space.Massive objects, such as stars or galaxies, bend space  in such a way that passing light rays curve around them. This means that they end up mimicking the lens in a magnifying glass, and the effect is called a “gravitational lens.”A gravitational lens can have a a magnification factor up to x10 or even more, which gives us a zoomed-in peek at the distant…

  • Use your marbles with Marblar

    Chandra Clarke
    7 May 2013 | 11:14 am
    A screen capture of the Marblar websiteSomething a bit different for today’s entry, as this one isn’t strictly citizen science, but does tap into the scientist and inventor in all of us.Marblar is a new platform designed to help find new uses for unused inventions. Anyone with a bit of lateral thinking ability, or a flair for marketing and commercialization, is invited to login and come up with ideas on how to deploy a technology. It has a game-like design, wherein you collect points, or “marbles” for submitting your ideas, and you have a chance to win cash as well.All…

  • Museum Records

    Chandra Clarke
    2 May 2013 | 10:09 am
    A wealth of information (Photo credit: urtica)Have you ever been through a museum and caught a glimpse into a back room? One that looked tantalizingly full of interesting records and objects not yet out on display? Well, the folks at Zooinverse are offering you the chance to have a closer look at some of these things.Notes from Nature is a brand new project that has digitized thousands of specimen images, labels and ledgers from museum collections and biologists. These collections document where species and populations exist now and where they existed before, so they are key to uncovering the…

  • Light pollution? There’s an app for that

    Chandra Clarke
    30 Apr 2013 | 7:00 am
    What you’re missing: The constellation Orion, imaged at left from dark skies, and at right from Orem, UT a city of about half a million people. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)City dwellers might not realize it, but they’re missing out on some great views… of the sky. Light pollution from sources like street lights and advertising marquees washes out all but the brightest of stars.A new app just released for the Android OS, called “The Loss of the Night” is designed to find out exactly how bad the light pollution is. The app helps measure skyglow by learning which stars…
 
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    sci-news.com

  • Dysalotosaurus Study Reveals How Brain Developed in Dinosaurs

    Enrico de Lazaro
    21 May 2013 | 8:39 am
    Using high-resolution CT scanning and 3D computer imaging, Dr Stephan Lautenschlager from the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences and Dr Tom Hübner from the Niedersächsische Landesmuseum in Hannover have reconstructed and visualized the brain and inner ear of Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki, a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Tanzania about 150 [...]

  • APEX Sees Star Formation in Orion Nebula

    Sci-News.com
    21 May 2013 | 6:23 am
    Astronomers using ESO’s Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) in Chile has captured a stunning new image of cosmic clouds in the constellation of Orion. The new image shows a part of a bigger complex called the Orion Molecular Cloud located about 1,350 light-years away. This region is a rich melting pot of bright nebulae, hot young [...]

  • Scientists Identify Four Genes that Influence ‘Bad’ Cholesterol

    Sergio Prostak
    21 May 2013 | 6:23 am
    A team of researchers from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute reporting online in the Journal of Lipid Research has identified 4 genes in baboons that influence levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol. The team screened a baboon colony of 1,500 animals to find three half-siblings with low levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), or ‘bad,’ cholesterol, and [...]

  • Extremely Tiny Species of Fairyfly Found in Costa Rica, Named after Dog in Peter Pan

    Natali Anderson
    21 May 2013 | 3:37 am
    Entomologists Dr John Huber from the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Dr John Noyes from the Natural History Museum, UK, have described a new genus and species of fairyfly from Costa Rica. The minute insect, named Tinkerbella nana, is 250 micrometers long – that’s 2.5 times the width of a human hair. Entomologists discovered [...]

  • Genome of Tibetan Antelope Sequenced

    Enrico de Lazaro
    20 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    An international team of genetic scientists has completed the genomic sequence of the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii). The Tibetan antelope, also known as chiru, is a native of the high mountain steppes and semi-desert areas of the Tibetan plateau. It is a medium sized antelope with the unique adaptations to against the harsh high-altitude climate. [...]
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    WK's Blog

  • Ways to Become Effective: the Ultimate Typology

    Warren Kinston
    1 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    Mastery: it takes willingness.  More particularly it depends on learning in a way that uses your willingness to the full.  But you have to be willing. I am always amazed at just how often willingness is omitted in academic models and management consulting tools.  Even the famous GROW model: Goals, Reality, Options, Will pussyfoots.  But willingness cannot be taken for granted and, rather than being synonymous with will, it is the 7th Level in the Will Hierarchy.  Consciousness in Western society has not yet fully embraced this highest experience-dominated level (nor…

  • Realities of Teaching, Learning and Becoming Effective

    Warren Kinston
    9 Apr 2013 | 10:00 am
    I remember it well: 2 times 1 is 2, 2 times 2 is 4, 2 times 3 is 6, and so on.  Up to 12 times 12 is 144. What a great way to learn.  I still know that 9 times 7 is 63, and lots of other tricky multiplications too.  Has this gone out of fashion with smart-phones? Everywhere you look in the blogosphere people seem to be bothered by their inability to teach and their students' failure to learn, especially in higher education.  Alison Gopnik, Professor of Psychology, writes: “children learn by exploring—by experimenting, playing, drawing…

  • Psychosocial Reality stands on Two Legs

    Warren Kinston
    25 Mar 2013 | 11:00 am
    This map that I call the Taxonomy of Human Elements in Endeavour, THEE, is still incomplete and poses many puzzles.  The taxonomy was a surprise discovery. I knew I wanted to find a way to help people and improve their relationships, work life and communities. And I soon found that I had to get to grips with psychosocial reality. This was because it became rapidly apparent that what people happen to think and feel has an amazing influence over what they do. Fitting in with reality, objectively or at least independently perceived, was a relatively low priority. Often, it…

  • Getting Help: When the Pupil is Ready …

    Warren Kinston
    3 Mar 2013 | 9:00 am
    Warning: This blog is a human story but it has a lot of references to taxonomic architecture. I know that I can never complete the Taxonomy myself, but it seems important that I get the basics sufficiently clarified so that others can continue and complete the work.  In that regard, I recently had an interesting and gratifying experience that I would like to share with you. When I talk about «basics», there are two sorts of «basic»: basic principles (not the focus of this blog), and basic content.  In terms of content, the underpinning forms to be discovered…

  • Mind over Brain: It's Our Only Hope when it comes to Eating

    Warren Kinston
    24 Feb 2013 | 2:00 pm
    The food industry is poisoning the population—globally. The USA being the most advanced country is the most poisoned. The giant corporations—Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, MacDonalds, Coca Cola, Frito-Lay, Nestle's and others—they all do it with neuroscience. They know the brain is in charge, as the neuroscientists constantly tell us, and so they address themselves to instinctive reactions. They certainly don't encourage thoughtful deliberation about whether or not to buy what is nutritious. The food giants deliberately activate brain-based reactions for salt, sugar,…
 
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    Science Blog

  • Studies Indicate Improved Fat Removal and Skin Tightening with Laser Liposuction

    srinivas_s@omicsgroup.co.in (OMICS Publishing Group)
    19 May 2013 | 10:02 pm
    By Fonthip Maspithak When it comes to liposuction, many fear that their fat loss will come with an unwanted side of loose skin. For those who worry about these undesirable consequences, laser-assisted liposuction can be great solution. In most cases, regular liposuction is used for individuals who already have firm skinthus reducing the risk of excess skin after the procedure. However, the use of lasers, which was approved by the FDA in 2006, has been shown to stimulate the tightening of the skin. Scientists conducted a study of 2200 women and men who all had undergone laser liposuction on…

  • Boost Your Odds by Understanding Ovulation

    srinivas_s@omicsgroup.co.in (OMICS Publishing Group)
    19 May 2013 | 9:29 pm
    By Debbie Keene Knowing your body and understanding your cycle can improve your chances for getting pregnant. Boost your odds by taking a refresher course in understanding ovulation 101: The Average Menstrual Cycle The average menstrual cycle lasts 28 days, but normal cycles can vary from 21 to 35 days, according to WomensHealth.gov. Day one is the first day of your period, and ovulation comes between days 13 and 20. Around day 14 (in a 28-day cycle), ovulation happens — aka an egg is released from the ovary — and over the next several days travels down the fallopian tube toward the…

  • How LASIK Works & Its Benefits

    srinivas_s@omicsgroup.co.in (OMICS Publishing Group)
    13 May 2013 | 5:35 pm
    By Sheena Willey You’ve probably heard about LASIK on the radio, seen LASIK ads in local magazines and you may even know a couple of people that have had it done. But do you have all the details on LASIK surgery? LASIK surgery can seem confusing and there are several misconceptions about what it is and what it does. Read on to find out how LASIK works, learn about its benefits and find out whether or not it’s right for you: LASIK 101 In a nutshell, LASIK is a type of surgery that either cures or dramatically improves common vision problems. Vision issues such as nearsightedness,…

  • Top 10 Schools for Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science

    srinivas_s@omicsgroup.co.in (OMICS Publishing Group)
    13 May 2013 | 5:23 pm
    By Amanda Greene Here is a list we have compiled for you of the top 10 schools in the U.S. for students interested in majoring in engineering, technology, or computer science. Our list is complete with details on each school, tuition cost, location, employers, and famous alumni and is compiled from 5 different ranking lists: National University’s Best College Ranking, Business Insider, and US News & World Report. 1. California Institute of Technology CalTech is located in Pasadena, California Founded in 1891. Undergraduate enrollment of 978 Suburban campus size is 124 acres Tuition and…

  • How Bacteria Forms in Relation to Food Hygiene

    srinivas_s@omicsgroup.co.in (OMICS Publishing Group)
    13 May 2013 | 5:05 pm
    By Ryan Burch At some point in time most of us have suffered from a nasty bout of food poisoning, and racked our brains wondering where it came from, but how do we actually contract food poisoning? It’s pretty obvious to state that food poisoning is contracted by when a person consumes food or liquids that have been infected with bacteria, more often than not E. coli or Staphylococcus. But, how does bacteria actually form on foods or liquids, or objects that go on to contaminate food or liquid? When in the appropriate environment a bacterium will grow in size or length (depending on the…
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    GK BLOG

  • Why the colours of leaves on the trees turn yellow, orange, red and brown in the autumn?

    GK
    11 May 2013 | 6:25 am
    The autumn tints are the external signs of important internal changes taking place in the leaves. The green matter, chlorophyll, in the leaves plays an important part as it helps each leaf to work as a food-factory for the plant. In autumn, however, the trees prepare to give up active life for a season and the food-making activities of the leaves are over. Before the leaves fall, they return much useful material to the plant. Green pigment, sugar and other key substances retreat to the stem and roots. With the breaking up of the chlorophyll at this time, other pigments become visible.

  • How many of the ancient seven wonders of the world still exist, more or less in their original form?

    GK
    4 May 2013 | 6:22 am
    Only one-the Great Pyramid of Cheops, in Egypt. Began as a royal tomb in about 2600 B.C., this is the largest of Egypt's 80-odd pyramids and the only wonder which has survived to this day. It stood in splendour 2,000 years before any of the other six wonders were built located outside Cairo, near Giza, the burial tomb of King Cheops is made up of 23,00,000 limestone blocks averaging 2.5 tonnes each. The total mass of these blocks is nearly 58,40,000 tonnes and the volume is 25,68,000 cubic metres. Most blocks weigh 2.25 tonnes, while some would tip the enormous scale at 13.5 tonnes. The…

  • When a terrorist attack seems likely, authorities declare red alert to step up security. why is such alert called red?

    GK
    27 Apr 2013 | 6:19 am
    The expression has its origin in the Second world war when German fighter bombers (photo, below) carried out extensive air raids on Britain’s military as well as civilian targets. The civil defence authorities determined the degree of alertness on the basis of the number of approaching aircraft after having detected them on radar. Civilians were mobilized accordingly, Yellow, blue and red alerts represented increasing degree of readiness for the attack, red alert being the highest level of alarm.

  • Which is the most dangerous creature in the world?

    GK
    20 Apr 2013 | 6:14 am
    Not sharks or snakes, but the malarial parasites carried by anopheles mosquitoes. Worldwide, they have killed more people since the Stone Age than those who have perished in wars and natural disasters. Malaria has been virtually eradicated in the developed countries, but it is still a major killer in tropical regions. Every year the disease causes as many as 2.7 million deaths throughout the world. Almost 75% of those who die are African children.

  • Why don’t humans have tails, even though they have descended from their tree-dwelling ancestors?

    GK
    13 Apr 2013 | 6:11 am
    Evolution has always favoured organisms with those adaptations which best enable them to survive. Over a period of time, such organisms acquire limbs that serve them right. They may also shed limbs that are no longer helpful or tend to be a handicap. Millions of years ago, our common primate ancestor became too heavy to move on tree branches and began to spend more time on the ground. The tail, a useful balancing aid in tree dwelling became drag and potential entanglement. It had to be done away with. As these primates continued to evolve, the tail began to wane, with only a residual stubby…
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    General Knowledge Blog

  • Why does milk turn sour?

    Knowledge
    20 May 2013 | 1:15 am
      It is due to the growth of microbes in it. If the milk is boiled well, and then sealed up in a vessel, it will not turn sour in any weather or in any length of time, because all the microbes in the milk, including those that turn it sour, have been killed by

  • Iceland’s disruptive volcano

    Knowledge
    11 May 2013 | 12:56 am
    Last month, a volcano erupted In 1,03,000 square kilometre Island nation named Iceland, situated on the fringe of the Arctic Circle, spattering most of the European sky with its volcanic ash. This small country (population: 3,00,000) has nearly 200 volcanoes so It Is no wonder that one or the other is always active. Moreover, 80%

  • What is vetiver mostly used for?

    Knowledge
    25 Apr 2013 | 7:35 am
    Question: The grass used for making Vetiver (also known as Khus) blinds which give us relief from the summer heat was first found in India many years ago. Currently China, Indonesia, Brazil, Haiti etc are also the major contributors to its 250 tonnes of international yearly production. USA and Europe are the major importers of

  • What was real name of Lord Kelvin?

    Knowledge
    12 Apr 2013 | 7:29 am
    Question: Known as absolute zero at -273.15° Celsius, zero Kelvin is that state wherein any substance at that level does not possess any heat at all. In 1892 the British physicist who established the Kelvin scale based on this temperature became well-known as Lord Kelvin. What was his real name? Answer: Lord Kelvin’s, real name was

  • For whom did America’s defense ministry seek such sunglasses?

    Knowledge
    29 Mar 2013 | 7:24 am
    Question: In 1936, when the USA’s defense ministry sensed that the Second World War could take place any time, they approached Bausch & Lomb Company and asked them to invent sunglasses to protect the eyes from the glaring heat of the sun. To the company’s fortune, an American scientist had invented Polaroid glass that very
 
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