Science News
clock | June 9, 2008A Roadmap for Migrating Neurons:
Politicians, pundits, and even your best friends occasionally do things that make you wonder how their brains are wired. The next time you have that thought, consider consulting a developmental neuroscientist: they work every day to understand the processes that wire up everyone'sbrains. It's a mind-boggling job, because as an embryo develops, the connections within its brain ramify, becoming ever more complex. For example, consider the neural connections in the mammalian cerebellum. This distinctive structure is responsible for coordinating sensory and motor…
clock | June 9, 2008Sheep's Sex Determined By Diet Prior To Pregnancy:
Maternal diet influences the chances of having male or female offspring. New research has demonstrated that ewes fed a diet enriched with polyunsaturated fats for one month prior to conception have a significantly higher chance of giving birth to male offspring.
Fossilized Burrows 245 Million Years Old Suggest Lizard-like Creatures In Antarctica:
For the first time paleontologists have found fossilized burrows of tetrapods -- any land vertebrates with four legs or leglike appendages -- in Antarctica dating from the Early Triassic epoch, about…
clock | June 6, 2008Keeping Beer Fresher:
Scientists in Venezuela are reporting an advance in the centuries-old effort to preserve the fresh taste that beer drinkers value more than any other characteristic of that popular beverage.
Futuristic Linkage Of Animals And Electronics:
The same Global Positioning System (GPS) technology used to track vehicles is now being used to track cows.
Brown Argus Butterfly Sees Positive Effects Of Climate Change:
Global warming is generally thought to have a negative affect on the habitats of many animals and plants. Not for the Brown Argus butterfly, however. This insect seems…
clock | June 5, 2008Spider Silk Can Be Stretchy Like Springs Or Like Rubber:
Spider silks are incredibly stretchy, but are they stretchy like elastic or springs? The answer lies in their amino acid content. Spider silks are made from proteins, and biologists have just discovered that the secret lies in the silk protein's amino acid content. Spider silks with high proline contents behave like elastic rubber bands, while spider silks with low proline content behave like stretchy springs.
Scientists Uncover How Plant Roots Respond To Physical Forces Such As Gravity, Pressure, Or Touch:
Researchers at Washington…
j7uy5 | June 4, 2008The Internet was abuzz for a bit today, when Engaget
href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/02/hitachi-maxell-claims-new-li-ion-battery-with-20x-the-power/">reported
that a lithium-ion battery was in development, that could store 20
times as much energy as existing batteries, with lower cost.
But then it was
href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/hitachi-maxell-lithium-ion-battery-manganese-subaru.php">clarified
that battereis could deliver 20 times more power.
Apparently, the original article is behind a pay wall, so bloggers are
still wondering what the real story is…
clock | June 4, 2008This is funny - I start reading interesting stuff, really stuff that I find catchy regardless of where I work....and it's all from PLoS ONE! We rock! The journal that some people regard as a repository for "boring, incremental stuff" is publishing all the most exciting papers around....just see these:
Transgenic Plants Don't Hurt Beneficial Bugs, Entomologists Find:
Genetically modified (GM) plants that use Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), a common soil bacterium, to kill pests won't harm the pests' natural enemies, according to new research by Cornell entomologists.
Honeybee Dance Breaks Down…
clock | June 3, 2008There are 56 new articles published in PLoS ONE a few minutes ago. Please comment, rate and send trackbacks. Here are some of my personal favourites of the week:
East Learns from West: Asiatic Honeybees Can Understand Dance Language of European Honeybees:
The honeybee waggle dance, through which foragers advertise the existence and location of a food source to their hive mates, is acknowledged as the only known form of symbolic communication in an invertebrate. However, the suggestion, that different species of honeybee might possess distinct 'dialects' of the waggle dance, remains…
clock | June 3, 2008Evolution Of An Imprinted Domain In Mammals:
The normal human genome contains 46 chromosomes: 23 from the mother and 23 from the father. Thus, you have two copies of every gene (excluding some irregularity in the pair of sex chromosomes). In general, which parent contributes a chromosome has no effect on the expression of the genes found on it. Exceptions to this rule are caused by "genomic imprinting"--modification of DNA, which means that gene expression is influenced by which parent the gene came from. A new paper investigates the evolution of genomic imprinting in a specific region of…
clock | June 2, 2008The 'Other' Neglected Diseases in Global Public Health: Surgical Conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa:
Currently in sub-Saharan Africa, most patients with surgical problems that are routinely treatable in high-income countries never reach a health facility, or are treated at a facility with inadequate human or physical resources. These conditions lead to premature death or physical disability with a significant economic burden. Meanwhile, the last decade has seen the emergence of numerous "neglected tropical disease" (NTD) initiatives in global public health. As surgeons working with clinicians…
clock | June 2, 2008Feasibility Of Preventing Malaria Parasite From Becoming Sexually Mature Demonstrated:
Researchers have demonstrated the possibility of preventing the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which is responsible for more than a million malaria deaths a year, from becoming sexually mature.
New Barn Swallow Study Reveals Image Makes The Bird:
In the world of birds, where fancy can be as fleeting as flight, the color of the bird apparently has a profound effect on more than just its image. A new study of barn swallows reveals it also affects the bird's physiology.
Toad Research Could…
clock | June 1, 2008Living Fossils Have Long- And Short-term Memory Despite Lacking Brain Structures Of Modern Cephalopods:
Robyn Crook from the City University of New York reports that Nautilus, the ancient living ancestors of modern cephalopods, have both long and short-term memory, despite lacking the brain structures that modern cephalopods evolved for long-term memory.
Slide Rule Sense: Amazonian Indigenous Culture Demonstrates Universal Mapping Of Number Onto Space:
The ability to map numbers onto a line, a foundation of all mathematics, is universal, says a study published May 30 in the journal Science,…
clock | May 31, 2008Why Are Computational Neuroscience and Systems Biology So Separate?:
Despite similar computational approaches, there is surprisingly little interaction between the computational neuroscience and the systems biology research communities. In this review I reconstruct the history of the two disciplines and show that this may explain why they grew up apart. The separation is a pity, as both fields can learn quite a bit from each other. Several examples are given, covering sociological, software technical, and methodological aspects. Systems biology is a better organized community which is very…
clock | May 29, 2008U.S. Reporters Often Do A Poor Job Of Reporting About New Medical Treatments, Analysis Finds:
Most medical news stories about health interventions fail to adequately address costs, harms, benefits, the quality of evidence, and the existence of other treatment options, finds a new analysis in this week's PLoS Medicine. The analysis was conducted by Gary Schwitzer from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Sedentary High School Girls Are At Significant Risk For Future Osteoporosis:
Significant numbers of female high school athletes and non-athletes suffer from…
clock | May 28, 2008Mind Over Matter: Monkey Feeds Itself Using Its Brain:
A monkey has successfully fed itself with fluid, well-controlled movements of a human-like robotic arm by using only signals from its brain, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine report in the journal Nature. This significant advance could benefit development of prosthetics for people with spinal cord injuries and those with "locked-in" conditions such as Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Authentic Viking DNA Retrieved From 1,000-year-old Skeletons:
Although "Viking" literally means "pirate…
clock | May 27, 2008First Female DNA Sequenced:
Geneticists of Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) are the first to determine the DNA sequence of a woman. She is also the first European whose DNA sequence has been determined. Following in-depth analysis, the sequence will be made public, except incidental privacy-sensitive findings. The results will contribute to insights into human genetic diversity.
Why Are Some People Unable To Express Their Emotions?:
Italian investigators have published a new study on the neurobiologic correlates of the inability to express emotions (alexithymia) in the third 2008…
clock | May 27, 2008There are 48 articles published this week in PLoS ONE, something for everyone. Read, note, comment, blog about and send trackbacks... Here are some of the titles I found cool:
Evidence of Authentic DNA from Danish Viking Age Skeletons Untouched by Humans for 1,000 Years:
Given the relative abundance of modern human DNA and the inherent impossibility for incontestable proof of authenticity, results obtained on ancient human DNA have often been questioned. The widely accepted rules regarding ancient DNA work mainly affect laboratory procedures, however, pre-laboratory contamination occurring…
clock | May 27, 2008
How Do US Journalists Cover Treatments, Tests, Products, and Procedures? An Evaluation of 500 Stories:
* The daily delivery of news stories about new treatments, tests, products, and procedures may have a profound--and perhaps harmful--impact on health care consumers.
* A US Web site project, HealthNewsReview.org (http://HealthNewsReview.org/), modeled after similar efforts in Australia and Canada, evaluates and grades health news coverage, notifying journalists of their grades.
* After almost two years and 500 stories, the project has found that journalists usually fail to…
j7uy5 | May 27, 2008Jonah posted an
href="http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/05/tms.php">interesting
video of
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulation"
rel="tag">Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
on The Frontal Cortex. That got me to
wondering if there was anything new.
In January 2007, the US FDA
href="http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/briefing/2007-4273b1_00-index.htm">concluded
that rTMS was safe, but they were unconvinced of its effectiveness.
Their conclusion
href="http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jan07/comments/1697">was
arguable,
but the…
clock | May 26, 2008Climate Change Does Double-whammy To Animals In Seasonal Environments:
Plant-eating animals in highly seasonal environments, such as the Arctic, are struggling to locate nutritious food as a result of climate change, according to research that will be published in the 21 May 2008 online edition of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Led by Penn State Associate Professor of Biology Eric Post, the research, which focused on caribou, suggests that not only are these animals arriving at their breeding grounds too late in the season to enjoy the peak availability of food--the focus of…
clock | May 23, 2008Gene Mutations In Mice Mimic Human-like Sleep Disorder:
Mutations in two genes that control electrical excitability in a portion of the brain involved in sleep create a human-like insomnia disorder in mice, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found. The findings may help scientists better understand the disorder and provide an animal model for developing treatments.
Food-related Clock In The Brain Identified:
In investigating the intricacies of the body's biological rhythms, scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have discovered the existence of a "food-related…