Volume 10, Number 15 April 11, 2011 Physical sciences Technology Life sciences Neuroscience, psychology, behavior Health and medicine

Physical sciences Global warming Supernovae Extraterrestrial sources of formaldehyde Star-forming regions Supersymmetry Possible non-standard model physics Quantum superposition Asymmetric jets from young star Solar activity Sunspot cycles Thermohaline ocean circulation Extrasolar planets Laser Interferometer Space Antenna Plate tectonics Asteroseismology Persistent high-energy flare source Radio astronomy Pulsars Gamma-ray bursts Gamma-ray burst neutrinos SETI Earthquakes Black-hole mergers Paleoclimatology Earth's mantle Universe evolution simulation Aerosols and clouds Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy Technology Controlled fusion Fuel cells Nanotechnology Spintronics Giant magneto-optical Faraday effect with terahertz light Superconducting quantum interference devices Supercomputing Metamaterials Photovoltaics Graphene Brain-computer interface Graphene transistors Plasmonics Lasers Bose-Einstein condensates Virtual reality Superconductivity Life sciences Extremeophiles Amino acid chirality and clay Thioredoxin enzymes and early life KSR and kinase signaling Stress, exercise, and immune system telomeres Embryonic tissue separation SREBP-2, cholesterol, and autophagy Production of multipotent cells from differentiated tissue Sexual selection Spinal cord regeneration in fish Vertebrate eye development Rapid evolution Ribozyme catalysis of RNA synthesis Induced pluripotent stem cells Immune response triggers Molecular evolution of temperature sensors Neanderthals Immune cell search strategy Bacterial production of methymercury Evolution of seed plants Polyphenols and adipocyte differentiation DNA and nuclear receptors Neuroscience, psychology, and behavior Mirror system Perceptual filling-in Biology of alcohol craving Brain-imaging studies Autism Food addiction Brain growth in adults Meditation and pain control Cannabinoids and emotional processing Neuroanatomical differences between bonobos and chimpanzees Social working memory Visual processing Stress, cortisol, and old-age memory impairment BBS proteins, brain development, and schizophrenia Schizophrenia Whisker perception Fish sleep patterns Dopamine and neurogenesis Psilocybin Sensory integration Connectomics Health and medicine Cancer Cancer biology Stem cells Induced pluripotent stem cells and gene therapy Cardiovascular disease Diabetes Antibiotics Exercise and mortality risk AIDS Body mass index, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease Metabolic syndrome Antibiotic resistance Malaria Alzheimer's disease Artificial kidneys

Physical sciences

Global warming

1. April 4, 2011 - Glaciers melting faster than originally thought: study
2. April 4, 2011 - Critics' review unexpectedly supports scientific consensus on global warming
3. April 7, 2011 - Fewer cyclones with climate change - but why?
4. April 10, 2011 - West Antarctic warming triggered by warmer sea surface in tropical Pacific

Supernovae

1. April 4, 2011 - Finding the failed supernovae

Extraterrestrial sources of formaldehyde

1. April 4, 2011 - Formaldehyde: Poison could have set the stage for the origins of life
2. April 6, 2011 - Space Poison Helped Start Life on Earth?

Star-forming regions

1. April 4, 2011 - The art of making stars
2. April 8, 2011 - Nebula Mixer

Supersymmetry

1. April 4, 2011 - MEG experiment may give boost to supersymmetry

Possible non-standard model physics

1. April 5, 2011 - At Particle Lab, a Tantalizing Glimpse Has Physicists Holding Their Breaths
2. April 5, 2011 - A hint of something new in 'W+dijets' at CDF
3. April 6, 2011 - Fermilab Physicists See Something Weird
4. April 6, 2011 - Is That A New Massive Particle ? Is That Some Kind Of Higgs ?
5. April 6, 2011 - Tevatron claims possible glimpse of particles beyond the standard model
6. April 6, 2011 - Fermilab data hint at possible new particle
7. April 6, 2011 - Tevatron data suggests new, unknown particle - but not the Higgs
8. April 6, 2011 - US atom smasher may have found new force of nature - also here
9. April 7, 2011 - The Jet Energy Scale As An Explanation Of The CDF Signal
10. April 7, 2011 - U.S. Collider Offers Physicists a Glimpse of a Possible New Particle
11. April 7, 2011 - Researchers may have found 'new force'
12. April 7, 2011 - Big noises about a little bump at Fermilab
13. April 7, 2011 - Fermilab's data peak that causes excitement
14. April 7, 2011 - Tevatron accelerator yields hints of new particle
15. April 7, 2011 - Mystery signal at Fermilab hints at 'technicolour' force
16. April 8, 2011 - Atom smasher finds possible new force of nature
17. April 8, 2011 - Science is Hard
18. April 9, 2011 - New Particle, If Proved, Could Be A 'Huge Revolution'
19. April 28, 2011 - A 'bump' in the data

Quantum superposition

1. April 5, 2011 - Atom and its quantum mirror image
2. April 5, 2011 - The 'molecular octopus': A little brother of 'Schroedinger's cat'
3. April 5, 2011 - Fattening up Schrödinger's cat
4. April 7, 2011 - Researchers Find 'Fattest Schrodinger Cats Realized to Date'

Asymmetric jets from young star

1. April 5, 2011 - Young Star's Supersonic Gas Jets Are Strangely Asymmetric
2. April 5, 2011 - Spitzer sees young star spew supersonic jets
3. April 5, 2011 - NASA's Spitzer discovers time-delayed jets around young star
4. April 5, 2011 - Baby Star's Twin Gas Jets Fire on Time Delay
5. April 8, 2011 - Baby Star's Jets

Solar activity

1. April 5, 2011 - Sun Video Shows New Solar Cycle Is Far More Active

Sunspot cycles

1. April 5, 2011 - Explaining the mystery of the missing sunspots

Thermohaline ocean circulation

1. April 5, 2011 - New fresh water in Arctic could shift Gulf Stream - also here
2. April 5, 2011 - Gulf Stream could be threatened by Arctic flush

Extrasolar planets

1. April 5, 2011 - NASA's Kepler Space Telescope searches for habitable planets
2. April 8, 2011 - Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite ferrets out planet-hunting targets

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

1. April 6, 2011 - NASA Gives Up on LISA
2. April 7, 2011 - NASA disbands science teams to make way for European mission

Plate tectonics

1. April 6, 2011 - New research suggests strong Indian crust thrust beneath the Tibetan Plateau

Asteroseismology

1. April 7, 2011 - NASA's Kepler helps Iowa State's Kawaler, astronomers update census of sun-like stars - also here
2. April 7, 2011 - Kepler Watches Stellar Throbbing
3. April 7, 2011 - Star vibrations mapped by NASA's Kepler mission
4. April 7, 2011 - Revelations of stars' ages will be a boon for SETI
5. April 8, 2011 - Kepler's Bonus: New Insights on Stars
6. April 8, 2011 - Kepler picks up stellar vibrations

Persistent high-energy flare source

1. April 7, 2011 - Star-Eating Black Hole May Be Producing Universe's Biggest Blast
2. April 7, 2011 - Baffling blowup in distant galaxy - also here
3. April 7, 2011 - NASA Telescopes Join Forces to Observe Unprecedented Explosion
4. April 7, 2011 - Swift, Hubble, Chandra telescopes join forces to observe unprecedented explosion
5. April 7, 2011 - Powerful Space Explosion May Herald Star's Death By Black Hole
6. April 7, 2011 - Space telescopes observe unusual cosmic blast - also here
7. April 8, 2011 - Chandra observes extraordinary event
8. April 8, 2011 - Black hole unleashes enduring cosmic blast

Radio astronomy

1. April 7, 2011 - Instant snapshot of the stars now possible

Pulsars

1. April 7, 2011 - Einstein@Home detects unusual stellar pair

Gamma-ray bursts

1. April 7, 2011 - Breakthrough study confirms cause of short gamma-ray bursts
2. April 8, 2011 - Supercomputer confirms cause of short gamma-ray bursts
3. April 8, 2011 - The engine that powers short gamma-ray bursts

Gamma-ray burst neutrinos

1. April 7, 2011 - Where are the neutrinos?

SETI

1. April 7, 2011 - Talking to the neighbours
2. April 8, 2011 - Exo-evolution: Aliens who hide, survive

Earthquakes

1. April 8, 2011 - Are We Living In An Age Of Giant Quakes? - also here

Black-hole mergers

1. April 8, 2011 - Newly merged black hole eagerly shreds stars

Paleoclimatology

1. April 8, 2011 - Ancient fossils hold clues for predicting future climate change, scientists report - also here

Earth's mantle

1. April 8, 2011 - Carbonates make diamonds grow in the Earth's mantle

Universe evolution simulation

1. April 8, 2011 - Halos Gone MAD

Aerosols and clouds

1. April 8, 2011 - Most complete dataset ever collected helps scientists understand aerosols' impacts on clouds

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

1. April 8, 2011 - SOFIA completes first flight of German science instrument
2. April 14, 2011 - High flying astronomy with German instrument

Technology

Controlled fusion

1. April 4, 2011 - Overturned scientific explanation may be good news for nuclear fusion

Fuel cells

1. April 4, 2011 - First macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell demonstrated

Nanotechnology

1. April 4, 2011 - Engineers create vibrant colors in vertical silicon nanowires
2. April 4, 2011 - 'Nanocrystal doping' enhances semiconductor nanocrystals
3. April 4, 2011 - UCSD chemists produce first high-resolution RNA 'nano square'
4. April 7, 2011 - Nanowire opens gate to new devices
5. April 8, 2011 - New research advances understanding of lead selenide nanowires

Spintronics

1. April 4, 2011 - Spintronics meets nanoelectromechanics

Giant magneto-optical Faraday effect with terahertz light

1. April 4, 2011 - Thin film has 'astonishing' ability to rotate light
2. April 5, 2011 - Physicists rotate beams of light

Superconducting quantum interference devices

1. April 4, 2011 - Harnessing nonlinearity for linear measurements

Supercomputing

1. April 4, 2011 - UT debuts its newest supercomputer

Metamaterials

1. April 5, 2011 - Force of acoustical waves tapped for metamaterials

Photovoltaics

1. April 6, 2011 - Researchers develop golden window electrodes for organic solar cells

Graphene

1. April 6, 2011 - Imaging puddles
2. April 8, 2011 - Polish team claims leap for wonder material graphene

Brain-computer interface

1. April 6, 2011 - Technique for letting brain talk to computers now tunes in speech
2. April 7, 2011 - Scientists create a mind-reading machine: lets brain talk to computer
3. April 7, 2011 - Control the cursor with power of thought

Graphene transistors

1. April 7, 2011 - Graphene transistor shines on diamond-like substrate
2. April 7, 2011 - IBM shows smallest, fastest graphene processor
3. April 11, 2011 - IBM introduces new graphene transistor

Plasmonics

1. April 7, 2011 - Plasmons Create Beautiful Full-Color Holograms
2. April 7, 2011 - Holograms in True Color
3. April 7, 2011 - Quantum effect fuels colour-fast holograms
4. April 8, 2011 - Researchers discover way to create true-color 3-D holograms
5. April 11, 2011 - Holography sharpens up
6. April 12, 2011 - True-color holograms may light up small displays

Lasers

1. April 7, 2011 - Fiber lasers deliver pulses at tens of gigahertz

Bose-Einstein condensates

1. April 7, 2011 - Circuit made from flowing atoms

Virtual reality

1. April 8, 2011 - New virtual reality research - and a new lab - at Stanford

Superconductivity

1. April 8, 2011 - How to turn the vacuum into a superconductor

Life sciences

Extremeophiles

1. April 4, 2011 - Antarctic microbes live life to the extreme

Amino acid chirality and clay

1. April 4, 2011 - Did clay mould life's origins?

Thioredoxin enzymes and early life

1. April 4, 2011 - Protein adaptation shows that life on early earth lived in a hot, acidic environment

KSR and kinase signaling

1. April 4, 2011 - How to separate a sheep from its flock

Stress, exercise, and immune system telomeres

1. April 4, 2011 - Exercise may prevent stress on telomeres, a measure of cell health
2. April 7, 2011 - The link between chronic stress and a marker of old age is being disentangled

Embryonic tissue separation

1. April 5, 2011 - Repulsion more important than cohesion in embryonic tissue separation

SREBP-2, cholesterol, and autophagy

1. April 5, 2011 - Cellular feast or famine

Production of multipotent cells from differentiated tissue

1. April 6, 2011 - Simple chemical cocktail shows first promise for limb re-growth in mammals

Sexual selection

1. April 6, 2011 - Female deer confirm bigger is not always better when choosing a mate

Spinal cord regeneration in fish

1. April 6, 2011 - Fish offer clues to spinal cord renewal

Vertebrate eye development

1. April 6, 2011 - Study reveals how the eye is formed

Rapid evolution

1. April 7, 2011 - Instant evolution
2. April 7, 2011 - Instant evolution in whiteflies: Just add bacteria
3. April 7, 2011 - Evolutionary tug of war inside sweet-potato whitefly
4. April 8, 2011 - Insects with Rickettsia infection produce twice as many offspring

Ribozyme catalysis of RNA synthesis

1. April 7, 2011 - RNA duplicating RNA, a step closer to the origin of life
2. April 7, 2011 - Biologists create self-replicating RNA molecule

Induced pluripotent stem cells

1. April 7, 2011 - A new way to make reprogrammed stem cells
2. April 7, 2011 - Rethinking reprogramming: A new way to make stem cells
3. April 8, 2011 - 'Universal' virus-free method turns blood cells into 'beating' heart cells
4. April 12, 2011 - A New Recipe for Heart Cells That Beat the Rest

Immune response triggers

1. April 7, 2011 - Hosts may use two systems in fight against infection

Molecular evolution of temperature sensors

1. April 7, 2011 - Evolution of the animal temperature sensor: The functional adaptation to environmental change

Neanderthals

1. April 7, 2011 - Neanderthals: Bad luck and its part in their downfall

Immune cell search strategy

1. April 8, 2011 - Immune system actors map a perfect route in simple version of math dilemma - also here

Bacterial production of methymercury

1. April 8, 2011 - Bacterial genome may hold answers to mercury mystery

Evolution of seed plants

1. April 10, 2011 - Double the Genes, Double the Flora
2. April 10, 2011 - New genetic study helps to solve Darwin's mystery about the ancient evolution of flowering plants
3. April 13, 2011 - Researchers pinpoint key events in ancient plant evolution

Polyphenols and adipocyte differentiation

1. April 10, 2011 - Blueberries may inhibit development of fat cells

DNA and nuclear receptors

1. April 10, 2011 - Scientists uncover new DNA role in modifying gene function

Neuroscience, psychology, and behavior

Mirror system

1. April 4, 2011 - Brain's mirror system loves the robot

Perceptual filling-in

1. April 4, 2011 - What our eyes can't see, the brain fills in

Biology of alcohol craving

1. April 4, 2011 - Scientists find gene linked to alcohol consumption
2. April 4, 2011 - New leads on the causes of alcoholism
3. April 4, 2011 - Scientists find gene linked to alcohol consumption

Brain-imaging studies

1. April 4, 2011 - Revealing how experts' minds tick
2. April 8, 2011 - People control thoughts better when they see their brain activity: study

Autism

1. April 4, 2011 - Autism treatments often lack solid evidence of effectiveness, study finds
2. April 8, 2011 - The discovery of a common genetic cause of autism and epilepsy
3. April 8, 2011 - Autism treatments are falling short

Food addiction

1. April 4, 2011 - Addiction to food, drugs similar in the brain

Brain growth in adults

1. April 5, 2011 - Research shows adult brains capable of rapid new growth

Meditation and pain control

1. April 5, 2011 - Meditators can concentrate the hurt away
2. April 5, 2011 - Demystifying meditation -- brain imaging illustrates how meditation reduces pain

Cannabinoids and emotional processing

1. April 5, 2011 - Research discovers how marijuana affects the way the brain processes emotional information

Neuroanatomical differences between bonobos and chimpanzees

1. April 5, 2011 - Chimp, bonobo study sheds light on the social brain - also here

Social working memory

1. April 5, 2011 - Searching the brain for social networks

Visual processing

1. April 6, 2011 - Illusion shakes vision science theory

Stress, cortisol, and old-age memory impairment

1. April 6, 2011 - Older age memory loss tied to stress hormone receptor in brain

BBS proteins, brain development, and schizophrenia

1. April 6, 2011 - Brain development switch could affect schizophrenia, other conditions

Schizophrenia

1. April 6, 2011 - A Brain Protein Gone Awry Provides Schizophrenia Clue

Whisker perception

1. April 7, 2011 - Virtual Whiskers Probe Sense of Touch
2. April 7, 2011 - New model of whiskers provides insight into sense of touch

Fish sleep patterns

1. April 7, 2011 - Cavefish lose sleep
2. April 7, 2011 - Insomniac Cavefish May Hold Clues to Human Sleep Disorders
3. April 7, 2011 - Through evolution, cavefish have lost sleep - also here

Dopamine and neurogenesis

1. April 8, 2011 - Dopamine controls formation of new brain cells

Psilocybin

1. April 8, 2011 - Psychedelic drug cuts brain blood flow and connections

Sensory integration

1. April 10, 2011 - Formerly Blind Children Shed Light on a Centuries-Old Puzzle
2. April 10, 2011 - Study of blind children in India helps answer a 300-year-old philosophical question
3. April 10, 2011 - Mapping touch to sight takes time to learn
4. April 11, 2011 - When the Blind Can Suddenly See, Do They Know What They're Looking At?
5. April 11, 2011 - Centuries-old debate on perception settled

Connectomics

1. April 10, 2011 - Mapping the brain: New technique poised to untangle the complexity of the brain
2. April 10, 2011 - Scientists find way to map brain's complexity
3. April 11, 2011 - Scientists unravel brain's complexity

Health and medicine

Cancer

1. April 4, 2011 - Heart drug may fight prostate cancer
2. April 4, 2011 - High dose of oxygen enhances natural cancer treatment
3. April 4, 2011 - Breast Milk Cells May Someday Help Predict Cancer
4. April 5, 2011 - AACR: Experimental cancer drug unleashes 'guardian of the genome'
5. April 5, 2011 - AACR: Cell-sorting method traces tumour development
6. April 5, 2011 - Breast milk may harbor cancer clues
7. April 5, 2011 - Scientists discover a way to kill off tumors in cancer treatment breakthrough
8. April 5, 2011 - Modern targeted drug plus old malaria pill serve a 1-2 punch in advanced cancer patients
9. April 6, 2011 - Beer, bugs, DNA linked to stomach cancer
10. April 6, 2011 - New drug shrinks cancer in animals, study shows
11. April 6, 2011 - New prostate cancer test gives more accurate diagnosis
12. April 6, 2011 - Sniffing out lymphoma by turning dogs into humans
13. April 8, 2011 - Booze a major cause of cancer in Europe: study

Cancer biology

1. April 4, 2011 - Stress signal in cancer cells triggers similar response in other cells, aiding tumor growth
2. April 4, 2011 - Tracking down the origin of leukemia relapse
3. April 5, 2011 - Protein found to be the link missing between HPV infection and cervical cancer development
4. April 7, 2011 - Molecules identified that help propel cancer metastasis
5. April 8, 2011 - Outsmarting cancer cells: Scientists learn how they spread

Stem cells

1. April 4, 2011 - Chemical found which 'makes bone marrow repair skin'
2. April 6, 2011 - Stem cells make 'retina in a dish'
3. April 6, 2011 - Researchers Grow Protoeye in Dish
4. April 6, 2011 - Eyes grown from stem cells
5. April 6, 2011 - Stem cells coaxed into forming partial eyeball
6. April 7, 2011 - Stem cells can self-organise into proto-eye
7. April 7, 2011 - Visionary scientists grow proto-eye
8. April 8, 2011 - Biologists Grow Entire Retina From Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
9. April 8, 2011 - Helping the heart help itself: Research points to new use for stem cells

Induced pluripotent stem cells and gene therapy

1. April 4, 2011 - Study shows patient's own cells may hold therapeutic promise after reprogramming, gene correction

Cardiovascular disease

1. April 4, 2011 - Dangerous blood pressure increases during exercise can be blocked: research
2. April 4, 2011 - Chest pain med is effective for refractory angina, but adherence problematic
3. April 4, 2011 - Severe psoriasis linked to major adverse cardiovascular events
4. April 4, 2011 - Studies question heart bypass, angioplasty method - also here
5. April 5, 2011 - Device drops blood pressure in patients with difficult-to-treat hypertension
6. April 5, 2011 - Stroke risks fade when women stop taking estrogen - also here
7. April 5, 2011 - Working long hours? Watch out for your heart
8. April 6, 2011 - Researchers find link between common dietary fat, intestinal microbes and heart disease
9. April 7, 2011 - Gut microbes may foster heart disease - also here

Diabetes

1. April 5, 2011 - Sugar fuels growth of insulin-making cells
2. April 7, 2011 - Caffeine and diabetes -- helpful or harmful?

Antibiotics

1. April 5, 2011 - Researchers put potent staph killer to the test, hope for new drug treatment
2. April 5, 2011 - Copper wins out in live battle against MRSA
3. April 7, 2011 - New drugs from mutant bugs

Exercise and mortality risk

1. April 5, 2011 - Exercising to government standards could lower your death risk

AIDS

1. April 6, 2011 - Amount of AIDS virus in genital secretions predicts risk of heterosexual transmission

Body mass index, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease

1. April 6, 2011 - Body mass index in adolescence associated with early occurrence of diabetes and heart disease

Metabolic syndrome

1. April 6, 2011 - Substance in tangerines fights obesity and protects against heart disease

Antibiotic resistance

1. April 6, 2011 - Researchers find superbug gene in New Delhi water - also here
2. April 7, 2011 - Antibiotic resistance shows up in India's drinking water
3. April 7, 2011 - Drug-resistant genes found in cholera and dysentery strains in New Delhi water supply
4. April 7, 2011 - Superbug gene rife in Delhi water supply
5. April 7, 2011 - Superbug spreads in Delhi sewers
6. April 8, 2011 - Drug-Resistance Gene Hopping Between Superbug Strains in New Delhi Water
7. April 8, 2011 - WHO Calls for Action on Superbugs

Malaria

1. April 7, 2011 - Genetically modified fungus could fight malaria - also here

Alzheimer's disease

1. April 8, 2011 - Boosted heat shock proteins may fight Alzheimer's

Artificial kidneys

1. April 10, 2011 - Scottish scientists' artificial kidney breakthrough 'could cut donor waiting list'
2. April 11, 2011 - Scottish scientists grow kidneys in a laboratory

Copyright © 2011 by Charles Daney, All Rights Reserved