Science News 2008
Here's a list of all the news articles that appeared on Science a GoGo in 2008.
22 December 2008
Ancient diaspora was a manly affair
Modern humans left Africa around 60,000 years ago in a migration that spread the human population around the world. But researchers now believe that men and women weren't equal partners in that exodus...
19 December 2008
Holiday safety tips for head-bangers
Heavy metal fans rejoice! The British Medical Journal has thoughtfully compiled some holiday season guidelines to help you avoid head and neck injury while head banging...
18 December 2008
Did human-induced climate change begin thousands of years ago?
The Earth would currently be experiencing an ice-age if it weren't for the fact that humans began planting crops and clearing forests thousands of years ago, contend the researchers behind a controversial new climate simulation...
16 December 2008
Saltwater irrigation trial a success
New research offers the possibility of using saltwater to irrigate soil in the world's arid regions, turning previously unusable land into a sustainable and productive agricultural resource...
15 December 2008
Study reveals profound effects of anesthetics on infants
Numbing drugs and anesthetics used on infants or pregnant women have profound and long-term negative effects - even after minimal exposure...
11 December 2008
Brainier men have better sperm, suggests new study
UK researchers have found an unexpectedly close relationship between intelligence and sperm quality...
10 December 2008
CO2 detected on distant extrasolar planet
The Hubble telescope has detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star, a possible indicator of extraterrestrial life...
9 December 2008
Credit card maxed out? Blame your sex drive
Foreclosures, credit card debt, bank bailouts - all symptoms of compulsive overspending, which a University of Michigan researcher believes can be explained by evolution and men's need to procreate...
8 December 2008
The happiness equation
A fascinating new study has established that happiness is not just an individual experience or choice, but is dependent on the happiness of others in an individual's social network. Researchers report that close physical proximity is essential for happiness to spread; such that a person is 42 percent more likely to be happy if a friend who lives less than half a mile away becomes happy but only 22 percent more likely to be happy if the friend is two miles away...
4 December 2008
Striking differences between brains of rich and poor
Measuring the brain activity of kids from a variety of backgrounds using an electroencephalograph revealed that the prefrontal cortex activity in the children from poor families resembled that of a stroke victim...
3 December 2008
The "perfect" body not always perfect
The hormones that make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress also tend to redistribute fat from the hips to the waist, which means that having an imperfect body may come with substantial benefits for some women...
2 December 2008
Psychiatric disorders common among young adults
In a study of 18-24 year-olds conducted over a 12 month period, an astonishing 47 percent of the individuals assessed met the criteria for substance abuse, personality disorders or another mental health condition, yet only one-quarter of those affected sought treatment...
1 December 2008
New epigenetic mechanism identified
Scientists have uncovered an entirely new way in which heredity can be transmitted, effectively doubling the number of mechanisms by which epigenetic information is known to be inherited...
27 November 2008
Researchers mull possible autism triggers
Cornell University researchers have found evidence for rainfall-related environmental triggers for autism among genetically vulnerable children...
26 November 2008
Organic molecule hints at alien life
Scientists have detected glycolaldehyde (an organic sugar molecule that is directly linked to the origin of life) 26,000 light years from Earth in a region of our galaxy where habitable planets may exist...
25 November 2008
Ocean acidification speeding up
Scientists have established that ocean acidification is increasing 10 times faster than the rate predicted by earlier climate change models...
24 November 2008
Genital birth defect blamed on hairspray
Pregnant women that are exposed to hairspray in the workplace have more than double the risk of having a son with the penile defect hypospadias, where the urinary opening is displaced to the underside of the penis...
20 November 2008
Confirmed: chicks dig scars
According to new research, facial scars indicate high levels of testosterone and that means that men with facial scars are more attractive to women seeking short-term relationships...
18 November 2008
Pesticides at "safe" levels combine to form deadly cocktail
Concentrations of the ten most widely used pesticides that fall within EPA safe-exposure levels, when combined, form an extremely toxic mixture that is deadly to amphibians and may represent a significant threat to humans in the future...
17 November 2008
Mystery microbe forces rethink of ocean ecology
A newly discovered microorganism that lives in the open ocean is able to "fix" nitrogen but does not rely on photosynthesis for energy, forcing scientists to revise their understanding of how carbon and nitrogen cycle through ocean ecosystems...
14 November 2008
Exoplanets galore! Four distant planets imaged
It never rains, it pours. The Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck and Gemini North Earth-based telescopes in Hawaii have been used to capture images of four exoplanets orbiting distant stars...
13 November 2008
Ovulation triggers female risk-taking behavior
It has long been recognized that women's preferences for masculine men change throughout their menstrual cycle, but a new study from the Kinsey Institute pinpoints the areas of the brain that change around ovulation and reveals how these changes affect both sensory discrimination and risk processing...
12 November 2008
Adaptive proteins "control" their own evolution
A previously hidden mechanism that guides the way biological organisms respond to the forces of natural selection has been observed making the proteins found in most living organisms behave like adaptive machines, subtly directing aspects of their own evolution to create order out of randomness...
11 November 2008
MP3 headphones a potential heart stopper
Researchers have found that while MP3 players are safe to use around pacemakers and defibrillators, the headphones that are used with these personal stereos can make medical devices malfunction if they are brought into close proximity...
7 November 2008
Social interactions alter gene expression
Our DNA determines a lot about who we are and how we relate to others, but recent animal studies show that the interaction between genes and behavior is more of a two-way street than most of us realize...
6 November 2008
Force-field minimizes space radiation danger
Scientists have shown that a simple, portable magnetic field generator inside a spaceship should be sufficient to deflect the dangerous highly charged particles of the solar wind away from the spacecraft and the astronauts inside...
5 November 2008
"Junk" DNA anything but, new study finds
The Genome Institute of Singapore reports that what was previously believed to be "junk" DNA is in fact a vital component that distinguishes humans from other species...
4 November 2008
'Shrooming down the road: rainforest fungus makes diesel
A novel fungus from the Patagonian rainforest that can make diesel compounds from cellulose could be a new source of green energy, say the scientists who discovered it...
3 November 2008
One-third of world's fish catches being needlessly used as animal feed
In flagrant disregard of the worsening overfishing crisis in our oceans, an alarming new study contends that one-third of the world's ocean fish catches are ground up and fed to farm-raised livestock...
31 October 2008
Color red makes men behave "like animals"
From red-light districts to red hearts on Valentine's Day, red has been tied to carnal passions and romantic love across cultures and millennia. Now, new research has provided the first empirical support that the enduring aphrodisiacal effect that red has on men may have deep biological roots...
30 October 2008
Quake detection gets cheap and cheerful
In the same vein as the SETI@home project, the Quake Catcher Network aims to operate a massive seismic event detection network using the sudden-motion sensors that are incorporated into laptop computers to prevent hard disk damage...
27 October 2008
Immune system overdrive responsible for cold symptoms
The first study to examine the entire human genome's response to the most common cold virus has confirmed, at the genomic level, that an overblown immune system response to the virus, and not the virus itself, causes the symptoms that we associate with the common cold...
24 October 2008
Speed freaks aim to tame Bloodhound car's ground-based sonic boom
Using computational fluid dynamics, the Bloodhound supersonic car team aims to finesse the sonic boom that the car generates to prevent it "eating up" the desert floor and creating a shotgun-like storm of debris that could destroy the vehicle...
23 October 2008
Selective memory erasure achieved
Working with rodents, scientists have been able to selectively and safely remove both new and old memories by using a protein critical to brain cell communication. "While memories are obviously crucial for survival and adaptation, selectively removing incapacitating memories, such as traumatic war memories or an unwanted fear, could help many people live better lives," says researcher Dr. Joe Z. Tsien...
21 October 2008
Suicide rate leaps for white, middle-aged women
Teen suicide gets plenty of airtime, but a new American study finds that middle-aged whites, particularly women, are an emerging high-risk group...
20 October 2008
Slavery to blame for racial disparities in health?
Two new studies contend that poor nutrition and stress - stemming back to the days of slavery - could help explain modern-day black-white differences in cardiovascular health in the United States...
17 October 2008
"Lost" experiment hints at a richer primordial broth
A classic 50s experiment that showed how amino acids could be created from inorganic molecules and an electrical spark isn't the whole story, it turns out. There were two related experiments, neither of which was reported at the time, which under modern analysis indicate that life may have begun in volcanic environments...
16 October 2008
Social skills predict future earnings better than test scores
Ten years after graduation, high-school students who had been rated as conscientious and cooperative by their teachers were earning more than classmates who had similar test scores but fewer social skills, a new study has found...
15 October 2008
Plentiful poo traces confirm Brits' aversion to handwashing
In northern England, half the men tested in a new study had fecal matter on their hands while in London women were the worst offenders and were three times more likely than men to have fecal matter on their hands...
14 October 2008
Bonobos show their dark side
Unlike their chimpanzee relatives, bonobos enjoy a make-love-not-war image. But a new study offers the first direct evidence of wild bonobos hunting and eating the young of other primate species...
13 October 2008
Molecular biologists begin deciphering stem cell differentiation
In important new work, molecular biologists have begun to map the enormously complex process by which DNA is repackaged during differentiation - when embryonic stem cells, jacks of all cellular trades, lose their anything-goes attitude and become masters of specialized functions...
10 October 2008
Second virgin birth by shark confirmed
Scientists have confirmed the second-ever case of a "virgin birth" in a shark, raising the possibility that a relatively large number of female sharks may have this incredible capability...
9 October 2008
DNA surname profiling mooted in UK
British researchers say there is a strong link between a person's surname and their Y chromosome type, suggesting that surname prediction from DNA alone may be feasible for forensic scientists in the future...
7 October 2008
Visible light data network under development
The next generation of wireless communications technology will use visible light instead of radio waves, with data piggybacking on interior lighting systems which researchers say will offer both greater speed and better security than today's radio networks...
6 October 2008
Researchers get amped over artificial electric eel cells
Researchers say that by applying modern engineering design tools to one of the basic units of life, artificial cells could be built that not only replicate the electrical behavior of electric eel cells but in fact improve on them...
3 October 2008
Next-gen adaptive optics produce sharpest ever planetary images
A two-hour exposure of Jupiter using a next generation adaptive optical technique to remove atmospheric blur has produced the sharpest whole-planet picture ever taken from an Earth-based telescope...
1 October 2008
Researchers probe brain's communication infrastructure
The brain uses 20 percent of the body's energy, but our waking, goal-oriented behaviors account for only 2 percent. Now, researchers are beginning to understand how the rest of that energy is expended to keep predictive neuronal structures communicating in a constant state of readiness...
30 September 2008
High testosterone drives risky investments
Higher levels of testosterone correlate strongly with financial risk-taking behavior, according to a new study that sheds light on the evolutionary function and biological origins of risk taking...
29 September 2008
Anti-obesity drugs may be effective against HIV, flu
Viruses dramatically increase cellular metabolism, and existing anti-obesity drugs may represent a new way to block these metabolic changes and inhibit viral infection, say University of Rochester researchers...
26 September 2008
Metallic vapor behind noctilucent reflectivity?
Noctilucent clouds are highly reflective to radar, an unusual property that has long puzzled scientists. Now, a Caltech physicist has proposed that it may be metal atoms at high altitude that are causing this unusual radar reflecting behavior...
25 September 2008
Boulder debris indicates biggest ever tsunami
A line of massive boulders on the western shore of Tonga could be evidence of the most powerful volcano-triggered tsunami ever, dwarfing even the 1883 Krakatau (Krakatoa) tsunami which is estimated to have been over 100 feet high...
24 September 2008
Astronomers mull planetary smash 'em up derby
Two Earth-like planets in apparently stable, mature orbits some 300 light-years from Earth appear to have recently suffered a violent collision, leaving astronomers scratching their heads as to what could have triggered such a massive event and questioning whether such a collision could happen in our own solar system...
23 September 2008
GPS open to attack, say researchers
The global positioning system (GPS) has become a vital component in the infrastructure of the developed world, which makes it an attractive target for groups that might want to derail the large number of businesses and organizations that rely on it. And although the U.S. government addressed the issue of GPS spoofing in a 2003 report detailing seven "countermeasures" against such an attack, researchers from Cornell University say that such countermeasures would not have successfully guarded against their new spoofing method...
22 September 2008
Academics question surge's success in Baghdad
By tracking the amount of light emitted by Baghdad neighborhoods at night, a team of geographers has uncovered evidence that the U.S. troop surge in Iraq may not have been as effective at improving security as the administration has suggested and that ethnic cleansing by rival Shiites may have been largely responsible for the decrease in violence for which the U.S. military has claimed credit...
19 September 2008
New DOE program aims to predict abrupt climate change
The Department of Energy has brought together six national laboratories to ponder the possibility of abrupt climate change events. The new program intends to focus on four key areas; the West Antarctic ice sheet, subarctic and arctic methane deposits, the destabilization of methane hydrates in the Arctic Ocean, and the possibility of megadroughts in North America...
18 September 2008
Grants to spur search for more robust crops
Climate change is having the most negative impact in the poorest regions of the world, already causing a decrease in yields of most major food crops due to droughts, floods, increasingly salty soils and higher temperatures. Now, the Global Crop Diversity Trust is undertaking a major effort to search seed collections for the traits that could arm agriculture against the impact of future changes...
17 September 2008
Experts demand FDA act on BPA report
A new study that uncovered a significant relationship between the widely used environmental estrogen bisphenol A (BPA) and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities has prompted scientists to urge the FDA to enact regulations to limit human and environmental exposures to BPA...
16 September 2008
The cold shoulder can be downright chilly
Metaphors which make a connection between cold temperatures and emotions such as loneliness, despair and sadness may be more literal than we think, with a recent study suggesting that there is a psychological basis for linking cold with feelings of social isolation...
15 September 2008
Invariance and computer vision
In work that could vastly improve computer vision systems, MIT neuroscientists have tricked the brain into confusing one visual object with another. The new study shows that even in adulthood, our object recognition system is constantly being retrained by natural experience...
11 September 2008
Gamma ray burst was brightest ever
Astronomers from around the world have combined data from ground and space based telescopes to paint a detailed portrait of a stellar explosion that was 200 million times brighter than the galaxy that contained it...
10 September 2008
Climatologists get to grips with aerosols
The role that aerosols (airborne particles of soot and dust) play in rainmaking has to date been very much a matter of dispute and a source of great uncertainty in climate predictions, but new research has now removed much of this confusion...
9 September 2008
Size matters! Nanosilver risks unknown, says industry watchdog
Widespread use of nanoscale silver in consumer products will challenge regulatory agencies to balance important potential benefits against the possibility of significant environmental risk, says a new report by industry watchdog The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies...
8 September 2008
Work smarter, eat harder
An intriguing new study has demonstrated that intellectual work induces a substantial increase in calorie intake. The discovery, contend the researchers involved, could go some way to explaining the current obesity epidemic...
5 September 2008
Scientists create species-jumping hybrid prions
In research with profound implications for public health, scientists have created entirely new strains of infectious prions in the laboratory by simply mixing infectious prions from one species with the normal prion proteins of another species...
4 September 2008
New findings challenge long-held assumptions about flightless bird evolution
University of Florida zoologists say that large flightless birds such as the ostrich and emu do not share a common flightless ancestor as once believed. Instead, each species individually lost flight after diverging from ancestors that did have the ability to fly...
3 September 2008
Herpes virus transferred to infants via parental DNA
Parents expect to pass on their eye color or their big feet to their children through their genes but they don't expect to pass on viruses through those same genes...
2 September 2008
"Master switch" for appetite and reproduction located
Body-weight and fertility have long been known to be related to each other and now a master switch has been found in the brain that controls both...
1 September 2008
Safety of Ayurvedic medicines questioned
An analysis of traditional Indian medicines purchased via the Internet found that 20 percent of the products contained levels of lead, mercury and/or arsenic that exceeded acceptable standards...
27 August 2008
Honey, We Shrunk The Cod
New research has added further weight to the controversial idea that overfishing by humans is driving rapid evolutionary change in fish, making them smaller and less fecund while driving commercially valuable species like cod to the brink of economic extinction...
26 August 2008
Size Of Genitalia Dependent On Need To Fight
Researchers examining male horned beetles from four geographically separated populations say the groups have diverged significantly in the size of the male genitalia, and natural selection operating on the other end of the animal - the fighting horns atop the beetles' heads - seems to be driving it much more quickly than expected...
22 August 2008
Growing A Home With "Plantware"
A bus-stop that grows its own foliage as shade? A house built from living tree roots that provides natural protection against earthquakes? These concepts may be science fiction today, but Israeli scientists say that fully functional "plantware" may be only a decade away...
20 August 2008
Melanoma Not Without Benefits
In male swordtail fish, black melanoma splotches help lure females, suggesting that the usually deadly melanoma gene is conserved for its beneficial role in sexual selection...
19 August 2008
"Shocking" Pesticide Levels Found In Beehives
An analysis of beehive wax samples and the bees themselves has found unprecedented levels of fluvalinate and coumaphos - pesticides used in the hives to combat varroa mites - as well as 70 other pesticides from external sources...
18 August 2008
Bio-Engineered Yeast Cranks Out Drugs
Chemical engineers at Caltech have used various plant genes to genetically modify common baker's yeast to produce large quantities of drugs, including antibiotics, nicotine, and even morphine...
14 August 2008
Slimy Future Predicted For World's Oceans
Habitat destruction, overfishing, ocean warming, increased acidification and massive nutrient runoff are combining to turn Earth's oceans into simplistic ecosystems dominated by microbes, toxic algal blooms, jellyfish and disease...
13 August 2008
Contraceptive Pill Threatening Genetic Diversity?
British researchers have found that the contraceptive pill appears to disrupt women's natural ability to choose a partner genetically dissimilar to themselves...
12 August 2008
String Theory Faster-Than-Light Drive Proposed
Two physicists have come up with a new method to travel faster than the speed of light without breaking the laws of physics. The only drawback? The drive requires a massive amount of energy. How much? Think about converting Jupiter's entire mass into pure energy...
11 August 2008
Sol System "Pretty Special," Say Astronomers
Existing models that attempt to explain the formation of the solar system have assumed it to be average in every way, but a new study using recent data from the 300 exoplanets discovered orbiting other stars turns that view on its head and indicates that solar systems like our own are likely quite rare...
8 August 2008
Testosterone Key In Disease Transmission
It's been known for some time that testosterone makes males more susceptible to disease, but new research indicates that high levels of testosterone in an individual can also spur the transmission of disease throughout a population...
7 August 2008
Quantum "Uncollapse" Muddies Definition Of Reality
Measuring (observing) a quantum object forces it to collapse from a waveform into one position. This collapse, according to quantum mechanics dogma, is what makes objects "real," but new verification of "collapse reversal" suggests that we can no longer assume that measurements alone create reality...
6 August 2008
Prof Pooh-Poohs "Exercise Pill" Reports
An expert in exercise and the human metabolic system has criticized recent media stories about the invention of an "exercise pill" as unrealistic and largely ignorant of the benefits that physical activity has on human physiology...
5 August 2008
The High Cost Of Intelligence
The metabolic changes responsible for the evolution of human cognitive abilities indicate that the brain may have been pushed to the limit of its capabilities and that schizophrenia may be one of the costly by-products of this evolutionary leap...
4 August 2008
Drug Testing And Approvals Process Fatally Flawed, Says New Study
More drug catastrophes like the Vioxx disaster are inevitable, says a health expert who contends that the current system of FDA administered testing and approval in the United States is increasingly inadequate...
1 August 2008
Elephant Extinction Mooted
Elephants are in a perilous decline that could mean most remaining large groups will be extinct by 2020 unless renewed public pressure brings an end to the international ivory trade...
31 July 2008
Titan Moist, Say Cassini Boffins
Scientists using an instrument on NASA's Cassini orbiter have confirmed that at least one other body in our solar system has a liquid lake. The lake, probably composed of ethane, is 150 miles long and located near the south pole of Saturn's moon, Titan...
30 July 2008
Warming Britain Attracting New Bird Species
Birds such as the Cirl Bunting and Dartford Warbler are becoming more common across a wide range of habitats in Britain as temperatures rise, while numbers of some northern species, such as the Fieldfare and Redwing, are falling...
29 July 2008
9 Out Of 10 Americans Obese Or Overweight By 2030
Most adults in the United States will be overweight or obese by 2030, with related health care costs hitting nearly a trillion dollars, say the researchers involved in a new multi-institute study...
28 July 2008
Dementia In Developing World "Substantially Underestimated"
Health experts had previously estimated the prevalence of dementia in the developing world at between a quarter and a fifth of that recorded in developed nations, but these figures may have substantially underestimated the problem, suggests new research...
25 July 2008
Meditation Shown To Slow Progression Of HIV
Researchers at the University of California - Los Angeles report that the practice of mindfulness meditation can halt the decline of CD4-T cells (the "brains" of the immune system) in HIV-positive patients...
24 July 2008
The Visual Cortex Goes Digital
A cognitive scientist is developing pictorial representations of digital circuits which he says can turn our eyes and visual cortex into a powerful, programmable digital computer...
23 July 2008
Two Bees? Aw, Not Two Bees...
The cause of the widespread decline in pollinating bee populations has still not been explained, but new research has revealed an alarmingly rapid spread of the pathogen Crithidia bombi from commercial bees to their wild pollinating cousins...
22 July 2008
Monsoon Formation Theory Gets Overhaul
Geoscientists have come up with a new explanation for the formation of monsoons, proposing an overhaul of a theory that had held firm for more than 300 years...
21 July 2008
Loud Music Boosts Booze Consumption
Canny bar owners can crank up their drink sales by turning up the music, a French study into alcohol consumption and environmental factors has found...
18 July 2008
Scientists Probe Ancient "RNA World"
Proteins carry out almost all of life's cellular functions today, but bacteria sometimes depend instead upon ancient forms of RNA, once viewed merely as the chemical intermediaries between DNA's instruction manual and the creation of proteins...
17 July 2008
African Ancestry Increases HIV Risk
A genetic variation which evolved to protect people of African descent against malaria has now been shown to increase their susceptibility to HIV infection by up to 40 percent...
16 July 2008
Novel Antibody Tackles HIV's Achilles Heel
Abzymes (antibodies with enzymatic activity) that are derived from HIV non-progressors can attack the Achilles heel of the HIV virus in a very precise way, say Texan researchers, essentially neutralizing all of the diverse HIV forms in existence...
15 July 2008
Watermelon: The Fruit Of Lerve
Scientists have been taking a closer look at citrulline, one of the phyto-nutrients in watermelon, and have discovered that one of its effects on the body is to relax blood vessels, much like Viagra does...
14 July 2008
Magnolia Compound Targets Cancer Switch
Emory University School of Medicine researchers say that a natural compound from magnolia blocks a pathway for cancer growth that was previously considered "undruggable"...
10 July 2008
Obesity Linked To Abnormal Sperm
Obese men should consider losing weight if they want to have children, British researchers say, after finding that men with a higher body mass index had lower volumes of seminal fluid and a higher proportion of abnormal sperm...
9 July 2008
The Dark Side Of Dopamine
While there is a large amount of evidence to support the idea that the brain chemical dopamine mediates positive effects, such as reward, happiness and pleasure; a new study suggests that dopamine is also intimately involved in emotions like dread and fear...
8 July 2008
Web Crawler Identifies Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Web-based electronic information sources such as discussion forums and news outlets can play an important role in early disease outbreak detection and support situational awareness by providing current, highly local information, say the developers of the new HealthMap project...
7 July 2008
Farmlands Too Toxic For Amphibians
Zoologists have found that toads in busy suburban areas are less likely to suffer from reproductive system abnormalities than toads near farms - where some of the amphibians examined had both testes and ovaries...
3 July 2008
Species Extinction Threat Vastly Underestimated
Extinction risks for populations of endangered species are likely being underestimated by as much as 100-fold because of a mathematical "misdiagnosis," suggests a new study...
2 July 2008
Political Participation Flagged In Genes
A new study from the University of California, San Diego, shows that genes influence participation in elections and a wide range of political activities...
1 July 2008
Lab-Created Giant Atom Goes Classical
Physicists have built a giant millimeter-sized atom whose sole electron orbits it in a classical manner as envisaged by Niels Bohr when he suggested a planetary orbit analogy for how atoms and electrons might behave...
30 June 2008
Cancer Eradicating Treatment Goes To Human Trial
Scientists are about to embark on a human trial to test whether a new cancer treatment that involves the transfusion of specific white blood cells will be as effective at eradicating cancer in humans as it has proven to be in mice...
27 June 2008
Novel Molecule Shows Intriguing Quantum Behavior
Purdue University researchers have created a hybrid molecule whose quantum state can be intentionally manipulated with an externally applied electrical field - a required step in the construction of a quantum computer...
26 June 2008
Brain Wired For Adventure
Scientists have identified a key region of the brain which encourages us to be adventurous. Located in a primitive area of the brain, it is activated when we choose unfamiliar options, suggesting an evolutionary advantage for trying the unknown...
25 June 2008
Researchers Demo Neural Implant That "Learns"
The neural implants used to control prosthetic limbs have traditionally been relatively crude affairs, relying on an inflexible pattern of signals from the brain to activate a robotic limb in a preordained manner. Now, however, University of Florida researchers have devised a way for neuronal devices to evolve with the brain as it learns...
24 June 2008
Neanderthals' Last Hurrah Surprisingly Sophisticated
An archaeological excavation in southern England is providing scientists with a poignant and surprising glimpse into the last days of a group of Neanderthals on the verge of extinction...
23 June 2008
Grief Linked To Brain Pleasure Centers
University of California scientists say that long-term grief (also known as complicated grief) can activate neurons in the reward centers of the brain in a way more usually associated with addiction...
20 June 2008
Take Two Rads And Call Me In The Morning
Radiation in high enough doses is lethal and chronic exposure is linked to the development of cancer, but one maverick professor believes that short-term controlled exposure to low doses of radiation may significantly improve our health...
19 June 2008
Microbe Colonies Show Sophisticated Learning Behaviors
A cross-disciplinary team of biologists and engineers investigating how simple biochemical networks can perform sophisticated computational tasks have observed bacterial colonies anticipating coming changes in their environment and adjusting their behaviors accordingly...
18 June 2008
Male Homosexuality Placed In Darwinian Context
Italian researchers say that male homosexuality in humans can be explained by a model based on sexually antagonistic selection; where genetic factors spread in the population by giving a reproductive advantage to one sex while disadvantaging the other...
17 June 2008
Climatologists Mull Side-Effects Of Ozone Hole Closure
Climatologists modeling possible weather patterns that may occur when the ozone hole closes - projected to be sometime in the second half of this century - say that its closure may significantly affect the climate in the Southern Hemisphere, with flow-on effects that will be felt all over the planet...
16 June 2008
DNA Precursors In Meteorite Confirmed As Extraterrestrial
Scientists examining pieces of the Murchison meteorite, which crashed in Australia in 1969, say that the nucleobases found in the fragments are almost certainly extraterrestrial in origin, leading them to believe that these important building blocks for DNA and RNA may be common throughout the cosmos...
13 June 2008
Physicists Create Quantum-Entangled Images
Using a technique known as "four-wave mixing," researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute and the University of Maryland have created "quantum images," pairs of information-rich visual patterns whose features are entangled so that changes in one image are instantaneously replicated in the other image, regardless of the distance separating them...
12 June 2008
Fifteen-Thousand-Foot Fossil Find Flummoxes Fossickers
High up on the desolate Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, an international research team has found thick layers of lake sediment filled with plant, fish and animal fossils typical of far lower elevations and warmer, wetter climates. The fossils are relatively young (around 2 million years), leading the researchers to ponder what could have caused such a sudden and massive die-off...
11 June 2008
Omega-6 Intake Can Determine Offspring Gender In Sheep
Researchers at the University of Missouri have established that maternal diet can influence the gender of offspring in sheep, and a diet enriched with omega-6 fats offers a significantly higher chance of male offspring...
10 June 2008
ADHD A Benefit In The Wild?
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been placed neatly into a natural selection context thanks to a fascinating new study that suggests that ADHD may be beneficial to nomadic African tribesmen, although it may also trigger malnourishment in their cousins who live in settlements...
9 June 2008
The Food Crisis Wildcard: Ozone
Ozone, a pollutant which can damage plants and reduce crop yields, will likely exacerbate the current global food crisis, says a scientist who believes that the new EPA standards to combat rising ozone levels will not be enough to protect plants from its effects...
6 June 2008
Moon Dust Could Be Key Ingredient For Giant Lunar Telescope
A cocktail of nanotubes, moon dust and epoxy forms a concrete-like substance that NASA researchers say would be ideal for fabricating a (relatively) low-cost mirror telescope on the moon that would allow the direct imaging of extrasolar planets...
5 June 2008
Line-Of-Sight SETI Revamp Proposed
Earth-based astronomers can detect extrasolar planets as they transit across the face of distant stars, so alien astronomers should be able to detect the Earth as it moves across the face of our sun. That's the logic behind a novel proposal to search for extraterrestrial radio signals in a tiny segment of the sky called the ecliptic band...
4 June 2008
Spread Of Human Virus In Chimps Confirmed
Building on earlier work that found evidence of human viruses in deceased chimpanzees, a new study has confirmed that chimps in Tanzania's Mahale Mountains are becoming sick from a variant of a human paramyxovirus...
3 June 2008
Anchovies A Tasty Entrée Into The Marine World For Toxoplasma Gondii
Not content messing with the brains of land mammals, cat parasite T. gondii is now making significant inroads into the marine world thanks to the humble anchovy...
2 June 2008
When Happiness Is A Disadvantage
Psychologists conducting research into how a child's mood affects their ability to learn have found that where attention to detail is required, happy children may be at a disadvantage...
30 May 2008
"Massive" Horizontal Gene Transfer In Animal Kingdom Revealed
Evidence for massive horizontal gene transfer - from bacteria, fungi, and even from plants - has been found in the genome of the tiny swimming critter known as the bdelloid rotifer...
29 May 2008
Monkey Mind Over Matter
A monkey has successfully fed itself using a robotic arm controlled by signals from its brain. The researchers involved say the breakthrough could lead to the development of brain-machine interfaces for people with spinal cord injuries and those with "locked-in" conditions such as Lou Gehrig's disease...
28 May 2008
Viking DNA Retrieved
Researchers excavating a thousand-year old site containing Viking skeletons went to extraordinarily lengths to ensure that any remnant DNA would not be contaminated, thus avoiding the controversy that has dogged supposed DNA extractions from other ancient humans...
27 May 2008
Drink-Up For Superior Sperm
Men who drink alcohol regularly are more likely to have better semen quality while men in certain occupations are more likely to have poor semen quality, says a new wide-ranging fertility study carried out by scientists in the UK...
26 May 2008
Scientists Mull Earthquake Love Waves
A new study shows that large earthquakes routinely trigger smaller jolts worldwide, sometimes as far away as on the opposite side of the planet and in areas not normally prone to quakes...
23 May 2008
Turbulent Times On Jupiter
Astronomers say that the increased turbulence and storms first observed on Jupiter more than two years ago are still raging, prompting a theory that Jupiter is in the throes of a major climate shift...
22 May 2008
Jumping Robot Designed With Rough Terrain In Mind
European researchers have unveiled a novel, grasshopper-inspired jumping robot that weighs a miniscule 7 grams but can jump 1.4 meters - more than 27 times its body length. The tiny robot is designed to explore rough, inaccessible terrain or to aid in search and rescue operations...
21 May 2008
Incense Found To Be Psychoactive
Biologists have discovered that burning frankincense activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain that alleviate anxiety and depression, suggesting that an entirely new class of medicinal drugs might be right under our noses...
20 May 2008
The Photonic Bug
Creating an ideal "photonic crystal" to manipulate visible light in optical computers may now be possible; thanks to a beetle from Brazil whose shimmering, iridescent green scales provide the ideal, diamond-like crystalline structure...
19 May 2008
Grandpa's Soap Alive And Kicking
Examining East Coast estuaries, researchers have established that the endocrine disruptors triclosan and triclocarban, used in soaps and other personal care products, are still persisting in sediment after up to 50 years, with little degradation...
16 May 2008
The Great Escape
A mechanism for how information might escape from a black hole has been proposed by a team of physicists at Penn State who say that if quantum gravity is considered, then space-time becomes much larger and there is room for information to reappear in the distant future on the other side of what was first thought to be the "end" of space-time...
15 May 2008
Hunger's Longevity Effect Due To Altered Hormonal System
Comparing the effects of caloric restriction and exercise on longevity, new experiments have shown that while exercise does not extend lifespan, caloric restriction does by subtly changing the metabolic system...
14 May 2008
New Physiological Evidence For Social Anxiety Disorder
Dutch researchers report direct evidence for the involvement of the brain's dopamine regulation system in social anxiety disorder, demonstrating that social anxiety has a physical, brain dependent component...
13 May 2008
Cell Phones More Expensive Than Hubble Space Comms
A British space scientist has calculated that cell phone texting is at least four times more expensive than receiving scientific data from the Hubble Space Telescope...
12 May 2008
HIV Prevention Message Failing In Africa
The most common HIV prevention strategies - condoms, HIV testing, treatment of other sexually transmitted infections and abstinence - are having a limited impact on the predominantly heterosexual epidemics occurring in Africa...
9 May 2008
Folding Proteins For Fun And Profit
A new computer game, called Foldit, turns protein folding into a competitive sport for anyone with a computer. Its creators say Foldit capitalizes on people's natural 3-D problem-solving skills and they hope to get a significant fraction of the world's population working on solving critical health problems...
8 May 2008
Biodiversity: It's In The Water
A new method for predicting biodiversity, described by its creators as "ridiculously simple," uses only the geomorphology of a river network and rainfall measurements to accurately predict the biodiversity of species in a river system...
7 May 2008
Epigenetic Changes Discovered In Abuse Victims' Brains
Scientists have discovered important differences between the brains of suicide victims who suffered abuse as children and so-called normal brains. The differences are in their epigenetic marking - a chemical coating on the DNA that is influenced by environmental factors...
6 May 2008
Fungi Enlisted To Clean-Up Depleted Uranium
In a discovery that could have important implications for the clean-up of war ravaged countries, researchers have found evidence that fungi can "lock" depleted uranium into a mineral form that would be less likely to find its way into plants, animals, or the water supply...
5 May 2008
Solar System's "Bouncing" Linked To Mass Extinction Events
A new computer model of our solar system's movement relative to the Milky Way indicates that it "bounces" up and down through the plane of the galaxy; a cycle that scientists say is a "beautiful match" with the mass extinction events that occur periodically on Earth...
2 May 2008
Lack Of A McShrinky Makes Therapy Unappealing
Television's portrayal of psychological counselors as either buffoons or unethical clods in shows like Frasier, Tell Me You Love Me and In Treatment, makes people less willing to seek professional mental health services, suggests a new study...
1 May 2008
Electromagnetic Fields Disrupt Newborns' Heart Rates
The electromagnetic fields produced by hospital incubators can interfere with newborn babies' heart rates, potentially creating problems for infants born prematurely who may spend extended periods in incubators...
30 April 2008
Nanoparticle Laced Wastewater Could Compromise Treatment Plants
The silver nanoparticles used in a growing number of consumer products can wreak havoc with the benign bacteria that are used by water treatment plants to remove ammonia from wastewater...
29 April 2008
Graphene's "Muffin-Tin" Nanodots Explained
Researchers believe they now understand how graphene - a featureless, flat sheet of carbon atoms - lying on an equally featureless iridium surface, converted itself into a kind of "muffin tin" that formed identically sized and spaced muffins out of applied iridium atoms...
28 April 2008
Quantum-Hall Effect Observed, Sans Magnetic Field
The quantum-Hall effect (where electrons condense into an exotic quantum fluid) was thought to only occur in specially prepared materials under the influence of an intense magnetic field, but US researchers have observed the effect in a bulk crystal of bismuth-antimony without any magnetic field being present...
24 April 2008
More Evidence Of Link Between Reproductive System And Aging
Eliminating the cells that make eggs and sperm in fruit flies extends the flies' lifespan, suggesting that molecular signals from the reproductive system are directly linked to aging and metabolism in animals...
23 April 2008
Zeroing-In On Epigenetic Inheritance Mechanism
US reseachers say they now understand how "silent" heterochromatin (tightly packed clumps of DNA where the genes are effectively turned off) can be transcribed into interfering RNA and inherited across generations...
22 April 2008
Stem Cell Decimation Behind "Chemo Brain"
Chemotherapy agents are recognized to have a negative impact on brain function in cancer patients but the precise mechanisms that underlie this cognitive dysfunction are only now being identified...
20 April 2008
Harnessing The Coriolis Force
Created by the rotation of the Earth, the force that causes whirlpools to form in bathtubs could soon be used to boost traditional hydroelectric power generation by 27 percent, says the inventor of a new turbine...
18 April 2008
Smallest Transistor Created With Graphene
UK researchers have used the world's thinnest material, graphene, to create the world's smallest transistor, one atom thick and ten atoms wide...
17 April 2008
ETs Very Unlikely, New Calculations Suggest
The chance of intelligent life emerging on another planet is very low - less than 0.01 per cent over four billion years, according to a new mathematical model...
16 April 2008
Quantifying Space Radiation Dangers
Cancer researchers are working to estimate the risk astronauts on long voyages will face from exposure to the high energy radiation that is ubiquitous in space...
15 April 2008
Laser Used To Get Thundercloud Sparking
Using a powerful ground-based laser, European scientists were able to induce electrical activity in thunderclouds, a precursor to producing lightning strikes on demand...
14 April 2008
New Understanding Of Insect Olfactory Mechanism
Insects have adopted a strategy to detect odors that is radically different from those of other organisms - an unexpected and controversial finding that may dissolve current ideology...
11 April 2008
Spit-Swap Forces Changes To DNA Testing
Protocols for DNA testing are being revised after a man attempted to foil a DNA paternity test by placing another man's saliva in his mouth...
10 April 2008
"Paradoxical Pharmacology" Yields Radical New Asthma Treatment
One of the tenets of the Hippocratic Oath - first do no harm - has been ignored in the development of a new asthma treatment that initially worsens symptoms before eventually improving overall health...
9 April 2008
Evolution Leaves "Fingerprint" Across Human Genome
Turning genetic information into proteins leaves genetic fingerprints, even on regions of the DNA that are not involved in coding for the final protein...
8 April 2008
Organics Shaping Up As Next Wave In Digital Signal Processing
Performing digital signal processing using organic and chemical materials without electrical currents looks like being the wave of the future...
7 April 2008
Computer Recognizes Attractiveness In Women
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but what if the beholder is a software program?
4 April 2008
Animals "Stuck In Time"
Researchers investigating how animals perceive time have found that episodic-like memory in animals is qualitatively different from human episodic memory...
3 April 2008
Water Intake Guidelines Questioned
A study into the health effects of drinking 8 glasses of water a day reveals that most supposed benefits are not backed by solid evidence...
2 April 2008
Paranoia As Common As Depression, Anxiety
A virtual reality subway ride has been used by researchers to reveal the extent that paranoia occurs in the general public...
31 March 2008
Mystery Fevers Cured With Surgery
Persistent childhood fevers that don't respond to antibiotics seem to be cured by removal of the tonsils, even though the children's tonsils appear completely normal and don't show any sign of infection...
27 March 2008
Brain Has Sixth Sense For Calories
New research suggests that the brain can "sense" the calories in food, independent of our normal tasting mechanism...
25 March 2008
Doctors Outline Policy To Prevent Genetic Discrimination
The American College of Physicians has released a policy document which they believe should be integral to new laws to protect against genetic discrimination in employment and insurance...
20 March 2008
Roll-Your-Own Enzymes A Reality
UCLA chemists have created designer enzymes for reactions not normally catalyzed in nature, opening the door for scientists to control the reactions that sustain life...
19 March 2008
CO2 Emissions In China Rocketing
The growth in China's carbon dioxide emissions is far outpacing previous estimates, making the goal of stabilizing global atmospheric greenhouse gases even more difficult...
18 March 2008
1st Rule Of Evolution: Strive For Complexity
UK scientists have revealed what may well be the first "rule" of evolution - a pervasive drive to become increasingly more complex...
17 March 2008
Brain's Secondary Depth-Perception Mechanism Uncovered
Neuroscientists have identified a small part of the brain that processes the image from a single eye, the motion of our bodies and the motion of our eyeball, to allow us to perceive depth with only one eye...
14 March 2008
Meteorites Spiced Up Primordial Soup
The organic soup that spawned life on Earth may have gotten some special ingredients from outer space...
12 March 2008
Epigenetic Changes Found In Schizophrenics
For the first time, scientists have discovered epigenetic changes (chemical changes to a gene that do not alter the DNA sequence) in individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder...
11 March 2008
Real And Virtual Systems Merged In Mixed Reality State
Using a virtual pendulum and its real-world counterpart, scientists using "bidirectional instantaneous coupling" have created the first mixed reality state in a physical system...
10 March 2008
Brits Invite ET Over For Corn Chips
Snack food company Doritos is sponsoring a competition to beam a user-created advertisement (using a 2-billion watt transmitter) at a solar system 42 light years away from Earth...
7 March 2008
First Light For Binocular Telescope
The Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona has captured images using its twin, side-by-side primary mirrors together for the first time, achieving first "binocular" light...
6 March 2008
Rethink On Cause Of Type 2 Diabetes
Growing evidence shows that surgery on the small bowel may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes - an approach that may change the way the disease is treated...
5 March 2008
Expensive Placebo Works Better Than Cheap One
A 10-cent pill doesn't kill pain as well as a $2.50 pill, even when they are identical placebos, finds a new study...
4 March 2008
Bacterial Rainmakers Ubiquitous
Scientists have uncovered evidence linking airborne bacteria from plants to the cycle of precipitation, underscoring the complex interplay between our planet's climate and biosphere...
29 February 2008
"Safer" Cigarettes Back On The Agenda
Scientists have fingered hydrogen peroxide as the cancer causative in cigarette smoke, a finding they hope may lead to "safer" cigarettes...
28 February 2008
This Is Your Brain On Jazz
Using fMRI, two scientists have discovered that when jazz musicians improvise, their brains turn off areas linked to self-censoring and inhibition, and turn on those that let self-expression flow...
27 February 2008
Radical Nano-Vaccines Show Promise
A novel technique using an oil-based emulsion placed in the nose has produced a strong immune response against smallpox and HIV...
26 February 2008
HIV Stigmatization Still Widespread
Stereotypes and misinformation about HIV that are commonplace among the general public are also evident in a surprising number of clinical staff...
22 February 2008
New Institute Plans Exascale Computing
Sandia and Oak Ridge researchers are designing computers that will perform a million trillion calculations per second...
21 February 2008
Fat Cats, Diabetic Dogs Vex Veterinarians
Obesity is affecting an increasing number of pets, with a new study estimating the prevalence of obesity in the canine population at 40 percent...
19 February 2008
"Language" Gene Pooh-Poohed
The evolution of human speech was far more complex than is implied by some recent attempts to link it to a specific gene, says an MIT Prof...
18 February 2008
Plenty Of Earth-Like Planets Out There, Say Astronomers
Astronomers using the Spitzer Space Telescope now believe that at least 1-in-5 neighboring solar-mass stars in the Milky Way may form terrestrial worlds...
15 February 2008
New Cell-Phone Cancer Link
An Israeli study has found that heavy cell phone users are subject to a higher risk of benign and malignant tumors of the salivary gland...
14 February 2008
New World Record For Solar Conversion Efficiency
Sandia National Laboratories have set a new solar-to-grid system conversion efficiency record by achieving a 31.25 percent net efficiency rate...
13 February 2008
Primatologists Snap Rare Gorilla Nookie Pic
Scientists have released the first known photographs of gorillas performing face-to-face copulation in the wild...
12 February 2008
Insects The Likely Winners From Warming Climate
Insects are likely to benefit from our warming climate, with new data linking past spikes in temperature with increased voraciousness in plant-eating insects...
11 February 2008
Subliminal Experiments Uncover Deep-Seated Racism
Research from three US universities reveals that many Americans subconsciously associate blacks with apes...
8 February 2008
GM Cotton Gets First Resistant Pest
Bollworm are the first pests to evolve resistance in the field to plants modified to produce an insecticide called Bt...
7 February 2008
Ink Delivers DNA
Tattooing has been found to be much more effective than intramuscular injection for the delivery of DNA vaccines...
6 February 2008
More Of The Same From The Net
While Internet search results do bring up a variety of useful materials, researchers have found that people pay more attention to information that matches their pre-existing beliefs and prejudices...
5 February 2008
Climate "Tipping Points" Identified
An international team of researchers have described a number of small climatic changes that could have large long-term consequences for the planet...
4 February 2008
California's Water Supply Dwindling
The snowpack in the Sierras has shrunk by 20 percent thanks to our warming climate, leading researchers to warn of a looming water crisis in the Western United States...
31 January 2008
Plastic Bottles And Hot Liquids A Bad Combo
Bisphenol A, an environmental estrogen that is thought to cause reproductive disorders, is released 55 times more rapidly from polycarbonate plastic bottles when they are exposed to hot water...
30 January 2008
Pimped Bacterium Churns Out Hydrogen
Deleting six genes in E. coli's DNA has transformed the bacterium into an extremely efficient hydrogen-producing factory that's powered by sugar...
29 January 2008
Something Fishy About Rocketing Oceanic Nitrogen Levels
The collapse of fishing grounds from over-fishing has played a significant role in disturbing the balance between nitrogen entering and leaving coastal water systems...
25 January 2008
Demographers Mull Effects Of Aging Populations
A new study into the aging populous contends that humanity might be headed for an age of peace, political stability and economic development...
24 January 2008
Liver Recipient Takes On Donor's Immune System
An Australian teenager who received a liver transplant has astonished medical experts by taking on her donor's immune system...
23 January 2008
Cell Phone Radiation Triggers Insomnia
Researchers in the United States and Sweden have found that cell phone use immediately prior to going to bed can disrupt sleep patterns...
22 January 2008
Tweaking Diatoms For Nanofabrication Duties
Unicellular algae known as diatoms could represent the next big breakthrough in computer chip technology...
21 January 2008
New Delivery Method For Gene Therapy
Japanese researchers say they have pioneered a new method of introducing foreign DNA into cells that is simple, cheap and does not use cytotoxic reagents...
18 January 2008
Flexible Electronics Melded With Contact Lens Creates Bionic Eye
Scientists have combined a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights...
17 January 2008
Parasite Turns Ants Fruity
A newly discovered parasite dramatically changes its ant host into what appears to be a juicy red berry, thus boosting its chances of being eaten by a bird and spread further afield...
16 January 2008
Glacial Acceleration Linked To "Plumbing" Issues
Meltwater sometimes overwhelms the interior "drainpipes" of glaciers and causes them to lurch forward, possibly explaining the widespread acceleration of glaciers observed worldwide...
15 January 2008
Aggression As Rewarding As Sex
Researchers have discovered that our brain processes aggression as a reward - much like sex, food and drugs...
14 January 2008
High Levels Of Antibiotic Resistance In Arctic Birds
Researchers are alarmed that remote colonies of Arctic birds are carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria...
11 January 2008
Glacier Woes Overstated?
New research indicates glacial ice existed on Earth during an intense period of global warming during the Cretaceous period...
10 January 2008
Chimp Culture Human-Like
Socially-learned cultural behavior thought to be unique to humans is also found among chimpanzees colonies...
9 January 2008
An Inconvenient Galaxy
The discovery of two new components within a puzzling spiral galaxy confirm that it must have a pair of arms winding in the opposite direction from most other galaxies...
2 January 2008
Polarization Technique Used To "See" Exoplanet
For the first time, astronomers have been able to detect and monitor the visible light that is scattered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet...