Science News Feeds

• Science Visuals: The Genetic Map of Europe
  
• ADV: LaFraise.com, purveyor of mighty fine t-shirts
  Lafraise is a 500 items limited tshirts editor. It offers to graphists, designers a visual permanently contest and, for the winners, offers 1000? to print the tshirt. The purpose is finally to produce, sell the most appreciate visuals according to the visitors? vote.
  
• Navy Agrees to Sonar System Restriction
  
• Vital Signs: Mental Health: Exercise Is Found Not to Affect Depression
  
• Findings: Let the Games Be Doped
  

• Moon probe returns first images
  The US space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft sends back its first images since reaching the Moon.
  
• No safe haven for rarest antelope
  Hopes are dashed that some of the few remaining hirola antelope have managed to colonise new, safer territory.
  
• New dinosaurs found in Australia
  Three new dinosaur species are found in Queensland, Australia, and named after the Outback song Waltzing Matilda.
  

• Coolest Spacecraft Ever In Orbit Around L2 (-273 Degrees Celsius)
  On July 2 the detectors of Planck's High Frequency Instrument reached their amazingly low operational temperature of -273°C, making them the coldest known objects in space. The spacecraft has also just entered its final orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2.
  
• 'Jumping Gene' Diminishes The Effect Of New Type 2 Diabetes Risk Gene
  Research has identified a new gene associated with diabetes, together with a mechanism that makes obese mice less susceptible to diabetes. A genomic fragment that occurs naturally in some mouse strains diminishes the activity of the risk gene Zfp69. The researchers also found that the corresponding human gene (ZNF642) is especially active in overweight individuals with diabetes.
  
• Cancer-causing Protein Can Also Help Fight The Tumors It Causes
  New research uses the Ras protein to fight its own malign effects.
  
• Bypass Surgery Has Long-term Benefits For Children With Kawasaki Disease, Stu...
  Coronary artery bypass surgery provides "excellent" long-term survival for children who have severe inflammatory heart and blood vessel damage caused by Kawasaki disease. While post-operative problems may increase over time, these can be managed with proper follow-up care. Most of the young patients have normal lives, including participation in sports.
  
• 'A Touch Of Glass' In Metal, Settles Century-old Question
  Scientists have found evidence of an important similarity between the behavior of polycrystalline materials -- like metals and ceramics -- and glasses, research that could lead to better predictions of how many valuable materials behave under stress.
  
• Rush Of Blood To The Head: Anger Increases Blood Flow
  Mental stress causes carotid artery dilation and increases brain blood flow. A series of ultrasound experiments also found that this dilatory reflex was absent in people with high blood pressure.
  
• Super-energetic Bursts Discovered Near Giant Black Hole
  Combining gamma-ray telescopes with the supersharp radio 'vision' of the Very Long Baseline Array showed astronomers the location from which very-high-energy gamma rays are emerging from the core ot the giant galaxy M87.
  
• Existing Parkinson's Disease Drug May Fight Drug-resistant TB
  Existing drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease could be repositioned for use in the treatment of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis, which kills about 2 million people each year, according to a new study. The rise of these strains of TB throughout the world, including industrialized countries, poses a great threat to human health.
  
• Novel Light-sensitive Compounds Show Promise For Cancer Therapy
  Chemists have developed novel compounds that show promise for photodynamic cancer therapy, which uses light-activated drugs to kill tumor cells. The new compounds, called dye-sensitized ruthenium nitrosyls, are absorbed by cancer cells and respond to specific wavelengths of light by releasing nitric oxide, which triggers cell death.
  
• Patients With Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms More Likely To Suffer From Metabol...
  Researchers have determined that individuals with mild to severe symptoms of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome, a collection of cardiovascular risk factors thought to be linked by insulin resistance). LUTS encompass voiding (incomplete emptying, weak stream, intermittency, straining) and storage (frequency, urgency, nocturia) difficulties.
  
• First Detailed Look At Progress Of A Wildland-urban Fire
  To better understand increasingly prevelant Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires -- and how best to prevent or fight them -- researchers have issued an in-depth case study on fire behavior and defensive actions taken in a community during a major WUI fire in California.
  
• Hormone Treatment Eases Post-surgery Distress In Children
  Physicians focused on reducing anxiety in children and their families report that oral treatment with melatonin before surgery can significantly reduce the occurrence of emergence delirium in children.
  
• Climate Change And The Mystery Of The Shrinking Sheep
  Milder winters are causing Scotland's wild breed of Soay sheep to get smaller, despite the evolutionary benefits of possessing a large body, according to new research.
  
• New Treatment For Receding Gums: No Pain, Lots Of Gain
  Dental researchers have demonstrated three-year success with a tissue regeneration application that reduces the pain and recovery time of gum grafting surgery. This specific treatment eliminates the need to take tissue from the roof of the mouth.
  
• HIV-related Death: Predicting Fatal Fungal Infections
  Researchers have identified cells in blood that predict which HIV-positive individuals are most likely to develop deadly fungal meningitis, a major cause of HIV-related death. This form of meningitis affects more than 900,000 HIV-infected people globally--most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas of the world where antiretroviral therapy for HIV is not available.
  
• Immunology: Interleukin-21 Keeps Defense Cells In Good Trim
  Interleukin-21 plays a crucial role in fighting off chronic viral infections, scientists recently concluded. The discovery offers hope for specific treatments against HIV, hepatitis C and B, and tumors.
  
• Shape Matters In The Case Of Cobalt Nanoparticles
  New studies show that changing the shape of cobalt nanoparticles from spherical to cubic can fundamentally change their behavior.
  
• Children With Autism Need To Be Taught In Smaller Groups, Experts Argue
  Since the 1970s, there has been much debate surrounding the fact that individuals with autism have difficulty in understanding speech in situations where there is background speech or noise. Neuroscientists argue in favor of smaller class sizes for children with autism.
  
• Mars More Like Earth Than Thought? New Details About History Of Water On Red ...
  New details have emerged about the history of water on Mars, gleaned from the 2008 NASA Phoenix Mars Mission. Scientists found patterns in the ground near the lander, multi-sided shapes about three to ten meters in size. The shapes are created when the surface contracts and the ice cracks. Sand fills in the cracks before the ice expands and buckles the surface to make the distinctive patterns.
  
• Triggering Muscle Development: A Therapeutic Cure For Muscle Wastage?
  Scientists have shown that if elderly men who were given growth hormone and exercised their legs showed an appreciable muscle mass increase. Researchers say, "This raises the question: Can age-related loss of muscle strength and increased fragility be ameliorated by the therapeutic application of mechano growth factor?"