Daily News chosen by Anchor Science

Exposure to common environmental bacteria may be source of some allergic inflammation
Could some cases of asthma actually be caused by an allergic reaction to a common environmental bacteria? New research findings suggests that this idea may not be as far-fetched as it seems.

Short-term memory is based on synchronized brain oscillations
Holding information within one's memory for a short while is a seemingly simple and everyday task. We use our short-term memory when remembering a new telephone number if there is nothing to write at hand, or to find the beautiful dress inside the store that we were just admiring in the shopping window. Yet, despite the apparent simplicity of these actions, short-term memory is a complex cognitive act that entails the participation of multiple brain regions. However, whether and how different brain regions cooperate during memory has remained elusive. Researchers in Germany have now come closer to answering this question. They discovered that oscillations between different brain regions are crucial in visually remembering things over a short period of time.

Following the shifting of tectonic plates to understand Mediterranean biodiversity
Around 30 millions years ago, the Western Mediterranean basin opened as a result of the tectonic collision of the African and Eurasian plates. This geologic event was the starting point for the diversification of an endemic group of Western Mediterranean spiders, as has been demonstrated by a new study.

Norovirus is the leading cause of infection outbreaks in U.S. hospitals
Norovirus, a pathogen that often causes food poisoning and gastroenteritis, was responsible for 18.2 percent of all infection outbreaks and 65 percent of ward closures in U.S. hospitals during a two-year period.

Microscopy reveals 'atomic antenna' behavior in graphene
Atomic-level defects in graphene could be a path forward to smaller and faster electronic devices. With unique properties and potential applications in areas from electronics to biodevices, graphene, which consists of a single sheet of carbon atoms, has been hailed as a rising star in the materials world. Now, a new study suggests that point defects, composed of silicon atoms that replace individual carbon atoms in graphene, could aid attempts to transfer data on an atomic scale by coupling light with electrons.

Protein study gives fresh impetus in fight against superbugs
Scientists have shed new light on the way superbugs such as MRSA are able to become resistant to treatment with antibiotics.

Ancient DNA holds clues to climate change adaptation
Thirty-thousand-year-old bison bones discovered in permafrost at a Canadian goldmine are helping scientists unravel the mystery about how animals adapt to rapid environmental change.

Sharp rise in use of bone growth factor for spinal fusion surgery
The use of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) for spinal fusion surgery has risen sharply over the past decade, increasing costs with no evidence of improved outcomes, reports a new study.

'Cool' gas may form and strengthen sunspots
Hydrogen molecules may act as a kind of energy sink that strengthens the magnetic grip that causes sunspots, according to scientists using a new infrared instrument on an old telescope.

Surprise finding redraws 'map' of blood cell production
A study of the cells that respond to crises in the blood system has yielded a few surprises, redrawing the 'map' of how blood cells are made in the body. The finding could have wide-ranging implications for understanding blood diseases such as myeloproliferative disorders as well as used to develop new ways of controlling how blood and clotting cells are produced.

Stimulation of brain hormone action may improve pneumonia survival
An international research team may have found a way to block a second wave of death that can result from pneumonia treatment.

Researchers visualize the development of Parkinson's cells
In the US alone, at least 500,000 people suffer from Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that affects a person's ability to control his or her movement. New technology lets researchers observe the development of the brain cells responsible for the disease.

Surprisingly high number of adults with severe learning disabilities also have autism
New research on autism in adults has shown that adults with a more severe learning disability have a greater likelihood of having autism. This group, mostly living in private households, was previously 'invisible' in estimates of autism.

Are diet soft drinks bad for you?
A new study finds a potential link between daily consumption of diet soft drinks and the risk of vascular events.

Researchers identify cell-permeable peptide that inhibits hepatitis C
Researchers have identified a cell-permeable peptide that inhibits a hepatitis C virus protein and blocks viral replication, which can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis.

Evolutionary geneticist helps to find butterfly gene, clue to age-old question
An evolutionary geneticist helped discover the gene in passion vine butterflies that keeps predators from eating them. The gene is responsible for red patterns on the butterflies' wings.

Overweight mothers who smoke while pregnant can damage baby's heart, study finds
Mothers-to-be who are both overweight and smoke during their pregnancy risk damaging their baby's developing heart, according to new research.

Testosterone makes us less cooperative and more egocentric
Testosterone makes us overvalue our own opinions at the expense of cooperation, new research has found. Higher levels of testosterone were associated with individuals behaving egocentrically.

Honey could be effective at treating and preventing wound infections
Manuka honey could help clear chronic wound infections and even prevent them from developing in the first place, according to a new study. The findings provide further evidence for the clinical use of manuka honey to treat bacterial infections in the face of growing antibiotic resistance.

Pairing masks and hand washing could drastically slow spread of a pandemic flu
Masks and hand hygiene could cut the spread of flu-like symptoms up to 75 percent, a new study found.

Scientists prove plausibility of new pathway to life's chemical building blocks
Scientists have demonstrated an alternative pathway to life-essential sugars called the glyoxylate scenario, which may push the field of pre-life chemistry past the formose reaction hurdle.

Gene mutation in autism found to cause hyperconnectivity in brain's hearing center
New research might help explain how a gene mutation found in some autistic individuals leads to difficulties in processing auditory cues and paying spatial attention to sound.

New species of ancient crocodile discovered
A new species of prehistoric crocodile has been discovered. The extinct creature, nicknamed "Shieldcroc" due to a thick-skinned shield on its head, is an ancestor of today's crocodiles.

Scientists decode brain waves to eavesdrop on what we hear
Neuroscientists and surgeons have recorded electrical activity in the temporal lobe -- the seat of the auditory system -- to discover how the brain encodes sound. Their model allows them to predict what a person heard based solely on temporal lobe activity. If, as studies suggest, internal "imagined" conversations activate similar areas of the temporal lobe, it may be possible to hear the internal verbalizations of people who cannot talk because of paralysis or stroke.

Botany: Moonlighting enzyme works double shift 24/7
A team of researchers has discovered an overachieving plant enzyme that works both the day and night shifts. The discovery shows that plants evolved a new function for this enzyme by changing merely one of its protein building blocks.

Establishment of a Solar Energy Research Institute
The establishment of the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) reflects a public assessment of the importance of solar energy as a nonpolluting, enduring source of energy and Congressional desire for activity in solar energy comparable with that which the nation has supported for the last 25 years in nuclear energy. Establishment of a Solar Energy Research Institute makes recommendations for the role and direction for research of the SERI. According to this book, SERI will indeed fill an urgent need for a central intellectual and technical resource on all phases of solar energy. SERI should go beyond establishing a program for its own activities in energy research and development to provide a sound by imaginative view of the entire solar-energy field. In conducting this program, in collaboration with industry, government, universities, and other participants in the national scene SERI can make a major contribution to the early, efficient, and economic exploitation of solar energy. The book further explores the role of SERI in combining technical, economic, sociological, and environmental analyses of changing energy resources and societal demands, including the need for commodities whose manufacture requires much energy. It finds that this broad assessment and analysis is essential not only for efficient utilization of the resources represented by SERI but also for support of the national program in solar energy. The book sets forth three goals for SERI that mutually support and reinforce one another: 1. Improve our technical and analytical tools for solar energy and related fields 2. Provide sound assessments of status and options for policy for solar energy 3. Facilitate in a collaborative, educational, and supportive role the widespread introduction of commercially attractive and environmentally acceptable solar-energy sources. The recommendations of Establishment of Solar Energy Research Institute are intended to represent a new model for harnessing science, technology, and analysis in the service of the nation.

Industrial Methods for the Effective Development and Testing of Defense Systems
Over the past decade and a half, the National Research Council, through its Committee on National Statistics, has carried out a number of studies on the application of statistical methods to improve the testing and development of defense systems. These studies were intended to provide advice to the Department of Defense (DOD), which sponsored these studies. The previous studies have been concerned with the role of statistical methods in testing and evaluation, reliability practices, software methods, combining information, and evolutionary acquisition. Industrial Methods for the Effective Testing and Development of Defense Systems is the latest in a series of studies, and unlike earlier studies, this report identifies current engineering practices that have proved successful in industrial applications for system development and testing. This report explores how developmental and operational testing, modeling and simulation, and related techniques can improve the development and performance of defense systems, particularly techniques that have been shown to be effective in industrial applications and are likely to be useful in defense system development. In addition to the broad issues, the report identifies three specific topics for its focus: finding failure modes earlier, technology maturity, and use of all relevant information for operational assessments.

Improving Metrics for the Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Program
The Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program was created in 1991 as a set of support activities assisting the Former Soviet Union states in securing and eliminating strategic nuclear weapons and the materials used to create them. The Program evolved as needs and opportunities changed: Efforts to address biological and chemical threats were added, as was a program aimed at preventing cross-border smuggling of weapons of mass destruction. CTR has traveled through uncharted territory since its inception, and both the United States and its partners have taken bold steps resulting in progress unimagined in initial years. Over the years, much of the debate about CTR on Capitol Hill has concerned the effective use of funds, when the partners would take full responsibility for the efforts, and how progress, impact, and effectiveness should be measured. Directed by Congress, the Secretary of Defense completed a report describing DoD's metrics for the CTR Program (here called the DoD Metrics Report) in September 2010 and, as required in the same law, contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to review the metrics DoD developed and identify possible additional or alternative metrics, if necessary. Improving Metrics for the DoD Cooperative Threat Reduction Program provides that review and advice. Improving Metrics for the DoD Cooperative Threat Reduction Program identifies shortcomings in the DoD Metrics Report and provides recommendations to enhance DoD's development and use of metrics for the CTR Program. The committee wrote this report with two main audiences in mind: Those who are mostly concerned with the overall assessment and advice, and those readers directly involved in the CTR Program, who need the details of the DoD report assessment and of how to implement the approach that the committee recommends.

Dynamics of Ice Nucleation on Water Repellent Surfaces

Langmuir

An Organophosphonate Strategy for Functionalizing Silicon Photonic Biosensors

Langmuir