Water Vapor Confirmed As Major Player In Climate Change Water vapor is known to be Earth's most abundant greenhouse gas, but the extent of its contribution to global warming has been debated. Using recent NASA satellite data, researchers have estimated more precisely than ever the heat-trapping effect of water in the air, validating the role of the gas as a critical component of climate change.
Nicotine: A Receptor From The Past Helping To Develop Drugs Of The Future Researchers have just determined the structure of a bacterial protein similar to the human nicotine receptor, and have published this result in the journal Nature. This is an important step for the molecular modeling of substances able to interact with this receptor and which could help treatment of nicotine addiction.
A New Way To Remove Unwanted Heparin From Blood Scientists in Poland are reporting development of a potential new way to quickly remove the anticoagulant heparin from patients' blood in order to avoid unwanted side effects that can happen with the current use of that blood thinner.
More Than Half Of US Chronically Ill Adults Skip Needed Care Due To Costs Compared to patients in seven other countries, chronically ill adults in the United States are far more likely to forgo care because of costs; they also experience the highest rates of medical errors, coordination problems, and high out-of-pocket costs, according to a new study from the Commonwealth Fund. US patients are significantly more likely to call for fundamental change in their country's health-care system; one-third say the system needs to be rebuilt completely.
Potential Sexual Partner? Brains Of Ovulating Women Respond Strongly To Male Masculine Faces Scientists have long known that women's preferences for masculine men change throughout their menstrual cycles. A new study is the first to demonstrate differences in brain activity as women considered masculinized and feminized male faces and whether the person was a potential sexual partner. Researchers identified regions that responded more strongly to masculine faces and demonstrated that differences between masculinized and feminized faces appeared strongest when the women were closer to ovulating.
Novel Regulatory Step During HIV Replication A previously unknown regulatory step during human immunodeficiency replication provides a potentially valuable new target for HIV/AIDS therapy, according to researchers.
Music As Noise: When The Fortissimo Causes One's Ears To Ring "Music is always noise-related - and often not appreciated", the German poet and humorist Wilhelm Busch once mocked. Even though the subject involving beauty is a matter of taste, the sarcastic saying contains some bitter truth: Orchestra musicians jeopardize their ears with their own music.
Improving Carbon Measurements In Global Climate Studies Researchers have found a way to improve existing estimates of the amount of carbon absorbed by plants from the air, thereby improving the accuracy of global warming and land cover change estimates, according to a new article in Science.
Personality Shapes Perception Of Romance, But Doesn't Tell The Whole Story Researchers have found that measuring the quality of romantic relationships is more complex than earlier studies suggest. While personality has been found to be predictive of perceived relationship satisfaction and success, other measures of relationship quality may offer additional insight into how a romantic relationship is functioning.
Fiddler Crabs Reveal Honesty Is Not Always The Best Policy Dishonesty may be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought. A team of Australian ecologists has discovered that some male fiddler crabs "lie" about their fighting ability by growing claws that look strong and powerful but are in fact weak and puny.
Tiny Sacs Released By Brain Tumor Cells Carry Information That May Guide Treatment Microvesicles - tiny membrane-covered sacs - released from glioblastoma cells contain molecules that may provide data that can guide treatment of the deadly brain tumor. Researchers have found tumor-associated RNA and proteins in membrane microvesicles called exosomes in blood samples from glioblastoma patients. Detailed analysis of exosome contents identified factors that could facilitate a tumor's growth through delivery of genetic information or proteins, or signify its vulnerability to particular medications.
The Bonsai Effect: Wounded Plants Make Jasmonates, Inhibiting Cell Division, Stunting Growth Biologists found that when leaves of the model plant Arabidopsis are wounded, cell division in the apical meristem is reduced, growth of the plant is arrested within days, and the new leaves grow to only one-half of their normal size although the size of leaf cells is unaffected.
Chemical From Medicinal Plants May Be Used To Fight HIV Immune cells lose the ability to divide as they age because a part of their chromosomes known as a telomere becomes progressively shorter with cell division. As a result, its disease fighting ability is compromised. A new study finds that a chemical from the Astragalus root, frequently used used in Chinese herbal therapy, can prevent or slow this progressive telomere shortening, which could make it a key weapon in the fight against HIV.
'Cascading Effect' Of Childhood Experiences May Explain Serious Teen Violence Adverse experiences early in life can lead to minor childhood behavior problems, which can grow into serious acts of teen violence, according to new research. Children who had social and academic problems in elementary school often had parents who withdrew from supervision and monitoring during middle school. Children then made friends with deviant peers, and ultimately were more likely to engage violent acts.
Stem Cells With Potential To Regenerate Injured Liver Tissue Identified A novel protein marker has been found that identifies rare adult liver stem cells, whose ability to regenerate injured liver tissue has the potential for cell-replacement therapy. For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that cells expressing the marker can differentiate into both liver cells and cells that line the bile duct.
Nanotechnology: Quantum Computer May Be Closer With Extended Quantum Lifetime Of Electrons Physicists have found a way to extend the quantum lifetime of electrons by more than 5,000 per cent. Electrons exhibit a property called 'spin' and work like tiny magnets which can point up, down or a quantum superposition of both. The state of the spin can be used to store information and so by extending their life the research provides a significant step towards building a usable quantum computer.
Watching The Wine With New Technology Steeped in tradition, Europe's vintners have found themselves hard pressed to compete with the modern processes used to produce New World wines. Now European researchers are offering the continent's winemaking industry the opportunity to improve quality, save water and reduce pesticide use without giving up age-old practices.
Low Concentrations Of Pesticides Can Become Toxic Mixture For Amphibians Ten of the world's most popular pesticides can decimate amphibian populations when mixed together even if the concentration of the individual chemicals are within limits considered safe, according to new research. Such "cocktails of contaminants" are frequently detected in nature, a new article notes.
Billions Of Particles Of Anti-matter Created In Laboratory Take a gold sample the size of the head of a push pin, shoot a laser through it, and suddenly more than 100 billion particles of anti-matter appear. The anti-matter, also known as positrons, shoots out of the target in a cone-shaped plasma "jet."
Newborn Neurons In Adult Brain Can Settle In The Wrong Neighborhood In a study that could have significant consequences for neural tissue transplantation strategies, researchers report that inactivating a specific gene in adult neural stem cells makes nerve cells emerging from those precursors form connections in the wrong part of the adult brain.
Children Distressed By Family Fighting Have Higher Stress Hormones A new study found that children who are very distressed when their parents fight have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Distress, hostility, and level of involvement parental arguments were measured in 208 six-year olds. Cortisol levels were measured by taking saliva samples before and after simulated telephone arguments between their parents. Children who were very distressed and very involved in response to parental fighting had especially high cortisol levels.
