Newest Science News Blog 20081020

Public Release: 13-Oct-2008
Despite 'peacenik' reputation, bonobos hunt and eat other primates too
Unlike the male-dominated societies of their chimpanzee relatives, bonobo society -- in which females enjoy a higher social status than males -- has a "make-love-not-war" kind of image. While chimpanzee males frequently band together to hunt and kill monkeys, the more peaceful bonobos were believed to restrict what meat they do eat to forest antelopes, squirrels and rodents.
Contact: Cathleen Genova
cgenova@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press
Public Release: 13-Oct-2008
Archives of Neurology
Drinking alcohol associated with smaller brain volume
The more alcohol an individual drinks, the smaller his or her total brain volume, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Contact: Arlie Corday
781-283-3321
JAMA and Archives Journals
'Devils' trails' are world's oldest human footprints
The marks, preserved in volcanic ash after an ancient eruption, have been dated, confirming they are the oldest known footprints of modern humans
15:28 13 October 2008
Public Release: 13-Oct-2008
Nature Immunology
Worms' nervous system shown to alert immune system in Stanford studies
The nervous system and the immune system have something in common. Each has evolved to react quickly to environmental cues.
Contact: Bruce Goldman
goldmanb@stanford.edu
650-725-2106
Stanford University Medical Center
'New pathway' for African exodus
Researchers have found a possible new route taken by early modern humans as they expanded out of Africa to colonise the rest of the world.
By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News
Haemorrhagic virus carried by common African mouse
A new virus from a rodent sold in Europe as a "pocket pet" has proved deadly to humans – three have so far died
18:00 13 October 2008
Is there an optimum speed of life?
From bacteria to elephants, most groups of organisms stick to the same narrow range of metabolic rates, suggesting that it may have an evolutionary advantage
22:00 13 October 2008
Public Release: 13-Oct-2008
Environmental Health Perspectives
Research confirms it: Noxious gas stove emissions worsen asthma symptoms in young children
Johns Hopkins scientists report that high levels of a noxious gas from stoves can be added to the list of indoor pollutants that aggravate asthma symptoms of inner-city children, especially preschoolers. Nitrogen dioxide, an irritating and toxic form of nitrogen oxide gas, is most prevalent in industrial zones but also found at higher levels in poor homes with unvented gas stoves.
US Environmental Protection Agency, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
Contact: Ekaterina Pesheva
epeshev1@jhmi.edu
410-516-4996
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Public Release: 13-Oct-2008
Cancer Letters
Scientists develop new cancer-killing compound from salad plant
Researchers at the University of Washington have updated a traditional Chinese medicine to create a compound that is more than 1,200 times more specific in killing certain kinds of cancer cells than currently available drugs, heralding the possibility of a more effective chemotherapy drug with minimal side effects.
Washington Technology Center, Witmer Foundation
Contact: Rachel Tompa
rtompa@u.washington.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
UCLA study finds that searching the Internet increases brain function
UCLA scientists have found that for computer-savvy middle-aged older adults, searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The findings demonstrate that Web search activity may help stimulate and possibly improve brain function.
Parvin Foundation
Contact: Rachel Champeau
rchampeau@mednet.ucla.edu
310-794-2270
University of California - Los Angeles
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Tribendimidine shows promise against intestinal worms
Researchers have reported positive results from a safety and efficacy study pertaining to tribendimidine, a broad-based treatment for intestinal worm infections. The group's results, published Oct. 15 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, demonstrate the success of the new drug from China versus that of the standard albendazole for the treatment of hookworm, large roundworm, whipworm, and, for the first time, threadworm and tapeworm.
Contact: Vanessa Tomlinson
press@plos.org
415-624-1204
Public Library of Science
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
JAMA
Vitamin B supplementation did not slow cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease
High-dose vitamin B supplementation for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease did not slow the rate of cognitive decline, according to a study in the Oct. 15 issue of JAMA.
Contact: Debra Kain
619-543-6163
JAMA and Archives Journals
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
Northerners' hands up to 3 times dirtier than those living in the South
The further north you go, the more likely you are to have fecal bacteria on your hands, especially if you are a man, according to a preliminary study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Contact: Gemma Howe
gemma.howe@lshtm.ac.uk
44-020-792-72802
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
Biotech experts urge industry to work with researchers or risk federal action
The intellectual property system in the United States is broken and must be transformed if it is to foster biotechnological advances and ensure that treatments and cures for diseases reach patients, national and international IP and biotech leaders said today.
Contact: Coimbra Sirica
csirica@burnesscommunications.com
631-757-4027
Burness Communications
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
PLoS ONE
Earliest known human TB found in 9,000-year-old skeletons
The discovery of the earliest known cases of human tuberculosis in bones found submerged off the coast of Israel shows that the disease is 3000 years older than previously thought. Direct examination of this ancient DNA confirms the latest theory that bovine TB evolved later than human TB.
Contact: Ruth Metcalfe
r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk
44-020-767-99739
University College London
Worrisome Infection Eludes a Leading Children�fs Vaccine
Serotype 19A has become a common cause of meningitis, pneumonia and other life-threatening conditions in young children.
By LAURA BEIL
* Health Guide: Pneumococcal Meningitis »
Public Release: 15-Oct-2008
Nature
New study reveals details of evolutionary transition from fish to land animals
New research by scientists at the Academy of Natural Sciences provides the first detailed look at the internal head skeleton of Tiktaalik roseae, the 375-million-year-old fossil animal that represents an important intermediate step in the evolutionary transition from fish to animals that walked on land. The study, published in the Oct. 16 issue of Nature shows that the transition from aquatic to terrestrial lifestyles involved complex changes not only to the appendages but also to the head skeleton.
Academy of Natural Sciences, Putnam Expeditionary Fund, University of Chicago, National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration
Contact: Carolyn Belardo
belardo@ansp.org
215-299-1043
The Academy of Natural Sciences
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
Journal of Neuroscience
Blindsight: How brain sees what you do not see
Blindsight is a phenomenon in which patients with damage in the primary visual cortex of the brain can tell where an object is although they claim they cannot see it. A research team led by Professor Tadashi Isa and Dr. Masatoshi Yoshida of the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Japan, provides compelling evidence that blindsight occurs because visual information is conveyed bypassing the primary visual cortex. The team reports their finding in the Journal of Neuroscience on Oct 15, 2008.
Contact: Masatoshi Yoshida
myoshi@nips.ac.jp
81-564-557-764
National Institute for Physiological Sciences
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
British Journal of Psychology
Being altruistic may make you attractive
Displays of altruism or selflessness towards others can be sexually attractive in a mate. This is one of the findings of a study carried out by biologists and a psychologist at the University of Nottingham.
Contact: Lindsay Brooke
lindsay.brooke@nottingham.ac.uk
44-011-595-15751
University of Nottingham
Public Release: 14-Oct-2008
Importance of sex-specific testing shown in anxiety study
An Australian study has flagged an important truth for the medical research community. Like their human counterparts, male and female mice are not only different, their respective genetic responses can often be the reverse of what you'd expect from pharmacological results. This has important ramifications for laboratory and clinical testing.
Contact: Alison Heather
a.heather@garvan.org.au
61-434-071-326
Research Australia
Pharmaceutical freebies may harm children
Drug samples commonly given to children to save money are more likely to pose safety concerns than paid-for treatments
10:19 15 October 2008
Free Drug Samples in the United States: Characteristics of Pediatric Recipients and Safety Concerns
Poor and uninsured children are not the main recipients of free drug samples. Free samples do not target the neediest children selectively, and they have significant safety considerations.
Public Release: 15-Oct-2008
New England Journal of Medicine
Polio could be wiped out in Nigeria thanks to improved vaccine, says study
A recently introduced polio vaccine is four times more effective at protecting children than previous vaccines and has the potential to eradicate type 1 polio in Nigeria if it reaches enough children, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Nigeria is one of only four countries in the world where polio has yet to be eliminated and 82 pecent of global cases so far this year have been in Nigeria.
Medical Research Council, Royal Society
Contact: Laura Gallagher
l.gallagher@imperial.ac.uk
44-020-759-46702
Imperial College London
Public Release: 15-Oct-2008
Cell Host & Microbe
Bugs in the gut trigger production of important immune cells, NYU study finds
A new study reveals that specific types of bacteria in the intestine trigger the generation of pro-inflammatory immune cells, a finding that could eventually lead to novel treatments for inflammatory bowel disease and other diseases.
National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine
Contact: Lorinda Klein
Lorindaann.Klein@nyumc.org
212-404-3555
NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine
Public Release: 15-Oct-2008
New England Journal of Medicine
Genetic 'fingerprint' shown to predict liver cancer's return
Scientists have reached a critical milestone in the study of liver cancer that lays the groundwork for predicting the illness's path, whether toward cure or recurrence. The findings were made possible by a large-scale method for revealing genes' activity, which the researchers show can be applied to tissues that have been chemically preserved instead of frozen.
NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH/National Cancer Institute, others
Contact: Nicole Davis
ndavis@broad.mit.edu
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Public Release: 15-Oct-2008
Nature
Scientists restore movement to paralyzed limbs through artificial brain-muscle connections
Researchers in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health have demonstrated for the first time that a direct artificial connection from the brain to muscles can restore voluntary movement in monkeys whose arms have been temporarily anesthetized.
NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Contact: Lisa Gough
goughll@ninds.nih.gov
301-496-5751
NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Public Release: 15-Oct-2008
Lab on a Chip
$2 egg-beater could save lives in developing countries
Plastic tubing taped to a handheld egg-beater could save lives in developing countries, the Royal Society of Chemistry's journal Lab on a Chip reports. The low-cost centrifuge replacement can separate plasma from blood in minutes, which is used in tests to detect lethal infectious diseases responsible for half of all deaths in developing countries.
Contact: George Whitesides
gwhitesides@gmwgroup.harvard.edu
617-495-9430
Royal Society of Chemistry
Man 'roused from coma' by a magnetic field
Treating the brain with rapidly changing magnetic fields has helped a man in a coma-like state to communicate
18:00 15 October 2008
Public Release: 15-Oct-2008
Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education
Estimate soil texture-by-feel
A new article in the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education details methods of determining a soil's texture by feel, an important skill for students of soil science. Soil texture strongly influences the nutrient holding ability of a soil, the amount of water the soil can store, as well as many other properties.
Contact: Sara Uttech
suttech@soils.org
608-268-4948
Soil Science Society of America
Public Release: 15-Oct-2008
Social Science Research
10 years on, high-school social skills predict better earnings 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, said a new University of Illinois study.
Contact: Phyllis Picklesimer
p-pickle@uiuc.edu
217-244-2825
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Cancer fighting human immune cells to be grown in pigs
Cancer patients could have immune cells removed and cultivated in piglets before being injected back into them to boost the body's natural defences, new research claims.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 15/10/2008
Public Release: 16-Oct-2008
Annual Meeting of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology
Brain structure provides key to unraveling function of bizarre dinosaur crests
Paleontologists have long debated the function of the strange, bony crests on the heads of the duck-billed dinosaurs known as lambeosaurs. The structures contain incredibly long, convoluted nasal passages that loop up over the tops of their skulls. Scientists at the University of Toronto, Ohio University and Montana State University now have used CT-scanning to look inside these mysterious crests and reconstruct the brains and nasal cavities of four different lambeosaur species.
National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, National Science Foundation
Contact: Andrea Gibson
gibsona@ohio.edu
740-597-2166
Ohio University
Public Release: 16-Oct-2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution
Genetic based human diseases are an ancient evolutionary legacy
Evolutionary geneticists reveal that disease genes emerged very early in evolutionary history.
Contact: Professor Dr. Diethard Tautz
tautz@evolbio.mpg.de
49-452-276-3390
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Public Release: 16-Oct-2008
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
New solar energy material captures every color of the rainbow
Researchers have created a new material that overcomes two of the major obstacles to solar power: it absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight, and generates electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture. Ohio State University chemists and their colleagues combined electrically conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium to create the hybrid material.
National Science Foundation, Ohio State University
Contact: Malcolm Chisholm
Chisholm.4@osu.edu
614-292-7216
Ohio State University
New spark in classic experiments
There's a new spark of life in iconic experiments first done in the 1950s, on the kind of primordial "soup" that may have predated life itself on Earth.
By Roland Pease BBC Radio Science Unit
Public Release: 16-Oct-2008
Better beer: College team creating anticancer brew
College students often spend their free time thinking about beer, but a group of Rice University students are taking it to the next level. They're using genetic engineering to create beer that contains resveratrol, a chemical in wine that's been shown to reduce cancer and heart disease in lab animals.
Contact: David Ruth
druth@rice.edu
713-348-6327
Rice University
Public Release: 17-Oct-2008
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Scientists discover bacteria that can cause bone infections
Scientists have discovered that a bone infection is caused by a newly described species of bacteria that is related to the tuberculosis pathogen. The discovery may help improve the diagnosis and treatment of similar infections, according to an article published in the October issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.
Contact: Lucy Goodchild
press@sgm.ac.uk
44-011-898-81843
Society for General Microbiology
Public Release: 17-Oct-2008
Plant Physiology
When under attack, plants can signal microbial friends for help
Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered that when the leaf of a plant is under attack by a pathogen, it can send out an S.O.S. to the roots for help, and the roots will respond by secreting an acid that brings beneficial bacteria to the rescue.
National Science Foundation, University of Delaware Research Foundation
Contact: Tracey Bryant
tbryant@udel.edu
302-831-8185
University of Delaware
Public Release: 17-Oct-2008
Cell Host & Microbe
Scripps research team sheds light on immune system suppression
Diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and measles claim countless lives by weakening immune systems in ways that have remained unclear. But a team from The Scripps Research Institute has for the first time pinpointed a clear mechanism for immunosuppression. They have shown how an initial viral infection can block production of critical immune system proteins known as type I interferons, leading to susceptibility to other, potentially deadly infections.
National Institutes of Health, Pew Foundation
Contact: Keith McKeown
kmckeown@scripps.edu
858-784-8134
Scripps Research Institute
Public Release: 17-Oct-2008
Neurobiology of Aging
Physical decline caused by slow decay of brain's myelin
Human's physical and mental abilities slow as we age, caused by the steady decay of myelin, the "insulation" around neuronal axons.
Contact: Mark Wheeler
mwheeler@mednet.ucla.edu
310-794-2265
University of California - Los Angeles
Prehistoric drug kit is evidence of Stoned Age
Jonathan Leake, Science Editor
Stone Age humans could well have deserved the name. Scientists have found the drug paraphernalia used by prehistoric humans to cook up herbal mixtures to get themselves high.