SciNews20071001

King Algorithm
An Oracle for Our Time, Part Man, Part Machine
By GEORGE JOHNSON
When the human brain mates with the computer’s, we get the automation of judgment.
Pardon in Pain Medication Case
A victim in the war on drugs, Richard Paey was just wheeled out of prison, a free man for the first time in more than three years.
Germs Taken to Space Come Back Deadlier
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 24, 2007
It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into space on a rocket and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened.
Public Release: 24-Sep-2007
British Sleep Society
Researchers say lack of sleep doubles risk of death... but so can too much sleep
Researchers from the University of Warwick, and University College London, have found that lack of sleep can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. However they have also found that point comes when too much sleep can also more than double the risk of death.
Contact: Peter Dunn
p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk
0247-652-3708
University of Warwick
Public Release: 24-Sep-2007
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Extraterrestrial impact likely source of sudden Ice Age extinctions
What killed the wooly mammoths? An international team of scientists, including Peter Schultz of Brown University, suggests that a comet or meteorite exploded over the planet roughly 12,900 years ago, causing the abrupt climate changes that led to the extinction of the wooly mammoth and other giant prehistoric beasts. Their theory is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation
Contact: Wendy Lawton
Wendy_Lawton@brown.edu
401-863-1862
Brown University
Public Release: 24-Sep-2007
Astrophysical Journal
Scientists model a cornucopia of Earth-sized planets
In the Star Wars movies fictional planets are covered with forests, oceans, deserts, and volcanoes. But new models from a team of MIT, NASA, and Carnegie scientists begin to describe an even wider range of Earth-size planets that astronomers might actually be able to find in the near future.
NASA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Institute
Contact: Robert Naeye
Robert.P.Naeye@nasa.gov
301-286-4453
Public Release: 24-Sep-2007
National Academy of Sciences highlights UCSB study on visual attention
Now a team of researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara has identified a nonconscious attention system, which still exists in the human brain, that maintains awareness of nonhuman animals and tracks changes in their location, behavior and trajectory.
Contact: Andrea Estrada
andrea.estrada@ia.ucsb.edu
805-893-4620
University of California - Santa Barbara

Public Release: 24-Sep-2007
Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Primate sperm competition: speed matters
Sperm cells from the more promiscuous chimpanzee and rhesus macaque species swim much faster and with much greater force than those of humans and gorillas, species where individual females mate primarily with only one male during a reproductive cycle.
Contact: Rex Graham
ragraham@ucsd.edu
858-822-3075
University of California - San Diego
Public Release: 25-Sep-2007
Radiology
Radiologists identify early brain marker of Alzheimer's disease
Researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging have found a new marker which may aid in early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the October issue of Radiology.
Contact: Linda Brooks
media@rsna.org
630-590-7762
Radiological Society of North America
Public Release: 25-Sep-2007

Annals of Neurology
Research at Rice may help explain aspects of synesthesia
A research team led by Rice University psychology professor Tony Ro has published its findings that may help to explain the phenomenon known as synesthesia, in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway.
Contact: Franz Brotzen
franz.brotzen@rice.edu
713-348-6775
Rice University
Public Release: 25-Sep-2007
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
New molecular clock from LLNL and CDC indicates smallpox evolved earlier than believed
Smallpox is older than thought, according to results of a new technique reported in the Sept. 24 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Centers for Disease Control.
Contact: Nancy Garcia
garcia228@llnl.gov
925-422-1099
DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Public Release: 26-Sep-2007
Nature
Life-giving rocks from a depth of 250 km
If our planet did not have the ability to store oxygen in the deep reaches of its mantle there would probably be no life on its surface. This is the conclusion reached by scientists at the University of Bonn who have subjected the mineral majorite to close laboratory examination. Majorite performs an important function as an oxygen reservoir. Near the Earth's surface the mineral breaks down, releasing oxygen, which then binds with hydrogen from the Earth's interior to form water.
Contact: Arno Rohrbach
rohrbaa@web.de
01-511-788-6397
University of Bonn
Public Release: 26-Sep-2007
Chemical Research in Toxicology
Mixing large doses of both acetaminophen painkiller and caffeine may increase risk of liver damage
Consuming large amounts of caffeine while taking acetaminophen, a widely used painkiller, could potentially cause liver damage, according to a preliminary laboratory study. The toxic interaction could occur not only from drinking caffeinated beverages while taking the painkiller but also from using large amounts of medications that intentionally combine caffeine and acetaminophen, the researchers say. The report will appear in Chemical Research in Toxicology, a monthly journal of the American Chemical Society.
Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-4400
American Chemical Society
Public Release: 26-Sep-2007
Journal of Medical Ethics
Doctor-aided suicide: No slippery slope
Contrary to arguments by critics, a University of Utah-led study found that legalizing physician-assisted suicide in Oregon and the Netherlands did not result in a disproportionate number of deaths among the elderly, poor, women, minorities, uninsured, minors, chronically ill, less educated or psychiatric patients. Of 10 "vulnerable groups" examined in the study, only AIDS patients used doctor-assisted suicide at elevated rates.
Contact: Lee Siegel
leesiegel@ucomm.utah.edu
801-581-8993
University of Utah
Public Release: 26-Sep-2007
ECCO 14 -- The European Cancer Conference
Acupuncture does not reduce radiotherapy-induced nausea, but patients believe it does
Despite widespread belief among cancer patients and health care professionals that acupuncture helps relieve nausea caused by cancer treatment, new research in radiotherapy has found it does not.
Contact: Emma Ross
rosswrite@mac.com
34-932-308-832
ECCO-the European CanCer Conference

Public Release: 26-Sep-2007
ECCO 14 -- The European Cancer Conference
Married esophageal cancer patients fare worse in some quality of life aspects than single patients
In a surprising finding, American scientists have found that when battling esophageal cancer, married patients don't fare as well as their single counterparts in certain aspects of their quality of life. The research was presented at the European Cancer Conference today.
Contact: Emma Ross
rosswrite@mac.com
34-932-308-832
ECCO-the European CanCer Conference

Public Release: 26-Sep-2007
International Journal of Cancer
Alcohol and cancer: is drinking the new smoking?
Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health have clarified the link between alcohol consumption and the risk of head and neck cancers, showing that people who stop drinking can significantly reduce their cancer risk. These results have important implications for tailoring alcohol policies and prevention strategies, especially for people with a family risk of cancer.
Contact: Michael Torres
michael_torres@camh.net
416-595-6015
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Public Release: 26-Sep-2007
FASEB Journal
Discovery supports theory of Alzheimer's disease as form of diabetes
Insulin may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Recent research has raised the possibility that Alzheimer's memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes. Scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling would stop working in Alzheimer's disease. They have shown that a toxic protein found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's removes insulin receptors from nerve cells, rendering those neurons insulin-resistant.
National Institutes of Health, Human Frontier Science Program, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico
Contact: Megan Fellman
fellman@northwestern.edu
847-491-3115
Northwestern University
Public Release: 26-Sep-2007
Nature Chemical Biology
Plants can be used to study how and why people respond differently to drugs
While prescription medications work successfully to cure an ailment in some people, in others the same dose of the same drug can cause an adverse reaction or no response at all. According to a research team led by UC Riverside's Sean Cutler, such variation in drug responses can be analyzed by studying much simpler organisms -- like plants.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Contact: Iqbal Pittalwala
iqbal@ucr.edu
951-827-6050
University of California - Riverside
'Shampooed' hair reveals mammoth DNA
The genetic secrets of extinct species can be revealed from a few locks of specially treated hair, say researchers – the technique could be used to analyse old museum specimens
19:00 27 September 2007
Public Release: 27-Sep-2007
Science
Researchers detect hint of oxygen 50 to 100 million years earlier than first believed
Two multinational teams of scientists, including researchers from Arizona State University, are reporting that traces of oxygen appeared in Earth's atmosphere 50 to 100 million years before the "Great Oxidation Event." Analyzing layers of sedimentary rock in a core sample from the Hamersley Basin in Western Australia, the researchers report finding evidence that a small but significant amount of oxygen -- a whiff -- was present in the oceans and possibly Earth's atmosphere 2.5 billion years ago.
NASA, National Science Foundation
Contact: Carol Hughes
carol.hughes@asu.edu
480-965-6375
Arizona State University

Public Release: 27-Sep-2007
Current Biology
Doctors learn to control their own brains' pain responses to better treat patients
Physicians apparently learn to "shut off" the portion of their brain that helps them appreciate the pain their patients experience while treating them and instead activate a portion of the brain connected with controlling emotions, according to research using brain scans at the University of Chicago. Because doctors sometimes have to inflict pain on their patients as part of the healing process, they also must develop the ability to not be distracted by the suffering.
National Science Foundation, National Science Council, Department of Health, Taipei City Government
Contact: William Harms
w-harms@uchicago.edu
773-702-8356
University of Chicago
Public Release: 27-Sep-2007
NeuroImage
Tunes and talk: researchers find music and language are processed by the same brain systems
Researchers have long debated whether or not language and music depend on common processes in the mind. Now, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found evidence that the processing of music and language do indeed depend on some of the same brain systems.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation
Contact: Becky Wexler
rjw43@georgetown.edu
202-687-5100
Georgetown University Medical Center
Public Release: 27-Sep-2007
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Cockroaches are morons in the morning, geniuses in the evening
Dramatic daily variations in the cockroach's learning ability are reported in a new study performed by Vanderbilt University biologists and published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
Contact: David F. Salisbury
david.salisbury@vanderbilt.edu
615-343-6803
Vanderbilt University
Public Release: 27-Sep-2007
The Future of Male Contraception
Contraception: progress brings hope for new methods for men
For decades, pundits have predicted new contraceptives for men within the next 5 to 10 years. Are we really getting any closer? Judging from work presented today at the second 'Future of Male Contraception' conference, the answer may finally be yes. Among the developments announced at the conference: new hormonal approaches, a vasectomy alternative, and a home sperm count test.
NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Contact: Elaine Lissner
415-839-6304
Male Contraception Information Project
Public Release: 28-Sep-2007
Child Development
Babies raised in bilingual homes learn new words differently than infants learning one language
Research on the learning process for acquiring two languages from birth found differences in how bilingual babies learned words compared to monolingual babies. The research suggests that bilingual babies follow a slightly different pattern when using detailed sound information to learn differences between words. Bilingual infants failed to notice a small change in the sound of an object's name until 20 months, while monolingual infants notices the change at 17 months.
Contact: Andrea Browning
abrowning@srcd.org
202-289-7905
Society for Research in Child Development
Public Release: 28-Sep-2007
Molecular Endocrinology
Jefferson researchers uncover new evidence of prolactin's possible role in breast cancer
Scientists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia have discovered new molecular evidence of the role of the hormone prolactin in breast cancer. They have found that prolactin, a pituitary hormone that normally stimulates breast development and milk production, initiates a new "signaling pathway" that may regulate the growth and survival of breast cancer cells.
National Institutes of Health, US Department of Defense
Contact: Steve Benowitz
steven.benowitz@jefferson.edu
215-955-5291
Thomas Jefferson University
Public Release: 28-Sep-2007
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
New discovery may improve treatment of one of the world's leading causes of blindness
An inflammatory eye condition that is one of the world's leading causes of blindness could be treated much more effectively and easily thanks to a new discovery. In experiments with laboratory rats, scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have developed a potential new therapy for uveitis -- the inflammation of the uvea, a layer of tissue that lies just below the outer surface of the eyeball and includes the iris.
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Contact: Jim Kelly
jpkelly@utmb.edu
409-772-8791
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Ban Sought on Cold Medicine for Very Young
By GARDINER HARRIS
Experts urged the Food and Drug Administration to ban over-the-counter, multisymptom cough and cold medicines for children under 6.