SciNews20080818

Public Release: 11-Aug-2008
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Complex decision? Don't sleep on it
Neither snap judgements nor sleeping on a problem are any better than conscious thinking for making complex decisions, according to new research. The finding debunks a controversial 2006 research result asserting that unconscious thought is superior for complex decisions, such as buying a house or car. If anything, the new study suggests that conscious thought leads to better choices.
Australian Research Council
Contact: Dan Gaffney
headlines.news@gmail.com
61-411-156-015
University of New South Wales
Public Release: 11-Aug-2008
Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Health and marriage: The times they are a changin'
The health of people who never marry is improving, narrowing the gap with their wedded counterparts, according to new research that suggests the practice of encouraging marriage to promote health may be misguided.
Contact: Andy Henion
henion@msu.edu
517-355-3294
Michigan State University
Did iron cyclones give Earth a wonky core?
Swirling vortices of liquid iron may have made the planet's inner core lopsided, suggests a simulation
11:15 11 August 2008
Invention: Morphine-cannabis super-painkiller
This week's new patent applications include a combined morphine-cannabis molecule, botox skin cream, and a gadget to coach first aiders giving CPR
12:00 11 August 2008
Basketball pros read pinkies to call shots
Professional basketball players can predict whether shots will go in while the player is still cradling the ball
15:15 11 August 2008
Public Release: 11-Aug-2008
Resistant prions
Prions, the pathogens that cause scrapie in sheep, can survive in the ground for several years, as researchers have discovered. Animals can become infected via contaminated pastures. It is not yet known whether the pathogens that cause BSE and CWD are equally resistant.
Contact: Dr. Björn Seidel
bjoern.seidel@ime.fraunhofer.de
49-297-230-2330
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Public Release: 11-Aug-2008
American Journal of Human Genetics
Large reservoir of mitochondrial DNA mutations identified in humans
Clinical analysis of blood samples from almost 3,000 infants showed that at least 1 in 200 individuals in the general public harbor mitochondrial DNA mutations that may lead to disease.
United Mitochondrial Diseases Foundation, Association Française contre les Myopathies
Contact: Barry Whyte
whyte@vbi.vt.edu
540-231-1767
Virginia Tech
Public Release: 11-Aug-2008
Journal of Marketing Research
Political candidates and other 'phantoms': Consumer choice in changing markets
New research from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management demonstrates that when an option (US Sen. Hillary Clinton) enters and then leaves a market, the most similar remaining option -- in this case Barack Obama -- stands to benefit.
Contact: Patty Mattern
mattern@umn.edu
612-624-2801
University of Minnesota
Public Release: 11-Aug-2008
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
New research reveals why chili peppers are hot
Despite the popularity of spicy cuisine among Homo sapiens, the hotness in chili peppers has always been something of an evolutionary mystery.
National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society
Contact: Douglas Levey
dlevey@ufl.edu
352-514-6670
University of Florida
Lab-grown tendons gradually fade to bone
For the first time it is possible to have tissues engineered in the lab fade into one another, which is vital if complex organs are to be replaced
22:00 11 August 2008
'Adapter plug' to turn antibodies into HIV killers
The molecule allows spare antibodies to attack HIV-infected cells and could provide a new way to treat other viruses
22:00 11 August 2008
Extinction 'by man not climate'
The extinction of many ancient species may be due to humans rather than climate change, experts say.
Public Release: 12-Aug-2008
Diabetes Care
Losing weight soon after type 2 diabetes diagnosis doubles positive outcomes
A four-year study at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research looked at 2,574 adults and found that people who lost weight in the 18 months after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis were up to twice as likely to have better control of their blood pressure and blood sugar, and were more likely to maintain that control even if they later regained their weight. The study will appear August 12 in Diabetes Care.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Farra Levin
farra.r.levin@kp.org
510-267-7364
Kaiser Permanente
Public Release: 12-Aug-2008
Journal of Virology
Rare case explains why some infected with HIV remain symptom free without antiretroviral drugs
AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins say they have compelling evidence that some people with HIV who for years and even decades show extremely low levels of the virus in their blood never progress to full-blown AIDS and remain symptom free even without treatment, probably do so because of the strength of their immune systems, not any defects in the strain of HIV that infected them in the first place.
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Contact: David March
dmarch1@jhmi.edu
410-955-1534
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Well
Early Test for Cancer Isn’t Always Best Course
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Is finding cancer early always better?
* Times Health Guide: Prostate Cancer
In Some Henna Tattoos, a Harmful Dye
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Published: August 11, 2008
Henna tattoos are widely available and usually harmless. But certain kinds can cause a powerful allergic reaction.
Science Visuals
How the First Farmers Colonized the Mediterranean
By NICHOLAS WADE
Using a new set of criteria, researchers have determined that animals were domesticated much earlier than previously thought.
Personal Health
Living Better With Rheumatoid Arthritis
By JANE E. BRODY
Rheumatoid arthritis does not have to mean an end to the things you love.
* Times Health Guide: Rheumatoid Arthritis
Surpassing Nature, Scientists Bend Light Backward
By KENNETH CHANG
With what could lead to more powerful microscopes, scientists have found new ways to bend light backwards.
Scientist At Work: Diana Beresford-Kroeger
Advocating an Unusual Role for Trees
By JIM ROBBINS
Diana Beresford-Kroeger brings together Western medicine and botany to advocate for the planting of trees with beneficial properties.
Public Release: 12-Aug-2008
Journal of Neuroscience
'Erasing' drug-associated memories may stop drug addiction relapses
"Erasing" drug-associated memories may prevent recovering drug abusers from relapsing, researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered. The team, led by Professor Barry Everitt, was able to reduce drug-seeking behaviours in rats by blocking a brain chemical receptor important to learning and memory during the recall of drug-associated memories. Their research, which was funded by the Medical Research Council, was reported in the Aug. 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Medical Research Council
Contact: Genevieve Maul
genevieve.maul@admin.cam.ac.uk
44-012-233-32300
University of Cambridge
Public Release: 12-Aug-2008
Quarterly Journal of Economics
Changes in work force, not pay, narrowing the gender wage gap
Are working women treated more fairly in today's labor market than they were 30 years ago? Absolutely not, according to groundbreaking new research by Brown University economist Yona Rubinstein and Casey Mulligan of the University of Chicago. Disputing decades of economic literature, the economists show that the apparent narrowing of the wage gap between working men and women is actually due to the type of women who are now working -- not how much they're being paid.
National Science Foundation, Sloan Foundation
Contact: Deborah Baum
deborah_baum@brown.edu
401-863-2478
Brown University
Public Release: 12-Aug-2008
X-rays use diamonds as a window to the center of the Earth
Diamonds from Brazil have provided the answers to a question that Earth scientists have been trying to understand for many years: How is oceanic crust that has been subducted deep into the Earth recycled back into volcanic rocks? A team of researchers, led by the University of Bristol, working alongside colleagues at the STFC Daresbury Laboratory, have gained a deeper insight into how the Earth recycles itself in the deep earth tectonic cycle way beyond the depths that can be accessed by drilling.
Contact: Wendy Taylor
w.j.taylor@dl.ac.uk
01-925-603-232
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Public Release: 12-Aug-2008
Clinical Infectious Diseases
Adverse reactions to antibiotics send thousands of patients to the ER
Adverse events from antibiotics cause an estimated 142,000 emergency department visits per year in the United States, according to a study published in the Sept. 15, 2008, issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Contact: Steve Baragona
sbaragona@idsociety.org
703-299-0412
Infectious Diseases Society of America
Public Release: 12-Aug-2008
PLoS ONE
Nano vaccine for hepatitis B shows promise for third world
A new needle-less vaccine is highly effective and can be stored without refrigeration, University of Michigan studies in animals show. The vaccine should also be safer to administer than existing hepatitis B vaccines and effective with only two immunizations. The technique, a nanoemulsion given in the nose, is a step closer to human trials, possibly within a year. Hepatitis B kills an estimated 1 million people annually.
Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative
Contact: Anne Rueter
arueter@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System
US boasts of laser weapon's 'plausible deniability'
An aircraft-borne laser will invisibly cause destruction 20 kilometres away without US forces being suspected, officials claim
15:45 12 August 2008
Why real and imagined disgust have the same effect
Reading something disgusting and actually experiencing it have effects in the same part of the brain - test it for yourself with this disgusting prose
00:01 13 August 2008
Public Release: 13-Aug-2008
Cell Host & Microbe
How flesh-eating bacteria attack the body's immune system
"Flesh-eating" or "Strep" bacteria are able to survive and spread in the body by degrading a key immune defense molecule, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The finding, which could aid in development of new treatments for serious infections in human patients, will be reported in the August 14 issue of the journal Cell Host & Microbe.
National Institutes of Health, Swiss National Science Foundation
Contact: Debra Kain
ddkain@ucsd.edu
619-543-6163
University of California - San Diego
Public Release: 13-Aug-2008
Oceans on the precipice: Scripps scientist warns of mass extinctions and 'rise of slime'
Human activities are cumulatively driving the health of the world's oceans down a rapid spiral, and only prompt and wholesale changes will slow or perhaps ultimately reverse the catastrophic problems they are facing.
Contact: Mario Aguilera
scrippsnews@ucsd.edu
858-534-3624
University of California - San Diego
Public Release: 14-Aug-2008
Science
Computer users are digitizing books quickly and accurately with Carnegie Mellon method
Millions of computer users collectively transcribe the equivalent of 160 books each day with better than 99 percent accuracy, despite the fact that few spend more than a few seconds on the task and that most do not realize they are doing valuable work, Carnegie Mellon University researchers reported today in Science Express.
Heinz Endowment, Fine Foundation, Intel Corp., New York Times Co., US Army Research Office
Contact: Byron Spice
bspice@cs.cmu.edu
412-268-9068
Carnegie Mellon University
Public Release: 14-Aug-2008
Science
Leishmaniasis parasites evade death by exploiting the immune response to sand fly bites
Cutaneous leishmaniasis, a disease characterized by painful skin ulcers, occurs when the parasite Leishmania major, or a related species, is transmitted to a mammalian host by the bite of an infected sand fly. In a new study from NIAID, scientists have discovered L. major does its damage by not only evading but also by exploiting the body's wound-healing response to sand fly bites, as reported in the Aug. 15 issue of Science.
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dieseases
Contact: Linda Perrett
perrettl@niaid.nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Public Release: 14-Aug-2008
Science
Colon cancer linked to unequal gene activity
Researchers here have discovered that a subtle difference in the activity of a pair of genes may be responsible for one of every 10 colon-cancer cases. The work is the first to link this particular gene conclusively as a cause of colon cancer, and it may provide clinicians with a new way to identify people who are at high risk for disease.
NIH/National Cancer Institute, Walter S. Mander Foundation, Fundación Ramón Areces
Contact: Darrell E. Ward
Darrell.Ward@osumc.edu
614-293-3737
Ohio State University
Hope for arthritis vaccine 'cure'
A single injection of modified cells could halt the advance of rheumatoid arthritis, say UK scientists.
Visual Science
The Genetic Map of Europe
By NICHOLAS WADE
Researchers have created a genetic map showing the relatedness between the populations of Europe.
Graves Found From Sahara’s Green Period
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
The first complete report from the largest known graveyard of Stone Age people reveals 200 graves, some filled with ornaments and pottery.
* Photographs Slideshow: Stone Age Graveyard
Public Release: 14-Aug-2008
American Psychological Association 116th Annual Convention
Women and war: The toll of deployment on physical health
More than 80 percent of a sample of Air Force women deployed in Iraq and other areas around the world report suffering from persistent fatigue, fever, hair loss and difficulty concentrating.
TriService Nursing Research Program
Contact: Diane Swanbrow
swanbrow@umich.edu
734-647-9069
University of Michigan
Public Release: 14-Aug-2008
American Naturalist
Big-brained animals evolve faster
Ecologist Daniel Sol and evolutionary biologist Trevor Price analyzed body size measures of 7,209 species of birds and found that avian families that have experienced the greatest diversification in body size tend to be those with brains larger than expected for their body size.
Contact: Patricia Morse
amnat@press.uchicago.edu
University of Chicago Press Journals
Public Release: 14-Aug-2008
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Penn study finds way to prevent protein clumping characteristic of Parkinson's disease
Researchers have identified a protein from a most unlikely source -- baker's yeast -- that might protect against Parkinson's disease. By introducing the yeast protein Hsp104 into animal models of Parkinson's disease, researchers prevented protein clumping that leads to nerve cell death characteristic of the disorder.
Michael J. Fox Foundation, European Molecular Biology Organization, Swedish Parkinson's Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, American Heart Association, University of Pennsylvania Institute on Aging, National Institute of Health
Contact: Karen Kreeger
karen.kreeger@uphs.upenn.edu
215-349-5658
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Arsenic-munching bacteria found
By Jennifer Carpenter
Science reporter, BBC News
In the warm, bubbling pools of Mono Lake in California, scientists have isolated a bacterium that fuels itself on arsenic.
Public Release: 15-Aug-2008
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
Asthma in boys may be just a phase, but for girls it may be there to stay
Boys may be more apt than girls to have childhood asthma, but, when compared to girls, they are also more likely to grow out of it in adolescence and have a decreased incidence of asthma in the post-pubertal years.
Contact: Keely Savoie
ksavoie@thoracic.org
212-315-8620
American Thoracic Society
Go online to find your future spouse
The internet has overtaken more traditional avenues for people in the US to find their perfect mate
12:12 15 August 2008
Public Release: 15-Aug-2008
Nature Chemical Biology
Caltech engineers build mini drug-producing biofactories in yeast
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have developed a novel way to churn out large quantities of drugs, including antiplaque toothpaste additives, antibiotics, nicotine, and even morphine, using mini biofactories--in yeast.
Caltech, National Institutes of Health
Contact: Kathy Svitil
ksvitil@caltech.edu
626-395-8022
California Institute of Technology
Public Release: 15-Aug-2008
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Potatoes may hold key to Alzheimer's treatment
A virus that commonly infects potatoes bears a striking resemblance to one of the key proteins implicated in Alzheimer's disease, and researchers have used that to develop antibodies that may slow or prevent the onset of AD.
Contact: Nick Zagorski
nzagorski@asbmb.org
301-634-7366
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Public Release: 15-Aug-2008
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Experiments could lead to new treatments for neuroblastoma
Based on cell-culture and animal experiments, researchers believe they've found a critical weakness in neuroblastoma -- one that could lead to the development of a lifesaving therapy for victims of the cancer.
National Institutes of Health
Contact: Jim Kelly
jpkelly@utmb.edu
409-772-8791
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Public Release: 17-Aug-2008
Nature
Survivors of 1918 flu pandemic protected with a lifetime immunity to virus
New research has discovered that infection and natural exposure to the 1918 influenza virus made survivors immune to the disease for the remaining of their lives.
Contact: Mount Sinai Newsroom
newsmedia@mssm.edu
212-241-9200
The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Public Release: 17-Aug-2008
Monash team learns from nature to split water
An international team of researchers led by Monash University has used chemicals found in plants to replicate a key process in photosynthesis paving the way to a new approach that uses sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Contact: Samantha Blair
samantha.blair@adm.monash.edu.au
61-399-034-841
Monash University
World's farmers turn to raw sewage for irrigation
As water becomes ever more scarce, much of the world's food could not be grown at all without wastewater from urban sewers, says a new 50-city study
00:01 18 August 2008