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ScienceDaily: Latest Science News
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Breaking science news and articles on global warming, extrasolar planets, stem cells, bird flu, autism, nanotechnology, dinosaurs, evolution -- the latest discoveries in astronomy, anthropology, biology, chemistry, climate & environment, computers, engineering, health & medicine, math, physics, psychology, technology, and more -- from the world's leading universities and research organizations.
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Climbing As Easy As Walking For Smaller Primates
Smaller primates expend no more energy climbing than they do walking. This surprising discovery may explain the evolutionary edge that encouraged the tiny ancestors of modern humans, apes and monkeys to climb into the trees about 65 million years ago and stay there.
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Reducing Intake Of Dietary Fat Prevents Prostate Cancer In Mice
Scientists have showed that lowering intake of the type of fat common in a Western diet helps prevent prostate cancer in mice, the first finding of its kind in a mouse model that closely mimics human cancer, researchers said. The study focused on fat from corn oil, which is made up primarily of omega-6 fatty acids, or the polyunsaturated fat commonly found in the Western diet.
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Ice Cores Reveal Fluctuations In Earth's Greenhouse Gases
The newest analysis of trace gases trapped in Antarctic ice cores now provide a reasonable view of greenhouse gas concentrations as much as 800,000 years into the past, and are further confirming the link between greenhouse gas levels and global warming, scientists have reported in Nature.
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Incontinence Treatment: Muscle-derived Stem Cells Prove Effective In Reparing Sphincter Damage To Restore Continence
Transplantation of muscle-derived stem cells may provide a safe and effective treatment for patients suffering from urinary incontinence following a surgical procedure. Patients with incontinence resulting from iatrogenic sphincter damage may benefit from this therapy.
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Precision Control Of Movement In Robots
Scientists are investigating the characteristics of various types of materials for their use in the generation and measurement of precise movements. When the arms of a robot move to pick up an egg or an electric lamp, the greatest precision possible is essential. To this end, advances in the science and technology of materials have provided the design and control of systems equipped with sensors and actuators built with new materials.
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Success By Learning: Smallest Predator Recognizes Prey By Its Shape
The Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus) is one of the world's smallest mammals. It is about four centimetres long and weighs merely two grams. Being a nocturnal animal, it hunts predominantly with its sense of touch. "As quick as a flash, the Etruscan shrew scans its prey and adapts, when necessary, its hunting strategy," explained one of the researchers. "Thus, no prey escapes."
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Gravity-defying Bird Beak Mystery Solved: Shorebirds Benefit From Surface Tension
As Charles Darwin showed nearly 150 years ago, bird beaks are exquisitely adapted to the birds' feeding strategy. A team of mathematicians and engineers has now explained exactly how some shorebirds use their long, thin beaks to defy gravity and transport food into their mouths. Some species rely exclusively on a feeding mechanism that takes advantage of water's surface tension, and so are extremely vulnerable to oil spills.
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Common Virus May Serve As Target For Vaccine In Fight Against Deadly Brain Tumors
By targeting a common virus, doctors may be able to extend the lives of patients diagnosed with the most prevalent and deadly type of brain tumor. A type of herpes virus called human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is found in up to 80 percent of Americans, though the virus normally produces very few clinical symptoms, is dormant, and usually undetectable in most people.
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New World Record For Efficiency For Solar Cells; Inexpensive To Manufacture
Scientists have improved the efficiency of an important type of solar cell from 21.9 to 23.2 percent (a relative improvement of 6 per cent). The efficiency improvement is achieved by the use of an ultra-thin aluminum oxide layer at the front of the cell, and it brings a breakthrough in the use of solar energy a step closer. The costs of applying the thin layer of aluminum oxide are expected to be relatively low.
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Gastric Bypass Surgery Restores Sexual Function In Morbidly Obese Men
Losing weight may help resolve erectile dysfunction in obese men. Morbid obesity can cause sexual dysfunction independent of other common confounders, including diabetes, hypertension and smoking.
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Carbon-coated Nanomagnets Could Be A New Form Of Cancer Treatment
Carbon-coated nanomagnets may offer a new form of cancer treatment. New research suggests that nanoparticles consisting of metallic iron with a protective carbon coat could serve as a safe and effective hyperthermia agent.
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Gene Linked To Vertebral Defects In Patient Populations Identified
Genes known to cause spinal mutations in chick and mouse model systems also play an important role in human patients with congenital vertebral abnormalities. Working with samples from 31 patients at Boston Children's Hospital with various congenital vertebral defects, the team sequenced five genes thought to be involved in the malformations.
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Parrot Fossil 55 Million Years Old Discovered In Scandinavia
Palaeontologists have discovered fossil remains in Scandinavia of parrots dating back 55 million years. The fossils indicate that parrots once flew wild over what is now Norway and Denmark. Parrots today live only in the tropics and southern hemisphere, but this new research suggests that they first evolved in the North, much earlier than had been thought.
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Current Regenerative Medical Techniques Hold Great Promise For Bladder Regeneration
Bladder regeneration via a neo-bladder replacement may prove to be effective in humans.
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Pioneering Induction Of Bone Formation Using Embryonic Stem Cells
Researchers have successfully creating bone tissue "in vivo", using embryonic stem cells. They imitated bone formation in embryos and children, which uses cartilage as a template. This new approach appears to be a promising way of repairing bone defects. Previous attempts to create bone using embryonic stem cells were unsuccessful. In the lab, there was clear evidence that these stem cells were differentiating into the bone lineage "in vitro", however this process stalled after implantation and no bone tissue was formed. Yet, this approach did lead to bone formation when cultured adult stem cells from bone marrow were used. This direct approach is, amongst others, involved in the formation of the bone found in the skull.
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Maternal Exposure To Persistent Organic Pollutants Linked To Urologic Conditions In Boys
Higher incidences of congenital anomalies, including cryptorchidism (undescended testicles) and hypospadias, were found in boys whose mothers had higher serum levels of certain organochlorine compounds, researchers say.
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Immune Cells Kill Foes By Disrupting Mitochondria Two Ways
T cells can initiate cellular suicide, also known as apoptosis, by a previously unrecognized pathway that starts with the destruction of a key enzyme in mitochondria, the power plant of the cell.
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Monkey Studies Important For Brain Science
Studies with non-human primates have made major contributions to our understanding of the brain and will continue to be an important, if small, part of neuroscience research, according to a recent review.
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Interior Of Mars Is Colder Than Previously Thought, So Any Possible Liquid Water Would Be Deep Underground
New observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought. The findings suggest any liquid water that might exist below the planet's surface and any possible organisms living in that water, would be located deeper than scientists had suspected.
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Natural Killer Cells In Umbilical Cord Blood Fight Leukemia
Researchers have found a therapy that effectively kills human leukemia cells in mice using natural killer cells from umbilical cord blood. They have demonstrated an effective method for expanding the number of NK cells from a single cord blood unit while retaining the cells' anti-leukemia effects.
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Nanowires May Boost Solar Cell Efficiency, Engineers Say
Electrical engineers have created experimental solar cells spiked with nanowires that could lead to highly efficient thin-film solar cells of the future. The new design increases the number of electrons that make it from the light-absorbing polymer to an electrode.
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Starting Point Of Sun-induced Skin Cancer Discovered: Molecular 'Hooks' Also Pull Compounds From Marijuana From Bloodstream
The earliest event in the development of sun-induced skin cancer may have been identified. Researchers found that the point of entry for skin cancer in response to sun exposure is in receptor molecules, molecular "hooks" on the outer surface of cells that also pull cannabinoid compounds found in marijuana out of the bloodstream.
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Weather, Waves And Wireless: Super Strength Signalling
A new study has discovered a particular window of time when mobile signals and radio waves are 'super strength' -- allowing them to be clearer and travel greater distances, potentially interfering with other systems. The research, examining the signal strength of radio waves travelling over the sea, identified late afternoons and early evenings in spring and summer as a time when enhanced signals occur.
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Study Revives Olympic Prospects For Amputee Sprinter
The Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland, has ruled that Pistorius is eligible to participate in International Association of Athletics Federations sanctioned competitions. If he qualifies for the 2008 Beijing games, Pistorius would be the first disabled athlete ever to run against able-bodied athletes in an Olympic event.
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Simple Artificial Cell Created From Scratch To Study Cell Complexity
Researchers have developed a simple artificial cell with which to investigate the organization and function of two of the most basic cell components: the cell membrane and the cytoplasm -- the gelatinous fluid that surrounds the structures in living cells. The work could lead to the creation of new drugs that take advantage of properties of cell organization to prevent the development of diseases.
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