Science Codex News

Automation failures have been the cause of such widely reported disasters as the crash of Air France Flight 447 in 2009, with most of the focus placed on deficiencies in the automated system. Although automation does help in avoiding human error in completing tasks, people are still needed to monitor how well the automated system is operating.

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It's well-established that the more species that thrive in a habitat, the better it is at weathering a variety of events from floods to drought to fire. Now, an international study with strong ties to the University of Minnesota is shedding new light on the effect of an increasingly common human-caused disturbance -- the addition of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium -- on a wide range of grassland ecosystems around the world.

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In the mid-1800s, astronomers surveying the night sky in the Southern Hemisphere noticed something strange: Over the course of a few years, a previously inconspicuous star named Eta Carinae grew brighter and brighter, eventually outshining all other stars except Sirius, before fading again over the next decade, becoming too dim to be seen with the naked eye.

What had happened to cause this outburst? Did 19th-century astronomers witness some strange type of supernova, a star ending its life in a cataclysmic explosion?

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CLEVELAND - Case Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers, a research collaboration which includes University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University, who last year identified new gene mutations unique to colon cancers in African Americans, have found that tumors with these mutations are highly aggressive and more likely to recur and metastasize. These findings partly may explain why African Americans have the highest incidence and death rates of any group for this disease.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Results from an international, randomized study show that an implanted nerve stimulator significantly improves symptoms in those with central sleep apnea, without causing serious side effects.

Dr. William Abraham, co-lead author and director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, presented findings from the study at the recent European Society of

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Using a new, lightning-fast camera paired with an electron microscope, University of Maryland School of Medicine scientists have captured images of one of the smallest human proteins to be "seen" with a microscope.

The protein - called STRA6 - sits in the membrane of our cells and is responsible for transporting vitamin A into the cell interior. Vitamin A is essential to all mammals and is particularly important in making the light receptors in our eyes, and in the placenta and fetus where it's critical for normal development.

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For children with autism and a class of genetic disorders, exposure to diagnostic ultrasound in the first trimester of pregnancy is linked to increased autism severity, according to a study by researchers at UW Medicine, UW Bothell and Seattle Children's Research Institute.

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CHAPEL HILL -- Certain cancer treatments are known to take a toll on patients, causing side effects like fatigue, nausea and hair loss. Now, scientists are investigating whether some treatments can cause another long-term side effect: premature aging of important disease-fighting cells.

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Ever since the 1950s discovery of the solar wind - the constant flow of charged particles from the sun - there's been a stark disconnect between this outpouring and the sun itself. As it approaches Earth, the solar wind is gusty and turbulent. But near the sun where it originates, this wind is structured in distinct rays, much like a child's simple drawing of the sun. The details of the transition from defined rays in the corona, the sun's upper atmosphere, to the solar wind have been, until now, a mystery.

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Ahuna Mons is a volcano that rises 13,000 feet high and spreads 11 miles wide at its base. This would be impressive for a volcano on Earth. But Ahuna Mons stands on Ceres, a dwarf planet less than 600 miles wide that orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Even stranger, Ahuna Mons isn't built from lava the way terrestrial volcanoes are -- it's built from ice.

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September 1, 2016 - What do you think about the quality of healthcare in the United States? Your opinion may depend on your politics, with Democrats perceiving more problems in the healthcare system compared to Republicans, reports a study in the Journal for Healthcare Quality (JHQ).

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AMES, Iowa - The researchers in Jonathan Claussen's lab at Iowa State University (who like to call themselves nanoengineers) have been looking for ways to use graphene and its amazing properties in their sensors and other technologies.

Graphene is a wonder material: The carbon honeycomb is just an atom thick. It's great at conducting electricity and heat; it's strong and stable. But researchers have struggled to move beyond tiny lab samples for studying its material properties to larger pieces for real-world applications.

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ALEXANDRIA, VA--The latest research on healthcare economics, sleep apnea, 3-D printed tissue, post-operative antibiotics, hearing loss, head and neck cancer and other topics related to the specialty of otolaryngology will be presented in San Diego, CA, September 18-21, during the 2016 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO? of the American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. It is the largest meeting of ear, nose, throat, head and neck physicians in the world.

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COLUMBIA, Mo. - A significant part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was the $25 billion invested in health information technology (IT) to improve quality, safety, efficiency in health care while also reducing health disparities. However, nursing homes did not receive the same level of investment in technology as hospitals, leading to little understanding of how IT sophistication is impacting patient care in nursing homes. Now, research from the University of Missouri shows increases in IT sophistication can lead to potential improvements in health care quality measures.

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Researchers at the Institute for the Developing Mind at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have analyzed current gene-disease findings to understand why people with neurodevelopmental and mental illness often have physical disorders.

Their study, published online in Frontiers in Psychiatry, may reframe how clinicians and scientists approach the treatment and study of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) beyond a single diagnosis.

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COLUMBIA, SC - Antibiotic treatment within the first year of life may wipe out more than an unwanted infection: exposure to the drugs is associated with an increase in food allergy diagnosis, new research from the University of South Carolina suggests.

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With nearly sixty percent of American adults now taking prescription medications--from antidepressants to cholesterol treatments--there is growing concern about how many drugs are flowing through wastewater treatment facilities and into rivers and lakes. Research confirms that pharmaceutical pollution can cause damage to fish and other ecological problems--and may pose risks to human health too.

Scientists have assumed that people flushing their unused medications down the drain or toilet was a major source of these drugs in the water.

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Tropical Storm Hermine officially reached hurricane status on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, at 1:55 p.m. EDT. NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured a visible image of the hurricane at 3:15 p.m. EDT (1915 UTC).

The image shows a much more organized Hermine with bands of thunderstorms wrapping around its low-level center and blanketing the entire state of Florida. The image was created at NASA/NOAA's GOES Project office, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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An endoscopic procedure can improve the outlook for patients with a fairly common type of pancreatic lesion that is challenging to manage and that, if left untreated, can progress to cancer, according to a study in the September issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).

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LOGAN, UTAH, Sept. 1, 2016 - In arid Utah, a marshy wetland, teeming with aquatic life and migratory birds is among the most cherished natural resources in the state.

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