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Here's Where Your Backyard Was 300 Million Years Ago

We may use terms like "grounded" and terra firma to mean stability and consistency but geology...

Convergent Evolution Cheat Sheet Now 120 Million Years Old

One tenet of natural selection is a random walk of genes but nature may be more predictable than...

Synchrotron Could Shed Light On Exotic Dark Photons

There are many hypothetical particles proposed to explain dark matter and one idea to explore how...

The Pain Scale Is Broken But This May Fix It

Chronic pain is reported by over 20 percent of the global population but there is no scientific...

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Culture War - Recycled Cardboard Packaging Contaminates Food

Culture War - Recycled Cardboard Packaging Contaminates Food

Jun 15 2011 | comment(s)

Recycling is good, we are told, though in actuality government recycling has been nothing except an expensive waste, with landfills for recycled materials as big as landfills for regular garbage.

Now it turns out recycled packaging may be risking our health more directly.  Harmful mineral oils from the printing inks used on cardboard can migrate into food if recycled cardboard is used for food packaging. It may contaminate food even if the recycled cardboard is used for the corrugated card transport box that holds individual packs.
An Invisibility Cloak For Living Cells

An Invisibility Cloak For Living Cells

Jun 15 2011 | comment(s)

Using living cells as more efficient tools for delivering medicines  to diseased parts of the body has  gotten a little closer.   

In a new report, Dayang Wang and colleagues explain that the human body's efficiency in getting rid of foreign substances can also be an obstacle. Some foreign substances, such as viruses, are harmful and should obviously be removed, but the body also considers drugs and nanoparticles — meant to treat diseases and allow physicians to see cells and organs — to be foreign objects, and they are also quickly removed.
Physics - Why Animated Movies Are Better Than Ever

Physics - Why Animated Movies Are Better Than Ever

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

Only nostalgia zealots can argue we are not in a Golden Age for animated movies. 2010 gave us classics like "Megamind", "Toy Story 3" and the one movie to rule them all, "Tangled." These awesome animated family movies are just a few of the reasons why we are in the Golden Age of cartoons, and we do not even have to include "The Incredibles", "Finding Nemo", or "Up". The characters and story had heart and compelling plots.

They also had physics.
Wnt Signaling - Why Hair Turns Gray

Wnt Signaling - Why Hair Turns Gray

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

A new study in Cell shows that Wnt signaling, already known to control many biological processes, between hair follicles and melanocyte stem cells can dictate hair pigmentation.

Using genetic mouse models, researchers were able to examine how Wnt signaling pathways enabled both hair follicle stem cells and melanocyte stem cells to work together to generate hair growth and produce hair color.

Research also showed the depletion (or inhibition or abnormal) Wnt signaling in hair follicle stem cells not only inhibits hair re-growth but also prevents melanocytes stem cell activation required for producing hair color. The lack of Wnt activation in melanocyte stem cells leads to depigmented or gray hair.
High Protein Diet Reduces Cancer Risk In Mice

High Protein Diet Reduces Cancer Risk In Mice

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

A diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein may reduce the risk of cancer and slow the growth of tumors already present, according to a study published in Cancer Research.
 
The study was conducted in mice but the scientists believe the strong biological findings warrant that a similar effect in humans can be considered. 
Poor Sleep Linked To Perceived Racism, Including In White People

Poor Sleep Linked To Perceived Racism, Including In White People

Jun 14 2011 | comment(s)

Perceptions of racism may cause loss of sleep and perhaps loss of sleep may also impact perceptions of racism.

A new study has found that self-reported sleep disturbance correlated to perceived racism, which was increased by 61 percent after adjusting for socioeconomic factors and symptoms of depression. A similar relationship between perceived racism and daytime fatigue was no longer significant after additional adjustment for depressive symptoms.