In patients who experienced an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event (such as heart attack or unstable angina), use of the drug darapladib to inhibit the enzyme lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (believed to play a role in the development of atherosclerosis) did not reduce the risk of recurrent major coronary events, according to a study published by JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.

Nano-robots have cancer in their sights. Credit: StephenMitchell/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

By Dr. Jason Liu, Monash University

It sounds like a scene from a science fiction novel – an army of tiny weaponized robots traveling around a human body, hunting down malignant tumours and destroying them from within.

Spend any time in American science media and you may find some of them are pretty far out of the political mainstream; so far out, they may not even be friends with anyone who has not always voted the same way as them.

So it's unsurprising that much of science media once perpetuated the claim that 'science votes Democrat.'  Humans are fallible and confirmation bias is sneaky. As was apocryphally attributed to New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael after the 1972 Presidential election and a Richard M. Nixon landslide victory, "I don't know how Nixon won. No one I know voted for him." (1)

A new analysis of satellite data from the last 19 years reveals that fresh water from melting glaciers has caused the sea level around the coast of Antarctica to rise by 2 centimeters more than the global average of 6 centimeters.

Researchers at the University of Southampton detected the rapid rise in sea-level by studying satellite scans of a region that spans more than a million square kilometers. 

Visible blood in urine is the best known indicator of bladder cancer but new research  finds that invisible blood in urine may be an early warning sign of bladder cancer. 

Scientists at the University of Exeter Medical School found that 1 in 60 people over the age of 60 who had invisible blood in their urine transpired to have bladder cancer. Thay's about half those who had visible blood in their urine but higher than figures for other potential symptoms of bladder cancer that warrant further investigation. 

Kell Brook and two of the Sheffield Hallam University team. Credit: Sheffield Hallam University.

By Alan Ruddock, Sheffield Hallam University

Amid all the flashing lights, it was a moment of sheer exhilaration when the winner was finally announced: “By a majority decision, the new IBF welterweight champion on the world – Kell Brook.”

When we learn, we associate a sensory experience with other stimuli or with a certain type of behavior.

The neurons in the cerebral cortex that transmit the information modify the synaptic connections that they have with the other neurons and according to a generally accepted model of synaptic plasticity, a neuron that communicates with others of the same kind emits an electrical impulse as well as activating its synapses transiently. This electrical pulse, combined with the signal received from other neurons, acts to stimulate the synapses.

Energy drinks can cause heart problems according to research presented yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2014 today by Professor Milou-Daniel Drici from France.

Image credit:  Peter Blanchard via flickr | http://bit.ly/1q1sNlt. Rights information: http://bit.ly/c34Awz

By:  Benjamin Plackett,  Inside Science

(Inside Science) -- It may be unintentional, but it’s possible that your car insurer may know a lot more about where you go than you’d like.

Checking for glaucoma. Image credit: communityeyehealth,  CC BY-NC

By David Crabb, City University London

Scientists have proposed a way to monitor glaucoma using a tiny device implanted in the eye. Readings from the device could be monitored by a smartphone. The technology could help prevent some people from going blind.