A new proposed spacecraft named MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is expected to be launched in 2013, a $485 million mission to collect atmospheric data on Mars. The purpose of the NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is to gain further knowledge on the history of the planet’s climate and atmosphere, as well as the planet’s availability of water and its future habitability.

Chemical clues from a comet’s halo are challenging common views about the history and evolution of the solar system and showing it may be more mixed-up than previously thought. A new analysis of dust from the comet Wild 2, collected in 2004 by NASA’s Stardust mission, has revealed an oxygen isotope signature that suggests an unexpected mingling of rocky material between the center and edges of the solar system. Despite the comet’s birth in the icy reaches of outer space beyond Pluto, tiny crystals collected from its halo appear to have been forged in the hotter interior, much closer to the sun.

The result counters the idea that the material that formed the solar system billions of years ago has remained trapped in orbits around the sun. Instead, the new study in Science suggests that cosmic material from asteroid belts between Mars and Jupiter can migrate outward in the solar system and mix with the more primitive materials found at the fringes.

For a long time scientists have been puzzled by the fact that the immune system in the gut is capable of fighting toxic bacterial infection while staying, at the same time, tolerant to its resident “friendly” bacteria. But an article now published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe(1) is starting to open the door to this mystery by revealing how a recently discovered gene - pims – is activated by the gut immune response against friendly bacteria to rapidly suppress it, effectively creating tolerance to the gut microbiota. In the same way pims is also shown to control the magnitude of immune responses against toxic bacteria by suppressing immuno-reactivity when a certain activation threshold is achieved, assuring, in this way, that the response stays restricted to the infection site and is proportional to the extent of the infection. These results suggest that the balance tolerance/immuno-reaction in the gut is achieved through self-regulatory cycles where suppression by negative regulators, such as pims, is triggered as soon as a specific threshold of immuno activation is reached.

LONDON, September 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Explorers are announcing today a new monitoring service (http://www.dataexplorers.com/rsm) covering all stocks with short selling restrictions recently applied by the SEC and FSA. These stocks now require specific regulatory filings and Data Explorers will combine these with their extensive global short side intelligence database.

Data Explorers has been providing transparency to the Securities Lending industry for the past 6 years. The company delivers unique data provided directly by the Securities Lending market participants. As short selling information becomes increasingly public, Data Explorers will integrate it with their proprietary data to provide increasing transparency in this large and important market.

High blood pressure (hypertension) is one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States. The American Heart Association estimates that high blood pressure affects approximately one in three adults in the US. Genetics and a diet of foods high in fat and saturated with salt underlie the resulting 73 million people suffering from hypertension in the US. As a result, they have a greatly increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, atherosclerosis, eye damage and stroke. These complications can result in permanent organ damage and death.

Blood pressure is intricately linked to salt and water balance in the body, which is controlled by the kidneys. More salt equals more water and fluid in the kidneys and therefore in the arteries. This causes an increase in overall blood pressure due to increased fluid mass. Furthermore, certain salt ions are linked in cells. Sodium and potassium are commonly linked ions which travel in and out of cells conducted by specific ion channels. The ion charges inside or outside of the cell create a electrical charge which then control physiological outcomes including neuronal impulses and hormonal and muscle controlling cells.

Naphthalene molecules, in combination with water, ammonia and ultraviolet radiation, produce many of the amino acids fundamental to the development of life.

A team of scientists led by researchers from the Instituto Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has succeeded in identifying naphthalene in a star formation region in the constellation Perseus, in the direction of the star Cernis 52.

This means a large number of the key components in prebiotic terrestrial chemistry could have been present in the interstellar matter from which the Solar System was formed.

Using various telescopes in La Palma and Texas, IAC researchers have detected the pr

Pirates, like gangsters, highwayman, and other colorful outlaws, have always carried a certain romantic appeal and, thanks to "Pirates of the Caribbean", they are the most appealing of the outlaws at this moment.

In a swashbuckling article for the Journal of Political Economy, Peter Leeson explored the fascinating “golden age” of piracy during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and finds that these criminal organizations were able to establish a remarkably stable form of self-government.

LONDON, September 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambian Healthcare and re:source won the 2008 Independent Healthcare Award for their ground-breaking partnership to improve the lives of patients with mental illness. The award was judged by the Healthcare Commission.

The award recognises a new innovative programme that enables long-stay hospital patients to return to their communities.

In 2007, 47 patients from the East Midlands were transferred to Cambian's Intensive Psychiatric Rehabilitation Programme. The programme uses high staff ratios and intensive clinical inputs to work closely with these patients to rebuild their daily living skills and confidence.

LONDON, September 19 /PRNewswire/ --

The spate of ATM withdrawals on customer accounts with fraudulent cards has sparked widespread concern across the Middle East. The incidents that happened in UAE have rattled many banks and have instilled fear in the minds of cardholders.

Dubai is maturing into a major leisure and business destination and this means that many foreign-issued cards will be used at local ATM machines. Middle East-issued cards also have a very high level of out of country spending since a large portion of cardholders are expatriates.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, September 19 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 200 participants from 72 companies assembled at the exclusive annual international platform for sustainable energy solutions at Hilton Nordica Reykjavík September 18 and 19.

"In the next five years or so we have to lay the fundamental groundwork of a comprehensive transformation of our traffic system, our transport, how we use the roads, how we move from one place to another, whether it is a household or a city or a country." said Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland, in his opening address at Driving Sustainability at Hilton Reykjavik Thursday.