Avian influenza viruses do not thrive in humans because the temperature inside a person's nose is too low, according to research published today in PLoS Pathogens. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and the University of North Carolina, say this may be one of the reasons why bird flu viruses do not cause pandemics in humans easily.

There are 16 subtypes of avian influenza and some can mutate into forms that can infect humans, by swapping proteins on their surface with proteins from human influenza viruses.

As if you need another reason for parental guilt, a new article in Bioscience Hypotheses speculates that our feelings could impact our reproduction and affect our children.

Dr Alberto Halabe Bucay of Research Center Halabe and Darwich, Mexico, suggests that a wide range of chemicals that our brain generates when we are in different moods could affect 'germ cells' (eggs and sperm), the cells that ultimately produce the next generation. Such natural chemicals could affect the way that specific genes are expressed in the germ cells, and hence how a child develops.

The dual launch of the far-infrared space telescope Herschel and cosmic background mapper Planck on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana is the beginning of two of the most ambitious missions ever attempted to unveil the secrets of the darkest, coldest and oldest parts of the Universe.
 
Herschel has the largest mirror ever launched into space and will examine a little known part of the electromagnetic spectrum to learn more about the birth of stars and galaxies as well as dust clouds and planet-forming discs around stars - and will look for water, a key component of life similar to ours. 

Monkeys playing a game similar to "Let's Make A Deal" have revealed that their brains register missed opportunities and learn from their mistakes. 

The researchers watched individual neurons in a region of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) that monitors the consequences of actions and mediates resulting changes in behavior. The monkeys were making choices that resulted in different amounts of juice as a reward. 

Their task was like the TV show "Let's Make a Deal" with the experimenters offering monkeys choices from an array of hidden rewards. During each trial, the monkeys chose from one of eight identical white squares arranged in a circle. A color beneath the white square was revealed and the monkey received the corresponding reward. 

PARIS, May 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- New CEO, New Board, New Funding, First Artist Adoption

Interactive music solution developer, MXP4, today announces the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer and a strengthened board as it prepares to drive broad adoption of the format with EUR2m in additional funding from A-list investors.

The new appointments bring a wealth of talent and experience to the business:

The Origins of the Reductionist Program

"How can the events in space and time which take place within the spatialboundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?" Erwin Schrodinger - What is Life - 1944

Tetris stole hundreds of hours of our lives.  It’s about time it starts giving back.  Researchers at the Washington University of St. Louis have built a computer simulation that uses a modified Tetris game to explore self-assembly.  Their take on the classic puzzle game confirms what Tetris junkies have always known: The T-shaped tetromino is insanely versatile, and the L and Z tetrominoes just can’t get along.  

HARTFORD, Connecticut, May 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Presentation to Focus on the Role of Health IT in Health Care Reform

Aetna (NYSE: AET) (http://www.aetna.com/investor/) announced today that Lonny Reisman, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, is scheduled to present at the 5th Annual World Health Care Congress - Europe on May 14, 2009, in Brussels, Belgium. As a participant in the Viable European Reform Models - The Role of HIT panel, Dr. Reisman will discuss how electronic health information systems can help strengthen the quality and affordability of health care. He will also examine U.S. best practices and discuss how these capabilities might contribute to European reform efforts.

NEW YORK, May 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Level 3 Teams with High-Performance Transporter Aspera to Expedite Large-File Content Delivery

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT) today announced that it will offer its Content Delivery Network (CDN) customers a new High-Speed Content Upload service that enables rapid uploading of multimedia content to the Level 3 Origin Storage Platform.

Recently I had the opportunity to ask Paul Ewald, one of the nation's leading evolutionary biologists, about a subject near and dear to his heart: the evolution of a bug, specifically swine flu. As usual, Ewald, a professor of biology at the University of Louisville, was lucid, cogent and memorable.

In his 2002 book, Plague Time: The New Germ Theory of Disease, Ewald set the bio-med community on its head by arguing that most chronic disease is caused by sub-acute levels of pathogenic origin, rather than genes.