In the East Scotia Ridge deep beneath the Southern Ocean, hydrothermal vents including 'black smokers' reaching temperatures of up to 382 degrees Celsius have created a unique environment that lacks sunlight, but is rich in certain chemicals.
It also has communities of species previously unknown to science on the seafloor.
This hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents was explored using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and the researchers found new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and potentially an octopus.
Update: I have modified the title of this post [originally: "Opera's Statistical Booboo"] and the text below (in places I marked accordingly) upon realizing, thanks to a very good point raised by a reader in the comments thread below, that the idealization I was making of the measurement described below made my conclusions too hasty. Read the text to the end if you want more detail.
Two recent studies are providing a foundation for a more complete understanding of distinct kidney cancer subtypes, which could pave the way for better treatments.
In a study published in Cancer Cell led by Kyle Furge, Ph.D. and Aikseng Ooi, Ph.D. of Van Andel Research Institute, they provide a more complete understanding of the biology of Type 2 papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC2), an aggressive type of kidney cancer with no effective treatment, which lays the foundation for the development of effective treatment strategies.
A blog is by nature a place where things move on fast. Articles disappear beyond the horizon in the matter of a week or two, and only rarely get resuscitated by a later article linking them back from oblivion.
At Science 2.0 things are no better than in any other blog sites, with the aggravating feature that there is no "archive" button, nor a "random post" feature. Since I believe that many of my articles are not very connected to the specific time at which they have been written, I have in mind to reorganize the material somehow, when I have the time. However, this looks like a grievious task, since the number of posts I have written here is about 500.
This December the National Transportation Safety Board of the U.S. recommended a nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving. According to NTSB member Robert Sumwalt, "This (distracted driving) is becoming the new DUI. It's becoming epidemic.” For some, the NTSB recommendation is a sign of the forces of light winning the day, and for others, proof of the impending apocalypse. Regardless of your emotional reaction to the issue, the subject cuts right to the heart of questions about the attention capacity of the human brain.
The inaugural season of intercollegiate football took place in 1869. It consisted of two games: Rutgers played Princeton, and then a week later, they played again. Each team won once, so the “national championship” (awarded retroactively) was split. And despite the schools’ bitter rivalry, the Rutgers newspaper reported an “amicable feed together” after the contests. Since then, the business of selecting a national champion in college football has grown considerably more complex.
The previous year has forced us to confront difficult science questions: Was processing patents Einstein’s real strength? Are there any other planets out there like Earth? Why is the universe composed of matter instead of antimatter? 2011 had a bumper crop of fascinating science and technology stories, so many that it’s impossible to call ten stories "the top” but the audience expects it. So, courtesy of Ysabel Yates at Txchnologist, here are ten notable events from a long list, in no particular order and slightly edited.
A study in Cancer Discovery says mutations in the ATM gene may increase the hereditary risk for pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most morbid cancers, with less than 5 percent of those diagnosed with the disease surviving to five years. Approximately 10 percent of patients come from families with multiple cases of pancreatic cancer.
Using next-generation sequencing, including whole genome and whole exome analyses, they identified ATM gene mutations in two kindreds with familial pancreatic cancer. When those initial findings were examined in a large series for patients, ATM mutations were present in four of 166 subjects with pancreatic cancer but were absent in 190 spousal control subsets.
