Featured Articles

ESA’s CHEOPS Satellite: The Pharaoh of Exoplanet Hunting

ESA’s CHEOPS Satellite: The Pharaoh of Exoplanet Hunting

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)


Just like the Pharaoh Cheops, who ruled the ancient Old Kingdom of Egypt, ESA’s CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) could be someday ruling in the field of exoplanet hunting.
Live Donor Liver Transplantation Safe, Effective For Acute Liver Failure

Live Donor Liver Transplantation Safe, Effective For Acute Liver Failure

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

When patients develop acute liver failure, severe complications arise rapidly after the first signs of liver disease, and patients' health can deteriorate rapidly. New research published in the American Journal of Transplantation indicates that emergency evaluations of living liver donors can be conducted safely to allow acute liver failure patients to undergo transplantation before their condition worsens.

Tumor Sanctuaries - The Cancer Therapy Breeding Grounds Of Resistance

Tumor Sanctuaries - The Cancer Therapy Breeding Grounds Of Resistance

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

Tumors acquiring resistance is one of the major barriers to successful cancer therapy. Feng Fu, Sebastian Bonhoeffer (ETH Zurich) and their collaborator Martin Nowak (Harvard) use mathematical models to characterize how important aspects of tumor microenvironment can impair the efficacy of targeted cancer therapies.

Failure of cancer therapy is commonly attributed to pre-existing resistant mutants already present prior to treatment. However, the research publishing this week in PLOS Computational Biology highlights the important role of tumor sanctuaries in the rapid acquisition of resistance.

When And Where Proteins Are Made Gets Revealed

When And Where Proteins Are Made Gets Revealed

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and their international collaborators have developed a novel fluorescence microscopy technique that for the first time shows where and when proteins are produced. The technique allows researchers to directly observe individual messenger RNA molecules (mRNAs) as they are translated into proteins in living cells.

The technique, carried out in living human cells and fruit flies, should help reveal how irregularities in protein synthesis contribute to developmental abnormalities and human disease processes including those involved in Alzheimer's disease and other memory-related disorders.

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko Reveals First Detection Of Molecular Nitrogen On A Comet

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko Reveals First Detection Of Molecular Nitrogen On A Comet

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has made the first measurement of molecular nitrogen at a comet,  Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko,  providing clues about the temperature environment in which it formed. 
Gawker Schools The New York Times Over Its Scare Journalism

Gawker Schools The New York Times Over Its Scare Journalism

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)


New York Times Style columnist Nick Bilton worries the Apple Watch might give you cancer, so he consulted...Joe Mercola.

Yes, that Mercola, the famous homeopath who has been fined by the federal government for making bizarre unsubstantiated medical claims that probably sound legit to osteopaths and residents of Marin County, California, but make no sense in the evidence-based world.
How Will The EU Energy Grid Handle The Surge During And After The Solar Eclipse?

How Will The EU Energy Grid Handle The Surge During And After The Solar Eclipse?

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)


The solar eclipse due to cover much of Europe on March 20 will be the continent’s first for 16 years.

Back in 1999, as people stopped staring at the sun and got back on with their day they caused a power surge which still stands as a UK record – greater than anything after a football match or royal wedding.

A Better Way To Scrub CO2

A Better Way To Scrub CO2

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

A means by which the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal-fired power plants might one day be done far more efficiently and at far lower costs than today has been discovered by a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). By appending a diamine molecule to the sponge-like solid materials known as metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs), the researchers were able to more than triple the CO2-scrubbing capacity of the MOFs, while significantly reducing parasitic energy.

Aspirin, NSAIDs Effectiveness On Colorectal Cancer Risk Varies With Genetics

Aspirin, NSAIDs Effectiveness On Colorectal Cancer Risk Varies With Genetics

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

Among approximately 19,000 individuals, the use of aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was associated with an overall lower risk of colorectal cancer, although this association differed according to certain genetic variations, according to a study in the March 17 issue of JAMA.

Medieval Latrine In Jerusalem Provides Window Into Spread Of Infectious Diseases

Medieval Latrine In Jerusalem Provides Window Into Spread Of Infectious Diseases

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

A medieval cesspit in the old city of Jerusalem has revealed the presence of a number of ancient parasite eggs, which gives researchers a glimpse into the nature and spread of infectious diseases in the Middle East during the 15th century. 

Scientists found evidence of six species of intestinal parasites in the 500-year-old latrine, which included large quantities of roundworm and whipworm, both spread by fecal contamination of food and probably endemic to the region dating back to human evolution out of Africa. Two of the parasites detected, Entamoeba dysentery and fish tapeworm, were common in northern Europe in the medieval period, but either very rare or almost completely absent among the populations of the medieval Middle East.
More Access To Health Care Has Made People Feel Less Healthy

More Access To Health Care Has Made People Feel Less Healthy

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

How much of feeling healthy is subjective? 

People today feel less healthy than ever, even though people live far longer far better than ever in history, according to a new paper. The reason they feel less healthy, and thus demand more medical treatment, is because of the decline in subjective health - people used to go to the doctor when they needed it - and expectations of more and more egalitarian "good" health. Because of the increased demand for zero health defects, there are demands for more doctors and more expansion and the cycle continues.

The result: In the Western world, 25 years of runaway expansion of the medical system has actually led to people feeling less healthy over time.
Are We Alone? The Life-form Catalog

Are We Alone? The Life-form Catalog

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

While looking for life on planets beyond our own solar system, a group of international scientists has created a colorful catalog containing reflection signatures of Earth life forms that might be found on planet surfaces throughout the cosmic hinterlands. The new database and research, published in the March 16 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, gives humans a better chance to learn if we are not alone.

My All-Time Favorite April Fool's Day Gag

My All-Time Favorite April Fool's Day Gag

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

My wife and I were in an airport newsstand. I was looking through the magazines to find something to read on the flight when I saw something that didn't make sense. Quite confused, I had to blink a few times to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing. My wife was a few yards away in the store looking at some knickknacks, so I had to say this loud enough for her to hear: "Tabby, I think I've accidentally stumbled into an alternate universe because Paris Hilton is on the cover of National Geographic:


Source

Science 2.0 And Intel #TailgateTheScienceFair

Science 2.0 And Intel #TailgateTheScienceFair

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

Last Friday and Saturday, the 2015 Synopsys Sac STEM Fair was held at Folsom High School.

I moved here from the football town of Pittsburgh and one thing everyone in football fandom knows about football towns is that for 8 or more days during football season, the parking lots at stadiums are jam-packed with "tailgating" fans, even if they don't have tickets to the actual game. Tailgating is named such because in its earliest form it was just driving a truck up before the game and putting down the tailgate and sitting on it and having a refreshment. Then it became about bringing a grill and cooking some food, then suddenly it became a football event in itself.
How Do You Win A March Madness Bracket? Guess

How Do You Win A March Madness Bracket? Guess

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)


By Chris Gorski Inside Science Currents Blog -- It's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament time and fans have lots of questions. Will Kentucky win it all and finish the season undefeated? Will one of the "First Four" – the teams that begin tournament play on Tuesday night – become a Cinderella story during this year's March Madness games? What's the best selection method for a pool-winning bracket?

Where Is The Generic Version Of Insulin?

Where Is The Generic Version Of Insulin?

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

Insulin has been in use since 1923 so why isn't it generic?

It is a corporate conspiracy, say government-funded academics. It is constantly being improved because so many people rely on it, which leads to a new patent, say companies.
Research Ethics: A New Model For Reviews

Research Ethics: A New Model For Reviews

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

Banning Fast Food In Los Angeles Hasn't Helped Obesity Or Diets

Banning Fast Food In Los Angeles Hasn't Helped Obesity Or Diets

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

Bans are all the rage in states like California and New York but the key question is whether or not they actually work; the entire developed world is facing an obesity crisis so if bans are the only thing that will prevent a strained health care system from collapsing, advocates for managing individual behavior say they should be used as needed.
New Hepatitis C Drugs Will Place Strain On Health Care System

New Hepatitis C Drugs Will Place Strain On Health Care System

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

The cost of treating people infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) with newly approved therapies will likely place a tremendous economic burden on the country's health care system. The prediction comes from a cost-effectiveness analysis led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The findings, reported in the March 17 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, predict that the cost of providing patients their daily regimens could total $136 billion over five years - 10 percent of the country's annual prescription drug spending.

Female Mice Do Not Avoid Mating With Unhealthy Males

Female Mice Do Not Avoid Mating With Unhealthy Males

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)

Female mice are attracted more strongly to the odour of healthy males than unhealthy males. This had already been shown in an earlier study by researchers from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology at the Vetmeduni Vienna. Now the team of behavioural scientists went one step further - and tested a common assumption that more attractive males have better mating success than other males.

Females also mate with unhealthy males

Sarah Zala and Dustin Penn investigated whether females would also choose to mate with healthy over infected male if given a choice. In the laboratory and in large enclosures, the females were allowed to freely choose between two males, one healthy and another challenged with a mild infection, which they previously found to alter male odour.