A small segment of scientists are not in favor of skepticism; primarily if it happens to be in their discipline.   But a group of cancer researchers welcomes it and asks for even more.

Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, a trio discusses the exaggerated fears and hopes that often appear in news coverage of cancer research and seek to provide guidance for both the media and journals to help alleviate the problem.

New nanosensors can measure cancer biomarkers in whole blood for the first time, according to an article Nature Nanotechnology, and that could dramatically simplify the way physicians test for biomarkers of cancer and other diseases. 

A team led by Mark Reed, Yale's Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Engineering&Applied Science at Yale, and Tarek Fahmy, associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering, used nanowire sensors to detect and measure concentrations of two specific biomarkers: one for prostate cancer and the other for breast cancer. 

The gases which formed the Earth's atmosphere and probably its oceans did not come from inside the Earth but from outer space, according to a study by University of Manchester and University of Houston scientists.

The report in Science claims that textbook images of ancient Earth with huge volcanoes spewing gas into the atmosphere will have to be rethought, putting to rest the age-old view that volcanoes were the source of the Earth's earliest atmosphere.   Dr Greg Holland, Dr Martin Cassidy and Professor Chris Ballentine tested volcanic gases to support their new theory.

The research was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

A team of scientists has detected tiny quantities of the unreactive volcanic trace gases Krypton and Xenon in Earth's mantle, which reveal an isotopic 'fingerprint' matching that of
meteorites.

The researchers say this means the gases that formed the Earth's atmosphere - and probably its oceans - did not come from inside the Earth but from outer space.

The report published this week in the journal Science demonstrates that the age-old view that volcanoes were the source of the Earth's earliest atmosphere must be put to rest, the researchers suggest.

 When it comes to gambling, many millions of people just don't know when to walk away. The behavior can take a tremendous toll on their finances and family life, and currently available treatments are often associated with extremely high relapse rates.

According to new research presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), however, there may be alternative and surprisingly simple treatments available for gambling addicts--medications that decrease urges and increase inhibitions. In other words, medications often used to treat drug abuse.  

With the fall semester coming to a close, a Purdue University psychologist has some advice for all those college students who are poring over their notes in preparation for finals. Don't.

In a paper recently featured in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, psychologist Jeffrey D. Karpicke suggests that students spend their study sessions testing themselves repeatedly, improving their memory retrieval skills, as opposed to cramming for tests using written notes. He says this strategy will make recalling the information much easier when the pressure is on.

Karpicke found in his study that college students are more likely to invest their time in repetitive note reading, and those who do practice retrieval spend too little time on it.