Might we one day predict summer heat waves?

A distinctive atmospheric wave pattern high above the Northern Hemisphere can foreshadow the emergence of summertime heat waves in the United States more than two weeks in advance, according to research led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) that could potentially forecast heat waves 15-20 days out. Heat waves are among the most deadly weather phenomena on Earth. A heat wave in Europe in 2003 killed more than 50,000 people. 

The largest international genetics collaboration focusing on Alzheimer's has identified 11 new regions of the genome that contribute to late-onset of the disease, doubling the number of potential genetics-based therapeutic targets to investigate.  

Pediatric musculoskeletal Staphylococcus aureus bacterial infections have been evolving over the past decade, with more children diagnosed with the more virulent, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) today than 10 years ago. The result is longer hospitals stays, more surgeries and other related complications.

The researchers studied pediatric patients with culture-positive Staphylococcus aureus, including MRSA and the less toxic methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), between January 2001 and June 2010, at a major urban children's hospital.

It's counterintuitive but young and middle-aged fibromyalgia patients report worse symptoms and poorer quality of life than older patients, accordin to Mayo Clinic results.

Fibromyalgia is a non-specific disorder, 
characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain with fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues that most often strikes women. The researchers presented their findings at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting and suggest the disorder plays out differently among different age groups. 

Living with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes means constant awareness of blood glucose (sugar) levels to ensure they remain stable.

People do this at home using electronic devices that read sugar levels in a tiny drop of blood but a team of German researchers has devised a new, non-invasive method; infrared laser light applied on top of the skin measures sugar levels in the fluid in and under skin cells.  

"This opens the fantastic possibility that diabetes patients might be able to measure their glucose level without pricking and without test strips," said lead researcher, Werner Mäntele, Ph.D. of Frankfurt's Institut für Biophysik, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität.

At some point the exact number of particles in a group becomes irrelevant.

But does when a collection of elements forms a "heap" ?

In recent experiments using ultracold atoms, Heidelberg physicists succeeded in observing the transition to a many-body system well described by an infinite number of particles - a problem philosophers call the sorites paradox. The essential question is when a collection of elements forms a "heap".