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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

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Python's Extreme Eating Abilities Explained

The first complete sequence of any snake genome reveals that Burmese pythons evolved rapidly to be able to eat prey as big as their own bodies.

Earthquake 'Autopsy' Helps Shine Light on Aftershocks

An incredibly detailed look at Earth's twitches and shudders after a magnitude-8.8 earthquake in Chile reveals a potential new trigger for aftershocks, the smaller temblors that follow an earthquake. The findings, published Dec. 1 in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, come from a massive research effort to conduct an earthquake "autopsy" in Chile. The Feb. 27, 2010, Maule earthquake struck offshore, on a subduction zone where the Nazca tectonic plate crashes into and dives under the South American tectonic plate. After the earthquake, researchers set out 67 GPS stations and seismic monitoring equipment to track subtle shifts in the Earth's crust.

How Men's Brains Are Wired Differently Than Women's

Men aren't from Mars and women aren't from Venus, but their brains really are wired differently, a new study suggests.

Possible Male Birth Control Blocks Sperm

Keeping sperm from being ejaculated may provide the key to creating a birth control drug for men, according to a new mouse study.

How Much Will That Heart Test Cost? Many Hospitals Won't Tell You

In the study, the researchers called 20 hospitals in the Philadelphia area, and asked how much it would cost to get an electrocardiogram (EKG) — a simple test of the heart's electrical activity that's carried out the same way on all patients. The researchers later called up the same hospitals and asked how much it would cost to park at the hospital, as a test of whether hospitals could provide price information about anything over the phone. Just three of the 20 hospitals gave a price for an EKG. In contrast, all but one hospital were able to provide information about the cost of parking.

China Moon Rover Mission to be 1st Lunar Landing in 37 Years

China's first lunar rover is bound for the moon after launching Sunday (Dec. 1) on a mission that, if successful, will establish China as the third nation to soft land a spacecraft on Earth's natural satellite. China's Chang'e 3 probe, with its "Yutu" moon rover, lifted off at 11:30 a.m. CST (1730 GMT;

'Love Hormone' Oxytocin May Help Children with Autism

For children with autism, a dose of oxytocin — the so-called "love hormone" — seems to fine-tune the activity in brain areas linked to social interactions, according to a new study. Although the hormone didn't change children's social skills in the study, its boosting effect on the brain's social areas suggests that using oxytocin nasal sprays immediately before behavioral therapies could boost the effects of those treatments, the researchers said. "Oxytocin temporarily normalized brain regions responsible for the social deficits seen in children with autism," said study researcher Ilanit Gordon, a neuroscientist at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. [11 Interesting Effects of Oxytocin] The study involved 17 children and teens with autism spectrum disorders who underwent two sessions of brain imaging as they performed a task related to social behavior.

Can You Be Obese and 'Healthy'?

The idea that people can be obese and still be "healthy" is called into question by a new study, that finds that, at least over the long term, obesity itself may confer a small increased risk of death. In the study, people who were obese but did not have metabolic problems — meaning they had normal blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and other measures of metabolic health — were still 24 percent more likely to experience a heart problem, such as a heart attack, or die from any cause over a 10-year period, compared with people who were a normal weight and also had no metabolic problems. The results "demonstrate that there is no 'healthy' pattern of obesity," said the researchers, from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. In an editorial accompanying the study, James Hill and Dr. Holly Wyatt, of the University of Colorado, said the findings are consistent with the idea that obesity itself is a disease, a controversial issue that the American Medical Association supported this year.

Rare Weather Event Fills Grand Canyon with Fog

Usually the Grand Canyon offers stunning views stretching for miles, deep into valleys etched by the Colorado River. But that vista has changed over the past few days, as a rare weather event has filled the canyon with fog, offering an even more stunning view than is typical. The weather event is known as a temperature inversion, and it only happens every few years, according to the National Park Service, who wrote about the event and posted photos of it on its Facebook page. Temperature inversions typically happen in the winter when there are long nights, and as the name implies, an inversion takes place when a layer of cool air gets trapped underneath warmer air, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

How Safe Is Train Travel?

In the wake of a deadly New York City train accident that left four people dead and more than 60 injured, commuters may be wondering how safe it is to travel by rail. An early morning train into New York City went off the rails Sunday (Dec. 1) while navigating a bend in the tracks. The accident is currently under investigation, but officials with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced today that the train was going 82 mph (132 km/h) as it entered the curve, where the speed limit is 30 mph (48 km/h), according to CNN. Despite the dramatic nature of train accidents like Sunday's derailment, and a devastating accident in July that left more than 79 people dead in Spain, travel by rail still compares favorably to other types of travel, including airplanes and automobiles.

Physics Solves Centuries-Old Mystery of Red Paint Darkening

Human Stem Cells Used to Create Lung Tissue

Human stem cells have been converted into functioning lung cells for the first time, paving the way for better models of lung diseases, ways to test potential drugs and, ultimately, creation of tissue for lung transplants.

Fate of Comet ISON Uncertain After Fiery Sun Encounter

The celestial saga continues for Comet ISON, which crept close to the sun like the fabled Icarus, only to apparently survive the encounter at first. But on Friday, to paraphrase Mark Twain: "The report of Comet ISON's death was an exaggeration." But by Friday, the comet most definitely appeared alive and well, suggesting that previous reports of ISON being "sun and done" were at the very least, premature. Comet ISON (or perhaps a large fragment of it) appeareddistinctly on images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft hovering above the sun.

Winter Star Clusters Dot Milky Way Like Ornaments

Now that autumn is fading into winter, the beautiful winter Milky Way is coming into view in the eastern sky. Though you need a dark country sky to see the Milky Way itself, even the city-bound stargazer can view many of the star clusters that decorate it like ornaments on a Christmas tree. For instance, such a star cluster is forming in the Orion Nebula, where the newly born stars and the nebula from which they form are visible simultaneously. Later in a star cluster's history, the gas and dust has dissipated, leaving a naked cloud of newborn stars.

In your face, selfie! 'Science' also tops for 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — Look alive, selfie. There's another word of the year that's not all about you.

Ancient Humans Had Sex with Mystery Relatives, Study Suggests

A new, improved sequencing of ancient human relative genomes reveals that Homo sapiens didn't only have sex with Neanderthals and a little-understood line of humans called Denisovans. This group of kissing cousins included an unknown human ancestor not yet revealed by the ancient DNA record. "It's implied it could be something like Homo erectus or similar," said Carles Lalueza-Fox, a paleogenomics researcher at Pompeu Fabra University in Spain, who was not involved in the research, but who was present at a talk on the findings given by lead author David Reich of Harvard Medical School at a meeting on ancient DNA sponsored by the Royal Society in London on Nov. 18. Homo erectus is an extinct species of human that originated in India and spread into Asia.

Why Killing Vampire Bats Doesn't Stop Rabies

Controlling the population of vampire bats by using poison or even explosives has been a decades-old way of trying to curb the spread of rabies in Latin America, but new research suggests culling these bat colonies does little to stem the deadly virus. Scientists from the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, and the University of Georgia, in Athens, combined results from a long-term vampire bat field study, research on captive vampire bats and computer models of rabies transmission, and found that culling bat populations does not stop the rabies virus. In some cases, the researchers found, controlling bat colonies may actually increase the spread of rabies by provoking infected bats to seek refuge in other, nearby colonies. Last year, the researchers published findings from their field study that demonstrated the size of bat colonies did not predict the prevalence of rabies, indicating efforts to cull these populations of bats had not reduced transmission of the viral disease.

SpaceX to Make 3rd Launch Attempt of Commercial Satellite Today: Watch It Live

The private spaceflight company SpaceX is counting down to launch a critical commercial satellite mission from Florida today (Dec. 3) after two delays due to technical glitches, and you can watch the liftoff live online. The mission will mark SpaceX's first Florida launch of its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, its first major communications satellite launch and its first flight to a high geostationary transfer orbit needed for commercial satellites. The mission has a 66-minute launch window, with Wednesday reserved as a backup day, SpaceX officials said. Today's launch try will mark SpaceX's third attempt to launch the SES-8 spacecraft for satellite communications provider SES World Skies.

City of David Discovery Fills Gap in Jerusalem History

Archaeologists have discovered the first ruins of a building from the Hasmonean period in Jerusalem, filling a gap in the ancient city's history, the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced.

Real-Time Flu Forecast Predicts Outbreaks in Each US City

Borrowing ideas from weather forecasting, researchers have developed a system to predict, weeks in advance, when a city will see the peak of its seasonal flu outbreak. The researchers tested the model on 108 cities across the United States during the 2012-2013 flu season, and found they could accurately predict the timing of the influenza peak in more than 60 percent of the cities two to four weeks in advance, on average, according to the study, published today (Dec. 3) in the journal Nature Communications. "Having greater advance warning of the timing and intensity of influenza outbreaks could prevent a portion of these influenza infections," said study researcher Jeffrey Shaman, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University in New York. Just as information about pollution levels or pollen levels can help people avoid health problems related to these issues, knowing that a flu outbreak will reach its peak in the coming weeks can prompt people to change their behaviors — for example, they might be more cautious about their personal health and consider getting vaccinated, Shaman said.

New 3D Metal Printer Is Open Source and Affordable

Anyone with access to a welder and the Internet soon could make his or her own replacement parts or tools with a new 3D metal printer that can be built in any garage. Until recently, most of the 3D printing hype has swirled around plastic 3D printers, which have been used to make everything from clothing to art. And while 3D metal printers do exist, their price tag starts at a half million dollars. "We have open-sourced the plans," in the hopes of accelerating the technology by allowing others to build upon the design, said project leader Joshua Pearce, a materials engineer at Michigan Technological University in Houghton.

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Manipulating sleep spindles – expanding views on sleep, memory, and disease

Simone Astori, Ralf D. Wimmer, Anita Lüthi.

• Newly recognized ion channel subtypes generating spindle rhythms are described.
• The contribution of spindles to arousal threshold and sleep quality is discussed.<....

Basal ganglia output to the thalamus: still a paradox

Jesse H. Goldberg, Michael A. Farries, Michale S. Fee.

• We review disinhibition, rebound, and entrainment modes of basal ganglia output.
• We propose a unifying framework for three types of basal ganglia–thalamic transmi....

Reflections on agranular architecture: predictive coding in the motor cortex

Stewart Shipp, Rick A. Adams, Karl J. Friston.

• Predictive coding explains the recursive hierarchical structure of cortical processes.
• Granular layer 4, which relays ascending cortical pathways, is absent from ....

New genetic insights highlight 'old' ideas on motor dysfunction in dystonia

Rose E. Goodchild, Kathrin Grundmann, Antonio Pisani.

• New genetic discoveries implicate dysfunction of signal transduction in primary dystonia.
• The dystonia-associated signaling pathway is specifically important for ....

Modulation of neuronal activity by phosphorylation of the K–Cl cotransporter KCC2

Kristopher T. Kahle, Tarek Z. Deeb, Martin Puskarjov, Liliya Silayeva, Bo Liang, Kai Kaila, Stephen J. Moss.

• The rapid and reversible phosphorylation and/or dephosphorylation of critical phosphoresidues in the KCC2 cytoplasmic carboxyl terminus constitutes a potent and dynamic....

Meeting at the crossroads: common mechanisms in Fragile X and Down syndrome

Karen T. Chang, Hyunah Ro, Wei Wang, Kyung-Tai Min.

• DSCR1 and FMRP are involved in local protein synthesis at dendritic spines.
• DSCR1 biochemically and genetically interacts with FMRP.
• DSCR1 and FMRP modulate....

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