GoogleTrends: 04/21/15

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Is Freezing Your Eggs Worth the Cost?

Scientists ran all the numbers — the cost of egg freezing, the odds of having a baby at age 40 without in vitro fertilization and the cost of IVF for women who will need it in order to have a baby — and found that it costs about $15,000 less, on average, for women to freeze their eggs at age 35 and use them at age 40, rather than wait until age 40 and try to become pregnant. The study shows that "if a woman invested in having a genetically related child at age 40, egg banking at least once at age 35 is a cost-effective approach," said Dr. Wendy Vitek, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York.

170-Year-Old Champagne Recovered from the Bottom of the Sea

Every wine connoisseur knows the value of an aged wine, but few get the opportunity to sample 170-year-old Champagne from the bottom of the sea. A chemical analysis of the ancient libation has revealed a great deal about how this 19th-century wine was produced. "After 170 years of deep-sea aging in close-to-perfect conditions, these sleeping Champagne bottles awoke to tell us a chapter of the story of winemaking," the researchers wrote in the study, published today (April 20) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the study, led by Philippe Jeandet, a professor of food biochemistry at the University of Reims, Champagne-Ardenne in France, researchers analyzed the chemical composition of the wine from the shipwreck and compared it to that of modern Champagne.

New U.S. mammogram guidelines stick with screening from age 50

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - New mammogram screening guidelines from an influential panel of U.S. experts reaffirm earlier guidance that breast cancer screening should begin at age 50 for most women, but they acknowledge that women in their 40s also benefit, something experts say is a step in the right direction. "They made it really clear this time around, unlike 2009, that the discussion between a woman and a clinician about breast cancer screening should begin at 40," said Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer at the American Cancer Society. The Department of Health and Human Services provided for mammogram coverage for women age 40 to 49 after the health panel made its recommendation in 2009. The department said on Monday that the guidelines are only in draft form and that nothing has changed regarding access to mammograms or other preventive services. Critics stressed that keeping 50 as the starting age for screening – a change first introduced by the panel six years ago - could threaten insurance coverage for millions of women age 40 to 49. "If this becomes the final guideline, coverage of mammograms would no longer be mandated under the ACA," said Wender.

Mindfulness therapy as good as medication for chronic depression - study

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may be just as effective as anti-depressants in helping prevent people with chronic depression from relapsing, scientists said on Tuesday. Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide. It is ranked by the World Health Organization as the leading cause of disability globally. Treatment usually involves either medication, some form of psychotherapy or a combination of both.

Type, frequency of e-cigarette use linked to quitting smoking

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Two new studies looking at whether electronic cigarettes help smokers to quit their deadly habit have found that while some of them can, it depends on the type and how often it is used. Many experts think e-cigarettes, which heat nicotine-laced liquid into an inhalable vapor, are a lower-risk alternative to smoking, but questions remain about their use and safety. The charity Action on Smoking and Health says more than 2 million adults in Britain use e-cigarettes. So-called "cigalike" e-cigarettes are disposable or use replaceable cartridges, while "tank" models look quite different and have refillable containers of nicotine "e-liquid".

Free home heating offered by e-Radiators

A Dutch energy firm is trailing a scheme that offers both the promise of free energy to home-owners and a cheap alternative to large data centers for computing firms. Dutch start-up Nerdalize has teamed up with energy providers Eneco to launch its e-Radiator prototype, which is being tested in five Dutch homes as an alternative heating device. The e-Radiator is a computer server that crunches numbers for a variety of Belgian firms - while the resultant heat will heat the rooms in which they're situated. Nerdalize believes the scheme could be a commercially viable alternative to traditional radiators.

NASA Snaps New Views of Dwarf Planet Ceres' Mystery Spots (Video)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has photographed Ceres' intriguing bright spots again as it prepares to begin its science mission at the dwarf planet. Dawn, which arrived at Ceres on March 6, imaged the mysterious bright spots on April 14 and 15 during a photography campaign designed to help guide the spacecraft to its first Ceres science orbit by April 23. NASA officials combined the photos into a short video that shows Ceres' bright spots moving as the dwarf planet rotates. "The approach imaging campaign has completed successfully by giving us a preliminary, tantalizing view of the world Dawn is about to start exploring in detail," Dawn Mission Director and Chief Engineer Marc Rayman, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

Scientists to share real-time genetic data on deadly MERS, Ebola

Genetic sequence data on two of the deadliest yet most poorly understood viruses are to be made available to researchers worldwide in real time as scientists seek to speed up understanding of Ebola and MERS infections. "The collective expertise of the world's infectious disease experts is more powerful than any single lab, and the best way of tapping into this...is to make data freely available as soon as possible," said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity which is funding the work. The gene sequences, already available for MERS cases and soon to come in the case of Ebola, will be posted on the website virological.org for anyone to see, access and use. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral disease which first emerged in humans in 2012 and has been spreading in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries since then.

Scientists to share real-time genetic data on deadly MERS, Ebola

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Genetic sequence data on two of the deadliest yet most poorly understood viruses are to be made available to researchers worldwide in real time as scientists seek to speed up understanding of Ebola and MERS infections. "The collective expertise of the world's infectious disease experts is more powerful than any single lab, and the best way of tapping into this...is to make data freely available as soon as possible," said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust global health charity which is funding the work. The gene sequences, already available for MERS cases and soon to come in the case of Ebola, will be posted on the website virological.org for anyone to see, access and use. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral disease which first emerged in humans in 2012 and has been spreading in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries since then.

Where in the US Are People Most Worried About Climate Change?

Residents in California are much more worried about the warming planet than those in parts of the central United States, according to a new set of interactive maps showing public opinion on climate change. Leiserowitz and his colleagues from Yale and Utah State University estimated what people in different states, local communities and congressional districts think, in order to tease out smaller trends. "I use this analogy loosely, but it's like getting a microscope for the first time," Leiserowitz told Live Science. The first is that diversity is present on the state, district and county levels.

New U.S. mammogram guidelines stick with screening from age 50

Atomic Clock Is So Precise It Won't Lose a Second for 15 Billion Years

An atomic clock that sets the time by the teensy oscillations of strontium atoms has gotten so precise and stable that it will neither gain nor lose a second for the next 15 billion years. The strontium clock, which is about three times as precise as the previous record holder, now has the power to reveal tiny shifts in time predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity, which states that time ticks faster at different elevations on Earth. "Our performance means that we can measure the gravitational shift when you raise the clock just 2 centimeters [0.79 inches] on the Earth's surface," study co-author Jun Ye, a physicist at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, Boulder, said in a statement.

New Advice on What To Do About Seizures

Now, a new guideline announced here today (April 20) at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting may offer some advice for this gray area. Currently, most patients and doctors end up waiting, without treatment, to see if a second seizure occurs, said Dr. Jacqueline French, a neurology professor at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York.

Measles Vaccine Not Linked with Autism, Even in High-Risk Kids

Another study has found no link between autism and the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella (called the MMR vaccine). This time, the finding comes from a study of children at high risk of developing autism. The researchers found that there was no link between receiving the MMR vaccine and developing autism, even for the children who had an increased risk of autism because their older siblings had been diagnosed with the condition. The researchers wanted to look at more data on the MMR vaccine and autism risk because "despite the research that shows no link between the MMR vaccine [and autism], parents continue to believe that the vaccine is contributing to autism," said study author Dr. Anjali Jain, of The Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm in Falls Church, Virginia.

Supplements May Raise, Not Lower, Cancer Risk

Although dietary supplements are often touted for their health benefits, they may in fact increase your cancer risk, especially if taken in high doses, according to a new analysis of previous research. "In a nutshell, the answer is no, the vitamin pills do not reduce cancer risk," said the author of the analysis, Dr. Tim Byers, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. For example, in a study published in 2006 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that women who had a high intake of folic-acid supplements had a 19 percent greater risk of breast cancer than those who did not take such supplements. Moreover, women who had the highest levels of folate, the water-soluble form of folic acid, in their blood had a 32 percent greater risk of breast cancer than those who had the lowest levels.

Brilliant Venus and Moon Shine Together Tonight: How to See It

This evening will be another one of those special occasions when the two brightest objects in the night sky — the moon and a Venus — will get together and, weather permitting, will attract a lot of attention, even to those who normally do not spend much time in gazing up at the sky.

How the Hubble Space Telescope Changed Our View of the Cosmos

For most of its 25 years in space, the Hubble Space Telescope has been amazing people around the world with its beautiful images. But the spacecraft — a collaboration involving NASA and the European Space Agency — produces much more than pretty pictures. "We hoped [Hubble] would change our view of the universe," Colleen Hartman told Space.com here last week at a screening of "Hubble's Cosmic Journey," a documentary that premiered last night (April 20) on National Geographic Channel.

Ancient Hangover Cure Discovered in Greek Texts

Rather than popping an ibuprofen for a pounding drunken headache, people in Egypt may have worn a leafy necklace. The 1,900-year-old papyrus containing the hangover treatment is one of over 500,000 such documents found in the ancient Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus by researchers Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt about a century ago. Recently, volume 80 was published, containing studies and decipherments of about 30 medical papyri found at Oxyrhynchus, including the papyrus with the hangover treatment. This newly published volume represents "the largest single collection of medical papyri to be published," wrote Vivian Nutton, a professor at University College London, at the beginning of the volume.

Explore Loch Ness Monster's Home on Google Street View

Looking for the Loch Ness monster just got easier, thanks to Google Street View. Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter.

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