Health & Medicine - May 13, 2009 8:10 - 2 Comments

As estrogen wanes, heart disease looms

PENN STATE (US)—A new study on old rats by a Penn State researcher will shed light on the connection between estrogen deficiency, heart disease, and aging in women. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 12, 2009 16:46 - 0 Comments

Safety no longer a luxury with in-car sensors

UC IRVINE (US)—Drivers worldwide soon will navigate dangerous road conditions more safely, thanks to new sensor technology. The device features a microscopic gyroscope that alerts the safety system to correct when it detects the vehicle beginning to spin or roll. (more…)

Society & Culture - May 12, 2009 16:31 - 0 Comments

Best policy may be bankruptcy—not bailout

PENN STATE (US)—The U.S. economy would be better served by letting failing firms file for bankruptcy rather than by bailing them out under presumptive federal policies that deem them to be “too big to fail,” according to new research from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business. (more…)

Health & Medicine - May 12, 2009 12:30 - 2 Comments

Have tiny microscope, will travel

RICE (US)—The backbreaking work of delivering medical care to those in need will get a little less so if the next version of Rice University’s Lab-in-a-Backpack incorporates a compact, yet powerful microscope that weighs about a pound. (more…)

Health & Medicine - May 12, 2009 11:47 - 0 Comments

Computer test IDs potent flu vaccines

RICE (US)—World health officials may have a new weapon to fight flu. A computerized testing method developed by Rice University scientists could make it easier to identify vaccines that are effective against multiple flu strains. (more…)

Health & Medicine - May 11, 2009 13:39 - 6 Comments

Skin color clue to smoking addiction

PENN STATE (US)—Higher concentrations of melanin—the color pigment in skin and hair—may be placing darker-pigmented smokers at increased susceptibility to nicotine dependence than lighter-skinned smokers, according to scientists. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 11, 2009 11:58 - 0 Comments

Dark energy model suggests frozen universe

VANDERBILT (US)—Imagine a time when the entire universe froze. According to a new model for dark energy, that is essentially what happened about 11.5 billion years ago, when the universe was a quarter of the size it is today. (more…)

Society & Culture - May 11, 2009 11:22 - 0 Comments

Texting teens: The 411 on drinking, drugs

UC IRVINE (US)—By using text messaging to follow kids in real time, researchers at the University of California, Irvine hope to get a rare glimpse into preteen decision-making about drugs and alcohol. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 7, 2009 13:10 - 0 Comments

Forget the dog—Teach bacteria new tricks

EMORY (US)—Can we program germs to do our dirty work? An Emory University chemist has moved science another step closer to that possibility by teaching an innocuous strain of E. coli to “seek and destroy.” (more…)

Health & Medicine - May 6, 2009 14:34 - 0 Comments

What’s that, dear? Estrogen linked to hearing

U. ROCHESTER (US)—Scientists have discovered that the hormone estrogen plays a pivotal role in how the brain processes sounds, opening the door to new ways of treating hearing deficiencies. (more…)

Society & Culture - May 6, 2009 13:59 - 1 Comment

World’s poor lack access, not savvy

NYU (US)—The first in-depth examination of how the world’s poorest households patch together their financial existences—many on less than $2 a day—finds they do so with sophistication and complexity. (more…)

Earth & Environment - May 6, 2009 13:07 - 0 Comments

Arctic glider yields unrivaled under-ice data

U. WASHINGTON (US)—A seaglider’s record-breaking journey under ice is helping scientists form a more complete picture of changes taking place in Arctic waters. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 6, 2009 10:32 - 0 Comments

Searching space for clues to life on Earth

U. MICHIGAN (US)—In a mission to learn more about how life formed on Earth—and how organic molecules form in space—astronomers will use the Herschel Space Observatory, scheduled to launch May 6, to study the chemistry of warm gas and dust clouds around young stars. (more…)

Health & Medicine - May 5, 2009 17:21 - 0 Comments

Treating STDs with a nanotech knockout

YALE (US)—Using specialized RNA molecules to interfere and silence—or knock out—genes could be the first step in developing a new type of treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). (more…)

Science & Technology - May 4, 2009 16:45 - 1 Comment

Dinosaur demise—Don’t blame the asteroid

PRINCETON (US)—Geoscientist Gerta Keller says there’s new proof volcanoes—not a vast meteorite—wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 4, 2009 10:54 - 0 Comments

Fossils suggest murky land-water transition

DUKE (US)—New evidence gleaned from CT scans of fossils may flip the order in which two kinds of tetrapods, four-limbed animals with backbones, moved from fish to landlubber. (more…)

Health & Medicine - May 1, 2009 13:08 - 26 Comments

After stroke, brain learns to see again

U. ROCHESTER (US)—Once thought irreversible, vision loss sometimes associated with stroke may be treatable. By doing a set of vigorous visual exercises on a computer every day for several months, patients who had gone partially blind as a result of suffering a stroke were able to regain some vision. (more…)

Health & Medicine - May 1, 2009 12:00 - 2 Comments

Stuttering therapy goes global via Web cam

UC IRVINE (US)—Armed with high-speed Internet and a Web cam, the world’s first clinic dedicated to the medical care of stuttering is connecting with patients around the globe. (more…)