The Many Mysteries of Neanderthals

Comparison between Neanderthal and modern human skeletons. Photo: K. Mowbray, Reconstruction: G. Sawyer and B. Maley, Copyright: Ian Tattersall

From Live Science:

We are currently the only human species alive, but as recently as maybe 24,000 years ago another one walked the earth — the Neanderthals.

These extinct humans were the closest relatives we had, and tantalizing new hints from researchers suggest that we might have been intimately close indeed. The mystery of whether Neanderthals and us had sex might possibly get solved if the entire Neanderthal genome is reported soon as expected. The matter of why they died and we succeeded, however, remains an open question.

Read more ....

How The Elephant Got Its Trunk (And Other Wonders Of Nature)

'No one has ever really known how the elephant got its trunk, or how the leopard got its spots. This project will lay the foundation for work that will answer those questions and many others,' says Dr David Haussler

From The Independent:

Nobel laureate to reveal secrets of evolution via massive gene-mapping project.

An ambitious plan to map the genomes of 10,000 species of vertebrates – animals with backbones – has been announced by scientists.

Unravelling the DNA sequences of the many species of vertebrates will help science to explain how the leopard got its spots, how the elephant came by its trunk and how the bat learned to fly, the researchers said.

Read more ....

Spraying On Skin Cells To Heal Burns

Photo: Spray-on skin: In a unique treatment for second-degree burns, surgeons harvest a small number of skin cells through a skin biopsy, suspend them in solution, and then spray the resulting mixture onto a burn wound. Once in place, skin stem cells, called basal cells, proliferate to create a new layer of skin. Credit: ReCell

From Technology Review:

A new technique in burn treatment provides an alternative to skin grafts in the operating room.

Traditionally, treatment for severe second-degree burns consists of adding insult to injury: cutting a swath of skin from another site on the same patient in order to graft it over the burn. The process works, but causes more pain for the burn victim and doubles the area in need of healing. Now a relatively new technology has the potential to heal burns in a way that's much less invasive than skin grafts. With just a small skin biopsy and a ready-made kit, surgeons can create a suspension of the skin's basal cells--the stem cells of the epidermis--and spray the solution directly onto the burn with results comparable to those from skin grafts.

Read more .....

I Can Has Swine Flu? A Cat Comes Down with H1N1

Photo: Michael Waine / Corbis

From Time Magazine:

For all the attention that has whirled around H1N1 in recent months, it seems that one vulnerable, and furry, population may have been overlooked: the family pet.

On Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported the first confirmed case of H1N1 in a house pet, a 13-year-old domestic shorthaired cat. The animal likely contracted the virus from its owners, veterinarians say, since two of the three family members living in the cat's household had recently suffered from influenza-like illness. Late last week, when the cat came down with flu-like symptoms — malaise, loss of appetite — its owners brought it to Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine for treatment. The family mentioned to the vet that they had also recently battled illness, which led to testing the pet for H1N1.

Read more ....

Policy Decisions Slow H1N1 Vaccine Production

From Future Pundit:

Why is H1N1 influenza vaccine coming out so slowly in the United States? Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA deputy commissioner, says a few policy decisions slow the production of vaccine.

Why do adjuvants matter? An adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine being used in Europe contains 3.75 micrograms of vaccine stock. The same vaccine in the U.S., without the adjuvant, requires 15 micrograms of vaccine for equal potency. If we used adjuvants, we could have had four times the number of shots with the same raw material.

Read more ....

A Language of Smiles

From The New York Times:

Say “eeee.” Say it again. Go on: “eeee.”

Maybe I’m easy to please, but doing this a few times makes me giggle. “Eeee.”

Actually, I suspect it’s not just me. Saying “eeee” pulls up the corners of the mouth and makes you start to smile. That’s why we say “cheese” to the camera, not “choose” or “chose.” And, I think, it’s why I don’t get the giggles from “aaaa” or “oooo.”

The mere act of smiling is often enough to lift your mood; conversely, the act of frowning can lower it; scowling can make you feel fed up. In other words, the gestures you make with your face can — at least to some extent — influence your emotional state.

Read more ....

In the Mediterranean, Killer Tsunamis From an Ancient Eruption

From The New York Times:

The massive eruption of the Thera volcano in the Aegean Sea more than 3,000 years ago produced killer waves that raced across hundreds of miles of the Eastern Mediterranean to inundate the area that is now Israel and probably other coastal sites, a team of scientists has found.

The team, writing in the October issue of Geology, said the new evidence suggested that giant tsunamis from the catastrophic eruption hit “coastal sites across the Eastern Mediterranean littoral.” Tsunamis are giant waves that can crash into shore, rearrange the seabed, inundate vast areas of land and carry terrestrial material out to sea.

Read more ....

The New Science of Temptation

Lev Dolgatshjov

From Scientific American:

What happens when Harvard scientists use a brain scanner to look for the devil inside?

The power to resist temptation has been extolled by philosophers, psychologists, teachers, coaches, and mothers. Anyone with advice on how you should live your life has surely spoken to you of its benefits. It is the path to the good life, professional and personal satisfaction, social adjustment and success, performance under pressure, and the best way for any child to avoid a penetrating stare and a cold dinner. Of course, this assumes that our natural urges are a thing to be resisted – that there is a devil inside, luring you to cheat, offend, err, and annoy. New research has begun to question this assumption.

Read more ....

The World’s 18 Strangest Bridges: Gallery

From Popular Mechanics:

Some bridges are engineered with nothing but utility in mind—for these, aesthetic design is secondary to safety and longevity. And given that San Francisco's Bay Bridge was just closed for six days, this makes sense. But advances in design software and construction materials have given bridge architects opportunities to focus on original, striking and sometimes whimsical designs that impress, while keeping function in mind. Here are some of our favorite unusual bridges'and why they're architecturally striking.

Read more ....

Object-Detection Software To Enable Search Within Videos

People Detector Where's Elvis? Tony Han/MU

From Popular Science:

Detection algorithms help computers find humans, or anything else, in YouTube videos or surveillance footage.

Imagine running a Google search for basketball videos, and having your computer sift through actual footage of online videos rather than just the text of the descriptions. A new type of software could enable computers to run searches inside videos, and pick out humans and objects alike.

Read more ....

80 Min Exercise Per Week Prevents Visceral Weight Gain

From Future Pundit:

Fat around your internal organs is thought to be a much bigger risk factor for heart disease than fat near the surface of the skin. Well, if you go on a diet, exercise, get your weight down, and then eventually go off the diet continued exercise will prevent the resulting weight gain from happening where the risk factor is greatest.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A study conducted by exercise physiologists in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Human Studies finds that as little as 80 minutes a week of aerobic or resistance training helps not only to prevent weight gain, but also to inhibit a regain of harmful visceral fat one year after weight loss.

Read more ....

Speed Limit To The Pace Of Evolution, Biologists Say

E. coli growing in a petri dish. (Credit: iStockphoto/Linde Stewart)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 3, 2009) — Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a theoretical model that informs the understanding of evolution and determines how quickly an organism will evolve using a catalogue of "evolutionary speed limits." The model provides quantitative predictions for the speed of evolution on various "fitness landscapes," the dynamic and varied conditions under which bacteria, viruses and even humans adapt.

Read more ....

Recent Midwest Quakes Called Aftershocks From 1800s

Each cross marks an earthquake recorded in the New Madrid seismic zone since 1974

From Live Science:

The small earthquakes that sporadically rattle the central United States may actually be aftershocks from a few extremely large quakes that occurred in the region almost 200 years ago, according to a new study

The New Madrid Earthquakes, which struck between December 1811 and February 1812, are some of the strongest seismic events ever to occur in the contiguous United States in recorded history. The largest quake is estimated to have been 8.0 in magnitude and was powerful enough to temporarily make the Mississippi River flow backwards. The heart of the seismic activity was near the town of New Madrid, Missouri, close to the Kentucky and Tennessee borders.

Read more ....

Taste Test: The Biotechnology Of Wine

One of life's pleasures (Image: Carlos Navajas/Getty)

From The new Scientist:

Wine-making is one of the oldest and most influential forms of biotechnology. People have drunk wine down the millennia for all sorts of reasons: it provides a safer more nutritious alternative to water, a social lubricant, a mind-altering medicinal, a ceremonial drink or even a source of inspiration. Above all else, wine is one of life's great pleasures.

Read more ....

Implantable Silicon-Silk Electronics

Image: Silicon on silk: This clear silk film, about one centimeter squared, has six silicon transistors on its surface. These flexible devices can be implanted in mice like the one in this image without causing any harm, and the silk degrades over time. The orange liquid on the hair is a disinfectant used during the surgery. Credit: Rogers/Omenetto

From Technology Review:

Biodegradable circuits could enable better neural interfaces and LED tattoos.

By building thin, flexible silicon electronics on silk substrates, researchers have made electronics that almost completely dissolve inside the body. So far the research group has demonstrated arrays of transistors made on thin films of silk. While electronics must usually be encased to protect them from the body, these electronics don't need protection, and the silk means the electronics conform to biological tissue. The silk melts away over time and the thin silicon circuits left behind don't cause irritation because they are just nanometers thick.

Read more ....

Great White Sharks 'Hang Out' Together

Researchers have found that great white sharks return to the same areas to hold annual meetings
Photo: BARCROFT

From The Telegraph:

Great white sharks, previously thought to be solitary hunters scouring the seas for prey, may also have a sociable side.

Researchers have found that the fearsome predators return to the same areas to hold annual meetings, congregating to forage or mate together in their hundreds if not thousands.

One "hotspot", between Hawaii and Mexico, is so popular that the scientists have named it the "white shark cafe".

Read more ....

X-ray Voted Most Important Modern Discovery By Public

Photo: X-rays can reveal broken bones and build up more detailed pictures of outer space.

From The Daily Mail:

The X-ray has been voted the most important modern discovery by the British public, in a Science Museum poll.

The antibiotic agent penicillin came second followed by the DNA double helix.

Nearly 50,000 visitors voted for the greatest achievements in science, engineering and technology from a shortlist drawn up by museum curators.

The poll, one of the events marking the museum's centenary year, singled out the X-ray machine as the scientific advance with the greatest impact.

Read more ....

Space Hotel 'On Schedule To Open In 2012'

An artist's impression of the flight, displayed on Galactic Suite's website. Galactic Suite

From The Independent:

A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost 3 million euro (£2.6 million) for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

Read more ....

India's Space Ambitions Taking Off

Indian Space Research Organisation, via European Pressphoto Agency

From Washington Post:

Nation plans astronaut-training center, manned space mission as it seeks higher profile.

PANNITHITTU, India -- In this seaside village, the children of farmers and fishermen aspire to become something that their impoverished parents never thought possible: astronauts.

Through community-based programs, India's space agency has been partnering with schools in remote areas such as this one, helping to teach students about space exploration and cutting-edge technology. The agency is also training thousands of young scientists and, in 2012, will open the nation's first astronaut-training center in the southern city of Bangalore.

Read more ....

Gene-Makers Put Forward Security Standards

From Scientific American:

But few companies are willing to sign up yet.

Several gene-synthesis companies yesterday finalized a code of conduct that outlines how to screen orders for synthetic DNA that could be used for terrorist activities.

The code, which has been in the works from the International Association of Synthetic Biology (IASB) in Heidelberg, Germany, for a year and a half, reflects for the most part what has become common practice in gene-synthesis companies. Before filling orders, the firms compare the gene sequences with those from organisms on lists of pathogens, such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's select-agents list. Most companies then follow up 'hits' with human investigation of whether the match is valid and the purchaser is legitimate.

Read more ....