Astronomers have glimpsed a far off and ancient star exploding, not once, but four times. The exploding star, or supernova, was directly behind a cluster of huge galaxies, whose mass is so great that they warp space-time. This forms a cosmic magnifying glass that creates multiple images of the supernova, an effect first predicted by Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity 100 years ago. Dr Brad Tucker from The Australian National University (ANU) says it's a dream discovery for the team. "It's perfectly set up, you couldn't have designed a better experiment," ...

Take a wild, common forest-dwelling mouse-like rodent, known as a vole, and subject it to 13 rounds of selection for increased aerobic exercise metabolism, and what do you get? A mighty "mouse" with a 48 percent higher peak rate of oxygen consumption and an increased basal metabolic rate, compared to unselected controls. In a new study appearing in the advanced online edition of Molecular Biology and Evolution, authors Konczal et al. took advantage of an experimental evolution technique that has gained popularity, dubbed "evolve and resequence," to measure the genetic ...

The eastern coastline of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, a mecca for tourists, may have been walloped by a tsunami between 1,500 and 900 years ago, says a new study involving Mexico's Centro Ecological Akumal (CEA) and the University of Colorado Boulder. There are several lines of evidence for an ancient tsunami, foremost a large, wedge-shaped berm about 15 feet above sea level paved with washing machine-sized stones, said the researchers. Set back in places more than a quarter of a mile from shore, the berm stretches for at least 30 miles, alternating between rocky headlands ...

Recent research from the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) confirms that severe mortality-associated diseases are less prevalent in the families of long-lived individuals than in the general population. The Journals of Gerontology, Series A® will publish these findings in the article titled, "Are Members of Long-Lived Families Healthier than Their Equally Long-Lived Peers? Evidence from the Long Life Family Study" on March 5, 2015. The LLFS is an international collaborative study of the genetics and familial components of exceptional survival, longevity, and healthy aging. Researchers ...

An extraordinary self-regulating heating effect that can be achieved in a particular type of magnetic material may open the doors to a new strategy for hyperthermia cancer treatment. Temperatures that can be tolerated by healthy body cells have long been known to destroy cancerous cells. An approach that uses magnetic particles that are introduced into tissue and heated remotely has found some success in treating cancer, but the technique is still some way from becoming a standard procedure. One of the problems hindering progress is the insufficient heating capacity ...

Our smartphones help us find a phone number quickly, provide us with instant directions and recommend restaurants, but new research indicates that this convenience at our fingertips is making it easy for us to avoid thinking for ourselves. The study, from researchers at the University of Waterloo and published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, suggests that smartphone users who are intuitive thinkers -- more prone to relying on gut feelings and instincts when making decisions -- frequently use their device's search engine rather than their own brainpower. Smartphones ...

Philadelphia, PA, March 5, 2015 - Antibodies defend the body against bacterial, viral, and other invaders. But sometimes the body makes antibodies that attack healthy cells. In these cases, autoimmune disorders develop. Immune abnormalities in patients with psychosis have been recognized for over a century, but it has been only relatively recently that scientists have identified specific immune mechanisms that seem to directly produce symptoms of psychosis, including hallucinations and delusions. This 'immune hypothesis' is supported by new work published by Pathmanandavel ...

By studying specially bred mice with specific developmental and cognitive traits resembling those seen in schizophrenia, UC San Francisco researchers have provided new evidence that abnormal rhythmic activity in particular brain cells contributes to problems with learning, attention, and decision-making in individuals with that disorder. As reported in the March 5, 2015 online edition of Neuron, when the researchers corrected these cells' faulty rhythm, either by directly stimulating the cells or by administering low doses of a commonly used drug, cognitive deficits in ...

The molecular complex that guides an important class of proteins to correct locations in cell membranes does so by forming a dimeric structure with a protective pocket, report scientists from the University of Chicago in Science on Mar. 5. This structure shields tail-anchored membrane proteins - which have roles in a wide variety of cellular functions from neurotransmitter release to insulin production - from harmful aggregation or misfolding as they move through the inner environment of a cell. The findings clarify the mechanism behind a fundamental biological process. "The ...

Dr. Anne Steinemann, Professor of Civil Engineering, and the Chair of Sustainable Cities, from the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, is a world expert on environmental pollutants, air quality, and health effects. Professor Steinemann investigated and compared volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from 37 different products, such as air fresheners, cleaning products, laundry supplies, and personal care products, including those with certifications and claims of 'green' and 'organic'. Both fragranced and fragrance-free products ...

New York City's eighth graders are anxiously waiting to find out which high school they'll be attending in the fall. Six percent of students will end up at one of the city's eight specialized high schools, known for their elite academics--and controversy around their lack of diversity. Female and, most starkly, Black and Latino students are all underrepresented at the schools. A new report from the Research Alliance for New York City Schools examines students' pathways from middle school to matriculation at a specialized high school, and simulates the effects of various ...

Nanoparticles are extremely small particles that can be modified for a variety of uses in the medical field. For example, nanoparticles can be engineered to be able to transport medicines specifically to the disease site while not interfering with healthy body parts. Selective drug transport verified in human tissue for the first time The Munich scientists have developed nanocarriers that only release the carried drugs in lung tumour areas. The team headed by Silke Meiners, Oliver Eickelberg and Sabine van Rijt from the Comprehensive Pneumology Center (HMGU), working ...

The use of psychedelics, such as LSD and magic mushrooms, does not increase a person's risk of developing mental health problems, according to an analysis of information from more than 135,000 randomly chosen people, including 19,000 people who had used psychedelics. The results are published today in Journal of Psychopharmacology. Nature and Lancet Nature published a news item on this research yesterday, March 4: http://www.nature.com/news/no-link-found-between-psychedelics-and-psychosis-1.16968 Lancet Psychiatry will publish a companion letter to this study by Teri ...

A study conducted at The University of Manchester's Health eResearch Centre found that there was no link between a £10 billion pay-for-performance incentive scheme aimed at GP's and a reduction in premature deaths. The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), was first introduced in 2004 and links up to 25% of a GP's income to their performance in over 100 quality indicators. Many of these indicators cover the most common diseases including heart disease, diabetes and cancer and are in place to ensure that the proper preventative care is delivered to patients. The ...

Older brains may be more similar to younger brains than previously thought. In a new paper published in Human Brain Mapping, BBSRC-funded researchers at the University of Cambridge and Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit demonstrate that previously reported changes in the ageing brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) may be due to vascular (or blood vessels) changes, rather than changes in neuronal activity itself. Given the large number of fMRI studies used to assess the ageing brain, this has important consequences for ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 5, 2015--Despite growing enthusiasm among educators and scholars about the potential of school-based executive function interventions to significantly increase student achievement, a federally funded meta-analysis of 25 years' worth of research finds no conclusive evidence that developing students' executive function skills leads to better academic performance, according to a new study published today in Review of Educational Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. VIDEO: Co-author Robin Jacob discusses ...

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd has been the first to publish a scientific study on the successful generation of hybrid lager yeasts. For centuries the same few yeast strains have been used in the production of lager beer, in contrast to ale, whisky, wine and cider, for which there is a wide range of yeast strains available to produce different nuances of flavour. VTT has been developing hybrid lager yeasts so as to impart new flavour to the beer and accelerate the production process. Traditionally, even very different tasting lagers have been produced using ...

Bethesda, MD (March 5, 2015) -- A better understanding of the stomach's immune response to Helicobater pylori (H. pylori) infection could lead to new therapies targeting damage in the stomach, report researchers in the March issue of Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the basic science journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. When H. pylori infection is present, the alarmin Interleukin (IL)-33 is a critical messenger that triggers changes necessary for coping with the injuries caused by the infection. Specifically, it actives an ...

San Diego, CA--Prenatal exposure to low doses of the environmental contaminants polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, change the developing brain in an area involved in metabolism, and some effects are apparent even two generations later, a new study finds. Performed in rats, the research will be presented Friday at the Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego. Hereditary effects included increased body weight, but only in descendants of females--and not males--exposed to PCBs in the womb, said study co-author Andrea Gore, PhD, professor at the University of ...

San Diego, CA--Early exposure in the human womb to phthalates, which are common environmental chemicals, disrupts the masculinization of male genitals, according to a new study that will be presented Sunday at the Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego. Phthalates are hormone-altering chemicals, called endocrine disruptors, and are found in many plastics, containerized foods and personal care products. The clinical study not only confirms similar results of animal studies, it also provides new information about how phthalates target a main pregnancy hormone, ...

San Diego, CA--Exposure during pregnancy to a combination of fire retardant chemicals and phthalate chemicals--both present in the average home--can contribute to autistic-like behaviors in the offspring, according to an animal study to be presented Thursday at the Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego. "Our research points to potentially preventable causes of autism, which remains a diagnosis with enormous social costs and limited solutions," said lead study author Stephanie Degroote, MSc, a PhD student at the University of Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke, Quebec, ...

SAN DIEGO, CA and BRUSSELS, BELGIUM-A new economic analysis found exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals likely costs the European Union €157 billion ($209 billion) a year in actual health care expenses and lost earning potential, according to a new series of studies published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The authors presented the findings today at simultaneous press events at ENDO 2015, the Endocrine Society's 97th Annual Meeting & Expo, and in Brussels, Belgium. Global experts in this field concluded that ...

San Diego, CA--Male partners of infertile obese females may increase the odds of conceiving a child by improving their own weight and dietary habits, preliminary results from a pilot study from Canada suggest. The results will be presented Thursday, March 5, at ENDO 2015, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Diego. "We were thrilled to observe a significant relationship between some dietary changes and weight loss in men with the occurrence of a conception, when we compared the men in couples who conceived with those who did not," said lead author Matea ...

San Diego, CA--The composition of intestinal bacteria and other micro-organisms--called the gut microbiota--changes over time in unhealthy ways in black men who are prediabetic, a new study finds. The results will be presented Friday at the Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego. Researchers previously found that the gut microbiota--containing both beneficial and harmful microbes--can affect human health in many ways and that the mix of this community of microscopic organisms differs in people with Type 2 diabetes compared with healthy individuals. However, ...

San Diego, CA--A synthetic nasal formulation of the hormone oxytocin reduced caloric intake in healthy men, particularly consumption of fatty foods, after a single treatment, a new study finds. The results, to be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego, confirm those of animal studies showing oxytocin reduces food intake. Oxytocin nasal spray reportedly lowered the number of calories men consumed at a subsequent breakfast whether they were normal weight or overweight. In addition, the researchers found that oxytocin improved metabolic ...