VIDEO: It's official -- our holiday lights are so bright we can see them from space. Thanks to the VIIRS instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite, a joint mission between NASA... Click here for more information. Even from space, holidays shine bright. With a new look at daily data from the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite, a NASA scientist and colleagues have identified how patterns in nighttime light intensity change during major holiday ...

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 11:50 p.m. EST on Dec. 16, 2014. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, ...

In the first real-world trial of the impact of patient-controlled access to electronic medical records, almost half of the patients who participated withheld clinically sensitive information in their medical records from some or all of their health care providers. This is the key finding of a new study by researchers from Clemson University, the Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine and Eskenazi Health published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Kelly Caine, assistant professor in Clemson's School of Computing, and colleagues at Clemson ...

A team of scientists, led by the University of Toronto's Barbara Sherwood Lollar, has mapped the location of hydrogen-rich waters found trapped kilometres beneath Earth's surface in rock fractures in Canada, South Africa and Scandinavia. Common in Precambrian Shield rocks - the oldest rocks on Earth - the ancient waters have a chemistry similar to that found near deep sea vents, suggesting these waters can support microbes living in isolation from the surface. The study, to be published in Nature on December 18, includes data from 19 different mine sites that were ...

Chemical modifications to DNA's packaging -- known as epigenetic changes -- can activate or repress genes involved in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and early brain development, according to a new study to be published in the journal Nature on Dec. 18. Biochemists from NYU Langone Medical Center found that these epigenetic changes in mice and laboratory experiments remove the blocking mechanism of a protein complex long known for gene suppression, and transitions the complex to a gene activating role instead. Researchers say their findings represent the first link ...

LA JOLLA, CA--December 17, 2014--Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have invented a powerful method for joining complex organic molecules that is extraordinarily robust and can be used to make pharmaceuticals, fabrics, dyes, plastics and other materials previously inaccessible to chemists. "We are rewriting the rules for how one thinks about the reactivity of basic organic building blocks, and in doing so we're allowing chemists to venture where none has gone before," said Phil S. Baran, the Darlene Shiley Chair in Chemistry at TSRI, whose laboratory reports ...

Johns Hopkins and University of Alberta researchers have identified a single protein as the root of painful and dangerous allergic reactions to a range of medications and other substances. If a new drug can be found that targets the problematic protein, they say, it could help smooth treatment for patients with conditions ranging from prostate cancer to diabetes to HIV. Their results appear in the journal Nature on Dec. 17. Previous studies traced reactions such as pain, itching and rashes at the injection sites of many drugs to part of the immune system known as mast ...

Researchers found 53 existing drugs that may keep the Ebola virus from entering human cells, a key step in the process of infection, according to a study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and published today in the Nature Press journal Emerging Microbes and Infections. Among the better known drug types shown to hinder infection by an Ebola virus model: several cancer drugs, antihistamines and antibiotics. Among the most effective at keeping the virus out of human cells were microtubule inhibitors ...

Researchers from Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City have identified a new "sliding scale" model used to rule out potentially deadly blood clots in the lungs, known as pulmonary embolisms, that is more accurate than current diagnostic methods. The new model, which factors in a patient's age, more accurately identifies a patient's risk of the often-deadly blood clots and can more easily rule out the need for additional, more invasive tests, helping to reduce unnecessary costs. The research is published in the medical journal, CHEST. Pulmonary embolism is ...

The engineered spring flood that brought water to previously dry reaches of the lower Colorado River and its delta resulted in greener vegetation, the germination of new vegetation along the river and a temporary rise in the water table, according to new results from the binational team of scientists studying the water's effects. The experimental pulse flow of water was the result of a U.S.-Mexico agreement called Minute 319. "The pulse flow worked," said Karl W. Flessa, co-chief scientist for the Minute 319 Science Team. "A small amount of water can have a big effect ...

New research helps explain a paradoxical effect of certain antidepressants--that they may actually worsen symptoms before helping patients feel better. The findings, highlighted in a paper publishing online December 17 in the Cell Press journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, may help investigators fix the problem as well as create new classes of drugs to treat depression. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most widely prescribed class of antidepressant drugs, and they work by increasing levels of a brain chemical called serotonin. While this boost ...

In an article to be published in the January issue of BioScience, two philosophers tackle one of the most divisive arguments in modern biology: the value of the theory of "kin selection." Kin selection is the idea that because genes influence behavior, and because an animal that helps its relatives helps to spread genes likely identical to its own, animals will evolve to favor kin. Researchers have spent decades testing this explanation for apparent animal altruism, but in recent years, critics, notably Martin Nowak of Harvard University and the famous naturalist and ...

(PHILADELPHIA) - Researchers look to understand the causes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), in the hope of finding new ways to treat the disease. A new study published online today (December 17th) in the Cell Press journal Neuron shows that a common gene mutation in ALS generates a deadly protein that may cause the damage in the brain that leads to ALS. About 5 percent of ALS patients carry an altered version of a gene called C9orf72, which in ALS patients contains hundreds of repeat sequences that otherwise are not present in normal individuals. Since the gene's ...

When faced with making choices, but lack sufficient evidence to guarantee success, our brain uses elapsed time as a proxy for task difficulty to calculate how confident we should be, a team of neuroscientists has found. Their findings, which appear in the journal Neuron, help untangle the different factors that contribute to the decision-making process. "In our daily lives, we make many decisions," says Roozbeh Kiani, an assistant professor in NYU's Center for Neural Science and one of the study's authors. "Sometimes the evidence afforded us is strong, enabling us to ...

More than 90 percent of cancer-related deaths are caused by the spread of cancer cells from their primary tumor site to other areas of the body. A new study has identified how one important gene helps cancer cells break free from the primary tumor. A gene normally involved in the regulation of embryonic development can trigger the transition of cells into more mobile types that can spread without regard for the normal biological controls that restrict metastasis, the new study shows. Analysis of downstream signaling pathways of this gene, called SNAIL, could be used ...

PITTSBURGH--A stream runs through it. A much nicer, healthier stream. Pittsburgh's Frick Park is home to Nine Mile Run, a stream that had been known as "Stink Creek." From 2003 to 2006, the City of Pittsburgh and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers poured $7.7 million into restoring 2.2 miles of the stream and tributaries into waterways approximating what they were prior to urban development. The project remains one of the largest urban-stream restorations undertaken in the United States. What can this restoration teach us as we continue to deal with streams affected ...

WASHINGTON - National Poison Control Center data from 2012 show that poisonings from prescription drugs are the leading cause of injury death in the United States, and that poisonings from "bath salts," synthetic marijuana and laundry detergent pods are emerging threats to public health. The paper was published online Monday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Poisoning in the United States: 2012 Emergency Medicine Report of the National Poison Data System"). "The poison center system can provide real-time advice and collect data regarding a variety of poisonings, including ...

WASHINGTON -- Two related proteins exert a lethal double whammy effect against glioblastoma cells when activated with a small molecule, say researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. The scientists say when activated, one protein, called the short form, stops glioblastoma cells from replicating their DNA, and the other, called the long form, prevents cell division if the DNA has already been replicated, explains Rebecca Riggins, PhD, assistant professor of oncology at Georgetown Lombardi. The study was posted online Dec. 12 in the journal Cell Cycle. Both ...

New Rochelle, NY, December 17, 2014-The Sunni Islamist terror organization known as the Islamic State, or ISIS, uses extreme violence and brutality against anyone it perceives as a threat to its goal of expansion and restoration of an Islamic Caliphate. The significant behavioral aspects of this unparalleled violence and its implications for the future are explored in a compelling Review article published in Violence and Gender, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Violence and Gender website at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2014.0037 ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Dec. 17, 2014 - While people of Mexican ancestry are nearly twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes as people of European heritage, the majority of research in this area has focused on those of European origin. In an effort to understand why Mexicans are disproportionately affected by the disease, researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center led the largest study to date to examine the underlying causes. The study is published in the Dec. 17 issue of Diabetes. "Type 2 diabetes is really about how you dispose of your glucose - how long it ...

DAVIS, Calif. -- The 2013 Rim Fire, the largest wildland fire ever recorded in the Sierra Nevada region, is still fresh in the minds of Californians, as is the urgent need to bring forests back to a more resilient condition. Land managers are using fire as a tool to mimic past fire conditions, restore fire-dependent forests, and reduce fuels in an effort to lessen the potential for large, high-intensity fires, like the Rim Fire. A study led by the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) and recently published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management ...

The U.S. continues to look at the use and regulation of phthalates, which have been associated with health problems. Of particular concern is the safety of these plastic additives to children. A new study aims to improve our understanding of one possible exposure route for babies: vinyl crib mattress covers. Scientists report in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology that as these covers warm up, they emit more phthalates into the air. Ying Xu and Yirui Liang note that previous studies have linked phthalates, which soften plastics, to potential health effects, including ...

A new study by a team of researchers that includes University of Notre Dame scientists Joshua Shrout and Mark Alber provides new insights into the behavior of an important bacterial pathogen. Alber, Vincent J. Duncan Family Professor of Applied Mathematics, and Schrout, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences, studied Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen responsible for both acute and persistent infections. "While this ubiquitous environmental bacterium rarely infects healthy people, it is a common pathogen among ...

ALAMEDA, Calif. - December 17, 2014 - Penumbra, Inc., the market leader in intra-arterial stroke treatment, announced that an independent study published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine found that intra-arterial stroke treatment, including the company's clot extraction technology, was shown to be significantly more effective than medical management with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which is the current standard of care. The findings of this randomized, controlled comparative effectiveness trial of stroke treatment have the potential to change ...

New Haven, Conn. - A Yale University lab has crafted the first synthetic molecules that have both the targeting and response functions of antibodies. The new molecules -- synthetic antibody mimics (SyAMs) -- attach themselves simultaneously to disease cells and disease-fighting cells. The result is a highly targeted immune response, similar to the action of natural human antibodies. "Unlike antibodies, however, our molecules are synthetic organic compounds that are approximately one-twentieth the size of antibodies," said David A. Spiegel, a professor of chemistry at ...