Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have, for the first time, determined the true colour of a planet orbiting another star. If seen up close this planet, known as HD 189733b, would be a deep cobalt blue, reminiscent of Earth's colour as seen from space. But that's where the similarities end. This "deep blue dot" is a huge gas giant orbiting very close to its host star. The planet's atmosphere is scorching with a temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius, and it rains glass, sideways, in howling 7000 kilometre-per-hour winds [1]. At a distance of 63 ...

During the Great Recession, high school students in the U.S. became more concerned about others and the environment, psychologists at UCLA and San Diego State University report in a new study. The research, published July 11 in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, focused on survey data collected on high school seniors during three time periods: the global recession (2008-10), just before the recession (2004-06) and the earliest period for which data were available (1976-78). The study authors found that high school students' concern for others ...

LA JOLLA, CA ----A team of scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has identified why disruption of a vital pathway in cell cycle control leads to the proliferation of cancer cells. Their findings on telomeres, the stretches of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect our genetic code and make it possible for cells to divide, suggest a potential target for preventive measures against cancer, aging and other diseases. The findings were published July 11 in Molecular Cell. Telomeres have been compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces because ...

By comparing the human genome to the genomes of 34 other mammals, Australian scientists have described an unexpectedly high proportion of functional elements conserved through evolution. Less than 1.5% of the human genome is devoted to conventional genes, that is, encodes for proteins. The rest has been considered to be largely junk. However, while other studies have shown that around 5-8% of the genome is conserved at the level of DNA sequence, indicating that it is functional, the new study shows that in addition much more, possibly up to 30%, is also conserved at ...

Researchers in the Antibody and Vaccine Group have developed two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) called anti-4-1BB and anti-CD40 and investigated a third called anti-CTLA-4. Each of these antibodies binds to a different target molecule in the immune system, potentially heightening the body's own immune response to cancer. Published in the July edition of Clinical Cancer Research, the study has shown that the antibodies boost the immune system to fight neuroblastoma -- a form of childhood cancer which grows from undeveloped tissue of the nervous system. They found that ...

UK scientists have found a naturally occurring molecule in the body which may have important consequences for treating osteoarthritis. Researchers from The University of Manchester and the University of Westminster have found that the molecule, known as Urocortin, protects cells in the joints from being destroyed. The discovery could help lead to the development of new medicines to prevent joint degradation -- a condition which affects millions of people in the UK each year. Osteoarthritis, a painful condition associated with a loss of joint mobility particularly in ...

During the hot summer months, there's nothing quite like a nice refreshing and cooling dip in a pool, and it would seem that elephants agree. In fact, in some game parks, elephants will rarely stray far from water, and have even been, albeit controversially, called a water-dependent species. But are they really water dependent and if so what drives this dependence? Is it caused by a necessity to cool down? Robin Dunkin, a researcher from University of California, Santa Cruz, USA explains that although elephants have numerous tricks they use to keep cool, such as using their ...

July 11, 2013, Shenzhen, China - An international consortium, consisting of Autism Speaks, Duke University School of Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children of Toronto, BGI and other institutes, has investigated the genetic variants in 32 families with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The results show that whole genome sequencing and analysis promise great value to identify de novo or rare inherited mutations that give rise to autism in ASD groups. The findings were published online today in American Journal of Human Genetics. Autism is the fastest growing developmental ...

This news release is available in Spanish. This phenomenon, termed cell competition, occurs in a defined time window, between days 3 and 7 of mouse development. During this period all embryonic cells compete with each other, as explained by Dr. Cristina Claveria, first author of the study, and Dr. Miguel Torres, director of this work and Head of the Department of Cardiovascular Development and Repair at CNIC. "Thanks to cell competition the developing organism optimizes itself by selecting the cells theoretically more capable of supporting vital functions throughout ...

This news release is available in German. If the heart following a heart attack is not sufficiently supplied with blood, heart tissue dies. In adult humans, the ability to heal itself is hardly developed. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, together with U.S. colleagues, have now observed in the embryo of the zebrafish that muscle cells migrate from the undamaged atrium into the ventricle and thus significantly contribute to regeneration. This could serve as the basis for novel therapeutic approaches. If clinicians ...

This news release is available in German. Jerusalem is characterized by a continued level of territorial conflict. Rarely does a day go by without media reports of violent clashes between Orthodox Jews, secular Israelis, Palestinians and the Israeli police and security forces. Ethnic, religious and ideological tensions determine the social life of the city, and efforts to find a political solution to the city's future status have thus far failed. Researchers from ETH Zurich, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva and the ...

One might expect that collisions between the remains of monstrous stars, with masses reaching 200-300 times that of our Sun, would be among the most spectacular phenomena in the Universe. Perhaps they are, but we will unfortunately probably never have the chance to find out. Astrophysicists from the Astronomical Observatory of the Faculty of Physics at University of Warsaw have discovered that the first such collisions will not occur until billions of years from now. For a long time, astronomers have believed that the biggest stars in the Universe do not exceed 150 solar ...

There are 170 established HPV types. Cancerous human papillomavirus (HPV) viruses are the main cause of cervical cancer, and are found in close to 100% of cervical tumors. Cervical cancer and genital warts are caused by HPV. However, testing for the virus using standard techniques can sometimes give a negative result -- in these cases, the condylomas are called 'virus-negative' warts. In a new study published in Virology, researchers assessed the DNA found in samples taken from 40 patients with 'virus-negative' genital warts. Through a general DNA sequencing approach, ...

Gait dysfunction is one of the most serious disabling sequelae of stroke. Regaining gait ability in stroke is a primary goal of neurorehabilitation. Furthermore, gait is a less demanding motor function than hand function. Stroke patients can walk when motor function is recovered in the proximal joint (hip and knee), at least to the degree of being able to oppose gravity. In general, most motor recovery after stroke occurs within 3-6 months after onset, and gait function usually recovers within 3 months of stroke onset. Therefore, clinicians need to look for the cause of ...

People who experience parental divorce during childhood have higher levels of an inflammatory marker in the blood which is known to predict future health, according to new research from UCL. The study, published in Psychoneuroendocrinology, found that children who experienced the breakdown in their parent's relationship before the age of 16, regardless of whether their parents were married or not, had 16% higher levels of C-reactive protein at age 44. C-reactive protein is a marker of inflammation measured in blood samples. Long-term raised C-reactive protein is a known ...

Researchers from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute in Nehru Marg, India have added another piece to the puzzle of how to synthetize an artificial nicotine receptor. Nicotine -- the infamous principal component of tobacco -- is responsible for smoking addition due to specific receptors in the brain that trigger the dopamine reward system. One of the most long-lasting goals of biomedical science and technology is to design and synthesize efficient artificial receptors that would point to new avenues in the treatment of addiction. Recent advances in ...

Research at the University of Liverpool has found that variations in the length of day over periods of between one and 10 years are caused by processes in the Earth's core. The Earth rotates once per day, but the length of this day varies. A yeas, 300million years ago, lasted about 450 days and a day would last about 21 hours. As a result of the slowing down of the Earth's rotation the length of day has increased. The rotation of the earth on its axis, however, is affected by a number of other factors - for example, the force of the wind against mountain ranges changes ...

An experimental study in rats has shown that consuming choline, a vitamin B group nutrient found in foodstuffs like eggs and chicken or beef liver, soy and wheat germ, helps improve long-term memory and attention-holding capacity. The study, conducted by scientists at the University of Granada (Spain) Simón Bolívar University, (Venezuela) and the University of York (United Kingdom), has revealed that choline is directly involved in attention and memory processes and helps modulate them. Researchers studied the effects of dietary supplements of choline in rats in two experiments ...

A study published in the journal Animal Behaviour found that the noise of passing ships disrupts feeding for the common shore crab. Perhaps worse, the team from the Universities of Exeter and Bristol also found that when threatened, crabs took longer to retreat to shelter and lost their natural 'play dead' behaviour. In coastal seas around the world noise caused by humans is a dominant feature, with construction and transportation fundamentally modifying ocean soundscapes. Working with the same common shore crabs that children delight in catching on crablines in UK ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – A receptor mutation that essentially blocks estrogen's action has been identified for the first time in a female, researchers report. The 18-year-old wasn't experiencing breast development or menstruation, classic symptoms of too little estrogen, the usual cause of delayed puberty. Subsequent studies revealed instead sky-high levels of the sex hormone in her blood, said Dr. Lawrence C. Layman, Chief of the Section of Reproductive Endocrinology, Infertility and Genetics at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. "Her body totally ...

This news release is available in German. While carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere increases, forests enhance their water use efficiency: They can take up more gas without losing more water. According to long-term measurements at many forest locations in the northern hemisphere, stomata on leaf surfaces react to more carbon dioxide, which is an example of the strategies of ecosystems to cope with changes. The study of researchers from the USA and KIT is now reported in the journal "Nature" (DOI: 10.1038/nature12291). In the course of photosynthesis, ...

The drug aflibercept (trade name: Zaltrap) has been approved in Germany since February 2013 in combination with a certain chemotherapy for adults with metastatic colorectal cancer in whom chemotherapy with oxaliplatin could not stop the disease from progressing. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG) the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether this new drug offers an added benefit over the current standard therapy. According to this, considerable advantages ...

A solar tsunami observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Japanese Hinode spacecraft has been used to provide the first accurate estimates of the Sun's magnetic field. Solar tsunamis are produced by enormous explosions in the Sun's atmosphere called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). As the CME travels out into space, the tsunami travels across the Sun at speeds of up to 1000 kilometres per second. Similar to tsunamis on Earth, the shape of solar tsunamis is changed by the environment through which they move. Just as sound travels faster in water than in ...

Forget fingerprints or iris recognition, the next big thing in biometrics will be a thermal imaging scan that maps the blood vessels under the skin of your face for instantaneous face recognition that would be almost impossible to spoof. Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Computational Intelligence Studies, a team at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India, explains how the pattern of blood vessels just beneath the skin of our faces is as unique as a fingerprint, iris or other characteristic. It can be revealed easily with an infra-red thermal ...

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the National Institutes of Health have obtained ground-breaking new knowledge about proteases - important enzymes which, among other things, play a role in the development of cancer cells. The findings may be significant for the development of cancer drugs, and have just been published in Journal of Biological Chemistry. Cancer cells can exploit an over-production of proteases to force their way into the body. In a joint effort with the National Institutes of Health, a group of researchers from the University of Copenhagen ...