Scientists have observed in unprecedented detail the birth of a massive star within a dark cloud core about 10,000 light years from Earth. The team used the new ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array) telescope in Chile – the most powerful radio telescope in the world – to view the stellar womb which, at 500 times the mass of the Sun and many times more luminous, is the largest ever seen in our galaxy. The researchers say their observations – to be published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics – reveal how matter is being dragged into the centre of ...

In Bolivia, in the largest continuous salt desert in the world, researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia have found a bacterium that stores large amounts of PHB, a prized polymer. This biodegradable plastic is used by the food and pharmaceutical industries, for example to produce nanospheres to transport antibiotics. In the quest for natural polymers to substitute for petroleum-based plastics, scientists have recently discovered that a microorganism in South America produces poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biodegradable compound of great utility for ...

Philadelphia, PA -- Many people with schizophrenia have marked problems with motivation, failing to initiate and persist in goal-directed behavior. These negative symptoms of schizophrenia can be disabling and prevent individuals from realizing their potential. For many years it was thought this was due to an inability to experience pleasure associated with successful goal attainment. However, recent laboratory studies have shown that hedonic experience is actually intact in people with schizophrenia, calling for new approaches to better understand these motivational ...

Photosynthesis takes place in specialized membrane systems, made up of stacked disks linked together by unstacked planar leaflets. A team of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich has now identified a protein that tucks the membrane in at the edge of each stack. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrograph of a chloroplast in maize (Zea mays) showing thylakoids (green) and assimilation starch granules (grey). (Prepared by freeze fracturing; micrograph is pseudo-colored.) (Source: G. Wanner LMU) By making use of sunlight to generate molecular oxygen and other ...

Working near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar has unearthed the earliest alphabetical written text ever uncovered in the city. The inscription is engraved on a large pithos, a neckless ceramic jar found with six others at the Ophel excavation site. According to Dr. Mazar, the inscription, in the Canaanite language, is the only one of its kind discovered in Jerusalem and an important addition to the city's history. Dated to the tenth century BCE, the artifact predates by two hundred and fifty years the earliest ...

Fears of depleting the Earth's supply of oil are unwarranted, according to new research, which concludes that the demand for oil – as opposed to the supply – will reach its own peak and then decline. "Peak oil" prognosticators have painted pictures of everything from a calm development of alternatives to calamitous shortages, panic and even social collapse as the world reaches its peak of oil production – and then supplies fall. But according to the study by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California-Santa Cruz, those scenarios assume that ...

A new species of rare and beautiful plant has been described from the biodiversity rich Peninsular Malaysia. Ridleyandra chuana is endemic to the region and only known from two small montane forest populations. The conservation status of this recently described delicate flower is assessed as Endangered due to its restricted distribution. The new species was described and illustrated in the open access journal PhytoKeys. Ridleyandra chuana is a perennial herb with a woody usually unbranched stem crowned by an asymmetrical rosette of dark green leaves covered in fine hairs. ...

New insights into why obese cigarette smokers experience a high risk of heart disease suggest that cigarette smoke affects the activity of hundreds of key genes that both protect the heart and lungs and expose them to damage. The study, published in ACS' Chemical Research in Toxicology, suggests that the effects may be especially profound in obese nonsmokers who inhale "sidesteam smoke" from cigarettes smoldering nearby. Diana J. Bigelow and colleagues point out that active smoking doubles the risk of heart disease, while second-hand smoke exposure increases this risk ...

Efforts to develop a safer form of acetaminophen — the pain and fever-reducer that is one of the most widely used drugs — have led to discovery of substances that may have less potentially toxic effects on the liver. A report on the research appears in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. Roman Shchepin and colleagues explain that a link exists between acetaminophen and liver damage. The damage may be severe and can occur with intentional and accidental overdoses, as well as when susceptible individuals take the drug. Indeed, acetaminophen has been implicated in almost 50 ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Major depression is a serious public health problem among older adults in the United States, but tends to affect ethnic groups differently, finds new research led by a Michigan State University scholar. According to a survey of nearly 2,000 people aged 50 and older, whites and blacks of Caribbean descent experience much higher rates of major depression than African-Americans. Amanda Toler Woodward, lead investigator on the study and MSU associate professor of social work, said the findings, taken as a whole, suggest major depression among older ...

The masses of plastic debris that float over large areas of the world's oceans have become new ecological communities that scientists have named the "Plastisphere." Their report in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology suggests that these novel habitats in the North Atlantic Ocean may harbor potential disease-causing microbes. Erik Zettler of the Sea Education Association, Tracy Mincer of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Linda Amaral-Zettler of the Marine Biological Laboratory explain that plastic has become the No. 1 form of ocean debris, causing ...

Scientists are making strides toward unraveling the surprisingly complex chemistry underpinning that axiom of infant feeding "breast is best," according to an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. Jyllian Kemsley, C&EN senior editor, points out that their findings reveal many intriguing and sometimes counterintuitive ways in which sugars, proteins and fat in milk interact with microbes in infants' intestines to nourish babies and protect their ...

Reston, Va. (July 10, 2013) – A new treatment option for patients with relapsing follicular, mantle cell and other indolent B-cell lymphomas has been determined safe and feasible by researchers exploring the potential of a low energy beta-emitter radiopharmaceutical. According to data published in the July issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, the use of 177Lu-DOTA-rituximab as a radioimmunotherapy results in a high rate of tumor response while using less radiation than current therapies. "Twelve years ago, when we started the study, it seemed that radioimmunotherapy ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Researchers have developed a concept to potentially improve delivery of drugs for cancer treatment using nanoparticles that concentrate and expand in the presence of higher acidity found in tumor cells. The concept involves using nanoparticles made of "weak polybases," compounds that expand when transported into environments mimicking tumor cells, which have a higher acidity than surrounding tissues. The researchers used sophisticated modeling to show how the particles would accumulate in regions of higher acidity and remain there long enough to ...

July 10, 2013 - If you see your partner flirt with someone else, you may feel hurt, angry, and jealous. The last thing you might expect is to start thinking of yourself more like your rival. New research suggests just that: that jealousy can prompt people to change how they view themselves relative to competitors for their partners' attention. Previous research has shown that individuals often will change their self-views to be more similar to someone to whom they want to get closer, such as a romantic partner. "However, a rival isn't someone that individuals should ...

Is there a brain area for mind-wandering? For religious experience? For reorienting attention? A recent study casts serious doubt on the evidence for these ideas, and rewrites the rules for neuroimaging. Brain mapping experiments attempt to identify the cognitive functions associated with discrete cortical regions. They generally rely on a method known as "cognitive subtraction." However, recent research reveals a basic assumption underlying this approach—that brain activation is due to the additional processes triggered by the experimental task—is wrong "It is such ...

WASHINGTON -- While numerous studies are under way to determine the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico, the extent and severity of these impacts and the value of the resulting losses cannot fully be measured without considering the goods and services provided by the Gulf, says a new report from the National Research Council. The congressionally mandated report offers an approach that could establish a more comprehensive understanding of the impacts and help inform options for restoration activities. Currently, state and federal resource ...

WASHINGTON — Emergency physicians and other emergency department staff were fairly accurate in assessing which patients were drug-seekers in the emergency department, changing their prescribing plans for less than 10 percent of patients after consulting an objective computerized state prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). The analysis of emergency providers' prescribing patterns and clinical factors associated with suspecting drug-seeking in the ER were published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Clinician Impression vs. Prescription Drug Monitoring ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Different factors influence delay between diagnosis and first course of treatment for breast cancer for African-American and White women. The study used data from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS) Phase III, a program of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Scientists found that among White women, household size and losing a job due to one's diagnosis were reasons for delay in treatment, while among African-American women, the type of treatment received influenced delay. Both African-American and White women experienced delay if they underwent ...

MANHATTAN -- Wind power development does not ruffle the feathers of greater prairie chicken populations, according to the results of a seven-year study from a Kansas State University ecologist and his team. The researchers -- led by Brett Sandercock, professor of biology -- discovered that wind turbines have little effect on greater prairie chickens, and that these grassland birds are more affected by rangeland management practices and by the availability of native prairie and vegetation cover at nest sites. Unexpectedly, the scientists also found that female survival ...

Alexandria, VA -- Scientists have recently confirmed the existence of an impact crater buried below the town of Decorah, Iowa. Scientists first discovered what they thought resembled a crater in 2008, but now it has been corroborated by an airborne geophysical survey and hydrology surveys. Scientists estimate the diameter of the crater at 5.5 kilometers wide, nearly five times the size of the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. Based on the crater's size, scientists calculate that the region was likely hit by a meteorite roughly 250 meters in diameter about 500 million ...

(Boston) - Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and George Washington University (GWU) have developed a method to rapidly identify pathogenic species and strains causing illnesses, such as pneumonia, that could help lead to earlier detection of disease outbreaks and pinpoint effective treatments more quickly. The findings are featured online in the journal Genome Research. Emerging sequencing technologies have revolutionized the collection of genomic data for bioforensics, biosurveillance and for use in clinical settings. However, new approaches ...

LA JOLLA, CA – July 10, 2013 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have published one of the first laboratory studies of MDPV, an emerging recreational drug that has been sold as "bath salts." The TSRI researchers confirmed the drug's powerful stimulant effects in rats and found evidence that it could be more addictive than methamphetamine, one of the most addictive substances to date. "We observed that rats will press a lever more often to get a single infusion of MPDV than they will for meth, across a fairly wide dose range," said TSRI Associate Professor ...

DALLAS – July 10, 2013 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report the identification of a new cellular source for an important disease-fighting protein used in the body's earliest response to infection. The protein interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) keeps viruses from replicating and stimulates the immune system to produce other disease-fighting agents. Neutrophils, the newly identified cellular source of the protein, are the major component of the pus that forms around injured tissue. The researchers also report that the neutrophils appear to produce IFN-γ ...

Boston – July 10, 2013 – Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered that when excessive PKC beta is found in the endothelium, the thin layer of cells that line blood vessels, atherosclerosis is exacerbated. Their findings were published on-line on June 11 by Circulation Research. For people with diabetes, the increased risk of cardiovascular disease is an unfortunate reality. This includes atherosclerosis, a condition where the walls of the artery thicken due to accumulating fatty deposits, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. "Heart disease is a major ...