This press release is available in German. Pulsars are among the most exotic celestial bodies known. They have diameters of about 20 kilometres, but at the same time roughly the mass of our sun. A sugar-cube sized piece of its ultra-compact matter on the Earth would weigh hundreds of millions of tons. A sub-class of them, known as millisecond pulsars, spin up to several hundred times per second around their own axes. Previous studies reached the paradoxical conclusion that some millisecond pulsars are older than the universe itself. The astrophysicist Thomas ...

Researchers from the University of Southampton, in collaboration with a research group in Delhi, India, have shown that growth in early childhood can affect bone density in adult life, which could lead to an increased risk of developing bone diseases like osteoporosis. The study, led by Professor Caroline Fall of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton, is part of the University's ongoing work in assessing the causes of common diseases at different stages of life from before conception through to old age, and the ...

A newly available DNA-based prenatal blood test that can identify a pregnancy with Down syndrome can also identify two additional chromosome abnormalities: trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) and trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome). The test for all three defects can be offered as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy to women who have been identified as being at high risk for these abnormalities. These are the results of an international, multicenter study published on-line today in the journal Genetics in Medicine. The study, the largest and most comprehensive done to date, adds to the ...

Effective February 1, 2012, A.L.L. Contracting (http://www.all-contracting.com), a premier central and west Texas roofing and gutter company, and Studio Boudoir Photography, a boutique photography studio catering to women only (http://www.studioboudoirphotography.com), have relocated their businesses to 29770 US Hwy 281N in Bulverde, Texas. Owned by husband and wife entrepreneurs, Lance and Anita Lubke, A.L.L. Contracting and Studio Boudoir Photography see the move to Bulverde as extremely positive for their businesses. Citing the growth of Bulverde and North San Antonio ...

One of the most distinctive signs of the development of Alzheimer's disease is a change in the behavior of a protein that neuroscientists call tau. In normal brains, tau is present in individual units essential to neuron health. In the cells of Alzheimer's brains, by contrast, tau proteins aggregate into twisted structures known as "neurofibrillary tangles." These tangles are considered a hallmark of the disease, but their precise role in Alzheimer's pathology has long been a point of contention among researchers. Now, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers ...

NEW YORK – The Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Peru program announced today the discovery of 365 species previously undocumented in Bahuaja Sonene National Park (BSNP) in southeastern Peru. Fifteen researchers participated in the inventory focusing on plant life, insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles. The discovery included: thirty undocumented bird species, including the black-and-white hawk eagle, Wilson's phalarope, and ash colored cuckoo; two undocumented mammals – Niceforo's big-eared bat and the Tricolored Bat; as well as 233 undocumented species of butterflies ...

The drug oxaliplatin is a major reason the prognosis for metastatic colon cancer has gone from an expected survival of several months to a couple years. Unfortunately, the drug can also carry with it debilitating neurological side effects, which generally start as the sensation of pins and needles in fingers and toes and can leave patients unable to walk or dress independently. However, "Many patients don't receive the necessary dose to try to keep their cancer in check, because their symptoms become too debilitating and their quality of life is reduced," says Andrew ...

VIDEO: Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Ph.D., discusses her new research into how high levels of triglycerides (blood fats) are the strongest risk factor for the most common type of stroke in older women.... Click here for more information. BRONX, NY -- In a surprising finding with significant implications for older women, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and NYU School of Medicine have found that high levels of triglycerides (blood fats) ...

Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how? Now a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has uncovered many genes influenced by the male and female sex hormones testosterone and estrogen that, in turn, govern several specific types of male and female behaviors in mice. The UCSF team selectively turned many of these genes off one by one and found they could manipulate individual behaviors in the mice, ...

A new study recently published in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management (JIPM) explains the best management practices for consideration and adoption by sod producers in the northeastern U.S. Two species of crane flies have become established across portions of northeastern United States and present an economic concern to the production sod industry. The infestation of production fields poses a threat to the quality of the developing sod product as well as a conduit for human-mediated range expansion of an invasive species. As the unintentional transport of larvae ...

Durham, NC — Most creatures face compromises when they reproduce — the more energy they devote to having lots of babies, the less they can invest in each one. But do the same tradeoffs hold true for plants? Biologists have long assumed that plants with bigger, showier flowers can make fewer of them per plant. But the data don't always hold up, scientists say. A new study by researchers at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center may help explain why. "We expect size-number tradeoffs to be universal, but when we look at plants we don't always find them, and we wanted ...

In the last two decades, the study of extrasolar planets — those that lie outside our own solar system — has become one of the most important fields of astrophysics. Now a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) team that includes Prof. Tsevi Mazeh of Tel Aviv University's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Director of the Wise Observatory has discovered two new planets, named Kepler-34 and Kepler-35, each of which revolves around its own double suns. Together with Kepler-16, discovered a few months ago, there are now three such known systems ...

AURORA, Colo. (Feb. 2, 2012) – Different kinds of lung cancer behave in different ways, suggesting they are fundamentally different diseases. According to a University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in Cancer, the official journal of the American Cancer Society, different subgroups of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) show distinct patterns of spread in the body. The study looked at 209 patients diagnosed with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer separated into four different molecular subgroups using testing performed by the University of Colorado Molecular ...

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Feb. 2, 2012) – Two UAHuntsville faculty members from the College of Business were published today in the prestigious journal Science for their investigation of an important issue in research ethics. Dr. Allen W. Wilhite, and Dr. Eric A. Fong co-authored a paper on the unethical practices of some journal publications, articulating results from their research to show that some editors coerce authors into adding unnecessary citations to articles in the same journal that is considering publishing the submitted work. Journal editors want to increase ...

PHILADELPHIA (February 2, 2012)— A new study by food safety researchers at Drexel University demonstrates that plasma can be an effective method for killing pathogens on uncooked poultry. The proof-of-concept study was published in the January issue of the Journal of Food Protection. Although recent high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness have involved contaminated fresh produce, the most common source of harmful bacteria in food is uncooked poultry and other meat products. The bacteria responsible for most foodborne illnesses, Campylobacter and Salmonella, are found ...

PHILADELPHIA (February 1, 2012)— Rates of diabetes vary widely across developing countries worldwide, according to a new analysis led by Dr. Longjian Liu of Drexel University's School of Public Health. Worldwide, four in five people with diabetes now live in developing countries. Liu's study found that access to healthcare support for diabetes varied widely in developing countries, and that one in 10 diagnosed cases remain untreated. The study is available online and will appear in a future issue of the journal Diabetic Medicine. "Diabetes is now one of the most common ...

NEW YORK, February 2, 2012 – Postmenopausal women may be at higher risk of having a stroke than they think. A new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues found that traditional risk factors for stroke – such as high cholesterol – are not as accurate at predicting risk in postmenopausal women as previously thought. Instead, researchers say doctors should refocus their attention on triglyceride levels to determine which women are at highest risk of suffering a devastating and potentially fatal cardiovascular event. The study appears online today ...

Internet information giant Google updated ocean data in its Google Earth application this week, reflecting new bathymetry data assembled by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, NOAA researchers and many other ocean mapping groups from around the world. The newest version of Google Earth includes more accurate imagery in several key areas of ocean using data collected by research cruises over the past three years. "The original version of Google Ocean was a newly developed prototype map that had high resolution but also contained thousands of blunders related ...

The communities of marine microorganisms that make up half the biomass in the oceans and are responsible for half the photosynthesis the world over, mostly remain enigmatic. A few abundant groups have had their genomes described, but the natures and functions of the rest remain mysterious. Understanding how the changing global environment might affect these important ecosystem players is like trying to understand the solar system when all you can discern are the brightest objects in the sky. Now University of Washington scientists have advanced a method that allowed ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A two-year study of high school football players suggests that concussions are likely caused by many hits over time and not from a single blow to the head, as commonly believed. Purdue University researchers have studied football players for two seasons at Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Ind., where 21 players completed the study the first season and 24 the second season, including 16 repeating players. Helmet-sensor impact data from each player were compared with brain-imaging scans and cognitive tests performed before, during and after each ...

New Rochelle, NY, February 2, 2012—Small RNA-based nucleic acid drugs represent a promising new class of therapeutic agents for silencing abnormal or overactive disease-causing genes, and researchers have discovered new mechanisms by which RNA drugs can control gene activity. A comprehensive review article in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., details these advances. Short strands of nucleic acids, called small RNAs, can be used for targeted gene silencing, making them attractive drug candidates. These small RNAs ...

Thanks to the presence of a natural "zoom lens" in space, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope got a uniquely close-up look at the brightest "magnified" galaxy yet discovered. This observation provides a unique opportunity to study the physical properties of a galaxy vigorously forming stars when the universe was only one-third its present age. A so-called gravitational lens is produced when space is warped by a massive foreground object, whether it is the sun, a black hole or an entire cluster of galaxies. The light from more-distant background objects is distorted, brightened ...

The doors are open on NASA's Suomi NPP satellite and the newest version of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is scanning Earth for the first time, helping to assure continued availability of measurements of the energy leaving the Earth-atmosphere system. The CERES results help scientists to determine the Earth's energy balance, providing a long-term record of this crucial environmental parameter that will be consistent with those of its predecessors. CERES arrived in space Oct. 28, 2011, carried by NASA's newest Earth-observing satellite, ...

NASA satellites have watched as wind shear has torn Cyclone Iggy apart over the last day. NASA infrared satellite imagery showed that Iggy's strongest thunderstorms have been pushed away from the storm's center and visible imagery shows the storm is being stretched out. Iggy is weakening and heading for a landfall between Geraldton and Perth. When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Cyclone Iggy on Feb. 1 at 1805 UTC (1:05 p.m. EST), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard captured an infrared look at the cyclone. AIRS data showed that the strongest ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – They are tiny, ugly, disease-carrying little blood-suckers that most people have never seen or heard of, but a new discovery in a one-of-a-kind fossil shows that "bat flies" have been doing their noxious business with bats for at least 20 million years. For bats, that's a long time to deal with a parasite doing its best vampire impression. Maybe it is nature's revenge on the vampire bat, an aggressive blood consumer in its own right that will feed on anything from sheep to dogs and humans. The find was made by researchers from Oregon State University ...