Biologists record increasing amounts of plastic litter in the Arctic deep sea: studies confirm that twice as much marine debris is lying on the seabed today compared to ten years ago Bremerhaven, 22nd October 2012. The seabed in the Arctic deep sea is increasingly strewn with litter and plastic waste. As reported in the advance online publication of the scientific journal Marine Pollution Bulletin by Dr. Melanie Bergmann, biologist and deep-sea expert at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association. The quantities of waste observed ...

Lead scientist Professor Simon Cutting, from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway, has developed the jabs through the use of probiotic spores. He carried out fundamental studies into the biology of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis which attracted the attention of microbiologists due to its ability to form spores that can last millions of years before germinating under the appropriate environmental conditions. Professor Cutting says: "The mechanisms by which this process occurs have fascinated microbiologists for decades making it one of the most intensively ...

Turbulent flows have challenged researchers for centuries. It is impossible to predict chaotic weather more than a week in advance. Wind resistance on a plane or a car cannot be calculated precisely, since it is determined by atmospheric turbulence. Now, however, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have succeeded in developing a statistical model that can replicate the chaotic flows and thereby provide a better understanding of the process. The research results are published in the scientific journal, Physics of Fluids. "Without knowing the movements in detail, we ...

A research team from the University of Bristol's Centre for Quantum Photonics (CQP) have brought the reality of a quantum computer one step closer by experimentally demonstrating a technique for significantly reducing the physical resources required for quantum factoring. The team have shown how it is possible to recycle the particles inside a quantum computer, so that quantum factoring can be achieved with only one third of the particles originally required. The research is published in the latest issue of Nature Photonics. Using photons as the particles, the Bristol ...

This press release is available in German. What happens in the brain when we see, hear, think and remember? To be able to answer questions like this, neuroscientists need information about how the millions of neurons in the brain are connected to each other. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have taken a crucial step towards obtaining a complete circuit diagram of the brain of the mouse, a key model organism for the neurosciences. The research group working with Winfried Denk has developed a method for preparing the whole mouse ...

Mucus coats our airways' internal surfaces. The viscous gel humidifies the lungs and prevents viruses and other small particles like diesel soot from entering the body unchecked. Previously unclear was the extent to which such nanoparticles are able to move through the lungs' mucus. Here, the research evidence was contradictory. Scientists could not explain why, in inhaled medication development, drug nanoparticles often simply got stuck in the mucus never making it to their target destination inside the lung cells. Now, as part of a German Research Foundation (DFG)-funded ...

An excellent review article from two scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the USA to be published in Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2012, describes the epidemiologic and basic scientific evidence linking alcohol consumption to the risk of breast cancer. The authors point out deficiencies in the epidemiologic data, especially that the pattern of drinking (regular moderate versus binge drinking) has generally not been taken into consideration, important given that binge drinking is associated with much higher blood alcohol concentrations and acetaldehyde ...

By demonstrating that it is possible to inhibit the viral infection in vitro by blocking the bonding between the virus and these receptors, the researchers have opened the way to a new antiviral strategy. These works were published on line in the review "Cell Host & Microbe" of October 18, 2012. The Dengue virus circulates in four different forms (four serotypes). It is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. It is a major public health problem. Two billion people throughout the world are exposed to the risk of infection and 50 million cases of Dengue fever are recorded by ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Pop music megastar Lady Gaga is being honored with the name of a new genus of ferns found in Central and South America, Mexico, Arizona and Texas. A genus is a group of closely related species; in this case, 19 species of ferns will carry the name Gaga. At one stage of its life, the new genus Gaga has somewhat fluid definitions of gender and bears a striking resemblance to one of Gaga's famous costumes. Members of the new genus also bear a distinct DNA sequence spelling GAGA. Two of the species in the Gaga genus are new to science: Gaga germanotta from ...

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of South Florida and the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France have studied the patterns and timing of sunlight exposure and how each is related to two nonmelanoma skin cancers – basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. This study, published in the open-access journal BioMed Central, is the first case-control study to simultaneously evaluate identical patterns and timing of sunlight exposure as they are related to basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas in the same U.S. population with high ...

Vanderbilt researchers are reporting today that a drug currently used to treat type 2 diabetes could be just as effective in treating addiction to drugs, including cocaine. The findings, published online today as a Letter To The Editor in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, could have far-reaching implications for patients worldwide who suffer from addiction. "What we have demonstrated is that a brain mechanism already known to be therapeutic for the treatment of diabetes also appears to be implicated in at least certain types of drug addiction," said Gregg Stanwood, ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2012 — The American Chemical Society (ACS) today released two new videos celebrating the 25th Anniversary of National Chemistry Week (NCW). The videos, from the world's largest scientific society, coincide with the start of this year's NCW, being observed in hundreds of communities around the country. Both videos are available now at www.BytesizeScience.com. One video is a new episode of ACS' award-winning Bytesize Science series. It highlights research behind this year's NCW theme — nanotechnology. The second video is a retrospective on the history ...

Philadelphia, October 23 Pediatricians and researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's(CHOP) have developed a first-of-its kind tool to help parents and health care providers better treat ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder). The new, three-part survey helps steer families and doctors toward "shared decision-making", an approach proven to improve healthcare results in adults, but not widely used in pediatric settings. The results of the CHOP study are published in the journal Academic Pediatrics. "Shared decision-making in health care means ...

Epoxides are highly reactive organic compounds comprised of a triple ring with two carbon atoms and one oxygen atom. Among other things, the chemicals industry uses them for the production of lubricants for vehicles and engines, as well as surfactants and emulsifiers for detergents and cleansers. Until now, epoxides have been based primarily on source materials procured from petroleum. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have engineered a chemical-enzymatic process that now enables vegetable oil-based production, at ...

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Oct. 23, 2012 -- Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found that nitrogen atoms in the compound uranium nitride exhibit unexpected, distinct vibrations that form a nearly ideal realization of a physics textbook model known as the isotropic quantum harmonic oscillator. In the experiment on the uranium nitride crystal -- with each of the light nitrogen atoms centered in a cage of heavier uranium atoms -- neutron scattering at ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) revealed an unexpected series of distinct and evenly ...

VIDEO: Video clip shows puppy with familiar experimenter and unfamiliar experimenter. Click here for more information. Do you get tired when others yawn? Does your dog get tired when you yawn? New research from Lund University establishes that dogs catch yawns from humans. But not if the dogs are too young. The study, published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition, found that, like humans, dogs show a developmental trend in susceptibility to contagious yawning. While dogs ...

Philadelphia, Pa. (October 23, 2012) - People who lift weights are less likely to have metabolic syndrome—a cluster of risk factors linked to heart disease and diabetes, reports a study in the October issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. "Lifting weights may play a role in reducing the prevalence and risk of metabolic syndrome among U.S. adults," according to the study ...

Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have succeeded in developing a durable and affordable nanofibrillar cellulose film platform to support medical testing. New environmentally friendly, reliable nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) platforms are more diverse than plastic films. New film can be made, for instance, hydrophobic, hydrophilic and the electric charge can be changed. This will enhance the possibility of conducting thousands of different medical tests at home or in physicians' receptions instead of waiting for results from laboratories. A platform is coated with ...

A type of haemorrhagic fever that is prevalent in Africa, Asia, and the Balkans has begun to spread to new areas in southern Europe. Now Swedish researchers have shown that migratory birds carrying ticks are the possible source of contagion. The discovery is being published in the US journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever is a serious disease that begins with influenza-like symptoms but can develop into a very serious condition with high mortality (30%). The disease occurs in Africa, Asia, and the Balkans but it has recently started to ...

NEW YORK –Hospital size matters when it comes to intensive care units (ICUs) adopting even the most routine prevention policies for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), according to a new study from researchers at Columbia University School of Nursing, published this month in the American Journal of Infection Control. The study found that large hospitals -- those with more than 500 beds --had a 1.5 higher average rate of CAUTI than hospitals with 500 beds or less. Since larger hospitals, particularly teaching hospitals treat patients who are often sicker, ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Much has been made of graphene's exceptional qualities, from its ability to conduct heat and electricity better than any other material to its unparalleled strength: Worked into a composite material, graphene can repel bullets better than Kevlar. Previous research has also shown that pristine graphene — a microscopic sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern — is among the most impermeable materials ever discovered, making the substance ideal as a barrier film. But the material may not be as impenetrable as scientists have thought. By engineering ...

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a category that includes autism, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, are characterized by difficulty with social interaction and communication, or repetitive behaviors. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Management says that one in 88 children in the US is somewhere on the Autism spectrum — an alarming ten-fold increase in the last four decades. New research by Dr. Mark Weiser of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sheba Medical Center has revealed that ASD appears share a root cause with ...

VIDEO: Video of the Oct. 22, 2012, solar flare as captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in the 131 and 304 Angstrom wavelengths. LINK TO HIGHEST RESOLUTION VIDEO: ...

Hubble astronomers have looked at one of the most distant and brightest quasars in the universe and are surprised by what they did not see: the underlying host galaxy of stars feeding the quasar. The best explanation is that the galaxy is shrouded in so much dust that the stars are completely hidden everywhere. Astronomers believe that the James Webb Space Telescope will reveal the galaxy. All but the very first galaxies contain some dust—the early universe was dust-free until the first generation of stars started making dust through nuclear fusion. As these stars aged ...

A new report by the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute shows that the length of the average hospital stay in the United States has increased at the same time as use of medical imaging scans has declined. It is unclear if the trends are related, but potentially important, as hospital admissions are among the largest, and fastest growing, health care costs. More research is needed to assess the potential negative impact of government and private insurer imaging reductions on overall medical costs and patient safety. "Lawmakers, regulators and medical professionals ...