Boulder, Colorado, USA - Linear dunes, widespread on Earth and Saturn's moon, Titan, are generally considered to have been formed by deposits of windblown sand. It has been speculated for some time that some linear dunes may have formed by "wind-rift" erosion, but this model has commonly been rejected due to lack of sufficient evidence. Now, new research supported by China's NSF and published this week in GSA BULLETIN indicates that erosional origin models should not be ruled out. The linear dunes in China's Qaidam Basin have been proposed to have formed as self-extending ...

Boulder, CO, USA - New GSA BULLETIN science published online 24 Feb. includes work on the Chugach Metamorphic Complex of southern Alaska; news and data from the first non-Russian science team to make a helicopter over-flight of Shiveluch volcano in Kamchatka, Russia, after its large 2005 eruption; and a study by a team from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory that proposes a new calibration model for the Eocene segment of the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS). Large-scale, short-lived metamorphism, deformation, and magmatism in the Chugach metamorphic complex, ...

A UCLA-led group of researchers tracing disparities in life expectancy between blacks and whites in the U.S. has found that white males live about seven years longer on average than African American men and that white women live more than five years longer than their black counterparts. But when comparing life expectancy on a state-by-state basis, the researchers made a surprising discovery: In those states in which the disparities were smallest, the differences often were not the result of African Americans living longer but of whites dying younger than the national ...

Children with autism spectrum disorders who also have serious behavioral problems responded better to medication combined with training for their parents than to treatment with medication alone, Yale researchers and their colleagues report in the February issue of Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. "Serious behavioral problems interfere with everyday living for children and their families," said senior author on the study Lawrence Scahill, professor at Yale University School of Nursing and the Child Study Center. "Decreasing these serious ...

Here's a riddle: What's the difference between a tick and a lion? The answer used to be that a tick is a parasite and the lion is a predator. But now those definitions don't seem as secure as they once did. A tick also hunts its prey, following vapor trails of carbon dioxide, and consumes host tissues (blood is considered a tissue), so at least in terms of its interactions with other creatures, it is like a lion — a very small, eight-legged lion. Ecologists are increasingly finding it useful to think of parasites, such as ticks, as micro-predators and have been mining ...

Business bankruptcy filings, such as those associated with Washington Mutual and Eastman Kodak, tend to make front page news. Every day, though, and with far less fanfare, consumers across the country are seeking debt relief through personal bankruptcy. Los Angeles bankruptcy lawyer Hamid Soleimanian is now offering free consultations for all bankruptcy cases. As many as 1.36 million Americans filed for bankruptcy during 2011, according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. In fact, business bankruptcies have fallen by as much as 20 percent, while total filings are down just ...

When tickets move beyond fines or traffic school, drivers are going to be in for a DMV hearings and trials that are going to require some extra help. If a suspended driver's license is looming over an individual's head, they have only days to act to get the legal defense that they need to steer clear of such severe penalties. This is why the suspended license lawyer at Traffic Ticket Justice is now offering legal assistance for all cases involving suspended licenses. Whether a driver has only been on the road for a few years or is a veteran CDL holder, it may feel as ...

Genomes are catalogs of hereditary information that determine whether an organism becomes a plant, animal, fungus or microbe, and whether the organism is adapted to its surroundings. Determining the sequence of DNA within genomes is crucial to human medicine, crop genetics, biotechnology, forensic science, threatened species management, and evolutionary studies. The last 5 years have witnessed tremendous advances in DNA sequencing technologies, and it is now possible to sequence millions of fragments of DNA in a single analysis, and at a fraction of their previous cost. ...

New findings from an international team of researchers show that most neandertals in Europe died off around 50,000 years ago. The previously held view of a Europe populated by a stable neandertal population for hundreds of thousands of years up until modern humans arrived must therefore be revised. This new perspective on the neandertals comes from a study of ancient DNA published today in Molecular Biology and Evolution. The results indicate that most neandertals in Europe died off as early as 50,000 years ago. After that, a small group of neandertals recolonised central ...

For the first time, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have isolated egg-producing stem cells from the ovaries of reproductive age women and shown these cells can produce what appear to be normal egg cells or oocytes. In the March issue of Nature Medicine, the team from the Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology at MGH reports the latest follow-up study to their now-landmark 2004 Nature paper that first suggested female mammals continue producing egg cells into adulthood. "The primary objective of the current study was to prove that oocyte-producing stem ...

Energy efficiency experts at the University of East Anglia (UEA) are calling for ambitious new targets to reduce energy demand across the European Union. In a report published today by the Build with CaRe consortium, the researchers propose a new EU target of a 40 per cent reduction in primary energy demand by 2050. The existing target is a 20 per cent improvement in energy efficiency by 2020, but the EU is currently on track to achieve only half of this. The report by Dr Bruce Tofield and Martin Ingham, associate consultants at UEA's Adapt Low Carbon Group concludes ...

Researchers have identified an elusive gene responsible for Thrombocytopenia with Absent Radii (TAR), a rare inherited blood and skeletal disorder. As a result, this research is now being transformed into a medical test that allows prenatal diagnosis and genetic counselling in affected families. The team used genetic sequencing to discover that TAR results from low levels of the protein called Y14. They found that the syndrome occurs by a unique inherited mechanism. Platelets are the second most abundant cell in the blood. Their main task is to survey the blood vessel ...

Ancient manuscripts written by Arabic scholars can provide valuable meteorological information to help modern scientists reconstruct the climate of the past, a new study has revealed. The research, published in Weather, analyses the writings of scholars, historians and diarists in Iraq during the Islamic Golden Age between 816-1009 AD for evidence of abnormal weather patterns. Reconstructing climates from the past provides historical comparison to modern weather events and valuable context for climate change. In the natural world trees, ice cores and coral provide evidence ...

Japanese scientists have found that the odorous compound responsible for halitosis – otherwise known as bad breath – is ideal for harvesting stem cells taken from human dental pulp. In a study published today, Monday 27 February, in IOP Publishing's Journal of Breath Research, researchers showed that hydrogen sulphide (H2S) increased the ability of adult stem cells to differentiate into hepatic (liver) cells, furthering their reputation as a reliable source for future liver-cell therapy. This is the first time that liver cells have been produced from human dental ...

Washington, D.C.— Seawater circulation pumps hydrogen and boron into the oceanic plates that make up the seafloor, and some of this seawater remains trapped as the plates descend into the mantle at areas called subduction zones. By analyzing samples of submarine volcanic glass near one of these areas, scientists found unexpected changes in isotopes of hydrogen and boron from the deep mantle. They expected to see the isotope "fingerprint" of seawater. But in volcanoes from the Manus Basin they also discovered evidence of seawater distilled long ago from a more ancient plate ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Humans aren't the only species that like to get busy with a glass of bubbly, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Turns out, the common baker's yeast has indulged in a frenzy of amorous frolicking in the fermentation vats of winemakers for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years, with interesting results. The unexpected promiscuity has made the lineage of many commercial and wild yeast strains difficult to trace. But there are also indications that such willy-nilly sharing of genetic information is precisely what gives ...

MAYWOOD, Ill. – In a study published in Nature Medicine, Loyola researchers report on a promising new technique that potentially could turn immune system killer T cells into more effective weapons against infections and possibly cancer. The technique involves delivering DNA into the immune system's instructor cells. The DNA directs these cells to overproduce a specific protein that jumpstarts important killer T cells. These killer cells are typically repressed in patients who have HIV or cancer, said José A. Guevara-Patino, MD, PhD, senior author of the study. Guevara ...

Most people attempt to reduce the little uncertainties of life by carrying umbrellas on cloudy days, purchasing automobile insurance or hiring inspectors to evaluate homes they might consider purchasing. For scientists, reducing uncertainty is a no less important goal, though in the weird realm of quantum physics, the term has a more specific meaning. For scientists working in quantum physics, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says that measurements of properties such as the momentum of an object and its exact position cannot be simultaneously specified with arbitrary ...

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 27, 2012 – University of Utah mathematicians developed a set of calculus equations to make it easier for doctors to save Tylenol overdose patients by quickly estimating how much painkiller they took, when they consumed it and whether they will require a liver transplant to survive. "It's an opportunity to use mathematical methods to improve medical practice and save lives," says Fred Adler, a professor of mathematics and biology and coauthor of a study that developed and tested the new method. The study of acetaminophen – the generic pain and ...

For the past decade, scientists have been pursuing cancer treatments based on RNA interference — a phenomenon that offers a way to shut off malfunctioning genes with short snippets of RNA. However, one huge challenge remains: finding a way to efficiently deliver the RNA. Most of the time, short interfering RNA (siRNA) — the type used for RNA interference — is quickly broken down inside the body by enzymes that defend against infection by RNA viruses. "It's been a real struggle to try to design a delivery system that allows us to administer siRNA, especially if you ...

PASADENA, Calif.—Bacteria have evolved different systems for secreting proteins into the fluid around them or into other cells. Some, for example, have syringe-like exterior structures that can pierce other cells and inject proteins. Another system, called a type VI secretion system, is found in about a quarter of all bacteria with two membranes. Despite being common, researchers have not understood how it works. Now a team, co-led by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has figured out the structure of the type VI secretion system apparatus ...

ZyLAB, a leading provider of eDiscovery and information management solutions, today announced that it has been named to KMWorld Magazine's prestigious list of the "100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management." Published annually and in its 12th year, this list recognizes organizations that play a role in the creation and evolution of the knowledge management market through consistent innovation of technologies, products and services. Companies chosen for this list are compiled by KM practitioners, theorists, analysts, vendors and their customers and colleagues. ...

People who take Ritalin are far more aware of their mistakes, a University of Melbourne study has found. The study, by Dr Rob Hester from the Department of Psychological Sciences and colleagues at the Queensland Brain Institute, investigated how the brain monitors ongoing behaviour for performance errors – specifically failures of impulse control. It found that a single dose of methylphenidate (Ritalin) results in significantly greater activity in the brain's error monitoring network and improved volunteers' awareness of their mistakes. Diminished awareness of performance ...

An irregular heartbeat — atrial fibrillation — is a strong predictor of cognitive decline and the loss of independence in daily activities in older people at risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Researchers sought to understand whether there was an association between an irregular heartbeat and the loss of mental and physical functions in people at risk of cardiovascular disease. They looked at data from two randomized controlled trials: the ONTARGET and TRANSCEND trials, which involved 31 506 patients from ...

A new study has found that patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who have not responded to interferon treatments experience long-term benefits when they switch to the targeted drug imatinib. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study indicates that imatinib is the treatment of choice for these patients. Imatinib, a drug that blocks the protein made by a particular cancer-causing gene, has revolutionized the treatment and prognosis of patients with CML. Now up to 93 percent of patients who take the drug as ...