The first gravitational lens, a phenomenon in which light from a distant object is bent around a massive foreground object, was discovered in 1979 by a team led by Dr. Dennis Walsh from The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory. Since then, astronomers have used gravitational lenses in many ways, including studying dark matter and as "Nature's Telescope" to investigate galaxies in the distant universe. In a letter to the journal Nature, Professor Shude Mao of The University of Manchester, along with Stuart Wyithe (University of Melbourne), Haojing Yan ...

If you are looking to lose weight in the coming year, you may need help from an unexpected place: the bacteria in your gut. That's because scientists have discovered that the bacteria living in your intestines may play a far more significant role in weight loss and gastrointestinal problems than ever imagined. In a new research report published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), researchers show that a deficiency of Toll-like receptor 2 (Tlr2)—used by mammals (including humans) to recognize resident microbes in the intestines—leads to changes in gut bacteria ...

"Don't be a frog!" people say in jest when someone hesitates instead of acting straight away. However to be called a frog should actually be a reason to strengthen one's self-confidence. After all frogs are real winners – at least from the point of view of evolutionary biology: Nearly 6.000 species are known today. "In terms of numbers frogs are superior to all the other amphibians, and even mammals", says Professor Dr. Lennart Olsson from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany). Professor Olsson's research group for Systematic Zoology examines these animals's ...

Current guidance advising mothers in the UK to exclusively breast feed for the first six months of their baby's life is being questioned by child health experts on bmj.com today. The authors, led by Dr Mary Fewtrell, a consultant paediatrician at the UCL Institute of Child Health in London, have reviewed the evidence behind the current guidance and say the time is right to reappraise this recommendation. The researchers stress that while they fully back exclusive breast feeding early in life, they are concerned that exclusively doing so for six months and not introducing ...

Simply taking more steps every day not only helps ward off obesity but also reduces the risk of diabetes, finds a study published on bmj.com today. While several studies have shown that physical activity reduces body mass index and insulin resistance - an early stage in the development of diabetes - this is the first study to estimate the effects of long-term changes in daily step count on insulin sensitivity. A popular guideline is to do 10,000 steps every day, though a more recent recommendation is 3,000 steps, five days a week. The research, by the Murdoch Childrens ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research shows that oncolytic viruses, which are engineered to destroy cancer cells, might be more effective in treating deadly brain tumors if equipped with an enzyme that helps them penetrate the tumor. The enzyme, called chondroitinase, helps the cancer-killing virus clear its way through the thickets of protein molecules that fill space between cells and impede the virus's movement through the tumor, say researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The inhibition or removal of an enzyme may prevent or treat ischemic retinopathy by stalling growth of unwanted vessels in the retina, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. Ischemic retinopathy is characterized by uncontrolled formation of new blood vessels in the retina, and is seen in diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity. While this blood vessel formation, called neovascularization, can benefit ischemic heart disease and wound healing, it is bad in the retina, where new vessels are dysfunctional and bleed, usually ...

PHILADELPHIA—Researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson and two other institutions have discovered new evidence that suggests the "longevity" protein SIRT1, known for its life-spanning effects in different species, can inhibit the development of a known precursor to prostate cancer, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN). Results from the study could lead to new cancer prevention drugs that could not only block prostate cancer but promote longevity. The study, published in the February 1 issue of Cancer Research, found that deletion of the Sirt1 gene ...

A new study from North Carolina State University highlights a major flaw in attempting to use a single survey question to assess public opinion on science issues. Researchers found that people who say that risks posed by new science fields outweigh benefits often actually perceive more benefits than risks when asked more detailed questions. "We set out to determine whether we can accurately assess public opinion on complex science issues with one question, or if we need to break the issue down into questions on each of the issue's constituent parts," says Dr. Andrew Binder, ...

What is it that makes you want to return to a restaurant again and again? The food? The service? Atmosphere? Sure. But according to research spearheaded by John Antun, associate professor in the Department of Retail, Hospitality and Tourism and director of the Culinary Institute at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Robert E. Frash Jr., chair of the HRT department at the College of Charleston (S.C.), there are two more factors that must be added to mix: the social experience and the availability of healthy menu options. Antun and Frash Jr. collaborated ...

GALVESTON, Texas — A new study by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston reveals that the prevalence of hypertension in older Mexican-Americans living in the Southwest region of the United States has increased slightly in the last decade. Researchers suspect the rise is due, in part, to the increase in diabetes and obesity. Although hypertension, or high blood pressure, is one of the most common diseases in the United States, affecting more than 72 million Americans, it is one of the most manageable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A new fractional vortex state observed in an unconventional superconductor may offer the first glimpse of an exotic state of matter predicted theoretically for more than 30 years. In a paper published in the January 14 issue of Science, University of Illinois physicists, led by Raffi Budakian, describe their observations of a new fractional vortex state in strontium ruthenium oxide (SRO). Such states may provide the basis for a novel form of quantum computing in which quantum information is encoded in the topological properties of a physical system. "We've ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – U.S. agricultural practices create 58 percent of nitrous oxide in the world, which is the third most prevalent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Scientists believe nitrous oxide contributes to global warming about 300 times more than carbon dioxide. New practices and products have been introduced to address this issue, but farmers do not have the time or profit margins to experiment with ideas that may ultimately hurt the "bottom line." Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found methods to help farmers reduce those emissions while also increasing ...

AMES, Iowa – Advancements in understanding rotational motion in living cells may help researchers shed light on the causes of deadly diseases, such as Alzheimer's, according to Ning Fang, an associate scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and faculty member at Iowa State University. In an article entitled "Resolving Rotational Motions of Nano-objects in Engineered Environments and Live Cells with Gold Nanorods and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy" published in the November 2 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, ...

Plant biologists are facing pressure to quantify the response of plants to changing environments and to breed plants that can respond to such changes. One method of monitoring the response of plants to different environments is by studying their vein network patterns. These networks impact whole plant photosynthesis and the mechanical properties of leaves, and vary between species that have evolved or have been bred under different environmental conditions. To help address the challenge of how to quickly examine a large quantity of leaves, researchers at the Georgia Institute ...

New Rochelle, NY, January 13, 2011–Biologists have been unable to agree on a definition of the complex phenomenon known as "life." In a special collection of essays in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., leaders in the fields of philosophy, science, and molecular evolution present a variety of perspectives on defining life. Tables of content and a free sample issue are available online. Why is a definition of life so important yet so elusive? As David Deamer, Guest Editor and Research Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of ...

New Rochelle, NY, January 13, 2011—Twenty years of mortality data from counties across the United States led to the striking discovery that living at higher altitudes may be a risk factor for suicide, according to a provocative study published online ahead of print in High Altitude Medicine & Biology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online. Barry Brenner, MD, PhD, and David Cheng, MD, University Hospitals Case Medical Center (Cleveland, OH), and coauthors Sunday Clark, MPH, ScD, University of Pittsburgh Medical ...

Men are more likely than women to seek jobs in which competition with coworkers affects pay rates, a preference that might help explain persistent pay differences between men and women, a study at the University of Chicago shows. The study, which covered most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, also revealed regional variation in how much women desire jobs in which competition plays a role in determining wages. In cities where local wages are generally lower, women tend to want jobs in which competition determines wages, the study showed. "We know that women, ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - California policies aimed at reducing electricity use and curbing greenhouse gas emissions have the unintended consequence of making new plug-in hybrid vehicles uneconomical, according to a Purdue University economist. Wally Tyner, the James and Lois Ackerman Professor of Agricultural Economics, said California's tiered electricity pricing system means Californians will pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country to recharge plug-in hybrid vehicles. States with flat electricity rates or those that vary price based on the time of use ...

(Garrison, NY) Extra large private hospital rooms with plenty of natural light and artwork may seem like unaffordable luxuries, but new research shows that these and other architecture and design features can improve patient care and in the long run reduce health care expenses. They are among the elements of the "Fable hospital," an ideal health care facility as conceived and analyzed by leaders in health care and design. Elements of the Fable hospital are being adopted on the ground today, with the imperative to improve quality and value. A set of articles in the Hastings ...

Older drivers could benefit from training programs that put them behind the wheel—in a driving simulator, with an observer who helps them develop their skills. That's the conclusion of a new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Older people are at much higher risk of car crashes than younger drivers. Some states and provinces test older drivers, hoping to get the riskiest drivers off the road. But the tests they use are inadequate, says Normand Teasdale of Université Laval in Québec, ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University have demonstrated bio-inspired structures that self-assemble from simple building blocks: spheres. The helical "supermolecules" are made of tiny colloid balls instead of atoms or molecules. Similar methods could be used to make new materials with the functionality of complex colloidal molecules. The team will publish its findings in the Jan. 14 issue of the journal Science. "We can now make a whole new class of smart materials, which opens the door to new functionality that we couldn't ...

Galician researchers have studied the evolution in the introduction of non-native fresh water species in Galicia over the past century, and have compared this with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. The results show that 31 exotic aquatic species out of the 88 recorded for the entire Iberian Peninsula have become established in the region over the past century. An analysis of the introduction of non-native species in Galicia and the Iberian Peninsula carried out by researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) and the University of Coruña (UDC) has shown ...

Scientists have for the first time sequenced and reconstructed the genomes of most of the microbes in the gut of a premature newborn and documented how the microbe populations changed over time. Further studies involving more infants could eventually help researchers understand the causes of various intestinal problems that afflict preemies, in particular the sometimes fatal necrotizing enterocolitis, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Stanford University. One unresolved question is whether ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Neuroscientists at MIT's Picower Institute of Learning and Memory have uncovered why relatively minor details of an episode are sometimes inexplicably linked to long-term memories. The work is slated to appear in the Jan. 13 issue of Neuron. "Our finding explains, at least partially, why seemingly irrelevant information like the color of the shirt of an important person is remembered as vividly as more significant information such as the person's impressive remark when you recall an episode of meeting this person," said co-author Susumu Tonegawa, Picower ...