Hunting in the North Sea, harbour seals often encounter murky water that impedes their vision; but it doesn't affect their ability to chase prey. Extending their vibration-sensitive whiskers, the mammals are almost as efficient at pursuing their quarry as they would be if guided by sight. Wolf Hanke and his colleagues from the University of Rostock, Germany, are fascinated by how harbour seals perceive the world through their flow-sensitive vibrissae. Having already found that seals can pick up and follow fish wakes up to 35 seconds after the prey has passed and knowing ...

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a steroid hormone that inhibits inflammation in the brain. The findings, to be published in the May 13 issue of the journal Cell, have implications for understanding the exaggerated inflammatory responses that are characteristic features of numerous neurodegenerative diseases. The discovery that the steroid hormone ADIOL, (5-androsten-3Β-17Β-diol), a precursor of androgens and estrogens, modulates inflammation induced by microglia cells could eventually lead to new treatments ...

New York, Nairobi – By 2050, humanity could consume an estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year – three times its current appetite – unless the economic growth rate is "decoupled" from the rate of natural resource consumption, warns a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme. Citizens of developed countries consume an average of 16 tons (ranging up to 40 or more tons) of those four key resources per capita. By comparison, the average person in India today consumes four tons per year. With the growth of both population ...

"I have a slide that has a photo of a cornfield and a big photovoltaic array," says Robert Blankenship, a scientist who studies photosynthesis at Washington University in St. Louis. "When I give talks I often ask the audience which one is more efficient. Invariably the audience votes overwhelmingly in favor of photosynthesis. " They are wrong. This question and its surprising answer (below) is the point of departure for a provocative article published in the May 13 issue of Science. The article is the outgrowth of a Department of Energy workshop comparing the efficiency ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Depression and anxiety may result from short-term digestive irritation early in life, according to a study of laboratory rats by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings suggest that some human psychological conditions may be the result, rather than the cause, of gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome. "A lot of research has focused on understanding how the mind can influence the body," said Pankaj Pasricha, MD, professor and chief of gastroenterology and hepatology. "But this study suggests that it ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have untangled two distinct ways in which a common, naturally occurring "tumor-suppressor" protein works. The separation of these two functions — which can have quite different consequences — could enhance efforts to develop treatment approaches that mitigate the sometimes-devastating side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The protein, p53, is mutated or missing in more than half of all human cancers, and most cancers involve at least some compromise in its function. Cancer is caused ...

Researchers have uncovered an unexpected role for estrogen receptors in the brain in keeping inflammation under control. The findings reported in the May 13 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell may have important implications for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and many other neurodegenerative diseases. They might also help to explain why women are three times more susceptible to developing MS than men are, researchers say. "We've really discovered an alternative pathway for estrogen receptors in the brain," said Christopher Glass of the University of California, ...

WASHINGTON—A bill in Oregon that would provide incentives to deliver fresh local food to schools would improve the health of the state's residents and, at the same time, create hundreds of new farm-industry jobs over a five- to 10-year period, according to a study released by Upstream Public Health in Portland. The researchers received a grant from the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, to conduct a health impact assessment (HIA) on the Farm to School and School Garden legislation, HB 2800. An ...

LA JOLLA, CA- By virtue of having survived, all animals-from flies to man-share a common expertise. All can distinguish times of plenty from famine and adjust their metabolism or behavior accordingly. Failure to do so signals either extinction or disease. A collaborative effort by investigators at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies recently revealed just how similarly mammals and insects make critical metabolic adjustments when food availability changes, either due to environmental catastrophe or everyday changes in sleep/wake cycles. Those findings may suggest ...

LA JOLLA, CA-A uniquely collaborative study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies uncovered a novel mechanism that turns up glucose production in the liver when blood sugar levels drop, pointing towards a new class of drugs for the treatment of metabolic disease. Their findings, published in the May 13, 2011, issue of the journal Cell, revealed a crucial role for so called histone deacetylases (HDACs), a group of enzymes that is the target of the latest generation of cancer drugs. HDACs get sugar production rolling when blood glucose levels run low ...

History is being made this week with the launch of the first ever Daily Fantasy Baseball Championship (DFBC). Hosted by FanDuel.com, the worlds largest daily fantasy sports games site, the DFBC has a prize pool of over $100,000, proving that the daily fantasy sport format is coming of age. The Daily Fantasy Baseball Championship (http://www.fanduel.com/p/DFBC) is the first of its kind. Its a two round tournament with weekly qualifiers being played each Friday from May 13th through September 2nd with a Grand Final on Friday September 9th, 2011. What makes the Championship ...

Cold homes cost lives and harm the environment, according to a BMJ editorial published today to coincide with a report commissioned by Friends of the Earth and written by Professor Sir Michael Marmot. The report highlights that every year in the UK there are around 5,500 more deaths in the coldest quarter of houses, than would occur if those houses were warm. The authors, Dr Keith Dear and Professor Anthony McMichael from the Australian National University in Canberra say Marmot's report identifies three gains that could be achieved by improving the insulation in British ...

A new study from Family Process shows that passing down a family business is an emotional process, and key factors need to be in place in order for the transition to prove successful. The owner needs to trust other family members' involvement in the long-term plan for the business, and nurture a healthy outlook and plan for their own retirement. In the United States alone there are an estimated 10.8 million family businesses. Only 30% of businesses stay in the family from the first to the second generation. Beyond business-related decisions, such as managing organizational ...

Leading dentist in Provo, UT, Dr. Darren Gardner, is pleased to announce the launch of his practice's state-of-the-art, interactive website. The new educational website was created in order to enhance patient awareness of dental health care and provide information on the practice itself. The new website for this dentist in Provo offers a wide array of valuable tools and information that patients can use to better inform themselves of various dental health care symptoms and treatments. Patients can visit the website via the Internet at any time during their day. With ...

Knife carrying is seen as a legitimate response both to potential threats and to the lack of protection provided by authorities, according to a study of young white British males published in this week's BMJ. In a letter to the journal, Damien Riggs from Flinders University in Australia and Marek Palasinski from Lancaster University in the UK, say that while they appreciate the call for an integrated approach to tackling knife crime, their findings point to further factors that require attention in terms of injury prevention. Their study also found that young men who ...

Size isn't everything... in astronomy, at least. Dwarf galaxy NGC 4214 may be small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in content. It is packed with everything an astronomer could ask for, from hot, young star-forming regions to old clusters with red supergiants. The intricate patterns of glowing ionised hydrogen gas, cavities blown clear of gas by stellar wind, and bright stellar clusters of NGC 4214 can be seen in this optical and near-infrared image, taken using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. A huge heart-shaped ...

BarcodeLabelPro.com (http://www.barcodelabelpro.com) announces the free offer of barcode generating software, Accu2000 Barcode Maker at www.barcodelabelPro.com that allows users to get the 1-D version barcode maker at $0 cost when they check out through TrialPay offer. "In a down economy, companies need to streamline and increase efficiency, so they can be more productive with every minute and every dollar," said Dr. Ge, the founder of halfpricesoft.com. "Accu2000 barcode generator is easy-to-use and flexible. We hope this free offer will put customized ...

Heart-related problems accounted for a smaller proportion of hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries within the past ten years than did other causes for hospitalization, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke 2011 Scientific Sessions. The study, the largest within the past decade to look at hospitalization rates among Medicare beneficiaries, found that the proportion of heart disease hospitalizations is falling at a faster rate than those from other leading causes of hospital ...

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, U.S.A. (May 12, 2011) — Japanese and U.S. scientists in the young field of epigenetics Thursday reported a rationale as to how specific genes are silenced and others are not. Because this effect can be reversed, it may be possible to devise therapies for cancer and other diseases using this information. The NOVA U.S. public television program described epigenetics as "The Ghost In Your Genes." It is the study of changes in gene expression that occur without changes in DNA sequence. Like keys on a piano, DNA is the static blueprint for all the proteins ...

The highly rated San Antonio morning show "Great Day SA" on Kens 5 is known for highlighting the best of the best San Antonio businesses. On May 16th, 2011 from 9 to 10, Lone Star Remodeling And Renovations will appear on the show to discuss remodeling trends and design/build remodeling concepts. Lone Star is a San Antonio home remodeling firm that handles both the design and construction of your project. Designs, material selection, budgeting, and scheduling are all streamlined for their clients, making the remodeling process much simpler and more enjoyable. ...

A single adult cell from one of the most impressive masters of regeneration in the animal kingdom – the planarian – is all it takes to build a completely functional new worm, researchers have learned. The study provides the first hard evidence that adult planarians harbor pluripotent stem cells – cells capable of producing the diverse range of tissue types necessary to build a complete animal. Distributed throughout the worm body, the newfound cells appear to have the same all-purpose qualities as embryonic stem cells. Such cells are essential for supplying the rapidly ...

A new analysis of data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft has revealed that beneath the surface of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io is an "ocean" of molten or partially molten magma. The finding, from a study published May 13 in the journal Science, is the first direct confirmation of such a magma layer on Io and explains why the moon is the most volcanic object known in the solar system. The research was conducted by scientists from UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. "The hot magma in Io's ocean is millions of times better at conducting electricity ...

New research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy, investigates the therapeutic use of human stem cells from bone marrow against acute lung injury and identifies TNF-α-induced protein 6 as a major molecular component of stem cell action. Acute lung injury is a major complication of critically ill patients resulting in pulmonary edema, hypoxia and, in the worst cases, organ failure. Consequently up to 40% of all sufferers die because their bodies' immune systems overreact in an attempt to repair the original lung damage. ...

Scientists at King's College London have, for the first time, uncovered a gene responsible for Adams-Oliver Syndrome (AOS), a condition which can cause birth defects of the heart, limbs, or blood vessels. The study, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics today, gives valuable insight not only into this particular condition, but also the possible genetic causes of these common birth defects found in the wider population. The team of researchers, led by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at King's ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (May 12, 2011) – A seldom-studied gene known as notum plays a key role in the planarian's regeneration decision-making process, according to Whitehead Institute scientists. Protein from this gene determines whether a head or tail will regrow at appropriate amputation sites. Since the late 1800s, scientists have been fascinated by the planarian's amazing ability to regenerate its entire body from a small wedge of tissue. Whitehead Member Peter Reddien and former postdoctoral fellow Christian Petersen recently found that the Wnt pathway—an ancient signaling ...