Science Headlines for October 20, 2008

Listening To Dark Matter: New Clues From Lab Deep Underground

Researchers in Canada have made a bold stride in the struggle to detect dark matter. The PICASSO collaboration has documented the discovery of a significant difference between the acoustic signals induced by neutrons and alpha particles in a detector based on superheated liquids.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 6:00 pm

Alternative Energy: New Sugarcanes To Deliver One-Two Energy Punch

New varieties of sugarcane and other crops adapted to the U.S. Gulf Coast region are being developed for use in making ethanol as a cleaner-burning alternative to gasoline.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Gene Mutation Protects Against Obesity And Diabetes

Scientists have identified a natural mutation in the Tbc1d1 gene that keeps mice lean and also protects against diabetes despite a high-fat diet. The researchers were thus able to gain a deep insight into the function of the gene. Further clarification of its function would provide a basis for developing new approaches for prevention and treatment, as this gene could also be linked to obesity and diabetes in humans.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Worms' Nervous System Shown To Alert Immune System

The nervous system and the immune system have something in common. Each has evolved to react quickly to environmental cues. Because the nervous system is able to detect some of these cues at a distance, it sometimes can sense trouble earlier than the immune system, which has to wait until the pathogen invades the organism. Now, geneticists have shown that, indeed, the two systems talk to one another.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

New Fossil Reveals Primates Lingered In Texas

More than 40 million years ago, primates preferred Texas to northern climates that were significantly cooling, according to new fossil evidence.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Genes That Control Cell Death Fingered In Age-related Hearing Loss

Several genes that play a role in how our body's cells normally auto-destruct may play a role in age-related hearing loss, according to new research in a journal devoted to the topic of cell suicide, or programmed cell death.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

First Tunable, 'Noiseless' Amplifier May Boost Quantum Computing, Communications

Researchers have made the first tunable 'noiseless' amplifier. By significantly reducing the uncertainty in delicate measurements of microwave signals, the new amplifier could boost the speed and precision of quantum computing and communications systems.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 3:00 pm

Aspirin Does Not Prevent Heart Attacks In Patients With Diabetes, Study Suggests

Taking regular aspirin and antioxidant supplements does not prevent heart attacks even in high risk groups with diabetes and asymptomatic arterial disease, and aspirin should only be given to patients with established heart disease, stroke or limb arterial disease, according to a new study.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm

Steroids Aid Recovery From Pneumonia, Researchers Say

Adding corticosteroids to traditional antimicrobial therapy might help people with pneumonia recover more quickly than with antibiotics alone, scientists have found.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm

Bird Flu Vaccine Protects People And Pets

A single vaccine could be used to protect chickens, cats and humans against deadly flu pandemics, according to a new article published in the Journal of General Virology. The vaccine protects birds and mammals against different flu strains and can even be given to birds while they are still in their eggs, allowing the mass vaccination of wild birds.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 12:00 pm

Safe haven

Gorilla rangers' families flee as fighting intensifies
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:47 am

Satellite Business Booming in the Middle East and North Africa: Highly Competitive Region Has 13 Operators (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - The 13 commercial satellite-fleet operators active in the Middle East and North Africa showed a 73 percent fill rate on their 41 Ku-band satellites in mid-2008 when measured in booked megahertz compared to total megahertz of capacity, according to a mid-2008 survey of capacity taken from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, by the London Satellite Exchange (LSE) and Euroconsult. The satellites were spread over 31 orbital slots.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:31 am

Volcanoes May Be Original Womb of Life (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - Fifty years ago, a chemist named Stanley Miller conducted a famous experiment to investigate how life could have started on Earth.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:11 am

Strange Weather on Alien Planets Explained

A new model explains the exotic weather on distant "hot Jupiters."
Source: Livescience.com | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:09 am

Satellite Business Booming in the Middle East and North Africa: Highly Competitive Region Has 13 Operators

The survey confirms that the region is among the world's most dynamic.
Source: Livescience.com | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:08 am

Britain releases UFO files, dispels some mysteries (AP)

AP - Alitalia pilot Achille Zaghetti thought it was a missile.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:02 am

Volcanoes May Be Original Womb of Life

A second look at experiments done 50 years ago suggests volcanoes may have provided the sparks for the first life on Earth.
Source: Livescience.com | 20 Oct 2008 | 11:01 am

Probe studies solar system's edge

A Nasa spacecraft has been launched into orbit to study the edge of our Solar System.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Oct 2008 | 10:51 am

Doctors get death diagnosis tips

Doctors are being given tips to help them diagnose when someone is dead.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 20 Oct 2008 | 9:10 am

Exelon offers to buy NRG for 6.2 billion dollars (AFP)

AFP - US energy company Exelon has offered to buy its competitor, NRG Energy, for 6.2 billion dollars in a deal which would create a national energy giant worth about 60 billion dollars.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 7:43 am

Hong Kong finds bird flu virus in crow

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A house crow found dead in a crowded district in Hong Kong last week has tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus, a government spokeswoman said on Monday.

Source: Reuters: Science News | 20 Oct 2008 | 5:41 am

MacGyver Scientists Whip Up Two-Dollar Medical Centrifuge

Harvard University chemists have built a centrifuge with some plastic tubing, tape, and an egg beater.

It can separate plasma from blood cells, and could help doctors in remote villages perform simple lab tests.

The researchers described their invention in the current issue of Lab on a Chip, which has published useful hacks in the past. Last year, the same journal explained how to make microfluidic devices from Shrinky Dinks.

"Our advisor, Professor George Whitesides, has always been interested in unorthodox use of ordinary items," said Sergey Shevkoplyas, a co-author of the centrifuge paper.

The lead author of that report, Amy Wong, recently graduated and is now working for the X-Prize foundation, running a contest that will encourage scientists to develop a better test for tuberculosis.