Science Headlines for July 12, 2009

Monkeys And Humans Use Parallel Mechanism To Recognize Faces

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time rhesus monkeys and humans share a specific perceptual mechanism, configural perception, for discriminating among the numerous faces they encounter daily. The study provides insight into the evolution of the critical human social skill of facial recognition, which enables us to form relationships and interact appropriately with others. This study with rhesus monkeys suggests the human ability to distinguish faces is 30+ million years old.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Sound Imaging: Clever Acoustics Help Blind People See The World

Video from portable cameras is analyzed to calculate the distance of obstacles and predict the movements of people and cars. This information is then transformed and relayed to a blind person as a three-dimensional ‘picture’ of sound.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Wrong Dose Of Heart Meds Too Frequent In Children

Infants and young children treated with heart drugs get the wrong dose or end up on the wrong end of medication errors more often than older children, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Seals Quickly Respond To Gain And Loss Of Habitat Under Climate Change

Southern elephant seals responded rapidly to climate and habitat change and established a new breeding site thousands of kilometers from existing breeding grounds, according to new research. Scientists found that when the Antarctic ice sheets of the Ross Sea Embayment retreated in the Holocene period 8,000 years ago, elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, adopted the emergent habitat and established a new population which flourished.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Diets Bad For The Teeth Are Also Bad For The Body

Dental disease reveals very early on that eating habits are putting a person at risk for systemic disease. Because chronic medical disease takes decades to become severe enough to be detected in screening tests, dental diseases may provide plenty of lead-time to change harmful eating habits and thereby decrease the risk of developing the other diseases of civilization.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Scientists Rule Out Link Between Specific Antibodies, Such As Folic Acid related Auto-antibodies, And Spina Bifida

New research shows that a woman's risk of having a child with a neural tube defect, such as spina bifida, is not linked to folic acid related auto-antibodies.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 9:00 pm

Novel Genetic Finding Offers New Avenue For Future Crohn's Disease Treatment

Researchers have identified a novel link between ITCH, a gene known to regulate inflammation in the body and NOD2, a gene which causes the majority of genetic Crohn's Disease diagnoses. ITCH, when malfunctioning, causes widespread inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, gastritis, uncontrolled skin inflammation, and pulmonary pneumonitis. Researchers found that ITCH also influences NOD2-induced inflammation.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

Structural Biology Scores With Protein Snapshot

Investigators have used nuclear magnetic resonance methods to determine the structure of the largest membrane-spanning protein to date. The group's ability to determine the NMR structure of the bacterial protein diacylglycerol kinase, reported in the journal Science, suggests that similar methods can now be used to study the structures of other membrane proteins.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

One-finger Exercise Reveals Unexpected Limits To Dexterity

"Push your finger as hard as you can against the surface. Now as hard as you can but move it slowly -- follow the ticking clock. Now faster. Now faster." These were the commands for volunteers in a simple experiment that casts doubt on old ideas about mechanisms to control hand muscles. Complete understanding of the result may help explain why manual dexterity is so vulnerable to aging and disease, and even help design more versatile robotic graspers.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

Elevated Insulin Linked To Increased Breast Cancer Risk

Elevated insulin levels in the blood appear to raise the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women, according to new research.
Source: ScienceDaily: Latest Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 3:00 pm

'Cashback' pledge for green power

People that contribute electricity to the National Grid are to receive payments under a new UK government scheme.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Jul 2009 | 2:14 pm

Swearing Makes Pain More Tolerable (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - That muttered curse word that reflexively comes out when you stub your toe could actually make it easier to bear the throbbing pain, a new study suggests.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 2:10 pm

Swearing Makes Pain More Tolerable

Swearing during a painful experience may increase a person's tolerance to that pain.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Jul 2009 | 2:05 pm

Wallets with Baby Photos Returned More Often

Researchers left 240 wallets around Edinburgh, Scotland, to see how many would be returned.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Jul 2009 | 2:02 pm

Should Humans Meddle with Nature?

Some say we're part of nature, so what we do to nature is natural.
Source: Livescience.com | 12 Jul 2009 | 1:59 pm

After day delay, NASA fuels Endeavour for launch (AP)

AP - NASA has begun fueling space shuttle Endeavour after delaying its scheduled launch for a day because lightning struck 11 times near the pad.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 1:55 pm

No lightning damage to space shuttle: NASA (AFP)

AFP - Experts have discovered no damage to the space shuttle Endeavour or its electrical systems after, a lightning storm postponed the launch to Sunday, NASA said.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 1:39 pm

Shuttle Endeavour "Go" For Launch Today (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Endeavour is "Go" to launch today, NASA said, after ground crews found no signs of damage from a lightning strike on Friday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 1:16 pm

Lightning delays shuttle launch

The launch of space shuttle Endeavour is put back by 24 hours after lightning strikes near the Cape Canaveral launch pad.
Source: BBC News | Science & Environment | UK Edition | 12 Jul 2009 | 10:20 am

S. Korea analyzes computers used in cyberattacks (AP)

AP - South Korean police are analyzing a sample of the tens of thousands of infected computers used to crash Web sites in South Korea and the U.S., but conceded Sunday they may not lead to the culprit.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 10:09 am

The Nation's weather (AP)

AP - The most active weather events were expected to develop across the Eastern and Central U.S. on Sunday due to fronts associated with a storm system over southeastern Canada.
Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 9:10 am

Space companies eye HI as potential new frontier (AP)

AP - Tourists coming to Hawaii for high-end getaways could someday be launched from the sand to the stars, taking island-hopping to new heights.

Source: Yahoo! News: Science News | 12 Jul 2009 | 8:31 am

Searchers shovel Northwest dirt seeking giant worm (AP)

AP - The giant Palouse earthworm has taken on mythic qualities in this vast agricultural region that stretches from eastern Washington into the Idaho panhandle its very name evoking the fictional sandworms from "Dune" or those vicious creatures from the movie "Tremors."