EurekAlert! Public News List

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

European Physical Journal B
Studying the emotions which cause opinions to change
Social phenomena fascinate with their complexity, but are not easily understood. Pawel Sobkowicz, an independent researcher based in Warsaw, Poland, has developed a model to study the dynamics of normal people, called 'agents', and their response to a given piece of information, depending on their emotional state. In a study about to be published in EPJ B, the author shows that opinion dynamics differ depending on whether the agent is agitated or not.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Progress in using ethanol to make key raw material now produced from oil
Ethanol from corn and other plants could become the sustainable, raw material for a huge variety of products, from plastic packaging to detergents to synthetic rubber, that are currently petroleum-based. This was the conclusion of an article published in the ACS journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Journal of Adolescent Health
Sensitive parenting can boost premature children's school performance
Sensitive parenting helps protect against the negative effects of being born prematurely on children's school success, a new study has found.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

ACS Macro Letters
Insect-inspired super rubber moves toward practical uses in medicine
The remarkable, rubber-like protein that enables dragonflies, grasshoppers and other insects to flap their wings, jump and chirp has major potential uses in medicine, scientists conclude in an article in the journal ACS Macro Letters. It evaluates the latest advances toward using a protein called resilin in nanosprings, biorubbers, biosensors and other applications.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Journal of Neuroscience
Scientists at Mainz University decode mechanisms of cell orientation in the brain
When the central nervous system is injured, oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC) migrate to the lesion and synthesize new myelin sheaths on demyelinated axons. Scientists at the Institute of Molecular Cell Biology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have now discovered that a distinct protein regulates the direction and movement of OPC toward the wound.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Nature
The naked mole-rat's secret to staying cancer free
A team of researchers from the University of Rochester (NY) and the University of Haifa discovered the naked mole rat's unique mechanism to staying cancer free- a super sugar called high-molecular-mass Hyaluronan (HMM-HA). When secreted by the naked mole rat's cells, this molecule prevents cells from overcrowding and forming tumors. Researchers now say using naked mole-rat HMM-HA in the clinic could open up new avenues for cancer prevention and life extension in humans.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Another scientific proof of the difference in social perception between men and women
The "Love Hormone" Oxytocin, improves men's ability to identify competitive relationships whereas in women it facilitates the ability to identify kinship, according to a recent study. "These findings coincide with the theory that claims the social-behavioral differences between men and women are caused by a combination of cultural as well as biological factors", concluded Prof. Simone Shamay-Tsoory who led the research.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Guided growth of nanowires leads to self-integrated circuits
Teaching nanowires self-control from the outset enabled Weizmann Institute scientists to produce complex electronic nanocomponents.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

PLOS ONE
Male Holocaust survivors have a longer life-expectancy
According to a recent study conducted at the University of Haifa and Leiden University that examined over 55-thousand Polish Jews who immigrated to Israel before and after World War II. "These results give us hope and teach us of the strength and resilience of the human spirit", said Prof. Avi Sagi-Schwartz, who led the research

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Nature
New protein discovered with vast potential for treatment of cancer and other diseases
In cancer research, discovering a new protein that plays a role in cancer is like finding a key and a treasure map: follow the clues and eventually there could be a big reward. At least that's the hope from a new study published in the journal Nature that discovered a novel protein called ceramide-1 phosphate transport protein.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, Veterans Administration

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Black Hat USA 2013
Georgia Tech uncovers iOS security weaknesses
Researchers from the Georgia Tech Information Security Center have discovered two security weaknesses that permit installation of malware onto Apple mobile devices using seemingly innocuous applications and peripherals, uncovering significant security threats to the iOS platform.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

eLife
3-D molecular syringes
Abdominal pain, fever, diarrhea -- these symptoms could point to an infection with the bacterium Yersinia. Its pathogenic potential is based on a syringe-like injection apparatus called injectisome. An international team of researchers including scientists at the HZI in Braunschweig, Germany, has now unraveled this molecular syringe's spatial conformation. The researchers demonstrated that the length of Yersinia's injectisome's basal body, which crosses the bacterial cell wall, is adjustable -- very likely an adaptation to physical stress.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Stem Cells
Computational biology: Cells reprogrammed on the computer
Scientists at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine of the University of Luxembourg have developed a model that makes predictions from which differentiated cells -- for instance skin cells -- can be very efficiently changed into completely different cell types -- such as nerve cells, for example. This can be done entirely without stem cells. These computer-based instructions for reprogramming cells are of huge significance for regenerative medicine. The LCSB researchers present their results today in the prestigious scientific journal "Stem Cells".

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Microfluidic breakthrough in biotechnology
Chemical flasks and inconvenient chemostats for cultivation of bacteria are likely soon to be discarded. Researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw were first to construct a microfluidic system allowing for merging, transporting and splitting of microdroplets. Since now, hundreds of different bacteria cultures can be maintained simultaneously in a single system, which could speed up the research on restistance of bacteria to antibiotics.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Nature
The flexible tail of the prion protein poisons brain cells
For decades, there has been no answer to the question of why the altered prion protein is poisonous to brain cells. Neuropathologists from the University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich have now shown that it is the flexible tail of the prion protein that triggers cell death. These findings have far-reaching consequences: only those antibodies that target the tail of the prion protein are suitable as potential drugs for combating prion diseases.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Nano Letters
Chemists develop innovative nano-sensors for multiple proteins
Chemists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have developed a new method for parallel protein analysis that is, in principle, capable of identifying hundreds or even thousands of different proteins. It could be used to detect the presence of viruses and identify their type in tiny samples. At the same time, it is very cost-effective and quick.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Nature Communications
Gene decoding obeys road traffic rules
Weizmann scientists show that a proper distance between "vehicles" along a gene "track" results in more efficient production of small RNA molecules.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

The Plant Cell
The pathway to potato poisons
Weizmann Institute scientists reveal the gene network for producing the toxin in green potatoes, which may help improve crops.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem service mapping and modelling -- new special issue shows big steps forward
Big steps forward toward practical application of the ecosystem services concept in science, policy and practice have been made recently and are presented in the new Special Issue "Mapping and Modelling Ecosystem Services" in the journal "Ecosystem Services". Modelling and mapping approaches aim at understanding stocks, demands and flows of ecosystem services on different spatial and temporal scales.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Brain
Words and actions
Words and gestures are -- partially -- connected inside the brain. It is the result of a study carried out also by, among others, the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste, which sheds light on a debate that has been engaging the scientific community for many years: is cognition "incorporated" (that is, depends on our body) or not? According to Raffaella Rumiati and her team the answer is yes, it is, but only under certain circumstances.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

ZooKeys
Hide, ambush, kill, eat: The giant water bug Lethocerus patruelis kills a fish
The largest European water insect Lethocerus patruelis, commonly known as giant water bug, can reach the impressive size of up to 8 cm in length. A recent study, published in the open access journal Zookeys, provides detailed information on karyotype and the reproductive system of the species. The study also presents a rare opportunity to see their vicious predatory practices, catching a giant water bug larva attacking and killing a small fish on video.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
1 size doesn't fit all
One size chart doesn't fit all when it comes to evaluating birth weight and health outcomes of newborns.

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Lithosphere
August 2013 Lithosphere concentrates on China, the Himalaya, India, and North America
The complete August 2013 issue of Lithosphere is now available online. Papers covering the lithosphere of China and Tibet dominate the issue, with articles on the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and the Idaho, USA, Snake River plain as well. The issue also features an article on diamond prospecting in India, a numerical modeling study, and an open access research focus article that asks, "Is it possible to predict the past?"

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Cleaning solar panels often not worth the cost, engineers at UC San Diego find
Don't hire someone to wash your dirty solar panels. That's the conclusion of a study recently conducted by a team of engineers at the University of California, San Diego. Their findings were published in the July 25 online issue of Solar Energy. Researchers found panels that hadn't been cleaned, or rained on, for 145 days during a summer drought in California, lost only 7.4 percent of their efficiency.

California Public Utilities Commission Research, Development and Demonstration, California Solar Initiative

Public Release: 31-Jul-2013

The Sociological Quarterly
Southerners are less trusting, but trust is a factor in environmental cooperation, study shows
Southerners are generally not as trusting as people who live in other parts of the country, but trusting people are more likely to cooperate in recycling, buying green products and conserving water, a new Baylor University study shows.


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