EurekAlert! Public News List

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Biggest black hole blast discovered
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) have discovered a quasar with the most energetic outflow ever seen, at least five times more powerful than any that have been observed to date. Quasars are extremely bright galactic centers powered by supermassive black holes.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
Chemists invent powerful toolkit, accelerating creation of potential new drugs
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have invented a set of chemical tools that is radically simplifying the creation of potential new drug compounds.

National Institutes of Health, Pfizer

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

PLOS ONE
Morality-based judgments are quicker, more extreme than practical evaluations
Judgments made after a moral evaluation are quicker and more extreme than the same judgment based on practical considerations, but morality-based evaluations can be more easily shifted and made with other considerations in mind, according to research published Nov. 28 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jay Van Bavel and colleagues from New York University.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

PLOS ONE
More omnivore dilemmas: Seasonal diet changes can cause reproductive stress in primates
When seasonal changes affect food availability, omnivores like blue monkeys adapt by changing their diets, but such nutritional changes may impact female reproduction, according to research published Nov. 28 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Steffen Foerster from Barnard College, and colleagues from Columbia University and the Smithsonian Institution.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

PLOS ONE
Skeletons in cave reveal Mediterranean secrets
Skeletal remains in an island cave in Favignana, Italy, reveal that modern humans first settled in Sicily around the time of the last ice age and despite living on Mediterranean islands, ate little seafood. The research is published Nov. 28 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Marcello Mannino and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Neurology
Drug may offer new approach to treating insomnia
A new drug may bring help for people with insomnia, according to a study published in the Nov. 28, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Nature
Tiny algae shed light on photosynthesis as a dynamic property
Many of the world's most important photosynthetic eukaryotes such as plants got their light-harnessing organelles (chloroplasts) indirectly from other organisms through endosymbiosis. In some instances, this resulted in algae with multiple, distinct genomes, some in residual organelles (nucleomorphs). To better understand why nucleomorphs persist after endosymbiosis, an international team including researchers at the DOE Joint Genome Institute collaborated to sequence and analyze two tiny algae. Their report appeared online Nov. 29, 2012 in Nature.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Environmental Science and Technology
New study: Many flame retardants in house dust -- unsafe levels
In Silent Spring Institute's new peer-reviewed study of the largest number of flame retardants ever tested in homes, we found that most houses had levels of at least one flame retardant that exceeded a federal health guideline.

NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, New York Community Trust, Fine Fund, Art beCAUS

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Radiological Society of North America 98th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting
Most patients in the dark about what radiologists do
The role of radiologists in healthcare has long been poorly understood among the general public, but new research presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America shows that even patients who've had imaging exams in the past know little about the profession.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Radiological Society of North America 98th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting
Men with belly fat at risk for osteoporosis
Visceral, or deep belly, obesity is a risk factor for bone loss and decreased bone strength in men, according to a new study.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Radiological Society of North America 98th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting
High altitude climbers at risk for brain bleeds
New magnetic resonance imaging research shows that mountain climbers who experience a certain type of high altitude sickness have traces of bleeding in the brain years after the initial incident, according to a new study.

Public Release: 28-Nov-2012

Radiological Society of North America 98th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting
CT depicts racial differences in coronary artery disease
While obesity is considered a cardiovascular risk factor, a new study shows that African-American patients with coronary artery disease have much less fat around their hearts compared to Caucasian patients.

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
4 is the 'magic' number
According to psychological lore, when it comes to items of information the mind can cope with before confusion sets in, the "magic" number is seven. But a new analysis by a leading Australian professor of psychiatry challenges this long-held view, suggesting the number might actually be four.

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Nature Climate Change
Fish ear bones point to climate impacts
Scientists believe that fish ear bones and their distinctive growth rings can offer clues to the likely impacts of climate change in aquatic environments.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

2012 Quality Care Symposium
Research from ASCO'S Quality Care Symposium shows advances and challenges in improving the quality of cancer care
New studies released today reveal important advances in cancer care quality measurement, physician adherence to quality standards, and end-of-life care, while highlighting the overuse of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy. The studies were released in a presscast today in advance of ASCO's inaugural 2012 Quality Care Symposium. The Symposium will take place Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, 2012, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego.

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Cell Reports
NIH study suggests immune system could play a central role in AMD
Changes in how genes in the immune system function may result in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of visual impairment in older adults. The findings are epigenetic in nature, meaning that the underlying DNA is normal but gene expression has been modified, likely by environmental factors, in an adverse way. Environmental factors associated with AMD include smoking, diet, and aging. This is the first epigenetic study revealing the molecular mechanisms for any eye disease.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012
NASA sees Tropical Storm Bopha intensifying in Micronesia
Tropical storm warnings are in effect in Micronesia as NASA and other satellite imagery indicates that Tropical Storm Bopha continues to intensify.

NASA

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012
Fast forward to the past: NASA technologists test 'game-changing' data-processing technology
It's a digital world. Or is it? NASA technologist Jonathan Pellish isn't convinced. In fact, he believes a computing technology of yesteryear could potentially revolutionize everything from autonomous rendezvous and docking to remotely correcting wavefront errors on large, deployable space telescope mirrors like those to fly on the James Webb Space Telescope.

NASA

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Journal of Hydrometeorology
NASA's TRMM satellite confirms 2010 landslides
A NASA study using TRMM satellite data revealed that the year 2010 was a particularly bad year for landslides around the world.

NASA

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Geological Society of America Bulletin
GSA Bulletin: From Titan to Tibet
GSA Bulletin articles posted online between Oct. 2 and Nov. 21 span locations such as the San Andreas fault, California; Tibet; Mongolia; Maine; the Owyhee River, Oregon; the Afar Rift, Ethiopia; Wyoming; Argentina; the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt; British Columbia; the southern Rocky Mountains; Scandinavia; and Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Topics include the "big crisis" in the history of life on Earth; the structural geology of Mount St. Helens; and the evolution of a piggyback basin.

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Public Health Nutrition
How vegetables make the meal
Adding vegetables to a meal can make you a better cook and a better person. A new Cornell University study published in Public Health Nutrition, found that adding vegetables to the dinner led to more positive evaluations of both the main entree and the cook. Given that vegetables are served with only 23 percent of meals, these results could provide added motivation for parents to serve vegetables with dinner.

Pinnacle Food -- Birds Eye

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Journal of the American College of Cardiology
'Fountain of youth' technique rejuvenates aging stem cells
A new method of growing cardiac tissue is teaching old stem cells new tricks. The discovery, which transforms aged stem cells into cells that function like much younger ones, may one day enable scientists to grow cardiac patches for damaged or diseased hearts from a patient's own stem cells -- no matter what age the patient -- while avoiding the threat of rejection.

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Princeton research: Embracing data 'noise' brings Greenland's complex ice melt into focus
Princeton University researchers developed an enhanced approach to capturing changes on the Earth's surface via satellite could provide a more accurate account of how geographic areas are changing as a result of natural and human factors. In a first application, the technique revealed sharper-than-ever details about Greenland's massive ice sheet, including that the rate at which it is melting might be accelerating more slowly than predicted.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Advanced Energy Materials
New thermoelectric material could be an energy saver
By using common materials found pretty much anywhere there is dirt, a team of Michigan State University researchers have developed a new thermoelectric material.

Public Release: 27-Nov-2012

Blood
Scripps Research Institute study points to potential new therapies for cancer and other diseases
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute are fueling the future of cancer treatment by improving a powerful tool in disease defense: the body's immune system. By revealing a novel but widespread cell signaling process, the scientists may have found a way to manipulate an important component of the immune system into more effectively fighting disease.

National Institutes of Health, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft


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