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News | Archive (11 March 2011)
Surgery without external scars is gaining traction
— 16:16 GMT | HealthWhen Patricia Manrique was told she needed her gallbladder removed she immediately thought about the classroom full of children who rely on her to teach them tap and ballet each day. The Chicago Park District physical instructor needed a way to get the surgery performed without being laid up for weeks so she opted for an innovative minimally invasive procedure called Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) that would allow surgeons to perform organ removal surgery without any visible incisions and have her back on her feet the same day. Northwestern Medicine physicians were among the first in the U.S. to perform several types of the procedure and are leading the charge in organ removal through the mouth or vagina…
Insights from oil spill air pollution study have applications beyond Gulf
— 16:13 GMT | EnvironmentDuring a special airborne mission to study the air-quality impacts of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill last June, NOAA researchers discovered an important new mechanism by which air pollution particles form. Although predicted four years ago, this discovery now confirms the importance of this pollution mechanism and could change the way urban air quality is understood and predicted…
Speed demon creates a shock
— 16:10 GMT | AstronomyJust as some drivers obey the speed limit while others treat every road as if it were the Autobahn, some stars move through space faster than others. NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, captured this image of the star Alpha Camelopardalis, or Alpha Cam, in astronomer-speak, speeding through the sky like a motorcyclist zipping through rush-hour traffic. The supergiant star Alpha Cam is the bright star in the middle of this image, surrounded on one side by an arc-shaped cloud of dust and gas - a bow shock - which is coloured red in this infrared view…
Grab the leash: Dog walkers more likely to reach exercise benchmarks
— 16:07 GMT | HealthMan's best friend may provide more than just faithful companionship: A new study led by a Michigan State University researcher shows people who owned and walked their dogs were 34 percent more likely to meet federal benchmarks on physical activity…
A glove on your hand can change your mind
— 16:04 GMT | HealthUnconsciously, right-handers associate good with the right side of space and bad with the left. But this association can be rapidly changed, according to a study published online March 9, 2011 in Psychological Science, by Daniel Casasanto (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics) and Evangelia Chrysikou (University of Pennsylvania). Even a few minutes of using the left hand more fluently than the right can reverse right-handers' judgements of good and bad, making them think that the left is the 'right side' of space. Conceptions of good and bad are rooted in people's bodily experiences, and change when patterns of bodily experience change…
Johns Hopkins scientists reveal role of light sensor in temperature sensation
— 16:01 GMT | BiologyA light-sensing receptor that's packed inside the eye's photoreceptor cells has an altogether surprising role in cells elsewhere in the body, Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered. Using fruit flies, they showed that this protein, called rhodopsin, also is critical for sensing temperature…
Ageing rates, gender gap in mortality similar across all primates
— 15:58 GMT | BiologyHumans aren't the only ones who grow old gracefully, says a new study of primate ageing patterns…
New method could improve economics of sweetening natural gas
— 15:55 GMT | ChemistryNatural gas extracted from the nation's coal beds and methane-rich geologic features must first be purged of hydrogen sulphide before it can be used as fuel. Until now, processing methods have often proved to be inefficient, requiring large amounts of heat…
New study reveals aerosol plumes downwind of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
— 15:52 GMT | EnvironmentScientists from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science were part of a national research team to find two plumes of oil-based pollutants downwind of the BP Deep Water Horizon oil spill. In a study published in this week's issue of the journal Science, the research team offers new insight into the mechanism by which the crude oil travelled from the sea surface to the atmosphere…
New gene sites affecting nonalcoholic fatty liver disease discovered
— 15:49 GMT | HealthNAFLD is a condition where fat accumulates in the liver (steatosis) and can lead to liver inflammation (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH) and permanent liver damage (fibrosis/cirrhosis). NAFLD affects anywhere from 11% to 45% of some populations and is associated with obesity, hypertension, and problems regulating serum lipids or glucose…
Biologists discover gene behind 'plant sex mystery'
A claret-coloured cloud with a massive heart