Summaries | Headlines

New Study Sheds Light On 'Dark States' In DNA (January 10, 2007) -- Chemists at Ohio State University have probed an unusual high-energy state produced in single nucleotides -- the building blocks of DNA and RNA -- when they absorb ultraviolet (UV) light. This is ... > full story

Caffeine Cuts Post-workout Pain By Nearly 50 Percent, Study Finds (January 10, 2007) -- In a study to be published in the February issue of the Journal of Pain, a team of University of Georgia researchers finds that moderate doses of caffeine, roughly equivalent to two cups of coffee, ... > full story

Fires Fuel Mercury Emissions, University Of Michigan Study Finds (January 10, 2007) -- Forest fires release more mercury into the atmosphere than previously recognized, a multidisciplinary research project at the University of Michigan ... > full story

Prenatal Multivitamins For Undernourished Women May Reduce Risk Of Low Birth Weight (January 10, 2007) -- Undernourished women who take a vitamin and mineral supplement while pregnant may be less likely than women taking only iron and folic acid supplements to have babies weighing less than 2,500 grams, ... > full story

Sumatra Earthquake: New Data Overturn Common View That Great Earthquakes Only Occur In Fast, Young Subduction Zones (January 10, 2007) -- The 2004 earthquake is the focus of the January special issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA), in which scientists present research and analyses about the current state ... > full story

Social Workers May Indirectly Experience Post-traumatic Stress (January 10, 2007) -- A first of its kind study by a researcher in the University of Georgia School of Social Work finds that repeatedly hearing the stories of trauma victims doubles the risk of social workers themselves ... > full story

Earth's Strongest Winds Wouldn't Even Be A Breeze On These Planets (January 10, 2007) -- New measurements for three planets outside our solar system indicate their temperatures remain fairly constant -- and blazing hot -- from day to night, even though it is likely one side of each ... > full story

Researchers Identify Gene Associated With Severe Kidney Failure In Diabetes (January 10, 2007) -- A research team at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University of Heidelberg has proven that a gene protects some people with diabetes from developing severe kidney failure or ... > full story

Finding Patterns Of Importance In A Deluge Of Data (January 10, 2007) -- Two Dartmouth engineers think that PQS, or process query systems, are the way to go to make sense of the huge volume of data we collect each day from computer network monitors, video surveillance ... > full story

Dramatic Results From Combo Therapy For Rapid, Fatal Neurodegenerative Disorder (January 10, 2007) -- By all expectations, it shouldn't have worked as well as it did. A combination of bone marrow transplantation and gene therapy greatly lengthened the lives of laboratory mice doomed by a rapidly ... > full story

Astronomers Discover An Enormous Halo Of Red Giant Stars Around Andromeda (January 10, 2007) -- Astronomers have found an enormous halo of stars bound to the Andromeda galaxy and extending far beyond the swirling disk seen in images of the famous galaxy, our nearest large galactic neighbor. The ... > full story

Better Review Of New Technology Is Needed To Reduce Health Costs (January 10, 2007) -- Advances in medical technology are a main factor driving the trend of increasing health-care costs, and industry stakeholders agree that improved evaluation methods are needed to better measure the ... > full story

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Solstice -- The summer solstice is an astronomical term regarding the position of the sun in relation to the celestial equator. The summer solstice is the day of the year with the longest daylight period and ... > full article

Communication -- Communication is the process of exchanging information, usually via a common protocol. "Communication studies" is the academic discipline focused on communication forms, processes and meanings, ... > full article

Computing -- Originally, the word computing was synonymous with counting and calculating, and a science that deals with the original sense of computing mathematical ... > full article

Health science -- Health science is the discipline of applied science which deals with human and animal health. There are two parts to health science: the study, research, and knowledge of health and the application ... > full article

Apple -- The apple is a tree and its pomaceous fruit, of species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae, is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. It is a small deciduous tree reaching 5-12 m ... > full article

Brain -- In animals, the brain, or encephalon, is the control center of the central nervous system. In most animals, the brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory ... > full article

Star Trek -- Star Trek is an American science fiction franchise. In addition to six television programs including the original 1966 Star Trek, the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry is the ... > full article

Edwin Hubble -- Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 - September 28, 1953) was an American astronomer, noted for his discovery of galaxies beyond the Milky Way and the cosmological redshift. Edwin Hubble was one ... > full article

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder -- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (sometimes referred to as ADD for those without hyperactivity) is thought to be a neurological disorder, always present from childhood, which manifests ... > full article

Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006 -- The Eastern United States flooding of June 2006 is a significant flooding event in much of Mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States. The flooding was very widespread, affecting numerous ... > full article

Chemistry -- Chemistry is the science that deals with the properties of organic and inorganic substances and their interactions with other organic and inorganic substances. In the study of matter, chemistry also ... > full article

Encephalopathy -- Encephalopathy is a nonspecific term describing a syndrome affecting the brain. Generally, it refers to involvement of large parts of the brain (or the whole organ), instead of identifiable changes ... > full article

Limbic system -- The limbic system is the collective name for structures in the human brain involved in emotion, motivation, and emotional association with memory. It affects motivation and is more active in ... > full article

Human brain -- The human brain is the center of the central nervous system in humans as well as the primary control center for the peripheral nervous system. The brain controls "lower" or involuntary activities ... > full article

Amygdala -- The amygdala (Latin, corpus amygdaloideum) is an almond-shape set of neurons located deep in the brain's medial temporal lobe. Shown to play a key role in the processsing of emotions, the amygdala ... > full article

Hypothalamus -- In mammals, the hypothalamus is a region of the brain located below the thalamus, forming the major portion of the ventral region of the diencephalon and functioning to regulate certain metabolic ... > full article

Central nervous system -- The central nervous system (CNS) represents the largest part of the nervous system, including the brain and the spinal cord. Together with the peripheral nervous system, it has a fundamental role in ... > full article

Spinal cord -- The spinal cord is a part of the vertebrate nervous system that is enclosed in and protected by the vertebral column (it passes through the spinal canal). It consists of nerve cells. The cord conveys ... > full article

Motor neuron -- In vertebrates, motor neurons (also called motoneurons) are efferent neurons that originate in the spinal cord and synapse with muscle fibers to facilitate muscle contraction and with muscle spindles ... > full article

Sensory neuron -- Sensory neurons are nerve cells within the nervous system responsible for converting external stimuli from the organism's environment into internal electrical impulses. For example, some sensory ... > full article