ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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• Math anxiety factors into understanding genetically modified food messages
• 'Oddball science' has proven worth, biologists say
• Battery-free technology brings gesture recognition to all devices
• Computer game characters become more human-like by gossiping and lying
• The pain of social exclusion: Physical pain brain circuits activated by 'social pain'
• Closest, brightest supernova in decades is also a little weird
• Altruistic suicide in organisms helps relatives by providing nutrients to kin
• Impact on mummy skull suggests murder
• Cows are smarter when raised in pairs: Evidence practice of housing calves alone linked to learning difficulties
• Still-fresh remnants of Exxon Valdez oil 25 years after oil spill, found protected by boulders
• Research maze puts images on floor, where rodents look
• Fewer laboratory animals needed for drug development thanks to fish scales

Math anxiety factors into understanding genetically modified food messages Posted: 27 Feb 2014 09:55 AM PST People who feel intimidated by math may be less able to understand messages about genetically modified foods and other health-related information, according to researchers.

'Oddball science' has proven worth, biologists say Posted: 27 Feb 2014 09:55 AM PST Scoffing at or cutting funds for basic biological research on unusual animal adaptations from Gila monster venom to snail sex, though politically appealing to some, is short-sighted and only makes it more likely that important economic and social benefits will be missed in the long run, say a group of evolutionary biologists.

Battery-free technology brings gesture recognition to all devices Posted: 27 Feb 2014 09:52 AM PST Computer scientists have built a low-cost gesture recognition system that runs without batteries and lets users control their electronic devices hidden from sight with simple hand movements. The prototype, called "AllSee," uses existing TV signals as both a power source and the means for detecting a user's gesture command.

Computer game characters become more human-like by gossiping and lying Posted: 27 Feb 2014 08:52 AM PST Imagine socially intelligent computer game characters with a natural dialogue, human-like in their ways of relating to others, who gossip, manipulate and have their own agendas. New research can make all of this possible.

The pain of social exclusion: Physical pain brain circuits activated by 'social pain' Posted: 27 Feb 2014 07:11 AM PST "Social" pain hurts physically, even when we see it in others. The distress caused by social stimuli (e.g., losing a friend, experiencing an injustice or more in general when a social bond is threatened) activates brain circuits related to physical pain: as observed in a new study. This also applies when we experience this type of pain vicariously as an empathic response (when we see somebody else experiencing it).

Closest, brightest supernova in decades is also a little weird Posted: 27 Feb 2014 06:24 AM PST The closest and brightest supernova in decades, SN 2014J, brightens faster than expected for Type Ia supernovae, the exploding stars used to measure cosmic distances, according to astronomers. Another recent supernova also brightened faster than expected, suggesting that there is unsuspected new physics going on inside these exploding stars. The finding may also help physicists improve their use of these supernovae to measure cosmic distance.

Altruistic suicide in organisms helps relatives by providing nutrients to kin Posted: 27 Feb 2014 06:14 AM PST The question of why an individual would actively kill itself has been an evolutionary mystery. Death could hardly provide a fitness advantage to the dying individual. However, a new study has found that in single-celled algae, suicide benefits the organism's relatives. Researchers have known that when an organism commits suicide by digesting up its own body, it releases nutrients into the environment that can be used by other organisms. Now they've proven that these nutrients can only be used by relatives. In fact, the nutrients inhibit the growth of non-relatives, so not only does suicide benefit relatives, it can also harm competitors.

Impact on mummy skull suggests murder Posted: 26 Feb 2014 02:45 PM PST Blunt force trauma to the skull of a mummy with signs of Chagas disease may support homicide as cause of death, which is similar to previously described South American mummies. Radiocarbon dated to around 1450 -- 1640 AD, skeletal examination indicated that the mummy was likely 20-25 years old at the time of her death, and her skull exhibits typical Incan-type skull formations.

Cows are smarter when raised in pairs: Evidence practice of housing calves alone linked to learning difficulties Posted: 26 Feb 2014 02:45 PM PST Cows learn better when housed together, which may help them adjust faster to complex new feeding and milking technologies on the modern farm, a new study finds. Dairy calves become better at learning when a "buddy system" is in place. The study also provides the first evidence that the standard practice of individually housing calves is associated with certain learning difficulties.

Still-fresh remnants of Exxon Valdez oil 25 years after oil spill, found protected by boulders Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:56 PM PST Twenty-five years after the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, beaches on the Alaska Peninsula hundreds of kilometers from the incident still harbor small hidden pockets of surprisingly unchanged oil, according to new research.

Research maze puts images on floor, where rodents look Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:56 PM PST Visual acuity is sharpest for rats and mice when the animals are looking down. Researchers have found that rodents can learn tasks in a fourth to a sixth of the usual number of repetitions when visual stimuli are projected onto the floor of the maze rather than onto the walls. The maze in this study is part real and part virtual. There are actual walls -- often in the shape of a giant piece of farfalle -- but researchers can project any imagery they want onto the floor from below. The use of digital projections makes the maze versatile, but using the floor for projections makes it particularly well-designed for rodent subjects.

Fewer laboratory animals needed for drug development thanks to fish scales Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:19 AM PST The scales of the zebrafish are very suitable for identifying potential new drugs for treating bone diseases. This is good news because it means fewer mice and rats will be needed for that work. What's more, zebrafish are not killed when the scales are removed; they simply grow back.

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• Water filter from the sapwood in pine tree branches
• Photopharmacology: Optoswitches turn pain off and sight on
• Can a simple handshake predict cancer survival rates?
• Moths trapped with plant-produced sex pheromone
• Language of love: Matching conjunctions, pronouns could spell a match better than good looks and fast cars
• Offshore wind farms could tame hurricanes before they reach land
• Did five years of drought lead to two years of revolution in Syria?
• 'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough
• 'Team of rivals' approach works for sparrows defending territories
• Increasing brain acidity may reduce anxiety
• Phantom limb pain relieved when amputated arm is put back to work
• New approach to chip design could yield light speed computing
• Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead
• Does solitary confinement fuel more crime? Study says no
• Reciprocity and parrots: Griffin the grey parrot appears to understand benefits of sharing, study suggests
• First contagious airborne WiFi virus discovered
• How did the universe begin? Hot Big Bang or slow thaw?
• Ventriloquist delight: Scientists twist sound with metamaterials so sound appears to come from somewhere else
• System that automatically fills gaps in computer programmers' code gains power
• Using stolen computer processing cycles to mine Bitcoin
• Carbon dating uncovers forged Cubist painting
• Ceausescu's flying bears: Molecular genetics provides evidence for an unusual dispersal mode in European brown bears
• As hubs for bees, pollinators, flowers may be crucial in disease transmission
• Lightning harnessed to protect power grid components

Water filter from the sapwood in pine tree branches Posted: 26 Feb 2014 02:45 PM PST If you've run out of drinking water during a lakeside camping trip, there's a simple solution: Break off a branch from the nearest pine tree, peel away the bark, and slowly pour lake water through the stick. The improvised filter should trap any bacteria, producing fresh, uncontaminated water. In fact, scientists have discovered that this low-tech filtration system can produce up to four liters of drinking water a day -- enough to quench the thirst of a typical person. The researchers demonstrate that a small piece of sapwood can filter out more than 99 percent of the bacteria E. coli from water.

Photopharmacology: Optoswitches turn pain off and sight on Posted: 26 Feb 2014 10:28 AM PST Photoreactive compounds developed by scientists directly modulate nerve-cell function, and open new routes to the treatment of neurological diseases, including chronic pain and certain types of visual impairment. All modes of sensory perception are based on communication between nerve cells. Both the response to the primary stimulus and the transmission of the resulting signal depend on the function of specialized receptor proteins that are associated with the surface membranes of neurons. Many sensory neurons respond only to a single sensory modality, such as mechanical stimulation or temperature. However, researchers have developed a method which, in principle, enables all types of neuroreceptors to be controlled by light.

Can a simple handshake predict cancer survival rates? Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:53 AM PST New acquaintances are often judged by their handshake. Research has now recognized the simple squeeze as an important diagnostic tool in assessing strength and quality of life among critical care patients. The test was simple: 203 patients fighting advanced-stage cancers squeezed a device known as a dynamometer with their dominant hand. The instrument then measured peak grip strength and information gleaned from that could predict, to some degree, survival rates among cancer patients.

Moths trapped with plant-produced sex pheromone Posted: 26 Feb 2014 09:52 AM PST By engineering plants that emitted sex pheromones that mimic those naturally produced by two species of moths, researchers have demonstrated that an effective, environmentally friendly, plant-based method of insect control is possible. While a proof-of-concept experiment, engineering plants to be insect pheromone-producing factories creates an environmentally friendly alternative to pesticides as well as an easier and less expensive method of synthesizing insect pheromones

Language of love: Matching conjunctions, pronouns could spell a match better than good looks and fast cars Posted: 26 Feb 2014 08:06 AM PST People who use the same kinds of function words are more likely to find a match, a researcher suggests. After analyzing speed dating results, researchers discovered a positive correlation of function-word similarity with speed-daters' odds of going on a second date and long-term couples' odds of still being together three months after the study. Language similarity became an even better predictor of relationship stability when compared to other related variables, such as the perceived similarity with one's date, perceived relationship quality, and how many words people spoke to each other during each conversation.

Offshore wind farms could tame hurricanes before they reach land Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:50 AM PST Computer simulations have shown that offshore wind farms with thousands of wind turbines could have sapped the power of three real-life hurricanes, significantly decreasing their winds and accompanying storm surge, and possibly preventing billions of dollars in damages. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, the computer model revealed that an array of 78,000 wind turbines off the coast of New Orleans would have significantly weakened the hurricane well before it made landfall.

Did five years of drought lead to two years of revolution in Syria? Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST Negotiators in Geneva might not have brought the conflict in Syria to an end last week, but new research explains how the 2006–10 drought contributed to its start.

'Super-Earths' may be dead worlds: Being in habitable zone is not enough Posted: 26 Feb 2014 04:49 AM PST In the last 20 years the search for Earth-like planets around other stars has accelerated, with the launch of missions like the Kepler space telescope. Using these and observatories on the ground, astronomers have found numerous worlds that at first sight have similarities with the Earth. A few of these are even in the 'habitable zone' where the temperature is just right for water to be in liquid form and so are prime targets in the search for life elsewhere in the universe. New results suggest that for some of the recently discovered super-Earths, such as Kepler-62e and -62f, being in the habitable zone is not enough to make them habitats.

'Team of rivals' approach works for sparrows defending territories Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:34 PM PST A new study of territorial songs used by chipping sparrows to defend their turf reveals that males sometimes will form a "dear enemy" alliance with a weaker neighbor to prevent a stronger rival from moving in. For the first time findings demonstrate the birds' use of a stereotyped, specialized signal, in this case chipping sparrow trills, to establish brief periods of cooperation among neighbor birds who are otherwise rivals.

Increasing brain acidity may reduce anxiety Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:32 PM PST Increasing acidity in the brain's emotional control center reduces anxiety, according to an animal study. Anxiety disorders, which are characterized by an inability to control feelings of fear and uncertainty, are the most prevalent group of psychiatric diseases. At the cellular level, these disorders are associated with heightened activity in the basolateral amygdala (BLA), which is known to play a central role in emotional behavior. Many cells in the BLA possess acid-sensing ion channels called ASIC1a, which respond to pH changes in the environment outside of the cell. Researchers have found that activating ASIC1a decreased the activity of nearby cells and reduced anxiety-like behavior in animals

Phantom limb pain relieved when amputated arm is put back to work Posted: 25 Feb 2014 01:26 PM PST A new method for the treatment of phantom limb pain after an amputation has been developed. The method is based on a unique combination of several technologies, and has been initially tested on a patient who has suffered from severe phantom limb pain for 48 years. A case study shows a drastic reduction of pain. The new method uses muscle signals from the patient's arm stump to drive a system known as augmented reality. The electrical signals in the muscles are sensed by electrodes on the skin. The signals are then translated into arm movements by complex algorithms. The patients can see themselves on a screen with a superimposed virtual arm, which is controlled using their own neural command in real time.

New approach to chip design could yield light speed computing Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:45 AM PST Researchers are the first to create a device that integrates both optical and electronic signals to perform the most elementary computational operations that could inform 'light speed' computing.

Bullying black holes force galaxies to stay red and dead Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:43 AM PST Astronomers have discovered massive elliptical galaxies in the nearby Universe containing plenty of cold gas, even though the galaxies fail to produce new stars. Comparison with other data suggests that, while hot gas cools down in these galaxies, stars do not form because jets from the central supermassive black hole heat or stir up the gas and prevent it from turning into stars. Giant elliptical galaxies are the most puzzling type of galaxy in the Universe.

Does solitary confinement fuel more crime? Study says no Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:25 AM PST Solitary confinement does not make supermax prison inmates more likely to re-offend once they're released, finds a study on the controversial penitentiaries. The study -- one of the first to examine recidivism rates among supermax inmates -- refute critics' claims that serving extended time in isolation leads to more crime. Super-maximum security units, known as supermax units or prisons within prisons, are designed to house problematic inmates by keeping them isolated for as long as 23 hours a day.

Reciprocity and parrots: Griffin the grey parrot appears to understand benefits of sharing, study suggests Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:23 AM PST A study into whether grey parrots understand the notion of sharing suggests that they can learn the benefits of reciprocity. The research involved a grey parrot called Griffin, who consistently favoured the option of 'sharing' with two different human partners.

First contagious airborne WiFi virus discovered Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:29 AM PST Researchers have shown for the first time that WiFi networks can be infected with a virus that can move through densely populated areas as efficiently as the common cold spreads between humans.

How did the universe begin? Hot Big Bang or slow thaw? Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:19 AM PST Did the universe begin with a hot Big Bang or did it slowly thaw from an extremely cold and almost static state? A physicist has developed a theoretical model that complements the nearly 100-year-old conventional model of cosmic expansion. According to the new theory, the Big Bang did not occur 13.8 billion years ago -- instead, the birth of the universe stretched into the infinite past. This view holds that the masses of all particles constantly increase. The scientist explains that instead of expanding, the universe is shrinking over extended periods of time.

Ventriloquist delight: Scientists twist sound with metamaterials so sound appears to come from somewhere else Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:18 AM PST A Chinese-U.S. research team is exploring the use of metamaterials -- artificial materials engineered to have exotic properties not found in nature -- to create devices that manipulate sound in versatile and unprecedented ways. They now report a simple design for a device, called an acoustic field rotator, which can twist wave fronts inside it so that they appear to be propagating from another direction.

System that automatically fills gaps in computer programmers' code gains power Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:16 AM PST A system that automatically fills in the gaps in programmers' code becomes more powerful. A recent programming language called Sketch allows programmers to simply omit some of the computational details of their code. Sketch then automatically fills in the gaps.

Using stolen computer processing cycles to mine Bitcoin Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:15 AM PST Computer scientists have taken an unprecedented, in-depth look at how malware operators use the computers they infect to mine Bitcoin, a virtual currency whose value is highly volatile. Researchers examined more than 2,000 pieces of malware used by Bitcoin mining operations in 2012 and 2013. They were able to estimate how much money operators made off their operations and which countries were most affected.

Carbon dating uncovers forged Cubist painting Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:11 AM PST Physicists have used carbon dating to confirm that an alleged Fernand Léger painting was definitely a fake. This is the first time it has been possible to identify a fake painting by relying on the anomalous behavior of the concentration of the radioactive form of carbon (14C) in the atmosphere after 1955 to date the canvas.

Ceausescu's flying bears: Molecular genetics provides evidence for an unusual dispersal mode in European brown bears Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:11 AM PST Scientists use genetics to confirm the legend of bears flown in for the hunting pleasures of other countries' rulers. A genetic study of brown bears in Bulgarian mountain regions provided evidence for the existence of individuals of Carpathian origin. How did they get there? Natural dispersal is unlikely. Rather, the bears were brought in by air transport.

As hubs for bees, pollinators, flowers may be crucial in disease transmission Posted: 24 Feb 2014 11:04 AM PST Like a kindergarten or a busy airport where cold viruses and other germs circulate freely, flowers are common gathering places where pollinators such as bees and butterflies can pick up fungal, bacterial or viral infections that might be as benign as the sniffles or as debilitating as influenza. A recent survey of scientific literature has identified this issue as a promising area for future research: how floral traits influence pathogen transmission. 'Given recent concerns about pollinator declines caused in part by pathogens, the role of floral traits in mediating pathogen transmission is a key area for further research,' authors of the new article conclude.

Lightning harnessed to protect power grid components Posted: 24 Feb 2014 09:38 AM PST The foes of power grids everywhere, lightning and other high voltage currents now can help utilities track the health of components throughout their systems. Researchers have developed a system that uses natural transients to measure the wear and tear on power components. The method will save power grid operators money in equipment replacements and maintenance, while keeping customers powered up.

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• Pinwheel 'living' crystals and the origin of life
• Marine algae can sense the rainbow
• New ideas change your brain cells, research shows
• Did you hear the one about the doctor? Using Facebook to eavesdrop on the collective conversation of current societal issues
• In the eye of a chicken, a new state of matter comes into view
• Toxic injection with elastic band: Discovering how bacteria get toxins into cells
• Biomedical bleeding affects horseshoe crab behavior
• Sugarcane converted to cold-tolerant, oil-producing crop
• Researchers 'design for failure' with model material
• Equal and equal is unequal: Choosing marriage partner contributes to income inequality, study finds
• Creating animated characters outdoors
• Stimulation glove for stroke patients helps improve tactile perception, motor function

Pinwheel 'living' crystals and the origin of life Posted: 24 Feb 2014 02:17 PM PST Simply making nanoparticles spin coaxes them to arrange themselves into what researchers call 'living rotating crystals' that could serve as a nanopump. They may also, incidentally, shed light on the origin of life itself. The researchers refer to the crystals as 'living' because they, in a sense, take on a life of their own from very simple rules.

Marine algae can sense the rainbow Posted: 24 Feb 2014 02:14 PM PST Several types of aquatic algae can detect orange, green and blue light, according to new research. Land plants have receptors to detect light on the red and far red of the spectrum, which are the common wavelengths in the air. These plants sense the light to move and grow as their environment changes, for example when another plant shades them from the sun. But in the ocean, the water absorbs red wavelengths, instead reflecting colors such as blue and green. Scientists have now sequenced about 20 different marine algae and found they were capable of detecting not only red light, but also many other colors.

New ideas change your brain cells, research shows Posted: 24 Feb 2014 10:31 AM PST An important molecular change has been discovered that occurs in the brain when we learn and remember. The research shows that learning stimulates our brain cells in a manner that causes a small fatty acid to attach to delta-catenin, a protein in the brain. This biochemical modification is essential in producing the changes in brain cell connectivity associated with learning, the study finds. Findings may provide an explanation for some mental disabilities, the researchers say.

Did you hear the one about the doctor? Using Facebook to eavesdrop on the collective conversation of current societal issues Posted: 24 Feb 2014 09:42 AM PST Researchers studied jokes made about doctors posted on Facebook in a new review that demonstrates the potential of using social networking sites for research on health and medicine. "Social networking sites, such as Facebook, have become immensely popular in recent years and present a unique opportunity for researchers to eavesdrop on the collective conversation of current societal issues," said the lead author. Results showed that jokes in which the doctor (or the healthcare system) was the butt of the joke tended to be more successful, although the association was not statistically significant. Interestingly, the joke in the study that received the greatest number of Facebook likes was a "doctor, lawyer, priest joke" in which the lawyer was the butt of the joke.

In the eye of a chicken, a new state of matter comes into view Posted: 24 Feb 2014 09:42 AM PST Along with eggs, soup and rubber toys, the list of the chicken's most lasting legacies may eventually include advanced materials, according to scientists. The researchers report that the unusual arrangement of cells in a chicken's eye constitutes the first known biological occurrence of a potentially new state of matter known as 'disordered hyperuniformity,' which has been shown to have unique physical properties.

Toxic injection with elastic band: Discovering how bacteria get toxins into cells Posted: 24 Feb 2014 09:42 AM PST Bacteria have developed many different ways of smuggling their toxic cargo into cells. A new study has helped scientists discover how Tc toxins inject bacterial toxins. The discovery has wide-reaching potential impact, from health solutions to farming and other industry.

Biomedical bleeding affects horseshoe crab behavior Posted: 24 Feb 2014 09:38 AM PST Collecting and bleeding horseshoe crabs for biomedical purposes causes short-term changes in their behavior and physiology that could exacerbate the crabs' population decline in parts of the East Coast. Authors of a new report examined this issue as well as possible solutions to its problems. Each year, the U.S. biomedical industry harvests the blue blood from almost half a million living horseshoe crabs for use in pharmaceuticals -- most notably, a product called Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL), used to ensure vaccines and medical equipment are free of bacterial contamination. This lifesaving product can only be made from horseshoe crab blood.

Sugarcane converted to cold-tolerant, oil-producing crop Posted: 24 Feb 2014 08:02 AM PST A multi-institutional team reports that it can increase sugarcane's geographic range, boost its photosynthetic rate by 30 percent and turn it into an oil-producing crop for biodiesel production.

Researchers 'design for failure' with model material Posted: 24 Feb 2014 08:01 AM PST Researchers have devised a method to study stress at the macro and micro scales at the same time, using a model system in which microscopic particles stand in for molecules. This method has allowed the researchers to demonstrate an unusual hybrid behavior in their model material: a reversible rearrangement of its particles that nevertheless has the characteristics of plastic deformation on the macroscale.

Equal and equal is unequal: Choosing marriage partner contributes to income inequality, study finds Posted: 24 Feb 2014 05:11 AM PST Changes in society in choosing a marriage partner contribute to income inequality across households, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed the interaction of marriage partner choices and the distribution of income across households. Positive assortative mating, or in other words, the tendency of choosing a partner with the same level of education or income, has increased so significantly over the past five decades in the U.S., that it has a considerable effect on the national income distribution.

Creating animated characters outdoors Posted: 24 Feb 2014 05:11 AM PST So far, film studios have had to put in huge amounts of effort to set monsters, superheroes, fairies or other virtual characters into real feature film scenes. Within the so-called motion capturing process, real actors wear skintight suits with markers on them. These suits reflect infrared light that is emitted and captured by special cameras. Subsequent to this, the movements of the actors are rendered with the aid of software into animated characters. Now, researchers in Germany have developed a method that works without markers. It immediately transfers actors' movements to the virtual characters in near real-time.

Stimulation glove for stroke patients helps improve tactile perception, motor function Posted: 24 Feb 2014 05:10 AM PST A glove that uses weak electrical pulses to stimulate the nerve fibers that connect the hands with the brain has been developed and been used to help recovery of patients who have suffered a stroke by using passive stimulation that improves sense of touch and motor skills. If applied regularly, this passive stimulation results in an improvement of both tactile perception and motor function.

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• New insights into origin of birds focuses on key characteristics that preceded flight: Body size, forelimb length
• Climate change won't reduce deaths in winter, British study concludes
• 'Microbial Pompeii:' 1,000 year old plaque preserves bacteria, microscopic particles of food on skeleton teeth, creating mineral tomb for microbiomes
• Red meat allergies likely result of lone star tick
• Chronic fatigue syndrome: The male disorder that became a female disorder
• Undergraduate invention aims to lower costs of organ cell printing
• Patient consent to research not always necessary, bioethicists say

New insights into origin of birds focuses on key characteristics that preceded flight: Body size, forelimb length Posted: 23 Feb 2014 06:51 PM PST The key characteristics of birds which allow them to fly -- their wings and their small size -- arose much earlier than previously thought, according to new research that examined closely the Paraves, the first birds, and their closest dinosaurian relatives which lived 160 to 120 million years ago. Researchers investigated the rates of evolution of the two key characteristics that preceded flight: body size and forelimb length. In order to fly, hulking meat-eating dinosaurs had to shrink in size and grow much longer arms to support their feathered wings.

Climate change won't reduce deaths in winter, British study concludes Posted: 23 Feb 2014 10:17 AM PST Climate change is unlikely to reduce the United Kingdom's excess winter death rate, which was a previous hypothesis. The study debunks the widely held view that warmer winters will cut the number of deaths normally seen at the coldest time of year. The study found that from 1951 to 1971, the number of cold winter days was strongly linked to death rates, while from 1971 to 1991, both the number of cold days and flu activity were responsible for increased death rates. However, their analysis showed that from 1991 to 2011, flu activity alone was the main cause in year to year variation in winter mortality.

'Microbial Pompeii:' 1,000 year old plaque preserves bacteria, microscopic particles of food on skeleton teeth, creating mineral tomb for microbiomes Posted: 23 Feb 2014 10:16 AM PST A 'microbial Pompeii' has been discovered, preserved on the teeth of skeletons around 1,000 years old. The research team discovered that the ancient human oral cavity carries numerous opportunistic pathogens and that periodontal disease is caused by the same bacteria today as in the past, despite major changes in human diet and hygiene. "The study of ancient microbiomes helps us understand the evolutionary history of human health and disease," says a senior author of the study. "It informs modern medicine."

Red meat allergies likely result of lone star tick Posted: 20 Feb 2014 07:27 AM PST Lone star tick bites are likely the cause of thousands of cases of severe red meat allergies that are plaguing patients in Southeastern United States including Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia and spreading up the Eastern Seaboard along with the deer population. The allergy can cause hives and swelling, as well as broader symptoms of anaphylaxis including vomiting, diarrhea, trouble breathing, and a drop in blood pressure. Persons with the allergy can go into a delayed anaphylactic shock four-six hours after eating red meat.

Chronic fatigue syndrome: The male disorder that became a female disorder Posted: 20 Feb 2014 05:31 AM PST Previously long-term fatigue was considered a male disorder caused by societal pressures. Today women comprise the majority of these patients, and they feel that their condition is their own fault. Not only has the fatigued patient changed gender. Previously doctors believed that long-term fatigue was a neurological, physical disorder, while today it is categorized primarily as psychological in nature. And while in the past, society was thought to be the cause of the disorder, today the individual is supposedly to blame.

Undergraduate invention aims to lower costs of organ cell printing Posted: 20 Feb 2014 05:30 AM PST A specialized 3-D printing extruder developed by a sophomore and his collaborator could lower the costs of printing cellular structures for use in drug testing. "We're using the sugar molecules in a form of reverse 3-D printing," says the student. "In this process, we first make the structures we want and then we embed them into a cellular matrix." After cells held in suspension in an agarose solution are grown around the vascular structure, a solvent can be used to wash the sugar away. The result is a cell mass that contains vessels like a human organ would.

Patient consent to research not always necessary, bioethicists say Posted: 19 Feb 2014 02:31 PM PST Under the right conditions, full informed consent is not ethically required for some types of health research, according to a commentary from leading bioethics experts. The position is a considerable break from ethics principles that have guided research ethics and regulation for decades. The commentary addresses two concepts generating debate in the healthcare and bioethics fields: the idea of learning healthcare systems, and randomized comparative effectiveness research, in which patients are randomly assigned to different, widely used treatments for their condition.

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