ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

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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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