news: ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Saturday, December 26, 2009

Saturday, December 26, 2009

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines -- for Saturday, December 26, 2009

ScienceDaily Top Science Headlines

for Saturday, December 26, 2009

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The past matters to plants (December 26, 2009) -- It's commonly known that plants interact with each other on an everyday basis: they shade each other out or take up nutrients from the soil before neighboring plants can get them. Now, researchers have learned that plants also respond to the past. ... > full story

Antibody-guided drug shows encouraging activity in metastatic breast cancer (December 26, 2009) -- A new antibody-drug compound shrank or halted the growth of metastatic breast tumors in almost half of a group of patients whose HER2-positive cancer had become resistant to standard therapies, according to early data. ... > full story

New warning system warns of driver drowsiness and distraction (December 26, 2009) -- Scientists have developed the latest version of a driving assistance system which controls the driver's attention level and helps to avoid accidents caused by drowsiness or distractions at the wheel. ... > full story

Bone control of glucose levels (December 26, 2009) -- Bone cells known as osteoblasts were recently shown to have a role in controlling the biochemical reactions that generate energy via secretion of the molecule osteocalcin. Researchers have now determined that the protein FoxO1 regulates this function of osteoblasts in mice. ... > full story

Low-cost temperature sensors: Tennis balls to monitor mountain snowpack (December 26, 2009) -- Dime-sized temperature sensors, first built for the refrigerated food industry, have been adapted to sense mountain microclimates. ... > full story

Who gets expensive cancer drugs? A tale of two nations (December 26, 2009) -- The well-worn notion that patients in the United States have unfettered access to the most expensive cancer drugs while the United Kingdom's nationalized health care system regularly denies access to some high-cost treatments needs rethinking, a team of bioethicists and health policy experts says in a new report. ... > full story

Sun and moon trigger deep tremors on San Andreas Fault (December 25, 2009) -- When the sun and moon are aligned with the San Andreas Fault they tug on it enough to increase the tremor rate deep underground, according to a new study. While these tremors have not yet been linked to earthquakes, the tremors are associated with increased stress on the fault and may increase the risk of future quakes. The ease with which the deep rock slips indicates it is lubricated by high-pressure water. ... > full story

New inherited eye disease discovered (December 25, 2009) -- Researchers have found the existence of a new, rare inherited retinal disease. Now the search is on to find the genetic cause, which investigators hope will increase understanding of more common retinal diseases. ... > full story

Microscopic flower petal ridges flash to attract pollinating insects; scientists now know how ridges form (December 25, 2009) -- Microscopic ridges contouring the surface of flower petals might play a role in flashing that come-hither look pollinating insects can't resist. Scientists now have figured out how those form. The result could help researchers learn to enhance plants' pollination success and even could lead to high-grip nanomaterials and "green chemical" feedstocks. ... > full story

Growing evidence suggests progesterone should be considered a treatment option for traumatic brain injuries (December 25, 2009) -- Researchers recommend that progesterone, a naturally occurring hormone found in both males and females that can protect damaged cells in the central and peripheral nervous systems, be considered a viable treatment option for traumatic brain injuries. ... > full story

Weir in space and dimmed sun creates 200-million-mile-long lab bench for turbulence research (December 25, 2009) -- Physicists working in space plasmas have made clever use of the Ulysses spacecraft and the solar minimum to create a massive virtual lab bench to provide a unique test for the science underlying turbulent flows. ... > full story

Do computers understand art? (December 25, 2009) -- Mathematical algorithms can provide clues about the artistic style of a painting. The composition of colors or certain aesthetic measurements can already be quantified by a computer, but machines are still far from being able to interpret art in the way that people do. ... > full story

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