News Articles

Atypical characteristics of children’s linguistic development are early signs of the risk of developing reading and writing disabilities, or dyslexia. New research points to preventive exercises as an effective means to tackle the challenges children face when learning to read. The results achieved at the Centre of Excellence in Learning and Motivation Research were presented at the Academy of Finland’s science breakfast on August21st.
Headed by Professor Heikki Lyytinen at the University of Jyväskylä, the research delved into how to predict and prevent difficulties in learning to read and write. The study involved a 107 children with a dyslexic parent and a control group of children without a hereditary predisposition to dyslexia. The researchers followed the development of the predisposed children, from birth through school age.

Unusually high levels of physical exertion do cause oxidative stress, but this does not result in any long-term damage to DNA, say the results of a new research project.
As part of the project, 42 male athletes took part both in a triathlon and an extensive biomedical study, which examined numerous physiological values parameters during the period from two days before to 19 days after the triathlon.
The range of personal views on the benefits - or otherwise - of physical activity covers everything from "sport is good for you" to "sport is a killer" - not very scientific.
There is no doubt that regular sporting activity has physiological benefits but there is no evidence that there are benefits of extreme endurance sports.

Dr Zane Andrews, a neuroendocrinologist with Monash University's Department of Physiology, says he has discovered key appetite control cells in the human brain degenerate over time, causing increased hunger and potentially weight-gain as we grow older.
Dr Andrews found that appetite-suppressing cells are attacked by free radicals after eating and said the degeneration is more significant following meals rich in carbohydrates and sugars.
"The more carbs and sugars you eat, the more your appetite-control cells are damaged, and potentially you consume more," Dr Andrews said.

Researchers from the University of Hawaii, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, National Marine Fisheries Service and Projecto Meros do Brazil discovered a new species of fish; a grouper that reaches more than six feet in length and can weigh nearly 1,000 pounds. This newly discovered species can be found roaming the tropical reefs of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Was the massive fish hiding among the corals and sea grass to evade marine biologists? No, it was just a case of mistaken identity, as explained in a recent genetic study in the journal Endangered Species Research.
It turns out that goliath in the Atlantic which inhabit the tropical waters of the Americas and western Africa are not the same groupers that swim in Pacific waters, even though they look identical.

A famous Neolithic Iceman is dressed in clothes made from sheep and cattle hair, a new study shows. The researchers say their findings support the idea that the Iceman was a herdsman.
The social and cultural background of the Iceman, dubbed Oetzi, has been the subject of much debate since his mummified remains were discovered in an Alpine glacier in 1991. Although his clothes were known to be made of animal skins, their exact origin was uncertain. This new study focuses on hair samples taken from Oetzi's coat, leggings and moccasin shoes.

It's no secret that the heat and humidity throughout Olympic venues can be sweltering but the Swiss Equestrian Federation tournament horses have an advantage - special cooling blankets to ward off the Hong Kong heat.
And after the their event is over, “sweat blankets” will help them to dry off as quickly as possible – one to cover them as they return to the stables, and another to wear in their air conditioned quarters.
These special garments have been designed to support these sensitive (and valuable) champion horses in their own bodily efforts to regulate their temperature and prevent the dangerous 'post exercise chill effect', the unpleasant and unhealthy uncontrolled cooling which leads to the animals becoming chilled after exercise.

Researchers monitoring daily satellite images of Greenland's glaciers have discovered break-ups at two of the largest glaciers in the last month. They expect that part of the Northern hemisphere's longest floating glacier will continue to disintegrate within the next year.
A massive 11-square-mile (29-square-kilometer) piece of the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland broke away between July 10th and by July 24th. The loss to that glacier is equal to half the size of Manhattan Island. The last major ice loss to Petermann occurred when the glacier lost 33 square miles (86 square kilometers) of floating ice between 2000 and 2001.
Petermann has a floating section of ice 10 miles (16 kilometers) wide and 50 miles (80.4 kilometers) long which covers 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers).

The semiconductor silicon and the ferromagnet iron are the basis for much of mankind's technology, used in everything from computers to electric motors.
Writing in Nature, an international group of scientists from the UK, USA and Lesotho report that they have combined these elements with a small amount of another common metal, manganese, to create a new material which is neither a magnet nor an ordinary semiconductor.
They then show how a small magnetic field can be used to switch ordinary semiconducting behavior (such as that seen in the electronic-grade silicon which is used to make transistors) back on.

NGC 1275 is one of the closest giant elliptical galaxies and lies at the centre of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies. It is an active galaxy, hosting a supermassive black hole at its core, which blows bubbles of radio-wave emitting material into the surrounding cluster gas. Its most spectacular feature is the lacy filigree of gaseous filaments reaching out beyond the galaxy into the multi-million degree X-ray emitting gas that fills the cluster.
These filaments are the only visible-light manifestation of the intricate relationship between the central black hole and the surrounding cluster gas. They provide important clues about how giant black holes affect their surrounding environment.

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory were the five taste sensations you probably learned in school but a group of chemists in Philadelphia say a new one should be added — "calcium."
In a report today at the 236th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, scientist Michael G. Tordoff, Ph.D., and colleagues with the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia described research they say demonstrates that a taste for calcium exists in mice. With mice and humans sharing many of the same genes, the findings suggest that people also may have such a taste, which could have a range of practical applications.

University of Texas Medical School Assistant Professor C.S. Raman and colleagues say they have been able to manipulate flavor enzymes found in a popular plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana, by genetic means. The enzymes—allene oxide synthase (AOS) and hydroperoxide lyase (HPL)—produce jasmonate (responsible for the unique scent of jasmine flowers) and green leaf volatiles (GLV) respectively. GLVs confer characteristic aromas to fruits and vegetables.
That means not only that you could soon be enjoying a lemony watermelon or a strawberry-flavored banana but that fine tuning those flavor enzymes in fruits and vegetables could lead to environmentally-friendly pest control.

The structure of gold nanoparticles has been largely unknown for over a decade. A current study helps to understand the stability, composition as well as electronic, chemical and optical properties of the particles.
The research group, led by Professor Hannu Häkkinen of the Nanoscience Centre of the University of Jyväskylä, says the results of the study can be utilized in medicine, biomolecule research and nanoelectronics. With the help of gold nanoparticles it is, for instance, possible to destroy cancer cells.
The particles are able to attach themselves to cancer cells due to a biologically compatible molecular overlayer. With the help of laser it is possible to heat the particles so much that the attached cancer cells die. Particles can also be used as a tracer when looking at biomolecules with an electron microscope. Nanoelectronics, for its part, can use gold nanoparticles as components in electrical circuits.