News Articles

Undefined matter under the envelope of "dark matter" makes up over 80% of the universe - but it has never been directly detected.But the search is on to narrow it down and a new paper has computationally set limits to the properties of one of the particles which might be identified as dark matter: axions. Due to the high temperature inside stars, photons can turn into axions that escape to the exterior, carrying energy with them.The simulation indicates that the emission of axions can significantly diminish the time for the central combustion of helium, the so called HB (Horizontal Branch) phase: the energy taken by axions is compensated with the energy provided by nuclear combustion, which leads to a much faster consumption of helium. 

Sometimes losing money is more exciting than taking it. A recent study found that turning down a bribe brought greater physiological arousal than the thought of more money did. This means that the violation or enforcement of a given ethical standard is not what triggers emotional activity, but rather the actual decision to act against the monetary self-interest, according to scholars at Universitat Jaume I, who also note a major tendency to act ethically and shows the effectiveness of the threat of a possible punishment when curbing corrupt attitudes.

Doctors are writing lots of prescriptions for drugs to calm the behavior of people with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, but non-drug approaches work better and carry far fewer risks, according to a new paper.  In contrast to current protocol non-drug approaches should be the first choice for treating dementia patients' common symptoms such as irritability, agitation, depression, anxiety, sleep problems, aggression, apathy and delusions, write a team in British Medical Journal after reviewing two decades' worth of research on antipsychotics, antidepressants and non-drug approaches that help caregivers address behavioral issues in dementia patients. 

Researchers have identified distinct immune changes in patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, known medically as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) or systemic exertion intolerance disease.
This is
the first robust physical evidence that ME/CFS is a biological illness as opposed to a psychological disorder, and the first evidence that the disease has distinct stages and could help improve diagnosis and identify treatment options for the disabling disorder, in which symptoms range from extreme fatigue and difficulty concentrating to headaches and muscle pain.

How will we know if the economy has really gotten better, rather than using bogus claims about employment or how well Wall Street executives are doing? When senior citizens stop killing themselves.
Suicide rates for adults between 40 and 64 years of age in the U.S. rose about 40% since 1999, with a sharp rise after in 2007 that continued during the economic downturn of 2008 and on, which led to disproportionate effects on house values, household finances, and retirement savings for that age group. In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that external economic factors were present in 37.5% of all completed suicides in 2010, rising from 32.9% in 2005.

Enzymes are the workhorses of our bodies, they make biochemical reactions happen faster than they otherwise would and sometimes essential reactions would not happen at all without them. The Rubisco enzyme, the most abundant protein on the planet, has one of the most significant responsibilities in life on Earth - the conversion of carbon dioxide to organic compounds, the building blocks of all plant and animal cells.

People with diabetes are prone to anxiety and depression but others with chronic diseases that require similar levels of management suffer from anxiety and depression less. Why that might be is unclear but Joslin Diabetes Center researchers have offered an explanation, gleaned by genetically modifying mice to make their brains resistant to insulin. They found that the animals exhibited behaviors that suggest anxiety and depression, and then pinpointed a mechanism that lowers levels of the key neurotransmitter dopamine in areas of the brain associated with those conditions.

Want to lower your risk of dying from a heart attack? Go a little nuts.Peanuts are getting a modern rehabilitation.  Except for severe cases, it has been found that peanut allergies will go away if kids eat them early, and when they reach adulthood they will have less likelihood of dying from heart disease - and be an equalizer across low-income and racially diverse populations.

A new paper based on a study of 4,219 people without any evidence of blood cancer nonetheless found that up to 20 percent of people aged 50-60 and more than 70 percent of people over 90 have blood cells with the same gene changes as found in leukemia.  That means it is almost inevitable that we will develop genetic mutations associated with leukemia as we age, according to the authors investigating the earliest stages of cancer development used an exquisitely sensitive sequencing method capable of detecting DNA mutations present in as few as 1.6 percent of blood cells, to analyze 15 locations in the genome, which are known to be altered in leukemia. 

An on-board air filtration system called 
high-efficiency cabin air, or HECA,
developed specifically for school buses reduced exposure to vehicular pollutants by up to 88 percent, according to a new paper. study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. The HECA system could help protect the 25 million American children who commute on school buses nearly every day, according to the authors from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Children are more susceptible to air pollution than adults because they breathe more quickly and their immune and cardiovascular systems are still developing, said Yifang Zhu, the study's senior author and an associate professor in the department of environmental health sciences. 

The world's challenges demand science solutions - and fast - but it doesn't need the old style of detached experts, write a team of scientists in, ironically, one of America's most prominent and detached corporate science publications; Science magazine, a reputable legacy publication with a politician leading them. Segregated expertise, like segregated articles of taxpayer-funded science, is obsolete.

Amateur athletes are competitive and they are always looking for an advantage even if it isn't their careers, so it is no surprise that supplement stores are filled with promises of gains.Nitrate supplements, claiming to  improve the efficiency at which muscles use oxygen, have been popular for years, but do they work? A new study says they may increase performance--they decrease the viscosity of blood, aiding in blood flow, while at the same time ensuring that tissue oxygen requirements are not compromised.