Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 29
The world may still be in the grip of a global recession, but that may not be entirely a bad thing: Researchers found that when the economy takes a turn for the worse, public health actually improves. Mortality rates fell during the Great Depression, the study found, possibly because people couldn’t ...]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/10/02/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-8/feed/ 2 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/25/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-7/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/25/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-7/#comments Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:58:00 +0000 Eliza Strickland http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=3608 Science, September 25
The week’s biggest news: there’s water, water everywhere in our solar system, or at least on our moon and on Mars. First, a trio of studies reported on the latest findings from the moon, where an Indian orbiter and two NASA probes detected the chemical signature of water all around the moon, not just in the permanently shadowed polar craters where scientists think ice might lurk. But researchers say the water isn’t sitting around in pools–it’s bound up with rocks and minerals in the top few millimeters of moon dust. In the Mars finding, researchers looked at five craters recently created by meteor impacts, and discovered that subterranean ice had been kicked up to the surface. The presence of ice on Mars wasn’t a surprise, but the quantity of it was–researchers say there may be ice sheets hundreds of miles across just beneath the surface.

Nature Neuroscience, October
Two papers in this journal upended expectations of who can learn, and ...]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/25/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-7/feed/ 0 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/18/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-6/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/18/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-6/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:30:44 +0000 Eliza Strickland http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=3332 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 15
The week began with a bit of science news that caught the attention of just about everyone who has ever taken a shower. Microbiologists examined shower heads in nine U.S. cities and found that the innocuous-seeming pieces of hardware often harbor hordes of bacteria that spray out of the nozzle when the shower is turned on. Although the study‘s findings sound alarming, researchers were quick to point out that microbes are omnipresent in our daily environment and that a healthy person’s immune system can easily handle this bacterial bath. They suggest that only people with immune disorders need be concerned.

PLoS ONE, September 16
In a new report in this open access journal, researchers describe a cell phone app designed to help both professional scientists and citizen scientists. The program allows people to collect data on a subject like the changing habitat of a rare species by recording notes, photos, or videos on their smart phones; the program would then use the phones’ GPS system to determine the user’s location and to plot ...]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/18/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-6/feed/ 1 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/11/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-5/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/11/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-5/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:51:18 +0000 Eliza Strickland http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/11/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-5/ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 8
In one of the more visually pleasing bits of science news, researchers put over-ripe bananas under an ultraviolet light and revealed the pretty patterns that appeared on the bananas’ skin. Each brown spot on a banana was ringed with a bright blue glowing halo, which the study suggests might serve as a signal to animals that the fruit is ready for eating. And speaking of eating: Another study notes that half of the fish consumed by people around the globe now comes from fish farms. This might sound like good news in the sustainability department–until you remember that those farms use feed made from wild fish harvested from the sea. Finally, researchers found new evidence that the most aggressive forms of prostate cancer are linked to a viral infection, and suggest that the virus could even be sexually transmitted. The results of the study could soon help screen for people with the more severe form of the cancer.

Nature Genetics, September
Three new genes have been linked to a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s, according to two separate http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/11/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-5/feed/ 1 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/04/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-4/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/04/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-4/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:14:07 +0000 Eliza Strickland http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/04/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-4/ Nature Nanotechnology, advance publication August 30
While we’re still waiting for a cure to cancer, we’re grateful that researchers are also working to find ways to diagnose it faster, more easily, and more accurately, to improve patients’ odds of successful treatment. Along those lines, Israeli researchers announced their invention of a breathalyzer that can detect lung cancer. The device they describe in Nature Nanotech isn’t the first to detect the volatile organic compounds produced by cancer cells in patients’ breath, but previous devices required that a breath sample be manipulated and analyzed in the lab; the new gadget can give a read-out within minutes.80beats › Edit — WordPress

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 1
In the days after the devastating May 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province, some researchers set out to determine the disaster’s immediate impact on the brains of healthy survivors. Using MRI scans, the researchers found functional changes in the survivors’ brains, namely increased activity in the regions involved in emotions and memory, but decreased connectivity between other brain regions. The study suggests that traumatized brains may be both ...]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/09/04/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-4/feed/ 0 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/28/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-3/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/28/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-3/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:14:43 +0000 Eliza Strickland http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/28/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-3/ Biology Letters, August 23
A fossilized feather has proved that birds had already developed fancy plumage 40 million years ago. Using scanning electron microscopy, researchers examined tiny structures on the feather and determined them to be melanosomes, the organelles inside pigment cells that determine coloration. The organization of the melanosomes resembled patterns seen in the iridescent feathers of birds like starlings and grackles, according to the study. This finding is just the latest progress from a team working to discover the colors of prehistoric birds and even feathered dinosaurs.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 25
In a study that probably provoked fierce debate in text messages, emails, and blogs simultaneously, researchers found that people who frequently multitask are actually bad at multitasking. The researchers expected multitaskers to be better than average at organizing information and switching between tasks quickly, but found just the opposite. Elsewhere in the journal, researchers examined the genome of honeybees and offered a partial explanation of colony collapse disorder. The study suggests that a variety of viruses are damaging the bees’ ability to make proteins that ...]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/28/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-3/feed/ 1 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/21/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-2/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/21/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-2/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:45:21 +0000 Eliza Strickland http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/21/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-2/ Nature, August 20
Sometimes the big news is also really, really small. A paper published on Nature‘s Web site on Sunday describes how researchers made the world’s smallest laser, composed of a single nanoparticle measuring only 44 nanometers across. Researchers say the tiny devices could one day be the foundation for optical computers that use circuits made of light instead of electrical impulses. Another article in the journal has implications for the future of agriculture and how we’ll feed the planet’s booming population: A study of rice plants that can survive severe flooding found that two so-called SNORKEL genes are responsible. The hardy plants don’t produce high rice yields, but researchers say they can now try adding the genes to high-yield varieties to create a super plant for flood-prone regions.

The Annals of Internal Medicine, August 18
What killed Mozart? Maybe strep throat. While the medical sleuths who came up with this hypothesis acknowledge that there’s no way to test it–Mozart’s body vanished into a common grave that was later dug up to make room for more–their analysis of medical records in 1790s Vienna make strep a likely cause. The http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/08/21/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week-2/feed/ 9 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/07/31/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/07/31/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:26:34 +0000 Eliza Strickland http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/07/31/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week/ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, July 28
A paper describing how a chemical compound closely related to a common blue food dye could help repair spinal injuries got a hefty dose of attention this week, garnering extravagant headlines like “Can Blue M&Ms cure paralysis?” Despite the oversimplified hype, the findings are exciting: spinal-damaged rats that were given the drug recovered the ability to limp about, with only one side effect–a slight blueish hue. Another report published online established  DNA “barcode” system for plants: two sections of DNA that will serve as a unique identifier for every species. Botanists have been squabbling over which genetic sequences to use for years; now that they’ve settled the matter they can begin to build a genetic library that will allow for quick plant identification across the world.

Pediatrics, August issue
An 18-year-long study found that autistic children do not have more gastrointestinal problems than other children, refuting a notion that has gained some currency with families of autistic children. The researchers note that some parents have adjusted their autistic children’s diets in hopes of altering the children’s symptoms, and call ...]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/07/31/ripped-from-the-journals-the-biggest-discoveries-of-the-week/feed/ 2