Say what? — A sad circle of dysfunction Not so good news for people with hearing loss: A new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows that declines in hearing ability may accelerate gray mater atrophy in auditory areas of the brain and increase the listening effort [...]
Categories: Medicine,Neuroscience,Public Health
Tagged: auditory cortex, hearing loss, Jonathan Peelle, Mild Hearing Loss Linked to Brain Atrophy in Older Adults Penn Study Shows
- Published:
- 31 August 2011 – 10:48
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Not surprising, but structurally interesting Berkeley Lab materials scientists used x-rays to exam bones from 34 to 99-year old people, in order to see how aging affects bone structure and its ability to resist fracture: “We found that biological aging increases non-enzymatic cross-linking between the collagen molecules, which suppresses plasticity at nanoscale dimensions, meaning that [...]
Categories: Medicine,Science
Tagged: aging, Berkeley Lab, Bjoern Busse, bone, bone density, break, brittleness, collagen, compact, cortical, Elizabeth A. Zimmermann, Eric Schaible, Fountain of Youth, fracture, Holly D. Bartha, Hrishikesh Bale, Joel W. Ager III, Lynn Yaris, materials science, naonscale, Peter Reichert, plasticity, Ponce de León, Robert O. Ritchie, Simon Y. Tang, Tamara Alliston, xray
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- 29 August 2011 – 10:06
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
This finding deflates unrealistic hopes for changing lifestyle as the primary key to much reducing heart disease From the American Heart Journal abstract (regarding a study by Sweden’s Center for Primary Health Care Research): Methods The Swedish Multigenerational register was used to follow all Swedish-born adoptees (born in or after 1932, n = 80,214) between [...]
Categories: Medicine,Public Health
Tagged: 214 Swedish adoptees linked to their biological and adoptive parents, adopted, CHD, coronary heart disease, Coronary heart disease due to genes, Familiar transmission of coronary heart disease A cohort study of 80, genes, Jan Sundquist, Jianguang Ji, Kari Hemminki, Kristina Sundquist, Lund University, Marilyn Winkleby, Sweden, Sweden’s Center for Primary Health Care Research, Xinjun Li
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- 26 August 2011 – 09:15
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
The Earth’s dynamic atmosphere The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 13 (GOES-13) took a beautiful shot today of the Atlantic Ocean that includes both Hurricane Irene and Tropical Depression 10 (a new storm). Citation — and link to photo Rob Gutro, NASA Satellites See Hurricane Irene Dwarf Newborn Tropical Depression 10, [...]
Categories: Climate,Environment
Tagged: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-13, Hurricane Irene, NASA, NASA Satellites See Hurricane Irene Dwarf Newborn Tropical Depression 10, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Rob Gutro
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- 25 August 2011 – 12:37
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
A conceptual stretch a bit too far Michigan State University published this bit of semantically distorted conclusion-jumping under the title, Hyenas’ ability to count helps them decide to fight or flee: Being able to count helps spotted hyenas decide to fight or flee, according to research at Michigan State University. When animals fight, the larger [...]
Categories: Science
Tagged: behavioral, counting, Crocuta crocuta, homology, Hyenas’ ability to count helps them decide to fight or flee, Kay E. Holekamp, Sarah Benson-Amram, Sean L. Dryera, spotted hyenas, Virginia K. Heinena
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- 23 August 2011 – 09:25
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Sulfur bacteria are still common, but these go so far back — how do we know they’re real? The University of Oxford reported on a study led by the University of Western Australia: The microfossils satisfy three crucial tests that the forms seen in the rocks are biological and have not occurred through some mineralisation [...]
Categories: Science
Tagged: David Wacey, Discovered: the oldest fossils on Earth, John Cliff, Martin D. Brasier, Martin Saunders, Matt R. Kilburn, Microfossils of sulphur-metabolizing cells in 3.4-billion-year-old rocks of Western Australia, oldest fossils, sulfur, sulphur
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- 22 August 2011 – 14:07
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
NASA map excites researchers The Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported today that: NASA-funded researchers have created the first complete map of the speed and direction of ice flow in Antarctica. The map, which shows glaciers flowing thousands of miles from the continent’s deep interior to its coast, will be critical for tracking future sea-level increases from [...]
Categories: Climate change,Environment,Science
Tagged: Alan Buis, animated map, animation, B. Scheuchl, E. Rignot, glaciers, glaciology, Ice Flow of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, Irvine, J. Mouginot, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, map, polar region, satellite, satellite tracks, sea level, Steve Cole, tracks, University of California
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- 18 August 2011 – 16:59
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
An interesting report from NASA The more one knows about geophysical processes, the more one appreciates the complexity of trying to accurately estimate the Earth’s actual size and how its shape changes over time: Earth’s shape is constantly changing. Tectonic forces such as earthquakes and volcanoes push mountains higher, while erosion and landslides wear them [...]
Categories: Science
Tagged: Accuracy of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame origin and Earth expansion, Alan Buis, B. L. A. Vermeersen, Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite, DORIS, Global Positioning System, GPS, gravity, I. Fukumori, mass, NASA Research Confirms it's a Small World After All, polar, R. S. Gross, satellite laser ranging, SLR, very-long baseline interferometry, VLBI, Whitney Calvin, X. Collilieux, X. Wu, Z. Altamimi
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- 17 August 2011 – 18:58
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Caffeine apparently interferes with harmful effects of the ATR-Chk1 pathway in skin cells Researchers have been aware that drinking caffeinated beverages reduces the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers. And they knew that applying caffeine topically to un-diseased skin, as well as skin cancer tumors, in mice reduced the number of tumors in comparison with untreated [...]
Categories: Medicine,Science
Tagged: A H Conney, Alessandra Blasina, Allan H Conney, ATR–Chk1 Pathway Inhibition Promotes Apoptosis after UV Treatment in Primary Human Keratinocytes: Potential Basis for the UV Protective Effects of Caffeine, Caffeine Decreases Phospho-Chk1 (Ser317) and Increases Mitotic Cells with Cyclin B1 and Caspase 3 in Tumors from UVB-Treated Mice, gene, Kenna Anderes, Masaoki Kawasumi, p53, Paul Nghiem, Q Y Peng, Timothy P Heffernan, tumor suppressor, Y P Lu, Y R Lou
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- 15 August 2011 – 17:34
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
“Expensive Defense Department shenanigans are always worthwhile, aren’t they?” Very few people seem to care what the Department of Defense does with its bundles of mostly untraceable money. The military industrial complex is alive and well. It drains our nation’s economic strength and kills our people (and others) in Afghanistan. And wherever else its (usually) [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
- Published:
- 11 August 2011 – 17:55
- Author:
- By BrainiYak