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Monthly Archives: December 2010
Feature: Aliens found using arsenic – fact or fiction?
Wendy Mak investigates the supposed arsenic loving bacteria. In a recent press release from NASA (which can be found here), a team of researchers from the University of Arizona announced that they have “changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.” The team has found a strain of bacteria in Mono [...]
Posted in Feature Articles, Life sciences, News Leave a comment
A sustainable Christmas?
Tucking into second helpings of turkey? Why not treat yourself to another glass of Chardonnay and turn the thermostat up whilst you’re at it? Christmas is traditionally the time of year for overindulgence, a time when we can relax and jettison our previously environmentally conscious mindsets. However, a timely piece of research, published in the [...]
Posted in Earth & environment, News Leave a comment
Right or left handling at birth: does it matter?
Early experience of handling can affect how babies react emotionally later on in life. Researchers from France and Tunisia tested the effect of single-sided rubbing at birth on the emotional state of newborn foals. Twenty-eight newborn Arab foals were divided into three groups: one group received rubbing on the left side of their body by [...]
Posted in Medical & clinical, News Leave a comment
To soar or to flap?
Large birds, such as storks and hawks, have long been known for choosing to soar and glide on thermal currents rather than flap their wings during long-distance migration. By contrast, nothing was previously known about the flight patterns of smaller species. A new study has now revealed that soaring is preferable for birds both big [...]
Posted in Life sciences, News Leave a comment
Carbon hot-house planet examined by NASA’s Spitzer
The blazing-hot exoplanet Wasp 12b has revealed its black stripes as its carbon-rich composition helps it live up to its name. Over 1000 light years from Earth, this distant planet orbits its sun at extremely close quarters, completing the trip in little over a day. In fact, Wasp 12b is so close that tidal forces [...]
Posted in News, Physical sciences Leave a comment
Creative problem-solving for computers
Have you ever had one of those ‘light bulb moments’ – flashes of insight that present you with an instant solution? Have you ever wondered how your brain does it, when you’re not even thinking about the problem? A study published recently in the journal Psychological Review not only offers an explanation for just that, [...]
Posted in Mathematics, News 1 Comment
New paradigm for cancer therapies
Cancer treatments could undergo a complete transformation in the way they are designed in an attempt to significantly improve their success rates. However, the new proposal requires a complete change in the way clinical trials are conducted to allow the new therapies to reach patients. In November 2010, worldwide experts gathered in Nice for the [...]
Posted in Medical & clinical, News Leave a comment
Shrinking the mosquito population
Another weapon in the war against mosquito-borne diseases could be on the horizon. Researchers at Riverside Lab in California have recently suggested a way in which mosquitoes could be stopped from reproducing. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are responsible for spreading yellow fever and dengue fever to millions of people in tropical regions every year, resulting in [...]
Posted in Life sciences, News Leave a comment
Haitian outbreak of cholera likely originated from South Asian source
Following the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, thousands of families were displaced from their homes and were forced to find shelter in relief camps. The lack of adequate sanitation in these camps provided an ideal environment for an outbreak of cholera, an acutely dehydrating diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which is [...]
Posted in Medical & clinical, News Leave a comment
How many lightbulbs?