Being Human

Dialysis treatments do not affect the heart health of kidney disease patients who have had a heart attack, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

The tight cluster of stars surrounding a supermassive black hole after it has been violently kicked out of a galaxy represents a new kind of astronomical object and a fossil record of the kick.

Menlo Park, Calif. -- The earliest stars in the universe formed not only as individuals, but sometimes also as twins, according to a paper published today in Science Express.

What is cancer? Everyone knows that it is a terrifying disease and has some ideas about a mass of cells that grow uncontrollably but I get the feeling that many people don’t quite understand how it actually happens. I think that even from my biochemistry and cell biology lectures at uni I’d still have a very woolly appreciation of what’s important when it comes to cancer. In the following posts on this topic I’ll talk about cancer therapies, leukemia and other types of cancer, as well as the mechanisms of some of the more “popular” cancers (colon, breast, cervical and prostate) and what is meant by predisposition to certain cancers. View the original post to keep the authors happy, and subcribe to follow the series "Understanding Cancer"

Iron and manganese compounds, in addition to sulfate, may play an important role in converting methane to carbon dioxide and eventually carbonates in the Earth's oceans, according to a team of researchers looking at anaerobic sediments. These same compounds may have been key to methane reduction in the early, oxygenless days of the planet's atmosphere.

Berkeley -- Increases in mysterious underground tremors observed in several active earthquake fault zones around the world could signal a build-up of stress at locked segments of the faults and presumably an increased likelihood of a major quake, according to a new University of California, Berkeley, study.

SEATTLE -- The relationship between migraine headaches in women and a significant reduction in breast cancer risk has been confirmed in a follow-on study to landmark research published last year and conducted by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

It's not just good manners to wait your turn -- it's actually down to evolution, according to new research by University of Leicester psychologists.

A study in the University's School of Psychology sought to explain how turn-taking has evolved across a range of species. The conclusion is that there is an "invisible hand" that guides our actions in this respect.

Alexandria, Va. -- The world-wide explosion of overweight people has been called an epidemic. The inflammatory nature of obesity is widely recognized. Could it really be an epidemic involving an infectious agent?

The Center Of Our Solar System

Back when I was attending public school, we were taught by our teachers that, once upon a time, most of the non-educated people on the planet and even many of the well-educated ones, believed that the earth was at the center of our solar system [1]. This meant that the sun, the moon, and the other planets were all spinning around the earth.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- People who have superior language skills early in life may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease decades later, despite having the hallmark signs of the disease, according to research published in the July 9, 2009, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

SEATTLE -- The doctor's mouth opens, and "medicalese" pours forth: words like "pyrosis" and "myocardial infarction." The patient's eyes glaze over. If only the doctor said "heartburn" or "heart attack," the patient could learn what caused the chest pain.

WASHINGTON -- A new review article appearing in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) co-authored by Dr. Todd Kuiken, a research associate for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), focuses on the use of nanomaterials for environmental cleanup.

BALTIMORE (July 8, 2009) -- Technology is the way of the future, or at least the way of the American future, which is why dentists throughout the United States have increased their use of digital technology. And as making a better use of patients' two most useful resources: time and money becomes increasingly important in the practice of dentistry, technology becomes the key to success.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, U.S.A. -- The giant monoliths of Easter Island are worn, but they have endured for centuries. New research suggests that a compound first discovered in the soil of the South Pacific island might help us stand the test of time, too.

A team of researchers from DuPont and Lehigh University has reported a breakthrough in the quest to produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that are suitable for use in electronics, medicine and other applications.

In an article published in the July 9 issue of Nature, the group says it has developed a DNA-based method that sorts and separates specific types of CNTs from a mixture.

PHILADELPHIA (July 8, 2009) -- Using a combination of sensory, genetic, and in vitro approaches, researchers from the Monell Center confirm that the T1R1-T1R3 taste receptor plays a role in human umami (amino acid) taste.

A Monash University study has proven a critical link between obesity and the onset of Type 2 diabetes, a discovery which could lead to the design of a drug to prevent the disease.

Nanyang Technological University (NTU)'s Associate Professor Zhong Guofu has made a significant contribution to the field of organic chemistry, in particular the study of using small organic molecules as catalysts, in the synthesis process called organocatalysis. Such synthesis process takes place for example, during the production of chiral drugs.

A rapid rise in unemployment can be linked to an increase in suicides, homicides, and alcohol abuse, but job programs can successfully mitigate these rates, according to a new study reported in the "Lancet" medical journal.