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- Curiosity finds bright bits in Martian soil
NASA's Mars Curiosity rover ingested its first sample of dirt from the Red Planet as scientists assessed some of the odd bright stuff in the dirt. The sample was brought to Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument since it offers a more definite method in determining the minerals present in the soil than X-ray diffraction, which was used before on Mars. Space.com
(10/18)
    
 | When teachers succeed, students succeed: How to make it happen
Collective teacher efficacy is the key to driving student achievement, according to Kahului Elementary School principal Sue Forbes and academic coach Stacey Hankinson. Join us on April 25 to hear how their teacher support program enabled their students to thrive amid the pandemic, why teachers are at the center of their student growth model, and more. Sign up today! |
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| Science in the News
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- Researchers develop theory to explain origin of Saturn's moons
Scientists developed a theory indicating that Saturn's system of moons began with a family of different relatively huge moons, such as Jupiter's Galilean satellites. Researchers believe that moon mergers made Saturn's larger moon, Titan, which eventually shed sufficient material to develop smaller moons including Dione and Rhea. "We think that the giant planets got their satellites kind of like the sun got its planets, growing like miniature solar systems and ending with a stage of final collisions," said lead author Erik Asphaug from the University of California in Santa Cruz. Space.com
(10/18)
- Calif. fishermen catch octopus normally found near equator
Fishermen caught a female argonaut -- a tropical octopus that lives near the surface of the open ocean near the equator -- off the coast of Southern California this week. The octopus, also known as paper nautilus, is now recuperating at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. The baseball-size animal has huge eyes, eight tentacles and color-changing capabilities. Our Amazing Planet
(10/18)
- Scientists find eggs of ancient flamingo in Spain
Scientists have discovered a fossil bird's nest in Ebro Basin, Spain, that they think belonged to a flamingo around 18 million years ago. That nest, however, is different from the kind that modern flamingos build. Researchers believe the nest was left and sunk to the bottom of a lake before being concealed in mud and fossilized in the early Miocene era. LiveScience.com
(10/18)
- Wild animals are also susceptible to MRSA, study suggests
University of Iowa epidemiologist Tara Smith and her research team detected methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA, in three out of 114 wild animals: a migratory shorebird called lesser yellowlegs and two Eastern cottontail rabbits. The researchers found that the rabbits carried community-associated MRSA strains while the shorebird had a hospital-associated strain. Smith said the infections could have been acquired from hospital waste or other "spillover events" from humans, but it remains unclear whether the wild animals could transmit the superbugs to humans or other animals. ScienceMag.org
(10/18)
- Scientists find potential target for Parkinson's disease
Researchers found the same deformities in the nuclear membrane of neural stem cells in brain tissue samples from deceased Parkinson's disease patients and found that correcting the mutation that causes the deformities reverses the phenotype. Researchers with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies studied induced pluripotent stem cells derived from Parkinson’s patients carrying the luceine-rich repeat kinase 2 mutation previously associated with the disease, then repaired the cells in vitro. The research, published in the journal Nature, "is a way for us to start asking questions about how we can use a selective small molecule to maybe reverse a disease phenotype for Parkinson's," said Jeremy Nichols, a researcher at The Parkinson’s Institute. The Scientist(free registration)
(10/2012)
- Study: Blood, bone marrow cell transplants yield similar outcomes
Transplants of stem cells from bone marrow had similar outcomes with transplants of stem cells from blood, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The procedures did not show a difference in terms of survival, relapse, mortality unrelated to relapse and acute graft-versus-host disease. Researcher Dr. Claudio Anasetti of the University of South Florida said the findings indicate that there are benefits to both methods, but that "it's not a one-choice-for-all situation." Dr. Fred Appelbaum of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle wrote in an accompanying editorial that cells from blood carry a higher immune-response risk. U.S. News & World Report/HealthDay News
(10/17)
- Studies report protein-specific anti-cancer properties of green tea
Two studies presented at the 11th Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research indicate that green tea chemicals called polyphenols may prevent cancer by repressing specific proteins that promote tumor growth. In a trial involving women with breast cancer who failed to respond to hormone therapy, patients who took Polyphenon E pills showed lower levels of vascular endothelial and hepatocyte growth factors after two months of treatment. The second study of 67 prostate cancer patients reported a significant decline in prostate-specific antigen levels among those who drank six cups of brewed green tea everyday. LiveScience.com
(10/18)
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