The premier website for science news since 1996. A service of AAAS. http://www.eurekalert.org en-us Copyright 2006 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:12:10 EST EurekAlert! http://www.eurekalert.org/images/logo.gif http://www.eurekalert.org The premier online source for science news, a service of AAAS 20 webmaster@eurekalert.org Cigarette smoking and concurrent infection with high levels of the virus associated with cervical cancer can increase cancer risk by as much as 27 times, according to a study published in the November 2006 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/aafc-hhc111406.php Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST UCLA researchers in collaboration with researchers at Rutgers University have solved longstanding mysteries surrounding DNA transcription, the first step in carrying out instructions contained in our genes. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/uoc--uru111606.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The answer to one of the world's largest problems -- the need for clean, renewable sources of energy -- might just come from some of the world's smallest inhabitants -- bacteria -- according to a new report, "Microbial Energy Conversion," released by the American Academy of Microbiology. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/asfm-mop111606.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Institute for Human Genetics have shown for the first time that the severity of an adult neurodegenerative disease is tied to how well the brain developed shortly after birth. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/uom-uom111606.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Governor Ernie Fletcher's initiative to help Kentucky's high-tech small businesses spurred the state's General Assembly to fund a program that matches federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grants to those companies. The program is the first in the United States to specifically match federal SBIR and STTR Phase 2 awards and is part of Kentucky's plan to offer its high-tech small businesses comprehensive SBIR and STTR funding. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/kcfe-kfs111606.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST A dioxin toxin contained in the herbicide Agent Orange affects male reproductive health by limiting the growth of the prostate gland and lowering testosterone levels. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/usmc-etd111506.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Researchers have found that a class of RNA molecules, previously thought to have no function, may in fact protect sex cells from self-destructing. These findings will be published in the November 17 issue of the journal Cell. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/wifb-sdr111506.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Countering the widespread view of evolution as a process played out over the course of eons, evolutionary biologists have shown that natural selection can turn on a dime -- within months -- as a population's needs change. In a study of island lizards exposed to a new predator, the scientists found that natural selection dramatically changed direction over a very short time, within a single generation, favoring first longer and then shorter hind legs. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/hu-pbp111406.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST When you dial 911 you expect rescuers to pull up at your front door, unload and get busy -- not park the truck down the street and eat donuts. It's the same for a cell -- just before it divides, it recruits protein complexes that repair breakage that may have occurred along your 46 chromosomes. Without repair, damage caused by smoking, chemical mutagens, or radiation might be passed on to the next generation. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/si-drt111306.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST As wildfires put more and more human lives and property at risk, people are looking to fire managers for protection. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/uow-nme111306.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Two papers in Science report new discoveries regarding transcription, significantly advancing our understanding of the molecular machine that carries out the process. This breakthrough sets the stage for new opportunities in combating antibiotic-resistant bacterial diseases that kill 13 million persons worldwide each year, including the emerging virulent XDR tuberculosis strain. Richard Ebright's laboratory at Rutgers is at the center of these collaborative studies. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/rtsu-nty111306.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Droughts and longer summers tied to global warming are causing more fires in the Earth's vast northernmost forests, a phenomenon that will spew a steadily increasing amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/uof-fif111306.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST New research helps explain polio's persistence in India despite massive immunization efforts and offers hope for the campaign to stamp out the virus once and for all. The study, whose authors include some of the experts heading the global polio eradication effort, appears in the November 17 issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/aaft-sse111006.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Countering hypotheses that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists at UC Irvine have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where charred trees expose more snow, which reflects sunlight into space. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/uoc--ffm110906.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST This release contains summaries, links to PDFs and contact information for the following newsworthy papers to be published online, November 16, 2006, in the JCI, including: Repair not destruction: A new approach to treating retinopathy; Dendritic cells help keep pathogens locked up; and Identifying new effectors of cancer using RNAi. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/joci-jto110906.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Many diseases of the eye (such as diabetic retinopathy) that result in loss of vision are the result of the growth of abnormal blood vessels that leak and bleed. Current treatments prevent this abnormal blood vessel growth. However, the authors of a new study using a mouse model of retinopathy suggest that an alternative treatment strategy might be to repair these blood vessels so that they do not leak and bleed. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/joci-rnd110906.php Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST University of Alaska Fairbanks alumnus and UAF affiliate faculty Roger Kaye chronicles the campaign to preserve the area that eventually became the Arctic National Wildlife refuge. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/uoaf-tlg111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Active individuals lacking in B-vitamins -- including college athletes and other elite competitors -- may perform worse during high-intensity exercise and have a decreased ability to repair and build muscle than counterparts with nutrient-rich diets, a new study concludes. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/osu-pap111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The formation of myelin sheaths during development requires a complex choreography generally considered to be one of nature's most spectacular examples of the interaction between different kinds of cells. Now, a group of Vanderbilt researchers has successfully produced movies that provide the first direct view of the initial stage of this process: the period when the cells that ultimately produce the myelin sheathing spread throughout the developing nervous system. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/vu-mrt111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Sheila W. Chauvin, M.Ed., Ph.D., Director of the Office of Medical Education Research and Development at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, has been awarded a half million dollar grant to evaluate the influence of simulation on enhancing teamwork and a culture of patient safety in the operating room environment. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/lsuh-lrt111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Polymers, large molecules comprised of chains of repeating structures, are used in everything from the coatings on walls of ships and pipes to reduce flow drag to gene therapy. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/uom-sfn111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Long before they lit up movie screens in animated feature films or enthralled documentary film audiences worldwide with the story of their endless struggle to survive and reproduce, Emperor penguins intrigued early Antarctic explorers. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/nsf-vew111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST By analyzing sound, Montana State University electrical engineering professor Rob Maher's research could lead to systems that detect snipers and provide environmental monitoring of wildlands. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/msu-ltg111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Research performed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis sheds light on the mechanisms that contribute to liver disease in alpha-1-AT deficiency patients. People with alpha-1-deficiency have a genetic mutation that can lead to emphysema at an early age and to liver damage. Using an experimental mouse model of the disorder, the researchers investigated the effects of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug on liver injury. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/wuso-nil111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The veil of mystery surrounding our extinct hominid cousins, the Neanderthals, has been at least partially lifted to reveal surprising results. Scientists with the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) have sequenced genomic DNA from fossilized Neanderthal bones. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/dbnl-ngs111506.php Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST