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- Scientists use Shakespeare to explore DNA's storage capacity
Scientists at the European Bioinformatics Institute used DNA to write out all 154 of William Shakespeare's sonnets and encode audio portions of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech to show the vast storage capabilities of DNA strands. Scientists say one gram of DNA is capable of holding more than a million CDs and could be a new way to digitally store massive amounts of information for thousands of years. The Guardian (London)
(1/23)
    
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- How to solve a decades-old space mystery with $5 million
A $5 million telescope launched by NASA has sent back high-resolution images of the sun's atmosphere that help solve a 30-year-old mystery. Scientists have long wondered why the star's corona is a scorching 2 million to 4 million degrees Fahrenheit, while its surface is much cooler, at 5,000 degrees. The images show small magnetic fields creating massive amounts of tension, then breaking apart into flares that get as hot as 7 million degrees. "Sometimes this small-scale process stalls, extra stress builds up, and then the relaxation happens on a much larger scale, causing a flare or coronal mass ejection," said one scientist involved with the mission. Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model)/Science Now blog
(1/23)
- Study: Monogamous owl monkeys have more young
Owl monkeys that stay with their original reproductive partner have 25% more young than those who change partners, which researchers say should suggest how monogamy may have evolved in humans. The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, suggests that the evolution of monogamy and pair bonds may have improved the species' reproductive fitness. "Monogamy makes sense for these primates, because the male who sticks to a female is certain about the paternity of the young, and so he invests in their care," said anthropologist Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, the study's co-author. LiveScience.com
(1/23)
- Large herbivore dinosaur had a brain the size of a tennis ball
Using CT scans, scientists have reconstructed the skull of the largest-known dinosaur and found that the creature's brain was no bigger than a tennis ball. The 70-million-year old Ampelosaurus, discovered in Cuenca, Spain, in 2007, was a sauropod, long-tailed herbivore. "We don't see much expansion of brain size in this group of animals as they go through time ... . They apparently hit on something and stuck with it -- expansion of brain size over time wasn't a major focus of theirs," said researcher Lawrence Witmer. LiveScience.com
(1/23)
- Did a starchy diet help create man's best friend?
Dogs' ability to digest starch may have contributed to their domestication, according to new genetic analysis that also suggests humans who lived off farmed foods went through similar genetic changes. The findings, reported in the journal Nature, also suggests differences in brain development between dogs and wolves that contributed to behavioral changes as dogs became domesticated. "Now we're also trying to take the behavioral side of the story further to try to pinpoint the genes, the individual mutations, to understand exactly how they might have changed the dog brain and dog behavior," said the study's researcher. LiveScience.com
(1/23)
- Drug-resistant bacteria are "a hidden epidemic"
Bacteria are quickly becoming resistant to known antibiotics, and few new drugs are being developed to fill the void, experts say. Antibiotics are not as profitable for drugmakers as drugs to treat chronic diseases, so the federal government should develop a system to reward discovery and development of new antibiotics, says infectious-disease specialist Jeffrey Jacobson. The Philadelphia Inquirer
(1/22)
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- WHO: Investment in cures for neglected diseases get positive results
Global support, cost-effective medicine and new public health strategies have helped tackle neglected tropical diseases, according to a World Health Organization report published last week. The findings report "unprecedented progress" in treating and nearly eliminating many NTDs, but adds that some diseases such as sleeping sickness remain costly to treat. Just 0.12% of the $28 million donated for global health was allocated to NTD treatments, one official says, but such investments have helped stimulate positive social and economic outcomes for poverty-stricken countries. SciDev.net
(1/23)
- Coalition lifts H5N1 research ban amid objections
According to a statement released Wednesday, scientists worldwide have agreed it's time to lift a voluntary ban on avian influenza research that began in 2012 after two researchers independently developed strains that easily passed between ferrets. Although some object to lifting the ban, the scientists said research should only proceed in nations that have developed a framework for research into avian influenza. The Toronto Star
(1/23)
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