Dolphins are supremely agile swimmers, but it wasn’t clear how their fins help them maneuver though water. Building scale models of whale and dolphins’ fins, a team of US scientists has found that some dolphins’ fins work just like delta wing aircraft.
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People who eat lots of soy products have better lung function, and are less likely to develop the smoking-associated lung disease COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). A new study has shown that consumption of a wide variety of soy products can be associated with a reduction in the risk of COPD and other respiratory symptoms.
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NASA’s Mars rover Spirit, lodged in Martian soil that is causing traction trouble, is taking advantage of the situation by learning more about the Red Planet’s environmental history.
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A new study suggests that people with ample moral self-worth in one aspect of their lives can slip into immorality or opposite behavior in other areas — their abundant self-esteem somehow pushing them to balance out all that goodness. Conversely, the study shows, people who engage in immoral behavior cleanse themselves with good work to [...]
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Experiment after experiment confirms that a diet on the brink of starvation expands lifespan in mice and many other species. But the molecular mechanism that links nutrition and survival is still poorly understood. Now, researchers have identified a pivotal role for two enzymes that work together to determine the health benefits of diet restriction.
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A variation in a gene that is active in the central nervous system is associated with increased risk for obesity, according to a new study. The research adds to evidence that genes influence appetite and that the brain plays a key role in obesity.
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Infected implants now have a foe. Researchers have created a nanoparticle that can penetrate a bacterial-produced film on prosthetics and kill the bacteria. The finding is the first time that iron-oxide nanoparticles have been shown to eliminate a bacterial infection on an implanted prosthetic device.
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Researchers have discovered a link between copper and the normal functioning of prion proteins, which are associated with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases such as Cruetzfeldt-Jakob in humans or “mad cow” disease in cattle. Their work could have implications for patients suffering from these diseases, as well as from other prion-related diseases such as Alzheimers or [...]
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People in very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease already have trouble focusing on what is important to remember, psychologists report.
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Upon receipt of the last command from Earth, the transmitter on Ulysses will switch off on 30 June, bringing one of the most successful and longest missions in spaceflight history to an end. Ulysses, which operated for more than 18 years, had charted the unexplored regions of space above the poles of the sun.