A common food additive that gives M&Ms and Gatorade their blue tint may offer promise for preventing the additional — and serious — secondary damage that immediately follows a traumatic injury to the spinal cord. In the study, researchers report that the compound Brilliant Blue G stops the cascade of molecular events that cause damage [...]

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Smokeless tobacco products, as used in Europe and North America, do not appear to increase cancer risk. A large meta-analysis has shown that snuff as used in Scandinavia has no discernible effect on the risk of various cancers. Products used in the past in the US may have increased the risk, but any effect that [...]

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admin on July 29th, 2009

Governments must act urgently to halt loss of habitats and invading species that are posing major threats to biodiversity and causing species extinctions across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, according to a new study.

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Switching off a key DNA repair system in the developing nervous system is linked to smaller brain size as well as problems in brain structures vital to movement, memory and emotion, according to new research.

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Scientists have found the size of this year’s Gulf of Mexico dead zone to be smaller than forecasted, measuring 3,000 square miles. However the dead zone, which is usually limited to water just above the sea floor, was severe where it did occur, extending closer to the water surface then in most years.

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admin on July 29th, 2009

A new system that can tell when you are yawning and could prevent road traffic accidents.

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Evidence buried in the chromosomes of animals and plants strongly suggests only one group — mammals — have seen their genomes shrink after the dinosaurs’ extinction. What’s more, that trend continues today.

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Medical researchers have released promising data from a clinical study showing patient-specific cancer vaccines derived from patients’ own cancer cells and immune cells were well tolerated and resulted in impressive long-term survival rates in patients with metastatic melanoma whose disease had been minimized by other therapies.

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admin on July 29th, 2009

New research showing the atom-by-atom growth of carbon nanotubes reveals they spin stepwise as they grow, much like a ticking clock. The research provides the first experimental evidence of how individual atoms are added to growing nanotubes.

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Schistosomiasis, one of the most important of the neglected tropical diseases, is caused by infection with parasitic helminths of the genus Schistosoma. These parasites are long lived and dwell within blood vessels, where they produce eggs that become the focus of intense, chronic inflammatory responses. In severe cases, this inflammation is associated with life-threatening liver [...]

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