One of the pleasures of perusing ancient maps is locating regions so poorly explored that mapmakers warned of dragons and sea monsters. Now, astronomers using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope find themselves in the same situation as cartographers of old. A new study of the ever-present fog of gamma rays from sources outside our galaxy [...]

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Doctors treat millions of children with Ritalin every year to improve their ability to focus on tasks, but scientists now report that Ritalin also directly enhances the speed of learning.

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Researchers have integrated textual information with archaeological research in order to further understand the impact of the reign of China’s first emperor.

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Breast cancer patients with early stage disease that has spread to only one lymph node may not benefit from radiation after mastectomy, because of the low present-day risk of recurrence following modern surgery and systemic therapy, a finding that could one day change the course of treatment for thousands of women diagnosed each year, according [...]

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Researchers have discovered a new method for predicting — with up to 99 percent accuracy — the fate of stem cells. Using advanced computer vision technology to detect subtle cell movements that are impossible to discern with the human eye, scientists can successfully forecast how a stem cell will split and what key characteristics the [...]

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admin on March 8th, 2010

Simple motor actions, like moving marbles upward or downward between two cardboard boxes, may not seem meaningful. But a new study shows that motor actions can partly determine people’s emotional memories. Moving marbles upward caused participants to remember more positive life experiences, and moving them downward to remember more negative experiences. ‘Meaningless’ motor actions can [...]

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Isolating the minute crystals of the PSI super complex from the pea plant, a biochemistry researcher suggests these crystals can be illuminated and used as small battery chargers or form the core of more efficient man-made solar cells.

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Scientists have identified a region of a human chromosome that is associated with eosinophilic esophagitis, a recently recognized allergic disease. People with EoE frequently have difficulty eating or may be allergic to one or more foods. This study further suggests that a suspected so-called master allergy gene may play a role in the development of [...]

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Twenty billion pieces of DNA in 100 small fish have opened the eyes of biologists studying evolution. After combining new technologies, researchers now know many of the genomic regions that allowed an ocean-dwelling fish to adapt to fresh water in several independently evolved populations.

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admin on March 8th, 2010

When treating cancer, it is an advantage to know the rate of growth of the cancer tumor. The standard method currently used to determine tumor growth, however, is erroneous, according to researchers who have developed a new model.

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