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Submission + - How Heroin Addicts Helped Scientists Link Pesticides and Parkinson's (acs.org)

Submitted by carmendrahl
carmendrahl writes: Exposure to certain pesticides, including rotenone and paraquat, has been associated with a higher incidence of Parkinson's disease in population studies. But how did scientists come to think of a link between Parkinson's disease and pesticides in the first place? The answer involves the 1980s drug underworld, where criminals were synthesizing modified versions of illegal drugs such as heroin to stay one step ahead of the law. One molecule in some designer heroin cocktails, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), breaks down in the human body into 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+), a nerve cell killer. Heroin addicts exposed to this molecule got Parkinson's-like symptoms. As for the connection to pesticides, MPP+ is a weed killer that was used in the 70s. It also closely resembles the structure of the pesticide paraquat. The saga, therefore, put scientists on high alert to the possibility that pesticides might play a role in developing Parkinson's.

Submission + - A One-Two Therapeutic Punch For Hard-To-Treat Breast Cancer (acs.org)

Submitted by laurenkwolf
laurenkwolf writes: Women with triple-negative breast cancer, a rare but aggressive form of the disease, often find that it is difficult to treat. An early diagnosis allows more treatment options, but women with this type of cancer generally have a lower survival rate than those with other types of breast cancers. To tackle the disease, a team of researchers has developed a nanoparticle that delivers both a gene silencer and cancer drug to weaken the tumors' defenses and kill the malignant lumps.

Submission + - New tests don't prove "Into the Wild"'s Chris McCandless died from poison (acs.org)

Submitted by carmendrahl
carmendrahl writes: In 1992, 24-year-old Christopher McCandless died alone in the Alaska wilderness. His tale was immortalized in the book "Into the Wild". Last month in a New Yorker blog post, author Jon Krakauer cited a new chemical analysis supporting the idea that McCandless ate wild potato seeds that contain a neurotoxic amino acid called beta-ODAP. But the new data doesn't support his claim, chemists say. Krakauer contracted a lab that used HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography), a technique that has been used previously to separate a seed extract into the individual amino acids and other components that make it up. However, the data show that the potato seed extract was barely separated at all, so it's impossible to tell what the seeds contain. Chemists say the current data is not conclusive in any way, but that the beta-ODAP theory is worth follow-up tests, including a better HPLC separation with mass spectrometry.

Submission + - New Headphones Generate Sound With Carbon Nanotubes (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: A new type of headphone heats up carbon nanotubes to crank out tunes. The tiny speaker doesn’t rely on moving parts and instead produces sound through the thermoacoustic effect. When an alternating current passes through the nanotubes, the material heats and cools the air around it; as the air warms, it expands, and as it cools, it contracts. This expansion and contraction creates sound waves. The new nanotube speaker could be manufactured at low cost in the same facilities used to make computer chips, the researchers say.

Submission + - Why Are Cells The Size They Are? Gravity May Be A Factor (acs.org) 1

Submitted by carmendrahl
carmendrahl writes: Eukaryotic cells, which are defined by having a nucleus, rarely grow larger than 10 m in diameter. Scientists know a few reasons why this is so. A new study suggests another reason--gravity. Studying egg cells from the frog Xenopus laevis, which reach as big as 1 mm across and are common research tools, Princeton researchers Marina Feric and Clifford Brangwynne noticed that the insides of the eggs' nuclei settled to the bottom when they disabled a mesh made from the cytoskeleton protein actin. They think the frog eggs evolved the mesh to counteract gravity, which according to their calculations becomes significant if cells get bigger than 10 m in diameter.

Submission + - Galileo: right on the solar system, wrong on ice? (acs.org)

Submitted by carmendrahl
carmendrahl writes: Famed astronomer Galileo Galilei is best known for taking on the Catholic Church by championing the idea that the Earth moves around the sun. But he also engaged in a debate with a philosopher about why ice floats on water. While his primary arguments were correct, he went too far, belittling legitimate, contradictory evidence given by his opponent, Ludovico delle Colombe. Galileo's erroneous arguments during the water debate are a useful reminder that the path to scientific enlightenment is not often direct and that even our intellectual heroes can sometimes be wrong.

Submission + - Looking beyond corn and sugarcane for cost-effective biofuels (acs.org)

Submitted by carmendrahl
carmendrahl writes: The abundance of shale gas in the U.S. is expected to lower the cost of petrochemicals for fuel and other applications. That's making it harder for plant-based, renewable feedstocks to compete in terms of price. In the search for cost-competitive crops, companies are testing plants other than traditional biofuel sources such as corn and sugarcane. In a video, watch how the firm Canergy is test-growing a relative of sugarcane called energy cane, which is expected to yield 5 times the ethanol per acre compared to corn.

Submission + - Reversible Male Contraception With Gold Nanorods (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: Men’s options for birth control have significant downsides: Condoms are not as effective as hormonal methods for women, and vasectomies require surgery and are irreversible. Doctors and scientists have for decades searched for more effective and desirable male contraception options. Researchers in China now propose a nonsurgical, reversible, and low-cost method. They show that infrared laser light heats up gold nanorods injected into mice testes, leading to reduced fertility in the animals.

Submission + - Bandages That Can Turn Off Genes (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: Medical researchers think specially tailored RNA sequences could kill tumor cells or encourage wound healing by turning off genes in patients’ cells. Now researchers have developed a nanocoating for bandages or other medical materials that could deliver these fragile gene-silencing RNAs right where they’re needed. The team hopes to produce a bandage that shuts down genes standing in the way of healing in chronic wounds.

Submission + - Electronics Made From Hemp (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: A low-cost chemical process can turn hemp fiber into carbon nanomaterials. Researchers used the materials to make devices called supercapacitors that provide quick bursts of electrical energy. Supercapacitors made with the hemp nanosheets put out more power than commercial devices can.

Submission + - Urine Test May Detect Pregnancy Problems (acs.org)

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: By analyzing chemicals in the urine of expectant mothers, doctors could diagnose problems in pregnancy in the second trimester, earlier than with many current tests, according to a new study. Researchers connected signatures of certain chemicals in pregnant women's urine to complications, such as preeclampsia, preterm delivery, and gestational diabetes. The chemical signatures appeared in the women's urine before they were diagnosed with the conditions.

Submission + - No Home for Facebook at AT&T: HTC First to be discontinued (bgr.com)

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: The HTC First, or “Facebook phone” as many prefer to call it, is officially a flop. It certainly wasn’t a good sign when AT&T dropped the price of HTC’s First to $0.99 just one month after its debut, and now BGR has confirmed that HTC and Facebook’s little experiment is nearing its end. BGR has learned from a trusted source that sales of the HTC First have been shockingly bad. So bad, in fact, that AT&T has already decided to discontinue the phone...

Submission + - AIDS activists' legacy lives on in hunt for rare disease treatments. (acs.org)

Submitted by carmendrahl
carmendrahl writes: People affected by exceedingly rare diseases are taking a page from the AIDS epidemic- they’re lobbying Congress and taking matters into their own hands to find cures. Because rare diseases afflict so few people (sometimes a dozen or less), thousands of diseases have been ignored for decades. Now, a shift in big pharmaceutical companies’ business models away from multi-billion-dollar blockbuster drugs is coinciding with a deeper understanding of the genetic underpinnings of rare diseases. And government policies introduced just last year have created new incentives to serve small patient populations. The collision of factors-patient advocates, science, and government incentives- has made rare disease drugs one of the fastest-growing areas of drug development.

Submission + - Carnivorous Plant Ejects Junk DNA (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: The carnivorous humped bladderwort, found on all continents except Antarctica, is a model of ruthless genetic efficiency. Only 3% of this aquatic plant's DNA is not part of a known gene, new research shows. In contrast, only 2% of human DNA is part of a gene. The bladderwort, named for its water-filled bladders that suck in unsuspecting prey, is a relative of the tomato. The finding overturns the notion that this repetitive, non-coding DNA, popularly called "junk" DNA, is necessary for life.

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