ScienceBlog.com

The language we speak affects half of what we see, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. Scholars have long debated whether our native language affects how we perceive reality — and whether speakers of different languages might therefore see the world differently. The idea that language affects perception is controversial, and results have conflicted. A paper published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences supports the idea — but with a twist.

UCLA paleobiologist J. William Schopf and colleagues have produced 3-D images of ancient fossils — 650 million to 850 million years old — preserved in rocks, an achievement that has never been done before. If a future space mission to Mars brings rocks back to Earth, Schopf said the techniques he has used, called confocal laser scanning microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, could enable scientists to look at microscopic fossils inside the rocks to search for signs of life, such as organic cell walls. These techniques would not destroy the rocks.

Moondust. “I wish I could send you some,” says Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan. Just a thimbleful scooped fresh off the lunar surface. “It’s amazing stuff.” Feel it—it’s soft like snow, yet strangely abrasive.
Taste it—”not half bad,” according to Apollo 16 astronaut John Young. Sniff it—”it smells like spent gunpowder,” says Cernan. How do you sniff moondust? Every Apollo astronaut did it.

The use of suicide terrorism—a tactic employed so effectively in the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001—has grown dramatically during the past five years. From 1999-2004, there were 3.5 times as many suicide terrorist attacks as had occurred from 1983 to 1998. In 2005, the number soared even higher, with a significant concentration of attacks occurring in Iraq. “From a cost-benefit perspective, suicide terrorism is quite effective,” said Dr. Ami Pedahzur, associate professor of government at The University of Texas at Austin and a terrorism expert. “A suicide bomber with an explosives belt kills on average four times as many people as an attack with a delayed detonation device or a shooting attack.”

My comments yesterday about the attempt to silence NASA climate expert James Hansen drew a surprising amount of interest. That’s a good sign. The attempt at censorship is producing a very productive backlash.

We love to laugh at those hapless contestants on “The Newlywed Game.” She thought he loved her tuna casserole; he surreptitiously slipped it to the dog. He thought she loved massages; they actually caused her back pain. Turns out, though, that they’re not alone. Researchers from the University of Michigan and Columbia University recently compared how well people think their friends know them to their actual taste in movies and restaurants. They found that we tend to overestimate personal information more in close friends than in acquaintances.

When Sylvia the baboon lost Sierra, her closest grooming partner and daughter, to a lion, she responded in a way that would be considered very human-like: she looked to friends for support. According to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, baboons physiologically respond to bereavement in ways similar to humans, with an increase in stress hormones called glucocorticoids. Baboons can lower their glucocorticoid levels through friendly social contact, expanding their social network after the loss of specific close companions.

Investigators have discovered that some type of protective system goes into action in some cases when a baby’s immune system is deficient. This discovery indicates a hidden safety net that might have far-reaching consequences for treating diseases of the immune system such as AIDS. The Mayo Clinic-led study was conducted with colleagues in Toronto and Baltimore, and is reported in the early online edition of the Feb. 1 Journal of Immunology.

Traditional polygraph tests to determine whether someone is lying may take a back seat to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), according to a study appearing in the February issue of Radiology. Researchers from Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia used fMRI to show how specific areas of the brain light up when a person tells a lie.

Scientists at the University of York have launched a new research project which aims to develop ways of making bones from blood. Researchers from the University’s Department of Biology are heading the EC-backed project to create bone structures from cord blood stem cells for use in the repair of bone defects and fractures.

Soy protein in the diet or from nutritional supplements has little or no effect on the risk factors for heart disease, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. After analyzing 22 studies, an association committee found that large amounts of soy protein in the diet only reduced low-density lipoproteins (LDL) or “bad cholesterol” 3 percent and had no effect on high-density lipoproteins (HDL), or “good cholesterol”, nor on lipoprotein(a) or blood pressure.

Taking dietary supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids or regularly consuming fish does not appear to reduce a person’s risk of developing cancer, according to the findings of an in-depth analysis of large-scale U.S. and foreign population studies. The results of the analysis, which was supported by HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements, are published in the January 25, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

It wasn’t publicized, other than by word of mouth, and still the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine was overwhelmed with requests. Since 1998, the school’s oncology department has been producing an anti-cancer vaccine for dogs diagnosed with melanoma. Though it is still an experimental treatment, dog owners from all over the nation have wanted to participate in the study, on the remote chance that this would help their pet.

Fluoride varnish, a dental preventive treatment, reduces the incidence of early childhood tooth decay in combination with dental health counseling for parents, according to a study by investigators at the UCSF School of Dentistry.

Materials scientists at Lehigh University and catalyst chemists at Cardiff University have uncovered secrets of the “nanoworld” that promise to lead to cleaner methods of producing, among other things, spices and perfumes. The materials scientists, headed by Christopher Kiely of Lehigh, have determined the structure of a type of gold-palladium nanoparticle, which is the active component of a new environmentally friendly catalyst that promotes the oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes.

There is a lot of good advice to help us avoid becoming obese, such as “Eat less,” and “Exercise.” But here’s a new and surprising piece of advice based on a promising area of obesity research: “Wash your hands.”

Hurricanes can completely re-structure themselves inside, and that presents forecasters with great uncertainty when predicting their effects on the general population. Recently, scientists used data from NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite to analyze transformations that take place inside a hurricane.

Researchers have identified the precursors of cells in the skin that are part of the first line of defense against invading pathogens. A tight network of cells covering the entire body is formed in the skin by a group of cells known as Langerhans cells. These cells ingest antigens present in the skin and transport them to lymph nodes, activating the immune system to protect the body against pathogens.

According to Andrew Revkin writing in the New York Times, “The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.” Having reviewed a number of books on the subject, I know Dr. James Hansen by reputation and consider this one of the most egregious attacks in the Bush administration’s ongoing war on science.

Over the holidays, high-school sophomore Katie Nance painted her room a cool shade of blue. But she and her schoolmates chose something much bolder for the ocean buoy they recently constructed for an international oceanography program. Their bright red buoy is being launched off the coast of Antarctica this month. If all goes well, the buoy will phone home, thanks to a satellite connection, sending back data on ocean temperatures that will be available to scientists and students around the world.