ScienceBlog.com

The dinosaurs, along with the majority of all other animal species on Earth, went extinct approximately 65 million years ago. Some scientists have said that the impact of a large meteorite in the Yucatan Peninsula, in what is today Mexico, caused the mass extinction, while others argue that there must have been additional meteorite impacts or other stresses around the same time.

A new study provides compelling evidence that ‘one and only one impact’ caused the mass extinction, according to a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher…

For the first time, scientists have directly measured the amount of heat flowing from the molten metal of Earth’s core into a region at the base of the mantle, a process that helps drive both the movement of tectonic plates at the surface and the geodynamo in the core that generates Earth’s magnetic field.

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking is being honored with the world’s oldest award for scientific achievement, with a special high-altitude assist from NASA. The British Royal Society is awarding Professor Hawking its prestigious Copley Medal on Nov. 30 for his contributions to theoretical physics and theoretical cosmology. The silver gilt medal flew on space shuttle Discovery’s July 2006 mission to the International Space Station, at the initiative of crew member Piers Sellers, a native of Britain. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin will travel to London to help make the medal presentation.

A blind man suffering déjà vu. It sounds like a contradiction in terms – but the first case study of its kind has turned the whole theory of déjà vu on its head. Traditionally it was thought images from one eye were delayed, arriving in the brain microseconds after images from the other eye – causing a sensation that something was being seen for the second time. But University of Leeds researchers report for the first time the case of a blind person experiencing déjà vu through smell, hearing and touch.

As the baby boom generation grows older, where to live after retirement can be daunting task, if un-prepared (psychologically, mentally and/or socially) for post-retirement. Furthermore, independent living as one grows older, can be a rewarding experience, if a medical and social infrastructure have been properly entertained (Administration on Aging).

A new type of stethoscope enables doctors to hear the sounds of the body in extremely loud situations, such as during the transportation of wounded soldiers in Blackhawk helicopters. Using ultrasound technology, the kind used to generate images of internal organs, muscles and unborn fetuses, the new stethoscope design will be presented later this week at the Fourth Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of American and the Acoustical Society of Japan, which will be held at the Sheraton Waikiki and Royal Hawaiian Hotels in Honolulu, Hawaii.

An international team led by scientists from the United States and New Zealand have observed, for the first time, the bizarre deep-sea communities living around methane seeps off New Zealand’s east coast.

[+ Three Videos]

Many people with fibromyalgia – a debilitating pain syndrome that affects 2 to 4 percent of the population – have faced the question of whether the condition is real. Fibromyalgia often has been misdiagnosed as arthritis or even a psychological issue. Increasingly, though, the scientific knowledge about fibromyalgia is growing, and a new paper from the University of Michigan Health System says there are “overwhelming data” that the condition is real, is characterized by a lower pain threshold and is associated with genetic factors that can make some people more likely to develop fibromyalgia.

Neanderthals have always been considered genetically closer to us than any other members of the genus Homo. It has even been suggested that Neanderthals achieved adulthood faster than modern humans do today.

A research team from the United Kingdom, France and Italy has recently shed new light on this theory by studying this species’ teeth…

Science Communication

I have a baby and he needs a muscle biopsy to confirm a mitochondrial disease his 7 yr old sister has it but I can not find a Dr. that will accept Medicaid

Researchers have discovered that even a small amount of MDMA, better known as ecstasy, can be harmful to the brain, according to the first study to look at the neurotoxic effects of low doses of the recreational drug in new ecstasy users. “We found a decrease in blood circulation in some areas of the brain in young adults who just started to use ecstasy,” said Maartje de Win, M.D., radiology resident at the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. “In addition, we found a relative decrease in verbal memory performance in ecstasy users compared to non-users.”

Egyptian radiologists who performed the first-ever computed tomography (CT) evaluation of King Tutankhamun’s mummy believe they have solved the mystery of how the ancient pharaoh died. The CT images and results of their study were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Africa is the continent that will suffer most under global warming. Past history gives us lessons on the likely effects of future climate change. Of greatest concern are the ‘large infrequent disturbances’ to the climate as these will have the most devastating effects. In a new study from the Kenyan Tsavo National Park published today in the African Journal of Ecology, Dr Lindsey Gillson uncovers evidence for a drought that coincided with the harrowing period of Maasai history at the end of the 19th century termed “Emutai” meaning to wipe out.

Scientists have proven theoretically a novel way to build a simulator that can recreate the way atoms and particles behave in a quantum system, says research published today. The proposed simulator is unique because it could let researchers control how individual particles move and interact with each other. This ability to control individual parts of a quantum system is key to the development of powerful quantum computers in the future.

The successful synthesis of an antibiotic in a non-native host has provided a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the potential for developing new treatments for bacterial infections. The rapid rise of antibiotic resistance poses a serious threat to human health, and demands new treatments effective against resistant pathogens. Fosfomycin is a natural antibiotic approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of various bacterial infections, and has proven effective for the treatment of infections that have become resistant to the antibiotics penicillin and vancomycin.

Cetaceans, the group of marine mammals that includes whales and dolphins, have demonstrated remarkable auditory and communicative abilities, as well as complex social behaviors. A new study published online November 27, 2006 in The Anatomical Record, the official journal of the American Association of Anatomists,compared a humpback whale brain with brains from several other cetacean species and found the presence of a certain type of neuron cell that is also found in humans. This suggests that certain cetaceans and hominids may have evolved side by side.

Whether or not ordained women have had a significant impact over the past decade, they will save the Church from sinking in the future, according to ESRC-sponsored research at the University of Manchester. Dr David Voas, a senior researcher at the university’s School of Social Sciences said: “Nearly half of all priests ordained in recent years have been women. Close to a quarter of male parish priests are 60 or older, and their average age is 54. Without women, the pulpits would become as de-populated as the pews in the years to come.”