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Snowy days on the decline during Christmas season

It’s looking and feeling a lot less like Christmas in many parts of the country as higher temperatures and fewer snowfalls are becoming the norm from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve.
Looking at states that typically get snow, 197 of 260 weather stations have reported fewer days with snowfall since 1948, according to statistics provided by Dale Kaiser, a meteorologist in the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The survey looked at the 30-day period from Nov. 25 to Dec. 24 from 1948 to 2001.

Scientists lift great white sharks from ocean to fit with satellite tags

A group of scientists have perfected an unusual, hands-on method to study great white sharks, where these fearsome predators are gently hauled into research vessels to receive high-tech satellite tags. According to the scientists, the technique is safe to both shark and researcher, resulting in better data to understand ? and ultimately protect ? one of nature’s largest and most maligned carnivores. So far, seven sharks ranging up to eleven-and-a-half feet long and over 800 pounds have been tagged using this technique off the coast of South Africa, one of the world’s hot spots for great whites.

Study: Steroid use can cause long-term aggression

With the recent revelations about steroid use in Major League Baseball and the bust last week of several Oakland Raiders players for drug abuse, a Northeastern University researcher who studies the link between steroid use and aggression, has recently found evidence that use of anabolic steroids may have long-term effects on players’ behavior and aggression levels well after they stop using these performance enhancing drugs.

Researchers ID common link to LSD, speed, PCP effects on brain

A mouse study reported in this week’s Science magazine shows that three drugs, each acting on a different chemical transmitter in the brain, all produce the same schizophrenia-like symptoms by acting on a single “master molecule” in the brain. The findings, reported by researchers at Rockefeller University with collaboration from three pharmaceutical and biotech companies, provides, for the first time, a cellular model detailing how this crucial protein, known as DARPP-32, interacts with multiple neurotransmitter systems to produce behavior.

How to Hit Home Runs

A new study of the science behind baseball batting shows the best way to hit a home run — if you can do the math fast enough. In the November issue of the American Journal of Physics, researchers show what makes the ball fly farthest when it comes off the bat. The study turned up some surprises. Popular wisdom says you can hit a fastball further than a curve ball, but it turns out the opposite is true.

Smallpox mutation helps body resist HIV

People with a genetic mutation that makes them more resistant to the AIDS virus probably have smallpox to thank, according to two population geneticists at the University of California, Berkeley. About 10 percent of Europeans have a mutation that disables a protein the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) uses to slip into immune system cells. HIV-1 has a harder time infecting people who have a mutation in one of the two genes that code for this receptor protein, and if these people become infected, their disease progresses more slowly. Those with mutations in both copies of the gene are almost completely resistant to the virus

Researchers work on new muffler for auto industry

A study of muffler technology is giving American automakers new options for designing quieter cars. Engineers have tested a promising new muffler design that utilizes glass fiber, and are developing the computational tools manufacturers will need to optimize the design. The new design can often silence auto noise just as well as a typical muffler, but it can be lighter, less prone to corrosion, and help engines work more efficiently.

Researchers identify rare ‘Foreign Accent’ syndrome

A University of Central Florida speech expert has diagnosed an extremely rare disorder in a Sarasota woman that caused her to speak with a British accent after she suffered a stroke. The case of Foreign Accent Syndrome — a disorder linked to stroke-related or other internal brain injuries that leaves affected people with a foreign-sounding accent — is one of fewer than 20 reported worldwide since 1919, according to Jack Ryalls, professor of communicative disorders at UCF.

Space robot will help prevent landslides

One of the largest robots ever constructed will also be one of the most agile, thanks to technology derived from ESA space missions. Known as Roboclimber, this new climbing machine is designed to prevent landslides without endangering human lives. Expertise from manoeuvring satellites into correct orbit has been used to develop the Roboclimber, which will be remotely controlled by a system originally built for ESA to control space robots and a robotic satellite arm.

Software mines for new materials

A computational technique used to predict everything from books that a given customer might like to the function of an unknown protein is now being applied by MIT engineers and colleagues to the search for new materials. The team’s ultimate goal: a public online database that could aid the design of materials for almost any application, from nanostructure computer components to ultralight, high-strength alloys for airplanes.

Men, women differ on approaches to healthy lives

When it comes to exercising and quitting smoking, men may be closer than women to adopting these healthy behaviors as permanent habits, according to a new study of 554 low-income minorities. Men surveyed for the study were more likely than women to say that they were exercising regularly and that they had quit smoking for more than six months, say Erin L. O’Hea, Ph.D., of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and colleagues. Their findings appear in the American Journal of Health Behavior.

New form of hormone that helps songbirds reproduce

Scientists have known for many years that auditory cues such as song can influence hormone release and the growth of gonads in songbirds, but how the brain picks out specific sounds, interprets them correctly and translates them into hormonal and behavioral signals has remained a mystery. New evidence suggests a third form of a key reproduction hormone could be a link between song and enhanced procreation in songbirds.