Why brain-injured children often recover

The number of sites in children’s brains involved in language recognition decreases as the children age, according to a University of Cincinnati (UC) study. The finding, says Jerzy Szaflarski, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of neurology at the UC Academic Health Center, suggests that as a child grows more language proficient, recalling words may involve less effort. It also supports earlier explanations as to why young children who injure a large part of one side of the brain often recover completely, or almost completely.

That’s gotta hurt!

An enormous iceberg, C-16, rammed into the well-known Drygalski Ice Tongue, a large sheet of glacial ice and snow in the Central Ross Sea in Antarctica, on 30 March 2006, breaking off the tongue’s easternmost tip and forming a new iceberg.

Ants are really old

Ants are considerably older than previously believed, having originated 140 to 168 million years ago, according to new research on the cover of this week’s issue of the journal Science. But these resilient insects, now found in terrestrial ecosystems the world over, apparently began to diversify only about 100 million years ago in concert with the flowering plants, the scientists say.

Gov’t to Study VoIP Security Threats

The National Science Foundation has issued four awards for a multi-university collaboration to develop a geographically distributed, secure test bed to analyze vulnerabilities in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)–an increasingly popular technology that turns audio signals into digital data that can be transmitted over the Internet. The three-year project will investigate voice spam prevention (VoIP phone systems can be spammed like email), attacks on networks and Internet resources that render them unavailable (denial of service), quality of service, and 911 service dependability.

Great Moonbuggy Race Friday, Saturday

This weekend, high school and college students from across the country will rumble across the surface of the moon without ever leaving Earth. Fifty high school and college student teams are putting the finishing touches on designs of their very own lunar vehicles. Teams from the United States and Puerto Rico are competing in NASA’s 13th annual Great Moonbuggy Race.

Hope for slaying the ‘Yellow Monster’

Low-grade uranium ore is nicknamed “yellowcake” for its color and powdered consistency. The Navajo have another name: Leetso, or “yellow monster.” The yellow monster surfaced on the Navajo Nation with uranium mining that started in the 1940s and continued for the next several decades. In its aftermath came illnesses such as lung cancer among mine workers and worries about environmental contamination among people who live on that land.

Lobster Telescope Has Eye for X-Rays

UK astronomers have been at the forefront of designing a revolutionary new X-ray telescope that is based on the eyes of a lobster. By replicating the crustacean’s ability to observe objects all around it without turning its head, scientists are confident that the Lobster instrument will enable a major breakthrough in X-ray astronomy.

FIBREX Medical: Peptide for Myocardial Infarction Proves to be Safe

FIBREX Medical has successfully completed a first dose in man study with its lead product, the anti-inflammatory peptide FX06. FX06 is developed to prevent reperfusion injury, an undesired inflammatory reaction after acute myocardial infarction. The now completed clinical trial measured tolerability and pharmacokinetics of FX06 in healthy volunteers. The study confirmed the excellent safety profile of FX06 that has already been seen in experimental animal studies.