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168,137 articles from ScienceDaily

Omega-3 Kills Cancer Cells

Docosahexanoic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oils, has been shown to reduce the size of tumors and enhance the positive effects of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, while limiting its harmful side effects. The rat experiments provide some support for the plethora of health benefits often ascribed to omega-3...

Brain Cells Have 'Memory', Researcher Discovers

As we look at the world around us, images flicker into our brains like disparate pixels on a computer screen that change several times a second. Yet we don't perceive the world as a constantly flashing computer display. Why not? Neuroscientists think that part of the answer lies in a special region of the brain's visual cortex which is in charge of distinguishing between background and foreground...

Bent Tectonics: How Hawaii Was Bumped Off

More than 80 undersea volcanoes and a multitude of islands are dotted along the Hawaii-Emperor seamount chain like pearls on a necklace. A sharp bend in the middle is the only blemish. The long-standing explanation for this distinctive feature was a change in direction of the Pacific oceanic plate in its migration over a stationary hotspot – an apparently unmoving volcano deep within the earth....

Collapse Of The Ice Bridge Supporting Wilkins Ice Shelf Appears Imminent

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is at risk of partly breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula as the ice bridge that connects it to Charcot and Latady Islands looks set to collapse. The beginning of what appears to be the demise of the ice bridge began this week when new rifts forming along its center axis resulted in a large block of ice breaking...

Does A New Popular Form Of Psychotherapy (Acceptance And Commitment Therapy) Work?

An analysis of the studies which have been conducted with a new, increasingly popular, form of psychotherapy (acceptance and commitment therapy, ACT) is raising doubts on the specificity of the strategy. The results reveal that ACT is more effective than control conditions for several problem domains, but there is no evidence yet that ACT is more effective than established...

Graduate Student Researcher Takes Aim At Deadly Brain Tumors

A fourth-year graduate student researcher is investigating what might be an ideal target for anti-cancer drug therapy, and she is focusing her work on brain tumors specifically. The National Cancer Institute estimates that in 2008, there were 21,810 diagnoses of brain tumors and other nervous system disorders in the United...

Invasive Species: Will Europe At Last Unite To Combat Thousands Of Alien Invaders?

Europe's borders have been breached by thousands of plants and animal species from other parts of the world: from the American mink to the New Zealand flatworm. The invaders feed on, hybridize with, parasitize and out-compete native species. They also introduce diseases, alter the balance within ecosystems, modify landscapes and impact upon agriculture, forestry and...

Is Your Cognitive And Physical Functioning OK? New Instrument To Check It

A group of Italian and American investigators has published a new instrument for assessing cognitive and physical functioning (the Massachusetts General Hospital Cognitive and Physical Functioning Questionnaire, CPFQ), in mood and anxiety disorders. The CPFQ seems to be a unifactorial scale, with strong internal consistency, good temporal stability and sensitivity to change with treatment. Further...

New Methods And Tools For Development Of Embedded Systems

Scientists have developed new methods and tools for the development of embedded systems. The aircraft, car, industrial automation, electronics and telecommunications industries in particular can benefit from methods for the development of even safer systems than before.

One Of Brightest Gamma-Ray Bursts Ever Seen

Integral has captured one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever seen. A meticulous analysis of the data has allowed astronomers to investigate the initial phases of this giant stellar explosion, which led to the ejection of matter at velocities close to the speed of light. In particular, the astronomers believe that the explosion lifted a piece of the central engine’s magnetic field into...

New Architects Of Service-oriented Computing

European researchers have developed a new approach and tools for the deployment of robust software over service-oriented architecture, where applications are no longer blocks of immovable software running on a computer’s operating system, but a mix of web services developed on application...

New Strategy Developed To Diagnose Melanoma

Scientists have developed a technique to distinguish benign moles from malignant melanomas by measuring differences in levels of genetic markers. Standard microscopic examinations of biopsied tissue can be ambiguous and somewhat subjective, the researchers say, and supplementing standard practice with the new technique is expected to help clarify difficult-to-diagnose...

No Sponge In Human Family Tree: Sponges Descended From Unique Ancestor

New research shows that all sponges descended from a unique sponge ancestor, who in turn was not the ancestor of all other animals. That means that humans did not descend from a sponge-like organism either, as some scientists have put forward. Moreover, the results also suggest that the nervous system only evolved once in animal...

Fitter Frames: Nanotubes Boost Structural Integrity Of Composites

Chemists have demonstrated that incorporating chemically treated carbon nanotubes into an epoxy composite can significantly improve the overall toughness, fatigue resistance and durability of a composite frame. The discovery could lead to tougher, more durable composite frames for aircraft, watercraft and...