Naked Science News

Flying dolphins

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:23:10 +0100

Scientists have uncovered the secret behind some dolphin's amazing aquatic acrobatics: they have flippers that work in the same way as delta wing, those characteristic triangular-shaped wings on figh...

Urine test for appendicitis

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:55:08 +0100

The most common reason children go to hospital for emergency surgery is for appendicitis, but diagnosing the disease remains problematic. The symptoms are not always clear and can be mistaken for othe...

Serial killer sharks

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:54:03 +0100

Scientists have shed light on how those iconic ocean predators, great white sharks, go about catching their prey. It turns out they have something in common with human serial killers. Great white sha...

In-Flight Mind Reading

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:39:04 +0100

In a first study of its kind, researchers have recorded what's going on in a pigeon's brain during flight. Writing in the journal Current Biology, researchers at the University of Zurich wanted to ...

Margaret Thatcher and the Evolution of Face Recognition

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:51:08 +0100

Research from Emory University this week shows that we, and our ancestors, have been recognising faces in much the same way for 30 million years or more. By watching how Rhesus Macaques respond to a ...

Malarial Achilles Heel

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:02:22 +0100

Researchers in Australia have uncovered a cellular linchpin that malaria uses to hijack its hosts. Writing in Nature, Melbourne-based Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher Tania de Koning-Ward an...

Underground oceans on Enceladus?

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:49:37 +0100

An ocean of liquid water could well exist beneath the icy exterior of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, scientists have said this week. Two papers published in Nature, one by Frank Postberg at Heidelb...

Social Networking in Fish

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:17:54 +0100

UK scientists have discovered that some fish learn by watching the experiences of others. Durham University scientist Jeremy Kendal, writing in the journal Behavioural Ecology, caught 270 stickleback...

RNA-away liver tumours

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:39:39 +0100

Scientists have used a genetic technique to successfully treat mice with liver tumours. Writing in the current edition of the journal Cell, Ohio State University researcher Jerry Mendell and his tea...

Size does matter

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:13:17 +0100

Giant sperm have been found inside ancient fossil crustaceans, revealing just how long ago these enormous male sex cells evolved. The oceans 100 million years ago were full of males hotly competing wi...

Extraordinary snakes

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:12:56 +0100

There's an old wives tale that snakes hypnotise their prey, but a new study has revealed even more amazing - but real - goings-on in the snake world. Tentacled snakes (Erpaton tentaculatum) have evolv...

Green way to terminate termites

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:54:14 +0100

By studying termites' immune systems scientists have found a sweet solution to getting rid of the pests, but in a green way. Writing in this week's PNAS, Northeastern University researcher Mark Bulme...

Plants take a leaf out of insects' books

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:48:20 +0100

Scientists have discovered the trick that keeps certain trees' seeds aloft - and it turns out they use the same strategy as insects. Writing in this week's Science, Harvard researcher David Lentink a...

Typhoons trigger earthquakes

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:41:27 +0100

Scientists have uncovered evidence that large storms can trigger certain types of earthquake. Writing in this week's Nature, Taiwan-based researcher ChiChing Liu from Academic Sinica in Taipei togeth...

Understanding Huntington's Disease

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:33:33 +0100

Huntington's disease is a degenerative disease of the nervous system that sets in when a person is in their 30s or 40s, although they show no signs of the disease before it kicks in. Over a decade ago...

Betelgeuse the shrinking star

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:03:46 +0100

Betelgeuse, as well as being an 80's classic film is one of the brightest stars in the sky. It is also Orion's right shoulder. It is one of the largest stars we know known as a red supergiant, with a ...

Pot Dating

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:52:22 +0100

If you are an archeologist looking at a new site, one of the first things you want to know is how old it is. Radiocarbon dating can answer this question for organic objects that contain carbon, but ...

Warblers Learn who to Trust

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:17:26 +0100

Back in February, I reported on a paper in the journal Current Biology about how Reed Warblers protect themselves from being parasitized by cuckoos. Now in a follow up paper published in this week's ...

Giggling Gorillas and Chuckling Chimps

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:02:24 +0100

Laughter is a wonderful thing to hear - but would you recognise it coming from anything other than a human?In a delightful study published in this week's Current Biology, Marie Davila-Ross and colleag...

Squid don't just see with their eyes

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:25:29 +0100

Squid, those slippery denizens of the deep, may not only see through their enormous round eyes but it seems they can also detect light all along their bodies as well. Researchers from the University ...

Modified Botox stops cell secretions

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:44:25 +0100

Scientists have found a way to alter the botulinum toxin (botox), which is often used to iron out skin wrinkles, so that it can be used to treat cystic fibrosis and other lung conditions. Writing in...

Social networking teaches birds to fend off cuckoos

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:39:34 +0100

Scientists have discovered that birds have more than just evolution to thank for their ability to ward off unwanted approaches from cuckoos - they also have the avian equivalent of neigbourhood watch ...

Laugh, and the primate world laughs with you

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:29:09 +0100

Scientists have shown that the human ability to laugh isn't so human after all: our close primate cousins do it too. Writing in the journal Current Biology, Portsmouth University researcher Marina Da...

The oldest known leper

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:12:42 +0100

This week scientists have uncovered what they think is the world's oldest example of a leprosy victim. This is a paper in the journal PLoS One and the pictures are absolutely stunning; to an ost...

Low-down on how Prozac knocks depression on the head

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:28:49 +0100

Scientists have discovered part of the process through which antidepressants boost mood. Writing in the journal Neuron, University of Paris-Sud scientist Denis David and his colleagues explain how the...

Freeze on oil

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:16:56 +0100

American researchers have discovered that the Arctic Circle may contain as much as 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas deposits and upto 13% of undiscovered oil, or double what we first though...

Fatty acids affect genes

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:53:20 +0100

We hear a lot about good fats and bad fats, and it can all get a bit confusing. Now researchers in the US have studied the effects off the ratio of different fats in humans, and their effects on...

Cutting chromosomes gives clues to cell division

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:49:34 +0100

When we need new cells in our body, for example, to replace dead or damaged cells, they don't just appear from nowhere - they are created by the division of one cell into two new daughters. This proce...

The Low Down on Cancer

Tue, 26 May 2009 14:37:43 +0100

Scientists have confirmed that cancers make sufferers depressed, but even before they actually know they have the disease. Up to 60% of breast cancer patients develop mood disorders including depress...

Down's do better in cancer stakes

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:29:06 +0100

Individuals with Down's syndrome have a significantly lower likelihood of developing cancer (with the exception of a form of leukaemia) compared with the general population but no one knew why. ...

Data storage that will last a billion years

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:15:07 +0100

Scientists have used nanotechnology to solve a serious problem of the digital age - data degradation. Although we think of digital storage as a way to preserve photos and other data in pristine cond...

Brain structure makes a people-person

Tue, 26 May 2009 12:01:34 +0100

Do you consider yourself to be a people-person? Do you crave the company of others, are you warm and sentimental? Well, if you are, then it could come down to the structure of your brain. Graham Murr...

Dragons with toxic bite

Tue, 26 May 2009 11:55:09 +0100

They seem like the stuff of fairytales or maybe nightmares, but Komodo dragons are the closest things we have to real, man-eating dragons. At three metres long, these lizards that live on the Indonesi...

Bypassing immune rejection of pig pancreas cells

Tue, 19 May 2009 13:38:36 +0100

Scientists have discovered a clever trick that might help to treat insulin-dependent diabetes.Diabetes occurs when so-called beta cells in the pancreas fail to produce insulin, leading to high blood g...

Bees need to get a grip

Tue, 19 May 2009 13:30:48 +0100

Scientists at Cambridge University have discovered that plants give bees a helping hand to clamber into their flowers.Writing in Current Biology, Beverley Glover and her team have found that a layer o...

Chemists cook up recipe for life

Tue, 19 May 2009 13:23:03 +0100

One of nature's enduring mysteries is how the complex systems that make up a functioning cell evolved in the first place. In particular scientists have struggled to explain the origins of DNA an...

Virus to blame for blood pressure

Tue, 19 May 2009 12:28:39 +0100

US Scientists have discovered that a common human viral infection may be linked to hypertension, also known as high blood pressure.Writing in PLoS Pathogens, Beth Israel Deconess Medical Center resear...

Iron age man could multitask

Sun, 17 May 2009 18:25:29 +0100

Hunting and killing animals was an essential part of survival for stone age people, and now 21st century science has discovered that in order to make lethal weapons, stone age people had to be able to...

Natural Velcro helps bees get a grip

Sun, 17 May 2009 18:23:48 +0100

Flowers evolved a natural form of Velcro on their petals to help insects get a grip making it easier for them to pay a visit and collect nectar while carrying out that vital job of pollination. Publi...

Mapping the emotion of words

Sun, 17 May 2009 18:20:27 +0100

Picking up on other people's emotions, being able to realize when someone is happy, angry or sad, is an important part of our everyday social lives. And often we get important clues about a person's m...

Droplet Display technology

Sun, 17 May 2009 14:06:01 +0100

Most computer and TV displays work by actually emitting light, whether this is produced by making a phosphor screen glow in conventional TVs and plasma screens or from a fluorescent tube behind an liq...

Ultradense deuterium

Sun, 17 May 2009 13:59:38 +0100

For a long time researchers have been interested in hydrogen because it is the most common element in the universe and because it fuels the nuclear fusion reactions that power stars. Nuclear fusion in...

Plant trees. Save electricity.

Mon, 11 May 2009 12:42:25 +0100

With all the talk of climate change and trying to cut down our carbon footprint, scientists this week have come up with evidence of a new way to help cut down on electricity bills - the solution may b...

Giant shark mystery solved

Mon, 11 May 2009 12:36:59 +0100

Basking sharks, the second largest sharks in the world, have been tracked on epic, thousand-mile migrations into the deep waters of the West Atlantic, solving a long-standing mystery of where they spe...

"Good" bacteria block malaria

Mon, 11 May 2009 12:32:34 +0100

Mosquitoes are a major problem around the world, not just because they're annoying, but because they spread deadly malaria which kills over a million people worldwide every year, mostly children in Af...

Glycerol diet for long life?

Mon, 11 May 2009 12:20:38 +0100

Researchers in the US have discovered that living on a diet made up solely of glycerol could double your lifespan - if you're a yeast, that is. Previous studies have found that severely restricting c...

Musical Cockatoos

Tue, 05 May 2009 16:08:49 +0100

It's not just humans that have an ear for the beat, birds and certain other animals do too. Two papers in Current Biology by UCSD researcher Aniruddh Patel and Harvard's Marc Hauser show that animals ...

New lead in autism gene search

Tue, 05 May 2009 16:01:50 +0100

Scientists have found that autism may be linked to the way cells link together in the developing brain. Writing in this week's Nature, Children's Hospital Philadelphia researcher Hakon Hakonarson and ...

Interfering with inflammation

Tue, 05 May 2009 15:53:08 +0100

US scientists have developed a method to selectively shut off genes linked to inflammation all around the body. Writing in this week's Nature, University of Massachusetts researcher Michael Czech and ...

Better way to fight flu

Tue, 05 May 2009 15:41:33 +0100

Scientists have developed a pain-free injection system to immunise people against influenza. Writing in the current edition of PNAS, Emory University researcher Richard Compans and his colleagues desc...