A deadly, airborne new strain of fungus has emerged in Oregon. It has killed nearly one out of four known affected people so far and might also attack animals ranging from dogs to dolphins. And it is likely to spread, researchers now warn. The new strain known as VGIIc of the fungus Cryptococcus gattii not only targets humans but has also proven capable of infecting dogs, cats, alpacas, sheep and elk. Other strains have even infected porpoises. Although it can spread to mammals, it does not jump from animal to animal. Instead, people and other animals get it from inhaling spores released by samples of the fungus that infect trees. ‘It’s in the environment, and we’re exposed to the environment,’ researcher Edmond Byrnes III of Duke University Medical Center told LiveScience. ‘And the environmental range of this has been expanding.’ California next? While scientists aren’t sure how the highly infectious or virulent fungus emerged in Oregon, they caution the new strain now looks set to expand to California and other neighboring areas. ‘This novel fungus is worrisome because it appears to be a threat to otherwise healthy people,’ Byrnes said. ‘Typically, we more often […]
Napping after learning something new could help you commit it to memory – as long as you dream, scientists say. They found people who dream about a new task perform it better on waking than those who do not sleep or do not dream. Volunteers were asked to learn the layout of a 3D computer maze so they could find their way within the virtual space several hours later. Those allowed to take a nap and who also remembered dreaming of the task, found their way to a landmark quicker. The researchers think the dreams are a sign that unconscious parts of the brain are working hard to process information about the task. Dr Robert Stickgold of Harvard Medical School, one of the authors of the paper, said dreams may be a marker that the brain is working on the same problem at many levels. He said: ‘The dreams might reflect the brain’s attempt to find associations for the memories that could make them more useful in the future.’ Study tips Co-author Dr Erin Wamsley said the study suggests our non-conscious brain works on the things that it deems are most important. […]
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — They were illiterate farmers, builders and servants, but Maya commoners found a way to record their own history – by burying it within their homes. A new study of the objects embedded in the floors of homes occupied more than 1,000 years ago in central Belize begins to decode their story. The study, from University of Illinois anthropology professor Lisa J. Lucero, appears in the Journal of Social Archaeology. Maya in the Classic period (A.D. 250-900) regularly ‘terminated’ their homes, razing the walls, burning the floors and placing artifacts and (sometimes) human remains on top before burning them again. Evidence suggests these rituals occurred every 40 or 50 years and likely marked important dates in the Maya calendar. After termination, the family built a new home on the old foundation, using broken and whole vessels, colorful fragments, animal bones and rocks to mark important areas and to provide ballast for a new plaster floor. Maya royals recorded their history in writing and in imagery carved on monuments, Lucero said. ‘But the commoners had their own way of recording their own history, not only their history as a family but also their place in […]
Scientists have discovered a new molecule which they say can prevent the spread of cancerous cells. Like microscopic inchworms, cancer cells slink away from tumors to travel and settle elsewhere in the body. Now, researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College report that new anti-cancer agents break down the looping gait these cells use to migrate, stopping them in their tracks. Mice implanted with cancer cells and treated with the small molecule macroketone lived a full life without any cancer spread, compared with control animals, which all died of metastasis. When macroketone was given a week after cancer cells were introduced, it still blocked greater than 80 percent of cancer metastasis in mice. These findings provide a very encouraging direction for development of a new class of anti-cancer agents, the first to specifically stop cancer metastasis, says the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Xin-Yun Huang, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medical College. ‘More than 90 percent of cancer patients die because their cancer has spread, so we desperately need a way to stop this metastasis,’ Dr. Huang says. ‘This study offers a paradigm shift in thinking and, potentially, a new […]
WASHINGTON — Too fat to fight? Many American children are so overweight from being fed french fries, pizza and other unhealthy foods at school lunchrooms that they cannot handle the physical rigors of being in the military, a group of retired officers say in a new report. National security is threatened by the sharp rise in obesity rates for young people over the last 15 years, the group Mission: Readiness contends. Weight problems are now the leading medical reason that recruits are rejected, the group says, and thus jeopardize the military’s ability to fill its ranks. In a report released Tuesday, the group says that 9 million young adults, or 27 percent of all Americans ages 17 to 24, are too fat to join the military. The retired officers were on Capitol Hill advocating for passage of a wide-ranging nutrition bill that aims to make the nation’s school lunches healthier. The military group acknowledges that other things keep young adults out of the armed services, such as a criminal record or the lack of a high school diploma. Although all branches of the military now meet or exceed recruitment goals, retired Navy Rear Adm. James Barnett […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
