Wednesday Science News Roundup #27

Below are 10 science news that I found interesting and are related to topics I care about.

Depression linked to reduced arginine levels – People suffering from major depressive disorder, MDD, have reduced arginine levels, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. Arginine is an amino acid which the body uses to produce, e.g., nitric oxide. Nitric oxide, in turn, is a nervous system and immune defence mediator, and it also plays a role in vascular regulation. The global arginine bioavailability ratio, GABR, is an indicator of the body’s arginine levels, and the ratio has previously been used to measure the body’s capacity to produce nitric oxide. Reduced arginine bioavailability is also known to be an independent risk factor of cardiovascular diseases. Science Daily

New stem-cell based stroke treatment repairs damaged brain tissue – A team of researchers at the University of Georgia’s Regenerative Bioscience Center and ArunA Biomedical, a UGA startup company, have developed a new treatment for stroke that reduces brain damage and accelerates the brain’s natural healing tendencies in animal models. They published their findings in the journal Translational Stroke Research. Science Daily

First vaccine in the world developed against grass pollen allergy – Around 400 million people world-wide suffer in some form or other from a grass pollen allergy (rhinitis) — with the usual symptoms such as a runny nose, cough and severe breathing problems. In collaboration with the Viennese firm Biomay AG, MedUni Vienna researchers at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research have now shown in a Phase II-b study with 180 patients in 11 European centres, that four injections of the synthetically manufactured vaccine BM32 in the first year and a top-up in the second year of treatment relieve the sufferers’ symptoms by at least 25%. Science Daily

We Might Finally Know Why The Blood of Young People Can Rejuvenate Old Brains – Scientists have been rejuvenating old mice with infusions of not just the blood of younger mice, but even blood from teenage human beings – and we finally have our first clues on why this strange technique works. Science Alert

Here’s Why Matching Your Diet to Your DNA Is a Waste of Time – Diets have always gone through fads. The grapefruit diet, Atkins, paleo, Whole30 – like a many-headed weight-loss hydra, just as soon as one falls out of favor, another rises in its place. Science Alert

Scientists Just Discovered a Never-Before-Seen Structure in Human Sperm – The sperm’s tail is perhaps one of the most iconic structures among all of the cells in the human body, so it’s odd to think there are still some things we don’t know about it. Science Alert

Household products make surprisingly large contributions to air pollution – In urban areas, emissions from consumer goods such as paint, cleaning supplies and personal care products now contribute as much to ozone and fine particulate matter in the atmosphere as do emissions from burning gasoline or diesel fuel. Science News

Babies can recover language skills after a left-side stroke – A stroke on the left side of the brain often damages important language-processing areas. But people who have this stroke just before or after birth recover their language abilities in the mirror image spot on the right side, a study of teens and young adults shows. Those patients all had normal language skills, even though as much as half of their brain had withered away, researchers reported February 17 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Science News

GM Crops Found To Increase Yields And Reduce Harmful Toxins In 21 Years Of Data – A study looking at 21 years of data on genetically modified crops (GMOs) in the US has found that not only can they increase crop yields, but they can also be good for you. IFLScience

Heavy Drinking Is The Biggest Avoidable Risk Factor In The Onset Of Dementia – An analysis of more than a million dementia patients has found that chronic heavy drinking puts you at serious risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, alcohol use disorders were found to be the biggest avoidable risk factor in the onset of dementia. IFLScience

Wednesday Science News Roundup #24

Below are 10 science news that I found interesting and are related to topics I care about.

Your brain reveals who your friends are – You may perceive the world the way your friends do, according to a new study finding that friends have similar neural responses to real-world stimuli and these similarities can be used to predict who your friends are. Science Daily

TBI is associated with increased dementia risk for decades after injury – Traumatic brain injuries increase the risk of a dementia diagnosis for more than 30 years after a trauma, though the risk of dementia decreases over time, according to a new study. Science Daily

Language is learned in brain circuits that predate humans – It has often been claimed that humans learn language using brain components that are specifically dedicated to this purpose. Now, new evidence strongly suggests that language is in fact learned in brain systems that are also used for many other purposes and even pre-existed humans. Science Daily

Life may have been possible in Earth’s earliest, most hellish eon – Maybe Earth’s early years weren’t so hellish after all. Science News

Here’s why so many saiga antelope mysteriously died in 2015 – Spring calving season for the saiga antelope of central Kazakhstan is a delight for the researchers who keep tabs on the critically endangered animals. During the day, thousands of newborn saigas lie quiet, hidden within a sea of waving grass. Mothers return twice daily to feed them. “If you come at dawn and dusk, it’s magical,” says E.J. Milner-Gulland, a conservation biologist at the University of Oxford who has studied saigas for 27 years. “You hear this mewing noise, and all the babies come rushing up to the females.” Science News

There’s a Scary Link Between Bad Sleep And The Onset of Alzheimer’s – Fragmented sleep, marked by repeated wake-ups during the night and a need to nap during the day, could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease, according to new research. Science Alert

Earth Went Strangely Quiet About 2 Billion Years Ago And We Don’t Know Why – A new study has added evidence to the hypothesis that our planet experienced a lull in geology between 2.2 and 2.3 billion years ago, when not a lot went on as far as rock-forming processes go. Science Alert

The Eastern Cougar Is Declared Extinct After Not Being Seen For 80 Years – The eastern cougar is now officially extinct. IFLScience

Discoverer Of Gabon’s Strange Orange Crocodiles Thinks They’re Evolving Into A New Species – Just 10 years ago, an expedition of biologists came across a very strange group of cave-dwelling, bat-munching dwarf crocodiles living within Gabon’s Abanda cave system. IFLScience

More Evidence Has Been Found For A Link Between Sugar And Alzheimer’s – A new study provides more evidence for a link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s, something that’s been hinted at before. IFLScience

10 Science News Roundup #14

Here are 10 science news that I find interesting and important to take note.

First brain training exercise positively linked to dementia prevention identified – Aging research specialists have identified, for the first time, a form of mental exercise that can reduce the risk of dementia. Science Daily

Heavy drinking, smoking linked to visible signs of aging – Heavy drinking and smoking are linked to visible signs of physical aging, and looking older than one’s years, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Science Daily

The brain’s helper cells have a hand in learning fear – Helper cells in the brain just got tagged with a new job — forming traumatic memories. When rats experience trauma, cells in the hippocampus — an area important for learning — produce signals for inflammation, helping to create a potent memory. But most of those signals aren’t coming from the nerve cells, researchers reported November 15 at the Society for Neuroscience meeting. Science News

Scientists Have Confirmed We Had Our First Ever Insterstellar Visitor Last Month – Astronomers have released the first results from an in-depth study on the suspected interstellar object that flew into our Solar System last month – and the findings are fascinating. IFLScience

Here’s What You Need to Know About That Mysterious Radiation Cloud Over Europe – After weeks of silence and denials, Russia has confirmed that it too has detected evidence of a mysterious radiation cloud floating above much of Europe, observing a dramatic radiation spike above Russia’s Ural Mountains. Science Alert

Deep in The Ocean, There’s a ‘Shadow Zone’ Where The Water Is 2,000 Years Old – The oldest water in the ocean didn’t reach its advanced years by accident. Science Alert

Earth Is Getting Hit by Too Much Anti-Matter, And Nobody Knows Why – Amid the high speed cosmic rays raining down on us from the depths of space are a handful of antimatter particles called positrons. Science Alert

Simple electrocardiogram can determine whether a patient has major depression or bipolar disorder, study finds – A groundbreaking Loyola Medicine study suggests that a simple 15-minute electrocardiogram could help a physician determine whether a patient has major depression or bipolar disorder. Science Daily

How Asian nomadic herders built new Bronze Age cultures – Nomadic herders living on western Asia’s hilly grasslands made a couple of big moves east and west around 5,000 years ago. These were not typical, back-and-forth treks from one seasonal grazing spot to another. These people blazed new trails. Science News

New Study Reveals Stress Can Affect Sperm – Stress is never good for anyone, especially if it is ongoing. It affects various parts of our lives and can eventually become unhealthy. Signs of stress can include symptoms such as sweating, sleepless nights, and even nervous twitching, and can prevent us to from getting on with day-to-day tasks. IFLScience