Business-CIC BigScience Newswire

• Smartphone app illuminates power consumption
  A new application for the Android smartphone shows users and software developers how much power their applications are consuming. PowerTutor was developed by doctoral students and professors at the University of Michigan.
• Waking Up Memories While You Sleep
  They were in a deep sleep, yet sounds, such as a teakettle whistle, somehow penetrated their slumber. The 25 sounds were reminders of earlier spatial learning, though the Northwestern University research participants were unaware of the sounds as they slept. Yet, upon waking, memory tests showed that spatial memories had changed. “We are beginning to see that deep sleep actually is a key time for memory processing,” said Ken Paller, professor of psychology at Northwestern.
• Bizarre crocodilians inhabited lost world of Sahara
  A suite of five ancient crocs, including one with teeth-like boar tusks and another with a snout like a duck’s bill, have been discovered in the Sahara by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno. The five fossil crocs, three of them newly named species, are remains of a bizarre world of crocs that inhabited the southern land mass known as Gondwana some 100 million years ago.
• Saving the single cysteine: new antioxidant system found
  We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single than when paired up with other cysteines.
• TECHNIQUE FINDS GENE REGULATORY SITES WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF REGULATORS
  A new statistical technique developed by researchers at the University of Illinois allows scientists to scan a genome for specific gene-regulatory regions without requiring prior knowledge of the relevant transcription factors. The technique has been experimentally validated in both the mouse genome and the fruit fly genome.
• Maize cell wall genes identified, giving boost to biofuel research
  Purdue University scientists have helped identify and group the genes thought to be responsible for cell wall development in maize, an effort that expands their ability to discover ways to produce the biomass best suited for biofuels production.
• Drug studied as possible treatment for spinal injuries
  Purdue researchers have shown how an experimental drug might restore the function of nerves damaged in spinal cord injuries by preventing short circuits caused when tiny "potassium channels" in the fibers are exposed. The chemical compound also might be developed as a treatment for multiple sclerosis.
• Search engines are source of learning
  Search engine use is not just part of our daily routines; it is also becoming part of our learning process, according to Penn State researchers.
• Grant to help recruit collaborations for Blue Waters supercomputer
  The University of Chicago has received a $91,000 grant to help research collaborators across the nation prepare their proposals for petascale computing projects on Blue Waters, which is expected to be the world’s most powerful supercomputer for open scientific research when it begins operation in at the University of Illinois in 2011.
• Your Own Stem Cells Can Treat Heart Disease
  The largest national stem cell study for heart disease showed the first evidence that transplanting a potent form of adult stem cells into the heart muscle of patients with severe angina results in less pain and an improved ability to walk. They also experienced fewer deaths than those who didn't receive stem cells. The stem cells were injected in an effort to spur the growth of small blood vessels in the heart muscle.

For more articles, visit the CIC BigScience Newswire here.