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Science Tidbits Friday

By possum

Once again the time has come to gather around for another day of new and exciting, tantalizing news in the realm of science.  New discoveries.  New takes on old knowledge.  The base of information and knowledge grows at a rate much too fast to keep up with all that is available.

Over the fold are some selections from a few of my favorite science news sites around the world.  Tidbits include microbots to swim in human blood vessels, nature brought on the demise of earliest civilizations in the Americas, bleeding inside the heart following heart attack, acupuncture and headaches, the first look at the moon's shadowed craters, and human consumption of frog legs is heading the animals to extinction.  Follow over the fold and down the yellow brick road for one more session of science education and entertainment.
Right out of science fiction comes news of microbot motors small enough to swim in an artery.

Remote controlled miniature robots small enough to swim up arteries could save lives by reaching parts of the body, like a stroke-damaged cranial artery, that catheters have previously been unable to reach (because of the labyrinthine structure of the brain that catheters are too immobile to safely reach). With the right sensor equipment attached to the microbot motor, the surgeon's view of, for example, a patient's troubled artery can be enhanced and the ability to work remotely also increases the surgeon's dexterity.

This has potential beyond measure in lifesaving situations.  The future of medicine is expanded exponentially by this development.

A group of anthropologists studying early civilization in Peru conclude Nature was the cause of demise of the community.

First came the earthquakes, then the torrential rains. But the relentless march of sand across once fertile fields and bays, a process set in motion by the quakes and flooding, is probably what did in America's earliest civilization.

The lesson of building in areas sensitive to the environment is one we of today would do well to heed.

The first images of bleeding inside heart muscle were just published.

Patients who had suffered a large heart attack, where a lot of the heart muscle was damaged, had a lot of bleeding into the heart muscle compared with those whose heart attack was relatively small.

This technique is useful in predicting the future of these patients.  The bleeding occurs when the heart begins beating following a heart attack.

Studies have demonstrated the benefit of acupuncture in terms of stopping headaches.

But the results also suggest that faked procedures, in which needles are incorrectly inserted, can be just as effective.

In certain instances such as tension headaches the proper placement of needles was more effective.  For other patients any form of acupuncture may be effective for those who wish to avoid medication.

The polar craters are in permanent shadow and are not visible from the earth.  NASA radar aboard India's spacecraft is giving scientists the first look at the floor of the craters.

Data from the two NASA instruments will contribute to the agency's increased understanding of the lunar environment as it implements America's space exploration plan, which calls for robotic and human missions to the moon.

The radar instrument, Mini-SAR, is one of 11 aboard the spacecraft in a cooperative effort.

A favorite food of mine, frog legs, at a local restaurant is going off the household menu.  Researchers at the University of Adelaide say

the global pattern of harvesting and decline of wild populations of frogs appears to be following the same path set by overexploitation of the seas and subsequent "chain reaction" of fisheries collapses around the world.

Sad as I am to give up a fine food, any contribution to species maintenance is better than none.

For more science news see these and other websites:

General Science Collectors:
Eureka Science News
New Scientist
LiveScience

Blogs:
ScienceBlogs
Tetrapod Zoologyvertebrate paleontology
Laelapsmore vertebrate paleontology
Cantauri Dreamsspace exploration
Deep Sea Newsmarine biology
A Few Things Ill Considered
Techie and Science News:
Wired News
Techonology Review

NASA beauty picture of the day.  For more see the NASA website.  These pictures are evidence of your tax dollars hard at work.

NGC1232, NASA, Public Domain

Peace.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on January 23, 2009 (boomark / email).