Knowledge Update

​New York, March 19 (IANS) NASA has added four new teams to study the Moon, near-Earth asteroids and other components of the solar system.

According to a report in Engadget on Sunday, the first group from the University of Colorado will study on robotics, cosmology, astrophysics and heliophysics to advance manned space exploration.

While the second group has been assigned on a project called "Toolbox for Research and Exploration", responsible for developing tools and methods for the manned exploration of celestial bodies. 

"The third group from Georgia Institute of Technology will explore how radiation affects human-made composite materials. They'll also look into how real-time detectors can help minimise astronauts' exposure to harmful radiation," the report added.

The fourth group, called Exploration Science Pathfinder Research for Enhancing Solar System Observations or ESPRESSO will assist NASA in understanding the events that are hazardous for robotic and human explorers in space. 

With the better knowledge of hazardous events in space, disasters can be predicted and managed. 

"NASA will set aside $3 to $5 million of its budget per year to fund the teams' research for the next five years," the report noted.

​New York, March 19 (IANS) People with proportionately higher quantities of harder calcified plaque best predicted risk of heart attacks, while soft plaque did not, representing a potential paradigm shift, researchers said.

The study may be a "game-changer" for determining who is at risk of a heart attack.

"It's a disease marker, not a risk marker. And we think it's possibly a very important predictor," said Brent Muhlestein from the Intermountain Medical Centre Heart Institute in Utah, US.

Atherosclerosis is caused when plaque -- a sticky deposit known to cause ruptures -- builds up in the arteries, narrowing and hardening them.

The notion that soft plaque is more likely to rupture and cause heart attacks than hard calcium deposits in coronary arteries may be wrong, according to the study that will be presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in Washington D.C.

"We previously thought the lipid-laden soft plaque was more likely to rupture and cause heart attacks, but based on our new research, it's more the calcified plaque that appears to be associated with adverse cardiovascular events," Muhlestein added.

Furthermore, the study potentially could mean a lot of patients may not require statin therapy, even though they have high cholesterol.

"Maybe we can find and identify them. If there's no atherosclerosis, you're not going to have a heart attack. So the coronary calcium score may allow us to much more effectively select who we treat," Muhlestein said.

For the study, the team evaluated the composition of coronary artery plaque identified in the subjects through computerised tomography (CT) coronary angiography.

The patients were followed for an average of nearly seven years to see if their plaque composition had predicted whether they'd have a cardiac event.

​Toronto, March 19 (IANS) Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 789. Whether this pun makes you giggle or groan in pain, your reaction is a consequence of the ambiguity of the joke.

Thus far, models have not been able to fully account for the complexity of humour or exactly why we find puns and jokes funny but researchers now suggest a novel approach: quantum theory.

In a paper, they have outlined a quantum inspired model of humour, hoping that this new approach may succeed at a more nuanced modelling of the cognition of humour.

"Funniness is not a pre-existing 'element of reality' that can be measured; it emerges from an interaction between the underlying nature of the joke, the cognitive state of the listener, and other social and environmental factors," explained Liane Gabora from University of British Columbia, corresponding author of the paper.

This makes the quantum formalism an excellent candidate for modelling humour, Gabora added in the paper published in the journal Frontiers in Physics.

The results indicate that apart from the delivery of information, something else is happening on a cognitive level that makes the joke as a whole funny whereas its deconstructed components are not, and which makes a quantum approach appropriate to study this phenomenon.

For decades, researchers have tried to explain the phenomenon of humour and what happens on a cognitive level in the moment when we "get the joke".

During the build-up of the joke, we interpret the situation one way, and once the punch line comes, there is a shift in our understanding of the situation, which gives it a new meaning and creates the comical effect, the authors noted.

Although much work remains before the completion of a formal quantum theory model of humour, the findings provide an exciting first step and opens for the possibility of a more nuanced modeling of humour, the team said.

New York, March 18 (IANS) Children with chronically disrupted sleep are likely to have defects in their brain cells that are associated with mental skills, mood and behaviour, researchers have warned.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common sleep disturbance which affects up to five per cent of all children. 

The findings showed that children between 7 and 11 years of age who had moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea showed significant reductions of gray matter -- brain cells involved in movement, memory, emotions, speech, perception, decision making and self-control.

Further, there is also a strong connection between sleep apnea and the loss of neurons or delayed neuronal growth in the developing brain.

"The images of gray matter changes are striking. There is also clear evidence of widespread neuronal damage or loss compared to the general population," said Leila Kheirandish-Gozal, Director at the University of Chicago in the US. 

For this study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the team evaluated sleep patterns of 16 children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). 

Each child also went through neuro-cognitive testing and had his or her brain scanned with non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

They found reductions in the volume of gray matter in multiple regions of the brains of children with disrupted sleep. 

These included the frontal cortices -- which handle movement, problem solving, memory, language, judgement and impulse control -- the prefrontal cortices -- complex behaviours, planning, personality -- parietal cortices -- integrating sensory input -- temporal lobe -- hearing and selective listening -- and the brainstem -- controlling cardiovascular and respiratory functions.

This extensive reduction of gray matter in children with a treatable disorder provides one more reason for parents of children with symptoms of sleep apnea to consider early detection and therapy, the researchers noted.

​Tokyo, March 18 (IANS) A laboratory at a university in Japan will restart its research nuclear reactor, the first ever in the country, in April after meeting safety standards. the media reported on Saturday.

It will be the first research reactor in Japan to go back online under stringent regulations introduced by the government in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident that was triggered after the massive earthquake and tsunami, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Kindai University in Higashi-Osaka said on Friday that the reactor has passed a series of checks by Japan's nuclear regulator.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority gave in-principle approval for the restart of the reactor in May last year. 

The university subsequently made further adjustments to protect against fire, tornados and other risks.

The small reactor has a maximum output of just 1 watt, and is used exclusively for academic purposes.

New York, March 17 (IANS) People who examine an issue virtually as a debate or dialogue between two sides are more likely to have deeper, more sophisticated reasoning skills, according to new research.

The research findings showed that envisioning opposing views leads to a more comprehensive examination of the issue. 

Moreover, constructing opposing views leads people to regard knowledge less as fact and more as information that can be scrutinised in a framework of alternatives and evidence.

"Constructing a dialogue would lead to deeper, more comprehensive processing of the two positions and hence a richer representation of each and the differences between them... thus helping to expand and sharpen students' thinking," said Deanna Kuhn of Columbia University in New York. 

"Everything possible should be done to encourage and support genuine discourse on critical issues, but our findings suggest that the virtual form of interaction may be a productive substitute, at a time when positions on an issue far too often lack the deep analysis to support them," Kuhn added. 

For the study, published in the journal Psychological Science, the team asked 60 undergraduates to participate in a one-hour writing activity. Some participants were randomly assigned to construct a dialogue between TV commentators discussing two mayoral candidates.

They received a list of notable problems that the city was facing and a list of actions proposed by each candidate to solve these problems. 

Other participants received the same information about the city and the candidates but were asked to write a persuasive essay highlighting the merits of each candidate instead. 

Then, participants in both groups were asked to write a script for a two-minute TV spot, promoting their preferred candidate.

The results showed that participants who had constructed a dialogue included more discrete ideas in their writing.

​London, March 17 (IANS) Researchers have found that the absence of a protein could trigger obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that can lead to repetitive ritualised behaviour such as washing hands or body time and again.

"We were able to show in mouse models that the absence of the protein SPRED2 alone can trigger an excessive grooming behaviour," said Professor Kai Schuh from the Institute of Physiology at the Julius-Maximilians-Universitat (JMU) Wurzburg in Bavaria, Germany.

Schuh believes that this finding is crucial as no clear trigger for this type of disorder has been identified until now. 

Previous research pointed to multiple factors being responsible for developing OCD.

Occurring in all cells of the body, the protein SPRED2 is found in particularly high concentrations in regions of the brain, namely in the basal ganglia and the amygdala.

Normally, the protein inhibits an important signal pathway of the cell, the so-called Ras/ERK-MAP kinase cascade. When it is missing, this signal pathway is more active than usual.

The findings could lead to new treatment for the disorder characterised by persistent intrusive thoughts.

Like depression, eating disorders and other mental diseases, OCD is treated with anti-depressants. 

However, the drugs are non-specific, that is they are not tailored to the respective disease. 

Therefore, scientists have been looking for new and better targeted therapies that have fewer side effects.

"Our study delivers a valuable new model that allows the disease mechanisms to be investigated and new therapy options for obsessive-compulsive disorders to be tested," Schuh said.

Beijing, March 17 (IANS) Researchers from China, New Zealand and the US have found four intact mushroom fossils, sources said on Friday.

The four, well preserved in Burmese amber (fossilised sap of extinct trees) for at least 99 million years, are the earliest complete mushroom fossils ever found, according to the sources with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The findings represent four species of mushroom. A stalk and a complete cap containing distinct gills are visible in most of the mushrooms, which are two to three mm long, Xinhua news agency reported.

The research team led by professor Huang Diying from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, reported the finding after researching more than 20,000 pieces of Burmese amber collected over 10 years.

The discovery highlights the palaeo-diversity of mushrooms, pushing back the presence of agaric mushrooms by at least 25 million years.

Mushrooms are common and morphologically diverse fungi. Their bodies are soft and ephemeral and therefore extremely rare in fossils. 

Until the recent discovery, only five species of mushrooms were known exclusively from amber.

​New York, March 17 (IANS) More than 50 per cent of millennials in the US prefer checking Snapchat first over other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, the results of a new survey suggest.

The survey involving nearly 10,000 college students found that 58 per cent of them check Snapchat over Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn combined. 

Instagram accounted for 27 per cent, Facebook for 13 per cent, and LinkedIn for two per cent, or a total of 42 per cent, showed the new data gathered by LendEDU, an online marketplace for student loans and student loan refinancing.

The findings suggest that Snap Inc., parent company of messaging app Snapchat, may not only survive the volatile Wall Street environment, but prosper.

Snap Inc has been the word on Wall Street since it went public on March 2.

Snap rode its immense popularity to produce eye-popping numbers during its initial offering, with a first day closing price at $24.53. 

In the days following the IPO, shares of Snap traded lower as exuberance and volume settled. 

But the messaging app's popularity among millenials (born between 1980 and and early 2000s)can help the company prosper in the stock market, according to the new results.

"Overall, Snap's access and importance to millennials will be the driving force behind their success in the stock market," LendEDU said in a report on Thursday.

For the study, LendEDU has gathered this data under license from polling company WhatsGoodly.

According to Snap, the majority of Snapchat users are aged 18-to-34 years old. On an average, these users visit the app 18 times a day for a combined 25 to 30 minutes. 

Additionally, users younger than 25 visit the application more than 20 times a day for more than 30 minutes.

New York, March 16 (IANS) Scientists have developed a new pill that can act as non-invasive alternative to colonoscopies -- an effective way to screen for colon cancer -- and help identify growths called polyps.

Colorectal cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in women and second leading cause in men. Early detection and screening are essential to reduce the rates of colorectal cancer.

The pill -- PillCam Colon 2 -- contains two miniature cameras on either end. After being ingested by the patient, the capsule travels through the digestive tract, captures images and wirelessly transmits them to a recorder the patient wears on a belt.

Like a colonoscopy, the system can help identify growths called polyps, said researchers from Loyola University in Chicago, US.

During a standard colonoscopy, a flexible tube (colonoscope) is inserted into the rectum and guided by a physician through the colon. A camera at the end of the colonoscope allows for visualisation of polyps.

However, some patients cannot tolerate the procedure, or may be at higher risk for sedation, the researchers said.

With the new system, the patient swallows the capsule with water. After the non-reusable capsule is excreted, it's flushed down the toilet. The patient returns the recorder to the physician's office. If a polyp is found, the patient arranges to undergo a colonoscopy to remove the growth.

"Early detection has been proven to save lives, and the video capsule system offers a convenient screening test for people who are unable to have a complete colonoscopy," Mukund Venu from Loyola University, said in a statement.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the capsule system for patients whose anatomy of the colon makes it difficult to guide a colonoscope through the entire colon and for patients who have elevated risk of complications due to age or other reasons.