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Drinking milk during pregnancy may lower baby's risk of MS

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Drinking milk during pregnancy may help reduce your baby's chances of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) as an adult, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.

The study involved 35,794 nurses whose mothers completed a questionnaire in 2001 about their experiences and diet during pregnancy with their nurse-daughter. Of the nurses studied, 199 women developed MS over the 16-year study period.

A new 3-D map of the interstellar gas within 300 parsecs from the sun

This week, Astronomy & Astrophysics publishes new 3D maps of the interstellar gas situated in an area 300 parsecs around the Sun. A French-American team of astronomers presents new measurements of the absorption by the interstellar gas in the Sun's local area. Knowledge of the interstellar medium properties, including the spatial distribution, dynamics, and the chemical and physical characteristics, allow astronomers to better understand the interplay between the evolution of stars and their exchange of matter with the ambient interstellar medium.

Health stories by experts more credible than blogs

Health information written by a doctor is rated as more credible when it appears on a Web site than in a blog or a homepage, according to a study of college students.

The findings highlight the relative importance of different online sources to people who seek health information on the Internet.

Early artificial pancreas trials show benefits for kids, teenagers with diabetes overnight

LONDON, Feb. 5, 2010 – In a landmark study in children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes, JDRF-funded researchers at the University of Cambridge showed that using a first-generation artificial pancreas system overnight can lower the risk of low blood sugar emergencies while sleeping, and at the same time improve diabetes control.

Results from the studies are published in the February 5, 2010 issue of The Lancet, available online at www.thelancet.com.

'Artificial pancreas' a step nearer for children with type 1 diabetes

Scientists in Cambridge have made a significant step towards developing a so-called "artificial pancreas" system for managing type 1 diabetes in children. The team has developed and successfully tested a new algorithm, providing a stepping stone to home testing for the artificial pancreas.

Cyclone Oli reaches category 4 strength on its way to open waters

Oli has exploded in strength and as of February 4 it was a Category 4 cyclone with peak sustained winds of 132 mph (115 knots/213 km/hr). NASA's Aqua and TRMM satellites observed Oli's clouds grow colder and rainfall become heavier over the last day. Residents of French Polynesia should watch for local weather advisories.

$32 million CU-Boulder instrument package to study space weather set for NASA launch Feb. 9

A $32 million University of Colorado at Boulder instrument package set for launch Feb. 9 by NASA should help scientists better Contact: Tom Woods, 303-492-4224understand the violent effects of the sun on near-Earth space weather that can affect satellites, power grids, ground communications systems and even astronauts and aircraft crews.

Where did today's spiral galaxies come from?

Hubble shows that the beautiful spirals galaxies of the modern Universe were the ugly ducklings of six billion years ago.

If confirmed, the finding highlights the importance to many galaxies of collisions and mergers in the recent past. It also provides clues for the unique status of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

Forming the present-day spiral galaxies

Galaxy morphology, or the study of the shapes and formation of galaxies, is a critical and much-debated topic in astronomy. An important tool for this is the Hubble sequence or Hubble tuning-fork diagram [1], a classification scheme invented in 1926 by the same Edwin Hubble in whose honour the space telescope is named.

Madly mapping the universe

To map our home planet, Google Earth depends mostly on satellite imagery for land surfaces and sonar imagery for the sea floor. Maps of the Universe likewise depend on different kinds of detectors for different kinds of features. Maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), for example, depend on measuring minute differences in the temperature of the sky.

Now a hurricane, Oli passing Bora Bora

Tropical cyclone Oli has attained hurricane strength today, February 3, with maximum sustained winds near 74 mph.

At 10 a.m. ET (1500 UTC), Oli was located approximately 200 nautical miles west-northwest of Bora Bora, near 15.9 South and 154.9 West. It was moving east at 14 mph (12 knots).

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument (AIRS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared images of Oli as it passed by early this morning.

Merging galaxies create a binary quasar

Most, if not all, large galaxies, such as our galaxy the Milky Way, host super-massive black holes at their centers. Because galaxies regularly interact and merge, astronomers have assumed that binary super-massive black holes have been common in the Universe, especially during its early history. Black holes can only be detected as quasars when they are actively accreting matter, a process that releases vast amounts of energy. A leading theory is that galaxy mergers trigger accretion, creating quasars in both galaxies.

Craters young and old in Sirenum Fossae

The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera has imaged craters both young and old in this view of the Southern Highlands of Mars.

Part of the Sirenum Fossae region in the Southern Highlands, the area in this image is centred at about 28°S / 185°E. The image captures an area to the north of the Magelhaens Crater. It extends some 230 km by 127 km and covers about 29 450 sq km, roughly the size of Belgium. The image resolution is approximately 29 metres per pixel.

The stars behind the curtain

NGC 3603 is a starburst region: a cosmic factory where stars form frantically from the nebula's extended clouds of gas and dust. Located 22 000 light-years away from the Sun, it is the closest region of this kind known in our galaxy, providing astronomers with a local test bed for studying intense star formation processes, very common in other galaxies, but hard to observe in detail because of their great distance from us.

Research at Marshall University may lead to new ways to transport and manipulate molecules

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A group of Marshall University researchers and their colleagues in Japan are conducting research that may lead to new ways to move or position single molecules—a necessary step if man someday hopes to build molecular machines or other devices capable of working at very small scales.

Dr. Eric Blough, a member of the research team and an associate professor in Marshall University's Department of Biological Sciences, said his group has shown how bionanomotors can be used some day to move and manipulate molecules at the nanoscale.