US stands to lose a generation of young researchers
(Washington, D.C.) — Five consecutive years of flat funding the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is deterring promising young researchers and threatening the future of Americans’ health, a group of seven preeminent academic research institutions warned today.

Spam from Gmail doubled last month
San Francisco – Spam originating from Google’s Gmail domain doubled last month, indicating that spammers are still defeating the CAPTCHA , the distorted text used as a security test to thwart mass registration of e-mail accounts and other Web site abuse.

Driving study deals blow to hands-free phones
Simply listening to a cellphone distracts drivers, a study concludes. The finding raises questions about the effectiveness of laws that ban only the use of handheld devices while driving.

Tiny Brain-Like Computer Created
This machine could not only serve as the foundation of a powerful computer, but also serve as the controlling element of complex gadgets such as microscopic doctors or factories, scientists added. The device is made of a compound known as duroquinone. This molecule resembles a hexagonal plate with four cones linked to it, “like a small car,” explained researcher Anirban Bandyopadhyay

The Hand Can’t Be Fooled, Study Shows
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Psychologist Tzvi Ganel and his colleagues presented research participants with the “Ponzo” illusion, an image common in psychological research that makes two objects that are similar in length appear drastically different. They then hooked participants’ index finger and thumb to computerized position tracking equipment and asked them to grasp the objects with their fingers. Even thought the object appeared to be larger (or smaller) than it really was, the size of their grasp reflected the object’s real rather than apparent size.

Psychotherapy for All: An Experiment
A new program in Goa, India, trains laypeople to identify and treat depression and anxiety and send them to community health clinics.

Are fat moms to blame for fat kids? Answer unclear
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – British researchers who tried to show why overweight mothers tend to have overweight children said on Monday they had filled in one small piece of the puzzle.

Engineer studies fat cells to fight obesity
What if, instead of having to exercise to burn off fat, your fat cells would do it for you?… “We were not necessarily built for the refrigeration age,” [Tufts University chemical engineer Kyongbum] Lee said. “So, it made a lot of sense for people to store energy in the form of fat … If you go hungry for several days, you start burning off extra calories.” His research, however, seeks to change that by essentially curbing the efficiency of the fat cell, forcing it to burn off larger volumes of the stored fat to produce sufficient calories needed by the body.

Gulf War Illness Strongly Linked to Chemical Exposure
Review found vets with the syndrome were more exposed to particular compounds.

Outcomes Improve for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients
Survival rates have increased, likely because of advancements in therapy

Long-term Muscle Improvements Shown In Gene Therapy Study In Mice
ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2008) — Injecting a gene responsible for making a specific protein into a mouse that’s used as a model for muscular dystrophy can lead to long-term improvements in the animal’s muscle size and strength, a new study shows.

Poor Sleep More Dangerous For Women
ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2008) — Researchers at Duke University Medical Center say they may have figured out why poor sleep does more harm to cardiovascular health in women than in men. Their study, appearing online in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, found that poor sleep is associated with greater psychological distress and higher levels of biomarkers associated with elevated risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. They also found that these associations are significantly stronger in women than in men.

How Frequency Of Meals May Affect Health
ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2008) — The health consequences of eating one large meal a day compared with eating three meals a day has not been established. Now two recently published journal articles are among the first to report the effects of meal skipping on key health outcomes, based on a study involving a group of normal-weight, middle-aged adults.

Diesel fumes can affect your brain, scientists say
LONDON (Reuters) – Inhaling diesel exhaust triggers a stress response in the brain that may have damaging long-term effects on brain function, Dutch researchers said on Tuesday.

Injection Of Human Umbilical Cord Blood Helps The Aging Brain, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2008) — When human umbilical cord blood cells (UCBC) were injected into aged laboratory animals, researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) found improvements in the microenvironment of the hippocampus region of the animals’ brains and a subsequent rejuvenation of neural stem/progenitor cells. The research presented the possibility of a cell therapy aimed at rejuvenating the aged brain.

Life Expectancy Tied to Education
In U.S., college-educated live longer than those who only finish high school, study finds.

Monkeys Shout Complex Thoughts
Now for the first time, scientists reveal a primate other than humans can also express a variety of messages by combining sounds into different sequences. The finding suggests this level of language might have occurred far earlier in evolution than before thought.

Burial site may hold Australian outlaw’s bones
Scientists said they have uncovered a burial site that might contain the bones of Australia’s most notorious outlaw, Ned Kelly.  The 19th-century bank robber became notorious after crafting a suit of armor from plow shears for his last stand with police.

Wild Ass Tamed, Buried with Egyptian King
One of the earliest Egyptian kings carried his “beasts of burden” into the afterlife. Paleoscientists discovered the skeletons of 10 donkeys nestled in three mud graves dating back 5,000 years ago when Egypt was just forming a state.

Study helps predict next big Mediterranean quake
Scientists have found evidence that an overlooked fault in the eastern Mediterranean is likely to produce an earthquake and tsunami every 800 years as powerful as the one that destroyed Alexandria in AD 365.

Geologist spots oreodont fossil in N.M.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A geologic mapping project led to the finding of a 10 million-year-old fossil that’s now being studied at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

Space shuttle Endeavour blasts off
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Shuttle Endeavour and a crew of seven blasted into orbit Tuesday on what was to be the longest space station mission ever, a 16-day voyage to build a gangly robot and add a new room that will serve as a closet for a future lab.

Spacecraft to Plunge Through Saturn Moon’s Icy Plume
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft circling the planet Saturn will plunge through the outer fringes of an icy plume spewing out from cracks in one of the ringed world’s many moons on Wednesday.