Spacecraft finds strange object in space
PARIS, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says the COROT spacecraft has discovered a massive planet-sized object that's unlike anything previously spotted.
The object, named COROT-exo-3b, is so exotic, agency scientists said they are unsure whether the oddity is a planet or a failed star. The object is about the size of Jupiter but has more than 20 times the mass. It takes 4 days, 6 hours to orbit its parent star, which is slightly larger than the sun.
COROT, an unmanned mission led by the French space agency, was launched in 2006. It has the dual objectives of searching for extrasolar planets and performing astroseismology.
"COROT-exo-3b might turn out to be a rare object found by sheer luck", said Francois Bouchy of the French Institute of Astrophysics. "But it might just be a member of a new-found family of very massive planets that encircle stars more massive than our sun. We're now beginning to think that the more massive the star, the more massive the planet," he said.
The discovery by COROT -- COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits -- is to be reported in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Protein might be important in causing MS
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say they have discovered a particular protein, TREM-2, might be a major contributor to the development of multiple sclerosis.
TREM-2, which helps keep immune cells quiet, has been found to be more abundant in the spinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis, thereby boosting suspicion it might contribute to the formation of the disease.
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis said they discovered the extra TREM-2 was not in the right place to reduce aggression in immune cells, and that finding, they said, might eventually lead scientists to new pharmaceutical targets for MS prevention.
"Previously, TREM-2 had only been seen on the surface of immune cells; in the new study, we found it floating freely in spinal fluid," said Dr. Laura Piccio, the study's lead author. "This is only speculation for now, but these 'free agent' copies of TREM-2 could be making it harder for the TREM-2 that is attached to immune cells to keep the cells' aggressiveness under control."
The research is reported in the journal Brain.
Study: Insecticide decimates tadpoles
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A U.S. study suggests the common insecticide malathion can decimate tadpole populations, killing them indirectly at doses too small to kill them directly.
University of Pittsburgh researchers wanted to determine the environmental impact of the use of malathion -- the most popular insecticide in the United States.
The scientists discovered gradual amounts of malathion that were too small to directly kill developing leopard frog tadpoles instead sparked a biological chain of events that deprived them of their primary food source -- bottom dwelling algae, or periphyton, which tadpoles eat.
"As a result, nearly half the tadpoles in the experiment did not reach maturity and would have died in nature," the researchers said.
The results of the National Science Foundation-funded research builds on a nine-year effort by Associate Professor Rick Relyea to determine whether there is a link between pesticides and the global decline in amphibians. Relyea said amphibians are considered an environmental indicator species because of their sensitivity to pollutants and their deaths might foreshadow the poisoning of other, less environmentally sensitive species -- including humans.
Relyea and study co-author Nicole Diecks report their research in the journal Ecological Applications.
Low-frequency human brain signal studied
ST. LOUIS, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've taken one of the first "direct looks" at a human brain signal that never switches off and might support many cognitive functions.
The Washington University School of Medicine researchers in St. Louis said their study of one of the human brain's most fundamental "foundations" is an important step forward in outlining what neuroscientists call the functional architecture of the brain. Better understanding of that architecture, they said, will aid efforts to treat brain injuries and mental disorders.
"A different, more labile and higher-frequency signal known as the gamma frequency activity has been the focus of much brain research in recent years," said graduate student Biyu He, the study's first author. "But we found that signal loses its large-scale structure in deep sleep, while the low-frequency signal does not, suggesting that the low-frequency signal may be more fundamental."
"What we've been finding is reorienting the way we think about how the brain works," said Dr. Marcus Raichle, a professor of radiology, neurology and neurobiology.
The complex research and its findings were reported in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
