Channel 42
Science is the answer to everything.

Researchers have pinpointed a gene mutation that accounts for a previously unidentified form of hearing loss. University of Michigan and other scientists found the same mutation in two unrelated families, indicating the mutation may be ancient and not particularly rare. Future research may find that it affects others who have an unexplained family history of hearing loss. Genes are likely involved in as many as 50 percent of people with hearing loss.

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University of New Hampshire researchers have tagged one male and two female leatherback turtles off Cape Cod. They are the first free-swimming leatherbacks ever tagged in New England. The 700-800-pound leatherback turtles, an endangered species, were tagged July 17, 26 and 29 with GPS-linked satellite tags that transmit nearly real-time tracking data, allowing scientists to better understand these elusive, highly migratory giants to enhance their survivability.

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The world-record pace for the marathon continues to improve for both men and women. For men, the record pace for the marathon is now about as fast as the record pace for the 10,000-meter run just after World War II. Today, champion athletes are running more than four times farther at speeds of well under five minutes per mile.

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What’s causing some university students to pack on the pounds? University of Alberta researchers say the culprit could be television commercials. Researchers discovered students who reported medium or high television viewership snacked more frequently while watching TV and recognized more advertising than students who were considered low TV viewers.

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Staying awake slows down our brains, scientists have long recognized. Mental performance is at its peak after sleep but inevitably trends downward throughout the day, and sleep deprivation only worsens these effects. For the first time, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a way to stop this downward slide in fruit flies.

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Geoscientists have long presumed that, like today, the tropics remained warm throughout Earth’s last major glaciation 300 million years ago.

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While humans obtain iron primarily through the food they eat, bacteria have evolved complex and diverse mechanisms to allow them access to iron. A Syracuse University research team led by Robert Doyle, discovered that some bacteria are equipped with a gene that enables them to harvest iron from their environment or human host in a unique and energy efficient manner. Doyle’s discovery could provide researchers with new ways to target such diseases as tuberculosis.

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A research team led by University of Washington scientists has found that several people in South and Southeast Asian countries working and living around monkeys have been infected with simian foamy virus, a primate virus that, to date, has not been shown to cause human disease. The findings provide more evidence that Asia, where interaction between people and monkeys is common and widespread, could be an important setting for future primate-to-human viral transmission.

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African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a pace unseen since an international ban on the ivory trade took effect in 1989, but a University of Washington conservation biologist believes there is little outcry because the public seems to be unaware of the giant mammals’ plight.

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A researcher has developed a nanomaterial that makes plastic stiffer, lighter and stronger.

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