Channel 42
Science is the answer to everything.

Talking fish are no strangers to Americans. From the comedic portrayal of “Mr. Limpet” by Don Knotts, to the children’s Disney favorite, “Nemo,” fish can talk, laugh and tell jokes — at least on television and the silver screen. But can real fish verbally communicate?

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New research into the earliest events occurring immediately upon infection with HIV-I shows that the virus deals a stunning blow to the immune system earlier than was previously understood. According to scientists at Duke University Medical Center, this suggests the window of opportunity for successful intervention may be only a matter of days — not weeks — after transmission, as researchers had previously believed.

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By studying medication orders that are withdrawn (”discontinued”) by physicians within 45 minutes of their origination, researchers at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated a systematic and efficient method of identifying prescribing errors. The method, they say, has value to screen for medication errors and as a teaching tool for physicians and physicians-in-training.

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As part of the agency’s user-driven approach to preparing new Earth Explorer missions to advance our understanding of the Earth system, six candidate missions will be presented to the science community at a User Consultation Meeting in January 2009.

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The Heads of the International Space Station Agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States met today at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France, to review ISS cooperation.

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For the first time, researchers have grown in mice functioning human blood vessels from cells obtained from adult blood and bone marrow.This research could eventually lead to treatments for heart attack, acute injuries, wound healing and may facilitate growing new organs.

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Commercial venues are very aware of the effects that the environment — in this case, music — can have on in-store traffic flow, sales volumes, product choices and consumer time spent in the immediate vicinity. A study of the effects of music levels on drinking in a bar setting has found that loud music leads to more drinking in less time.

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Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder often have structural brain damage. Recent findings show that several specific white matter regions, as well as deep gray matter areas, of the brain are particularly sensitive to prenatal alcohol exposure. These abnormalities likely underlie the cognitive, motor, behavioral and emotional difficulties that are associated with FASD.

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More than one million Americans currently participate in the Alcoholics Anonymous program. Recent findings confirm that coffee and cigarette use among AA members is greater than among the general US population.Most AA members drink coffee for its stimulatory effects; more than half smoke to reduce feelings of depression, anxiety and irritability.

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Prenatal alcohol exposure may be particularly destructive for neurotrophins, a family of peptides that influence the growth, development and functional plasticity of the fetal brain. A new rodent study of alcohol’s effects on three key neurotrophins has found that, even though environmental enrichment may be able to improve some fetal-alcohol effects, those benefits do not appear to be mediated by neurotrophins.

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