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Science is the answer to everything.

University of Alberta research has yielded a way to double the output of rice crops in some of the world’s poorest, most distressed areas

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Cells can turn on tumor-promoting growth circuits by falsely reporting critical genetic information during the process of transcription: making RNA from DNA.Damage to the DNA making up a gene can lead to a misreading of the gene as it is made into RNA, a process called transcriptional mutagenesis.Transcriptional mutagenesis could represent an additional way DNA damage contributes to tumor formation.

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For breast cancer patients who underwent a mastectomy and who undergo radiation therapy after immediate breast reconstruction, autologous tissue reconstruction provides fewer long-term complications and better cosmetic results than tissue expander and implant reconstruction, according to a study in the Nov. issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

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A new study in Personnel Psychology reveals that voluntary top executive turnover was more likely to occur as executives’ stock option portfolios fell further out of the money.

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With millions of Americans planning to gather around dinner tables for the annual Thanksgiving feast, researchers are reporting key research advances in providing safer and more nutritious food in the 10th and 11th episodes of the American Chemical Society’s Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series. Those advances include putting that Thanksgiving turkey on a special diet — animal feed with a natural substance that reduces levels of food-poisoning bacteria inside gobblers and other poultry.

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Quantum computers would likely outperform conventional computers in simulating chemical reactions involving more than four atoms, according to scientists at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Haverford College. Such improved ability to model and predict complex chemical reactions could revolutionize drug design and materials science, among other fields.

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A new study from Georgia Tech shows that when patients with macular degeneration focus on using another part of their retina to compensate for their loss of central vision, their brain seems to compensate by reorganizing its neural connections. Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. The study appears in the December edition of the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.

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Some individuals would rather receive clear negative information than deal with ambiguity or uncertainty, according to new research out of the University of Toronto.

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Preliminary results of the University of Minnesota’s independent academic study of the I-35W bridge collapse suggest that lack of robustness in the bridge’s original design, additional load from bridge improvements over the years, weight from construction materials and stresses induced by temperature changes contributed to the collapse of the I-35W bridge on Aug. 1, 2007.

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Islet cell transplantation is a promising therapy for people with type 1 diabetes, but it requires a regime of powerful immunosuppressive drugs so the immune system won’t reject the insulin-producing islets. The drugs raise the risk of infections and cancer and are toxic to the islets themselves. Northwestern researchers have developed a new technique that eliminated the need for these drugs. The strategy is a potential therapy for human islet cell transplantation.

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