Health Care 

NASA Ames helps re-enter the Dragon - Decades of rigorous research, testing and development performed in the Entry Systems and Technology Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., has garnered Ames' thermal protection engineers the respect of not just other government agencies, but also commercial entities. The successful re-entry in late May or early June of the cutting-edge Dragon spacecraft from its demonstration flight to the International Space Station will be enabled in part by thermal protection system (TPS) technologies developed, tested and flight-qualified at Ames. Developed by Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s (SpaceX), Hawthorne, Calif., the capsule will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket also built by SpaceX, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Wed, 23 May 2012 18:12:12 EDT

Fukushima's radiation effects: World experts to assess impacts from Japanese power plant - World experts on the effects of atomic radiation have agreed to start an assessment of the radiological impact of the events at the TEPCO (Fukushima-Daiichi) nuclear power plant following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Wed, 23 May 2012 17:05:05 EDT

Fever during pregnancy more than doubles the risk of autism or developmental delay - Mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect. Wed, 23 May 2012 16:19:19 EDT

RNA: From messenger to guardian of genome integrity - A new and unexpected role for RNA is identified: the defence of genome integrity and stability. New research shows that an until now unknown class of RNA -- the newly christened DDRNA -- plays a key role in activation of the molecular alarms necessary to safeguard our genome when DNA damage from internal or external factors occurs. Wed, 23 May 2012 16:13:13 EDT

Stem-cell-growing surface enables bone repair - Researchers have demonstrated that a special surface, free of biological contaminants, allows adult-derived stem cells to thrive and transform into multiple cell types. Their success brings stem cell therapies another step closer. Wed, 23 May 2012 14:57:57 EDT

Factors behind past lemur species extinctions put surviving species in 'ecological retreat' - At least 17 species of lemurs have vanished on Madagascar over the last 2,000 years, with human activity likely a central factor. New research examined eight of those extinctions, and findings suggest that surviving species don't necessarily benefit when competitors die out. Wed, 23 May 2012 14:57:57 EDT