An astrophysicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics has found that some nanodiamonds, the most famous and exotic form of stardust, may instead have formed within the inner solar system. The findings argue with the wide held belief that nanodiamonds recovered from meteorites from the asteroid belt have been the most abundant type of presolar stardust grain. IGPP Director John Bradley, in conjunction with scientists from the Georg

Dr. Irv Binik investigates pain during intercourse For some women sex can be uncomfortable. For others it can be downright painful. Dr. Irv Binik, a Psychology professor at McGill and director of the Royal Victoria Sex and Couples Therapy Service is trying to ease the pain. He has been studying the problem of sex-associated pain in women, paying particular attention to two recurrent acute conditions, pain during or after intercourse (dyspareunia) and involuntary spasms of the vagina (v

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked for additional information, but no additional clinical trials, as it considers approval of FluMist, an influenza vaccine delivered as a nasal spray. FluMist was invented by Hunein “John” Maassab after more than four decades of research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune has licensed the rights to FluMist from U-M, and has a marketing agreement with pharmaceutical giant Wyeth. “I am

As part of the Earth System Science Pathfinder small-satellite program, NASA has selected a new space mission proposal led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., that will yield fresh insight into how oceans affect and respond to climate change — knowledge that will help better life here on Earth. The mission, named Aquarius, promises to explore the saltiness of the seas in order to understand how the massive natural exchanges of water between the ocean, atmosphere and sea ice

A sensor aboard NASA’s Terra satellite is helping scientists map how much sunlight the Earth’s surface reflects back up into the atmosphere, and this new detailed information should help to greatly improve weather and forecast models. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) now routinely provides daily global and local measurements of albedo, or the total amount of light reflected from Earth’s surface out to space. These precise data may allow scientists to better understand and pr

A report in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation has found that a group of drugs currently under development for the treatment of Type II diabetes caused both increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure in animal studies. These new findings regarding glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) receptor agonists suggest that the brain’s GLP-1 system has the ability to affect autonomic function, leading to changes in heart rate and blood pressure. A naturally occurring