Elephants evolve 'to beat poaching'
Evolution is helping elephants to fight back against poachers — more of these giant animals are now being born with smaller tusks because hunting for ivory is reducing the gene pool.

According to a study by a joint team of researchers from Oxford University and British conservation charity Save the Elephants, poaching of large male elephants for ivory has changed the natural breeding behaviour of these animals.

In fact, hunting is allowing smaller ones with shorter tusks to produce more calves and over time, the average tusk size has been decreasing.

“What appears to be the case is that average tusk sizes have decreased greatly since the mid-19th century. The data comes from the trade statistics and from records of hunters around Africa who find that large trophies are very much harder to find.

The average tusk size of African elephants has halved since the mid-19th century, according to the study which has found a similar effect in India’s Asian elephant population. It is estimated that there were 1.2 million African elephants in the late 1970s, but there are now fewer than 500,000.

10-min test for Alzheimer’s
US scientists have developed a device they say will help detect early signs of Alzheimer’s — a brain disease that impairs memory — in a 10-minute test.

The device, called DETECT, measures memory and reaction time. Scientists said the device may be available to physicians by year-end.

It includes an LCD display in a visor placed around a patient’s head with an onboard dedicated computer, noise reduction headphones and a controller.

The portable test runs patients through a battery of visual and auditory stimuli such as pictures and words that assess cognitive abilities relative to age, gauging reaction time and memory capabilities. Its software can track cognitive capabilities and its decline on a yearly basis.

New sign language
It’s new and absolutely simple but this vocabulary of sign language could soon revolutionise the way science is taught to deaf children in schools across the globe.

Researchers in the UK have developed the glossary of more than 250 signs for scientific terms that can be accessed over the internet by teachers, interpreters and hearing impaired students.

Terms of daunting complexity such as ‘photosynthesis’, ‘density’ or ‘bacteria’ are explained by on-screen tutors who employ simple but descriptive gestures that suddenly create understanding.

The simple gestures employed by the new system are supported by written explanations. In some cases — such as ‘reaction’ or ‘distillation’ — additional information is supplied in demonstration videos.

Lost: Blame your brain
Do you often get disoriented or lost while trying to find a way through the city streets? Well simply blame it on your brain.

Researchers in Britain have found that two key parts of the brain “talk” to each other and allow people to remember routes as well as plan new ones, but if either of these is not working, the ability to find the way around gets impaired.

While the first part called the hippocampus stores memories about key locations and landmarks, the other brain cells, known as grid cells, provide the internal sense of space and distance, like a GPS system.
According to the researchers, in those people who get lost easily, navigation cells are less efficient at talking to each other, so they get lost.

Cancer: Mother, child risk
Mothers whose babies have cancer are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study.
The mutation of a gene known as p53 — which all of us have and which normally suppresses cancer — could mean that mothers and their children are more susceptible to the disease.

The faulty gene could affect steroid and hormone levels in the womb, which may not only predispose children to cancer but also sensitise mothers’ breast tissue.

The groundbreaking study follows research which identified a link between children with soft-tissue sarcomas — a form of cancer usually found in teenagers — and mothers with breast cancer.

The study shed fresh light on inherited forms of cancer which could eventually lead to better identifying of those most at risk.