Washington, October 29 : American researchers have identified a class of compounds that can prevent degeneration of neurons, the underlying cause of conditions like Alzheimer''s disease, Parkinson''s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and Southern Methodist University insist that their study attains significance because current medications for such neurodegenerative diseases alleviate only their symptoms but not the underlying cause.

The researchers describe the compounds they have identified as 3-substituted indolones.

They have also conducted a structure-activity relationship study to identify substituent groups that are important for neuroprotective efficacy.

Washington, Oct 29: A new study has reported faint signs of a natural electric field in the thick cloud cover of Saturn’s largest moon Titan that are similar to the energy radiated by lightning on Earth, which suggests that it could spark life.

Lightning is thought to have sparked the chemical reactions that led to the origin of life on our planet.

“As of now, lightning activity has not been observed in Titan’s atmosphere,” said lead author Juan Antonio Morente of the University of Granada in Spain.

But, he said, the signals that have been detected “are an irrefutable proof for the existence of electric activity.”

Washington, Oct 29: Scientists have found that the much hyped dinosaur “mummies”, which are fossils with soft tissue and their last meals intact, were merely thick-skinned, suggesting that more may be found than paleontologists had previously expected.

Eric Lund of the Utah Museum of Natural History examined over a dozen newly discovered mummies in southern Utah.

According to a report in New Scientist, his analysis showed that these and other fossils all came from sand deposited in river beds that also contained remnants of wood and leaves - signs of a moist environment.

This means it was too wet to dry out and mummify a dinosaur carcass, Eric told the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Cleveland.

Sydney - A big bounce on Wall Street saw Australian stocks make gains Wednesday, halting a five-day losing streak that had taken the market to a four-year low.

The ASX 200 quickly rose 154 points, or 4 per cent, to 3,948, but the rally ran out of steam, with the index closing up 51 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 3,845.

A local rally had been expected after the US blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its second-largest point gain in history, following strong stock gains in Europe and Asia.

Washington, October 29: A novel influenza vaccine, which is delivered nasally, has been found to trigger robust immunity in ferrets, say researchers.

Experts at NanoBio Corporation have revealed that the immune responses elicited by the new vaccine were more than 20 times higher than those generated by two injections of the currently approved vaccines.

The researchers also revealed that their intranasal vaccine used only half the standard antigen dose to produce that effect.

According to them, their nasal vaccines exert adjuvant activity without the need for pro-inflammatory materials, toxins or cytokines.

Beijing - Richer, developed nations should lead the effort against climate change and help developing nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, China said Wednesday.

Longtime industrialized nations have a duty because of their historic responsibility for the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to provide cooperation, financing and technology transfers to poorer, developing countries, China's cabinet said in the White Book, their foremost policy document on climate change.