Stem Cell Breakthrough, Underwater Labs: KQED Science News Round-Up

10-Year-Old Girl Gets a New Vein Made from Her Stem Cells | Healthland | TIME.comFor the first time doctors have successfully transplanted a vein grown with a patient's own stem cells, another example of scientists producing human body parts in the lab. In this case, the patient was a 10-year-old girl in Sweden who was suffering from a severe vein blockage to her liver.

Childhood obesity linked to poorer academic performanceObese children face risks to their emotional and social well-being that can harm their academic performance, new research suggests. The study, published today in the journal Child Development, found obese elementary school children performed worse on math tests than their peers without weight problems. A lack of social acceptance could account for the lower test scores, researchers said.

Capitol Alert: Jerry Brown signals support for garbage 'gasification' project - sacbee.comJerry Brown's administration says it will support a Canadian company's effort to vaporize garbage and turn it into electricity in Monterey County, despite concerns raised by environmentalists. Plasco Energy Group's $175 million project is at the center of a regulatory dispute over gasification, an emerging technology in which garbage, under intense heat, is converted into a synthetic fuel used to generate electricity.

U.S. cancer survivors to rise by a third by 2022: reportThu Jun 14, 2012 10:03am EDT (Reuters) - The number of Americans living with cancer will increase by nearly a third to almost 18 million by 2022, according to a report released on Thursday by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.

An Underwater Lab for Forecasting the Ocean's Future - Environment - GOODThe effects of climate change are hard to predict, at least with total precision. How quickly will rising temperatures wipe out forests? Will there be more volcanic eruptions and earthquakes? How will the oceans change as they absorb more carbon dioxide? Considering that increasing ocean acidity threatens to destroy coral reefs, that last question is pretty important.

Newfound Galaxy May Be Most Distant Ever SeenColor composite image of the Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Survey Field. The red galaxy at the center of the image is the most distant galaxy, SXDF-NB1006-2. The left panels show close-ups of the most distant galaxy.CREDIT: NAOJ A new galaxy has taken the title of most distant known, according to scientists from the Subaru and Keck Telescopes.

Tropical lake on Titan? Surprising find could solve moon's methane mystery.Scientists have wondered whether some unseen process replenishes the lakes of liquid methane on Titan, Saturn's biggest moon. A newly found lake suggests intriguing possibilities. Scientists have spotted a Great Salt Lake-scale patch of liquid methane on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, along with smaller swamp-like features, in an unexpected and intriguing place.