Standing and working for long hours during pregnancy may slow the baby's growth, a new study from The Netherlands suggests.
In the study, women who stood for long periods at work during pregnancy had babies whose heads were, on average, 1 centimeter (or 3 percent) smaller in circumference than that of the average baby at birth.
In addition, women who worked more than 25 hours a week had babies who weighed five to seven ounces less on average than babies born to women who worked less than 25 hours a week.
An analysis of the babies' growth showed these differences were present from the third trimester onwards, the researchers said.
However, working long hours and engaging in physically demanding work during pregnancy did not put women at risk for preterm birth or for having babies with a low birth weight (less than 5.5 pounds).
June 28, 2012
Paint-on lithium battery can be applied to virtually any surface
Researchers at Rice University have developed a lithium-ion battery that can be painted on virtually any surface.
The rechargeable battery created in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan consists of spray-painted layers, each representing the components in a traditional battery. The research appears June 28 in Nature's online, open-access journal Scientific Reports.
"This means traditional packaging for batteries has given way to a much more flexible approach that allows all kinds of new design and integration possibilities for storage devices," said Ajayan, Rice's Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry. "There has been lot of interest in recent times in creating power sources with an improved form factor, and this is a big step forward in that direction."
The rechargeable battery created in the lab of Rice materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan consists of spray-painted layers, each representing the components in a traditional battery. The research appears June 28 in Nature's online, open-access journal Scientific Reports.
"This means traditional packaging for batteries has given way to a much more flexible approach that allows all kinds of new design and integration possibilities for storage devices," said Ajayan, Rice's Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry. "There has been lot of interest in recent times in creating power sources with an improved form factor, and this is a big step forward in that direction."
Maya archaeologists unearth new 2012 monument with 'end date' of Dec. 21, 2012
Archaeologists working at the site of La Corona in Guatemala have discovered a 1,300-year-old-year Maya text that provides only the second known reference to the so-called "end date" of the Maya calendar, December 21, 2012. The discovery, one of the most significant hieroglyphic finds in decades, was announced June 28 at the National Palace in Guatemala.
"This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," says Marcello A. Canuto, director of Tulane's Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at La Corona.
Since 2008, Canuto and Tomás Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala have directed excavations at La Corona, a site previously ravaged by looters.
"This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," says Marcello A. Canuto, director of Tulane's Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at La Corona.
Since 2008, Canuto and Tomás Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala have directed excavations at La Corona, a site previously ravaged by looters.
Scientists to hold back time for one second
Horologists around the world on Saturday will carry out one of the weirdest operations of their profession: they will hold back time.
The last minute of June 30, 2012 is destined to be 61 seconds long, for timekeepers are to add a "leap second" to compensate for the wibbly-wobbly movements of our world.
The ever-so-brief halting of the second hand will compensate for a creeping divergence from solar time, meaning the period required for Earth to complete a day.
The planet takes just over 86,400 seconds for a 360-degree revolution.
The last minute of June 30, 2012 is destined to be 61 seconds long, for timekeepers are to add a "leap second" to compensate for the wibbly-wobbly movements of our world.
The ever-so-brief halting of the second hand will compensate for a creeping divergence from solar time, meaning the period required for Earth to complete a day.
The planet takes just over 86,400 seconds for a 360-degree revolution.
June 27, 2012
How to offend moms and alienate people
It turns out a fast way to a cold shoulder — at least within a group of moms — could be sharing your opinion, even among friends.
A new study of 2,000 mothers found that one in three mothers have argued with someone about how to raise their children. And almost a quarter have felt so strongly about the situation that they are no longer speaking with the offender.
Judgmental moms are nothing new: women pass judgment on other mothers for everything from how they deal with bullying to how they do their child's hair. Some parents are criticized for giving their child a pacifier, and others get a sideways glance for taking it away too early.
Judgment happens on everything from whether a mom decides to breastfeed to whether she works outside of the home. One survey found that nearly 90 percent of moms admit to judging other moms, with the biggest reason being simply that "her kid is a brat."
A new study of 2,000 mothers found that one in three mothers have argued with someone about how to raise their children. And almost a quarter have felt so strongly about the situation that they are no longer speaking with the offender.
Judgmental moms are nothing new: women pass judgment on other mothers for everything from how they deal with bullying to how they do their child's hair. Some parents are criticized for giving their child a pacifier, and others get a sideways glance for taking it away too early.
Judgment happens on everything from whether a mom decides to breastfeed to whether she works outside of the home. One survey found that nearly 90 percent of moms admit to judging other moms, with the biggest reason being simply that "her kid is a brat."
Popeye was right, spinach does make you stronger
Popeye’s yen for a can of spinach before bulging his biceps has a genuine scientific basis, as researchers have found that the green leafy vegetable really boosts the muscle power.
As against the earlier notion that the iron content of spinach accounted for its status as a superfood, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have found that it is the inorganic nitrate in the vegetable which is the secret behind its strength-giving property.
The study found mice supplied with nitrate in their drinking water developed significantly stronger muscles by stimulating two key proteins, the Daily Mail reported.
The quantity of nitrate that the mice received was roughly equivalent to that which a person would obtain by eating 200 to 300 grams of fresh spinach or two to three beetroots a day. A week into the experiment, the team found that the mice that had been on consistent nitrate had much stronger muscles. The researchers then discovered that the nitrate mice had a higher concentration of two different proteins in their muscles, which is assumed to explain the greater muscle strength.
As against the earlier notion that the iron content of spinach accounted for its status as a superfood, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have found that it is the inorganic nitrate in the vegetable which is the secret behind its strength-giving property.
The study found mice supplied with nitrate in their drinking water developed significantly stronger muscles by stimulating two key proteins, the Daily Mail reported.
The quantity of nitrate that the mice received was roughly equivalent to that which a person would obtain by eating 200 to 300 grams of fresh spinach or two to three beetroots a day. A week into the experiment, the team found that the mice that had been on consistent nitrate had much stronger muscles. The researchers then discovered that the nitrate mice had a higher concentration of two different proteins in their muscles, which is assumed to explain the greater muscle strength.
Surprise Connection Between Gum Disease and Bad Knees
Want healthy knees? Then you better floss your teeth.
Yes, you read that right. Scientists have found traces of gum bacteria in the knees of people with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, adds more evidence of the link between poor oral health and poor health in general.
Researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland essentially traced the passage of bacteria in the mouth to the fluid surrounded the kneecap, called synovial fluid. By analyzing the DNA of the bacteria, the researchers could determine that the progeny of the gum bacteria entered into the bloodstream and settled in the synovial fluid, which was in a weakened state as a result of arthritis.
Yes, you read that right. Scientists have found traces of gum bacteria in the knees of people with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, adds more evidence of the link between poor oral health and poor health in general.
Researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland essentially traced the passage of bacteria in the mouth to the fluid surrounded the kneecap, called synovial fluid. By analyzing the DNA of the bacteria, the researchers could determine that the progeny of the gum bacteria entered into the bloodstream and settled in the synovial fluid, which was in a weakened state as a result of arthritis.
June 26, 2012
Phthalate, environmental chemical is linked to higher rates of childhood obesity
Obese children show greater exposure than nonobese children to a phthalate, a chemical used to soften plastics in some children's toys and many household products, according to a new study, which found that the obesity risk increases according to the level of the chemical found in the bloodstream.
The study will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.
The chemical, di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), is a common type of phthalate, a group of industrial chemicals that are suspected endocrine disruptors, or hormone-altering agents.
The study will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.
The chemical, di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), is a common type of phthalate, a group of industrial chemicals that are suspected endocrine disruptors, or hormone-altering agents.
Rewriting quantum chips with a beam of light: Laser technique brings ultrafast computing closer to reality
The promise of ultrafast quantum computing has moved a step closer to reality with a technique to create rewritable computer chips using a beam of light. Researchers from The City College of New York (CCNY) and the University of California Berkeley (UCB) used light to control the spin of an atom's nucleus in order to encode information.
The technique could pave the way for quantum computing, a long-sought leap forward toward computers with processing speeds many times faster than today's. The group will publish their results on June 26 in Nature Communications.
Current electronic devices are approaching the upper limits in processing speed, and they rely on etching a pattern into a semiconductor to create a chip or integrated circuit. These patterns of interconnections serve as highways to shuttle information around the circuit, but there is a drawback.
"Once the chip is printed, it can only be used one way," explained Dr. Jeffrey Reimer, UCB professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the study co-author.
The technique could pave the way for quantum computing, a long-sought leap forward toward computers with processing speeds many times faster than today's. The group will publish their results on June 26 in Nature Communications.
Current electronic devices are approaching the upper limits in processing speed, and they rely on etching a pattern into a semiconductor to create a chip or integrated circuit. These patterns of interconnections serve as highways to shuttle information around the circuit, but there is a drawback.
"Once the chip is printed, it can only be used one way," explained Dr. Jeffrey Reimer, UCB professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the study co-author.
Reminders of mortality increase concern for environmental legacy
When we turn on the A/C in the summer, our first thought is probably one of relief. If it's 100 degrees in the shade, we're probably not thinking about how our decision might influence the environmental legacy we leave for future generations. It's not that we don't care, it's just that we typically don't think about our behavior in terms of long-term, inter-generational tradeoffs. But new research suggests that reminders of our own mortality may encourage us to keep future generations in mind as we make decisions.
In a study published in Psychological Science, a publication of the Association for Psychological Science, Kimberly Wade-Benzoni, of Duke University Fuqua School of Business, and her colleagues decided to focus on a kind of problem they call an "intergenerational dilemma," examining whether certain factors might lead the current generation to make sacrifices on behalf of future generations, even when there aren't any material or economic incentives to do so.
When people make decisions, they often focus on rewards in the present at the expense of rewards in the future -- a phenomenon called 'intertemporal discounting.' The hurdle to overcome with intergenerational dilemmas is that they require us to focus on future rewards that will be enjoyed by someone else. These dilemmas are unique because there isn't just a temporal distance between decision-maker and beneficiary, there's a social distance, too.
In a study published in Psychological Science, a publication of the Association for Psychological Science, Kimberly Wade-Benzoni, of Duke University Fuqua School of Business, and her colleagues decided to focus on a kind of problem they call an "intergenerational dilemma," examining whether certain factors might lead the current generation to make sacrifices on behalf of future generations, even when there aren't any material or economic incentives to do so.
When people make decisions, they often focus on rewards in the present at the expense of rewards in the future -- a phenomenon called 'intertemporal discounting.' The hurdle to overcome with intergenerational dilemmas is that they require us to focus on future rewards that will be enjoyed by someone else. These dilemmas are unique because there isn't just a temporal distance between decision-maker and beneficiary, there's a social distance, too.
This man can read the minds of vegetative patients
Neuroscientist Adrian Owen estimates that 20 percent of patients in a so-called "vegetative state" are, in fact, capable of communicating with the outside world. This is not a delusion. Using brain imaging techniques like fMRI, Owen — pictured above — has provided some remarkably compelling evidence that "non-responsive" and "unreachable" patients are often surprisingly cognizant of their surroundings. Now, he's pushing to put his methods in the hands of clinicians by making them mobile, affordable, and more reliable.
Over on Nature News, David Cyranoski recounts a number of Owen's incredible achievements, while exploring some of the ethical and moral implications of "finding" patients in a vegetative state. We've included an excerpt from the feature below, but you'll want to head over to Nature for the rest. It's a fantastic piece, and well worth reading in full.
Over on Nature News, David Cyranoski recounts a number of Owen's incredible achievements, while exploring some of the ethical and moral implications of "finding" patients in a vegetative state. We've included an excerpt from the feature below, but you'll want to head over to Nature for the rest. It's a fantastic piece, and well worth reading in full.
New toilet turns human waste into electricity and fertilizer
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have invented a new toilet system that will turn human waste into electricity and fertilisers and also reduce the amount of water needed for flushing by up to 90 per cent compared to current toilet systems in Singapore.
Dubbed the No-Mix Vacuum Toilet, it has two chambers that separate the liquid and solid wastes. Using vacuum suction technology, such as those used in aircraft lavatories, flushing liquids would now take only 0.2 litres of water while flushing solids require just one litre.
The existing conventional water closet uses about 4 to 6 litres of water per flush. If installed in a public restroom flushed 100 times a day, this next generation toilet system, will save about 160,000 litres in a year -- enough to fill a small pool 10 x 8 metres x 2m.
Dubbed the No-Mix Vacuum Toilet, it has two chambers that separate the liquid and solid wastes. Using vacuum suction technology, such as those used in aircraft lavatories, flushing liquids would now take only 0.2 litres of water while flushing solids require just one litre.
The existing conventional water closet uses about 4 to 6 litres of water per flush. If installed in a public restroom flushed 100 times a day, this next generation toilet system, will save about 160,000 litres in a year -- enough to fill a small pool 10 x 8 metres x 2m.
Pollutants may contribute to illness and becoming overweight
Lack of physical activity and poor diet alone cannot explain the dramatic rise in obesity and diabetes occurring in many countries, believe some researchers. It is time to face the possibility that hazardous chemicals may also share part of the blame.
The population of the Western world is increasingly falling prey to metabolic syndrome, which is the name for a group of risk factors -- such as overweight and insulin resistance -- that occur together and increase the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke, and type-2 diabetes.
What can explain this sharp upsurge in the incidence of metabolic syndrome? Both genetics and environmental factors such as diet and physical exercise play a part, but researchers are still missing some key pieces to the puzzle.
"Many studies now indicate that persistent organic pollutants play a major role," says Jerome Ruzzin, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bergen.
The population of the Western world is increasingly falling prey to metabolic syndrome, which is the name for a group of risk factors -- such as overweight and insulin resistance -- that occur together and increase the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke, and type-2 diabetes.
What can explain this sharp upsurge in the incidence of metabolic syndrome? Both genetics and environmental factors such as diet and physical exercise play a part, but researchers are still missing some key pieces to the puzzle.
"Many studies now indicate that persistent organic pollutants play a major role," says Jerome Ruzzin, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bergen.
Atom Smasher Sets Guinness Record for Hottest Man-Made Temperature
A giant atom-smashing racetrack of sorts has just broken a Guinness World Record by reaching the highest man-made temperature ever recorded, scientists announced Monday (June 25).
How hot? 250,000 times hotter than the center of the sun.
This scorching achievement happened inside the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), which is a 2.4-mile (3.9 kilometers) underground track where particles smash into one another under conditions that existed about a millionth of a second after the Big Bang.
How hot? 250,000 times hotter than the center of the sun.
This scorching achievement happened inside the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), which is a 2.4-mile (3.9 kilometers) underground track where particles smash into one another under conditions that existed about a millionth of a second after the Big Bang.
The Myth of the Free Market
As numbing news of multibillion dollar boondoggles, scandals and swindles becomes a daily occurrence, now is the time to take a close look at the right-wing propaganda machine’s favorite canards about capitalism and the free market. In the wake of the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression and in the throes of a prolonged recession brought on by rogue financial institutions operating outside a regulatory system supposedly designed to prevent the very kind of reckless behavior and profiteering that led to the current doldrums, here is a short list of myths perpetrated by the corporate greed-is-good culture – myths that taken together add up to The Big Lie that is destroying the American economy, the middle class, and the good character of a once-great country.
Let’s begin with an axiom the US Chamber of Commerce, Koch Industries, Inc., Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Company, and Bain Capital, to name but a few, would all wholeheartedly endorse: state interference (“regulation”) is inimical to economic growth, job creation, and prosperity. And this corollary: a free Market is the best and only way to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number.
Let’s begin with an axiom the US Chamber of Commerce, Koch Industries, Inc., Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Company, and Bain Capital, to name but a few, would all wholeheartedly endorse: state interference (“regulation”) is inimical to economic growth, job creation, and prosperity. And this corollary: a free Market is the best and only way to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number.
June 22, 2012
All the 2 percent want to do is gain weight
Fewer than 2% of adults in the United States are underweight, according to 2007 to 2010 data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics. To be considered underweight, individuals must have a body mass index of less than 18.5. A woman who is five-foot-six, for example, would weigh 114 pounds or less.
For some, difficulty gaining weight can be a frustrating problem and must be approached in a healthy way, experts say.
For some, difficulty gaining weight can be a frustrating problem and must be approached in a healthy way, experts say.
How stress can boost immune system
A study spearheaded by a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist has tracked the trajectories of key immune cells in response to short-term stress and traced, in great detail, how hormones triggered by such stress enhance immune readiness. The study, conducted in rats, adds weight to evidence that immune responsiveness is heightened, rather than suppressed as many believe, by the so-called "fight-or-flight" response.
The study's findings provide a thorough overview of how a triad of stress hormones affects the main cell subpopulations of the immune system. They also offer the prospect of, someday, being able to manipulate stress-hormone levels to improve patients' recovery from surgery or wounds or their responses to vaccines.
You've heard it a thousand times: Stress is bad for you. And it's certainly true that chronic stress, lasting weeks and months, has deleterious effects including, notably, suppression of the immune response. But short-term stress -- the fight-or-flight response, a mobilization of bodily resources lasting minutes or hours in response to immediate threats -- stimulates immune activity, said lead author Firdaus Dhabhar, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and member of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection.
The study's findings provide a thorough overview of how a triad of stress hormones affects the main cell subpopulations of the immune system. They also offer the prospect of, someday, being able to manipulate stress-hormone levels to improve patients' recovery from surgery or wounds or their responses to vaccines.
You've heard it a thousand times: Stress is bad for you. And it's certainly true that chronic stress, lasting weeks and months, has deleterious effects including, notably, suppression of the immune response. But short-term stress -- the fight-or-flight response, a mobilization of bodily resources lasting minutes or hours in response to immediate threats -- stimulates immune activity, said lead author Firdaus Dhabhar, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and member of the Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection.
'Manly' Hormone Turns Women onto Masturbation (But Not Sex)
Testosterone is often cast as the manly hormone, the chemical bestower of virility and the reason for men's high sex drives. But new research turns this conventional wisdom on its head. In healthy men, it turns out, testosterone isn't linked to sexual desire at all. And in women, high testosterone is actually associated with less interest in sex with a partner.
Complicating the picture further, while high-testosterone women may be less interested in slipping between the sheets with a lover, high testosterone is linked to greater interest in masturbation in healthy women, according to research detailed online in May in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
The findings are unique because most studies of sexual desire and hormones use either animal subjects or focus on people with abnormally low or high testosterone who come into clinics for treatment, said study researcher Sari van Anders, a behavioral neuroendocrinologist at the University of Michigan. Healthy individuals are rarely studied, van Anders told LiveScience.
"People have argued that sex research focuses too much on dysfunction and pharmaceutical treatment as opposed to questions like pleasure or relationships or stress," van Anders said. "There is a whole scope of factors that go unstudied." [Busted! 6 Gender Myths in the Bedroom & Beyond]
Complicating the picture further, while high-testosterone women may be less interested in slipping between the sheets with a lover, high testosterone is linked to greater interest in masturbation in healthy women, according to research detailed online in May in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
The findings are unique because most studies of sexual desire and hormones use either animal subjects or focus on people with abnormally low or high testosterone who come into clinics for treatment, said study researcher Sari van Anders, a behavioral neuroendocrinologist at the University of Michigan. Healthy individuals are rarely studied, van Anders told LiveScience.
"People have argued that sex research focuses too much on dysfunction and pharmaceutical treatment as opposed to questions like pleasure or relationships or stress," van Anders said. "There is a whole scope of factors that go unstudied." [Busted! 6 Gender Myths in the Bedroom & Beyond]
June 21, 2012
Space Quantum Experiment Has First Balloon Flight - Yahoo! News
A quantum communication experiment tucked inside a tiny satellite could someday lead to a global network for sending or receiving unbreakable codes. One of the first steps came during a weather balloon flight to test whether a quantum experiment's hardware could survive near-space conditions.
Several groups around the world are racing to launch quantum experiments aboard satellites or even the International Space Station. But Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies has worked hard to shrink the usual quantum lab equipment down to the size of a sandwich — the space available for science experiments aboard a cheaper "CubeSat" that can piggyback on rocket launches for bigger missions.
Several groups around the world are racing to launch quantum experiments aboard satellites or even the International Space Station. But Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies has worked hard to shrink the usual quantum lab equipment down to the size of a sandwich — the space available for science experiments aboard a cheaper "CubeSat" that can piggyback on rocket launches for bigger missions.
Science Fiction or Fact: Instant, 'Matrix'-like Learning
"I know kung fu." It's one of the most memorable lines from the 1999 film "The Matrix." Keanu Reeves' character, Neo, utters it after the martial art is "uploaded" to his brain in mere seconds via a futuristic computer jacked into his skull.
If only it were that easy. Nowadays mastering a style of kung fu takes thousands of hours of practice. But there are some emerging hints that the pace of learning a skill can be technologically boosted. Perhaps someday, with major advances in several fields, the acquisition of knowledge and skill could happen at broadband-like speeds across surgically implanted and external hardware.
"The concept is not totally implausible," said Bruce McNaughton, a neuroscientist at the University of Lethbridge in Canada. "I suggest that you check back in a couple of hundred years."
If only it were that easy. Nowadays mastering a style of kung fu takes thousands of hours of practice. But there are some emerging hints that the pace of learning a skill can be technologically boosted. Perhaps someday, with major advances in several fields, the acquisition of knowledge and skill could happen at broadband-like speeds across surgically implanted and external hardware.
"The concept is not totally implausible," said Bruce McNaughton, a neuroscientist at the University of Lethbridge in Canada. "I suggest that you check back in a couple of hundred years."
Physicists On Alert For Higgs Announcement
Unless you’re the Higgs boson, don’t expect much attention in July when the International Conference on High Energy Physics convenes in Melbourne, Australia.
Rumors of an impending Very Important Higgs Announcement at the physics meeting have already begun invading the Internet, ignited by blogs saturated with speculation and incomplete information about a possible Higgs discovery.
The two teams searching for the elusive particle at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, are keeping quiet.
“Please be patient for a few more weeks,” says Guido Tonelli, spokesman for the Compact Muon Solenoid team. “We have just finished data taking, and people work day and night including weekends to reach a scientifically validated result.” Tonelli expects that CMS will have results ready to present, but says that “the pressure is huge.”
Rumors of an impending Very Important Higgs Announcement at the physics meeting have already begun invading the Internet, ignited by blogs saturated with speculation and incomplete information about a possible Higgs discovery.
The two teams searching for the elusive particle at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, are keeping quiet.
“Please be patient for a few more weeks,” says Guido Tonelli, spokesman for the Compact Muon Solenoid team. “We have just finished data taking, and people work day and night including weekends to reach a scientifically validated result.” Tonelli expects that CMS will have results ready to present, but says that “the pressure is huge.”
Sun exposure reduces pancreatic cancer risk by nearly 50 percent
The health benefits of vitamin D are almost becoming too numerous to count, with yet another new study presented at the recent American Association for Cancer Research Pancreatic Cancer Conference in Lake Tahoe, Nev., shedding light on the hormone's specific anti-cancer benefits. According to the groundbreaking research, individuals exposed to natural sunlight, which is the most abundant source of natural vitamin D, are nearly 50 percent less likely to develop pancreatic cancer than others who are not exposed.
Dr. Rachel Neale, Ph.D., and her colleagues from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia, conducted a case-control study in which 704 patients with pancreatic cancer, and 709 healthy individuals with no history of pancreatic cancer, were evaluated based on blood serum levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, the hormonal marker of vitamin D in the body. Each individual's birth location, skin cancer history, skin cancer type, tanning ability, and predisposition to sunburn was also taken into account.
Dr. Rachel Neale, Ph.D., and her colleagues from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia, conducted a case-control study in which 704 patients with pancreatic cancer, and 709 healthy individuals with no history of pancreatic cancer, were evaluated based on blood serum levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, the hormonal marker of vitamin D in the body. Each individual's birth location, skin cancer history, skin cancer type, tanning ability, and predisposition to sunburn was also taken into account.
Plants communicate with each other by using clicking sounds
It's been known for a while that some plants are able to communicate with each other through chemical signaling — but new research published in Trends in Plant Science now suggests that plants not only respond to sounds as well, they can also talk to each other, by making "clicking" sounds.
Plants like cabbage can emit a volatile gas, namely methyl jasmonate, that warns their vegetative brethren that a herbivore is in the ‘hood — annoying things like caterpillars or garden shears.
This got Exeter University scientist Monica Gagliano thinking that maybe other plants could perform a similar trick, but with sounds.
Plants like cabbage can emit a volatile gas, namely methyl jasmonate, that warns their vegetative brethren that a herbivore is in the ‘hood — annoying things like caterpillars or garden shears.
This got Exeter University scientist Monica Gagliano thinking that maybe other plants could perform a similar trick, but with sounds.
Misbehaving Particles Poke Holes in Reigning Physics Theory
The reigning theory of particle physics may be flawed, according to new evidence that a subatomic particle decays in a certain way more often than it should, scientists announced.
This theory, called the Standard Model, is the best handbook scientists have to describe the tiny bits of matter that make up the universe. But many physicists suspect the Standard Model has some holes in it, and findings like this may point to where those holes are hiding.
Inside the BaBar experiment at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif., researchers observe collisions between electrons and their antimatter partners, positrons (scientists think all matter particles have antimatter counterparts with equal mass but opposite charge). When these particles collide, they explode into energy that converts into new particles. These often include so-called B-bar mesons, which are made of both matter and antimatter, specifically a bottom quark and an antiquark. If that wasn't too much of a headache, this process has the impenetrable moniker "B to D-star-tau-nu."
This theory, called the Standard Model, is the best handbook scientists have to describe the tiny bits of matter that make up the universe. But many physicists suspect the Standard Model has some holes in it, and findings like this may point to where those holes are hiding.
Inside the BaBar experiment at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif., researchers observe collisions between electrons and their antimatter partners, positrons (scientists think all matter particles have antimatter counterparts with equal mass but opposite charge). When these particles collide, they explode into energy that converts into new particles. These often include so-called B-bar mesons, which are made of both matter and antimatter, specifically a bottom quark and an antiquark. If that wasn't too much of a headache, this process has the impenetrable moniker "B to D-star-tau-nu."
June 20, 2012
Physics Community Afire With Rumors of Higgs Boson Discovery
One of the biggest debuts in the science world could happen in a matter of weeks: The Higgs boson may finally, really have been discovered.
Ever since tantalizing hints of the Higgs turned up in December at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists there have been busily analyzing the results of their energetic particle collisions to further refine their search.
“The bottom line though is now clear: There’s something there which looks like a Higgs is supposed to look,” wrote mathematician Peter Woit on his blog, Not Even Wrong. According to Woit, there are rumors of new data that would be the most compelling evidence yet for the long-sought Higgs.
The possible news has a number of physics bloggers speculating that LHC scientists will announce the discovery of the Higgs during the International Conference on High Energy Physics, which takes place in Melbourne, Australia, July 4 to 11.
Ever since tantalizing hints of the Higgs turned up in December at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists there have been busily analyzing the results of their energetic particle collisions to further refine their search.
“The bottom line though is now clear: There’s something there which looks like a Higgs is supposed to look,” wrote mathematician Peter Woit on his blog, Not Even Wrong. According to Woit, there are rumors of new data that would be the most compelling evidence yet for the long-sought Higgs.
The possible news has a number of physics bloggers speculating that LHC scientists will announce the discovery of the Higgs during the International Conference on High Energy Physics, which takes place in Melbourne, Australia, July 4 to 11.
This Robotic Finger Is More Sensitive Than Yours
Robots aren't known for their gentle touch and thoughtful caress, but that could all be about to change. A team of engineers has developed a robotic finger that's capable of detecting textures—and it's more sensitive than a human hand.
The researchers, from the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, have created a sensor which features a soft exterior skin, with a textured pattern which acts as a kind of finger print, that surrounds a liquid filling and central, bone-mimicking core.
When the finger moves across the surface of a piece of textured material, small vibrations are transmitted through the skin and liquid, and then detected by a hydrophone—basically, an underwater microphone—housed within the core. As well as detecting texture, the researchers claim it can also sense directional forces and temperature, too.
The researchers, from the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, have created a sensor which features a soft exterior skin, with a textured pattern which acts as a kind of finger print, that surrounds a liquid filling and central, bone-mimicking core.
When the finger moves across the surface of a piece of textured material, small vibrations are transmitted through the skin and liquid, and then detected by a hydrophone—basically, an underwater microphone—housed within the core. As well as detecting texture, the researchers claim it can also sense directional forces and temperature, too.
Killings of environmentalists appear to be on rise - www's column on Newsvine
The eulogies called Chut Wutty one of the few remaining activists in Cambodia brave enough to fight massive illegal deforestation by the powerful. The environmental watchdog was shot by a military policeman in April as he probed logging operations in one of the country's last great forests.
Nisio Gomes was the chief of a Brazilian tribe struggling to protect its land from ranchers. Masked men gunned him down in November; his body, quickly dragged into a pickup, has not been seen since.
Around the world, sticking up for the environment can be deadly, and it appears to be getting deadlier.
Nisio Gomes was the chief of a Brazilian tribe struggling to protect its land from ranchers. Masked men gunned him down in November; his body, quickly dragged into a pickup, has not been seen since.
Around the world, sticking up for the environment can be deadly, and it appears to be getting deadlier.
How New 'Mood Ring' Glasses Let You See Emotions
Evolution has tailored the human eye for detecting red, green, blue and yellow in a person's skin, which reveals areas where that person's blood is oxygenated, deoxygenated, pooled below the surface or drained. We subconsciously read these skin color cues to perceive each other's emotions and states of health. Rosy cheeks can suggest good health, for example, while a yellowish hue hints at fear.
Now, researchers have created new glasses, called O2Amps, which they say amplify the wearer's perception of blood physiology, augmenting millions of years of eye evolution.
"Our eyes have been optimized to sense spectral changes in skin color," said Mark Changizi, an evolutionary anthropologist and director of human cognition at 2AI Labs in Boise, Idaho. "It turns out you can do even better, because other parts of the spectrum that we perceive in skin are just noise (they don't provide useful information). If you get rid of the noise, you're amplifying the signal."
Now, researchers have created new glasses, called O2Amps, which they say amplify the wearer's perception of blood physiology, augmenting millions of years of eye evolution.
"Our eyes have been optimized to sense spectral changes in skin color," said Mark Changizi, an evolutionary anthropologist and director of human cognition at 2AI Labs in Boise, Idaho. "It turns out you can do even better, because other parts of the spectrum that we perceive in skin are just noise (they don't provide useful information). If you get rid of the noise, you're amplifying the signal."
Professor fired after expressing climate change skepticism
Oregon State University chemistry professor Nicholas Drapela was fired without warning three weeks ago and has still been given no reason for the university’s decision to “not renew his contract.”
Drapela, an outspoken critic of man-made climate change, worked at the university for 10 years.
In the early years of his career, he published a number of textbooks, received a promotion to senior instructor and, in 2004, received a Loyd F. Carter award for outstanding and inspirational teacher.
In 2007, Drapela began giving talks on his own climate change skepticism. He often and openly questioned the science behind man-made global warming.
Drapela told the Daily Caller he was “blindsided” when the department chair called Drapela into his office to fire him on May 29.
“He read a prepared statement and took my key,” Drapela said, adding that he was given no reason in this meeting as to why he was being let go.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/19/professor-fired-after-expressing-climate-change-skepticism/#ixzz1yLnWiaHw
Drapela, an outspoken critic of man-made climate change, worked at the university for 10 years.
In the early years of his career, he published a number of textbooks, received a promotion to senior instructor and, in 2004, received a Loyd F. Carter award for outstanding and inspirational teacher.
In 2007, Drapela began giving talks on his own climate change skepticism. He often and openly questioned the science behind man-made global warming.
Drapela told the Daily Caller he was “blindsided” when the department chair called Drapela into his office to fire him on May 29.
“He read a prepared statement and took my key,” Drapela said, adding that he was given no reason in this meeting as to why he was being let go.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/19/professor-fired-after-expressing-climate-change-skepticism/#ixzz1yLnWiaHw
'Moderate' Drinking During Pregnancy Has No Effect on Young Children: Study
One of the cardinal rules for expectant moms: don't drink.
But a new study out of Denmark is throwing that maxim into doubt. It finds that 5-year-olds whose mothers drank low to moderate levels of alcohol (between one and eight drinks a week) during early pregnancy showed no ill effects.
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy that exceeded the "moderate" threshold, however, was associated with a lower attention span among children in that age group.
Despite the findings, experts who reviewed the research said it shouldn't change standard recommendations.
"These findings can easily send a very dangerous message to pregnant women," said Bruce Goldman, director of Substance Abuse Services at the Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y. He noted that the U.S. surgeon general advises against drinking during pregnancy to avoid fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
But a new study out of Denmark is throwing that maxim into doubt. It finds that 5-year-olds whose mothers drank low to moderate levels of alcohol (between one and eight drinks a week) during early pregnancy showed no ill effects.
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy that exceeded the "moderate" threshold, however, was associated with a lower attention span among children in that age group.
Despite the findings, experts who reviewed the research said it shouldn't change standard recommendations.
"These findings can easily send a very dangerous message to pregnant women," said Bruce Goldman, director of Substance Abuse Services at the Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y. He noted that the U.S. surgeon general advises against drinking during pregnancy to avoid fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
New clue to unexplained excited delirium deaths
The headlines are often filled with this scenario: a person displaying violent, bizarre and agitated behavior is subdued by law enforcement personnel and later dies in custody. It appears to be a case of police brutality -- but is it?
According to William P. Bozeman, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, some of these deaths may be caused by an abnormal cardiac condition called Long QT Syndrome, compounded by a situation of Excited Delirium (ExD) Syndrome.
"Why do people become confused, agitated and violent, and then suddenly drop dead? That's the big question," Bozeman said. "This has been seen for well over a century, but we don't have a clear answer. It may be an important link to investigate with future research."
Bozeman is lead author of a single case study published online last month ahead of print in the Journal of Emergency Medicine that details an individual who experienced ExD. The 30-year-old man displayed bizarre, agitated behavior and was brought to the Wake Forest Baptist emergency department by police.
According to William P. Bozeman, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, some of these deaths may be caused by an abnormal cardiac condition called Long QT Syndrome, compounded by a situation of Excited Delirium (ExD) Syndrome.
"Why do people become confused, agitated and violent, and then suddenly drop dead? That's the big question," Bozeman said. "This has been seen for well over a century, but we don't have a clear answer. It may be an important link to investigate with future research."
Bozeman is lead author of a single case study published online last month ahead of print in the Journal of Emergency Medicine that details an individual who experienced ExD. The 30-year-old man displayed bizarre, agitated behavior and was brought to the Wake Forest Baptist emergency department by police.
Solar nanowire array may increase percentage of sun's frequencies available for energy conversion
Researchers creating electricity through photovoltaics want to convert as many of the sun's wavelengths as possible to achieve maximum efficiency. Otherwise, they're eating only a small part of a shot duck: wasting time and money by using only a tiny bit of the sun's incoming energies.
For this reason, they see indium gallium nitride as a valuable future material for photovoltaic systems. Changing the concentration of indium allows researchers to tune the material's response so it collects solar energy from a variety of wavelengths. The more variations designed into the system, the more of the solar spectrum can be absorbed, leading to increased solar cell efficiencies. Silicon, today's photovoltaic industry standard, is limited in the wavelength range it can 'see' and absorb.
But there is a problem: Indium gallium nitride, part of a family of materials called III-nitrides, is typically grown on thin films of gallium nitride. Because gallium nitride atomic layers have different crystal lattice spacings from indium gallium nitride atomic layers, the mismatch leads to structural strain that limits both the layer thickness and percentage of indium that can be added. Thus, increasing the percentage of indium added broadens the solar spectrum that can be collected, but reduces the material's ability to tolerate the strain.
For this reason, they see indium gallium nitride as a valuable future material for photovoltaic systems. Changing the concentration of indium allows researchers to tune the material's response so it collects solar energy from a variety of wavelengths. The more variations designed into the system, the more of the solar spectrum can be absorbed, leading to increased solar cell efficiencies. Silicon, today's photovoltaic industry standard, is limited in the wavelength range it can 'see' and absorb.
But there is a problem: Indium gallium nitride, part of a family of materials called III-nitrides, is typically grown on thin films of gallium nitride. Because gallium nitride atomic layers have different crystal lattice spacings from indium gallium nitride atomic layers, the mismatch leads to structural strain that limits both the layer thickness and percentage of indium that can be added. Thus, increasing the percentage of indium added broadens the solar spectrum that can be collected, but reduces the material's ability to tolerate the strain.
June 19, 2012
Gabriele Jordan: British scientist claims to have found woman with superhuman vision
It took 20 years of hunting, but a dedicated scientist has found her Holy Grail: A woman who can see 99 million more colours than the average human being.
While she can't see through walls or turn her eyes into a heat ray, the unidentified woman is a 'tetrachromat', with the ability to see much greater colour depth than almost everyone else in the world.
Dr Gabriele Jordan, a researcher at the Institute of Neuroscience has spent the last 20 years on a mission to find someone with superhuman sight.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2161402/Gabriele-Jordan-British-scientist-claims-woman-superhuman-vision.html#ixzz1yFsBdHgV
While she can't see through walls or turn her eyes into a heat ray, the unidentified woman is a 'tetrachromat', with the ability to see much greater colour depth than almost everyone else in the world.
Dr Gabriele Jordan, a researcher at the Institute of Neuroscience has spent the last 20 years on a mission to find someone with superhuman sight.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2161402/Gabriele-Jordan-British-scientist-claims-woman-superhuman-vision.html#ixzz1yFsBdHgV
Kidney Disease May Be as Harmful to Heart as Heart Attack: Study
People with chronic kidney disease may have the same level of risk for coronary heart disease as people who have previously had a heart attack, a new study suggests.
It has long been known that chronic kidney disease patients are at increased risk for heart attacks, but this is the first study to show that their risk for heart disease may be as high as heart attack survivors.
For the study, researchers compared the incidence of heart attacks and death among 1.3 million people in Canada with chronic kidney disease, diabetes, previous heart attack or a combination of these risk factors.
The risk of heart attack among people with chronic kidney disease, diabetes or both was comparable to that of people who previously had a heart attack, found lead researcher Dr. Marcello Tonelli, of the University of Alberta, and colleagues.
It has long been known that chronic kidney disease patients are at increased risk for heart attacks, but this is the first study to show that their risk for heart disease may be as high as heart attack survivors.
For the study, researchers compared the incidence of heart attacks and death among 1.3 million people in Canada with chronic kidney disease, diabetes, previous heart attack or a combination of these risk factors.
The risk of heart attack among people with chronic kidney disease, diabetes or both was comparable to that of people who previously had a heart attack, found lead researcher Dr. Marcello Tonelli, of the University of Alberta, and colleagues.
Vaccinated children have up to 500% more disease than unvaccinated children
Suspicions have been confirmed for those wary of vaccinating their children. A recent large study corroborates other independent study surveys comparing unvaccinated children to vaccinated children.
They all show that vaccinated children have two to five times more childhood diseases, illnesses, and allergies than unvaccinated children.
Originally, the recent still ongoing study compared unvaccinated children against a German national health survey conducted by KiGGS involving over 17,000 children up to age 19. This currently ongoing survey study was initiated by classical homoeopathist Andreas Bachmair.
However, the American connection for Bachmair's study can be found at VaccineInjury.info website that has added a link for parents of vaccinated children to participate in the study. So far this ongoing survey has well over 11,000 respondents, mostly from the U.S.A. Other studies have surveyed smaller groups of families.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036220_vaccinated_children_disease_allergies.html#ixzz1yFr1KEbG
They all show that vaccinated children have two to five times more childhood diseases, illnesses, and allergies than unvaccinated children.
Originally, the recent still ongoing study compared unvaccinated children against a German national health survey conducted by KiGGS involving over 17,000 children up to age 19. This currently ongoing survey study was initiated by classical homoeopathist Andreas Bachmair.
However, the American connection for Bachmair's study can be found at VaccineInjury.info website that has added a link for parents of vaccinated children to participate in the study. So far this ongoing survey has well over 11,000 respondents, mostly from the U.S.A. Other studies have surveyed smaller groups of families.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036220_vaccinated_children_disease_allergies.html#ixzz1yFr1KEbG
Loneliness, living alone tied to shorter lifespan
People with heart disease who live alone tend to die sooner than those sharing their home with others, a new study shows.
Although the reasons for the gap are still murky, lead researcher Dr. Deepak Bhatt said access to regular medicine might be involved.
"Patients living alone may have more difficulty getting their medications refilled and taking them regularly," Bhatt told Reuters Health. "They also don't have anyone at home to call the doctor's office or emergency room if they are not looking well."
Earlier research has yielded mixed conclusions, but studies have linked social isolation to everything from heart attacks to weakened immune systems.
Bhatt, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and his colleagues focused specifically on people with known heart disease or at very high risk for it. They included more than 44,000 people, all of whom were 45 or older, from multiple countries across the globe.
Over the four years the study lasted, 7.7 percent of participants younger than 65 who lived on their own died, compared to just 5.7 percent of those who didn't live alone.
Although the reasons for the gap are still murky, lead researcher Dr. Deepak Bhatt said access to regular medicine might be involved.
"Patients living alone may have more difficulty getting their medications refilled and taking them regularly," Bhatt told Reuters Health. "They also don't have anyone at home to call the doctor's office or emergency room if they are not looking well."
Earlier research has yielded mixed conclusions, but studies have linked social isolation to everything from heart attacks to weakened immune systems.
Bhatt, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, and his colleagues focused specifically on people with known heart disease or at very high risk for it. They included more than 44,000 people, all of whom were 45 or older, from multiple countries across the globe.
Over the four years the study lasted, 7.7 percent of participants younger than 65 who lived on their own died, compared to just 5.7 percent of those who didn't live alone.
"Almost a Psychopath" Book IDs Subclinical Lying, Manipulating, Callous Behavior
Chances are you might know someone who is almost a psychopath. The coworker who throws you under the bus. The friend who constantly takes advantage of you. A politician on TV or even some beloved fictional characters. (Think Scarlett O'Hara or J.R. Ewing.)
When people are chronically callous, unreliable and manipulative, they can wreak havoc on those around them, making them what a new book calls an almost-psychopath.
"These are people who are pervasive chronic liars, about things big and small," said Dr. Ronald Schouten, director of law and psychiatry services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "They will lie almost reflexively and also engage in very predatory, planned lying. They really enjoy pulling a fast one on other people, and they don't feel bad about doing it."
When people are chronically callous, unreliable and manipulative, they can wreak havoc on those around them, making them what a new book calls an almost-psychopath.
"These are people who are pervasive chronic liars, about things big and small," said Dr. Ronald Schouten, director of law and psychiatry services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "They will lie almost reflexively and also engage in very predatory, planned lying. They really enjoy pulling a fast one on other people, and they don't feel bad about doing it."
The aging brain: Why getting older just might be awesome
Google "the aging brain" and you will find a largely sobering landscape of cognitive deterioration.
("Funny," said the dashing older gentleman I tried to interview for this piece. "I don't remember being absent-minded.")
But turn the kaleidoscope of our knowledge about the aging brain and a far more interesting picture emerges.
The prevailing wisdom is that creative endeavors are good for helping to slow the decline of our mental capabilities. But what if, in fact, the aging brain is more capable than its younger counterpart at creativity and innovation?
("Funny," said the dashing older gentleman I tried to interview for this piece. "I don't remember being absent-minded.")
But turn the kaleidoscope of our knowledge about the aging brain and a far more interesting picture emerges.
The prevailing wisdom is that creative endeavors are good for helping to slow the decline of our mental capabilities. But what if, in fact, the aging brain is more capable than its younger counterpart at creativity and innovation?
June 18, 2012
Stress levels increased since 1983, new analysis shows
You may have felt it, but now a scientific analysis of stress over time offers some proof that there's more stress in people's lives today than 25 years ago.
Stress increased 18% for women and 24% for men from 1983 to 2009, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who analyzed data from more than 6,300 people. It's considered the first-ever historical comparison of stress levels across the USA.
"The data suggest there's been an increase in stress over that time," says psychologist and lead author Sheldon Cohen, director of Carnegie Mellon's Laboratory for the Study of Stress, Immunity and Disease. The analysis is published online in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
In research done in 1983, 2006 and 2009, those with higher stress were women, people with lower incomes and those with less education. Findings also show that as people age, stress decreases.
Stress increased 18% for women and 24% for men from 1983 to 2009, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who analyzed data from more than 6,300 people. It's considered the first-ever historical comparison of stress levels across the USA.
"The data suggest there's been an increase in stress over that time," says psychologist and lead author Sheldon Cohen, director of Carnegie Mellon's Laboratory for the Study of Stress, Immunity and Disease. The analysis is published online in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
In research done in 1983, 2006 and 2009, those with higher stress were women, people with lower incomes and those with less education. Findings also show that as people age, stress decreases.
Does obesity affect school performance?
Obese children and teenagers face a slew of potential health problems as they get older, including an increased risk of diabetes, heart attacks, and certain cancers. As if that weren't enough, obesity may harm young people's long-term college and career prospects, too.
In recent years, an uneven yet growing body of research has suggested that obesity is associated with poorer academic performance beginning as early as kindergarten. Studies have variously found that obese students -- and especially girls -- tend to have lower test scores than their slimmer peers, are more likely to be held back a grade, and are less likely to go on to college.
The latest such study, published this week in the journal Child Development, followed 6,250 children from kindergarten through fifth grade and found that those who were obese throughout that period scored lower on math tests than non-obese children.
What's more, this pattern held even after the researchers took into account extenuating factors that can influence both body size and test scores, such as family income, race, the mother's education level and job status, and both parents' expectations for the child's performance in school.
In recent years, an uneven yet growing body of research has suggested that obesity is associated with poorer academic performance beginning as early as kindergarten. Studies have variously found that obese students -- and especially girls -- tend to have lower test scores than their slimmer peers, are more likely to be held back a grade, and are less likely to go on to college.
The latest such study, published this week in the journal Child Development, followed 6,250 children from kindergarten through fifth grade and found that those who were obese throughout that period scored lower on math tests than non-obese children.
What's more, this pattern held even after the researchers took into account extenuating factors that can influence both body size and test scores, such as family income, race, the mother's education level and job status, and both parents' expectations for the child's performance in school.
Pakistani police told to lose weight -- or else
A Pakistani police commander ordered tens of thousands of potbellied officers to diet or quit frontline duties.
Habibur Rehman—the police chief in Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab—ordered 175,000 personnel not to allow their waistlines to exceed 38 inches (96cm).
He told officials last month that, "I'm on a diet, and if I can do it, why can't you?"
Spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar said at least 50 percent of Punjab police were overweight.
Habibur Rehman—the police chief in Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab—ordered 175,000 personnel not to allow their waistlines to exceed 38 inches (96cm).
He told officials last month that, "I'm on a diet, and if I can do it, why can't you?"
Spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar said at least 50 percent of Punjab police were overweight.
Toxic capsules help the medicine go down in China
Hou Zhihui breaks open a cold-medicine capsule, pours the powder on to a piece of steamed dough and folds it together. He passes the miniature bun to a colleague who pops it in her mouth.
That is his response to the discovery of 77 million capsules made of industrial gel containing chromium, a carcinogenic heavy metal, the latest in a series of safety problems blighting China's healthcare industry, including the widespread manufacture of fake drugs.
The government has repeatedly promised to tighten regulatory systems after safety scandals involving fish, drugs, toys, toothpaste, children's clothes, tires, drugs and milk fortified with melamine, used in the manufacture of tabletops. But little has been done apart from a few, highly publicized arrests.
"I read about the capsule problem ... the next morning, a colleague of mine had a cold, so I thought of a way for her to take the medicine," Hou said.
China announced in May that 254 pharmaceutical suppliers, or 12.7 percent of the total, were producing tainted capsules. At least 10 are listed or linked to China-listed firms, according to the official Chinese media. Of 11,561 batches of drugs tested, 5.8 percent contained excessive levels of chromium.
Instead of using gelatin derived from animal parts, they used cheap industrial gelatin from leather scraps treated with chromium that tans and softens animal hide.
The problem is pervasive because of the pressure to produce low-cost drugs and still make a profit, and the popularity of traditional Chinese medicine, which is often made into powders and packed into capsules.
Authorities swooped in on 236 capsule makers, ordered 42 of them to stop production, closed 84 production lines, revoked the licenses of seven companies and referred 13 to the police.
That is his response to the discovery of 77 million capsules made of industrial gel containing chromium, a carcinogenic heavy metal, the latest in a series of safety problems blighting China's healthcare industry, including the widespread manufacture of fake drugs.
The government has repeatedly promised to tighten regulatory systems after safety scandals involving fish, drugs, toys, toothpaste, children's clothes, tires, drugs and milk fortified with melamine, used in the manufacture of tabletops. But little has been done apart from a few, highly publicized arrests.
"I read about the capsule problem ... the next morning, a colleague of mine had a cold, so I thought of a way for her to take the medicine," Hou said.
China announced in May that 254 pharmaceutical suppliers, or 12.7 percent of the total, were producing tainted capsules. At least 10 are listed or linked to China-listed firms, according to the official Chinese media. Of 11,561 batches of drugs tested, 5.8 percent contained excessive levels of chromium.
Instead of using gelatin derived from animal parts, they used cheap industrial gelatin from leather scraps treated with chromium that tans and softens animal hide.
The problem is pervasive because of the pressure to produce low-cost drugs and still make a profit, and the popularity of traditional Chinese medicine, which is often made into powders and packed into capsules.
Authorities swooped in on 236 capsule makers, ordered 42 of them to stop production, closed 84 production lines, revoked the licenses of seven companies and referred 13 to the police.
New evidence suggests time is slowly disappearing from our universe, and will one day vanish completely.
Remember a little thing called the space-time continuum? Well what if the time part of the equation was literally running out? New evidence is suggesting that time is slowly disappearing from our universe, and will one day vanish completely. This radical theory may explain a cosmological mystery that has baffled scientists for years.
Scientists previously have measured the light from distant exploding stars to show that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. They assumed that these supernovae are spreading apart faster as the universe ages. Physicists also assumed that a kind of anti-gravitational force must be driving the galaxies apart, and started to call this unidentified force "dark energy".
The idea that time itself could cease to be in billions of years - and everything will grind to a halt - has been proposed by Professor José Senovilla, Marc Mars and Raül Vera of the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, and University of Salamanca, Spain. The corollary to this radical end to time itself is an alternative explanation for "dark energy" - the mysterious antigravitational force that has been suggested to explain a cosmic phenomenon that has baffled scientists.
Scientists previously have measured the light from distant exploding stars to show that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. They assumed that these supernovae are spreading apart faster as the universe ages. Physicists also assumed that a kind of anti-gravitational force must be driving the galaxies apart, and started to call this unidentified force "dark energy".
The idea that time itself could cease to be in billions of years - and everything will grind to a halt - has been proposed by Professor José Senovilla, Marc Mars and Raül Vera of the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, and University of Salamanca, Spain. The corollary to this radical end to time itself is an alternative explanation for "dark energy" - the mysterious antigravitational force that has been suggested to explain a cosmic phenomenon that has baffled scientists.
Freud's theory of unconscious conflict linked to anxiety symptoms
A link between unconscious conflicts and conscious anxiety disorder symptoms have been shown, lending empirical support to psychoanalysis.
An experiment that Sigmund Freud could never have imagined 100 years ago may help lend scientific support for one of his key theories, and help connect it with current neuroscience.
June 16 at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, a University of Michigan professor who has spent decades applying scientific methods to the study of psychoanalysis will present new data supporting a causal link between the psychoanalytic concept known as unconscious conflict, and the conscious symptoms experienced by people with anxiety disorders such as phobias.
An experiment that Sigmund Freud could never have imagined 100 years ago may help lend scientific support for one of his key theories, and help connect it with current neuroscience.
June 16 at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, a University of Michigan professor who has spent decades applying scientific methods to the study of psychoanalysis will present new data supporting a causal link between the psychoanalytic concept known as unconscious conflict, and the conscious symptoms experienced by people with anxiety disorders such as phobias.
Sustainability index that looks beyond GDP launched
The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) is proud to announce the launch of the Inclusive Wealth Report 2012 (IWR 2012), a new report that measures the wealth of nations, at the Rio+20 Summit on June 17.
The report presents a new economic index, which looks beyond the traditional short term economic and development yardsticks of gross domestic product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI). The Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) assesses changes in a country's productive base, including produced, human, and natural capital over time. By taking a more holistic approach, the IWI shows governments the true state of their nation's wealth and the sustainability of its growth.
Twenty countries were assessed in the IWR 2012 over a period of 19 years (1990-2008). Together they represent more than half of the world population and almost three quarters of world GDP and include high, middle, and low-income economies on all continents.
The report presents a new economic index, which looks beyond the traditional short term economic and development yardsticks of gross domestic product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI). The Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) assesses changes in a country's productive base, including produced, human, and natural capital over time. By taking a more holistic approach, the IWI shows governments the true state of their nation's wealth and the sustainability of its growth.
Twenty countries were assessed in the IWR 2012 over a period of 19 years (1990-2008). Together they represent more than half of the world population and almost three quarters of world GDP and include high, middle, and low-income economies on all continents.
Accounting for natural wealth gains world traction
What is a sip of clean water worth? Is there economic value in the shade of a tree? And how much would you pay for a breath of fresh air?
Putting a price on a natural bounty long taken for granted as free may sound impossible, even ridiculous. But after three decades on the fringes of serious policymaking, the idea is gaining traction, from the vividly clear waters of the Maldives to the sober, suited reaches of the World Bank.
As traditional measures of economic progress like GDP are criticized for ignoring downsides including pollution or diminishment of resources such as fresh water or fossil fuels, there has been an increased urgency to arguments for a more balanced and accurate reckoning of costs. That is particularly so as fast-developing nations such as India and China jostle with rich nations for access to those resources and insist on their own right to pollute on a path toward growth.
Proponents of so-called "green accounting" — gathered in Rio de Janeiro this week for the Rio Earth Summit — hope that putting dollar values on resources will slam the brakes on unfettered development. A mentality of growth at any cost is already blamed for disasters like the chronic floods that hit deforested Haiti or the raging sand storms that have swept regions of China, worsening desertification.
Putting a price on a natural bounty long taken for granted as free may sound impossible, even ridiculous. But after three decades on the fringes of serious policymaking, the idea is gaining traction, from the vividly clear waters of the Maldives to the sober, suited reaches of the World Bank.
As traditional measures of economic progress like GDP are criticized for ignoring downsides including pollution or diminishment of resources such as fresh water or fossil fuels, there has been an increased urgency to arguments for a more balanced and accurate reckoning of costs. That is particularly so as fast-developing nations such as India and China jostle with rich nations for access to those resources and insist on their own right to pollute on a path toward growth.
Proponents of so-called "green accounting" — gathered in Rio de Janeiro this week for the Rio Earth Summit — hope that putting dollar values on resources will slam the brakes on unfettered development. A mentality of growth at any cost is already blamed for disasters like the chronic floods that hit deforested Haiti or the raging sand storms that have swept regions of China, worsening desertification.
IBM supercomputer overtakes Fujitsu as world's fastest
IBM's Sequoia has taken the top spot on the list of the world's fastest supercomputers for the US.
The newly installed system trumped Japan's K Computer made by Fujitsu which fell to second place.
It is the first time the US can claim pole position since it was beaten by China two years ago.
Sequoia will be used to carry out simulations to help extend the life of aging nuclear weapons, avoiding the need for real-world underground tests.
It is installed at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
The newly installed system trumped Japan's K Computer made by Fujitsu which fell to second place.
It is the first time the US can claim pole position since it was beaten by China two years ago.
Sequoia will be used to carry out simulations to help extend the life of aging nuclear weapons, avoiding the need for real-world underground tests.
It is installed at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Automated pavement crack detection and sealing prototype system developed
Sealing cracks in roadways ensures a road's structural integrity and extends the time between major repaving projects, but conventional manual crack sealing operations expose workers to dangerous traffic and cover a limited amount of roadway each day.
To address these challenges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) developed a prototype automated pavement crack detection and sealing system with funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation. In road tests, the system was able to detect cracks smaller than one-eighth-inch wide and efficiently fill cracks from a vehicle moving at a speed of three miles per hour.
"Our prototype system has proved in many ways that a commercial-scale automated crack sealing system is viable," said Jonathan Holmes, the GTRI research engineer currently leading the project, which began in 2003. "We demonstrated solutions to technical challenges -- including the high-speed firing of nozzles, automated crack detection and navigation -- in a real-time, limited-scale system."
To address these challenges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) developed a prototype automated pavement crack detection and sealing system with funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation. In road tests, the system was able to detect cracks smaller than one-eighth-inch wide and efficiently fill cracks from a vehicle moving at a speed of three miles per hour.
"Our prototype system has proved in many ways that a commercial-scale automated crack sealing system is viable," said Jonathan Holmes, the GTRI research engineer currently leading the project, which began in 2003. "We demonstrated solutions to technical challenges -- including the high-speed firing of nozzles, automated crack detection and navigation -- in a real-time, limited-scale system."
Black holes as particle detectors
Finding new particles usually requires high energies -- that is why huge accelerators have been built, which can accelerate particles to almost the speed of light. But there are other creative ways of finding new particles: At the Vienna University of Technology, scientists presented a method to prove the existence of hypothetical "axions." These axions could accumulate around a black hole and extract energy from it. This process could emit gravity waves, which could then be measured.
Axions are hypothetical particles with a very low mass. According to Einstein, mass is directly related to energy, and therefore very little energy is required to produce axions. "The existence of axions is not proven, but it is considered to be quite likely," says Daniel Grumiller. Together with Gabriela Mocanu he calculated at the Vienna University of Technology (Institute for Theoretical Physics), how axions could be detected.
Astronomically Large Particles:
In quantum physics, every particle is described as a wave. The wavelength corresponds to the particle's energy. Heavy particles have small wavelengths, but the low-energy axions can have wavelengths of many kilometers. The results of Grumiller and Mocanu, based on works by Asmina Arvanitaki and Sergei Dubovsky (USA/Russia), show that axions can circle a black hole, similar to electrons circling the nucleus of an atom. Instead of the electromagnetic force, which ties the electrons and the nucleus together, it is the gravitational force which acts between the axions and the black hole.
Axions are hypothetical particles with a very low mass. According to Einstein, mass is directly related to energy, and therefore very little energy is required to produce axions. "The existence of axions is not proven, but it is considered to be quite likely," says Daniel Grumiller. Together with Gabriela Mocanu he calculated at the Vienna University of Technology (Institute for Theoretical Physics), how axions could be detected.
Astronomically Large Particles:
In quantum physics, every particle is described as a wave. The wavelength corresponds to the particle's energy. Heavy particles have small wavelengths, but the low-energy axions can have wavelengths of many kilometers. The results of Grumiller and Mocanu, based on works by Asmina Arvanitaki and Sergei Dubovsky (USA/Russia), show that axions can circle a black hole, similar to electrons circling the nucleus of an atom. Instead of the electromagnetic force, which ties the electrons and the nucleus together, it is the gravitational force which acts between the axions and the black hole.
Humans Are 17 Million Tons Overweight
Humanity is 17 million tons (15 million metric tons) overweight, according to a study that calculates the adult portion of the human race's collective weight at 316 million tons (287 million metric tons).
That's the equivalent of about 170 military aircraft carriers of extra weight. Or in people weight, it's like having an extra 242 million people of average body mass on the planet.
This is more than just an attempt to make the human race feel uncomfortable about its waistline; looking at the collective mass of humanity can improve understanding of the effects of population growth, contends a team of European researchers.
"[United Nations] world population projections suggest that by 2050 there could be an additional 2.3 billion people," they write in research published online Sunday (June 17) in the journal BMC Public Health. "The ecological implications of rising population numbers will be exacerbated by increases in average body mass." [7 (Billion) Population Milestones]
That's the equivalent of about 170 military aircraft carriers of extra weight. Or in people weight, it's like having an extra 242 million people of average body mass on the planet.
This is more than just an attempt to make the human race feel uncomfortable about its waistline; looking at the collective mass of humanity can improve understanding of the effects of population growth, contends a team of European researchers.
"[United Nations] world population projections suggest that by 2050 there could be an additional 2.3 billion people," they write in research published online Sunday (June 17) in the journal BMC Public Health. "The ecological implications of rising population numbers will be exacerbated by increases in average body mass." [7 (Billion) Population Milestones]
South African innovator takes water out of showering
With inspiration from a friend too lazy to take a shower and a few months of research on the Internet, South African university student Ludwick Marishane has won global recognition for an invention that takes the water out of bathing.
Marishane, a 22-year-old student at the University of Cape Town student invented a product called DryBath, a clear gel applied to skin that does the work of water and soap.
The invention, which won Marishane the 2011 Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award, has wide applications in Africa and other parts of the developing world where basic hygiene is lacking and hundreds of millions of people do not have regular access to water.
The product differs from the anti-bacterial hand washes by eliminating the heavy alcohol smell. It creates an odorless, biodegradable cleansing film with moisturizers.
Marishane, a 22-year-old student at the University of Cape Town student invented a product called DryBath, a clear gel applied to skin that does the work of water and soap.
The invention, which won Marishane the 2011 Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award, has wide applications in Africa and other parts of the developing world where basic hygiene is lacking and hundreds of millions of people do not have regular access to water.
The product differs from the anti-bacterial hand washes by eliminating the heavy alcohol smell. It creates an odorless, biodegradable cleansing film with moisturizers.
June 15, 2012
Obesity chief suspect as girls as young as five reaching puberty
Girls are experiencing signs of puberty as early as five years old, and the average age of puberty onset in girls has dropped by five years in the last century.
Research on the worrying hormonal trend shows that the average age girls start experiencing puberty is now 10, The London Times reported.
Tabitha Randell, a consultant pediatrician at Nottingham Children's Hospital, said she has witnessed a case where a four-year-old girl was developing body hair and body odor.
Research conducted on thousands of UK girls in 2010 found that the group was "maturing significantly earlier" than girls in previous studies.
Parents and scientists are unsure about the possible causes. Obesity, however, is the biggest suspect.
Research on the worrying hormonal trend shows that the average age girls start experiencing puberty is now 10, The London Times reported.
Tabitha Randell, a consultant pediatrician at Nottingham Children's Hospital, said she has witnessed a case where a four-year-old girl was developing body hair and body odor.
Research conducted on thousands of UK girls in 2010 found that the group was "maturing significantly earlier" than girls in previous studies.
Parents and scientists are unsure about the possible causes. Obesity, however, is the biggest suspect.
The Rise of Nuclear Fear - how we learned to fear the bomb
I remember going to bed one night when I was 11, seriously afraid I would not be alive in the morning. It was October, 1962, and the frightening cold war between the U.S. and Soviet Union, constantly in the news but mostly abstract to me as a kid, had becoming terrifyingly real. I had watched a stern President Kennedy on TV revealing that Soviet missiles were being installed in Cuba and ordering a blockade of Soviet ships. There were pictures of the missile sites, and video of confrontations at sea. The world really was on the brink of nuclear war. I was viscerally afraid, and I wasn t alone.
Vitamin D Plus Calcium May Extend Life
Seniors who take calcium supplements along with vitamin D may lengthen their lives, a new analysis suggests.
However, only the combination of the two appears to be effective; vitamin D by itself had no benefit, the researchers noted.
"Our study provides evidence of a cause-effect relationship -- that calcium and vitamin D causes beneficial effects to general health," said study author Dr. Lars Rejnmark, an assistant professor at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. "Calcium with vitamin D has now been proven to reduce risk of osteoporotic fractures and death in the elderly."
However, only the combination of the two appears to be effective; vitamin D by itself had no benefit, the researchers noted.
"Our study provides evidence of a cause-effect relationship -- that calcium and vitamin D causes beneficial effects to general health," said study author Dr. Lars Rejnmark, an assistant professor at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. "Calcium with vitamin D has now been proven to reduce risk of osteoporotic fractures and death in the elderly."
Hidden vitamin in milk yields remarkable health benefits
A novel form of vitamin B3 found in milk in small quantities produces remarkable health benefits in mice when high doses are administered, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The findings, recently reported in the June 2012 issue of the journal, Cell Metabolism, reveal that high doses of the vitamin precursor, nicotinamide riboside (NR) -- a cousin of niacin -- prevent obesity in mice that are fed a fatty diet, and also increase muscle performance, improve energy expenditure and prevent diabetes development, all without side effects.
The Swiss researchers, led by Dr. Johan Auwerx, performed the mouse experiments, while the ability to give the animals sufficient doses of NR was made possible by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers, who played key roles in uncovering the biological story of NR.
"This study is very important. It shows that in animals, the use of NR offers the health benefits of a low-calorie diet and exercise -- without doing either one," says Dr. Anthony Sauve, associate professor of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
The findings, recently reported in the June 2012 issue of the journal, Cell Metabolism, reveal that high doses of the vitamin precursor, nicotinamide riboside (NR) -- a cousin of niacin -- prevent obesity in mice that are fed a fatty diet, and also increase muscle performance, improve energy expenditure and prevent diabetes development, all without side effects.
The Swiss researchers, led by Dr. Johan Auwerx, performed the mouse experiments, while the ability to give the animals sufficient doses of NR was made possible by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers, who played key roles in uncovering the biological story of NR.
"This study is very important. It shows that in animals, the use of NR offers the health benefits of a low-calorie diet and exercise -- without doing either one," says Dr. Anthony Sauve, associate professor of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Breast milk kills HIV and blocks its oral transmission in humanized mouse
More than 15 percent of new HIV infections occur in children. Without treatment, only 65 percent of HIV-infected children will live until their first birthday, and fewer than half will make it to the age of two. Although breastfeeding is attributed to a significant number of these infections, most breastfed infants are not infected with HIV, despite prolonged and repeated exposure.
HIV researchers have been left with a conundrum: does breast milk transmit the virus or protect against it?
New research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine explores this paradox in a humanized mouse model, demonstrating that breast milk has a strong virus killing effect and protects against oral transmission of HIV.
"This study provides significant insight into the amazing ability of breast milk to destroy HIV and prevent its transmission," said J. Victor Garcia, PhD, senior author on the study and professor of medicine in the UNC Center for Infectious Diseases and the UNC Center for AIDS Research. "It also provides new leads for the isolation of natural products that could be used to combat the virus."
HIV researchers have been left with a conundrum: does breast milk transmit the virus or protect against it?
New research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine explores this paradox in a humanized mouse model, demonstrating that breast milk has a strong virus killing effect and protects against oral transmission of HIV.
"This study provides significant insight into the amazing ability of breast milk to destroy HIV and prevent its transmission," said J. Victor Garcia, PhD, senior author on the study and professor of medicine in the UNC Center for Infectious Diseases and the UNC Center for AIDS Research. "It also provides new leads for the isolation of natural products that could be used to combat the virus."
Catching some rays: Organic solar cells make a leap forward
Drawn together by the force of nature, but pulled apart by the force of man -- it sounds like the setting for a love story, but it is also a basic description of how scientists have begun to make more efficient organic solar cells.
At the atomic level, organic solar cells function like the feuding families in Romeo and Juliet. There's a strong natural attraction between the positive and negative charges that a photon generates after it strikes the cell, but in order to capture the energy, these charges need to be kept separate.
When these charges are still bound together, they are known to scientists as an exciton. "The real question that this work tries to answer is how to design a material that will make splitting the exciton require less energy," said senior chemist Lin Chen of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.
Excitons can be thought of as a sort of "quasiparticle," Chen said, because they exhibit certain unique behaviors. When the two charged regions of the exciton -- the electron and a region known as a "hole" -- are close together, they are difficult to pry apart.
At the atomic level, organic solar cells function like the feuding families in Romeo and Juliet. There's a strong natural attraction between the positive and negative charges that a photon generates after it strikes the cell, but in order to capture the energy, these charges need to be kept separate.
When these charges are still bound together, they are known to scientists as an exciton. "The real question that this work tries to answer is how to design a material that will make splitting the exciton require less energy," said senior chemist Lin Chen of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.
Excitons can be thought of as a sort of "quasiparticle," Chen said, because they exhibit certain unique behaviors. When the two charged regions of the exciton -- the electron and a region known as a "hole" -- are close together, they are difficult to pry apart.
June 14, 2012
Middle-income family spends $235,000 to raise baby
For $235,000, you could indulge in a shiny new Ferrari — or raise a child for 17 years.
A government report released Thursday found that a middle-income family with a child born last year will spend about that much in child-related expenses from birth through age 17. That's a 3.5 percent increase from 2010.
The report from the Agriculture Department's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion said housing is the single largest expense, averaging about $70,500, or 30 percent of the total cost.
Families living in the urban Northeast tend to have the highest child-rearing expenses, followed by those in the urban West and the urban Midwest. Those living in the urban South and rural areas face the lowest costs.
A government report released Thursday found that a middle-income family with a child born last year will spend about that much in child-related expenses from birth through age 17. That's a 3.5 percent increase from 2010.
The report from the Agriculture Department's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion said housing is the single largest expense, averaging about $70,500, or 30 percent of the total cost.
Families living in the urban Northeast tend to have the highest child-rearing expenses, followed by those in the urban West and the urban Midwest. Those living in the urban South and rural areas face the lowest costs.
Even healthy humans can host 10,000 microbe species
They live on your skin, up your nose, in your gut - enough bacteria, fungi and other microbes that collected together could weigh, amazingly, a few pounds (kilograms).
Now scientists have mapped just which critters normally live in or on us and where, calculating that healthy people can share their bodies with more than 10,000 species of microbes.
Don't say "eeew" just yet. Many of these organisms work to keep humans healthy, and results reported Wednesday from the government's Human Microbiome Project define what's normal in this mysterious netherworld.
Now scientists have mapped just which critters normally live in or on us and where, calculating that healthy people can share their bodies with more than 10,000 species of microbes.
Don't say "eeew" just yet. Many of these organisms work to keep humans healthy, and results reported Wednesday from the government's Human Microbiome Project define what's normal in this mysterious netherworld.
Training character strengths makes you happy
Anyone who trains character strengths increases their sense of wellbeing, a large-scale study conducted by a team of psychologists from the University of Zurich has concluded. It proved for the first time that this kind of training works. The largest impact was evident in training the strengths "curiosity," "gratitude," "optimism," "humor" and "enthusiasm."
Character strengths can be defined as traits that are rated as morally positive. That they are positively linked to life satisfaction has already been shown in many studies. That they have a causal effect on life satisfaction and that practicing them triggers an increase in the sense of wellbeing, however, has now been proved by Willibald Ruch, René T. Proyer and Claudia Buschor from the Department of Personality and Assessment at the University of Zurich for the first time.
Character strengths can be defined as traits that are rated as morally positive. That they are positively linked to life satisfaction has already been shown in many studies. That they have a causal effect on life satisfaction and that practicing them triggers an increase in the sense of wellbeing, however, has now been proved by Willibald Ruch, René T. Proyer and Claudia Buschor from the Department of Personality and Assessment at the University of Zurich for the first time.
Childhood obesity linked to math performance, researcher says
Childhood obesity has increased dramatically throughout the past 40 years and has been tied to many health problems. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that children's weight is associated with their math performance.
"The findings illustrate the complex relationships among children's weight, social and emotional well-being, academics and time," said Sara Gable, associate professor in the MU Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, who led the study.
Gable looked at more than 6,250 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, a nationally representative sample. The children were followed from the time they started kindergarten through fifth grade. At five points in time, parents provided information about their families, teachers reported on the children's interpersonal skills and emotional well-being, and children were weighed and measured; they also took academic tests.
When compared with children who were never obese, boys and girls whose obesity persisted from the start of kindergarten through fifth grade performed worse on the math tests, starting in first grade. Their lower performance continued through fifth grade. For boys whose obesity emerged later -- in third or fifth grade -- no such differences were found. For girls who became obese later, poorer math performance was temporary.
"The findings illustrate the complex relationships among children's weight, social and emotional well-being, academics and time," said Sara Gable, associate professor in the MU Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, who led the study.
Gable looked at more than 6,250 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, a nationally representative sample. The children were followed from the time they started kindergarten through fifth grade. At five points in time, parents provided information about their families, teachers reported on the children's interpersonal skills and emotional well-being, and children were weighed and measured; they also took academic tests.
When compared with children who were never obese, boys and girls whose obesity persisted from the start of kindergarten through fifth grade performed worse on the math tests, starting in first grade. Their lower performance continued through fifth grade. For boys whose obesity emerged later -- in third or fifth grade -- no such differences were found. For girls who became obese later, poorer math performance was temporary.
Switchable nano magnets may revolutionize data storage: Magnetism of individual molecules switched
Using individual molecules instead of electronic or magnetic memory cells would revolutionise data storage technology, as molecular memories could be thousand-fold smaller. Scientists of Kiel University took a big step towards developing such molecular data storage. They succeeded in selectively switching on and off the magnetism of individual molecules, so-called spin-crossover complexes, by electrons.
The interdisciplinary study is part of the Collaborative Research Centre 677 "Functions by Switching," which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The results prove that it is technically possible to store information using molecules. The study will be published on June 25th in the German science magazine Angewandte Chemie (Applied Chemistry).
"In principle information may be stored in a single molecule. However, techniques that would make such an approach feasible are becoming available just now," explains project leader Professor Richard Berndt of the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics at Kiel University. Since the 1980s scientists are able to image individual molecules on surfaces with scanning tunnelling microscopes, he continues. Current research aims at controlling the characteristics of single molecules in order to facilitate future technical applications. The Collaborative Research Centre 677 "Functions by Switching" at Kiel University is a large-scale project engaged in such investigations, which aim at constructing molecular machines.
The interdisciplinary study is part of the Collaborative Research Centre 677 "Functions by Switching," which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The results prove that it is technically possible to store information using molecules. The study will be published on June 25th in the German science magazine Angewandte Chemie (Applied Chemistry).
"In principle information may be stored in a single molecule. However, techniques that would make such an approach feasible are becoming available just now," explains project leader Professor Richard Berndt of the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics at Kiel University. Since the 1980s scientists are able to image individual molecules on surfaces with scanning tunnelling microscopes, he continues. Current research aims at controlling the characteristics of single molecules in order to facilitate future technical applications. The Collaborative Research Centre 677 "Functions by Switching" at Kiel University is a large-scale project engaged in such investigations, which aim at constructing molecular machines.
Engineers perfecting carbon nanotubes for highly energy-efficient computing
Energy efficiency is the most significant challenge standing in the way of continued miniaturization of electronic systems, and miniaturization is the principal driver of the semiconductor industry. "As we approach the ultimate limits of Moore's Law, however, silicon will have to be replaced in order to miniaturize further," said Jeffrey Bokor, deputy director for science at the Molecular Foundry at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor at UC-Berkeley.
To this end, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a significant departure from traditional silicon technologies and a very promising path to solving the challenge of energy efficiency. CNTs are cylindrical nanostructures of carbon with exceptional electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. Nanotube circuits could provide a ten-times improvement in energy efficiency over silicon.
To this end, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a significant departure from traditional silicon technologies and a very promising path to solving the challenge of energy efficiency. CNTs are cylindrical nanostructures of carbon with exceptional electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. Nanotube circuits could provide a ten-times improvement in energy efficiency over silicon.
Environmental factors spread obesity, study shows
An international team of researchers' study of the spatial patterns of the spread of obesity suggests America's bulging waistlines may have more to do with collective behavior than genetics or individual choices. The team, led by City College of New York physicist Hernán Makse, found correlations between the epidemic's geography and food marketing and distribution patterns.
"We found there is a relationship between the prevalence of obesity and the growth of the supermarket economy," Professor Makse said. "While we can't claim causality because we don't know whether obesity is driven by market forces or vice versa, the obesity epidemic can't be solved by focus on individual behavior."
The teams findings, published online this week in Scientific Reports, come as a policymakers are starting to address the role of environmental factors in obesity. For example, in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to limit serving sizes of soda sweetened with sugar to 16 ounces as a way to combat obesity.
The World Health Organization considers obesity a global epidemic similar to cancer or diabetes. It is a non-communicable disease for which no prevention strategy has been able to contain the spread.
"We found there is a relationship between the prevalence of obesity and the growth of the supermarket economy," Professor Makse said. "While we can't claim causality because we don't know whether obesity is driven by market forces or vice versa, the obesity epidemic can't be solved by focus on individual behavior."
The teams findings, published online this week in Scientific Reports, come as a policymakers are starting to address the role of environmental factors in obesity. For example, in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to limit serving sizes of soda sweetened with sugar to 16 ounces as a way to combat obesity.
The World Health Organization considers obesity a global epidemic similar to cancer or diabetes. It is a non-communicable disease for which no prevention strategy has been able to contain the spread.
Grasshoppers frightened by spiders affect whole ecosystem
Hebrew University, Yale researchers show how grasshoppers 'stressed' by spiders affect the productivity of our soil.
How do grasshoppers who are being frightened by spiders affect our ecosystem? In no small measure, say researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Yale University in the US.
A grasshopper who is in fear of an attacker, such as a spider, will enter a situation of stress and will consume a greater quantity of carbohydrate-rich plants -- similar to humans under stress who might eat more sweets.
This type of reaction will, in turn, cause chemical changes in the grasshopper and in its excretions, affecting the ecosystem it inhabits. How does this happen?
When the scared grasshopper dies, its carcass, now containing less nitrogen as a result of its diet change, will have an effect on the microbes in the ground, which are responsible for breaking down animals and plants.
How do grasshoppers who are being frightened by spiders affect our ecosystem? In no small measure, say researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Yale University in the US.
A grasshopper who is in fear of an attacker, such as a spider, will enter a situation of stress and will consume a greater quantity of carbohydrate-rich plants -- similar to humans under stress who might eat more sweets.
This type of reaction will, in turn, cause chemical changes in the grasshopper and in its excretions, affecting the ecosystem it inhabits. How does this happen?
When the scared grasshopper dies, its carcass, now containing less nitrogen as a result of its diet change, will have an effect on the microbes in the ground, which are responsible for breaking down animals and plants.
June 13, 2012
Theorem unifies superfluids and other weird materials
Matter exhibits weird properties at very cold temperatures. Take superfluids, for example: discovered in 1937, they can flow without resistance forever, spookily climbing the walls of a container and dripping onto the floor.
In the past 100 years, 11 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to nearly two dozen people for the discovery or theoretical explanation of such cold materials – superconductors and Bose–Einstein condensates, to name two – yet a unifying theory of these extreme behaviors has eluded theorists.
UC Berkeley physicist Hitoshi Murayama and graduate student Haruki Watanabe have now discovered a commonality among these materials that can be used to predict or even design new materials that will exhibit such unusual behavior. The theorem, scheduled to be published online on June 13 and in the June 15 print edition of the journal Physical Review Letters, applies equally to magnets, crystals, neutron stars and cosmic strings.
In the past 100 years, 11 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to nearly two dozen people for the discovery or theoretical explanation of such cold materials – superconductors and Bose–Einstein condensates, to name two – yet a unifying theory of these extreme behaviors has eluded theorists.
UC Berkeley physicist Hitoshi Murayama and graduate student Haruki Watanabe have now discovered a commonality among these materials that can be used to predict or even design new materials that will exhibit such unusual behavior. The theorem, scheduled to be published online on June 13 and in the June 15 print edition of the journal Physical Review Letters, applies equally to magnets, crystals, neutron stars and cosmic strings.
Italian Crop Circle Linked to Solar Eclipse
Researchers believe a crop circle pattern that appeared in the small town of Bracciano, Italy, a few weeks ago contained a complex diagram of solar eclipses — perhaps demonstrating that its makers had an advanced knowledge of Earthly astronomy.
A woman in Bracciano was awakened May 20 by an earthquake and could not return to sleep; at dawn she noticed a spiral pattern laid out in a nearby wheat field. The crop circle drew curiosity around the world, as well as attention from so-called "cereologists" — crop circle enthusiasts — who offered various theories and opinions about the pattern's origin and meaning.
One Australian crop circle researcher, Horace Drew, wrote on his website that "the new crop picture at Braccione, Italy, appeared close to the time of an annular solar eclipse" on May 20, and he offered an analysis of the pattern, explaining its "apparent scientific symbolism in terms of eclipse astronomy."
A woman in Bracciano was awakened May 20 by an earthquake and could not return to sleep; at dawn she noticed a spiral pattern laid out in a nearby wheat field. The crop circle drew curiosity around the world, as well as attention from so-called "cereologists" — crop circle enthusiasts — who offered various theories and opinions about the pattern's origin and meaning.
One Australian crop circle researcher, Horace Drew, wrote on his website that "the new crop picture at Braccione, Italy, appeared close to the time of an annular solar eclipse" on May 20, and he offered an analysis of the pattern, explaining its "apparent scientific symbolism in terms of eclipse astronomy."
June 12, 2012
How Our Disinterest in 'The Environment' Signals the End of Nature
If you think of the Earth as a space ship with an energy budget that equals the input of the sun, which is exactly what it is, then you can imagine that there is a total quantity of biological productivity of which our planet is capable. Estimates say that humans are already appropriating between one quarter and one half of this productivity. The total amount of land given to crops is tied with forests as the single largest terrestrial ecosystem. Our food production requires almost a quarter of the total land area of the planet.
We have basically killed most of the wildlife that was available to us only a single generation ago. Chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy Peter Kareiva has declared that while 13 percent of Earth’s landmass is now protected as some sort of park — an area larger than all of South America — we have completely failed to stop the eradication of the plant and animal inhabitants of these “wild” places. Much of this is due to the fact that wild things are apparently quite tasty. And if you think this is limited to the land, the evidence is that our oceans are in even worse shape, with global fishing stocks set to collapse by mid-century. Meanwhile, as we all know, climate change is only accelerating what scientists now call the “sixth extinction.” Or in other words, the sixth time in the 4 billion year history of life on earth that the entire planet was so challenged that a vast majority of life came perilously close to being snuffed out.
We have basically killed most of the wildlife that was available to us only a single generation ago. Chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy Peter Kareiva has declared that while 13 percent of Earth’s landmass is now protected as some sort of park — an area larger than all of South America — we have completely failed to stop the eradication of the plant and animal inhabitants of these “wild” places. Much of this is due to the fact that wild things are apparently quite tasty. And if you think this is limited to the land, the evidence is that our oceans are in even worse shape, with global fishing stocks set to collapse by mid-century. Meanwhile, as we all know, climate change is only accelerating what scientists now call the “sixth extinction.” Or in other words, the sixth time in the 4 billion year history of life on earth that the entire planet was so challenged that a vast majority of life came perilously close to being snuffed out.
Potential carbon capture role for new CO2-absorbing material
A novel porous material that has unique carbon dioxide retention properties has been developed through research led by The University of Nottingham.
The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Materials, form part of ongoing efforts to develop new materials for gas storage applications and could have an impact in the advancement of new carbon capture products for reducing emissions from fossil fuel processes.
It focuses on the metal organic framework NOTT-202a, which has a unique honeycomb-like structural arrangement and can be considered to represent an entirely new class of porous material.
Most importantly, the material structure allows selective adsorption of carbon dioxide -- while other gases such as nitrogen, methane and hydrogen can pass back through, the carbon dioxide remains trapped in the materials nanopores, even at low temperatures.
The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Materials, form part of ongoing efforts to develop new materials for gas storage applications and could have an impact in the advancement of new carbon capture products for reducing emissions from fossil fuel processes.
It focuses on the metal organic framework NOTT-202a, which has a unique honeycomb-like structural arrangement and can be considered to represent an entirely new class of porous material.
Most importantly, the material structure allows selective adsorption of carbon dioxide -- while other gases such as nitrogen, methane and hydrogen can pass back through, the carbon dioxide remains trapped in the materials nanopores, even at low temperatures.
Living microprocessor tunes in to feedback
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) -- tiny strands of non-protein-coding RNAs -- start off as long strands of precursor miRNAs. These long strands get chopped up by a special kind of machinery, the "Microprocessor" complex, to transform them into their shorter functional form. The resulting miRNAs bind to messenger RNA (mRNAs) molecules, inhibiting their protein production capacity and thus regulating the levels of hundreds of different proteins.
But the Microprocessor complex can also cut up other forms of RNA, such as mRNAs, which sometimes generate a transient structure that resembles the target site of miRNAs. Cleaving the wrong RNAs could prove disastrous for the organism.
In a paper recently published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, Dr. Eran Hornstein, Prof. Naama Barkai and former Ph.D. students Drs. Omer Barad and Mati Mann of the Molecular Genetics Department focus on understanding how the Microprocessor machinery balances the interplay between efficiency and specificity in the production of miRNAs. "On the one hand, it should not be overly efficient, as this may come at the cost of also cleaving unwanted nonspecific RNA substrates. On the other hand, it should not be too 'picky' because exaggerated specificity comes with the risk of not sufficiently processing genuine miRNAs," says Hornstein.
But the Microprocessor complex can also cut up other forms of RNA, such as mRNAs, which sometimes generate a transient structure that resembles the target site of miRNAs. Cleaving the wrong RNAs could prove disastrous for the organism.
In a paper recently published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, Dr. Eran Hornstein, Prof. Naama Barkai and former Ph.D. students Drs. Omer Barad and Mati Mann of the Molecular Genetics Department focus on understanding how the Microprocessor machinery balances the interplay between efficiency and specificity in the production of miRNAs. "On the one hand, it should not be overly efficient, as this may come at the cost of also cleaving unwanted nonspecific RNA substrates. On the other hand, it should not be too 'picky' because exaggerated specificity comes with the risk of not sufficiently processing genuine miRNAs," says Hornstein.
Kill the messenger: Small molecule prevents cancer-causing message from entering cell nucleus
What's good news in one setting might spell disaster in another. In cancer for instance, when a certain cell is commanded to grow and divide without restraint, it's a welcome message for the cell itself but a tragedy for the person who harbors this cell in his or her body. Weizmann Institute scientists have managed to decipher and block one type of molecular message that prompts unbridled cellular growth.
The molecular message first arrives at the cell's membrane, but its ultimate destination is the cell's nucleus, which contains the DNA. It's a huge distance for the message to cross, equivalent to 50 kilometers for a human being. To reach the nucleus quickly, the message is relayed by a chain of chemical messengers, from one molecule to another. More than two decades ago, Prof. Rony Seger of the Weizmann Institute's Biological Regulation Department took part in the discovery of one such chain -- one that participates in the induction of numerous types of cancer. Among other molecules, this chain includes the enzymes MEK1, MEK2, ERK1 and ERK2.
The molecular message first arrives at the cell's membrane, but its ultimate destination is the cell's nucleus, which contains the DNA. It's a huge distance for the message to cross, equivalent to 50 kilometers for a human being. To reach the nucleus quickly, the message is relayed by a chain of chemical messengers, from one molecule to another. More than two decades ago, Prof. Rony Seger of the Weizmann Institute's Biological Regulation Department took part in the discovery of one such chain -- one that participates in the induction of numerous types of cancer. Among other molecules, this chain includes the enzymes MEK1, MEK2, ERK1 and ERK2.
A father's love is one of the greatest influences on personality development
A father's love contributes as much -- and sometimes more -- to a child's development as does a mother's love. That is one of many findings in a new large-scale analysis of research about the power of parental rejection and acceptance in shaping our personalities as children and into adulthood.
"In our half-century of international research, we've not found any other class of experience that has as strong and consistent effect on personality and personality development as does the experience of rejection, especially by parents in childhood," says Ronald Rohner of the University of Connecticut, co-author of the new study in Personality and Social Psychology Review. "Children and adults everywhere -- regardless of differences in race, culture, and gender -- tend to respond in exactly the same way when they perceived themselves to be rejected by their caregivers and other attachment figures."
Looking at 36 studies from around the world that together involved more than 10,000 participants, Rohner and co-author Abdul Khaleque found that in response to rejection by their parents, children tend to feel more anxious and insecure, as well as more hostile and aggressive toward others. The pain of rejection -- especially when it occurs over a period of time in childhood -- tends to linger into adulthood, making it more difficult for adults who were rejected as children to form secure and trusting relationships with their intimate partners. The studies are based on surveys of children and adults about their parents' degree of acceptance or rejection during their childhood, coupled with questions about their personality dispositions.
"In our half-century of international research, we've not found any other class of experience that has as strong and consistent effect on personality and personality development as does the experience of rejection, especially by parents in childhood," says Ronald Rohner of the University of Connecticut, co-author of the new study in Personality and Social Psychology Review. "Children and adults everywhere -- regardless of differences in race, culture, and gender -- tend to respond in exactly the same way when they perceived themselves to be rejected by their caregivers and other attachment figures."
Looking at 36 studies from around the world that together involved more than 10,000 participants, Rohner and co-author Abdul Khaleque found that in response to rejection by their parents, children tend to feel more anxious and insecure, as well as more hostile and aggressive toward others. The pain of rejection -- especially when it occurs over a period of time in childhood -- tends to linger into adulthood, making it more difficult for adults who were rejected as children to form secure and trusting relationships with their intimate partners. The studies are based on surveys of children and adults about their parents' degree of acceptance or rejection during their childhood, coupled with questions about their personality dispositions.
Greek hospitals 'running out of medicines' - VIDEO
The BBC's Andrew Bomford reports from Athens on how the most vulnerable people are suffering because of Greece's financial crisis.
Global warming threat seen in fertile soil of northeastern U.S. forests
Vast stores of carbon in U.S. forest soils could be released by rising global temperatures, according to a study by UC Irvine and other researchers in a recent online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The scientists found that heating soil in Wisconsin and North Carolina woodlands by 10 and 20 degrees increased the release of carbon dioxide by up to eight times. They showed for the first time that most carbon in topsoil is vulnerable to this warming effect.
"We found that decades-old carbon in surface soils is released to the atmosphere faster when temperatures become warmer," said lead author Francesca Hopkins, a doctoral researcher in UCI's Earth system science department. "This suggests that soils could accelerate global warming through a vicious cycle in which human-made warming releases carbon from soils to the atmosphere, which, in turn, would warm the planet more."
The scientists found that heating soil in Wisconsin and North Carolina woodlands by 10 and 20 degrees increased the release of carbon dioxide by up to eight times. They showed for the first time that most carbon in topsoil is vulnerable to this warming effect.
"We found that decades-old carbon in surface soils is released to the atmosphere faster when temperatures become warmer," said lead author Francesca Hopkins, a doctoral researcher in UCI's Earth system science department. "This suggests that soils could accelerate global warming through a vicious cycle in which human-made warming releases carbon from soils to the atmosphere, which, in turn, would warm the planet more."
Penguins' Sex Acts Shocked Polar Explorer
"Some of the things he noticed profoundly shocked him," Russell said. For instance, Levick noted the penguins' autoerotic tendencies, and the seemingly aberrant behavior of young unpaired males and females, including necrophilia, sexual coercion, sexual and physical abuse of chicks, non-procreative sex and homosexual behaviors.
Hidden for nearly 100 years for being too "graphic," a report of "hooligan" behaviors, including sexual coercion, by Adelie penguins observed during Captain Scott's 1910 polar expedition have been uncovered and interpreted.
The naughty notes were rediscovered recently at the Natural History Museum in Tring, in England, and published in the recent issue of the journal Polar Record.
Hidden for nearly 100 years for being too "graphic," a report of "hooligan" behaviors, including sexual coercion, by Adelie penguins observed during Captain Scott's 1910 polar expedition have been uncovered and interpreted.
The naughty notes were rediscovered recently at the Natural History Museum in Tring, in England, and published in the recent issue of the journal Polar Record.
June 11, 2012
Dr. Sasha Galbraith: Blame it on Hormones: Men are the Cause of Today's Problems
The Wall Street Journal has had a flurry of great headlines lately: "Inside Fumbled Facebook IPO" and "JP Morgan Reveals 'London Whale'-Size Losses." While reading these and other stories about the massive losses surrounding the Facebook IPO and JP Morgan's hedging losses, I couldn't help but notice how it was men who caused the vast majority of these recent (and several past) problems. What if Facebook's all-male Board of Directors had chosen a female investment banker to head up their ill-fated IPO? What if the "London Whale" or his male boss had been a woman? What if Enron's bad boys had been girls? What if Nick Leeson, who ruined Barings, had been named Nicole? How many bonuses could Societé Générale have paid with the $7 billion blown by rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel if he had been a she?
In Traders' Spit, Evidence Of An Irrational Wall Street
An unusual study of traders’ spit may offer a taste of the future in how we understand what drives markets -- and why they aren’t as stable and efficient as we might hope.
Several years ago, two neuroscientists undertook an experiment on the trading floor of a major investment bank in London. Over eight consecutive business days, at both 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., John Coates and Joe Herbert took samples of saliva from the mouths of 17 traders. With these samples, taken before and after the bulk of the day’s trading activity, they measured the rising and falling levels of a number of steroid hormones, including testosterone, adrenaline and cortisol.
The data revealed physiological changes not evident to the eye. To begin with, Coates and Herbert found that when traders did well and made money, they didn’t do it solely through cleverness and cerebral dexterity. Guts also played a role, although “testicles” would actually be more accurate. Traders performed better on days in which they registered higher morning levels of the hormone testosterone, which is mostly produced in the testes.
Several years ago, two neuroscientists undertook an experiment on the trading floor of a major investment bank in London. Over eight consecutive business days, at both 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., John Coates and Joe Herbert took samples of saliva from the mouths of 17 traders. With these samples, taken before and after the bulk of the day’s trading activity, they measured the rising and falling levels of a number of steroid hormones, including testosterone, adrenaline and cortisol.
The data revealed physiological changes not evident to the eye. To begin with, Coates and Herbert found that when traders did well and made money, they didn’t do it solely through cleverness and cerebral dexterity. Guts also played a role, although “testicles” would actually be more accurate. Traders performed better on days in which they registered higher morning levels of the hormone testosterone, which is mostly produced in the testes.
Toxin from GM crops found in human blood
Fresh doubts have arisen about the safety of genetically modified crops, with a new study reporting presence of, used widely in GM crops, in human blood for the first time.
Genetically modified crops include genes extracted from bacteria to make them resistant to pest attacks.
These genes make crops toxic to pests but are claimed to pose no danger to the environment and human health. Brinjal, whose commercial release was stopped a year ago, has a toxin derived from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt).
Till now, scientists and multinational corporations promoting GM crops have maintained that Bt toxin poses no danger to human health as the protein breaks down in the human gut. But the presence of this toxin in human blood shows that this does not happen.
Scientists from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, have detected the insecticidal protein, Cry1Ab, circulating in the blood of pregnant as well as non-pregnant women.
They have also detected the toxin in fetal blood, implying it could pass on to the next generation. The research paper has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in the journal Reproductive Toxicology. The study covered 30 pregnant women and 39 women who had come for tubectomy at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (CHUS) in Quebec.
None of them had worked or lived with a spouse working in contact with pesticides.
Genetically modified crops include genes extracted from bacteria to make them resistant to pest attacks.
These genes make crops toxic to pests but are claimed to pose no danger to the environment and human health. Brinjal, whose commercial release was stopped a year ago, has a toxin derived from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt).
Till now, scientists and multinational corporations promoting GM crops have maintained that Bt toxin poses no danger to human health as the protein breaks down in the human gut. But the presence of this toxin in human blood shows that this does not happen.
Scientists from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, have detected the insecticidal protein, Cry1Ab, circulating in the blood of pregnant as well as non-pregnant women.
They have also detected the toxin in fetal blood, implying it could pass on to the next generation. The research paper has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in the journal Reproductive Toxicology. The study covered 30 pregnant women and 39 women who had come for tubectomy at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (CHUS) in Quebec.
None of them had worked or lived with a spouse working in contact with pesticides.
Superbug gonorrhea spreading across Europe
"Superbug" strains of gonorrhea which are becoming untreatable accounted for almost one in 10 cases of the sexually transmitted disease in Europe in 2010, more than double the rate of the year before, health officials said on Monday.
The drug-resistant strains are also spreading fast across the continent, officials warned. They were found in 17 European countries in 2010, seven more than in the previous year.
Gonorrhea was the second most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in Europe in 2010, with more than 32,000 infections, data from the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) showed.
Even though chlamydia was the most frequently reported STI, with more than 345,000 cases, the ECDC's director singled out gonorrhea as presenting a "critical situation".
The drug-resistant strains are also spreading fast across the continent, officials warned. They were found in 17 European countries in 2010, seven more than in the previous year.
Gonorrhea was the second most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in Europe in 2010, with more than 32,000 infections, data from the Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) showed.
Even though chlamydia was the most frequently reported STI, with more than 345,000 cases, the ECDC's director singled out gonorrhea as presenting a "critical situation".
Theorem unifies superfluids and other weird materials
Matter exhibits weird properties at very cold temperatures. Take superfluids, for example: discovered in 1937, they can flow without resistance forever, spookily climbing the walls of a container and dripping onto the floor.
In the past 100 years, 11 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to nearly two dozen people for the discovery or theoretical explanation of such cold materials -- superconductors and Bose-Einstein condensates, to name two -- yet a unifying theory of these extreme behaviors has eluded theorists.
University of California, Berkeley, physicist Hitoshi Murayama and graduate student Haruki Watanabe have now discovered a commonality among these materials that can be used to predict or even design new materials that will exhibit such unusual behavior. The theory, published online June 8 by the journal Physical Review Letters, applies equally to magnets, crystals, neutron stars and cosmic strings.
In the past 100 years, 11 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to nearly two dozen people for the discovery or theoretical explanation of such cold materials -- superconductors and Bose-Einstein condensates, to name two -- yet a unifying theory of these extreme behaviors has eluded theorists.
University of California, Berkeley, physicist Hitoshi Murayama and graduate student Haruki Watanabe have now discovered a commonality among these materials that can be used to predict or even design new materials that will exhibit such unusual behavior. The theory, published online June 8 by the journal Physical Review Letters, applies equally to magnets, crystals, neutron stars and cosmic strings.
Parasitic plants steal genes from their hosts
New research published June 8 in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Genomics reveals that the Malaysian parasitic plant Rafflesia cantleyi, with its 50cm diameter flowers, has 'stolen' genes from its host Tetrastigma rafflesiae. Analysis of these genes shows that their functions range from respiration to metabolism, and that some of them have even replaced the parasites own gene activity.
Vertical gene transfer is that between parents and their offspring, while horizontal gene transfer is the movement of genes between two different organisms. Bacteria use horizontal gene transfer to exchange resistance to antibiotics. Recent studies have shown that plants can also use horizontal gene transfer, especially parasitic plants and their hosts due to their intimate physical connections.
Rafflesia cantleyi is an obligate holoparasite (dependent on its host, and only that host, for sustenance), which grows on Tetrastigma rafflesiae, a member of the grape family. Researchers from Singapore, Malaysia and USA collaborated to systematically investigate the possibility of horizontal gene transfer between these two plants. By looking at the transcriptome (the transcribed products of switched on genes) they found 49 genes transcribed by the parasite, accounting for 2% of their total transcriptome, which originally belonged to the host. Three quarters of these transcripts appear to have replaced the parasites own version.
Vertical gene transfer is that between parents and their offspring, while horizontal gene transfer is the movement of genes between two different organisms. Bacteria use horizontal gene transfer to exchange resistance to antibiotics. Recent studies have shown that plants can also use horizontal gene transfer, especially parasitic plants and their hosts due to their intimate physical connections.
Rafflesia cantleyi is an obligate holoparasite (dependent on its host, and only that host, for sustenance), which grows on Tetrastigma rafflesiae, a member of the grape family. Researchers from Singapore, Malaysia and USA collaborated to systematically investigate the possibility of horizontal gene transfer between these two plants. By looking at the transcriptome (the transcribed products of switched on genes) they found 49 genes transcribed by the parasite, accounting for 2% of their total transcriptome, which originally belonged to the host. Three quarters of these transcripts appear to have replaced the parasites own version.
New anti-cancer vaccine developed and tested
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have developed and tested in mice a synthetic vaccine and found it effective in killing human papillomavirus-derived cancer, a virus linked to cervical cancers among others.
The research was published in a recent issue of Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy.
"Vaccines for cancer can be good alternatives to conventional therapies that result in serious side-effects and are rarely effective against advanced disease," said Esteban Celis, M.D., Ph.D., senior member and professor in Moffitt's Immunology Program. "The human papillomavirus, or HPV, is known to cause 99 percent of cervical cancers and annually causes more than 250,000 deaths worldwide." In addition, HPV is the causative agent of a large proportion of head and neck and genital cancers.
Although two approved prophylactic vaccines against strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer are now in wide use as a measure to prevent HPV infections, these vaccines cannot be used to treat HPV-induced cancers. Thus, there is a need to develop therapeutic vaccines for HPV-related tumors.
The research was published in a recent issue of Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy.
"Vaccines for cancer can be good alternatives to conventional therapies that result in serious side-effects and are rarely effective against advanced disease," said Esteban Celis, M.D., Ph.D., senior member and professor in Moffitt's Immunology Program. "The human papillomavirus, or HPV, is known to cause 99 percent of cervical cancers and annually causes more than 250,000 deaths worldwide." In addition, HPV is the causative agent of a large proportion of head and neck and genital cancers.
Although two approved prophylactic vaccines against strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer are now in wide use as a measure to prevent HPV infections, these vaccines cannot be used to treat HPV-induced cancers. Thus, there is a need to develop therapeutic vaccines for HPV-related tumors.
Seeking Academic Edge, Teenagers Abuse Stimulants
He steered into the high school parking lot, clicked off the ignition and scanned the scraps of his recent weeks. Crinkled chip bags on the dashboard. Soda cups at his feet. And on the passenger seat, a rumpled SAT practice book whose owner had been told since fourth grade he was headed to the Ivy League. Pencils up in 20 minutes.
The boy exhaled. Before opening the car door, he recalled recently, he twisted open a capsule of orange powder and arranged it in a neat line on the armrest. He leaned over, closed one nostril and snorted it.
Throughout the parking lot, he said, eight of his friends did the same thing.
The drug was not cocaine or heroin, but Adderall, an amphetamine prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that the boy said he and his friends routinely shared to study late into the night, focus during tests and ultimately get the grades worthy of their prestigious high school in an affluent suburb of New York City. The drug did more than just jolt them awake for the 8 a.m. SAT; it gave them a tunnel focus tailor-made for the marathon of tests long known to make or break college applications.
“Everyone in school either has a prescription or has a friend who does,” the boy said.
The boy exhaled. Before opening the car door, he recalled recently, he twisted open a capsule of orange powder and arranged it in a neat line on the armrest. He leaned over, closed one nostril and snorted it.
Throughout the parking lot, he said, eight of his friends did the same thing.
The drug was not cocaine or heroin, but Adderall, an amphetamine prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that the boy said he and his friends routinely shared to study late into the night, focus during tests and ultimately get the grades worthy of their prestigious high school in an affluent suburb of New York City. The drug did more than just jolt them awake for the 8 a.m. SAT; it gave them a tunnel focus tailor-made for the marathon of tests long known to make or break college applications.
“Everyone in school either has a prescription or has a friend who does,” the boy said.
America: Where It's Easier to Get a Gun Than Good Mental Health Care
Last spring my younger sister Kathy jumped off a freeway bridge in Phoenix. For better or worse, she lived. Kathy made her first suicide gesture in high school, when she took a handful of, I think, aspirin in reaction to a bad haircut. At the time, she was already, obviously, mentally ill. In middle school, anorexia had drawn her down to a skeletal 38 pounds. Her hair fell out. Her sunken face took on a plastic texture from fat-soluble vitamins that her body couldn’t process. Force-feeding brought her back from the brink, but couldn’t heal her. In the years since, even during three pregnancies, she has never topped 100 pounds, nor has she ever been free of compulsions, body-loathing or debilitating bouts of depression.
Ambulance attendants molesting patients
They answer the call 24-7, often risking their own safety to rescue the sick and injured and rush them to the hospital. But some paramedics have been more predator than hero.
Don't miss these Health stories
Over the past 18 months, at least 129 ambulance attendants across the U.S. have been accused of sex-related crimes on duty or off, an investigation by The Associated Press found. Some of them molested patients in the back of an ambulance.
"It's a dream job for a sexual predator," said Greg Kafoury, a Portland, Ore., lawyer who represents three women who were groped by a paramedic. "Everything is there: Women who are incapacitated, so they're hugely distracted. Medical cover to put your hands in places where, in any other context, a predator would be immediately recognized as such."
Don't miss these Health stories
Over the past 18 months, at least 129 ambulance attendants across the U.S. have been accused of sex-related crimes on duty or off, an investigation by The Associated Press found. Some of them molested patients in the back of an ambulance.
"It's a dream job for a sexual predator," said Greg Kafoury, a Portland, Ore., lawyer who represents three women who were groped by a paramedic. "Everything is there: Women who are incapacitated, so they're hugely distracted. Medical cover to put your hands in places where, in any other context, a predator would be immediately recognized as such."
People are more likely to die on their birthdays, study finds
A new study has revealed you are 14 percent more likely to die on your birthday.
The Swiss study, published in the Annals of Epidemiology, analyzed 2.4 million deaths over a 40-year period and showed that the "birthday blues" can be lethal, The Independent reported Sunday.
Results extracted from a vast amount of data concluded that there were 13.8 percent more deaths on birthdays when compared with any other day of the year. The risk increased with age, with the figure rising to 18 percent in people aged over 60.
Birthday fatality figures for individual diseases show that there was an 18.6 percent increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks, and a higher risk of up to 21.5 percent for strokes on birthdays. There was also a 10.8 percent rise in deaths among people with cancer.
The Swiss study, published in the Annals of Epidemiology, analyzed 2.4 million deaths over a 40-year period and showed that the "birthday blues" can be lethal, The Independent reported Sunday.
Results extracted from a vast amount of data concluded that there were 13.8 percent more deaths on birthdays when compared with any other day of the year. The risk increased with age, with the figure rising to 18 percent in people aged over 60.
Birthday fatality figures for individual diseases show that there was an 18.6 percent increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks, and a higher risk of up to 21.5 percent for strokes on birthdays. There was also a 10.8 percent rise in deaths among people with cancer.
Self-Harm Showing Up in Elementary Schools: Study
When young people purposely hurt themselves it's disturbing at any age, but a new study suggests that kids in elementary school cut and otherwise injure themselves at about the same rate as older children.
"One of our main messages is: This happens earlier than you think. And then it's: How are kids at different ages doing this and what do you need to look for?" said study author Benjamin Hankin, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Denver.
Appearing online June 11 and in the July print issue of Pediatrics, the study included youths aged 7 to 16 from the Denver area and central New Jersey.
Of the 665 participants, 53 children (8 percent) in third, sixth and ninth grades admitted to doing what's known as "nonsuicidal self-injury" at least once. Among third graders, 7.6 percent had intentionally hurt themselves, compared to 4 percent of sixth graders and 12.7 percent of ninth graders.
"One of our main messages is: This happens earlier than you think. And then it's: How are kids at different ages doing this and what do you need to look for?" said study author Benjamin Hankin, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Denver.
Appearing online June 11 and in the July print issue of Pediatrics, the study included youths aged 7 to 16 from the Denver area and central New Jersey.
Of the 665 participants, 53 children (8 percent) in third, sixth and ninth grades admitted to doing what's known as "nonsuicidal self-injury" at least once. Among third graders, 7.6 percent had intentionally hurt themselves, compared to 4 percent of sixth graders and 12.7 percent of ninth graders.
Pentagon to soon deploy pint-sized but lethal Switchblade drones
Seeking to reduce civilian casualties and collateral damage, the Pentagon will soon deploy a new generation of drones the size of model planes, packing tiny explosive warheads that can be delivered with pinpoint accuracy.
Errant drone strikes have been blamed for killing and injuring scores of civilians throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan, giving the U.S. government a black eye as it targets elusive terrorist groups. The Predator and Reaper drones deployed in these regions typically carry 100-pound laser-guided Hellfire missiles or 500-pound GPS-guided smart bombs that can reduce buildings to smoldering rubble.
The new Switchblade drone, by comparison, weighs less than 6 pounds and can take out a sniper on a rooftop without blasting the building to bits. It also enables soldiers in the field to identify and destroy targets much more quickly by eliminating the need to call in a strike from large drones that may be hundreds of miles away.
Errant drone strikes have been blamed for killing and injuring scores of civilians throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan, giving the U.S. government a black eye as it targets elusive terrorist groups. The Predator and Reaper drones deployed in these regions typically carry 100-pound laser-guided Hellfire missiles or 500-pound GPS-guided smart bombs that can reduce buildings to smoldering rubble.
The new Switchblade drone, by comparison, weighs less than 6 pounds and can take out a sniper on a rooftop without blasting the building to bits. It also enables soldiers in the field to identify and destroy targets much more quickly by eliminating the need to call in a strike from large drones that may be hundreds of miles away.
June 8, 2012
Man Cured of AIDS: ‘I Feel Good’
The fact that Timothy Brown is a reasonably healthy 46-year-old is no small thing. Only a few years ago, he had AIDS.
“I feel good,” Brown told ABC News. “I haven’t had any major illnesses, just occasional colds like normal people.”
Brown is the only person in the world to be cured of AIDS, the result of a transplant of blood stem cells he received to treat leukemia.
“My case is the proof in concept that HIV can be cured,” he said.
“I feel good,” Brown told ABC News. “I haven’t had any major illnesses, just occasional colds like normal people.”
Brown is the only person in the world to be cured of AIDS, the result of a transplant of blood stem cells he received to treat leukemia.
“My case is the proof in concept that HIV can be cured,” he said.
Music: It's in your head, changing your brain
Michael Jackson was on to something when he sang that "A-B-C" is "simple as 'Do Re Mi.'" Music helps kids remember basic facts such as the order of letters in the alphabet, partly because songs tap into fundamental systems in our brains that are sensitive to melody and beat.
That's not all: when you play music, you are exercising your brain in a unique way.
"I think there's enough evidence to say that musical experience, musical exposure, musical training, all of those things change your brain," says Dr. Charles Limb, associate professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins University. "It allows you to think in a way that you used to not think, and it also trains a lot of other cognitive facilities that have nothing to do with music."
That's not all: when you play music, you are exercising your brain in a unique way.
"I think there's enough evidence to say that musical experience, musical exposure, musical training, all of those things change your brain," says Dr. Charles Limb, associate professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins University. "It allows you to think in a way that you used to not think, and it also trains a lot of other cognitive facilities that have nothing to do with music."
The Future of Graveyards
If there's anything that hasn't changed all that much over the years, it's graveyards. Dig a hole six feet deep, throw in the casket, erect a monument, and you're done.
Given how emotional and intense this topic is, it's easy to understand the reluctance for fancy innovations. But owing to a number of pressures including dwindling land space and environmental concerns, cemeteries are increasingly finding they have no choice but to adapt. Here's how graveyards of the 21st Century are starting to change into something that barely resembles their previous incarnations.
Our death rituals are changing — and with them, the ways we choose to bury and remember our loved ones. As a result, modern day cemeteries are learning to adapt, experimenting with everything from environmentally friendly graveyards to interactive tombstones. Here are some prime examples of how graveyards are changing and what they might look like a few years from now:
Given how emotional and intense this topic is, it's easy to understand the reluctance for fancy innovations. But owing to a number of pressures including dwindling land space and environmental concerns, cemeteries are increasingly finding they have no choice but to adapt. Here's how graveyards of the 21st Century are starting to change into something that barely resembles their previous incarnations.
Our death rituals are changing — and with them, the ways we choose to bury and remember our loved ones. As a result, modern day cemeteries are learning to adapt, experimenting with everything from environmentally friendly graveyards to interactive tombstones. Here are some prime examples of how graveyards are changing and what they might look like a few years from now:
Honeybee decline linked to deadly virus
A parasitic mite has helped a virus wipe out billions of honeybees across the globe, say scientists.
A team studying honeybees in Hawaii found that the Varroa mite helped spread a particularly nasty strain of a disease called deformed wing virus.
This has led to "one of the most widely-distributed and contagious insect viruses on the planet".
The findings are reported in the journal Science.
A team studying honeybees in Hawaii found that the Varroa mite helped spread a particularly nasty strain of a disease called deformed wing virus.
This has led to "one of the most widely-distributed and contagious insect viruses on the planet".
The findings are reported in the journal Science.
Canine Comfort: Do Dogs Know When You're Sad?
Plenty of pet owners are comforted by a pair of puppy-dog eyes or a swipe of the tongue when their dog catches them crying. Now, new research suggests that dogs really do respond uniquely to tears. But whether pets have empathy for human pain is less clear.
In a study published online May 30 in the journal Animal Cognition, University of London researchers found that dogs were more likely to approach a crying person than someone who was humming or talking, and that they normally responded to weeping with submissive behaviors. The results are what you might expect if dogs understand our pain, the researchers wrote, but it's not proof that they do.
"The humming was designed to be a relatively novel behavior, which might be likely to pique the dogs' curiosity," study researcher and psychologist Deborah Custance said in a statement. "The fact that the dogs differentiated between crying and humming indicates that their response to crying was not purely driven by curiosity. Rather, the crying carried greater emotional meaning for the dogs and provoked a stronger overall response than either humming or talking."
In a study published online May 30 in the journal Animal Cognition, University of London researchers found that dogs were more likely to approach a crying person than someone who was humming or talking, and that they normally responded to weeping with submissive behaviors. The results are what you might expect if dogs understand our pain, the researchers wrote, but it's not proof that they do.
"The humming was designed to be a relatively novel behavior, which might be likely to pique the dogs' curiosity," study researcher and psychologist Deborah Custance said in a statement. "The fact that the dogs differentiated between crying and humming indicates that their response to crying was not purely driven by curiosity. Rather, the crying carried greater emotional meaning for the dogs and provoked a stronger overall response than either humming or talking."
Engineered robot interacts with live fish
A bioinspired robot has provided the first experimental evidence that live zebrafish can be influenced by engineered robots.
Results published 8 June in IOP Publishing's journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, provide a stepping stone on the path to using autonomous robots in an open environment to monitor and control fish behaviour.
In the future, water-based robots could potentially contribute to the protection of endangered animals and the control of pest species.
The robot, created by researchers from Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Instituto Superiore di Sanitá, Italy, was 15 centimetres long and spray-painted with the characteristic blue stripes of the zebrafish. The tail of the robot was mechanically controlled by the researchers to mimic the action of the zebrafish itself.
Results published 8 June in IOP Publishing's journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, provide a stepping stone on the path to using autonomous robots in an open environment to monitor and control fish behaviour.
In the future, water-based robots could potentially contribute to the protection of endangered animals and the control of pest species.
The robot, created by researchers from Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Instituto Superiore di Sanitá, Italy, was 15 centimetres long and spray-painted with the characteristic blue stripes of the zebrafish. The tail of the robot was mechanically controlled by the researchers to mimic the action of the zebrafish itself.
June 7, 2012
Skin Cells Turned Into Brain Cells in Lab Study
Scientists who reprogrammed skin cells into brain cells say their research could lay the groundwork for new ways to treat Alzheimer's and other brain diseases.
The team at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco transferred a gene called Sox2 into both mouse and human skin cells. Within days, the skin cells transformed into early-stage brain stem cells called induced neural stem cells.
These cells began to self-renew and soon matured into neurons capable of transmitting electrical signals. Within a month, these new neurons had developed into neural networks, according to the research published online June 7 in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
These transformed cells could provide better models for testing new drugs to treat Alzheimer's and other brain diseases, the researchers said.
The team at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco transferred a gene called Sox2 into both mouse and human skin cells. Within days, the skin cells transformed into early-stage brain stem cells called induced neural stem cells.
These cells began to self-renew and soon matured into neurons capable of transmitting electrical signals. Within a month, these new neurons had developed into neural networks, according to the research published online June 7 in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
These transformed cells could provide better models for testing new drugs to treat Alzheimer's and other brain diseases, the researchers said.
Breaking the limits of classical physics: Light's quantum mechanical properties demonstrated
With simple arguments, researchers show that nature is complicated! Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have made a simple experiment that demonstrates that nature violates common sense -- the world is different than most people believe. The experiment illustrates that light does not behave according to the principles of classical physics, but that light has quantum mechanical properties. The new method could be used to study whether other systems behave quantum mechanically.
In physics there are two categories: classical physics and quantum physics. In classical physics, objects, e.g. a car or a ball, have a position and a velocity. This is how we classically look at our everyday world. In the quantum world objects can also have a position and a velocity, but not at the same time. At the atomic level, quantum mechanics says that nature behaves quite differently than you might think. It is not just that we do not know the position and the velocity, rather, these two things simply do not exist simultaneously. But how do we know that they do not exist simultaneously? And where is the border of these two worlds? Researchers have found a new way to answer these questions.
Based on a series of experiments in the quantum optics laboratories, they examined the state of light. In classical physics, light possesses both an electric and a magnetic field.
"What our study demonstrated was that light can have both an electric and a magnetic field, but not at the same time. We thus provide a simple proof that an experiment breaks the classical principles. That is to say, we showed light possesses quantum properties, and we can expand this to other systems as well" says Eran Kot.
In physics there are two categories: classical physics and quantum physics. In classical physics, objects, e.g. a car or a ball, have a position and a velocity. This is how we classically look at our everyday world. In the quantum world objects can also have a position and a velocity, but not at the same time. At the atomic level, quantum mechanics says that nature behaves quite differently than you might think. It is not just that we do not know the position and the velocity, rather, these two things simply do not exist simultaneously. But how do we know that they do not exist simultaneously? And where is the border of these two worlds? Researchers have found a new way to answer these questions.
Based on a series of experiments in the quantum optics laboratories, they examined the state of light. In classical physics, light possesses both an electric and a magnetic field.
"What our study demonstrated was that light can have both an electric and a magnetic field, but not at the same time. We thus provide a simple proof that an experiment breaks the classical principles. That is to say, we showed light possesses quantum properties, and we can expand this to other systems as well" says Eran Kot.
Stress may delay brain development in early years
Stress may affect brain development in children, altering growth of a specific piece of the brain and abilities associated with it, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"There has been a lot of work in animals linking both acute and chronic stress to changes in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in complex cognitive abilities like holding on to important information for quick recall and use," says Jamie Hanson, a UW-Madison psychology graduate student. "We have now found similar associations in humans, and found that more exposure to stress is related to more issues with certain kinds of cognitive processes."
Children who had experienced more intense and lasting stressful events in their lives posted lower scores on tests of what the researchers refer to as spatial working memory. They had more trouble navigating tests of short-term memory such as finding a token in a series of boxes, according to the study, which will be published in the June 6 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
"There has been a lot of work in animals linking both acute and chronic stress to changes in a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in complex cognitive abilities like holding on to important information for quick recall and use," says Jamie Hanson, a UW-Madison psychology graduate student. "We have now found similar associations in humans, and found that more exposure to stress is related to more issues with certain kinds of cognitive processes."
Children who had experienced more intense and lasting stressful events in their lives posted lower scores on tests of what the researchers refer to as spatial working memory. They had more trouble navigating tests of short-term memory such as finding a token in a series of boxes, according to the study, which will be published in the June 6 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
CT scans on children 'could triple brain cancer risk'
Multiple CT scans in childhood can triple the risk of developing brain cancer or leukaemia, a study suggests.
The Newcastle University-led team examined the NHS medical records of almost 180,000 young patients.
But writing in The Lancet the authors emphasised that the benefits of the scans usually outweighed the risks.
They said the study underlined the fact the scans should only be used when necessary and that ways of cutting their radiation should be pursued.
During a CT (computerised tomography) scan, an X-ray tube rotates around the patient's body to produce detailed images of internal organs and other parts of the body.
The Newcastle University-led team examined the NHS medical records of almost 180,000 young patients.
But writing in The Lancet the authors emphasised that the benefits of the scans usually outweighed the risks.
They said the study underlined the fact the scans should only be used when necessary and that ways of cutting their radiation should be pursued.
During a CT (computerised tomography) scan, an X-ray tube rotates around the patient's body to produce detailed images of internal organs and other parts of the body.
This Is the Way the World Ends? Volcanoes Could Darken World
Are you worried about the end of life as we know it? Then don't just look to the sky for that catastrophic asteroid that could be heading our way. The end may come from right beneath your feet.
Super-volcanoes have probably caused more extinctions than asteroids. But until now it has been thought that these giant volcanoes took thousands of years to form -- and would remain trapped beneath the earth's crust for thousands more years -- before having much effect on the planet.
But new research indicates these catastrophic eruptions, possibly thousands of times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, may happen only a few hundred years after the volcanoes form. In other words, they may have a very "short fuse," according to researchers at Vanderbilt University.
Super-volcanoes have probably caused more extinctions than asteroids. But until now it has been thought that these giant volcanoes took thousands of years to form -- and would remain trapped beneath the earth's crust for thousands more years -- before having much effect on the planet.
But new research indicates these catastrophic eruptions, possibly thousands of times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, may happen only a few hundred years after the volcanoes form. In other words, they may have a very "short fuse," according to researchers at Vanderbilt University.
In China, 1 in 10 TB cases are drug-resistant
One in 10 cases of tuberculosis in China cannot be treated by the most commonly-used drugs, driven by a lack of testing and misuse of medicine, according to a national survey that showed for the first time the size of the drug-resistant epidemic.
Researchers say the findings from the 2007 survey on drug-resistant TB, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the government must invest more in public health services to better diagnose drug-resistant strains of the killer lung disease. Hospitals must also be prevented from routinely misusing drugs that worsen the problem, they say.
Researchers say the findings from the 2007 survey on drug-resistant TB, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the government must invest more in public health services to better diagnose drug-resistant strains of the killer lung disease. Hospitals must also be prevented from routinely misusing drugs that worsen the problem, they say.
Scientists Environment Verge Of Disaster
Human-generated pressures, at their current pace, will likely drive our planet's ecosystems to an irreversible collapse in the coming decades, according to a new paper in the journal Nature.
The paper, titled "Approaching a state-shift in Earth's biosphere," is the work of 18 scientists from Chile, Canada, Finland, the U.K., Spain and the United States.
Based on a review of scientific theories, ecosystem modeling and fossils, the researchers concluded that accelerating loss of biodiversity, extreme climate fluctuations and a radically changing total energy budget are precursors to reaching a planetary tipping point that would be followed by an irreversible collapse of our planet's ecosystems.
The paper, titled "Approaching a state-shift in Earth's biosphere," is the work of 18 scientists from Chile, Canada, Finland, the U.K., Spain and the United States.
Based on a review of scientific theories, ecosystem modeling and fossils, the researchers concluded that accelerating loss of biodiversity, extreme climate fluctuations and a radically changing total energy budget are precursors to reaching a planetary tipping point that would be followed by an irreversible collapse of our planet's ecosystems.
Sexy Advertising On the Rise
Don't blush, but chances are the magazines you read are getting sexier.
Sexy advertisements are up in magazines from Playboy to Time and Newsweek to Esquire, according to new research from the University of Georgia. Since 1983, the percent of ads using sex to sell products rose from 15 percent to 27 percent by 2003.
Though sexual imagery is used to sell almost everything, even banking services, the bulk of the increase has come in ads for impulse buys: alcohol, entertainment, beauty supplies. These products have long clung to the "sex sells" maxim, said study researcher Tom Reichert, a professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Georgia.
Sexy advertisements are up in magazines from Playboy to Time and Newsweek to Esquire, according to new research from the University of Georgia. Since 1983, the percent of ads using sex to sell products rose from 15 percent to 27 percent by 2003.
Though sexual imagery is used to sell almost everything, even banking services, the bulk of the increase has come in ads for impulse buys: alcohol, entertainment, beauty supplies. These products have long clung to the "sex sells" maxim, said study researcher Tom Reichert, a professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Georgia.
June 6, 2012
Weird World of Quantum Physics May Govern Life
The bizarre rules of quantum physics are often thought to be restricted to the microworld, but scientists now suspect they may play an important role in the biology of life.
Evidence is growing for the involvement of quantum mechanics in a wide range of biological processes, including photosynthesis, bird migration, the sense of smell, and possibly even the origin of life.
These and other mysteries were the topic of a panel lecture June 1 held here at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, part of the fifth annual World Science Festival.
Quantum mechanics refers to the strange set of rules that governs the behavior of subatomic particles, which can travel through walls, behave like waves and stay connected over vast distances. [Stunning Photos of the Very Small]
"Quantum mechanics is weird, that's its defining characteristic. It's funky and strange," said MIT mechanical engineer Seth Lloyd.
Evidence is growing for the involvement of quantum mechanics in a wide range of biological processes, including photosynthesis, bird migration, the sense of smell, and possibly even the origin of life.
These and other mysteries were the topic of a panel lecture June 1 held here at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, part of the fifth annual World Science Festival.
Quantum mechanics refers to the strange set of rules that governs the behavior of subatomic particles, which can travel through walls, behave like waves and stay connected over vast distances. [Stunning Photos of the Very Small]
"Quantum mechanics is weird, that's its defining characteristic. It's funky and strange," said MIT mechanical engineer Seth Lloyd.
June 5, 2012
Anxious girls' brains work harder
In a discovery that could help in the identification and treatment of anxiety disorders, Michigan State University scientists say the brains of anxious girls work much harder than those of boys.
The finding stems from an experiment in which college students performed a relatively simple task while their brain activity was measured by an electrode cap. Only girls who identified themselves as particularly anxious or big worriers recorded high brain activity when they made mistakes during the task.
Jason Moser, lead investigator on the project, said the findings may ultimately help mental health professionals determine which girls may be prone to anxiety problems such as obsessive compulsive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder.
"This may help predict the development of anxiety issues later in life for girls," said Moser, assistant professor of psychology. "It's one more piece of the puzzle for us to figure out why women in general have more anxiety disorders."
The finding stems from an experiment in which college students performed a relatively simple task while their brain activity was measured by an electrode cap. Only girls who identified themselves as particularly anxious or big worriers recorded high brain activity when they made mistakes during the task.
Jason Moser, lead investigator on the project, said the findings may ultimately help mental health professionals determine which girls may be prone to anxiety problems such as obsessive compulsive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder.
"This may help predict the development of anxiety issues later in life for girls," said Moser, assistant professor of psychology. "It's one more piece of the puzzle for us to figure out why women in general have more anxiety disorders."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)