Earthquakes: Status Of Early Warning And Mitigati...
The Real History Of Gravity
By Eric Diaz
Theoretical Biology's Buzzkill
Humboldt Squid: Still Not Giant Squid
By Danna Staaf
Having been a child of the 60s I was naturally inspired by what was euphemistically... Read >
A new commentary just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy... Read >
A study of the phenomenon known as loss aversion in two patients with lesions... Read >
A new report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention suggests that... Read >
Religion is a hotly debated topic both among scholars and the general... Read >
Using graphene, Swedish and American researchers say they have succeeded in... Read >
How Can Ice Work Like A Horse?
How Can Ice Work Like A Horse?In this short series of articles about coal, engines and energy I am trying to show something of the history behind our current knowledge of heat, energy and thermodynamics. As discoveries were made about the nature of heat, improvements were made in the ...
Dirty Coal And Boring Science
Dirty Coal And Boring ScienceThere was a time when, through the proliferation of steam power, coal extraction in vast quantities became economically viable. Throughout the U.K. coal was burned to make steam for locomotives, factories and ships. It was the domestic fuel of choice. ...
Tevatron Higgs Searches: Past And Future
To see the future, you must know the past: these nine words nicely summarize a syllogism which knows few exceptions. Turning to known data to check the power of one's extrapolations is a quite well-founded scientific approach. So if we are to try and guesstimate how much will the CDF and DZERO ...
Galactic Survey Helps Explain Evolution Of Hubble Sequence
For the first time, a team of astronomers has completed a demographic census of galaxy types at two different points in the Universe's history — in effect, creating two Hubble sequences — that help explain how galaxies form. The survey of 116 local galaxies and 148 distant galaxies indicates ...
Global Warming Tipping Points May Arrive Without Warning!
A new study conducted by researchers from UC Davis and the John Innes Center in Norwich, England, suggests that it is harder than previously thought to predict when sudden shifts in Earth's natural systems will occur. The finding is troubling for scientists who are trying to identify the tipping ...
New Satellite Observations May Spare Haiti Another Disaster
University of Miami geologists have analyzed images based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) observations taken before and after Haiti's devastating January 12 earthquake. The images reveal surprising new details that may help the island better mitigate future earthquakes.According to the ...
Alaskan Glacial Melt Rate Overestimated, New Study Suggests
Researchers analyzing recent data from the SPOT 5 and ASTER satellites say that previous studies have largely overestimated mass loss from Alaskan glaciers over the past 40 years. Writing in a recent issue of Nature Geoscience, the team suggests that mass loss in these glaciers contributed 0.12 ...
The Price Of Arctic Ice
The Price Of Arctic IcePutting an economic value on the loss of the Arctic's climate regulating abilitiesA report by the Pew Environment Group entitled An Initial Estimate of the Cost of Lost Climate Regulation Services Due to Changes in the Arctic Cryosphere is an attempt by scientists to put ...
Warning: Eating Reptiles Could Be Hazardous To Your Health
In some places around the world, reptiles are becoming a delicacy, but researchers writing in the International Journal of Food Microbiology are expressing concern over the dangerous side effects that come from eating the animals. Experts warn that eating crocodiles, turtles, lizards or snakes ...
Earlier Springs May Throw Nature Out Of Step
A collaborative study involving scientists from 12 UK research institutions, universities and conservation organizations suggests that the trend towards earlier UK springs and summers has been accelerating. The study, published recently in Global Change Biology, is the most comprehensive and rigorous ...
Transcriptional Profiling Of Plasmodium Falciparum May Lead To Malaria Vaccine
Using transcriptional profiling, researchers at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have uncovered previously unknown gene expression patterns in malaria. The discovery could lead to the development of more potent drugs or a vaccine for malaria, which is transmitted to humans by infected ...
Sugar Molecule Plays Important Role In Cell Division
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that common but hard-to-see sugar switches play an important role in cell division. Because these previously unrecognized sugar switches are so abundant and potential targets of manipulation by drugs, the discovery of their role has implications for new ...
Broken Hearts: Not Just Fodder For Songwriters
If you feel like you have an achy breaky heart, you may not be imagining things. "Broken hearts" are indeed real, although in the medical community they go by the much less lyrical name of stress (tako-tsubo) cardiomyopathy.A recent article in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology described ...
Music, Not Xbox, May Be To Blame For Teenagers' Headaches
According to a study of 1025 13-17 year-olds, gaming, texting, or staring at the TV for hours on end are unlikely to cause headaches in adolescents, but listening to one or two hours of music every day may do the trick. The study appears this week in BMC Neurology.The researchers interviewed 489 ...
Bullet-Shaped Virus Could Help Treat Cancer
Vesicular stomatitis virus, or VSV, has shown the potential to serve as an anti-cancer agent, exercising high selectivity in killing cancer cells while sparing healthy cells, and as a potent vaccine against HIV. But in order for the necessary genetic modifications to occur, scientists must have ...
Most Smokers Quit 'Cold Turkey', Researchers Say
Despite the over-promotion of nicotine replacement therapies by drug companies and anti-tobacco activists, the most successful method used by ex-smokers is unassisted cessation, according to a new policy forum in PLoS Medicine. In the article, researchers from the School of Public Health at the ...
Women More Willing To Take Birth Control Advice From 'The OC' Than The Media
The authors of a new study published in Human Communication Research say that the media is losing some its ability to sway viewers on important social issues. Specifically, the study shows that the 'OC', a crummy drama series about teens and their turbulent lives in southern California, may be ...
How To Model A Smoking Gun
How To Model A Smoking GunConspiracy theorists just love to get hold of a piece of new information and claim that it is the 'smoking gun' that 'conclusively proves' their pet theory. The psychology behind this mode of argument is so subtle that a 'smoking gun' proponent may not just ...
Stress Sensitivity Isn't Always Bad For Children
Conventional wisdom says that children who are especially sensitive to stress are more vulnerable to adversity and have more behavior and health problems than their peers. But a new study in the journal Child Development suggests that highly sensitive children are also more likely to do well when ...
Consumers Value Expert Opinion When It Comes To Health
According to a study of how people evaluate and act on online health advice, information written by a doctor is considered more credible when it appears on a Web site than on a blog or a homepage. The findings, published in the Journal Communication Research, highlight the relative importance of ...
Are Your Kids Overweight? Just Blame It On Junk Food Commercials
If you have overweight children, don't take responsibility for what they eat--just blame their expanding waistlines on McDonald's and Hershey's for advertising their products on TV. Not only is it easier to scapegoat restaurants and food manufacturers than to take personal responsibility for your ...
Da Vinci Resume Advice
Marc Cenedella has excavated an old resume of da Vinci, the very definition of 'renaissance man' and 'genius'. At the time, da Vinci was applying to work for the Duke of Milan.Wired UK looks at his resume (Was Da Vinci the right man for the job?) and (being Wired) come to exactly the ...
Can Biotech Companies Patent Your Genes?
The trial over gene patents, Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et al., is beginning. Discover summarizes the case:When Lisbeth Ceriani, a 43-year-old Massachusetts woman, was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, her doctors recommended that she ...
Americans Aren't Worried About Climate Change...But Want To Stop It?
Researchers from Yale and George Mason Universities say that, despite a lack of concern over climate change, the American public is in favor of policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing cleaner forms of energy. The survey released today found that Americans are in favor ...
