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Released: 19-Apr-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Causes of Childhood Obesity Complex, but Families, Media Play Key Roles
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Children's genetic risks for obesity may be reduced by interventions that strengthen family communication and help children manage their emotions and feelings of satiety, according to a new review of research on the problem.

Released: 19-Apr-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Corporate Sustainability Should Be Core Strategy, Requires Paths Unique to Each Business
University of Missouri

Prior to the 1990s, there was little concept of corporate sustainability within the textile and apparel industry. However, beginning in the mid-1990s, clothing and apparel corporations began receiving pushback from consumers regarding social, environmental and economic sustainability. In an effort to qualify the process of investing in corporate sustainability, University of Missouri researchers examined two major international apparel brands, Nike and Adidas, to determine the paths taken to reach corporate sustainability. Saheli Goswami, a doctoral student in the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences, says that while both companies are currently models of corporate sustainability, they took very different paths to reach the end goal.

Released: 19-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Ocean Currents Push Phytoplankton -- and Pollution -- Around the Globe Faster Than Thought
Princeton University

The billions of single-celled marine organisms known as phytoplankton can drift from one region of the world's oceans to almost any other place on the globe in less than a decade, Princeton University researchers have found.

Released: 19-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Victorian Age Technology Can Improve Virtual Reality, Stanford-Dartmouth Study Finds
Dartmouth College

Virtual and augmented reality have the potential to profoundly impact our society, but the technologies have a few bugs to work out to better simulate realistic visual experience. Now, researchers at Dartmouth College and Stanford University have discovered that "monovision" -- a simple technique borrowed from ophthalmology that dates to the monocle of the Victorian Age - can improve user performance in virtual reality environments.

Released: 19-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
NJIT High-Resolution Images Capture a Solar Flare as It Unfolds
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)

Scientists at NJIT's Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) have captured unprecedented images of a recent solar flare, including bright flare ribbons seen crossing a sunspot followed by "coronal rain," plasma that condenses in the cooling phase shortly after the flare, showering the visible surface of the Sun where it lands in brilliant explosions.

Released: 18-Apr-2016 10:05 AM EDT
Singapore’s Wild Bird Trade Raises Troubling Questions About African Grey Parrots
Wildlife Conservation Society

A new study from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and TRAFFIC underlines Singapore's role as a leading transit hub for birds from Africa and Europe to East Asia and the Middle East, and highlights serious discrepancies in the way this trade has been recorded over a decade.

Released: 18-Apr-2016 9:05 AM EDT
Researchers Can Identify You by Your Brain Waves with 100% Accuracy
Binghamton University, State University of New York

A team of researchers at Binghamton University, led by Assistant Professor of Psychology Sarah Laszlo and Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Zhanpeng Jin, recorded the brain activity of 50 people wearing an electroencephalogram headset while they looked at a series of 500 images designed specifically to elicit unique responses from person to person — e.g., a slice of pizza, a boat, Anne Hathaway, the word “conundrum.” They found that participants’ brains reacted differently to each image, enough that a computer system was able to identify each volunteer’s “brainprint” with 100 percent accuracy.

Released: 18-Apr-2016 8:05 AM EDT
Florida Citrus Growers: 80 Percent of Trees Infected by Greening
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

“Even though the industry acknowledges that greening has reached epidemic proportions across the state, estimates of the level of infection and its impact on citrus operations are scarce,” the researchers wrote in the paper.

13-Apr-2016 10:00 AM EDT
Most U.S. Adults Say Today's Children Have Worse Health Than in Past Generations
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

More than half of adults believe children today are more stressed, experience less quality family time and have worse mental and emotional health.

15-Apr-2016 12:00 PM EDT
Derailed Train of Thought? Brain’s Stopping System May Be at Fault
University of California San Diego

Study suggests same neural mechanism that interrupts body movement also interrupts cognition. Findings may give insights into Parkinson's: The system “over-stopping” motor activity might also be keeping patients over-focused. More speculatively, the findings may give insights into conditions characterized by distractibility, such as ADHD.

   
Released: 16-Apr-2016 6:05 PM EDT
Mexico’s First Real Attempt to Legalize Cannabis
O'Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law

In this opinion piece, Fernanda Alonso, an Associate at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, discusses Mexico’s marijuana policy changes.

Released: 15-Apr-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Immune Cells Help the Brain to Self-Heal After a Stroke
Lund University

After a stroke, there is inflammation in the damaged part of the brain. Until now, the inflammation has been seen as a negative consequence that needs to be abolished as soon as possible. But, as it turns out, there are also some positive sides to the inflammation, and it can actually help the brain to self-repair.

Released: 15-Apr-2016 2:05 PM EDT
A Shot in the Dark: New Surveillance Tool Called ShotSpotter Tracks and Records Incidents of Gunfire
University of Virginia

When gunfire is heard and unreported, what does it reveal about the state of crime in America? The University of Virginia’s Jennifer Doleac is determined to find out. An assistant professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, she has been using data from new surveillance technology to research the disparity between the number of recorded gunshot sounds and the number of reported incidents of gun violence.

Released: 15-Apr-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Physicists Build Engine Consisting of One Atom
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

An article in the latest edition of the journal Science describes an innovative form of heat engine that operates using only one single atom. The engine is the result of experiments undertaken by the QUANTUM work group at the Institute of Physics of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in collaboration with theoretical physicists of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).

Released: 15-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Multiple Paternity May Offer Fewer Advantages Than Previously Thought
University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna

Promiscuity is common among females in the animal kingdom. Mating with multiple males can increase genetic diversity and enhance the survival of the offspring. When given a choice, female house mice mate with multiple males. "The females select their partner on the basis of their scent markings. These chemical signals provide a surprising amount of information about possible partners, including their health and disease resistance," explains Kerstin Thonhauser of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology at Vetmeduni Vienna.

   
Released: 15-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Self-Understanding Helps Criminal Substance Abusers
Aarhus University

Impulsiveness, crime and problems with social interaction. Many substance abusers also struggle with antisocial personality disorders, which makes it difficult for them to complete a drug or alcohol treatment programme. New research from the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research at Aarhus BSS reveals that just six additional counselling sessions may lower the drop-out rate and increase the outcome of the treatment programme.

   
Released: 15-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
The City of Angels and Flies: 12 Unknown Scuttle Fly Species Have Been Flying Around L.A.
Pensoft Publishers

Although the second-largest and rather concrete metropolis in the United States might not be anywhere near one's immediate association for a biodiversity hotspot, the fly fauna of Los Angeles is quite impressive. As part of BioSCAN, a project devoted to exploring the insect diversity in and around the city, a team of three entomologists report on their latest discovery - twelve new scuttle fly species. Their study is published in the open access Biodiversity Data Journal.

Released: 15-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Allergen Immunotherapy Found to Pose No Risk of Infection
Massachusetts General Hospital

Mass. General study confirms the safety of allergy shots, calls into question proposed changes in preparation standards.

Released: 15-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Fossil Fuels Could Be Phased Out Worldwide in a Decade, Says New Study
University of Sussex

The worldwide reliance on burning fossil fuels to create energy could be phased out in a decade, according to an article published by a major energy think tank in the UK.

Released: 15-Apr-2016 12:05 PM EDT
First-Ever Videos Show How Heat Moves Through Materials at the Nanoscale and Speed of Sound
University of Minnesota

Using a state-of-the-art ultrafast electron microscope, University of Minnesota researchers have recorded the first-ever videos showing how heat moves through materials at the nanoscale traveling at the speed of sound.

Released: 15-Apr-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Clear-Cutting Destabilizes Carbon in Forest Soils, Dartmouth Study Finds
Dartmouth College

Clear-cutting loosens up carbon stored in forest soils, increasing the chances it will return to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change, a Dartmouth College study shows.

15-Apr-2016 10:00 AM EDT
UCLA Scientists Unravel the Genetic Evolution of Zika Virus
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences

A new UCLA study suggests that the virus possesses the ability to mutate rapidly, allowing the current outbreak to spread swiftly around the world.

14-Apr-2016 10:00 AM EDT
WiFi Capacity Doubled at Less than Half the Size
Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science

Columbia Engineering Professor Harish Krishnaswamy has integrated a non-reciprocal circulator and a full-duplex radio on a nanoscale silicon chip for the first time. This breakthrough technology needs only one antenna, thus enabling an even smaller overall system than one he developed last year: “This technology could revolutionize the field of telecommunications,” he says. (Nature Communications 4/15/16)

8-Apr-2016 9:00 AM EDT
Commonly Used Reflux and Ulcer Medication May Cause Serious Kidney Damage
American Society of Nephrology (ASN)

• Patients who took proton pump inhibitors for heartburn, acid reflux, or ulcers had an increased risk of kidney function decline, chronic kidney disease, and kidney failure. • The longer patients took the drugs, the greater their risk.

Released: 14-Apr-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Chemical Tracers Reveal Oxygen-Dependent Switch in Cellular Pathway to Fat
Princeton University

Using tracer compounds, scientists have been able to track the cellular production of NADPH, a key coenzyme for making fat, through a pathway that has never been measured directly before.

Released: 14-Apr-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Nanotubes Assemble! Rice Introduces ‘Teslaphoresis’
Rice University

Scientists at Rice University have discovered that the strong force field emitted by a Tesla coil causes carbon nanotubes to self-assemble into long wires, a phenomenon they call “Teslaphoresis.”

Released: 14-Apr-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Midnight Blue: A New System for Color Vision
California Institute of Technology

The swirling skies of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night illustrate a mystery that has eluded biologists for more than a century—why do we perceive the color blue in the dimly lit night sky? A newly discovered mechanism of color vision in mice might help answer this question, Caltech researchers say. - See more at: http://www.caltech.edu/news/midnight-blue-new-system-color-vision-50480#sthash.LZOgpxTk.dpuf

Released: 14-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Europa's Heaving Ice Might Make More Heat Than Scientists Thought
Brown University

Jupiter's moon Europa is under a constant gravitational assault. As it orbits, Europa's icy surface heaves and falls with the pull of Jupiter's gravity, creating enough heat, scientists think, to support a global ocean beneath the moon's solid shell.

Released: 14-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Vladimir Is Thrilled by the Sungarian Man
Lomonosov Moscow State University

Archaeologists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University studied the objects made of bone, antler and ivory, that were found at the Sungir archaeological site. They managed to learn how the Homo sapiens processed solid organic materials and produced tools and ornamentals. The work was published in a specialized digest Hugo Obermaier Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age.

Released: 14-Apr-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Antihistamines Affect Exercise Recovery, May or May Not Be a Problem
University of Oregon

After vigorous exercise, some 3,000 genes go to work to aid recovery by boosting muscles and blood vessels, but in the presence of high doses of antihistamines almost 27 percent of the gene response is blunted, according to University of Oregon researchers.

Released: 14-Apr-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Dino Dinner, Dead or Alive
Trinity College Dublin

When asked to think of meat-eating dinosaurs we usually conjure images of voracious predators chasing down helpless prey. These visions are no doubt inspired by the depiction of species such as Tyrannosaurs rex and Velociraptor in the movie Jurassic Park; however, new research conducted at Trinity College Dublin suggests that many of these species might be better remembered as oversized, scaly or feathered hyenas.

Released: 14-Apr-2016 8:05 AM EDT
Electrical Brain Stimulation Enhances Creativity, Researchers Say
Georgetown University Medical Center

Safe levels of electrical stimulation can enhance your capacity to think more creatively, according to a new study by Georgetown researchers.

12-Apr-2016 11:05 AM EDT
Income Tax Preparation Chains Target Low-Income Workers
 Johns Hopkins University

National tax preparation chains continue to exploit the working poor, many of whom spend a significant portion of a key federal anti-poverty tax credit just to pay for filing their taxes, a new study concludes.

   
11-Apr-2016 11:05 AM EDT
The Red Queen Rules
University of Iowa

What does the Red Queen in “Alice in Wonderland” have to do with biology? “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” Sexual reproduction protects species by continuously shuffling their genes. A UI-led team bolstered the theory by studying snails’ resilience to parasitic worms.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Probing the Transforming World of Neutrinos
California Institute of Technology

Every second, trillions of neutrinos travel through your body unnoticed. Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe, but they are difficult to study because they very rarely interact with matter. To find traces of these elusive particles, researchers from Caltech have collaborated with 39 other institutions to build a 14,000-ton detector the size of two basketball courts called NuMI Off-Axis Electron Neutrino Appearance, or NOvA. The experiment, located in northern Minnesota, began full operation in November 2014 and published its first results in Physical Review Letters this month.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Close Encounters Don't Tell Whole Story of Hunted Species in Amazon Ecosystems
Virginia Tech

Evidence of wildlife passage, such as tracks, scat, fur, and disturbed surroundings, is a more accurate tool for assessing wildlife conservation status than actual encounters with animals, according to an international team of scientists from six universities, including Virginia Tech.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Are Humans the New Supercomputer?
Aarhus University

Today, people of all backgrounds can contribute to solving serious scientific problems by playing computer games. A Danish research group has extended the limits of quantum physics calculations and simultaneously blurred the boundaries between man and mac.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 3:05 PM EDT
In Wide Range of Species, Longevity Proteins Affect Dozens of the Same Genes
Brown University

Whether a creature is a worm, a fly, a mouse, or a human, death inevitably awaits. And not only do these organisms share a common fate, but also, according to a new study, they may share some of the specific mechanisms of mortality. The researchers found that in all four species, there are 46 genes regulated by the same family of "FOXO" proteins known to be central in aging and longevity.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 3:05 PM EDT
Fresh Look at Trope About Eskimo Words for Snow
University of California, Berkeley

That old trope about there being at least 50 Eskimo words for snow has a new twist. Researchers at UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University have taken a fresh look at words for snow, taking on an urban legend referred to by some as "the great Eskimo vocabulary hoax."

Released: 13-Apr-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Rising CO2 Levels Reduce Protein in Crucial Pollen Source for Bees
Purdue University

Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have reduced protein in goldenrod pollen, a key late-season food source for North American bees, a Purdue University study shows.

11-Apr-2016 7:00 AM EDT
Sexist Video Games Decrease Empathy for Female Violence Victims
Ohio State University

Young male gamers who strongly identify with male characters in sexist, violent video games show less empathy than others toward female violence victims, a new study found.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Why Bearcats Smell Like Buttered Popcorn
Duke University

Researchers pinpoint chemical compound that gives rare animal its popcorn-like scent.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Gene Variant Explains Racial Disparities in Adverse Reactions to Urate-Lowering Drug
Massachusetts General Hospital

A multi-institutional study led by a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigator finds significant racial disparities in the risk that patients being treated for gout will develop a serious, sometimes life-threatening adverse reaction to the most commonly prescribed medication.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Exposure to American Indian Mascots Activates Stereotypes
University of Montana

Ethnic brand imagery, including American Indian mascots, can strengthen stereotypes, causing detrimental societal consequences, according to a newly published study conducted by a University of Montana researcher.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Study Discovers Link Between Cancer and Autism
University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics

A group of University of Iowa researchers has shown that although patients who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a higher burden of mutations in cancer-promoting oncogenes, they actually have lower rates of cancer.

12-Apr-2016 11:05 AM EDT
Elusive State of Superconducting Matter Discovered after 50 Years
Brookhaven National Laboratory

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cornell University, and collaborators have produced the first direct evidence of a state of electronic matter first predicted by theorists in 1964 -- a "Cooper pair density wave." The discovery, described in a paper published online April 13, 2016, in Nature, may provide key insights into the workings of high-temperature superconductors.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Study Links Gang Membership and Depression
Michigan State University

Kids who decide to join gangs are more likely to be depressed and suicidal - and these mental health problems only worsen after joining, finds a new study co-authored by a Michigan State University criminologist.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 8:05 AM EDT
University Establishes Service Center to Make, Sell Proteins and Reagents
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

The University of Arkansas has established a commercial venture that will allow two scientists to commercialize research materials developed in their laboratories.

11-Apr-2016 10:00 AM EDT
Harvard Scientists Report on Novel Method for Extending the Life of Implantable Devices in situ
Beth Israel Lahey Health

In a paper published in the April 13 issue of Nature Communications, investigators from Harvard report on a novel biochemical method that enables the rapid and repeated regeneration of selected molecular constituents in situ after device implantation, which has the potential to substantially extend the lifetime of bioactive films without the need for device removal.

Released: 13-Apr-2016 12:05 AM EDT
Maple Syrup Protects Neurons and Nurtures Young Minds
Universite de Montreal

Maple syrup protects neurons and prevents the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in C. elegans worms, according to a study by college students, now students at the university level, and published today in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Supervised by PhD student Martine Therrien and by researcher Alex Parker, Catherine Aaron and Gabrielle Beaudry added maple syrup to the diet of these barely 1 mm-long nematodes.

   


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