New scientific evidence is helping to build a compelling case for oncolytic viruses as a first-line and adjunctive treatment for many cancers. Recent studies indicate that reviruses works synergistically with standard anti-cancer drugs, providing significantly stronger responses than either agent alone.
The brightest stellar explosion ever recorded may be a long-sought new type of supernova, according to observations by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based optical telescopes. This discovery indicates that violent explosions of extremely massive stars were relatively common in the early universe, and that a similar explosion may be ready to go off in our own Galaxy.
Even though millions of Americans suffer from bone loss due to osteoporosis, it still remains a widely misunderstood disease. To help separate fact from fiction, a U-M endocrinologist offers information about osteoporosis, as well as diagnosis, prevention and treatment options available for the disease.
Would you know what to do if you came into contact with poison ivy? To take the "itch" out of summer for both kids and adults, a U-M expert offers tips to help treat poison ivy, and advice on how to avoid contact with the three leaves of this poison plant.
For the better part of three decades, Sherrie Kossoudji has endeavored each day to manage the inflammation, chronic pain, tight joints and other types of physical strife caused by rheumatoid arthritis. Now 53, Kossoudji is trying to sort out what is a normal part of aging, and what is a facet of RA.
Stroke is the third largest cause of death and the top cause of disability. Still, studies have shown that Americans don't know enough about why strokes happen or how to prevent strokes from happening. So, the U-M Stroke Program is offering a test that can check anyone's stroke IQ.
Smoking, drug abuse and obesity are the nation's top three health concerns for kids, according to a recent poll conducted by the U-M C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. Internet safety and school violence also rank among the top 10 overall health concerns for children.
U.S. House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, D-Md., will speak to University of Maryland graduates at the spring commencement on May 20. Hoyer, a Maryland alum, is the highest-ranking member of Congress to ever serve the state.
When Hoyer was elected by his colleagues to the number two leadership spot in the House late last year, it captured the imagination of the graduating class, according to senior psychology major Jesse Fox, who chaired the senior council's commencement speaker selection committee.
"Right after they declared he was going to be House Majority Leader, he moved right to the top of our list," Fox told the university student newspaper, the Diamondback.
At the University of New Hampshire, students twist and flip in the air, taking advantage of the university's nationally recognized aerial dance program and a style of dance that has been popularized around the world by Cirque du Soleil. UNH's Theatre and Dance Department is known as the premier public university where students can learn aerial dance.
In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the launch and deployment of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers is releasing one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble's cameras. It is a 50-light-year-wide view of the central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth - and death - is taking place.
Bottlenose dolphins off the southern coast of Spain will now benefit from shipping lane shift recommended by Earthwatch scientists Ana Canadas and Ricardo Sagarminaga van Buiten. When passing through the Alboran Sea, merchant ships and fisherman will now be required to travel 20 miles further south, reducing acoustic and water pollution.
New results from the U-M C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health suggests that the demand for retail clinic care for children will continue to rise steadily. In fact, among parents who had previously taken their child to a retail clinic for care, more than 70 percent planned to return.
A new technology has been developed that could help prevent gun tragedies, especially when a gun is used by someone other than the gun's licensed owner.
The University of Maryland's annual open house - Maryland Day - is set for April 28 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. This year, the university is honoring the international diversity of its student body. A "Global Village" in Hornbake Plaza on campus will offer international cooking demonstrations and performances. Events and parking are free.
Concern over terrorism has further increased Americans' support for firearm regulation according to a report from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. When asked if gun control laws should be stricter in the wake of the 9.11 attacks, 76.5 percent of Americans surveyed said yes.
A Florida State University anthropologist from Tallahassee, Fla., has new evidence that ancient farmers in Mexico were cultivating an early form of maize, the forerunner of modern corn, about 7,300 years ago - 1,200 years earlier than scholars previously thought.
University of Chicago scientists will demonstrate how to incinerate a white dwarf star in unprecedented detail at the "Paths to Exploding Stars" conference on Thursday, March 22, in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Astronomers have woven NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of Saturn, its rings, and several of its moons into three movies. Each movie highlights unique times in the planet's 30-year waltz around the Sun.
To help dialysis patients improve their strength and mobility, the University of Virginia Health System has developed its Sit Fit program. One of only a few programs of its kind in the country, Sit Fit enables patients to exercise during their dialysis treatment.
Earthwatch-supported scientist Dr. Luke Dollar (Pfeiffer University) receives a National Geographic Emerging Explorer award in recognition of his far-reaching research in Madagascar. Dollar's work with unique predators at remote sites is supported by volunteers willing to go the extra mile for conservation.
Several hundred images taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have been woven together into a rich tapestry of at least 50,000 galaxies. The Hubble view is yielding new clues about the universe's youth, from its "pre-teen" years to young adulthood.
Twenty years ago, astronomers witnessed one of the brightest stellar explosions in more than 400 years. The titanic supernova, called SN 1987A, blazed with the power of 100 million suns for several months following its discovery on Feb. 23, 1987.
People in Kenya's semiarid Samburu region face growing water shortages, water quality issues, and conflicts between livestock and wildlife over water. Scientists and volunteers at Earthwatch's Samburu Field Center have developed a GIS resource to help the Samburu community cope with water issues and avert public health crises.
Pigeons and humans use similar visual cues to identify objects, a finding that could have promising implications in the development of novel technologies, according to new research conducted by a University of New Hampshire professor.
A new look at the famous "Pillars of Creation" with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has allowed astronomers to peer inside the dark columns of gas and dust. This penetrating view of the central region of the Eagle Nebula reveals how much star formation is happening inside these iconic structures.
America has a taste for chocolate, but at what environmental and social cost to tropical countries where cacao is grown? Earthwatch volunteers working in the forests of Belize this summer will investigate how cacao farming can rescue the environment and economy of this tropical paradise.
Radio was the Plasma TV of its day in the 1920s and 30s. Everyone wanted one but few could afford them to start - until market forces stepped in to make them cheaper, and easier to use. The programming was definitely homebrew to start but was taken over by national networks and well-known entertainers. An exhibit by the University of Maryland's Library of American Broadcasting looks at "When Radio Entered the Home."
The first organic female calf was born Dec. 12, 2006 at the nation's first university organic research dairy farm. The calf will be named by the highest bidder on an auction on eBay, with proceeds from the auction funding the UNH organic dairy project.
A team of teenage volunteers will explore the changing ecology of coral reefs in the Bahamas this summer, part of an Earthwatch-supported research project led by John Rollino of Earth Tech. Inc. This vital research on coral decline is featured in A Year on Earth, a new TV documentary about teens making a difference by participating in scientific research, to air on Animal Planet, Earth Day, April 22, at 6:00 p.m.. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
Earthwatch teams working with Dr. Charles Higham of University of Otago are unearthing surprises about the indigenous origins of Southeast Asia's most illustrious empire. Excavations in Thailand are featured in the TV documentary, A Year On Earth, on Discovery Kids Channel December 3 and 10.
Researchers have developed an innovative new technology that will help pediatric cardiac surgeons design and test a customized surgical procedure before they ever pick up a scalpel. With a better understanding of each child's unique heart defect, surgeons could greatly improve the likelihood that children with complex defects requiring multiple surgeries over a period of several years could have smoother recoveries and an improved quality of life after their operations.
Rising temperatures may disrupt gender balance among reptile populations, says Earthwatch-supported crocodile researcher Dr. Alison Leslie of University of Stellenbosch. Her comments came during the filming of A Year on Earth, premiering this week on Discovery Kids Channel.
Who doesn't love a world's fair? Now, thanks to a five year effort at the University of Maryland, researchers and world's fair afficianados can go online to see photos and other parts of the Architecture Library's "Treasury of World's Fair Art and Architecture." It's just one of many new digital collections the university has been hard at work on.
For the first time, Lake Oloidien has attracted thousands of lesser flamingos, a near-threatened species hard hit by recent die-offs. Earthwatch-supported scientist Dr. David Harper (University of Leicester) and colleagues, who have been researching the lake ecology of Kenya's Rift Valley for almost two decades, are investigating the die-offs at nearby lake Bogoria. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
A new guideline developed by the American Academy of Neurology and the Child Neurology Society aims to help physicians diagnose the causes of status epilepticus, a state of continuous seizures, in children, many of whom have epilepsy. The guideline is published in the November 14, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study, published in the latest issue of the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, used three-dimensional imaging and morphing software to remove wrinkles and furrows from pictures of women, leaving skin tone as the only variable. Researchers were then able to determine exactly what impact facial skin tone has on how young, healthy and attractive people perceive the women to be.
Researchers found very few grey whales in their traditional feeding grounds in the North Pacific last summer. Earthwatch volunteers will help Bath University's Dr. William Megill investigate unusual feeding behavior exhibited by grey whales off Baja California, Mexico, this winter.
Central Michigan University is doing psychological research with support from General Motors into driving distractions. The goal of the research is to help design dashboards and other technical devices in cars that won't require drivers to become distracted from the road. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
Researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry are pulling nanocrystals of cellulose out of natural materials and developing ways to use them to strengthen plastics. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
After all these years, mom was right. She knew broccoli was good for you, she just didn't know it was this good. Two UVa pathologists have received a $1.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study how specific nutrients in healthy vegetables like broccoli work to prevent cancer.
From pre-harvest to post-harvest phases of food production and processing, researchers at Oklahoma State University are working to reduce potential contamination of foods by E. coli and other common food-borne pathogens.
A gigantic sonic boom generated by a supermassive black hole has been found with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, along with evidence for a cacophony of deep sound. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
Is the University of Maryland haunted? It's a question we try to answer as Halloween approaches. Come visit some of the scariest places on campus, and learn a little bit more about the history of the university as it celebrates its 150th anniversary. (AUDIO EMBEDDED)
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered 16 extrasolar planet candidates orbiting a variety of distant stars in the central region of our Milky Way galaxy. The planet bonanza was uncovered during a Hubble survey, called the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS). Hubble looked farther than has ever successfully been searched for extrasolar planets. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
A severe storm that occurred in the Gulf of Alaska in October 2005 generated an ocean swell that six days later broke apart a giant iceberg floating near the coast of Antarctica, more than 8,300 miles away. (AUDIO EMBEDDED)
Powerful chemotherapy drugs and estrogen-blocking hormone treatments are highly effective in treating breast cancer. But in the process they may be putting women at risk of another disease: osteoporosis.
Eating just one salad a day provides even greater health benefits than previously thought, according to a study that examined salad consumption by more than 17,000 adults. The study, conducted by the UCLA School of Public Health and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, supported by The Association for Dressings & Sauces, revealed that those who eat salads and raw vegetables with salad dressing have considerably higher levels of vitamins C, E, B6, and folic acid. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
Chris Sherwood, a research scientist in the Center for Applied Biomechanics at the University of Virginia, is studying various child safety restraints (child car seats) and working to identify the factors that affect injury rates of children involved in car crashes. Preliminary findings show that leaving children in rear-facing seats until the age of 4 could lower injury rates by more than 50 percent. (VIDEO EMBEDDED)
Science enthusiasts of all ages will enjoy the featured presentations that are part of Argonne National Laboratory's upcoming open house on Saturday, October 7. Demonstrations across Argonne's 1,500-acre site will include a discussion "“ with live piano examples "“ of "The Physics of the Blues". (VIDEO EMBEDDED)