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A $1.8 million federal research grant to develop sensors which can detect chemical and biological warfare agents in the environment has received final authorization at the University of Maine. The grant from the Office of Naval Research will support activities at UMaine and two private firms, Sensor Research and Development Corporation (SRD) in Orono and BIODE, Inc. in Hermon and Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Researchers will develop prototypes for portable sensors capable of detecting toxic agents and distinguishing these agents from other chemicals such as smoke and airplane fuel vapors.

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For today's entrepreneur, electronic commerce may well be a deciding factor in the company's future.

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After thorough deliberation, the judges in the final round of the NASDAQ-SDSU International Student Business Plan Competition chose the team from the University of Georgia as the $10,000 Grand Prize winner.

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Columbia, Mo. -- For the first time ever, American researchers, scientists and private companies will have a chance to look into the world of Russian research, which has been closed to the Western world until this year, through a University of Missouri-Columbia satellite series featuring 12 top Russian scientists.

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In a new book, an anthropologist has found that shamans on all five continents talk of a cosmic serpent, a very long single and double entity that is the key to life. They also report seeing twins, twisted ladders and sky ropes in their visions. Many say that this form shows them that the life principle is the same for all species.

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Forecast: Unpredictable. Is the academic climate at many U.S. engineering schools discouraging women as well as minorities from pursuing careers in the field?

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Domestic violence reports to police did not increase following a 1994 California mandatory domestic violence reporting law, according to the April issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine. The journal also presents new studies on domestic violence screening, how alcohol abuse history is a strong predictor for acute injury from domestic violence, and the success of a program that increased organ donation referrals by 100 percent.

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The statistics are harrowing: 6,500 young adults between the ages of 16 and 20 die annually in the United States -- aproximately 18 per day -- as a result of motor vehicle accidents, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. A collaboration between the University of Massachusetts and the American Automobile Association is aimed at giving young drivers the experience needed to drive safely -- without actually putting them on the road.

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University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have found that a new treatment alternative for people suffering from severe asthma attacks is more effective and much less costly than traditional hospital inpatient care. Researchers estimate that the alternative treatment, known as an emergency department observation unit, costs $1,202 per patient compared with $2,247 per patient for inpatient care -- a drop of 47 percent.

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"Blood In The Arena, The Spectacle of Roman Power," a new book by University of Arizona Professor of Hisotry, Alison Futrell, examines images of power in the Roman Empire. She looks at how these images were manipulated for political purposes and how this legacy affected modern conceptualization of power.

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The tiny worm that has become a darling of developmental biologists has revealed a biological function for a mysterious protein that may play a role in the growth of tumors. In the cover article of the April 1 Genes and Development, Yang Shi, HMS associate professor of pathology, reports that the worm's version of the human protein p300 helps cells in the early embryo decide what kind of tissue to become. Shi found that p300 also is critical for determining the number of cells formed in the embryo. His finding validates earlier cell culture experiments on how viral cancer-causing proteins subvert a cell's growth.

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A small, gentle shorebird, hunted nearly to extinction earlier this century as an adornment for women's hats, is perched on the brink again. A new study by University of Georgia wildlife researchers has found that nearly all of Georgia's surviving least tern pairs are nesting on some type of artificial site.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Accountants who can write? ... In proper, readable English? Some would say that's as likely as having the Internal Revenue Service offer refunds for poor customer service. But turning out future accountants with communications skills that are as well developed as their bookkeeping prowess is an increasingly important goal of the Department of Accounting at the University of Iowa College of Business Administration.

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DALLAS, April 3 -- Women and certain other groups of patients who undergo carotid endarterectomy -- a common procedure used to clear blockages in the blood vessels to the brain -- may have a higher risk for death or stroke following the surgery, according to a study in this month's Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

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DALLAS, April 3 -- Stroke survivors have the potential to live independent lives into their 80s and 90s just as well as people of the same age and sex who have not had a stroke, according to a study in this month's Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

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Cornell Law professor Fred McChesney exposes a political phenomenon that pays congressmen for legislative inactivity in his new book, "Money for Nothing: Politicians, Rent Extraction, and Political Extortion"

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New research shows mounting evidence that some people are "destined" to become smokers because they are inherently more sensitive to the effects of nicotine than people who are not tempted to smoke again. These findings suggest how one in three kids who sample a cigarette will become lifetime tobacco customers.

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A study published today in the March issue of the journal Neurology provides more evidence that the medication Copaxone, the only non-interferon treatment for multiple sclerosis, reduces the number of relapses and slows the progression of disability. The study is a one-year extension of research at 11 medical centers in the United States.

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She wasn't faster than a speeding bullet, but new research seems to indicate that Lucy and other early human ancestors walked with greater ease and efficiency than previously believed, despite their short leg, says a University of Washington anthropologist.

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A unique molecular defect in an unusual blood disorder first identified and described at Johns Hopkins by the late Sir William Osler almost a century ago has now been discovered by a team of his professional descendants.

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With continued unrest threatening to boil over in corners of the former Yugoslavia, a professor at a small New Hampshire college is working to plant seeds for peace and stability there. Douglas Challenger, professor of sociology at Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, N.H., is helping educators in the former Yugoslavia learn how to promote concepts of democracy in the classroom.

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Molecular biologists from Texas A&M's Institute of Biosciences and Technology and from Duke University may have found a genetic switch in prostate cancer cells that can change a quiet tumor into an invasive, deadly cancer that spreads throughout the body.

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A year ago, the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota was ravaged by one of the most destructive floods in United States history.

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The American College of Physicians (ACP) today published the fourth edition of its Ethics Manual. The ACP Ethics Manual appears in the April 1, 1998, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, published by ACP.

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1) Ticlopidine linked with rare blood disease, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). 2) Internal medicine experts explore the physician-assisted suicide debate. 3) Annals editor concludes two-part series on medicine and commerce. 4) ACP issues fourth edition of ethics manual. (see separate release)

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Ultrasound waves may be as effective as magnetic resonance imaging at detecting small blood vessel blockage after a heart attack, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins.

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DALLAS --Like the flashing yellow sign on a road under construction, glowing molecular markers might help computer-chip makers avoid 'potholes' on super-flat blueprinting materials, a University of Delaware researcher reported today during the American Chemical Society meeting.

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Say "glass" and most people think of window panes. But, under the right conditions, metal can also form glass, and it can have very useful properties for products from transformers to golf clubs. A Johns Hopkins engineer is working on new metallic glasses with superior strength, elasticity and magnetic properties.

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DALLAS--The properties of materials synthesized by strongly bonding together segments of different "homopolymers"--long-chain plastics composed of a single repeating chemical unit--are significantly better than would be predicted, a University of Delaware researcher reported March 31 during the American Chemical Society meeting.

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Patients with mutant p53 become resistant to treatment. In fact, the proliferating cells can develop other mutations and become more and more resistant. Sayed Daoud's approach is to focus on the p53 gene itself by using a combination of drugs, one to attack the tumor itself and one to inhibit the effect of the mutated p53. When the effect of the mutated p53 is inhibited, the cell usually will, as Daoud puts it, "crash and die."

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Laboratory mice which have been genetically altered to produce human growth hormone grow to be 25-30 percent larger than normal mice---with much of that size difference coming from bigger bones, according to researchers.

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New images of the inner coma, or gassy head, of Comet Hyakutake are now available. The computer-generated color pictures were taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in April 1996, during observations made using Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, as part of a study of water photochemistry in comets.

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Until laboratory tests identify sources of a bacterial disease killing songbirds in the East and Midwest, Cornell University scientists say people who feed birds should not blame themselves for the recent outbreak of salmonellosis in redpolls and other flocking species.

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5,000 doctors of internal medicine (internists) will attend the American College of Physicians' (ACP) 1998 Annual Session, the nation's largest gathering of adult health specialists. Faculty are internal medicine's best and brightest. Full complement of experts in end of life care.

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Cornell art history expert Robert G. Calkins' book covers Medieval architecture using text, photographs and a CD-ROM.

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A Dartmouth physicist who has taken a molecular approach to the problem of icing has discovered that applying a small electric voltage across an ice-metal interface can break the bond between ice and metal surfaces.

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Drawing examples from popular culture to explain clinical disorders, two Vanderbilt researchers are using anecdotes from Star Trek movies and episodes to explain the neurological and psychological bases of emotions, perception, aggression, memory and sex.

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Findings of a multi-year heart transplantation study indicate that the heart donor pool can be expanded through the use of undersized hearts. The donor pool for heart transplants could be increased by at least 25%. The use of undersized donor hearts can help to alleviate a shortage of donor organs and save lives.

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Ticlopidine, a drug that acts like aspirin and is widely used to prevent stroke as well as blood clot formation following placement of cardiac stents, can cause thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, a rare but potentially deadly circulatory disease.

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People who have suffered paralyzing injuries sometimes can regain limited control of their muscles, thanks to electrical stimulation techniques now under development, but pulse patterns should be varied to help patients stay strong longer, University of Delaware researchers report in the new Journal of Neurophysiology.

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At the annual American Association of Cancer Research meeting in New Orleans, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute researchers are presenting exciting evidence from animal models that blocking two cellular growth pathways causes tumor cells to die.

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Certain mothers who smoke while pregnant are at high risk of passing along genetic damage to their babies, according to study results presented by University of Pittsburgh scientists on Tuesday, March 31, at the annual American Association for Cancer Research meeting in New Orleans.

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University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute researchers are reporting at the annual American Association for Cancer Research meeting in New Orleans that they have found the first specific marker that distinguishes tissues from individuals with bladder cancer from those without disease and that can be easily isolated from urine.

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The first fundamental breakthrough in diagnostic ultrasound in more than a decade was introduced today at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta. The Model 1, real-time volumetric ultrasound imaging system, developed by Volumetrics Medical Imaging, Inc. of Durham, N.C., provides instantaneous, quantifiable ultrasound scans of a whole organ, rather than a single slice.

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For the five million Americans who suffer from congestive heart failure, a new study shows that patients taking high doses of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor Zwstril (lisinopril) may live longer and be hospitalized less often than those on low dose therapy. The results were announced today at the 47th Annual American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Session.

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Do antioxidant vitamins protect healthy people from free-radical damage? Can some diseases be slowed or reversed with antioxidants? Perhaps surprisingly, no measurement technique has existed to easily and directly assess the corrosive effects in individuals of these highly reactive types of oxygen. Now, scientists have developed such a test.

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UC Irvine researchers have found a way to introduce foreign genes into mosquito chromosomes, a technique with the potential to transform future generations of the insects so they can no longer carry deadly diseases such as malaria. The researchers report their work in the March 31 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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What if a common, naturally occurring substance could shrink tumors, stop their growth, even make cancer cells normal again? A University of Maryland researcher is finding that it can.

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DALLAS, March 31 -- A gene therapy approach to circumvent leg blood vessels obstructed by atherosclerosis that was reported last fall at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions has been successfully extended to a larger group of patients.

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Two separate pathways are now associated with the growth of human tumors. The Src-STAT-3 pathway plays a critical role in the proliferation of human breast, prostate, ovarian and lung cancer cells. This discovery will offer researchers a target for the development of new diagnostic tests and anti-cancer agents.