science wire

Huts, artifacts in Jordanian excavation offer new perspectives on life 20,000 years ago
Excavation underway at Kharaneh IV site in eastern Jordan reveals 20,000-year-old huts and artifacts shedding new light on hunter-gatherers' lives. (Photo © by Lisa A. Maher) A  joint team of American, British, Danish and Jordanian archaeologists working in eastern Jordan has announced its discovery of 20,000-year-old hut structures, the earliest yet found in that country.

Desert footprints reveal ancient origins of elephants’ social lives
A cluster of ancient footprints in the Arabian desert offers the clearest evidence yet for the early origins of modern elephants' social structure, according to a Yale-led research team. Roughly seven million years old, the prints represent the movements of at least 14 prehistoric elephants through the inland desert of the Arab Emirate of Abu Dhabi, anthropologists report in a paper published on Feb.

Less prison, better prevention of crime
Spending money on crime prevention might prove a wiser investment than building more prisons, writes Australian Research Council Federation Fellow JOHN BRAITHWAITE. Between 1910 and 1990 Australia had an imprisonment rate at approximately half what it is today. Punitive thinking led to the tragedy of massive public investment in prison building in an era when the evidence suggested this was not an effective way of reducing crime.

ISS fellowships free some of Cornell’s top social scientists to pursue research
The Institute for the Social Sciences (ISS) at Cornell will sponsor 12 of the university's most promising social scientists for one semester, enabling them to pursue their research, free from teaching and most departmental duties.

University of Chicago Medicine, CeaseFire partner to address violence
In an effort to address urban violence on the South Side, the University of Chicago Medicine is partnering with CeaseFire Chicago to sponsor a “Violence Interrupter,” who will focus on monitoring, mediating and defusing disputes in neighborhoods that the medical campus serves.

New wave of scholars explore maritime history
A little known and deep historical link between Australia and Indonesia will be explored at a two-day symposium starting this Thursday at The Australian National University.

China’s investment flow helps region grow
A new study from The Australian National University shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) both into and out of China is improving economic stability and driving development in Asia and the Pacific. In a major study, Chunlai Chen from the ANU Crawford School examined levels of FDI in 49 developing countries between 1992 and 2008.

Consumer confidence improves in January due to job gains
ANN ARBOR, Mich - Consumer confidence continued to improve in January due to positive news about potential job gains, according to University of Michigan economist Richard Curtin, director of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.

Penn Anthropologists Clarify Link Between Asians and Early Native Americans
A tiny mountainous region in southern Siberia may have been the genetic source of the earliest Native Americans, according to new research by a University of Pennsylvania-led team of anthropologists. Lying at the intersection of what is today Russia, Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan, the region known as the Altai "is a key area because it's a place that people have been coming and going for thousands and thousands of years," said Theodore Schurr , an associate professor in Penn's Department of Anthropology.

Rare Posters, Drawings From the Spanish Civil War on View at Geisel Library Through May 11, 2012
All images from the Southworth Spanish Civil War Collection in the UC San Diego Mandeville Special Collections Library "So There Will Be No Forgetting: Images from the Spanish Civil War," an exhib

China in perspective
Professor David Goodman, Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Sydney, will speak about Chinese perspectives on globalisation at Leeds on 1 February 2012.

Expert on the Arab Spring on the 1st anniversary of the Egyptian revolution
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - As the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution approaches on Jan. 25, sociologist Mansoor Moaddel is available to discuss trends in religious, political and cultural values in Egypt and other Arab countries.

Fred Conrad to direct U-M Program in Survey Methodology
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Cognitive psychologist Frederick Conrad has been appointed director of the University of Michigan Program in Survey Methodology, based at the Institute for Social Research.

’The Social Network’: Charles Dickens wrote the script
He looked at the technological revolution unfolding around him and recognized the possibility for new kinds of social networks, and the insight catapulted him to the pinnacle of his field and changed popular culture forever.

Guantánamo ten years on - necessity or troublesome legacy?
Guantánamo ten years on - necessity or troublesome legacy? In 2002, the United States of America opened a detention camp at a military base on a part of Cuba.

Violence Prevention
A successful violence prevention model developed at Cardiff University is set to be implemented in the Dutch capital Amsterdam.

Anticipating public disorder
Current police intelligence practices could miss community tension and large scale criminality, according to analysis by the Universities' Police Science Institute.

Extreme sleepover: the importance of being there
Tomorrow we launch a series of 12 articles by Cambridge researchers who tell us about the unfamiliar places where they've spent the night in the course of their work.

Human skull study causes evolutionary headache
20 Dec 2011 Scientists studying a unique collection of human skulls have shown that changes to the skull shape thought to have occurred independently through separate evolutionary events may have actually precipitated each other. Researchers at the Universities of Manchester and Barcelona examined 390 skulls from the Austrian town of Hallstatt and found evidence that the human skull is highly integrated, meaning variation in one part of the skull is linked to changes throughout the skull.

Stanford expert discusses Kim Jong Il’s death and what’s next for North Korea
People read an extra edition of a newspaper reporting the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Seoul.

Japanese quake survivors tell their story with photos
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The overripe cucumber dangles from a vine in a photo snapped by a woman who survived the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan.

Social media ‘not to blame’ for inciting rioters
08 Dec 2011 A study of 2.4 million Twitter messages from the time of the riots has found that politicians and other commentators were wrong to claim the website played an important role in inciting and organising the disturbances.

Island language in a sea of change
Norman languages spoken in the Channel Islands for a thousand years are now severely endangered. Cambridge linguist Mari Jones has been analysing the languages and tracing why they have declined.

Recreating ‘The Great Escape’
First it was the Dambusters raid, now Cambridge University's Hugh Hunt has helped to recreate 'The Great Escape' from Germany's infamous Stalag Luft III.

New Mongolia centre sets ANU out from the herd
The rolling hills and sweeping steppes of Mongolia will seem closer to Australia with the launch of a new research and teaching centre at The Australian National University today.

New guidance for longer-term management of self-harm issued
The healthcare guidance body NICE has today published a new clinical guideline on the longer-term care of adults, children and young people who self-harm.

Examining the changing face of Christianity
A century ago, 80 per cent of the world's Christians lived in Europe and North America; today, nearly 70 per cent live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, making Christianity a predominantly non-Western religion.

War’s lasting legacy is a culture of violence -- see video
The civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia ended 10 years ago but these West African nations continue to struggle, partly because the wars created an economy based on warfare.

Unique opportunities for interdisciplinary research on learning
Lund University is in a good position to start a unique interdisciplinary research collaboration on learning, according to Assistant Vice-Chancellor Sven Strömqvist, who is pushing to get such a collaboration started.

University of Nottingham extends science collaborations in China
The University of Nottingham has signed a collaboration agreement with the China Guanghua Science and Technology Foundation, based in Beijing.

Communication Power in the Network Society
The world-renowned sociologist, Professor Manuel Castells, is to be the second Humanitas Visiting Professor in Media at the University of Cambridge, from 16 to 21 November 2011.

Talk at the Brink
In October 1962, following the discovery of Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy called his top advisors together to determine America's response.

Funding new ideas: University of Sydney academics attract government funding
Early and mid-career researchers at the University of Sydney will improve our understanding of modern China, look for new ways to battle cardiovascular disease and provide new insights into Indigenous wellbeing thanks to new government funding announced on Monday. Thirty-six University of Sydney academics were among the 277 successful recipients of the inaugural Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA) nationwide - the highest number of any university.

ANU congratulates new Future Fellows
ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young has congratulated the 203 researchers around the nation announced today as Future Fellows, particularly the 26 recipients from The Australian National University. The Future Fellowships program administered by the Australian Research Council (ARC), aims to promote the best research in areas of national importance by giving grants to the country's best and brightest mid-career researchers.

Degree education ’more equal’ than league tables claim
A new study suggests a competitive market for university students which uses standardised information about courses to highlight differences in ‘quality' is misleading.

Rating Scale Successfully Predicts Suicide Attempts and Guides Intervention
Kelly Posner is trying to save lives. As director of the Center for Suicide Risk Assessment, she led a team from Columbia's Department of Psychiatry in developing a tool that successfully predicts suicidal intent.

Bristol archaeologist publishes book on the gold of Ancient Panama
A lavishly-illustrated book on the pre-Columbian goldwork of Panama has been published by Nicholas Saunders, lecturer in the University of Bristol's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Promise for teen suicide prevention
Roughly 1 million people die by suicide each year. In the U.S., where nearly 36,000 people take their own lives annually, more than 4,600 victims are between the ages of 10 and 24, making suicide the third leading cause of death in this age group. Youths treated at hospital emergency rooms for suicidal behavior remain at very high risk for future suicide attempts.

Half of British workforce ill-treated in past two years
One million Britons experienced workplace violence in the last two years, while millions more were subjected to intimidation, humiliation and rudeness, new research has shown. Surprisingly, managers and professionals in well-paid full-time jobs are among the groups most at risk. The study by Plymouth and Cardiff Universities also shows that conventional employment policies are failing to deal with workplace ill-treatment.

Postcard from Xinjiang: Dr Peter Jia
Sandstorms, wolves, hail, altitude sickness and accommodation in a Mongolian yurt were all part of a recent field trip to China for University of Sydney archaeologist Peter Jia, during which he helped make two important discoveries.

SEK 56 million in funding from the Swedish Research Council
The Swedish Research Council has reached the decision to grant over SEK 56 million (¤6.2 million) in support for 15 new research projects in the humanities, social sciences and educational sciences at Umeå University.

Maps illustrate world population changes
31 October 2011 Maps illustrate world population changes A series of maps demonstrating the distribution and changing trends of the world´s population have been created at the University of Sheffield. The three maps were developed by Benjamin Hennig and Professor Danny Dorling from the University of Sheffield´s Department of Geography as part of a project funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Government needs to listen up on hearing aids
Evidence is mounting of an aggressive campaign by private providers to push hearing aids onto people who are not psychologically ready for them, according to an Australian National University sociology expert.

The Generation X Report: U-M survey paints a surprisingly positive portrait
Oct. 25, 2011 The Generation X Report: U-M survey paints a surprisingly positive portrait Listen to podcast ANN ARBOR, Mich.—They've been stereotyped as a bunch of insecure, angst-ridden, underachievers.

Lieberthal discusses U-M’s China ties, Chinese challenges
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Kenneth Lieberthal, a professor emeritus and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, returned to the University of Michigan to join ongoing celebrations for the Center for Chinese Studies' 50th anniversary.

Target exploitative employers says forced labour report
An increased focus by government on tackling exploitative employers and bridging visas for victims are two of the key recommendations of a newly-published paper into forced labour.

Michigan Solar Car Team places third in the world
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Kenneth Lieberthal, a professor emeritus and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, returned to the University of Michigan to join ongoing celebrations for the Center for Chinese Studies' 50th anniversary.

Understanding mid-life suicide
Mid life is the peak time for committed relationships, parenthood and work responsibilities. While there is widespread concern about suicide by young people, UK suicide rates are in fact highest in the 40-44 age group.

Study Links Pollutants to a 450 Percent Increase in Risk of Birth Defects
AUSTIN, Texas — Pesticides and pollutants are related to a 450 percent increase in the risk of spina bifida and anencephaly in rural China, according to scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and Peking University.

Meet Jovan Kojicic
Meet Jovan Kojicic, newly appointed adviser to the Montenegrin Prime Minister. When you were ed in LUM just over a year ago, you said that your research on sexual minorities’ rights in the Balkans would have been dangerous and impossible to carry out at a Montenegrin university.

Concern over accuracy of suicide rates in England and Wales
07 Oct 2011 The increasing use of “narrative verdicts” by coroners in England and Wales may be leading to greater underestimation of suicide rates, warn experts.

Stanford wins National Poverty Research Center grant
A new web portal will make it possible for anyone – scholars, the general public and journalists – to track trends in hundreds of key measures of poverty and inequality and to gain access to the most important research on those trends.

Advance directives related to use of palliative care, lower Medicare end-of-life spending in many U.S. regions
Oct. 4, 2011 Advance directives related to use of palliative care, lower Medicare end-of-life spending in many U.S. regions ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Advance directives do have an impact on health care at the end of life, especially in regions of the country with high spending on end-of-life care, according to a University of Michigan study.

Growing up in bad neighborhoods has a ’devastating’ impact
Oct. 4, 2011 Growing up in bad neighborhoods has a 'devastating' impact Listen to podcast ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Growing up in a poor neighborhood significantly reduces the chances that a child will graduate from high school, according to a study published in the current (October) issue of the American Sociological Review.

Community effort brings lasting drop in smoking, delinquency, drug use
UW's Social Development Research Group UW School of Social Work Facebook page for Communities That Care Delaying the age when kids try alcohol or smoking decreases the likelihood that they will become dependent later in life. Effective interventions exist, but community disagreements about which programs to try can stymie decisions.

Science and humanities wed to explore origins and consequences of domesticated rice
At Cornell, studying the origins and spread of domesticated rice doesn't just involve plant geneticists; but a new course also includes insights from archaeology, geography, plant genetics, anthropology and linguistics.

Historian mixes policy and personal stories in history of U.S. immigration
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It's not one border, one time, that makes an immigrant, says Dorothee Schneider. It's not a matter of crossing over and you're done.

New online learning module gives children of domestic violence a voice
Media Note: For the Honor Our Voices electronic press kit, see www.honorourvoices.org/press.html. MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (09/27/2011) —Over half of the residents of battered women's shelters in the United States are children (National Network to End Domestic Violence, 2010).

China’s Latin moves cause concern in Washington
Mexico's burgeoning trade deficit with China is being seen in Washington as an indicator of further problems on the horizon for the US, says ARC Future Fellow Adrian Hearn.

Why Indonesia loves Facebook
In 2008 Facebook use grew by an amazing 645 per cent in Indonesia, even though most users access the website through Internet cafes.

Trappings of Parenthood Leads to Long-Term Weight Gain, New Study Shows
Sept. 22, 2011 AUSTIN, Texas — Parenthood accelerates weight gain over the life course according to a new study from The University of Texas at Austin. In a study to appear in Social Science and Medicine , Debra Umberson, professor of sociology at the university, found that adults with children gain significantly more weight over time than those without.

Abusive men likely to repeat violence if attraction to women is superficial
Sept. 22, 2011 Abusive men likely to repeat violence if attraction to women is superficial ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Abusive men who select partners mainly based on appearance are likely to be violent again after completing an abuser intervention program, according to a new University of Michigan study.

GPs divided on targets system
Government rewards for meeting targets have divided GPs, with some saying that they lead to doctors being too concerned with box-ticking to tackle fully patients' problems, new research says.

Book gives the skinny on wide-ranging obesity research
Along with a sharp rise in recent decades in worldwide obesity rates has come a flood of research on the subject - more than 66,000 papers in the past 10 years, according to one estimate.

Juvenile delinquency linked to higher suicide risk
Criminality can be an indicator of a higher risk of suicide in young people. A new study from Karolinska Institutet and the National Board of Health and Welfare shows that repeat offenders between the ages of 15 and 19 are three times more likely to commit suicide than young people who have not been convicted for a crime during these years.

China’s wake up call for Australian business
The increasing significance of Chinese private sector investment, a heightened appetite by China to develop and finance Australian resources and infrastructure projects, and Chinese banks

Offshore processing move faces challenges
The Gillard Government's move to amend legislation to allow offshore processing will require changes to both the Migration Act and the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act .

Ten years on from 9/11, research calls for counter-terrorist policing to be held accountable
A decade after the global tragedy of 9/11, a groundbreaking pan-European research project led by the University of Birmingham is calling for increased accountability and tougher legal restrictions on surveillance and detection technologies.

The waning of American apartheid Residential segregation declines in U.S. metros
Sept. 1, 2011 The waning of American apartheid? Residential segregation declines in U.S. metros ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The ideal of equal housing opportunities is closer to becoming a reality in most major U.S. metro areas, according to a University of Michigan researcher.

Deal No deal, says ANU law expert
The Federal Government's planned asylum seeker swap deal with Malaysia has been blocked by a High Court ruling.

New scoring system can better predict life expectancy in cancer patients
University of Manchester researchers have developed a new scoring system that can better predict how long patients with advanced cancer are likely to survive than current prognosis methods. The study, carried out with colleagues at St George's, University of London, and published on the British Medical Journal's website, will provide clinicians with extra tools to predict how long patients have to live.

Advertising in Violent Video Games Results in Poor Recall, Negative Brand Perception
Aug. 30, 2011 AUSTIN, Texas — Embedding advertisements in violent video games leads to lower brand recall and negative brand attitudes suggesting advertisers should think twice about including such ads in a media campaign, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Women in particular responded negatively to ads placed in violent video games.

Double damage: Partner violence impacts mental health of over half-million Californians
Victims who suffer violence at the hands of a spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, or other intimate partner aren't only brutalized physically; they also suffer disproportionately higher rates of mental health distress, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

When the Towers Fell: An Oral History of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
In the aftermath of 9/11, Mary Marshall Clark began noticing that a deep stillness had fallen over New York City.