science wire

Origins of 'The Hoff' crab revealed
The history of a new type of crab, nicknamed 'The Hoff' because of its hairy chest, has been revealed for the first time. A team led by Oxford University scientists has found that, far from being 'relics' marooned in their deep sea habitat, Yeti crabs (Kiwaidae) are, in evolutionary terms, relative newcomers that diversified 40 million years ago.

Research explores the parenting needs of Syrian refugee families
19 Jun 2013 A University of Manchester student is carrying out research to explore the parenting needs of families raising their children in refugee camps after fleeing the violence in Syria.

More help needed for nerve damage sufferers
Researchers at the University of Sheffield have launched a pioneering study to find the exact cause of diabetic nerve damage. Diabetic nerve damage causes severe and intractable pain and has a massive impact on the quality of patients' lives physically, socially and cosmetically. Many sufferers have to endure foot deformities, ulcerations and an inability to feel their feet.

U.S. economy: Steady as she goes
ANN ARBOR-America's economy will hum along its path of moderate growth, adding 4.7 million jobs through the end of next year, say University of Michigan economists.

Timely treatment after stroke is crucial, UCLA researchers report
For years, the mantra of neurologists treating stroke victims has been "time equals brain." That's because getting a patient to the emergency room quickly to receive a drug that dissolves the stroke-causing blood clot can make a significant difference in how much brain tissue is saved or lost.

FACULTY HONOR: Bassler elected associate member of European Molecular Biology Organization
Bonnie Bassler , Princeton University's Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, was among 52 life-sciences researchers elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

The fast winds of Venus are getting faster
18 June 2013 The most detailed record of cloud motion in the atmosphere of Venus chronicled by ESA's Venus Express has revealed that the planet's winds have steadily been getting faster over the last six years. Venus is well known for its curious super-rotating atmosphere, which whips around the planet once every four Earth days.

Scripps Alumna Selected as a NASA Astronaut Candidate
Jessica Meir, who earned a doctorate in marine physiology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego in 2009, has been selected in the newest group of space explorers by NASA.

Fantastic four win Queen’s Birthday Honours
Four Imperial academics have been recognised for their contributions to science, engineering and health.

U-M researcher and colleagues predict possible record-setting Gulf of Mexico ’dead zone’
Jim Erickson, University of Michigan, (734) 647-1842, ericksn [a] umich (p) edu or Ben Sherman, NOAA, (202) 253-5256 (cell), ben.sherman [a] noaa (p) gov or Jon Campbell, USGS, (703) 648-4180, jon

School of Nursing clinic fights spread of TB on L.A.’s skid row
Each morning as the gate to fenced-in Gladys Park is unlocked, homeless men and women move in from wherever they have spent the night on downtown L.A.'s skid row.

New project aims to get stroke survivors in Nottingham back to work
PA 203/13 A pilot project being led by researchers at The University of Nottingham is aiming to assist more stroke survivors to return to work.

Engineering the Future
The UK needs to recruit more bright, young engineers - but what do young people really think engineering involves? Tim Minshall decided to find out.  The only time many people see the word 'engineering' is when there are delayed trains and bus replacement services.

Ground monitoring equipment is deployed on two Ethiopian volcanoes showing signs of unrest
Images taken from space have indicated that some of the world's unmonitored volcanoes may not be as peaceful as we might like to think. Satellite radar has shown that the surfaces of a number of volcanoes within the East African Rift are deforming - inflating and deflating.  "Deformations such as these are typically attributed to magma accumulating and moving underground," said Dr Juliet Biggs , Lecturer in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, "and are often interpreted as pre-eruptive activity.

The verdict on tiger-parenting? Studies point to poor mental health
Long before Amy Chua's provocative 2011 memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, raised the bar for tough-love parenting, psychologists at UC Berkeley were studying the effects of three kinds of child-rearing: authoritarian (too hard), permissive (too soft) and authoritative (combo).

Amazing ATV
18 June 2013 ATV Albert Einstein , Europe's supply and support ferry, docked with the International Space Station last Saturday.

Poor maternal and child health linked with premature high blood pressure, kidney disease
UAlberta professor leads international research review showing how early development can put people at lifelong risk.

Women in childbirth still being denied their human rights
New research shows despite more than 50 years of campaigning, too many mothers are still being denied their human rights in childbirth.

Centre reveals the wonder of genetic research to public
Centre reveals the wonder of genetic research to public Scientists at the University of Sussex are inviting the public to join them in the lab for a rare glimpse of inspiring genetic research into diseases such as cancer and hereditary conditions.

Future looks bright for carbon nanotube solar cells
In an approach that could challenge silicon as the predominant photovoltaic cell material, University of Wisconsin-Madison materials engineers have developed an inexpensive solar cell that exploits carbon nanotubes to absorb and convert energy from the sun. The advance could lead to solar panels just as efficient, but much less expensive to manufacture, than current panels.

Thrill of victory: Success among many feels better
ANN ARBOR-Success feels good, but it is better when people win in big groups-even if the chance of success is the same, a new University of Michigan report indicates.

Autophaser improves sample analysis in areas such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and oil spills
A new software package allows researchers to vastly improve the performance of one of the key tools used to analyse medical and environmental samples. Autophaser, developed by the University of Warwick and Aberystwyth University, enables researchers to make use of significantly more data when using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometers (FT-ICR MS).

Peter Sowerby Foundation endows Chair of Philosophy and Medicine
King's College London has received a major endowment from the Peter Sowerby Foundation to establish the first Chair in Philosophy and Medicine with the purpose of building on the University's groundbreaking work on the relationship between philosophy and medicine.

A feline fungus joins the new species list
A new species of fungus that causes life-threatening infections in humans and cats has been discovered by a University of Sydney researcher. "This all originated from spotting an unusual fungal infection in three cats I was seeing at the University's cat treatment centre in 2006," said Dr Vanessa Barrs , from the University's Faculty of Veterinary Science , whose findings have just been published in PLOS One.

2011 CENSUS: ethnic diversity is home grown
18 Jun 2013 Immigration has had less significant impact than British births on the rising population of most of England and Wales' ethnic groups, according to the latest analysis of the 2011 Census by University of Manchester researchers.

Moderate drinking during pregnancy does not appear to harm baby’s neurodevelopment
Moderate drinking during pregnancy - three to seven glasses of alcohol a week - does not appear to harm fetal neurodevelopment, as indicated by the child's ability to balance, suggests a large study, led by academics at the University of Bristol and published online in the journal BMJ Open . But social advantage may be a factor, as more affluent and better educated mums-to-be tend to drink more than women who are less well off, say the research team led by Professor John Macleod at the University's School of Social and Community Medicine.

ExoMars 2016 set to complete construction
17 June 2013 ESA's mission to Mars in 2016 has entered the final stage of construction with the signature of a contract today with Thales Alenia Space at the Paris Air & Space Show.

Safety review of bone growth product ushers in new era of data sharing
A Yale project involving the independent review of a bone growth product's safety has yielded results * , which are published in the June 18 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The findings are part of the Yale University Open Data Access (YODA) Project 's novel partnership with Medtronic, Inc., to study and release all of the company's clinical trial research data on recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2).

Herschel ends operations as orbiting testbed
17 June 2013 With the exhaustion of its helium coolant, Herschel's science mission ended on 29 April.

The rhythm of everything
Dawn triggers basic biological changes in the waking human body. As the sun rises, so does heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. The liver, the kidneys and many natural processes also begin shifting from idle into high gear. Then as daylight wanes and darkness descends, these processes likewise begin to subside, returning to their lowest levels again as we sleep.

Changing how society thinks about senior citizens
UAlberta researchers team up with seniors' association to challenge unfair assumptions about older adults.

Final command: Herschel ends operations as orbiting testbed
17 June 2013 With the exhaustion of its helium coolant, Herschel's science mission ended on 29 April.

British Academy recognition for Manchester professors
17 Jun 2013 Professors Peter Wade, from the School of Social Sciences, and Alan Williams, from the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, have both received a prestigious British Academy Wolfson Research Professorship.

High-frequency trading tactic lowers investor profits
ANN ARBOR-High-frequency trading strategies that exploit today's fragmented equity markets reduce investor profits overall, according to new findings by University of Michigan engineering researchers. The study is believed to be the first to examine how a common and lucrative trading practice known as latency arbitrage can exploit both market rules and the recent growth in the number of venues where stocks can change hands.

Strategy behind spiders’ web etiquette
Study reveals strategy behind spiders' web etiquette A species of spider that, unusually, lives in a colony but hunts alone at night is the subject of a new study by an international team of scientists including University of Sussex biologists.

GOP Voters Favor Ted Cruz in 2016 Presidential Primary, UT/Texas Tribune Poll Shows
AUSTIN, Texas — If the 2016 Republican primary election for president were held today, Republican voters in Texas would strongly favor U.S. Sen.

SDSC’s Gordon Supercomputer: Parsing Genes, Proteins, and Big Bio Data
Gordon , the newest high-performance supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of San Diego, California, has proven to be a boon to biologists interested in rapidly sifting through an ever-expanding amount of data.

Study Identifies Protein Essential for Normal Heart Function
Protein being studied to fight cancer; may cause toxicity in cardiac cells A study by researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, shows that a protein called MCL-1, which promotes cell survival, is essential for normal heart function.

First science star for Wales announced
A world-leading neurobiologist who will take up a post at the University as the first appointment under the Welsh Government's £50M flagship science initiative has been welcomed to Wales and Cardiff by First Minister for Wales and the Minister for Economy & Science. Yves Barde, from the Biozentrum at the University of Basel, will join Cardiff School of Biosciences through the Sêr Cymru science initiative, taking up the position of Sêr Cymru Research Chair in Neurobiology.

Children from the poorest families are twice as likely to contract malaria than the least poor
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Towards the ’holy grail’ of anticoagulant drugs
New Cambridge spin-out raises $11 million in funding to develop revolutionary new drug for thrombosis, which causes heart attacks and strokes This is the most exciting drug candidate I have see

’Intelligent and green’ iPlayer records favourite TV in advance and reduces internet traffic
Scientists at King's College London have designed an internet-based digital recorder which can predict what a viewer will want to watch on catch-up TV.

Printing artificial bone
Researchers develop method to design synthetic materials and quickly turn the design into reality using computer optimization and 3-D printing. Researchers working to design new materials that are durable, lightweight and environmentally sustainable are increasingly looking to natural composites, such as bone, for inspiration: Bone is strong and tough because its two constituent materials, soft collagen protein and stiff hydroxyapatite mineral, are arranged in complex hierarchical patterns that change at every scale of the composite, from the micro up to the macro.

New precinct to be a focal point for sustainability innovation
The University of Melbourne is leading plans to foster an ambitious new precinct bringing together experts from across academia, industry and government to tackle some of the biggest sustainability and resilience challenges facing society.

$4.4M investment in energy and environmental engineering research at UAlberta
New NSERC research chair will assess energy and environmental options for industry and government.

Fiber-optic pen helps see inside brains of children with learning disabilities
For less than $100, University of Washington researchers have designed a computer-interfaced drawing pad that helps scientists see inside the brains of children with learning disabilities while they read and write. The device and research using it to study the brain patterns of children will be presented June 18 at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping meeting in Seattle.

Valentina
Tributes from European space explorers 16 June 2013 Valentina Tereshkova was born in Maslennikovo, near Yaroslavl, in Russia on 6 March 1937.

Novartis drug Jakavi improved overall survival of myelofibrosis patients and impacted an underlying mechanism of disease
Jakavi reduced risk of death by 52% and sustained reductions in spleen size in new three-year COMFORT-II study data Analysis from a separate trial suggested that long-term treatment with Jakavi may stabilize or improve bone marrow fibrosis, a key marker of worsening disease Basel, June 16, 2013 - Novartis today announced results from a Phase III three-year follow-up study that showed Jakavi (ruxolitinib) demonstrated improved overall survival and sustained reductions in spleen size compared to conventional therapy.

Born to rule: two public talks look at royal births of the past
The hype surrounding the birth of a royal baby is nothing new. Two public lectures (18 and 25 June) will explore the Tudor and Stuart obsession with producing a male heir.  Henry VIII was obsessed by the need to produce a male heir and, ideally, a spare to take the ruling Tudor line forward.

Europe’s largest spaceship reaches its orbital port
15 June 2013 ESA's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein , completed a flawless rendezvous with the International Space Station on 15 June when it docked smoothly with orbital outpost at 14:07 GMT (16:07 CEST).

X-rays resurrect 200-year-old lost opera
15 Jun 2013 Audiences can hear a 200-year-old opera by composer Luigi Cherubini in full for the first time in centuries after scientists used X-rays to reveal hidden notes. At first glance the beautifully bound 1797 Luigi Cherubini opera "Médée" looks like an impeccably preserved relic of opera's golden age.

Documents that Changed the World: Alfred Binet’s IQ test, 1905
With students huddled over spring quarter finals campuswide, the latest podcast in the Documents that Changed the World series seems particularly timely: It's about intelligence testing.

Law should be changed so companies pay corporation tax where customers are located, legal expert recommends
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Industry helps create new potato breeding professorship
Advances in biotechnology such as DNA sequencing have helped speed the pace of plant breeding in many food crops, but applying these tools to the potato, which has an extra set of chromosomes, has been a bit more difficult.

Talk by Richard III archaeologist will mark 25 years of medieval research in Nottingham
The archaeologist who led the team which uncovered the buried remains of English king Richard III in a Leicester car park is to deliver a free public lecture to mark the 25th anniversary of a medieval research centre at The University of Nottingham. The discovery of the hastily interred bones of the medieval monarch by archaeologists at The University of Leicester made news headlines around the world last summer.

Grandparents gather for support at Waisman Center
Angie and Bob Tramburg (pictured, with their grandson, who is on the autism spectrum) help lead a group of grandparents that support each other in coping with the effects of autism and developmental disabilities.

UCLA climate study predicts dramatic loss in local snowfall
By midcentury, snowfall on Los Angeles–area mountains will be 30 to 40 percent less than it was at the end of the 20th century, according to a UCLA study released today and led by UCLA climate expert Alex Hall.

South Asian women should no longer be considered at low risk of breast cancer
Researchers from the University of Sheffield have discovered a significant increase in breast cancer cases in South Asian women - a group who were previously considered at lower risk.

Wearable body sensor could reduce harm caused by osteoathritis
Professor Alison McGregor describes an initiative to delay surgery for arthritic patients, extending their mobility and functionality. How are you approaching this issue? We want to implement a regular screening process for people over a certain age. This involves doing some very detailed testing to measure certain parameters like how the person walks and how the joints move, using technology similar to motion capture used in the animation industry.

Large Hadron ’insider’
In a recent talk for TEDx, theoretical physicist Professor Ben Allanach explored the research he undertook during the two years he spent working on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland.

Call for commitment to global health in The Lancet
In an article in The Lancet, Peter Byass, professor at Umeå University and colleagues call for greater worldwide commitment to global health.

ATV ready to nose up to Station
14 June 2013 ESA's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV Albert Einstein , is set to conduct an autonomous docking with the International Space Station on 15 June.

"Regret-free" approaches for adapting agriculture to climate change
A new study calls for governments and farmers to adapt to climate shifts, despite uncertainties about what growing conditions will look like decades from now.

Technologies of War and Peace
The relationship between war and innovation is reassessed by putting scientific experts and technological development at the heart of WWII.

Going Public: The OPAL labs
A nationwide project is harnessing the curiosity of communities, raising environmental awareness and generating publishable data at the same time.

A helping hand from above for The Gambia
14 June 2013 Satellites are being used to promote agriculture in one of the world's poorest countries.

Can you feel me now?
New array measures vibrations across the skin, may help engineers design optimal, wearable tactile displays.

CRT, University and Astrazenica work together to seek new cancer drugs
14 Jun 2013 Cancer Research Technology, the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK, the University of Manchester and AstraZeneca announce two agreements to seek new cancer drugs. In the first agreement, scientists at the Cancer Research UK Paterson Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Manchester will develop compounds which target a key protein involved in DNA damage response.

Fast-acting virus targets melanoma in mice
Yale researchers eradicated most melanoma tumors by exposing them to a fast-acting virus, they report in the June 15 edition of the Journal of Virology.

Pesticides harm more than bees, says biologist’s study
Pesticides harm more than bees, says biologist's study Soil organisms, aquatic life and farmland birds may all be harmed by neonicotinoid insecticides, according to a new study by University of Sussex biologist Professor Dave Goulson.

Review charts way forward for world leadership in health and medical research
14 June 2013 The University of Sydney's primacy in health and medical research will be secured into the future thanks to an independent review's guidance on how to optimise its considerable res

University opens exchange discussions with Morocco

Automated ’coach’ could help with social interactions
New software system from MIT could help people improve their conversational and skills. Social phobias affect about 15 million adults in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, and surveys show that public speaking is high on the list of such phobias.

Read more about CERN and the Wigner Research Centre for Physics inaugurate CERN data centre’s extension in Budapest, Hungary
Geneva 13 June 2013. CERN and the Wigner Research Centre for Physics 2 today inaugurated the Hungarian data centre in Budapest, marking the completion of the facility hosting the extension for CERN computing resources.

Birmingham’s Barber Institute and London’s National Gallery swap masterpieces to celebrate anniversary
An outstanding group of Old Master and 19th-century paintings – including masterpieces by Poussin, Turner, Monet and Manet – go on show at the National Gallery, London this summer as part

CERN and the Wigner Research Centre for Physics inaugurate CERN data centre’s extension in Budapest, Hungary
Geneva 13 June 2013. CERN and the Wigner Research Centre for Physics 2 today inaugurated the Hungarian data centre in Budapest, marking the completion of the facility hosting the extension for CERN computing resources.

Researchers help protect New York from climate change
Four Princeton University researchers took part in the June 11 report, "A Stronger, More Resilient New York," a comprehensive analysis of New York City's climate risks and proposed steps for preparing for future climate events.

Researchers Design Variant of Main Painkiller Receptor
Opioids, such as morphine, are still the most effective class of painkillers, but they come with unwanted side effects and can also be addictive and deadly at high doses. Designing new pain-killing drugs of this type involves testing them on their corresponding receptors, but access to meaningful quantities of these receptors that can work in experimental conditions has always been a limiting factor.

Failing the test: major review discovers serious problems with citizenship test
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Otherwise, we'll assume you're OK to continue. Research into the new Life in the UK citizenship test has exposed major flaws in the exam. The test, which is taken by some 150,000 would-be British citizens each year, has been scrutinised by Durham University academic Dr Thom Brooks, a US immigrant who has combined first-hand knowledge about the test with his expertise in citizenship and politics.

Michigan I-Corps showcase: Launching more tech startups in the state
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT DATE: 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., June 19, 2013 EVENT: Twenty tech startups from around the state of Michigan will share their business concepts and lessons learned during the first ever Michigan I-Corps program finale.

U-Michigan experts available to discuss Supreme Court ruling on human gene patents
ANN ARBOR- The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that human genes may not be patented. The University of Michigan has several experts available to comment on the implications of the ruling.

Proba-V tracking aircraft in flight from orbit
13 June 2013 ESA's Proba-V has become the first satellite to pick up aircraft tracking signals, allowing aircraft across the globe to be followed in flight from space.

Boost for Manchester scientists in fight against heart disease
13 Jun 2013 Heart researchers in Manchester have been awarded prestigious grants of more than £1.1 million by the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

U of’T professors track drug-resistant tuberculosis
It's the second leading cause of death by an infectious agent worldwide. Now, University of Toronto Professor Frances Jamieson is tackling drug-resistant tuberculosis with a new, lab-based surveillance system that can track the spread of the disease in real-time.

UW research: World population could be nearly 11 billion by 2100
A new statistical analysis shows the world population could reach nearly 11 billion by the end of the century, according to a United Nations report issued June 13. That's about 800 million, or about 8 percent, more than the previous projection of 10.1 billion, issued in 2011. The projected rise is mostly due to fertility in Africa, where the U.N. had expected birth rates to decline more quickly than they have.

Philip Howard’s new book explores digital media role in Arab Spring
Philip Howard is an associate professor of communication and co-author, with UW doctoral student Muzammil Hussain, of the book “ Democracy's Fourth Wave: Digital Media and the Arab Spring ,” published in March by Oxford University Press.

Literacy, not income, key to improving public health in India
New research suggests public health in developing countries may be better improved by reducing illiteracy rather than raising average income.

Ties to culture may protect Latino teens from violence
ANN ARBOR-Latino kids who spend unstructured leisure time with friends, participate in certain nonschool activities and have part-time jobs may encounter high levels of violence in their communities.

Use of Drones Raises Questions
Drones - UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles - are not exactly ubiquitous yet. But that future may not be far away.

Lewis Judd to Step Down After 36 Years as Chair of Department of Psychiatry
In a career that has spanned almost half a century, most of it at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, Dr.

Seeking GP views on prostate cancer screening
13 June 2013 University of Sydney researchers are seeking to around 40 urban GPs and 20 rural GPs about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing experiences and their current practice regarding screening patients for prostate cancer.

Nanoparticle opens the door to clean-energy alternatives
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Cheaper clean-energy technologies could be made possible thanks to a new discovery. Research team members led by Raymond Schaak , a professor of chemistry at Penn State, have found that an important chemical reaction that generates hydrogen from water is effectively triggered - or catalyzed - by a nanoparticle made of nickel and phosphorus, two inexpensive elements that are abundant on Earth.

‘Tailing’ Spiny Lobster
New tools track planktonic larvae, offer possible solutions to safeguard this $1 billion industry June 13, 2013 MIAMI - June 13, 2013 -The commercial value of spiny lobster ( Panulirus argus ) in the Caribbean reaches $1 billion annually, thus making it one of the most valuable fisheries in the region.

Smart TV for the ’third age’
Making our TVs even smarter could be a way of closing the digital divide between the younger and older generations. And volunteers who started out as guinea pigs have become design partners in a research project which has shown that the accessibility of everyday information communication technology (ICT) for the elderly is increasingly due to poor design and not inadequate users.

’Make the world a more survivable place’
Receiving honorary degree, acclaimed photographer James Balog calls on grads to take action on climate change.

Brain tumour awareness campaign announces further success two years after launch
The time it takes doctors to diagnose a brain tumour in children and young people has fallen for a second year in a row, two years after the launch of a national awareness campaign involving experts at The University of Nottingham.

A bright IDEA to improve dementia care
A new free to use website has been launched at The University of Nottingham to improve care for people with dementia.

Celebrating 100 years of medical breakthroughs
The University's first UK centre dedicated to harnessing the genetics revolution for research into mental disorders will open its door to the public (Thursday 20th June) to help celebrate 100 years of life-saving science funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Professor helps ‘Sesame Street’ reach children of imprisoned parents
Psychologist Julie Poehlmann worked as an advisor for “Sesame Street” on developing materials that will help children who have a parent who is incarcerated.

Silicon-based nanoparticles could make LEDs cheaper, greener to produce
Posted under: Engineering , Research , Science , Technology , UW and the Community Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are the most efficient and environmentally friendly light bulbs on the market.

Researchers develop easy and effective therapy to restore sight
To evolve the virus best suited for gene therapy, Berkeley researchers created more than 100 million engineered adeno-associated viruses (left) and injected them into the gel-like center of the eye.

Grant secured for groundbreaking solution to power problem
Fault Current Ltd (FCL), a Fusion IP portfolio company based at Cardiff University School of Engineering's Wolfson Centre for Magnetics, has secured a £635,000 grant from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Helping older adults choose the life they want
Inspired by the older adults in her life, human ecology grad Sarah Lucas is devoting her career to quality of life for seniors.

Cocoa may help fight obesity-related inflammation
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A few cups of hot cocoa may not only fight off the chill of a winter's day, but they could also help obese people better control inflammation-related diseases, such as diabetes, according to Penn State researchers. Mice that were fed cocoa with a high-fat diet experienced less obesity-related inflammation than mice fed the same high-fat diet without the supplement, said Joshua Lambert , associate professor of food science.

Volunteers sought for study into effects of ageing on the brain
Neuroscientists at the University of Glasgow are looking for volunteers to help them in a project looking at the effects of ageing on the brain. The team from the Institute of Neurosciences and Psychology are looking for men and women aged 55 and over to take part in the study that involves identifying emotional states from facial expressions.

University strengthens its links with Laos

Sunbeds blamed for high skin cancer rates in young women in North West
12 Jun 2013 Rates of the deadliest form of skin cancer are unusually high in young women in the North West of England, with sunbeds and cheap holidays to blame, according to research published today in the British Journal of Dermatology. Historically, incidence of melanoma has always been higher in the more southerly latitudes of England, where the hours of sunshine are longer than in northern regions, especially during the summer season.

Allergy Centre addresses common patient worries
12 Jun 2013 A hospital in Manchester has launched an awareness campaign to help answer their patients' most commonly asked questions about allergies – with help from the University of Manchester experts.

University of Chicago and Marine Biological Laboratory agree to form affiliation
Initiative will build new collaborative programs and reinforce existing work at world-renowned biology institution The University of Chicago and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

Digital cinemas offer more via satellite
11 June 2013 As cinema owners worldwide begin to embrace new digital technologies via satellite, audiences are being given more ways to enjoy an evening at the movies.

Four-fold rise in children treated for obesity-related conditions
The number of children admitted to hospital for problems related to obesity in England and Wales quadrupled between 2000 and 2009, a study has found.

More A&E visits where access to GPs is worse
Patients with more timely access to GP appointments make fewer visits to accident and emergency departments, suggests a study published today. In the largest analysis of its kind to date, researchers at Imperial College London related A&E attendance figures in England to responses from a national survey of patients' experience of GP practices in 2010-11.

Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA rated among nation’s top pediatric hospitals by U.S. News
Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA has been recognized as one of the nation's best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report and is among a select group of hospitals to be ranked in all 10 o

Alternative-fuel cars are no carbon cure-all
ANN ARBOR-Making cars more fuel-efficient is great for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but rather than promoting sales of electric and other alternative-fuel vehicles, policymakers should turn thei

Three Generations of UC San Diego Physicists Plumb the Microvasculature of the Mammalian Brain
Blood vessels within a sensory area of the mammalian brain loop and connect in unexpected ways, a new map created by a team that includes three generations of UC San Diego physicists has revealed.

Crazy ants catch prey - and keep it
Study shows how Crazy ants catch prey - and keep it A versatile species of ant that can farm, forage and hunt cooperatively for food – even providing an escort to prevent live prey from escaping en route to the nest – is the subject of a new study by University of Sussex biologists.

Book: Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience
YaleNews features works recently or soon to be published by members of the University community. Descriptions are based on material provided by the publishers.

Indoor tanning is driving an increase in skin cancer
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of cancer. While unlikely to metastasize and therefore associated with low mortality, it can be disfiguring and costly to treat.

Seatbelts off
Services Calendar 11 June 2013 European scientists do not hesitate when offered a ticket to weightlessness on Earth. Despite the confusion of losing track of up and down, repeated periods of microgravity can push their experiments to the limit on Europe's 'Zero-G' Airbus A300. Parabolic flights are the only way to run such experiments on humans without leaving Earth's atmosphere.

Bugher to retire after guiding University Research Park growth, success
University Research Park is pictured in an aerial view looking west along Science Drive toward South Whitney Way in 2011.

New tasks become as simple as waving a hand with brain-computer interfaces
Posted under: Engineering , Health and Medicine , News Releases , Research , Science Small electrodes placed on or inside the brain allow patients to interact with computers or control robotic limbs simply by thinking about how to execute those actions. This technology could improve communication and daily life for a person who is paralyzed or has lost the ability to speak from a stroke or neurodegenerative disease.

Moving Select Computer Services to the Cloud Promises Significant Energy Savings
BERKELEY, Calif.-A six-month study led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) with funding from Google has found that moving common software applications used by 86 million U.S. workers to the cloud could save enough electricity annually to power Los Angeles  for a year.

Children to play lead role in sea change in attitudes towards ocean debris
An international expert in marine debris says that schoolchildren will be a driving force in bringing about a sea change in attitude towards marine pollution, which has reached crisis proportions across the globe in the past decade.

Smartphones, drones, to save lives in Malawi
A mobile phone equipped to measure heart rate, body temperature and breathing, with a digital medical manual for health care staff.

You’re so vain: U-M study links social media and narcissism
ANN ARBOR-Facebook is a mirror and Twitter is a megaphone, according to a new University of Michigan study exploring how social media reflect and amplify the culture's growing levels of narcissism. The study, published online in Computers in Human Behavior, was conducted by U-M researchers Elliot Panek, Yioryos Nardis and Sara Konrath.

Spin-Resolved ARPES Envisaged for the Advanced Light Source
One of the world's brightest sources of soft x-rays, Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) is a premier facility for studying the properties of materials.

Euclid to probe dark Universe with Astrium science module
11 June 2013 The module carrying the telescope and scientific instruments of ESA's Euclid 'dark Universe' mission is now being developed by Astrium in Toulouse, France.

Royal Pavilion’s dazzling colour is the subject of researcher’s display
Royal Pavilion's dazzling colour is the subject of researcher's display An additional feast for the eyes awaits visitors to the Royal Pavilion Brighton at a special display inspired by University of Sussex research that opens to the public today (15 June 2013).

University of Birmingham launches the UK’s first institute researching Superdiversity
Despite politicians' best efforts to reduce immigration, Britain has already entered an era of superdiversity that is here to stay.

Anonymous gift of $3.5 million to support Leo Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics
The University of Chicago has received a $3.5 million gift from anonymous donors to support a new intellectual enterprise that will be named the Leo Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics.

Drug laws "censor science", say researchers
The outlawing of psychoactive drugs amounts to the worst case of scientific censorship in modern times, a group of leading scientists have argued. A paper published today Reviews Neuroscience claims that the UN conventions on drugs in the 1960s and 1970s have not only compounded the harms of drugs but also produced the worst censorship of research for over 300 years.

UC San Diego Launches New Research Computing Program
Triton Shared Computing Cluster to Serve UC System, Industry Partners The University of California, San Diego has deployed a new high-performance research computing system called the Triton Shared

$2M gift to UCLA Cotsen Inst. establishes program in Armenian archaeology, ethnography
The UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology has received a $2 million gift from UCLA alumna Zaruhy Sara Chitjian to establish the first permanent research program in Armenian archaeology and ethnography at a major American university.

SLAC X-rays resurrect 200-year-old lost aria
Thanks to scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, audiences can hear a 200-year-old opera by composer Luigi Cherubini in full for the first time in centuries.

A Creature From an Alkaline Spring Could Improve Biofuel Processing
The only truly practical biofuels will be those made from abundant feedstocks like switchgrass, wheat straw, and other woody plants, whose cell walls consist of lignocellulose.

New Book Debunks Myth of Knowledge Economy
Ever wondered why there are so many ‘Vice Presidents’ at your workplace? Or how everyone can have a complex-sounding degree, when there are university courses on Star Trek? Do you feel like the nice

Galactic pinwheel
10 June 2013 The face-on Pinwheel spiral galaxy is seen at ultraviolet wavelengths in this image taken by ESA's XMM-Newton space telescope.

Preventing child burns
An award winning team of University child health experts will lead a research drive to identify new ways of preventing burns to children. Professor Alison Kemp will lead a research team from Cardiff Child Protection Systematic Reviews group based in the School of Medicine to find new ways to better prevent childhood burns and scalds and the pain and suffering that affects these children "Seventy per cent of burns and scalds to children affect pre-school children.

’Gingrich Senators’ Behind Washington’s Legislative Gridlock, Research Shows
AUSTIN, Texas — A University of Texas at Austin government professor argues in his new book that rising polarization in the U.S. Senate has been caused almost entirely by a particular breed of Republican lawmakers known as the "Gingrich senators." In his new book "The Gingrich Senators: The Roots of Partisan Warfare in Congress," Sean Theriault , associate professor of political science and Distinguished Teaching Professor, detail

What really happens to us when we go online
What really happens to us when we go online What happens to our brains, bodies and emotions during digital media engagement? These are among the questions to be explored at a conference at the University of Sussex on 26 June.

University of Birmingham joins Lloyds Scholars programme
The University of Birmingham has joined the award winning University Programme, Lloyds Scholars, by Lloyds Banking Group.

Suicide risk factors mapped
10 June 2013 A landmark study of the Swedish population has given a clearer picture of important risk factors for suicide.

Testing Artificial Photosynthesis
With the daily mean concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide having reached 400 parts-per-million for the first time in human history, the need for carbon-neutral alternatives to fossil fuel energy has never been more compelling. With enough energy in one hour's worth of global sunlight to meet all human needs for a year, solar technologies are an ideal solution.

Sweet treats and expanding waistlines: diabetes research at Imperial
Across the UK, diabetes diagnoses are rising each year. Figures from Diabetes UK suggests in 2012 around three million people had the disease.

Study to explore how the arts can generate economic growth in the North
The University of Liverpool is leading a study that will explore how universities across the North of England can work more closely with the arts and humanities to generate growth and address a diverse range of research questions.

On a different wavelength: scientists set out to create ’superspectral’ camera
A team of engineers is setting out to create the world's first camera sensor capable of ‘seeing' across a wide range of wavelengths.

Healing Foundation Centre for Children’s Burns Research launches today [10 June]
A £1.5 million research centre that aims to find new advances in the prevention and treatment of children's burns launches at Frenchay Hospital today [June 10].  Led by the University of Bristol, the Healing Foundation Centre for Children's Burns Research will develop new techniques and approaches to prevent burns and scalds and improve the clinical care and recovery of children who have suffered such injuries. Each year 23,000 children are hospitalised with burns in England and Wales.

Genetic studies lead to clinical trial of new treatment for type 1 diabetes
Our aim is to use aldesleukin to rebalance the immune system so that patients can significantly reduce the number of insulin injections needed to just once or twice a week by slowing the progression of the disease. Dr Frank Waldron-Lynch from the University of Cambridge A clinical trial is underway for a potential new treatment for type 1 diabetes that could eventually mean patients are able to reduce insulin treatment from several times a day to only once or twice a week.

How to care for carers
Carers' week (10-16 June) will focus on the 6.5 million people who are carers. Many are providing palliative care for a relative or friend at home. A new tool has been developed to identify carers' needs during end-of-life care at home and enable them to work more smoothly with healthcare professionals.  In end-of-life care, carers often find themselves entering a world they are unfamiliar with - and find themselves coping with medications and equipment they know little about.

Clearing the BAR to oral vaccines
A new technology under development by an academic-industry partnership protects oral vaccines from destruction by the digestive system.

Switching to Novartis drug Gilenya from standard interferon shown to improve long-term outcomes for patients with multiple sclerosis
Gilenya resulted in almost 50% more patients being free of MS disease activity after the switch from standard interferon treatment Annualized relapse rate reduced by >50% after 1 year for patients who switched from standard interferon treatment to Gilenya Reduced rate of brain volume loss sustained for up to 4.5 years in patients with active disease, despite prior treatment, who switched from interferon to Gilenya Basel, Ju

Obesity increases the risk of preterm delivery
The risk of preterm delivery increases with maternal overweight and obesity, according to a new Swedish study published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Bridge species drive tropical engine of biodiversity
Although scientists have known since the middle of the 19th century that the tropics are teeming with species while the poles harbor relatively few, the origin of the most dramatic and pervasive biodiversity on Earth has never been clear. New research sheds light on how that pattern came about. Furthermore, it confirms that the tropics have been and continue to be the Earth's engine of biodiversity.

Securing the cloud
A new algorithm solves a major problem with homomorphic encryption, which would let Web servers process data without decrypting it.

Modelling future global flood risk under climate change
Flood risk is projected to increase in humid areas in Asia and Africa and decrease in most regions of Europe except the UK and northern France by the end of this century, according to a new model published today. An international team of researchers, including Dr Dai Yamazaki from the University of Bristol, estimated the change in global flood risk in the 21st century with a state-of-the-art global hydrodynamics model that used the outputs from 11 global climate models under the latest climate change scenarios.

University of Minnesota Board of Regents to vote on President Kaler's recommended FY14 operating budget and review benchmarking analysis
What: University of Minnesota Board of Regents meetings When: Thursday, June 13 and Friday, June 14, 2013 Where: 600 McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis For media only

Cells like us stick together
Once upon a time all cells were solitary, going about the everyday business of life on their own.

Researchers Investigating the Mystery of a Tiny 'Sin'
When a strain of bacteria invades a human body, the immune system responds by generating antibodies to neutralize the threat.

University scientists in the fast lane to an engineering future
Researchers from the University of Leeds are involved in a unique, five-year £10 million collaboration to improve virtual engineering. Scientists from the University's Institute for Transport Studies have joined forces with three other leading UK universities, car-maker Jaguar Land Rover and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to deliver the project.

Convocation 2013: job prospects strong for iSchool graduates, survey finds
Students who pursue a graduate degree at the University of Toronto iSchool to upgrade or acquire skills to enhance their career are seeing results when they enter the job market, a new survey finds.

Granddaughter of the pioneer
Granddaughter of pacemaker co-creater J.C. Callaghan graduates as a physician in UAlberta medical school's centennial year.

New network for governments to tackle global poverty
President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia joined ministers and officials from around 20 governments to launch a network with Oxford University that aims to help emerging countries tackle global poverty.

Democratising design
A new simulator could help the elderly or disabled users engage more effectively with electronic devices, including websites, smartphones and digital television.

SMOS maps record soil water before flood
7 June 2013 As parts of central Europe are battling with the most extensive floods in centuries, forecasters are hoping that ESA's SMOS satellite will help to improve the accuracy of flood prediction in the future.

Professor Dame Athene Donald to give Imperial’s 2013 Athena Lecture
Dame Athene Donald, Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge, will give Imperial's annual Athena Lecture on 13 June.

Strategy for the Francis Crick Institute unveiled
Sir Paul Nurse, Director of the Francis Crick Institute, unveiled the organisation's strategy yesterday at a topping out ceremony.

Rail privatisation is ‘great train robbery’, finds CRESC report
07 Jun 2013 The privatised rail system relies upon billions of pounds of hidden subsidies and has failed to bring in private investment, according to experts at The University of Manchester.

Vince Cable visits WMG to launch £10 million Jaguar Land Rover & EPSRC Research Programme
The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, visited WMG today to launch a £10 million simulation technology engineering research programme and to see how WMG's research is helping Midlands SMEs.

Gannets don’t eat off each other’s plates
Colonies of gannets maintain vast exclusive fishing ranges despite doing nothing to defend their territory from rival colonies, scientists have discovered. A team of researchers led by the University of Leeds and the University of Exeter observed that northern gannets, which can fly hundreds of kilometres on a single fishing trip, avoided visiting the fishing grounds of gannets from neighbouring colonies.

How similar are the gestures of apes and human infants? More than you might suspect
Psychologists who analyzed video of a female chimpanzee, a female bonobo and a female human infant in a study to compare different types of gestures at comparable stages of communicative development found remarkable similarities among the three species. This is the first time such data have been used to compare the development of gestures across species.

In cinemas 2013
6 June 2013 The European Space Agency has partnered with Sony Pictures International to support the release of their latest blockbuster, After Earth .

New Centre will bring together frontier physics research and the needs of industry
A centrepiece building for exploratory 'blue skies' research and industrial partnerships in the physical sciences will be created at the University of Cambridge to investigate new approaches to fundamental science and to solving global challenges, such as natural resource demand.

Innovative solar cell structure stores and supplies energy simultaneously
Solar panels on the roof of a Madison home. A UW-Madison engineer has proposed a new design for solar panels that can simultaneously generate and store energy.

U-M part of new global alliance for sharing genomic, clinical data
ANN ARBOR-The University of Michigan joins 70 leading health care, research and disease advocacy organizations from more than 40 countries in an international alliance to enable secure sharing of genomic and clinical data used to learn more about disease.

Military vehicle seating: Keeping American soldiers safe
ANN ARBOR-Transportation crashes have accounted for two-thirds of U.S. noncombat military deaths since 2000-a trend University of Michigan researchers are hoping to help reverse.

University of Sheffield’s AMRC to build Factory 2050
World's most flexible factory will drive innovation in high-value manufacturing The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing has secured funding for a n

Researchers to explore the role of wild birds in the spread of avian flu viruses
Knowing where bird populations fly will ultimately allow us to assess what risk might be for an avian flu virus, particularly a deadly one, in one region being taken by a wild bird as it migrates to another region in Asia.

From physics to law: a career in patent
Alumnus Olivia Tsang (Physics, 2003) shares her experiences pursuing a career outside the lab - at the interface between law, business and invention.

From Mumbai to Manchester: the differing impacts of urban living
New research by the Department of Social Science, Health and Medicine (SSHM) will examine how experiences of urban living shape the human body and brain.

The floodwaters of Mars
6 June 2013 Dramatic flood events carved this impressive channel system on Mars covering 1.55 million square kilometres, shown here in a stunning new mosaic from ESA's Mars Express.

Living fossils? Actually, sturgeon are evolutionary speedsters
ANN ARBOR-Efforts to restore sturgeon in the Great Lakes region have received a lot of attention in recent years, and many of the news stories note that the prehistoric-looking fish are "living fossils" virtually unchanged for millions of years. But a new study by University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues reveals that in at least one measure of evolutionary change-changes in body size over time-sturgeon have been one of the fastest-evolving fish on the planet.

Mass Observation wins £44,000 grant to take archive into the community
Mass Observation wins £44,000 grant to take archive into the community Schools, families and community groups in Sussex will have a chance to discover more about the past lives of ordinary people through a new grant awarded to the Mass Observation Archive (MOA) at the University of Sussex.

ATV-4 on its way
6 June 2013 ESA's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein , was launched into orbit last evening from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Humans aren’t alone in grooving to the music
While showing off to the ladies, male lyrebirds coordinate song with dance, creating a display of a level of sophistication previously only known in humans. Video footage of superb lyrebirds dancing in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria revealed that during the final stage of courtship males sing several different songs, accompanying each with a unique dance choreography.

Stock market data mining leads the way for mining industry
Analytical methods used to predict stock market movements will be applied to Australian geological data, collected over many decades, to model the evolution of the Australian continent and pinpoint new mineral deposits. The strategy is part of the $12 million Big Data Knowledge Discovery project, in which computer scientists, financial analysts and natural scientists are combining their expertise in a groundbreaking effort to discover information hidden in massive, multi-layered data sets.

Wilin Winter Intensive nurtures Indigenous operatic talent
15 Indigenous singers will learn from the nation's top performers as Australia's National Indigenous Opera Company takes up residence at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts this week.

Europe’s heaviest cargo ship launched to Space Station
6 June 2013 ESA's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein , was launched into orbit last evening from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Out of this world science lesson creates a big bang
Scientists of tomorrow ventured on a voyage of discovery this week (Monday 10 June 2013) in an enthralling workshop hosted by an internationally renowned Nobel Prize winner and University of Sheffield graduate.

Strategy for Francis Crick Institute unveiled at topping out ceremony
Sir Paul Nurse, Director of the Francis Crick Institute, unveiled the organisation's strategy today at a ceremony attended by senior government ministers and heads of the institute's founding partners, including UCL's President & Provost Professor Malcolm Grant. The announcement coincided with the topping out ceremony for the institute, a key milestone in the construction process which sees the building reach its highest point.