EAST LANSING, Mich. — The huge changes in the Earth's crust that influenced human evolution are being redefined, according to research published today in Nature Geoscience. The Great Rift Valley of East Africa – the birthplace of the human species – may have taken much longer to develop than previously believed. ""We now believe that the western portion of the rift formed about 25 million years ago, and is approximately as old as the eastern part, instead of much younger as other studies have maintained," said Michael Gottfried, Michigan State University associate professor ...

Developing a drug or vaccine requires a delicate balancing act with the immune system. On one hand, medications need to escape detection by the immune system in order to perform their function. But vaccinations — de-activated versions of a disease or virus — need to do the reverse. They prompt the immune system to create protective antibodies. But scientists are still stumped by how the immune system recognizes different particles, and how it chooses whether or not to react against them. Using nanoparticles made of pure gold, Dr. Dan Peer, head of Tel Aviv University's ...

Advances in chemotherapy have dramatically improved the outlook for many cancer patients, but the side effects of this treatment are daunting. A new generation of chemotherapy drugs with fewer side effects is the goal of Edward J. Merino, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Cincinnati. Merino will discuss his efforts toward designing these new anticancer agents Tuesday, March 27, at The Chemistry of Life: Spring National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society in San Diego. At that meeting, Merino will show a new anticancer agent ...

Newport Beach estate planning attorney and mom, Darlynn Morgan, along with her colleagues and the OCBA President, has recently spearheaded the formation of Mommy Esquire, a committee of the Orange County Bar Association. Women lawyers nationwide seek to achieve that ever-elusive balance of legal work and family life. Hence, in January 2012, Mommy Esquire was formed—the first OCBA committee that focuses specifically on practicing lawyers with school-age children. Estate planning lawyer, Darlynn Morgan, of Morgan Law Group, will serve as Chair of the newly formed committee. "Mommy ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University food scientist has developed a way to encase nutritional supplements in food-based products so that one day consumers might be able to sprinkle vitamins, antioxidants and other beneficial compounds right onto their meals. Srinivas Janaswamy, a research assistant professor of food science, said many of the nutraceuticals, or nutritional supplements, added to foods today are not structurally stable. Heat, light, oxygen and other external factors could degrade the supplements, rendering them ineffective. "There are many methods ...

The award winning speech-to-speech translation application with many integrated features, the Speechtrans Gold, is now for free to all Android users. This version of Speechtrans lets you text-to-text, text-to-speech, and two-way Speech to Speech communication translations in multiple languages. This application also lets you have a conversation to any one's telephone around the world and understand each other's language. SpeechTrans has partnered with GetJar rewards to support users to have free access to SpeechTrans technology. SpeechTrans Gold allows speech-to-speech ...

Scientists recently concluded an expedition aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution to learn more about Atlantis Massif, an undersea mountain, or seamount, that formed in a very different way than the majority of the seafloor in the oceans. Unlike volcanic seamounts, which are made of the basalt that's typical of most of the seafloor, Atlantis Massif includes rock types that are usually only found much deeper in the ocean crust, such as gabbro and peridotite. The expedition, known as Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 340T, marks the first time ...

While most American's knew Red Skelton for his starring rolls on radio, in movies and his own television variety show where he was known as the king of comedy and adlibs, few people knew he was pursuing another talent. Red Skelton started dabbling in painting as a way to relax and unwind. Years of producing a weekly variety show brings great pressure to create new material and routines. The work load can be overwhelming. Everyone needs a way to relax and the creative side of Red was always working overtime. His wife Georgia, having some experience in the arts, suggested ...

Alexander Meissner, Assistant Professor at Harvard University will give a keynote presentation on ¡°DNA Methylation Dynamics in Development and Stem Cells¡± at the 2nd Epigenetics in Drug Discovery Conference taking place on May 30-31, 2012 in Boston, MA. Cytosine methylation in mammals is an epigenetic modification that is largely restricted to CpG dinucleotides and serves multiple critical functions including stable repression of target promoters, maintaining genomic integrity, establishing parent-specific imprinting patterns, and silencing endogenous retrotransposon ...

Working with genetically engineered mice and the genomes of thousands of people with schizophrenia, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they now better understand how both nature and nurture can affect one's risks for schizophrenia and abnormal brain development in general. The researchers reported in the March 2 issue of Cell that defects in a schizophrenia-risk genes and environmental stress right after birth together can lead to abnormal brain development and raise the likelihood of developing schizophrenia by nearly one and half times. "Our study suggests that if ...

Casual apparel and activewear company OBX Outfitters is providing a free online resource for Outer Banks groups and organizations to publicize their springtime charity running and other outdoor events, http://www.obxspringtraining.com. Additionally, OBX Outfitters is offering a 25% off its North Carolina-Made Find Your Stride activewear for runners and supporters of the events. "We're committed to helping community organizations in the Outer Banks, and providing free publicity and discounts on our running shirts is just one small way we can make a contribution," ...

CDAA Pty Ltd, an Australian based Certified Web Company, today announced the signing of its newest client, William Buck, a leading firm of Chartered Accountants and advisors in Australia and New Zealand. CDAA is providing graphic design, web design, web development, web hosting and email marketing services to William Buck to help increase its brand visibility, website traffic and build new client relationships. "We are partnering with CDAA, a leading-edge Web Company, to design and develop our new website. With CDAA we aim to ensure that our online image is ...

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame and Pennsylvania State University have announced breakthroughs in the development of tunneling field effect transistors (TFETs), a semiconductor technology that takes advantage of the quirky behavior of electrons at the quantum level. Transistors are the building blocks of the electronic devices that power the digital world, and much of the growth in computing power over the past 40 years has been made possible by increases in the number of transistors that can be packed onto silicon chips. But that growth, if left to current ...

CHICAGO – For nearly 30 years, Tom Rogers' left hand would shake when he tried to use it, making even simple tasks such as drinking a glass of water, writing a check, or making a sandwich challenging. The tremor eventually became so disruptive that he lost use of his dominant hand. Rogers sought care and learned that his tremor was a symptom of Parkinson's disease, yet felt he was suffering from something different. "I was familiar with Parkinson's because my father had it and I knew this wasn't the same," said Rogers, a 66-year-old retired truck driver who resides in ...

Boast Capital announces SR&ED Seminar at Innovate Calgary on Wednesday, April 4th from 7:30-9:30am to discuss changes to the SR&ED program arising from the new federal budget. Canada is one of the most generous countries in funding research, innovation, and experimentation, providing approximately $7 billion annually to over 30,000 companies. Over $4.5 billion of this funding pool is provided under the SR&ED program. As a part of the Federal Budget on March 29th, 2012, significant changes are expected to the SR&ED program. This seminar will provide ...

A growing body of research shows that birds and other animals change their behavior in response to human noise, such as the din of traffic or the hum of machinery. But human clamor doesn't just affect animals. Because many animals also pollinate plants or eat or disperse their seeds, human noise can have ripple effects on plants, too, finds a new study reported in the March 21, 2012, issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. In cases where noise has ripple effects on long-lived plants like trees, the consequences could last for decades, even after ...

Bruce Wilson of Comcast Spotlight announced today a new interactive cable TV service called "Telescoping" that is being launched in April in the Decatur Zone that will empower advertisers to better explain their products and services in ways that a thirty or sixty second commercial spot cannot. He explained that, "Telescoping is an interactive overlay on a TV commercial that allows advertisers to free themselves from the restrictions of a thirty second commercial and extend messaging about their product or service on demand." For some time now Comcast ...

Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) often undergo multiple courses of antidepressant treatment during their lives. This is because the disorder can recur despite treatment and because finding the right medication for a specific individual can take time. While the relationship between prior treatment and the brain's response to subsequent treatment is unknown, a new study by UCLA researchers suggests that how the brain responds to antidepressant medication may be influenced by its remembering of past antidepressant exposure. Interestingly, the researchers ...

Concluding a four-year global consultation, international experts have agreed on key efforts needed to reduce the on-going loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. On Day 2 of the Planet under Pressure conference in London (planetunderpressure2012.net) March 27, leaders of the global biodiversity research programme DIVERSITAS described the urgent need to better understand the "5 Ws" -- who, what, where, when and why -- of biodiversity loss, and how humanity might mitigate it. Human well-being depends on ecosystems like forests and coral reefs continuing ...

April marks the 29th anniversary of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time dedicated to child abuse education, awareness and prevention activities. To observe National Child Abuse Prevention month, Love Our Children USA, (a national organization headquartered in New York whose mission is to break the cycle of violence against children) begins its ninth annual GET BLUE campaign - a national effort to educate and raise awareness for Child Abuse Prevention. The "Blue Ribbon" is the symbol for child abuse prevention. Love Our Children USA urges every person ...

Obese youths with particular genetic variants may be more prone to fatty liver disease, a leading cause of chronic liver disease in children and adolescents in industrialized countries, according to new findings by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The study, which focused on three ethnic groups, is published in the March issue of the journal Hepatology. Led by Nicola Santoro, M.D., associate research scientist in the Department of Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, the authors measured the hepatic, or liver, fat content of children using magnetic resonance imaging. ...

Intensive research around the world has focused on improving the performance of solar photovoltaic cells and bringing down their cost. But very little attention has been paid to the best ways of arranging those cells, which are typically placed flat on a rooftop or other surface, or sometimes attached to motorized structures that keep the cells pointed toward the sun as it crosses the sky. Now, a team of MIT researchers has come up with a very different approach: building cubes or towers that extend the solar cells upward in three-dimensional configurations. Amazingly, ...

PROSSER, Wash. -- While Washington winemakers grow most of their grapes on their natural rootstock, the coveted quality of their crop--and wines--is unlikely to change if they join the rest of the world and start grafting their varieties to more disease- and pest-resistant roots. That day will probably come, say WSU experts, but growers have little to fear. The spectre of a vine-destroying invasion has been lurking in the shadows of Washington vineyards for years. What if, wine industry professionals have fretted, growers had to start grafting in order to beat the insects ...

The Lint Center, a non-profit charity, focused on supporting the educational pursuits of the next generation of America's Counterintelligence and National Security Workers, today formally announced Miguel Ibarra was awarded the Special Agent/SSG Richard S. Eaton Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship award aims to support undergraduate and post-graduate educational pursuits of scholars interested in National Security. Lint Center scholarship winners are chosen on various grounds but are all well-rounded individuals whom the scholarship namesake would be or would have ...

Amsterdam, NL -- Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and the only cause of death among the top 10 in America without a way to prevent, cure or even slow its progression, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Today, 5.4 million Americans are living with the disease, and another American develops it every 69 seconds. Unfortunately, many Alzheimer's disease drugs targeting the misfolding of the amyloid beta protein have failed clinical trials, leading some to question the validity of the amyloid hypothesis. In upcoming issues ...