University of Melbourne animal welfare researcher Dr Jean-Loup Rault says the prospect of robopets and virtual pets is not as far-fetched as we may think. His paper in the latest edition of Frontiers in Veterinary Science argues pets will soon become a luxury in an overpopulated world and the future may lie in chips and circuits that mimic the real thing. "It might sound surreal for us to have robotic or virtual pets, but it could be totally normal for the next generation," Dr Rault said. "It's not a question of centuries from now. If 10 billion human beings live ...

ATLANTA--Confirming what many parents already know, researchers at Georgia State University and the University of Washington have discovered that toddlers, especially those with siblings, understand how the sounds they make affect people around them. The findings are published in the Journal of Cognition and Development. There has been limited research on what children understand about what others hear, with previous studies focusing only on whether a sound could be heard. This study takes a new approach to learning what children understand about sound by introducing ...

ANN ARBOR--Climate helps drive the erosion process that exposes economically valuable copper deposits and shapes the pattern of their global distribution, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Idaho and the University of Michigan. Nearly three-quarters of the world's copper production comes from large deposits that form about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) beneath the Earth's surface, known as porphyry copper deposits. Over the course of millions to tens of millions of years, they are exposed by erosion and can then be mined. Brian Yanites of the ...

In a sobering finding for global health authorities and governments around the world, a group of leading epidemiologists say two in three deaths globally -- or 40 million people -- go unreported. And one in three births -- another 40 million people -- go unregistered. University of Melbourne Laureate Professor Alan Lopez, one of The Lancet series lead authors, has been leading a global campaign to improve how countries capture civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS). The four-paper Lancet series promote the case to change CRVS systems to collect more reliable ...

A new study links a father's age at birth to the risk that his child will develop blood and immune system cancers as an adult, particularly for only children. The study, which appears in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found no association between having an older mother and these cancers. The proportion of parents who delay having children until age 35 or older continues to increase, but the long-term health consequences for these children are still emerging. Studies suggest higher risk of several conditions including several childhood and adult-onset cancers in ...

DURHAM, N.H. -- The underlying physical process that creates striking "breaking wave" cloud patterns in our atmosphere also frequently opens the gates to high-energy solar wind plasma that perturbs Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere, which protects us from cosmic radiation. The discovery was made by two University of New Hampshire space physicists, who published their findings in the online journal Nature Communications Monday, May 11, 2015. The phenomenon involves ultra low-frequency Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, which are ubiquitous throughout the universe and create ...

The soft signs of compulsive gambling -- high energy levels, unreasonable expectations, extreme competitiveness, distorted optimism and above-average IQs -- are often the very traits that characterize competing athletes. However, precious little research is available on the prevalence of gambling among athletes and the relevant warning signs. A new Tel Aviv University study published in The American Journal of Addictions indicates that high-schoolers involved in competitive sports are at an elevated risk of gambling. According to the research, led by Dr. Belle Gavriel-Fried ...

Whether it's being outbid at the last second in an online auction or missing the winning lottery number by one digit, we often come so close to something we can "almost taste it" only to lose out in the end. These "near wins" may actually boost our motivation to achieve other wins, leading us to pursue totally unrelated rewards, according to new research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "Our research suggests that at least in some cases, losing has positive power. While we often think of motivation as being targeted to ...

Irvine, Calif., May 11, 2015 - Driving down a dimly lit road at midnight can tax even those with 20/20 vision, but according to a recent UC Irvine study, the brain processes the experience no differently than if it were noon. The same study also reveals how quickly the brain adapts to vision loss, contradicting earlier research and opening the door to novel treatments. The findings, which appear in the April 21 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are significant for those who have suffered retinal damage or disease, said cognitive scientist Alyssa ...

The increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration has allowed trees across Europe to use their available water resources more efficiently, new research has shown. Over the course of the 20th century, the so-called water use efficiency has risen nearly 20% from the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. These results, produced by an international research team, including experts from the University of Exeter, are reported in leading scientific journal Nature Climate Change. Trees take up carbon dioxide from the air through tiny pores on their leaves called stomata and ...

Corporate communicators and marketing teams are often in direct competition to be in the "C-suite" -- the coveted boardroom seats -- according to a study by a Baylor University researcher. "So few seats are available that it's often an 'either/or' for PR and marketing," said study author Marlene Neill, Ph.D., assistant professor of journalism, public relations and new media in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences. "People perceive them as quite similar," although their responsibilities are distinctly different. The research indicates that both groups' focus on the C-suite, ...

Ground-breaking research has successfully created the world's first truly electronic textile, using the wonder material Graphene. An international team of scientists, including Professor Monica Craciun from the University of Exeter, have pioneered a new technique to embed transparent, flexible graphene electrodes into fibres commonly associated with the textile industry. The discovery could revolutionise the creation of wearable electronic devices, such as clothing containing computers, phones and MP3 players, which are lightweight, durable and easily transportable. The ...

Researchers map regional droughts from space which can affect the livelihood of millions of people in West Africa Soil moisture observations can map land degradation with more accuracy than typical rainfall data as soil moisture directly leads to plant growth Study shows that the land conditions across much of West Africa have improved between 1982-2012 based on soil moisture observations A group of international researchers led by the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research at the University of Leicester have used space satellite technology to identify regions ...

PITTSBURGH--We know that bacteriophages are viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria. We know that they are the most abundant organisms on Earth. But we don't know much about their genetic architecture. A team of professional scholars and budding scientists--chiefly college freshmen--have joined forces under the aegis of SEA-PHAGES (Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science), which is run jointly by the University of Pittsburgh and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, to study the little-known genetics of bacteriophages. ...

May 11, 2015--With rates of prescription drug overdose at an all-time high, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that among individuals who visited the emergency department, the risk of subsequently dying from prescription drug overdose increased markedly based on how many times they visited the ER. Relative to patients with one or fewer trips to the ER in the previous year, the risk of dying from prescription drug overdose was five times the rate for those with two visits, 17 times for those with three visits, and 48 times for those ...

A research collaboration between the universities of Oslo and Aarhus has resulted in the development of a new method with diagnostic potential. The new method that combines phase extraction with an enzymatic reaction may eventually be used for an improved and faster screening analysis of isatin as a potential indicator of stress and neurological disorders. Isatin is a small organic molecule found in low concentrations in different tissues and is excreted with the urine via the blood stream. Isatin is supposedly a degradation product from the neurotransmitters, e.g. dopamine ...

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2015 -- More than 25 million people rely on Adderall™ and other similar drugs to help treat narcolepsy, depression and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But how does amphetamine, the active ingredient in Adderall™, work? This week, Reactions explains how amphetamine helps you focus. Check out the video here: https://youtu.be/MeJRBsghMt8. INFORMATION:Subscribe to the series at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions to be the first to see our latest videos. The American Chemical Society is ...

Physicians treating hospitalized patients for conditions unrelated to the kidneys should pay close attention to common blood and urine tests for kidney function in order to prevent incidental injury to the organs that help cleanse the body of toxins, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research suggests. The findings, published this month in two studies in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, suggest that while being older, male, African-American or having diabetes are risk factors for developing acute kidney injury, the strongest risk factor is ...

An international group of scientists has proposed that fallout from hundreds of nuclear weapons tests in the late 1940s to early 1960s could be used to mark the dawn of a new geological age in Earth history - the Anthropocene. The study, led by Dr Colin Waters of the British Geological Survey, published new research in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The research involved 10 members of the Anthropocene Working Group that is chaired by Professor Jan Zalasiewicz of the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester and Gary Hancock, a world expert on plutonium ...

May 11, 2015 - What are the most influential studies on surgery of the lower (lumbar) spine? The "top 100" research papers in lumbar spine are counted down in a special review in the May 15 issue of Spine, published by Wolters Kluwer. Dr. Samuel K. Cho and colleagues of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, performed a literature review to analyze and quantify the most important research papers on lumbar spine surgery. Their results raise some interesting "questions, trends and observations"--including the finding that the two most-cited studies ...

The water flea has genetically adapted to climate change. Biologists from KU Leuven, Belgium, compared 'resurrected' water fleas -- hatched from 40-year-old eggs -- with more recent specimens. The project was coordinated by Professor Luc De Meester from the Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation. The water flea has genetically adapted to climate change. Biologists from KU Leuven, Belgium, compared 'resurrected' water fleas - hatched from forty-year-old eggs - with more recent specimens. The project was coordinated by Professor Luc De Meester from the ...

What does space experimentation have in common with liquid cocktails? Both help in understanding what happens when multiple fluids are mixed together and subjected to temperature change - a phenomenon ubiquitous in nature and industrial applications such as oil fluids contained in natural reservoirs. The latest experimental data performed in zero gravity on the International Space Station is now available in the newly published Topical Issue of EPJ E. The results constitute the first set of highly accurate and broadly validated data on the thermodiffusion effects that occur ...

MADISON -- Mike Graham knows that fluid dynamics can reveal much about how the flow of blood helps and hinders individual blood cells as they go about their work. Graham, the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and Harvey D. Spangler Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UW-Madison, established a theoretical basis for these ideas by creating complex computer stimulations that show how relatively stiff white blood cells and platelets interact with more flexible red blood cells. As the different cells collide during blood flow, white cells tend to be ...

Volcanoes are considered chaotic systems. They are difficult to model because the geophysical and chemical parameters in volcanic eruptions exhibit high levels of uncertainty. Now, Dmitri V. Alexandrov and colleagues from the Ural Federal University in Ekaterinburg, in the Russian Federation, have further extended an eruption model -- previously developed by other scientists -- to the friction force at work between the volcanic plug and volcanic conduit surface. The results, published in EPJ B, provide evidence that volcanic activity can be induced by external noises that ...

Chinese scientists have reared beef rich in the beneficial fatty acids associated with fish oils. The study in Springer's journal Biotechnology Letters also highlights the scientific challenges that remain. The team from Northwest A&F University and the National Beef Cattle Improvement Centre, both in Yangling (Shaanxi), successfully introduced a gene into foetal cells from Luxi Yellow cattle, a Chinese breed with a high beef yield. The fat1 gene, isolated from a nematode worm, codes for desaturase enzymes that are involved in the conversion of n-6 to n-3 polyunsaturated ...