For the first time, satellite mapping of Latin America shows that the continent's agricultural expansion has waned in the wake of the global economic downturn, according to UBC research. "Nearly every agricultural region across Latin America slowed down in expansion from 2007 to 2013, compared to the previous six years," says Jordan Graesser, the study's lead author. Graesser is a visiting international student at UBC's Liu Institute for Global Issues and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. The study, recently published in Environmental Research ...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- If you're planning to fly over the holiday, plan to drink some tomato juice. While examining how airplane noise affects the palate, Cornell University food scientists found sweetness suppressed and a tasty, tender tomato surprise: umami. A Japanese scientific term, umami describes the sweet, savory taste of amino acids such as glutamate in foods like tomato juice, and according to the new study, in noisy situations -- like the 85 decibels aboard a jetliner -- umami-rich foods become your taste bud's best buds. "Our study confirmed that in an environment ...

PITTSBURGH -- A research team led by the University of Pittsburgh's Jeremy Levy has discovered electrons that can "swing dance." This unique electronic behavior can potentially lead to new families of quantum devices. Superconductors, materials that permit electrical current to flow without energy loss, form the basis for magnetic resonance imaging devices as well as emerging technologies such as quantum computers. At the heart of all superconductors is the bunching of electrons into pairs. Levy, Distinguished Professor of Physics and Pittsburgh Quantum Institute director, ...

The type of perfectionist who sets impossibly high standards for others has a bit of a dark side. They tend to be narcissistic, antisocial and to have an aggressive sense of humor. They care little about social norms and do not readily fit into the bigger social picture. So says Joachim Stoeber of the University of Kent in the UK, who compared the characteristics of so-called other-orientated perfectionists against those of perfectionists who set the bar extremely high for themselves. The study is published in Springer's Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. Perfectionism ...

Typhoon Dolphin (strengthened overnight on 5/12 from Tropical Storm status) formed south of Pohnpei in the western Pacific Ocean on May 7, 2015. Dolphin's power has oscillated from a weak tropical depression to typhoon intensity over the past five days. Dolphin is now an intensifying typhoon headed westward. The GPM core observatory satellite flew over Dolphin on May 12, 2015 at 2301 UTC. At that time Dolphin's wind speeds were estimated at about 65 kts (75 mph). Rainfall collected by GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) showed that rain was falling at a rate of over 47 mm (1.9 ...

As murder mysteries go, it's a big one: how do galaxies die and what kills them? A new study, published today in the journal Nature, has found that the primary cause of galactic death is strangulation, which occurs after galaxies are cut off from the raw materials needed to make new stars. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh have found that levels of metals contained in dead galaxies provide key 'fingerprints', making it possible to determine the cause of death. There are two types of galaxies in the Universe: roughly half ...

If you walk into a dark room, you can still find your way to the light switch. That's because your brain keeps track of landmarks and the direction in which you are moving. Fruit flies also boast an internal compass that works when the lights go out, scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus have discovered. Their findings suggest that dissecting how fruit flies navigate through the world could help researchers understand how humans and other mammals achieve that task. In our brains, several kinds of neurons help us get and keep our bearings. ...

Humans concerned about climate change are working to find ways of capturing excess carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and sequestering it in the Earth. But Nature has its own methods for the removal and long-term storage of carbon, including the world's river systems, which transport decaying organic material and eroded rock from land to the ocean. While river transport of carbon to the ocean is not on a scale that will bail humans out of our CO2 problem, we don't actually know how much carbon the world's rivers routinely flush into the ocean - an important piece ...

Antipsychotic medication use during pregnancy does not put women at additional risk of developing gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders or major blood clots that obstruct circulation, according to a new study led by researchers at Women's College Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). The study, published today in BMJ, is the largest to date to examine possible links between newer antipsychotic medications -- such as quetiapine, olanzapine and risperidone -- and medical conditions that often develop during pregnancy or with use of older ...

Fermions are the building blocks of matter, interacting in a multitude of permutations to give rise to the elements of the periodic table. Without fermions, the physical world would not exist. Examples of fermions are electrons, protons, neutrons, quarks, and atoms consisting of an odd number of these elementary particles. Because of their fermionic nature, electrons and nuclear matter are difficult to understand theoretically, so researchers are trying to use ultracold gases of fermionic atoms as stand-ins for other fermions. But atoms are extremely sensitive to ...

Pregnant women who undergo general surgical procedures appear to have no significant difference in postoperative complications compared with women who are not pregnant, according to a report published online by JAMA Surgery. Historical data show that about 1 in 500 pregnant women require nonobstetric surgery, according to the study background. Robert A. Meguid, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, and coauthors analyzed data from the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program from 2006 through ...

CHICAGO (May 13, 2015): The annual number of liver transplantation operations increases when transplantation centers are concentrated in geographic areas that are highly competitive, according to findings from a new study published as an "article in press" in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS). The study, believed to be the first one to demonstrate a link between the volume of liver transplantation and competition for organs and geographic density, will appear in the print edition of the Journal this summer. Researchers from the Department of Surgery ...

WASHINGTON - The tendency for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to lash out in anger can be significantly amplified if they are also depressed, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. "Our study findings should draw attention to anger as a major treatment need when military service members screen positive for PTSD or for depression, and especially when they screen positive for both," said lead author Raymond Novaco, PhD, professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine. The study appeared ...

Astronomers have long held that water -- two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom -- was a relative latecomer to the universe. They believed that any element heavier than helium had to have been formed in the cores of stars and not by the Big Bang itself. Since the earliest stars would have taken some time to form, mature, and die, it was presumed that it took billions of years for oxygen atoms to disperse throughout the universe and attach to hydrogen to produce the first interstellar "water." New research poised for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters by Tel Aviv ...

This news release is available in French. Montreal, May 13, 2015 - New work by the Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'île-de-MontréalI) computational neuroscientist Mallar Chakravarty, PhD, and in collaboration with researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) challenges in a thrilling way the long-held belief that a larger hippocampus is directly linked to improved memory function. The size of the hippocampus, an important structure in the brain's memory circuit, is typically measured as one method to ...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (May 13, 2015) - The adage, "There's an app for that" is even more true in light of an app that sends an alert to your allergist's office when your asthma may be out of control. An article in the May issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) presents the case study of a 42 year-old male patient suffering from asthma. The man used the Asthma Ally app to connect with his allergist's office - allowing the staff to note when his asthma symptoms weren't ...

TAMPA, Fla. -- Cognitive impairment can occur in cancer patients who are treated with a variety of therapies, including radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy. After chemotherapy treatment it is commonly called "chemo brain." Signs of cognitive impairment include forgetfulness, inability to concentrate, problems recalling information, trouble multi-tasking and becoming slower at processing information. The number of people who experience cognitive problems following cancer therapy is broad, with an estimate range of 15 to 70 percent. There have been several ...

Lüneburg. Entrepreneurship as vocation? As a talent, which reveals itself early on and is the requirement for a successful start-up? This is the prevailing - yet wrong - view. Entrepreneurship is an acquired skill. The capacity to think and act in entrepreneurial terms is present in many people - unbeknown to most of them. Action-oriented entrepreneurship training sessions can unlock dormant potential and awaken entrepreneurial spirit. This is the findings of a research team, comprised of scholars from Leuphana University of Lüneburg, the University of Singapore, ...

Secondhand exposure to cannabis smoke under "extreme conditions," such as an unventilated room or enclosed vehicle, can cause nonsmokers to feel the effects of the drug, have minor problems with memory and coordination, and in some cases test positive for the drug in a urinalysis. Those are the findings of a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study, reported online this month in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in the world. "Many people are exposed to secondhand cannabis smoke," says lead author Evan S. Herrmann, ...

Bethesda, MD (May 13, 2015) -- A simple blood test can be used to predict which chronic hepatitis C patients will respond to interferon-based therapy, according to a report in the May issue of Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology,1 the basic science journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. "While highly effective direct-acting antivirals have become the new standard of care for patients with hepatitis C, these treatments come with a hefty price tag," said lead study author Philipp Solbach, MD, from Hannover Medical School, Niedersachsen, ...

New research from the University of Kent suggests the fashion industry could benefit from using average-sized models rather than size zero in marketing campaigns. The research, led by Dr Xuemei Bian, of Kent Business School, considered the impact of using average and zero-sized models in marketing campaigns for both established and fictitious new fashion brands. In three studies, the researchers asked women aged 18-25 which size of model they preferred. The studies also considered the role the women's self-esteem played in their preference. Dr Bian and her team found ...

ANN ARBOR--A new material developed at the University of Michigan stays liquid more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit below its expected freezing point, but a light touch can cause it to form yellow crystals that glow under ultraviolet light. Even living cells sitting on a film of the supercooled liquid produce crystal footprints, which means that it's about a million times more sensitive than other known molecules that change color in response to pressure. The material could have applications as a new kind of sensor for living cells, while the mechanism behind its unusual ...

More than half of patients who report "weekend-only" drug use end up expanding their drug use to weekdays, too -- suggesting that primary care clinicians should monitor patients who acknowledge "recreational" drug use, says a new study by Boston University public health and medicine researchers. The study, published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine and led by Judith Bernstein, professor of community health sciences at the BU School of Public Health (BUSPH), recommends that clinicians use "caution in accepting recreational drug use as reassuring," and that they ...

People's personalities tend to vary somewhat depending on the season in which they are born, and astrological signs may have developed as a useful system for remembering these patterns, according to an analysis by UConn researcher Mark Hamilton. Such seasonal effects may not be clear in individuals, but can be discerned through averaging personality traits across large cohorts born at the same time of year. Hamilton's analysis will be published in Comprehensive Psychology on 13 May. Psychologists have known that certain personality traits tend to be associated with certain ...

This news release is available in Japanese. Pollutants emitted by factories and car exhausts affect humans who breathe in these harmful gases and also aggravate climate change up in the atmosphere. Being able to detect such emissions is a critically needed measure. New research by the Nanoparticles by Design Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), in collaboration with the Materials Center Leoben Austria and the Austrian Centre for Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis has developed an efficient way to improve methods ...