Recent fusion experiments on the DIII-D tokamak at General Atomics (San Diego) and the Alcator C-Mod tokamak at MIT (Cambridge, Massachusetts), show that beaming microwaves into the center of the plasma can be used to control the density in the center of the plasma, where a fusion reactor would produce most of its power. Several megawatts of microwaves mimic the way fusion reactions would supply heat to plasma electrons to keep the "fusion burn" going. The new experiments reveal that turbulent density fluctuations in the inner core intensify when most of the heat goes ...

When researchers at General Electric Co. sought help in designing a plasma-based power switch, they turned to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The proposed switch, which GE is developing under contract with the DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, could contribute to a more advanced and reliable electric grid and help to lower utility bills. The switch would consist of a plasma-filled tube that turns current on and off in systems that convert the direct current (DC) coming from long-distance power lines to the ...

One out of every five new cancer patients is diagnosed with a rare cancer, yet the clinical evidence needed to effectively treat these rare cancer patients is scarce. Indeed, conventional cancer clinical trial methodologies require large numbers of patients who are difficult to accrue in the situation of rare cancers. Consequently, building clinical evidence for the treatment of rare cancers is more difficult than it is for frequent cancers. Dr. Jan Bogaerts, EORTC Methodology Vice Director, points out, "For rare cancers, we need alternative ways to conceive study designs ...

A study by the University of Southampton has found there are far fewer women studying economics than men, with women accounting for just 27 per cent of economics students, despite them making up 57 per cent of the undergraduate population in UK universities. The findings suggest less than half as many girls (1.2 per cent) as boys (3.8 percent) apply to study economics at university, while only 10 per cent of females enrol at university with an A level in maths, compared to 19 per cent of males. "This underrepresentation of women economics degrees could have major implications ...

A solution to one of the key challenges in the development of quantum technologies has been proposed by University of Sussex physicists. In a paper published today (28 October) in Nature Communications, Professor Barry Garraway and colleagues show how to make a new type of flexibly designed microscopic trap for atoms. Quantum technology devices, such as high-precision sensors and specialised superfast computers, often depend on harnessing the delicate interaction of atoms. But the methods for trapping these tiny particles are hugely problematic because of the atoms' ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a technique that co-opts an immune system already present in bacteria and archaea to turn off specific genes or sets of genes – creating a powerful tool for future research on genetics and related fields. "This should not only expedite scientific discovery, but help us better engineer microbial organisms to further biotechnology and medicine," says Dr. Chase Beisel, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper on the work. "For example, this ...

A study by an international team, including the University of Southampton, has shown population maps based on anonymous mobile phone call record data can be as accurate as those based on censuses. Their findings show maps made using mobile records are detailed, reliable and flexible enough to help inform infrastructure and emergency planners; particularly in low income countries, where recent population density information is often scarce. Southampton geographer and senior author on the study, Dr Andy Tatem, says: "Proving the resilience and accuracy of using mobile ...

In a new study, researchers from Uppsala University demonstrate that elderly men with self-reported sleep disturbances run a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than men without self-reported sleep disturbances. The results are published in the scientific journal Alzheimer's & Dementia. The researchers followed more than 1,000 men, who were initially 50 year old, between the years 1970 and 2010. The results of the study show that self-reported sleep disturbances were linked to an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease during the 40-year follow-up period, particularly ...

This news release is available in German. How do our close relatives, the chimpanzees, acquire sufficient food when times are lean? By studying wild chimpanzees in the Taï National Park in Côte d'Ivoire researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, provide a clear example of how great apes can acquire extra energy needed to maintain large, costly brains. They show that chimpanzees make their sleeping nests more en route to breakfast sites containing fruits that are more competed for by other daytime fruit-eaters ...

In 2003, a novel coronavirus caused a pandemic that affected 26 countries. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was most prevalent in Asia; the number of cases in Singapore was second only to China. In an article published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), a group of radiologists in Singapore outline the ways in which both medical facilities and practitioners there have incorporated lessons learned from the SARS pandemic. "The pandemic served as a wake-up call for the medical services, which had to respond and reorganize quickly to meet the rapidly ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Financial experts do not make higher returns on their own investments than untrained investors, according to research by a Michigan State University business scholar. The first-of-its-kind study analyzed the private portfolios of mutual fund managers and found the managers were surprisingly unsuccessful at outperforming nonprofessional investors. The findings suggest average investors might be better served to handle their own portfolios rather than pay the often-high fees charged by mutual fund managers, said Andrei Simonov, associate professor ...

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have identified the biological clock that governs female fertility. The discovery represents a major contribution to research aimed at finding medical approaches to treating infertility in women. Some women can have successful pregnancies at the age of 50, whereas other are unable to get pregnant when they are 30. Researchers are not yet able to fully explain such differences. One factor is that the onset of menopause is influenced by the point at which the uterus runs out of eggs to release. A recent study at the University ...

"Epithelial cell layers line all of the inner and outer body and organ surfaces in the human body, for example in the lung, intestine, pancreas and in the inner ear," said Moritz Gegg. Cilia – small, hair-like, microtubule-based structures – project from BBs and are precisely positioned on many of these epithelial cells. "Only through this exact positioning can cilia movements be coordinated so precisely that for example mucus can be transported from the lung or sound can be perceived from sensory inner ear hair cells," added Heiko Lickert. Cilia are anchored ...

Philadelphia, PA (October 28, 2014) — Home blood pressure monitors may be inaccurate in up to 15% of patients, according to a study that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2014 November 11¬–16 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA. Major guidelines recommend home blood pressure monitoring to guide diagnosis and treatment of patients with hypertension; however, little is known about the real-world accuracy of home blood pressure monitors that patients use. Researchers led by Swapnil Hiremath, MD, MPH (Ottawa Hospital and University ...

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered a new reproductive mode in frogs and toads - breeding and laying direct developing eggs in live bamboo with narrow openings - which was observed in the white spotted bush frog (Raorchestes chalazodes). This critically endangered frog is currently only one of two species known to adopt this novel reproductive strategy. The findings were published in The Linnean Society of London's Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, in October 2014. Life history strategies to increase reproductive success ...

Individual differences in moving activity in a novel environment are linked to individual differences in vulnerability to angling, according to an experimental study completed at the University of Eastern Finland and the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute. The study used novel, long-term observations of individual behaviour in groups and authentic angling trials to analyse if behaviours predict the vulnerability to fishing in brown trout reared in traditional and enriched hatchery rearing environments. Based on the results, it can be predicted that fishing modifies ...

Experts agree that it's a great way of staying fit and healthy at any age, but when faced with higher prices people are likely to swim less often, while other forms of physical activity such as working out or walking are barely affected. According to a study by Brunel University London's Health Economics Research Group (HERG), swimming is the individual activity that most people would drop if they faced higher prices. The study included interviews with 1,683 people, 83% of whom took part in physical activity in some form. It found that people facing 10% higher entry ...

Tea and citrus fruits and juices are associated with a lower risk of developing ovarian cancer, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). Research published today reveals that women who consume foods containing flavonols and flavanones (both subclasses of dietary flavonoids) significantly decrease their risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer, the fifth-leading cause of cancer death among women. The research team studied the dietary habits of 171,940 women aged between 25 and 55 for more than three decades. The team found that those ...

VIDEO: A study by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers has found that the introduction of generic aromatase inhibitors (the most common type of hormone therapy), which are considerably less expensive... Click here for more information. NEW YORK, NY (October 27, 2014)—Although oral hormonal therapy is known to substantially reduce breast cancer recurrence in women with hormone receptor–positive tumors, about one-half of patients fail to take their medications ...

New research by the University of California, Davis, shows that chimpanzees plan ahead, and sometimes take dangerous risks, to get to the best breakfast buffet early. The study co-authored by Leo Polansky, an associate researcher in the UC Davis anthropology department, reveals that chimpanzees will find a place to sleep en route to breakfast sites and risk travel in the dark when predators are active to obtain more desired, less abundant fruits such as figs. The study is being published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. "As ...

Boston, MA — People who swap 5% of the calories they consume from saturated fat sources such as red meat and butter with foods containing linoleic acid—the main polyunsaturated fat found in vegetable oil, nuts, and seeds—lowered their risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events by 9% and their risk of death from CHD by 13%, according to a new study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. Substitution of 5% of calories from carbohydrate with linoleic acid was associated with similar reductions in risk of heart disease. "There has been ...

Is generosity less stressful than being stingy? QUT research, published in scientific journal Public Library of Science (PLOS) ONE, examined the physiological reactions of participants in a financial bargaining game and found that not only those receiving relatively low offers experienced stress but also those that make low offers, when compared to people who made more generous offers. Participants were asked to play the Ultimatum Bargaining Game, in which players decide how to divide a sum of money given to them. Player one (the proposer) proposes how to divide ...

Spices and herbs can play a significant role in improving America's health by helping to reduce sodium, calorie and fat intake while making healthy eating more appealing, conclude the authors of a scientific supplement published this month in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrition Today. The publication, entitled Spices and Herbs: Improving Public Health Through Flavorful Eating, is based on the conference proceedings of a Science Summit convened by the McCormick Science Institute in partnership with the American Society for Nutrition in Washington, D.C., on May 20-21, ...

CAPE TOWN, October 28, 2014 – The risk of acquiring herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) was reduced by half among women in the VOICE trial who used a vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral (ARV) drug tenofovir regularly, according to researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) who conducted the study. The findings provide additional evidence that tenofovir gel, a product developed to protect against HIV, could potentially help in preventing one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections affecting sexually ...

A global research effort has finally resolved a major biosecurity issue: four of the world's most destructive agricultural pests are actually one and the same. For twenty years some of the world's most damaging pest fruit flies have been almost impossible to distinguish from each other. The ability to identify pests is central to quarantine, trade, pest management and basic research. In 2009 a coordinated research effort got underway to definitively answer this question by resolving the differences, if any, between five of the most destructive fruit flies: the Oriental ...