Imagine a smog-free Los Angeles, where electric cars ply silent freeways, solar panels blanket rooftops and power plants run on heat from beneath the earth, from howling winds and from the blazing desert sun. A new Stanford study finds that it is technically and economically feasible to convert California's all-purpose energy infrastructure to one powered by clean, renewable energy. Published in Energy, the plan shows the way to a sustainable, inexpensive and reliable energy supply in California that could create tens of thousands of jobs and save billions of dollars ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Lynn E. Taylor, M.D., director of The Miriam Hospital's HIV/Viral Hepatitis Coinfection program, states in the July, 2014 Rhode Island Medical Journal special edition, "RI Defeats Hep C" that eliminating hepatitis c virus infection (hep c or HCV) is feasible, can provide economic benefits, enhance capacity to address other health challenges, and improve health care disparities. Barriers to eliminating HCV in the United States, Taylor says, include lack of funding earmarked for HCV research, sparse federal funding for HCV prevention and care, underinsured ...

Although most natural and synthetic processes prefer to settle into equilibrium—a state of unchanging balance without potential or energy—it is within the realm of non-equilibrium conditions where new possibilities lie. Non-equilibrium systems experience constant changes in energy and phases, such as temperature fluctuations, freezing and melting, or movement. These conditions allow humans to regulate their body temperature, airplanes to fly, and the Earth to rumble with seismic activity. But even though these conditions exist naturally and are required for the most ...

The planet's current biodiversity, the product of 3.5 billion years of evolutionary trial and error, is the highest in the history of life. But it may be reaching a tipping point. In a new review of scientific literature and analysis of data published in Science, an international team of scientists cautions that the loss and decline of animals is contributing to what appears to be the early days of the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event. Since 1500, more than 320 terrestrial vertebrates have become extinct. Populations of the remaining species show a 25 ...

When a foreign material like a medical device or surgical implant is put inside the human body, the body always responds. According to Northwestern University's Guillermo Ameer, most of the time, that response can be negative and affect the device's function. "You will always get an inflammatory response to some degree," said Ameer, professor of biomedical engineering in Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and professor of surgery in the Feinberg School of Medicine. "A problem with commonly used plastic materials, in particular, is that ...

TORONTO, June 24, 2014 – Some sticky research out of York University shows a surprisingly effective way to fight against a certain species of toxic grass fungus: moose saliva (yes… moose saliva). Published in this month's Biology Letters, "Ungulate saliva inhibits a grass–endophyte mutualism" shows that moose and reindeer saliva, when applied to red fescue grass (which hosts a fungus called epichloë festucae that produces the toxin ergovaline) results in slower fungus growth and less toxicity. "Plants have evolved defense mechanisms to protect themselves, such as thorns, ...

MADISON — To share is human. And the means to share personal news — good and bad — have exploded over the last decade, particularly social media and texting. But until now, all research about what is known as "social sharing," or the act of telling others about the important events in our lives, has been restricted to face-to-face interactions. A new study, published in the current issue of the journal Computers in Human Behavior, investigates what happens when people share via new media. What media do people choose for sharing their important personal events? How ...

Athens, Ga. – When asked who is going to win an election, people tend to predict their own candidate will come out on top. When that doesn't happen, according to a new study from the University of Georgia, these "surprised losers" often have less trust in government and democracy. And the news media may be partly to blame, according to Barry Hollander, author of the study and UGA professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. "You need the trust of those in a democracy for democracy to be successful," said Hollander. "We have become more fragmented ...

PHILADELPHA—A rare procedure occasionally performed during Jewish circumcisions that involves direct oral suction is a likely source of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) transmissions documented in infants between 1988 and 2012, a literature review conducted by Penn Medicine researchers and published online in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society found. The reviewers, from Penn's Center for Evidence-based Practice, identified 30 reported cases in New York, Canada and Israel. The practice—known as metzitzah b'peh—and its link to HSV-1 infections ...

PHILADELPHIA – New research from Penn Medicine shows that incisionless transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surgery cuts length of hospital stay by 30 percent and has no impact on post-operative vascular complication rates when compared with conventional transfemoral TAVR, which requires an incision in the groin. The complete study is available in the current issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. TAVR involves the replacement of the aortic valve without a traditional open-heart surgical approach. It is a treatment for aortic stenosis, a narrowing ...

Skin Cancer cells work together to spread further and faster, according to a new study published in Cell Reports. The discovery could lead to new drugs to tackle melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. Cancer Research UK scientists at The University of Manchester found that some melanoma cells are particularly fast growing, but not very good at invading the surrounding tissue, while other melanoma cells are the opposite – highly invasive but slow-growing. In a tumour, the faster growing cells 'piggy-back' along with the more invasive cells, so together they ...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – A yearlong study funded by the New Jersey Recovery Fund and conducted by researchers at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University has found that individual property owners in Sandy-affected towns are skeptical about the likelihood of community-based rebuilding solutions. Of the more than 400 online survey respondents, 45 percent indicated they were "pessimistic" or "very pessimistic" that the parts of their town affected by Superstorm Sandy would be rebuilt better than they were before the storm; another 24 ...

Being unemployed increases your risk of death, but recessions decrease it. Sound paradoxical? Researchers thought so too. While previous studies of individuals have shown that employees who lose their jobs have a higher mortality rate, more comprehensive studies have shown, unexpectedly, that population mortality actually declines as unemployment rates increase. Researchers from Drexel University and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor set out to better understand these seemingly contradictory findings. Using a nationally representative panel of individuals across ...

Music fans and critics know that the music of the Beatles underwent a dramatic transformation in just a few years, but until now there hasn't been a scientific way to measure the progression. That could change now that computer scientists at Lawrence Technological University have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that can analyze and compare musical styles, enabling research into the musical progression of the Beatles. Assistant Professor Lior Shamir and graduate student Joe George had previously developed audio analysis technology to study the vocal communication ...

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (July 24, 2014) -- Some babies are at risk for autism because they have an older sibling that has the disorder. To find new ways to detect Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) earlier in life, researchers are exploring the subtleties of babies' interactions with others and how they relate to the possibility and severity of future symptoms. A new study helps us to understand the connection between early joint attention before one year and later ASD symptoms. Joint attention is an early form of communication that develops toward the end of the first year. ...

Narcissism, considered by some as the "dark side of the executive personality," may actually be a good thing when it comes to certain financial measures, with companies led by narcissistic CEOs outperforming those helmed by non-narcissistic executives, according to recent research co-authored by faculty at the USC Marshall School of Business. The study, "CEO Narcissism and Accounting: A Picture of Profits," published in The Journal of Management Accounting Research, by Professor of Accounting Mark Young, who holds the George Bozanic and Holman G. Hurt Chair in Sports ...

These molecules, which have similar counterparts in humans, affect the connections between nerve cells and influence the transmission of nerve signals into the hippocampus, an area of the brain that plays a significant role in learning processes and the creation of memories. The results of the study have been published in the journal Neuron. Brain function depends on the active communication between nerve cells, known as neurons. For this purpose, neurons are woven together into a dense network where they constantly relay signals to one another. However, neurons do not ...

July 17, 2014, Cleveland: Could the body's own immune system play a role in memory impairment and cognitive dysfunction associated with conditions like chronic epilepsy, Alzheimer's dementia and concussions? Cleveland Clinic researchers believe so, based on a study published online by PLOS ONE. The study focuses on the role of a protein known as S100B, which serves as a biomarker for brain damage. Normally, S100B is found only in the brain and spinal column. However, following a brain injury, it can leak through the blood-brain barrier into the blood. Once S100B enters ...

Glenview, Illinois -- The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) announced today the Online First publication of 'Total and State-Specific Medical and Absenteeism Costs of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Among Adults Aged ≥18 Years in the United States for 2010 and Projections Through 2020' in the journal CHEST. The report, presented by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), finds: In 2010, the total national medical costs attributable to COPD were estimated at $32.1 billion dollars annually. Absenteeism costs ...

Hundreds of fires covered central Africa in mid-July 2014, as the annual fire season continues across the region. Multiple red hotspots, which indicate areas of increased temperatures, are heavily sprinkled across the Congo (northwest), Angola (south), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (northeast), and Zambia (southeast). Thick gray smoke rises from some of the hotspots, and in some areas, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, strong winds drive the smoke to the south. The fire season is an annual event in this region, as residents burn scrub, brush and ...

The latest flare-up in the Middle East catches children in the midst of their long-anticipated summer break. The wail of sirens replaces the jingle of ice cream trucks, and boys and girls dash to a bomb shelter instead of playing tag at the park. Young people are enduring a summer of violence, devastation, panic, and isolation. What are the long-term effects of these conditions? A new study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress by Prof. Michelle Slone of Tel Aviv University's School of Psychological Sciences and Dr. Anat Shoshani of the Interdisciplinary Center ...

Millenials are narcissistic, scientists are geeky and men like sports — or so cultural stereotypes would have us believe. Regardless of whether we believe them to be true, we all have extensive knowledge of cultural stereotypes. But how does this information become associated with certain groups in the first place? Research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that cultural stereotypes are the unintended but inevitable consequence of sharing social information. "We examined how social information evolves ...

The Atlantic Forest is a hotspot of biodiversity and one of the most species richness biome of anurans (frogs, tree-frogs, and toads) in the world. However, current levels of diversity might be still underestimated. In the past few years has been an increase in the description of new endemic species of this biome along with the advance of molecular techniques and availability of samples for DNA analysis. Using a more extensive number of samples for molecular and morphological analysis, researchers from the University of Richmond and The George Washington University ...

Researchers in Ohio and Rhode Island have identified two previously undescribed radiological signs of potentially life-threatening slippage of laparoscopically adjustable gastric bands. Adding widespread knowledge of the new signs—inferior displacement of the superolateral band margin by more than 2.4 cm from the diaphragm and the presence of an air-fluid level above the band on a frontal radiograph—to radiologists' knowledge base will aid them in diagnosing affected bariatric patients. These signs of serious complications are evident on upright frontal scout radiographs, ...

Insecticides similar to nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, were found commonly in streams throughout the Midwest, according to a new USGS study. This is the first broad-scale investigation of neonicotinoid insecticides in the Midwestern United States and one of the first conducted within the United States. Effective in killing a broad range of insect pests, use of neonicotinoid insecticides has dramatically increased over the last decade across the United States, particularly in the Midwest. The use of clothianidin, one of the chemicals studied, on corn in Iowa alone ...