VIDEO: This is an example of the use of the whiskers for collision avoidance. Unexpected whisker contact results in rapid deceleration of forward locomotion velocity and the animal orients to the... Click here for more information. The way rats use their whiskers is more similar to how humans use their hands and fingers than previously thought, new research from the University of Sheffield has found. Rats deliberately change how they sense their environment using their ...

Light from tiny galaxies over 13 billion years ago played a larger role than previously thought in creating the conditions in the universe as we know it today, a new study has found. Ultraviolet (UV) light from stars in these faint dwarf galaxies helped strip interstellar hydrogen of electrons in a process called reionization. The epoch of reionization began about 200 million years after the Big Bang and astrophysicists agree that it took about 800 million more for the entire universe to become reionized. It marked the last major phase transition of gas in the universe, ...

From July 4 to July 7 Tropical Cyclone Neoguri strengthened from a tropical storm into a supertyphoon. NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites passed over the rapidly intensifying storm and provided forecasters with visible, infrared and microwave data on the powerful supertyphoon. On July 4 at 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT) Neoguri had maximum sustained winds near 55 knots (63.2 mph/101.9 kph). It was located near 13.1 north and 141.4 east, about 207 nautical miles (238.2 miles/383.4 km) west of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. It was moving to the northwest at 13 knots (14.9 mph/24.0 ...

(Edmonton) In the drive to get small, Robert Wolkow and his lab at the University of Alberta are taking giant steps forward. The digital age has resulted in a succession of smaller, cleaner and less power-hungry technologies since the days the personal computer fit atop a desk, replacing mainframe models that once filled entire rooms. Desktop PCs have since given way to smaller and smaller laptops, smartphones and devices that most of us carry around in our pockets. But as Wolkow points out, this technological shrinkage can only go so far when using traditional transistor-based ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Ripping a page from the Star Trek script, specialized cells of the barrier that lines the inside of the intestines and airways of humans have invoked a biological version of Captain Kirk's famous command "shields up" as a first defense against invading microbes. Research in the UCR School of Medicine laboratory of David Lo found that certain cells of the epithelium have a potentially important role in immune surveillance – creating an electrostatic repulsion field to microbial invasion. The study is featured on the cover of the July issue of Infection ...

Pregnant women are using the Internet to seek answers to their medical questions more often than they would like, say Penn State researchers. "We found that first-time moms were upset that their first prenatal visit did not occur until eight weeks into pregnancy," said Jennifer L. Kraschnewski, assistant professor of medicine and public health sciences, Penn State College of Medicine. "These women reported using Google and other search engines because they had a lot of questions at the beginning of pregnancy, before their first doctor's appointment." Following the women's ...

A new UBC Sauder School of Business study shows that teenagers who work at summer or evening jobs gain a competitive advantage later in life. Developing early knowledge of the working world and how to manage in it, they are more likely to find good employment and earn more money in the future. "With summer in full swing and kids sitting on the couch, parents are wondering whether to push them to find a job," says Sauder professor Marc-David L. Seidel, who co-authored the study. "Parents may think that their kids could do better than a job at the local fast food joint. ...

The full circumstances of U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl's captivity have yet to be revealed. During his tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2009, Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban and held in captivity for five years until a controversial prisoner exchange led to his release on May 31. Bergdahl has been accused of deserting his post and advocating the release of Afghani prisoners. "We do know that he suffered horrific conditions, tortured and kept in a metal cage in darkness for weeks on end," said Prof. Zahava Solomon, an Israel Prize laureate, Professor of Social Work and ...

Allowing patients to choose which hospital they attend when suffering illness during a pandemic rather than assigning them to a specific healthcare facility is appealing to patients during such a crisis. However, such a patient-centric hospital capacity management is conventionally viewed as inefficient system-wide. According to research published in the International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research, an incentive-based approach for hospital capacity management can not only accomplish a high efficiency for a concerned hospital system but satisfy patients' ...

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2014 — The World Cup final is almost here, and no matter which two teams meet for the title match, there's one thing they'll both need to win: the ball. This week, Reactions examines the chemistry that goes into making the "brazuca," and what makes it different from most other soccer balls out there. The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XNTfslUzt8. INFORMATION: Subscribe to the series at Reactions YouTube, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions to be the first to see our latest videos. The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit ...

Infant toenails are a reliable way to estimate arsenic exposure before birth, a Dartmouth College study shows. The findings appear in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. A PDF of the study is available on request. A growing body of evidence suggests that in utero and early-life exposure to arsenic may have detrimental effects on children, even at the low to moderate levels common in the United States and elsewhere. The fetus starts to develop toenails during the first trimester, making them an accurate measure of exposure to arsenic during ...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A survey of first-year Grand Valley State University students showed the biggest barrier to receiving a Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was moral or religious beliefs, or a perceived promotion of sexual behavior, according to graduate physician assistant researchers. Physician Assistant Studies majors Jamie Phillipich and Margie Webb surveyed 1,000 incoming students last fall as part of their master's research project. They assessed the influence media has on the perception of HPV and vaccine compliance, and presented their findings at the Annual ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A neuroscience study provides new insight into the primal brain circuits involved in collision avoidance, and perhaps a more general model of how neurons can participate in networks to process information and act on it. In the study, Brown University neuroscientists tracked the cell-by-cell progress of neural signals from the eyes through the brains of tadpoles as they saw and reacted to stimuli including an apparently approaching black circle. In so doing, the researchers were able to gain a novel understanding of how individual ...

Irvine, Calif., July 7, 2014 – Data from NASA satellites can greatly improve predictions of how likely a river basin is to overflow months before it does, according to new findings by UC Irvine. The use of such data, which capture a much fuller picture of how water is accumulating, could result in earlier flood warnings, potentially saving lives and property. The research was published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience. A case study of the catastrophic 2011 Missouri River floods showed that factoring into hydrologic models the total water storage information ...

Let's say you're a bee and you've spotted a new and particularly lucrative source of nectar and pollen. What's the best way to communicate the location of this prize cache of food to the rest of your nestmates without revealing it to competitors, or "eavesdropping" spies, outside of the colony? Many animals are thought to deter eavesdroppers by making their signals revealing the location or quality of resources less conspicuous to outsiders. In essence, they've evolved "whispers" in their signals to counter eavesdropping. But some species of bees in Brazil do the exact ...

Obesity, especially excessive belly fat, is a risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) Excessive belly fat and low physical activity are linked to progression of the disease in people with COPD, but it is not known whether these modifiable factors are linked to new cases. A team of researchers in Germany and the United States looked at the relationship of waist and hip circumference, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity levels to new cases of COPD in a large group of men ...

Philadelphia, PA, July 7, 2014 – Sedentary lifestyle and not caloric intake may be to blame for increased obesity in the US, according to a new analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). A study published in the American Journal of Medicine reveals that in the past 20 years there has been a sharp decrease in physical exercise and an increase in average body mass index (BMI), while caloric intake has remained steady. Investigators theorized that a nationwide drop in leisure-time physical activity, especially among young women, may ...

MADISON — When it comes to science, socioeconomic status may widen confidence gaps among the least and most educated groups in society, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Science, Media and the Public research group. The findings, published in June in the journal Science Communication, show that similar levels of attention to science in newspapers and on blogs can lead to vastly different levels of factual and perceived knowledge between the two groups. Notably, frequent science blog readership among low socioeconomic-status ...

An important development in understanding how the bacterium that causes pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia remains harmlessly in the nose and throat has been discovered at the University of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health. Streptococcus pneumoniae is a 'commensal', which can live harmlessly in the nasopharynx as part of the body's natural bacterial flora. However, in the very young and old it can invade the rest of the body, leading to serious diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis, which claim up to a million lives every year worldwide. ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Problematic eating behaviors and dissatisfaction with one's body are familiar struggles among women. To combat those behaviors, which have led to higher healthcare premiums and medical trends, employers have offered worksite wellness programs to employees and their families. However, the vast majority of wellness programs limit their approach to promoting diets, which may result in participants regaining the majority of their weight once the programs end. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that "Eat for Life," a new wellness approach ...

In addition to providing regular assessments of scientific literature, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Process (IPCC) also produces a "Summary for Policymakers" intended to highlight relevant policy issues through data. While the summary presents powerful scientific evidence, it goes through an approval process in which governments can question wording and the selection of findings but not alter scientific facts or introduce statements at odds with the science. In particular, during this process, the most recent summary on mitigation policies was stripped ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Dating during the teen years takes a violent turn for nearly 1 in 6 young people, a new study finds, with both genders reporting acts like punching, pulling hair, shoving, and throwing things. The startling number, drawn from a University of Michigan Medical School survey of more than 4,000 adolescent patients ages 14 to 20 seeking emergency care, indicates that dating violence is common and affects both genders. Probing deeper, the study finds that those with depression, or a history of using drugs or alcohol, have a higher likelihood to act as ...

MANHATTAN, KAN. — Want to be more productive and happier during the workday? Try taking a short break to text a friend, play "Angry Birds" or check Facebook on your smartphone, according to Kansas State University research. In his latest research, Sooyeol Kim, doctoral student in psychological sciences, found that allowing employees to take smartphone microbreaks may be a benefit — rather than a disruption — for businesses. Microbreaks are nonworking-related behaviors during working hours. Through a study of 72 full-time workers from various industries, Kim discovered ...

Twenty-four hours of sleep deprivation can lead to conditions in healthy persons similar to the symptoms of schizophrenia. This discovery was made by an international team of researchers under the guidance of the University of Bonn and King's College London. The scientists point out that this effect should be investigated more closely in persons who have to work at night. In addition, sleep deprivation may serve as a model system for the development of drugs to treat psychosis. The results have now been published in "The Journal of Neuroscience". In psychosis, there is ...

A long-term study of the links between climate and marine life along the rapidly warming West Antarctic Peninsula reveals how changes in physical factors such as wind speed and sea-ice cover send ripples up the food chain, with impacts on everything from single-celled algae to penguins. The study, published in today's issue of Nature Communications, is authored by Dr. Grace Saba, an alumna of William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science (now at Rutgers University); VIMS professor Deborah Steinberg; Dr. Vincent Saba, a VIMS alumnus now at NOAA's National Marine ...