Organic farming fosters biodiversity. At least that's the theory. In practice, however, the number of habitats on the land plays an important role alongside the type and intensity of farming practices. These are the findings of an international study that looked at 10 regions in Europe and two in Africa. The results has been published in Nature Communications. The study shows that even organic farms have to actively support biodiversity by, for example, conserving different habitats on their holdings. An international team, including participants from Technische Universität ...

A team of researchers headed by the Erfurt-based psychologist Prof. Ralf Rummer and the Cologne-based phoneticist Prof. Martine Grice has carried out some ground-breaking experiments to uncover the links between language and emotions. They were able to demonstrate that the articulation of vowels systematically influences our feelings and vice versa. The research project looked at the question of whether and to what extent the meaning of words is linked to their sound. The specific focus of the project was on two special cases; the sound of the long 'i' vowel (/i:/) and ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Mom or dad may have driven you to cello rehearsal all those years, but you can also thank your genes for pushing you to practice, according to new research led by a Michigan State University professor. Genetics and environment work together to help people become accomplished musicians, finds the study of 850 sets of twins. It's another arrow in the quiver of the argument that both nature and nurture play a role in developing expertise. "The nature vs. nurture debate has raged since the beginning of psychology," said Zach Hambrick, MSU professor ...

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2014—By fusing together the concepts of active fiber sensors and high-temperature fiber sensors, a team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh has created an all-optical high-temperature sensor for gas flow measurements that operates at record-setting temperatures above 800 degrees Celsius. This technology is expected to find industrial sensing applications in harsh environments ranging from deep geothermal drill cores to the interiors of nuclear reactors to the cold vacuum of space missions, and it may eventually be extended to many others. The ...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) released today a Progress Review on the Coordinated Implementation of the National Nanotechnology Initiative 2011 Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Strategy, a document that demonstrates the wide range of research activities, accomplishments, and collaborations of Federal agencies working toward the responsible development of nanotechnology. This document is a result of efforts by the Federal agencies participating in the Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) Working Group. NEHI is a Working Group ...

This is shown by the most comprehensive study to date on technology strategies to combat climate change, published in a special issue of the journal Climatic Change. It is based on the analysis of 18 computer models by an international team of scientists under the roof of the Stanford Energy Modelling Forum (EMF 27). "Versatile technologies seem to be most important to keep costs in check," says lead author Elmar Kriegler from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Both bioenergy and CCS can help reduce emissions from non-electric energy use that would be ...

New Rochelle, NY, June 26, 2014—Psychostimulant use to treat children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasing worldwide, and the evaluation of the cardiovascular safety of stimulant medication used in treatment has been a recent topic of concern. The results of the first nationwide study of the cardiovascular safety of stimulants in children and adolescents are published in Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (JCAP), a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on ...

New Rochelle, NY, June 26, 2014—Respiratory and intestinal infections caused by RNA viruses stimulate infected cells to produce interferons, which can act alone or in combination to block virus replication. Important differences between the presence of IFN receptors on cells and new evidence that specific types of IFNs can control RNA virus infection are explored in a Review article in Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research (JICR), a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the JICR website. In "Type-I and ...

AMES, Iowa – Ludovico Cademartiri had what seemed like an impossibly demanding list of requirements for his lab equipment. The Iowa State University assistant professor of materials science and engineering wants to understand environmental effects on plant growth, specifically how variations in climate and soil characteristics affect root growth. That requires highly controlled environments that expose whole plants to environmental effects such as nutrients, water, oxygen gradients as well as physical obstacles for the roots. Greenhouses can create fairly controlled ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – In 2011, the United States Military repealed its "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevented gay and lesbian service members from disclosing their sexual orientation. Current estimates indicate that more than 1 million veterans identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). Now, a University of Missouri researcher says these service members and veterans often are marginalized and may benefit from mental health professionals, including social workers, who are informed about the needs of individuals who identify as LGB. "Identifying as LGB and serving in ...

Philadelphia - According to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, physician graduates from the MBA program in heath care management at Penn's Wharton School report that their dual training had a positive effect on their individual careers and professional lives. Study respondents reported such benefits as career acceleration, professional flexibility, and credibility in multidisciplinary domains. Aside from clinical practice, the MD was more often cited as providing professional credibility, ...

For the first time, MIT neuroscientists have shown they can control muscle movement by applying optogenetics — a technique that allows scientists to control neurons' electrical impulses with light — to the spinal cords of animals that are awake and alert. Led by MIT Institute Professor Emilio Bizzi, the researchers studied mice in which a light-sensitive protein that promotes neural activity was inserted into a subset of spinal neurons. When the researchers shone blue light on the animals' spinal cords, their hind legs were completely but reversibly immobilized. The ...

Tampa, Fla. (June 26, 2014) – Academic technology transfer – the process of moving research from the lab to the market – provides intrinsic benefits to universities that go far beyond any potential revenues from licenses and royalties. So say the authors, from five universities across the country and the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), in a new article from the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) that appears in the current issue of Technology and Innovation and is available Open Access. "More than Money: The Exponential Impact of Academic Technology ...

WASHINGTON – While preferring silence to music from the West, chimpanzees apparently like to listen to the different rhythms of music from Africa and India, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. "Our objective was not to find a preference for different cultures' music. We used cultural music from Africa, India and Japan to pinpoint specific acoustic properties," said study coauthor Frans de Waal, PhD, of Emory University. "Past research has focused only on Western music and has not addressed the very different acoustic features ...

This news release is available in German. Sugar: red; fat: yellow; salt: green. The so-called 'food traffic lights' used in Great Britain indicate the volume of certain nutrients contained in a product by means of color-coded information on the packaging. The intention is to enable consumers to identify the advantages and disadvantages associated with a food product at a glance. The traffic light labeling system is a controversial topic throughout Europe. Since the financial crisis, it is also discussed for investment products. Scientists from the Technische Universität ...

The chemical used to make tofu and bath salts could also replace a highly toxic and expensive substance used to make solar cells, a University study published in the journal Nature has revealed. Cadmium chloride is currently a key ingredient in solar cell technology used in millions of solar panels around the world. This soluble compound is highly toxic and expensive to produce, requiring elaborate safety measures to protect workers during manufacture and then specialist disposal when panels are no longer needed. Now, a University of Liverpool researcher has found ...

Investigating the structure and dynamics of so-called Meso-Bio-Nano (MBN) systems—micron-sized biological or nanotechnology entities—is a rapidly expanding field of science. Now, scientists Alexander Yakubovich and Andrey Solov'yov from MBN Research Centre in Frankfurt, Germany, have produced a new theoretical study of a protein macromolecule changing from a coil structural conformation to a globular one. Their statistic mechanics model, just published in EPJ D, describes the thermodynamic properties of real proteins in an aqueous environment, using a minimal number of ...

Anyone living in a major U.S. city for the past decade may have noticed a change in the air. The change is apparent in new NASA satellite images unveiled this week that demonstrate the reduction of air pollution across the country. After ten years in orbit, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA's Aura satellite has been in orbit sufficiently long to show that people in major U.S. cities are breathing less nitrogen dioxide – a yellow-brown gas that can cause respiratory problems. Nitrogen dioxide is one of the six common pollutants regulated by the U.S. Environmental ...

DALLAS – June 26, 2014 – A drug that blocks the action of the enzyme Cdk5 could substantially reduce brain damage if administered shortly after a stroke, UT Southwestern Medical Center research suggests. The findings, reported in the June 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, determined in rodent models that aberrant Cdk5 activity causes nerve cell death during stroke. "If you inhibit Cdk5, then the vast majority of brain tissue stays alive without oxygen for up to one hour," said Dr. James Bibb, Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics at UT Southwestern ...

TORONTO, June 26, 2014—Foreign-trained physicians feel there are not enough residency positions for them in countries such as Canada and the United States and this information was not communicated to them before they emigrated, a new study has found. Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital surveyed international medical graduates to better understand the concepts of "brain drain," the migration of health care workers from low- and middle-income countries to higher-income countries, and "brain waste," where their skills are under-utilized or not utilized in their new country. ...

Why does one physician in a walk-in practice order laboratory monitoring tests for patients more often than a colleague working down the hallway? Which factors influence the use of these important tests that can help doctors ensure that high-risk drugs are prescribed safely? Clues to these questions lie in the age and general health of the patient, and whether the doctor is a specialist or not, says Shira Fischer of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She is the lead author of a study¹ which appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 26, 2014 - First-grade teachers in the United States may need to change their instructional practices if they are to raise the mathematics achievement of students with mathematics difficulties (MD), according to new research published online today in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. VIDEO: Co-author Paul L. Morgan discusses key findings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCAzLGSZ6aM&feature=youtu.be "Which Instructional Practices Most Help First-Grade Students with ...

Complementing the five basic tastes of sweet, bitter, salty, sour and umami, a large variety of odors also contribute to the overall sensory impression of a foodstuff. In recent decades, approximately 10,000 volatile food compounds have been identified. Scientists from Technische Universität München (TUM) and the German Research Center for Food Chemistry (DFA) have carried out a meta-analysis on the odorant patterns of 227 food samples. How cognac gets its complex notes They were surprised to find that the almost unlimited variety of food smells is based on 230 key ...

A simple non-surgical gum disease treatment markedly reduces the thickness of the wall of the arteries, a risk factor for heart disease, according to a first of its kind study among Aboriginal Australians. The study findings may be of particular importance to Aboriginal Australians, who in general have poorer oral health and higher rates of cardiovascular disease. Published in the latest issue of Hypertension, the study reports a significant decline in thickening of the wall of the carotid artery a year after a single session of gum treatment. "The study shows that ...

German researchers have found strong evidence that attaining a higher level of education and spending more years in school are two factors associated with a greater prevalence and severity of nearsightedness, or myopia. Published online this month in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the research is the first population-based study to demonstrate that environmental factors may outweigh genetics in the development of myopia. While common, nearsightedness has become even more prevalent around the world in recent years and presents a growing ...