An international team of researchers coordinated by ornithologist Bret Whitney of the LSU Museum of Natural Science, or LSUMNS, recently published 15 species of birds previously unknown to science. The formal description of these birds has been printed in a special volume of the "Handbook of the Birds of the World" series. Not since 1871 have so many new species of birds been introduced under a single cover, and all 15 discoveries involve a current or former LSU researcher or student. "Birds are, far and away, the best-known group of vertebrates, so describing a large ...

For the first time, astronomers have seen the image of a distant quasar split into multiple images by the effects of a cloud of ionized gas in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Such events were predicted as early as 1970, but the first evidence for one now has come from the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope system. The scientists observed the quasar 2023+335, nearly 3 billion light-years from Earth, as part of a long-term study of ongoing changes in some 300 quasars. When they examined a series of images of 2023+335, they noted dramatic ...

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new oxygen "sponge" that can easily absorb or shed oxygen atoms at low temperatures. Materials with these novel characteristics would be useful in devices such as rechargeable batteries, sensors, gas converters and fuel cells. Materials containing atoms that can switch back and forth between multiple oxidation states are technologically important but very rare in nature, says ORNL's Ho Nyung Lee, who led the international research team that published its findings in Nature Materials. ...

When NASA's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) begins operation aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission managed by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., it will attempt to show two-way laser communication beyond Earth is possible, expanding the possibility of transmitting huge amounts of data. This new ability could one day allow for 3-D High Definition video transmissions in deep space to become routine. "The goal of the LLCD experiment is to validate and build confidence in this technology so that future ...

This news release is available in French. Branched Bartonia (Bartonia paniculata), a threatened species, is a spindly annual plant that grows to 40 cm tall and has tiny white flowers. Researchers at Trent University compared genetic data from the two geographically distinct populations of this small wetland plant, and found that the Muskoka, Ontario ones are genetically very different from a core population found in New York State, 600 km away. This discovery suggests that the Branched Bartonia in Ontario is genetically unique, and therefore under a much greater threat ...

Using an instrument on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, called the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, or HMI, scientists have overturned previous notions of how the sun's writhing insides move from equator to pole and back again, a key part of understanding how the dynamo works. Modeling this system also lies at the heart of improving predictions of the intensity of the next solar cycle. Using SDO, scientists see a performance of explosions and fountains on the solar surface. Shots of solar material leap into the air. Dark blemishes called sunspots grow, combine and ...

Chicago (August 28, 2013)—Surgeons at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, are working to reduce serious complications that have been known to occur with colorectal operations. In addition to using a set of pre-and postoperative standards that speed recovery which they have been publishing on for more than a decade, the researchers have validated yet another step surgeons can take to further reduce patients' hospital stays: adding a procedure called the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block to patients' surgical care. The results of their study appear ...

Cincinnati, OH, August 29, 2013 -- Medication poisonings among children are an important public health problem. During 2010-2011, an average of 1500 children under 6 years of age was evaluated in emergency departments each year due to unintentional exposure to buprenorphine. Ingestion of strong opioids, such as buprenorphine, can cause central nervous system depression, respiratory depression, and death in young children. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers study how young children are gaining access to buprenorphine, as ...

WASHINGTON, DC, August 27, 2013 -- Better-educated middle-aged Americans are less likely to smoke and more apt to be physically active than their less-educated peers. They are also more inclined to make healthy changes -- in general and in the face of new medical conditions -- and adhere to them, according to a new study in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. "This study documents that there are very large differences by education in smoking and physical activity trajectories in middle age, even though many health habits are already set ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (August 29, 2013)—Symptoms of vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA), such as lack of lubrication, irritated tissues, painful urination, and pain with intercourse, affect as many as 45% of women after menopause. That's according to The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), which today published new guidance for diagnosing and treating VVA. The Society's Position Statement "Management of Vulvovaginal Atrophy" appears in the September issue of Menopause. "The symptoms of VVA can significantly impair women's quality of life and relationships, yet few women whose lives ...

With so many other competing voices, having a conversation on a bustling subway or at a crowded cocktail party takes a great deal of concentration. New research suggests that the familiar voice of a spouse stands out against other voices, helping to sharpen auditory perception and making it easier to focus on one voice at a time. "Familiar voices appear to influence the way an auditory 'scene' is perceptually organized," explains lead researcher Ingrid Johnsrude of Queen's University, Canada. Johnsrude and her colleagues asked married couples, ages 44-79, to record ...

WASHINGTON – Deep down, men may not bask in the glory of their successful wives or girlfriends. While this is not true of women, men's subconscious self-esteem may be bruised when their spouse or girlfriend excels, says a study published by the American Psychological Association. It didn't matter if their significant other was an excellent hostess or intelligent, men were more likely to feel subconsciously worse about themselves when their female partner succeeded than when she failed, according to the study published online in the APA Journal of Personality and Social ...

Scientists at ETH Zurich and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California have developed an innovative sensor for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Thanks to its unique surface properties at nanoscale, the method can be used to perform analyses that are more reliable, sensitive and cost-effective. In experiments with the new sensor, the researchers were able to detect a certain organic species (1,2bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene, or BPE) in a concentration of a few hundred femtomoles per litre. A 100 femtomolar solution contains around 60 million molecules ...

All too often, when a person takes a pill full of a potent and effective drug, the drug passes straight through the body, not reaching the organ where it is needed — a waste of money and inconvenient if it is a cold medicine, but potentially dire if it is a treatment for a serious illness. Polymer chemists at Virginia Tech and pharmaceutical scientists at Purdue University have teamed up to design a solution. Their research to identify, understand, and create new polymer additives that enhance the ability of orally administered drugs to reach the bloodstream has been ...

Even though most Americans believe some kind of conspiracy theory about HIV care and research, many are willing to take part in vaccine trails, according to a new study1 by Ryan Westergaard of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, published in Springer's Journal of General Internal Medicine.2 The study found no link between distrust in medical research and willingness to participate in related studies. Westergaard and his team asked 601 Chicago residents at various shopping centers to voluntarily complete a set of 235 questions. The survey ...

Chicago, IL – (August 27, 2013) – When a woman becomes pregnant, she knows it is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle to ensure both the health of herself and the health of her baby. New clinical recommendations from the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) and the Eurpean Federation of Periodontology (EFP) urge pregnant women to maintain periodontal health as well. Research has indicated that women with periodontal disease may be at risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, such giving birth to a pre-term or low-birth weight baby, reports the AAP and EFP. Periodontal ...

Tuesday, August 27: The radioactive ocean plume from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster will reach the shores of the US within three years from the date of the incident but is likely to be harmless according to new paper in the journal Deep-Sea Research 1. While atmospheric radiation was detected on the US west coast within days of the incident, the radioactive particles in the ocean plume take considerably longer to travel the same distance. In the paper, researchers from the Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science and others used a range of ocean simulations ...

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (August 28, 2013) — In the United States there are millions of sports related concussions each year, but many go undiagnosed because for some athletes, the fear of being benched trumps the fear of permanent brain damage, and there is no objective test available to accurately diagnose concussions on the sidelines. Researchers at San Diego State University have set out to change that. A team led by Daniel Goble, an exercise and nutritional sciences professor at SDSU, have developed software and an inexpensive balance board that can measure balance with ...

Researchers have identified five enzymes that are essential to the survival of a parasitic worm that infects livestock worldwide and is a great threat to global food security. Two of these proteins are already being studied as potential drug targets against other pathogens. The team sequenced the genome of Haemonchus contortus, or the barber pole worm, a well-studied parasitic worm that resides in the gut of sheep and other livestock globally. This genome could provide a comprehensive understanding of how treatments against parasitic worms work and point to further new ...

Much as human siblings can have vastly different personalities despite their similar resemblance and genetics, two closely related species of electric fish from the Amazon produce very different electric signals. These species, new to science, are described in the open access journal ZooKeys by Drs. John Sullivan of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Jansen Zuanon of the National Amazonian Research Institute in Manaus, Brazil and Cristina Cox Fernandes of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The two new species are bluntnose knifefish, genus Brachyhypopomus, ...

Patients attending clinical nurse specialist clinics do not get inferior treatment to that offered by consultant rheumatologists, the results of a major new clinical trial have revealed. The results of the multi-centre trial at the University of Leeds, funded by Arthritis Research UK, showed that there may be some clinical benefit to people with rheumatoid arthritis, whose condition is managed in clinics run by rheumatology clinical nurse specialists, especially with respect to their disease activity, pain control, physical function and general satisfaction with their ...

An innovative measurement method was used at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw for estimating power generated by motors of single molecule in size, comprising a few dozens of atoms only. The findings of the study are of crucial importance for construction of future nanometer machines – and they do not instil optimism. Nanomachines are devices of the future. Composed of a very little number of atoms, they would be in the range of billionth parts of a meter in size. Construction of efficient nanomachines would lead most likely ...

New research suggests that children are far less likely to be diagnosed with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the UK than they are in the USA. However, the same study, led by the University of Exeter Medical School, suggests that autism diagnosis is still rising. The study is published online in the Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, published by Springer, and was supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care in the South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC). ADHD is thought to be the most common disorder of ...

The first mammals arose in the Triassic period, over 225 million years ago. These early furballs include small shrew-like animals such as Morganucodon from England, Megazostrodon from South Africa, and Bienotherium from China. They had differentiated teeth (incisors, canines, molars) and large brains and were probably warm-blooded and covered in fur – all characteristics that make them stand apart from their reptile ancestors, and which contribute to their huge success today. However, new research from the University of Lincoln, the National Museum in Bloemfontein, ...

Leveraging the amazing natural properties of the Morpho butterfly's wings, scientists have developed a nanobiocomposite material that shows promise for wearable electronic devices, highly sensitive light sensors and sustainable batteries. A report on the new hybrid material appears in the journal ACS Nano. Eijiro Miyako and colleagues explain that Morpho butterfly wings have natural properties that are beyond the capabilities of any current technology to reproduce artificially. In addition to being lightweight, thin and flexible, the butterfly's wings absorb solar energy, ...