Despite being much-maligned, materialism is not always bad for consumers. Loneliness may cause materialism, but the opposite is not necessarily true, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "It is widely believed that there is a vicious cycle in which loneliness leads to materialism and materialism in turn contributes to loneliness. But, contrary to popular beliefs about the universal perils of materialism, the pursuit of material possessions as part of a lifestyle of 'happy hedonism' may not actually be detrimental to consumer well-being when ...

Akron, Ohio, July 25, 2013 — University of Akron researchers have developed new materials that function on a nanoscale, which could lead to the creation of lighter laptops, slimmer televisions and crisper smartphone visual displays. Known as "giant surfactants" – or surface films and liquid solutions – the researchers, led by Stephen Z. D. Cheng, dean of UA's College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, used a technique known as nanopatterning to combine functioning molecular nanoparticles with polymers to build these novel materials. The giant surfactants ...

Complicated statistical behaviour observed in complex systems such as early universe can often be understood if it is broken down into simpler ones. Two physicists, Petr Jizba (currently affiliated with the Czech Technical University in Prague), and Fabio Scardigli (now working at Kyoto University in Japan), have just published results in EPJ C pertaining to theoretical predictions of such cosmological systems' dynamics. Their work focuses on complex dynamical systems whose statistical behaviour can be explained in terms of a superposition of simpler underlying dynamics. ...

Increased use of digital communication is causing consumers to lose their inhibitions and "overshare" online, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Sharing itself is not new, but consumers now have unlimited opportunities to share their thoughts, opinions, and photos, or otherwise promote themselves and their self-image online. Digital devices help us share more, and more broadly, then ever before," writes author Russell W. Belk (York University). Blogging beckons us to tell all. YouTube's slogan is "Broadcast Yourself." Social media sites ask ...

Consumers are more likely to search for alternatives when they are given only one option, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "There has been a lot of recent attention devoted to the pitfalls of presenting consumers with too many options. However, consumers may also react negatively when choices are too restrictive. Isolating an option, even temporarily, may increase how much consumers search and potentially the likelihood that they make no purchase," writes author Daniel Mochon (Tulane University). Suppose a consumer really wants to buy a ...

Companies that empower consumers by involving them in important processes such as product development shouldn't also try to influence them through social media, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Peer-to-peer marketing and consumer empowerment may not be compatible. Empowered consumers resist social influence by either discounting the opinions of others or deliberately expressing opinions that diverge from those of other consumers," write authors Mehdi Mourali (University of Calgary) and Zhiyong Yang (University of Texas, Arlington). Empowering ...

Consumers set high prices when selling their possessions because they feel threatened, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "When consumers consider selling a product they own, they feel threatened by the impending loss. In order to counter this threat, they increase the product's value," write authors Promothesh Chatterjee (University of Kansas), Caglar Irmak (University of Georgia), and Randall L. Rose (University of South Carolina). Due to a phenomenon called the "endowment effect," consumers seek much higher prices when selling a product ...

Brands do not necessarily need to present a clear, well-defined image in order to appeal to consumers, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. Consider the case of the Titanic. "Titanic. More than a century later, the name of the ill-fated steamship still strikes a chord with millions of consumers worldwide. Consumer fixation with the Titanic is not simply due to the scale of the calamity, since the death toll has been far exceeded on many occasions. Nor is it entirely attributable to humankind's appetite for the macabre or merely a case of being ...

Communication channels such as Facebook may be leading consumers to discuss more interesting products, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Whereas oral communication tends to be instantaneous (one person says something and then another responds almost immediately), written conversations tend to have longer gaps (consumers respond to e-mails, texts, or Facebook messages hours or days later). Rather than saying whatever comes to mind, consumers can take the time to think about what to say or edit their communication until it is polished," write ...

As Eastern Pacific Ocean's Tropical Storm Flossie continues to move further west toward Hawaii, NASA's TRMM satellite analyzed its rainfall. When NASA and the Japan Space Agency's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite passed over Tropical Storm Flossie, it measured rainfall rates occurring throughout the storm. TRMM noticed that the heaviest rainfall was occurring at a rate of 1.2 inches per hour north of the center. The heavy rain wrapped around the storm from the north to the east. Most of the remaining rainfall was light to moderate. Microwave satellite ...

NASA satellites analyzed Tropical Storm Dorian in infrared light, giving scientists an idea of the storm's structure, cloud heights and cloud temperatures. A Suomi-NPP Satellite View NASA-NOAA's Suomi-NPP satellite flew over Tropical Storm Dorian on July 25 at 03:52 UTC (July 24 at 11:52 p.m. EDT). At that time the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite or VIIRS instrument that flies aboard the satellite captured a night-time, infrared image of Tropical Storm Dorian. VIIRS data showed that the thunderstorms that surround the center of circulation were as cold as 195 ...

The frequency and duration of patient-doctor contact during dialysis care vary appreciably across countries. More frequent and longer contact with physicians is linked to fewer deaths and hospitalizations of dialysis patients. Approximately 2 million patients in the world receive some sort of dialysis treatment. Washington, DC (July 25, 2013) — Both the frequency and duration of patient-doctor contact during dialysis care vary appreciably across countries, and facilities with more frequent and longer contact had fewer patient deaths and hospitalizations, according ...

TORONTO, Canada -- Scientists at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have discovered a function of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN that helps explain why certain promising therapies fail in many cancer patients, a finding that could aid in delivering tailored, personalized cancer medicine based on an individual's genetics. The research, published online today in Science, "increases understanding of the molecular mechanisms of action of PTEN, which is known to be defective in as many as half of all advanced cancers" says principal investigator Vuk Stambolic, Senior Scientist ...

Researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics and MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have implanted false memories into mice, potentially illuminating the mechanisms underlying the human phenomenon of "recalling" experiences that never occurred. In previous work, the researchers had detected a single memory in the brain, genetically tagged the brain cells housing that memory with a light-sensitive protein, and flickered pulses of light to "turn on" the memory at any given moment. The latest work, to be reported in the journal Science, tinkers ...

PHILADELPHIA — The taller a postmenopausal woman is, the greater her risk for developing cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Height was linked to cancers of the breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, ovary, rectum, and thyroid, as well as to multiple myeloma and melanoma, and these associations did not change even after adjusting for factors known to influence these cancers, in this study of 20,928 postmenopausal women, identified from a large cohort of 144,701 ...

Women with clot-caused strokes are less likely than men to arrive at the hospital in time to receive the best treatment, according to a European study reported in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. In the study, 11 percent of women with acute ischemic strokes were treated with the clot-dissolving medication alteplase, compared with 14 percent of men. Study participants included 5,515 patients at 12 hospitals in the Netherlands. Researchers found no gender gap when they looked only at patients who arrived at the hospital within four hours of the onset of symptoms ...

Around a quarter of all operating room errors are caused by technology/equipment problems, indicates an analysis of the available evidence, published online in BMJ Quality & Safety. Inability to use the technology/equipment, lack of availability, and faulty devices/machines made up the bulk of the problems, the analysis indicates. The researchers methodically searched for published studies on errors and problems arising in operating rooms in electronic databases. After applying a quality assessment technique, they found 28 studies out of a total of 19,362 pieces of ...

A class of drug, called ACE inhibitors, which are used to lower blood pressure, slow the rate of cognitive decline typical of dementia, suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Furthermore, these drugs may even boost brain power, the research indicates. The researchers compared the rates of cognitive decline in 361 patients who had either been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, or a mix of both. Eighty five of the patients were already taking ACE inhibitors; the rest were not. The researchers also assessed the impact of ACE ...

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – A team of scientists has obtained intriguing insights into two groups of autism candidate genes in the mammalian brain that new evidence suggests are functionally and spatially related. The newly published analysis identifies two networked groupings from 26 genes associated with autism that are overexpressed in the cerebellar cortex, in areas dominated by neurons called granule cells. The team, composed of neuroscientists and computational biologists, worked from a database providing expression levels of individual genes throughout the mouse ...

Boston, Mass., July 25, 2013 – Though existing research has shown gastric bypass surgery resolves type 2 diabetes, the reason has remained unclear. A research team, led by Nicholas Stylopoulos, MD, Boston Children's Hospital's Division of Endocrinology, has identified the small intestine—widely believed to be a passive organ—as the major contributor to the body's metabolism, based on a study in rats. The report will appear in Science on July 26, 2013. Weight loss and improved diabetes often go hand-in-hand, but type 2 diabetes often gets resolved even before weight loss ...

As the world's best athletes descend on London today to take part in the Olympic Anniversary Games, a group of researchers from Mexico has provided an insight into the physics of one of the greatest athletic performances of all time. In a new paper published today, 26 July, in IOP Publishing's European Journal of Physics, the researchers have put forward a mathematical model that accurately depicts the truly extraordinary feats of Usain Bolt during his 100 metre world record sprint at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. According to the researchers' model, Bolt's ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke researchers have devised a way to quickly and easily target and tinker with any gene in the human genome. The new tool, which builds on an RNA-guided enzyme they borrowed from bacteria, is being made freely available to researchers who may now apply it to the next round of genome discovery. The new method also has obvious utility for gene therapy and for efforts to reprogram stem or adult cells into other cell types – for example, to make new neurons from skin cells. "We have the genome sequence and we know what all the parts are, but we are ...

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The phenomenon of false memory has been well-documented: In many court cases, defendants have been found guilty based on testimony from witnesses and victims who were sure of their recollections, but DNA evidence later overturned the conviction. In a step toward understanding how these faulty memories arise, MIT neuroscientists have shown that they can plant false memories in the brains of mice. They also found that many of the neurological traces of these memories are identical in nature to those of authentic memories. "Whether it's a false or genuine ...

Two of literature's most famous detectives had a major influence on the development of the modern crime scene investigation, according to a historian from The University of Manchester. Dr Ian Burney's research into the history of "CSI" has revealed that two of its founding fathers – Frenchman Edmond Locard and Austrian Hans Gross – were influenced by British writers Arthur Conan Doyle and R Austen Freeman. Conan Doyle, a doctor and creator of Sherlock Holmes and Freeman, another doctor whose creation Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke is the prototype for the modern forensic ...

Scientists have discovered a new molecule that prevents cancer cells from responding and surviving when starved of oxygen and which could be developed into new treatments for the disease, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society* today (Friday). Cancer Research UK scientists at the University of Southampton found that this molecule targets the master switch -- HIF-1 -- that cancer cells use to adapt to low oxygen levels, a common feature in the disease. The researchers uncovered a way to stop cancer cells using this switch ...