The new study, published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics by researchers at IIASA and in Norway, Finland, and Russia, finds that gas flaring from oil extraction in the Arctic accounts for 42% of the black carbon concentrations in the Arctic, with even higher levels during certain times of the year. In the month of March for example, the study showed that flaring accounts for more than half of black carbon concentrations near the surface. Globally, in contrast, gas flaring accounts for only 3% of black carbon emissions. The researchers also found that residential ...

Researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered that more than 70% of bladder tumours display somatic mutations in the TERT gene (telomerase reverse transcriptase). The TERT gene is involved in the protection of DNA and in cellular ageing processes and cancer. These results make this gene the most mutated in these tumours. The study was led by Francisco X. Real, head of the Epithelial Carcinogenesis Group at CNIO, together with Nuria Malats, the head of the Genetic & Molecular Epidemiology Group at CNIO, as well as other European groups, ...

Dairy goats are usually separated from their mothers a few days to weeks after birth and reintroduced into the herd months later – on most farms either in the last months of first pregnancy or shortly after parturition/kidding. The practice is supposed to ensure stable milk production in the herd but it clearly causes stress to the goats. Problems arise because goat herds have a strictly hierarchical social structure and changes in herd composition may lead to serious rivalries and increased aggressive behaviour. Farmers are on the lookout for ways to keep the stress to ...

Evidence of diverse life forms dating back nearly a hundred thousand years has been found in subglacial lake sediments by a group of British scientists. The possibility that extreme life forms might exist in the cold and dark lakes hidden kilometres beneath the Antarctic ice sheet has fascinated scientists for decades. However, direct sampling of these lakes in the interior of Antarctica continues to present major technological challenges. Recognising this, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), and the Universities of Northumbria and Edinburgh have been ...

Chemists, physicists and computer scientists at the University of Warwick have come together to devise a new powerful and very versatile way of controlling the speed and direction of motion of microscopic structures in water using what they have dubbed chemically 'motorised microscopic matchsticks'. Before now most research seeking to influence the direction of motion of microscopic components have had to use outside influences such as a magnetic field or the application of light. The University of Warwick team have now found a way to do it by simply adding a chemical ...

New research has shown that schemes that grant children with a life threatening illness a special wish have a positive impact on their and their family's wellbeing. The research also demonstrates that seeing the child experience their wish was positive for the parents, while often it provoked bittersweet feelings. The study, published in Acta Paediatrica and led by Dr Anne-Sophie Darlington, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, Professor Passchier and Dr Heule at the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands, interviewed and surveyed 235 parents ...

Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a new compound that can be integrated into silicon chips and is a dilute magnetic semiconductor – meaning that it could be used to make "spintronic" devices, which rely on magnetic force to operate, rather than electrical currents. The researchers synthesized the new compound, strontium tin oxide (Sr3SnO), as an epitaxial thin film on a silicon chip. Epitaxial means the material is a single crystal. Because Sr3SnO is a dilute magnetic semiconductor, it could be used to create transistors that operate at room ...

Researchers of the Department of Anthropology of the Americas at the University of Bonn have discovered a mass grave in an artificial cave in the historical Maya city of Uxul (Mexico). Marks on the bones indicate that the individuals buried in the cave were decapitated and dismembered around 1,400 years ago. The scientists assume that the victims were either prisoners of war or nobles from Uxul itself. For the last five years, archaeologists of the department of Anthropology of the Americas of the University of Bonn have been excavating in the historical Maya city of ...

1. Scientists from A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have discovered a new defense mechanism that the immune system utilises to combat infections. The team's discovery of how a novel protein unexpectedly activates an immune response shows how this mechanism can also be used to get rid of tumour cells. This research was done in collaboration with University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, published in July 2013 in Nature Immunology. 2. The immune system combats microbes using several strategies, of which early activation of defence is one of the most important. ...

Scientists discovered a new species of a peculiar cave-dwelling snail in one of the 20 deepest cave systems in the world, Lukina Jama–Trojama in Croatia. The newly discovered species belongs to a genus of minute air-breathing land snails that have lost visual orientation and are considered to be true eutroglobionts, or exclusive cave-dwellers. The study describing the new species was published in the open access journal Subterranean Biology. The new species Zospeum tholussum is a miniature and fragile snail, with a beautifully shaped dome-like translucent shell. Only one ...

A community of microscopic algae and bacteria thrives within the Arctic and Antarctic pack ice. These ice-organisms are adapted to growing on the ice crystal surfaces and within a labyrinth of channels and pores that permeate the ice floes. It is a hostile place to grow with temperatures often at -10°C to -20°C, low light and within six or seven times more salty brines in the ice channels compared to the underlying seawater from where these organisms originate. Many marine organisms secrete gel-like substances in response to environmental stress, and these ice-dwellers ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Bilingual education programs have a substantial spillover effect on the students they're not designed for, according to a groundbreaking study co-authored by a Michigan State University scholar. Texas elementary students who speak English as their home language and were enrolled in schools with bilingual education programs performed much better on state math and reading tests than native English-speaking students at schools without bilingual education programs. The study did not explore the reasons why, but it could be because the English-speaking ...

Women are unconsciously deterring romantic rivals by buying certain luxury items, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Spending on luxury goods in the US amounts to as much as $525 billion per year, with women's products accounting for over half of this consumption. Why do women desire luxury goods?" write authors Yajin Wang and Vladas Griskevicius (both University of Minnesota). Sometimes it's because they want other women to know their mates are spoken for. "Women at different ages and relationship status inferred that a woman with designer ...

Consumers have negative reactions to flattery by salespeople, even if they think the compliments are sincere, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. But disliking a salesperson doesn't mean a customer won't buy from the store. "Imagine overhearing a conversation in which a salesperson profusely compliments a nearby customer on the elegance of her outfit," write authors Elaine Chan (Tilburg University) and Jaideep Sengupta (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology). The customer has already paid for her purchase, and she looks elegant to you, ...

Consumers are more likely to participate in online betting if it's called "gaming" rather than "gambling," according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Changing an industry label from gambling to gaming affects what consumers, especially non-users, think of betting online," write authors Ashlee Humphreys (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University) and Kathryn A. LaTour (Cornell University). "A label like gaming prompts all sorts of implicit associations like entertainment and fun, while a label like gambling can prompt seedier implicit associations ...

A simple action like buying a lottery ticket can trigger materialistic thoughts, which cause consumers to lose self-control, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Materialism, a set of beliefs about the importance of possessions in a consumer's life, is associated with a host of negative outcomes," writes author Hyeongmin (Christian) Kim (Johns Hopkins University). "Some examples include impulsive buying and excessive debt, both of which can be viewed as manifestations of poor self-control." The author investigated why materialism leads to poor ...

Ads or consumer reviews that use metaphors and wordplay can be effective, but it depends on the product, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "The use of figurative language in advertising (such as metaphor or word play) has a generally positive effect on attitudes toward the ad and the product," write authors Ann Kronrod (Michigan State University) and Shai Danziger (Tel Aviv University). "But today, much of the information consumers get about a product comes from reviews written by other consumers. Does the effect of figurative language on attitudes ...

Contrary to stereotypes, low-income trailer park residents form distinct groups with different visions of morality, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "These findings emphasize the multiplicity and richness of social identities that exist within the same social class of the working poor," write authors Bige Saatcioglu (Ozyegin University) and Julie L. Ozanne (Virginia Tech). The authors conducted an ethnographic study within a trailer park community in the United States. They examined the ways low-income consumers negotiate their social status ...

Your reaction to the price on a bottle of wine or another product is partly a response to how powerful you feel, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "The degree to which one feels powerful influences which type of price comparison threatens their sense of self-importance and, in turn, affects the perception of price unfairness," write authors Liyin Jin, Yanqun He (both Fudan University), and Ying Zhang (University of Texas, Austin). Variations in price are common in today's market, the authors explain, but companies risk consumers' wrath when ...

Compared to younger adults, older people are less adept at reading emotion in their spouse's face. But when their spouse isn't present, older and younger adults are equally able to discern their significant others' moods. These findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggest that older adults retain the ability to make accurate judgments about others emotions using their acquired knowledge, but not sensory cues. "When judging others' emotions in real life, people do not exclusively rely on emotional expressions," ...

VIDEO: Simply replacing the connector in the IV system in patients with central lines could help reduce deadly bloodstream infections, researchers at Georgia Regents University have found. Dr. Cynthia C. Chernecky, a... Click here for more information. AUGUSTA, Ga. – Simply replacing the connector in the IV system in patients with central lines could help reduce deadly bloodstream infections, researchers at Georgia Regents University have found. A central line or central ...

TORONTO, Sept. 10, 2013—Race or ethnicity can be a significant clue in the United States as to who will survive a kind of stroke known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage and who will be discharged to institutional care, a new study has found. Compared to Caucasians, Asian/Pacific Islander patients were more likely and Hispanic patients less likely to die of a subarachnoid hemorrhage, or SAH, while in the hospital. African-American patients were more likely than Caucasians to require institutional care following discharge from the hospital, although their risk of death while ...

Farmers can now get a birds-eye view ­of their fields – in full HD – thanks to Michigan State University landing its first drone. MSU researchers are using its first unmanned aerial vehicle to help farmers maximize yields by improving nitrogen and water management and reducing environmental impact such as nitrate leaching or nitrous oxide emissions. For this initiative, MSU's UAV measures how crops react to stress, such as drought, nutrients deficiency or pests. The drone flies over the field documenting the field's status ­– down to centimeters. The portrait gives ...

Case Western Reserve University is part of a landmark study that has discovered four novel gene variations which are associated with blood pressure. The 19-site meta-analysis, involving nearly 30,000 African-Americans, also found that the set of genetic mutations are also associated with blood pressure across other populations. Epidemiology and biostatistics professor Xiaofeng Zhu, PhD, is co-senior author of the paper, which appears in The American Journal of Human Genetics. The Continental Origins and Genetic Epidemiology Network (COGENT) consortium conducted the ...

Bilingual speakers can switch languages seamlessly, likely developing a higher level of mental flexibility than monolinguals, according to Penn State linguistic researchers. "In the past, bilinguals were looked down upon," said Judith F. Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics and Women's Studies. "Not only is bilingualism not bad for you, it may be really good. When you're switching languages all the time it strengthens your mental muscle and your executive function becomes enhanced." Fluent bilinguals seem to have both languages active at all times, ...