"We find that 87% of the 15 largest (8.6 magnitude or higher) and half of the 50 largest (8.4 magnitude or higher) earthquakes of the past century are associated with intersection regions between oceanic fracture zones and subduction zones," says Dietmar Müller, researcher at the University of Sydney in Australia and lead author of the Solid Earth paper. The connection is less striking for smaller earthquakes. Powerful earthquakes related to these intersection regions include the destructive 2011 Tohoku-Oki and 2004 Sumatra events. "If the association we found were ...

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. – December 5, 2012 – Scientists have long used the speed of seismic waves traveling through the Earth as a means of learning about the geologic structure beneath the Earth's surface, but the seismic waves they use have typically been generated by earthquakes or man-made explosions. A University of Rhode Island graduate student is using the tiny seismic waves created by ocean waves crashing on shorelines around the world to learn how an underwater plateau was formed 122 million years ago. "There are any number of ways to create seismic waves, but most ...

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. – December 5, 2012 – Oceanographers at the University of Rhode Island have analyzed long-term data from several anemometers in southern New England and found that average wind speeds have declined by about 15 percent at inland sites while speeds have remained steady at an offshore site. Kelly Knorr, a graduate student at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, and Professor John Merrill reported the results of their research today at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The researchers found that average wind speeds ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—December 5, 2012—Despite researchers' best efforts, no drug exists that can slow, halt or reverse the onslaught of Alzheimer's disease. A progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder, Alzheimer's has stolen the memories and livelihoods of millions—leaving patients and their families struggling to cope with the disease's devastating consequences. But today, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes propose a new research avenue that has the potential to change all that. In the latest issue of the journal Neuron, available today online, Gladstone Investigators ...

The search for the origin of modern human behaviour and technological advancement among our ancestors in southern Africa some 70 000 years ago, has taken a step closer to firmly establishing Africa, and especially South Africa, as the primary centre for the early development of human behaviour. A new research paper by renowned Wits University archaeologist, Prof. Christopher Henshilwood, is the first detailed summary of the time periods he and a group of international researchers have been studying in South Africa: namely the Still Bay techno-traditions (c. 75 000 – 70 ...

Scientists have discovered 100 million-year-old regions in the DNA of several plant species which could hold secrets about how specific genes are turned 'on' or 'off'. The findings, which are hoped will accelerate the pace of research into crop science and food security, are detailed by University of Warwick researchers in the journal The Plant Cell. By running a computational analysis of the genomes of the papaya, poplar, Arabidopsis and grape species, scientists have uncovered hundreds of conserved non-coding sequences which are found in the DNA of all four species. These ...

A combined team of scientists from Europe and South Africa (Luísa G. Carvalheiro (University of Leeds, UK & Naturalis Biodiversity Research Centre, Netherlands), Colleen Seymour and Ruan Veldtman (SANBI, South Africa) and Sue Nicolson (University of Pretoria)) have discovered that pollinator services of large agriculture fields can be enhanced with a simple cost-effective measure, that involves the creation of small patches of native plants within fruit orchards. "Mango farmers in South Africa are aware of the pollination limitation of this crop and invest a substantial ...

In research published in the journal Acta Biomaterialia, researchers from the University of Sheffield describe a new method for producing membranes to help in the grafting of stem cells onto the eye, mimicking structural features of the eye itself. The technology has been designed to treat damage to the cornea, the transparent layer on the front of the eye, which is one of the major causes of blindness in the world. Using a combination of techniques known as microstereolithography and electrospinning, the researchers are able to make a disc of biodegradable material which ...

Experts already know that pregnant women should not eat for two. A study now insists on the importance of a healthy diet as a way of avoiding increased insulin and glucose levels in the child, both of which are indicators of diabetes and metabolic syndrome risk. Maternal diet quality during pregnancy is fundamental to foetal growth as well as insulin and glucose levels at birth. Such indications warn of the possible predisposition to suffer from illnesses like diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The study was headed by the Complutense University of Madrid and published ...

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to investigate mechanisms at work in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, which also could prove useful in the search for effective drugs. For new insights, they turned to the zebrafish, which is transparent in the early stages of its life. The researchers developed a transgenic variety, the "MitoFish," that enables them to see – within individual neurons of living animals – how brain diseases disturb the transport of mitochondria, the power plants of the cell. Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ...

Sustainable business innovation is good business; researchers from Aalto University, Finland have proved. The researchers tested how sustainability business innovations and the market value of companies in the construction sector are connected. The study is a first of its kind. An event study model was used to analyse large construction sector companies in several European countries as well as Australia. The most important finding of the study is that a positive and statistically significant association exists between sustainability innovation announcements and the market ...

The sense of immersion in role-play and computer games is sometimes viewed as dangerous, as players' strong perceptions of fictional worlds are assumed to make them lose contact with reality. On the other hand, players' immersion also implies a potential for improved learning, since it enables them to 'experience' new places and historical eras. Yet a new study from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that immersion in online role-play games requires a lot of hard work. Gaming researcher Jonas Linderoth, at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning, ...

A recent clinical trial found that the adult antiviral drug, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (tenofovir DF), is safe and effective in treating adolescents with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Trial results published in the December issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), show that tenofovir DF suppressed HBV in 89% of pediatric participants. Chronic HBV is a major health burden that studies estimate affects 350 million people worldwide, with 600,000 deaths attributed to this chronic disease. The Centers for Disease Control ...

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in November surgically implanted a pacemaker-like device into the brain of a patient in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, the first such operation in the United States. The device, which provides deep brain stimulation and has been used in thousands of people with Parkinson's disease, is seen as a possible means of boosting memory and reversing cognitive decline. The surgery is part of a federally funded, multicenter clinical trial marking a new direction in clinical research designed to slow or halt the ravages of the disease, ...

New York, NY—December 5, 2012—Computer scientists at Columbia's School of Engineering and Applied Science have published a study in the November 2012 issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics (AJHG) that demonstrates a new approach used to analyze genetic data to learn more about the history of populations. The authors are the first to develop a method that can describe in detail events in recent history, over the past 2,000 years. They demonstrate this method in two populations, the Ashkenazi Jews and the Masai people of Kenya, who represent two kinds of histories ...

This press release is available in German. Researchers of the KIT Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), Jacobs University Bremen, and other institutions have developed a new method to produce metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). By means of the so-called liquid-phase epitaxy, the scientists succeeded in producing a new class of MOFs with a pore size never reached before. These frameworks open up interesting applications in medicine, optics, and photonics. The new class of MOFs, called "SURMOF 2", is presented in the "Nature Scientific Reports" journal. Metal-organic ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- At a Bloomington, Ind., toy store, kids ages 8 to 12 gather weekly to trade Pokemon cards and share their mutual absorption in the intrigue and adventure of Pokemon. This may seem an unlikely source of material to test theories in cognitive neuroscience. But that is where Indiana University brain scientists Karin Harman James and Tom James were when an idea took hold. "We were down at the club with our son, watching the way the kids talked about the cards, and noticed it was bigger than just a trading game," Tom James said. Pokemon has since ...

PHILADELPHIA — Roughly one-fifth of Americans take low-dose aspirin every day for heart-healthy benefits. But, based on either urine or blood tests of how aspirin blocks the stickiness of platelets – blood cells that clump together in the first stages of forming harmful clots – up to one third of patients are deemed unlikely to benefit from daily use. Such patients are called "aspirin resistant." Clots are the main cause of most heart attacks and strokes. In people who have suffered a heart attack, low-dose aspirin reduces the chances of a second event by about one fifth, ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – If you're thinking that little old lady driving 35 miles per hour in the passing lane shouldn't be behind the wheel, you may be right. Studies at Rhode Island Hospital, and elsewhere, have shown that our driving abilities decline with age, and for those with cognitive issues such as dementia, it can be even worse. A standardized road test – much like the one teenagers take to receive their learner's permit and driver's license – is often used to measure an individual's performance, including those of older adults. But researchers at the Rhode Island ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new study co-authored by a University of Florida researcher provides the first direct chronological test of sequence stratigraphy, a powerful tool for exploring Earth's natural resources. The model allows geologists to better understand how sedimentary rocks are related to one another in time and space and predict what types of rocks are located in different areas. The information may help scientists more reliably interpret various aspects of Earth's history such as long-term climate changes or extinction events, and also benefit companies searching ...

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists are testing a new approach to speed a patient's recovery of blood counts during a vulnerable period after a stem-cell transplant, according to a study published in the journal Stem Cells. Laura M. Calvi, M.D., and Rebecca L. Porter, an M.D./Ph.D. student in Calvi's lab, reported that prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a drug previously used to treat stomach ulcers, boosts blood production following an assault on the bone marrow from radiation or chemotherapy. Although their study was done in mice, Calvi believes it has significance ...

A new study finds differences in the ways that participation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) helps men and women maintain sobriety. Two Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators found that, while many factors are helpful to all AA participants, some were stronger in men and some in women. For example, avoidance of companions who encourage drinking and social situations in which drinking is common had more powerful benefits for men, while increased confidence in the ability to avoid drinking while feeling sad, depressed or anxious appeared to be more important for ...

VIDEO: New research from Western University could lead to better treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and drug addiction by effectively blocking memories. Steven Laviolette and Nicole Lauzon describe how... Click here for more information. New research from Western University could lead to better treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and drug addiction by effectively blocking memories. The research performed by Nicole Lauzon, a PhD candidate ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – A bit reminiscent of the Terminator T-1000, a new material created by Cornell researchers is so soft that it can flow like a liquid and then, strangely, return to its original shape. Rather than liquid metal, it is a hydrogel, a mesh of organic molecules with many small empty spaces that can absorb water like a sponge. It qualifies as a "metamaterial" with properties not found in nature and may be the first organic metamaterial with mechanical meta-properties. Hydrogels have already been considered for use in drug delivery – the spaces can be filled with ...

Johns Hopkins researchers have used a small synthetic molecule to stimulate cells to move and change shape, bypassing the cells' usual way of sensing and responding to their environment. The experiment pioneers a new tool for studying cell movement, a phenomenon involved in everything from development to immunity to the spread of cancer. "We were able to use synthetic molecules small enough to slip inside the cell and activate a chemical reaction controlling cell movement, bypassing most of the steps that usually lead up to this reaction," says Andre Levchenko, Ph.D., ...