Rocky planets are thought to form through the random collision and sticking together of what are initially microscopic particles in the disc of material around a star. These tiny grains, known as cosmic dust, are similar to very fine soot or sand. However, in the outer regions around a brown dwarf -- a star-like object, but one too small to shine brightly like a star -- astronomers expected that grains could not grow because the discs were too sparse, and particles would be moving too fast to stick together after colliding. Also, prevailing theories say that any grains ...

The only way to protect against HIV and unintended pregnancy today is the condom. It's an effective technology, but not appropriate or popular in all situations. A University of Washington team has developed a versatile platform to simultaneously offer contraception and prevent HIV. Electrically spun cloth with nanometer-sized fibers can dissolve to release drugs, providing a platform for cheap, discrete and reversible protection. The research was published this week in the Public Library of Science's open-access journal PLoS One. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ...

Two-thirds of Australian mums-to-be are in the dark when it comes to how much weight they should gain during pregnancy. Susie de Jersey from Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) and senior dietician at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital said a third of women surveyed gained too much weight during pregnancy. Another third struggled to gain enough weight with some mothers recording a lower weight just before giving birth than they did before falling pregnant. "The majority of the women in the study knew ...

Elaborate secondary sexual displays are often overlooked because many species attract mates through sensory modalities imperceptible to humans, including ultraviolet light, ultrasound, electrical signals, or pheromones. Also, sexual coloration may only be expressed briefly during courtship (ephemeral courtship dichromatisms) to avoid attracting predators. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a widely studied model organism, though there have been few studies on their mating behaviour. Like many schooling fish, zebrafish do not appear sexually dichromatic to humans; there are no ...

Children and young people in Europe are exposed to all kinds of fast food, crisps and fizzy drinks – so how can they learn to resist the temptation to indulge? This is the question that the European research project TEMPEST was set up to answer. The research project involves researchers from nine European countries and one of the team members is Liliya Nureeva, a PhD student at Aarhus University. The TEMPEST research project has prepared strategies for children to use to suppress or control their desire to scoff sweets and snacks. One of the main objectives of the ...

After two decades of satellite observations, an international team of experts brought together by ESA and NASA has produced the most accurate assessment of ice losses from Antarctica and Greenland to date. This study finds that the combined rate of ice sheet melting is increasing. The new research shows that melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has added 11.1 mm to global sea levels since 1992. This amounts to about 20% of all sea-level rise over the survey period. About two thirds of the ice loss was from Greenland, and the remainder was from Antarctica. ...

TORONTO, Nov. 30, 2012—How-to books are full of advice on what makes a good mentor. But what makes a good mentee and what chemistry is needed to make the relationship work? People being mentored should be open to feedback and be active listeners, according to a new research paper. They should also be respectful of their mentor's time, including being on time and prepared for meetings. And it helps to follow at least some of their advice. "Successful mentorship is vital to career success and satisfaction for both mentors and mentees," said Dr. Sharon Straus, a researcher ...

Amsterdam, NL, November 30, 2012 – Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders typically characterized by difficulties in social interactions and delayed or abnormal language development. Although ASD reportedly affects 1 in 88 people in the United States, to date there have been no distinctive biomarkers to diagnose the disease. In a special themed issue of Disease Markers, investigators report on the current understanding of ASD genetics and the possibilities of translating genetic research toward biomarker development in ASD. "Although some individuals ...

If the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon spill was a ecological disaster, the two million gallons of dispersant used to clean it up apparently made it even worse – 52-times more toxic. That's according to new research from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes (UAA), Mexico. The study found that mixing the dispersant with oil increased toxicity of the mixture up to 52-fold over the oil alone. In toxicity tests in the lab, the mixture's effects increased mortality ...

ROCK HILL, S.C. - When people hear about exotic plants invading a new environment, there is usually a negative connotation. They often think of plants like kudzu, Chinese privet, or Japanese honeysuckle, whose thuggish behavior can push out the native plants in their backyard or local parks. While this worse case scenario can happen, it isn't always the case, according to ecologists at Winthrop University and Brown University in an article published in the journal Ecology Letters. "Basically, we found that exotics plants grow more and can essentially out-compete natives, ...

Washington, November 30, 2012 -- Current hospital cleaning protocol may be inadequate to rid patient rooms of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii, according to a study in the December issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). A team of researchers from the University of Maryland collected 487 cultures from 32 hospital rooms occupied by just-discharged patients with a known history of MDR A. baumannii both before and after terminal cleaning ...

Researchers at the University of Seville (Spain) have developed a technique for estimating grape composition and variety using computer imaging. They have also put forward an index for identifying the ripeness of seeds without the need for chemical analysis. This new method can help to decide the best moment for picking. The normal procedure for identifying the sugar content of grapes involves chemical analysis. But this is a long and tedious task that tells vine-growers when to start picking their grapes. Now though, scientists at the University of Seville (US) are proposing ...

Not everyone has a taste for fish, even though it is a natural source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. And while a growing number of omega-3 enriched foods may net health benefits for people who resist the lure of salmon or sashimi, milk remains the product that has gotten away in what has become a billion-dollar health industry. But now, food science researchers at Virginia Tech may have reeled milk into the omega-3 delivery system, showing it is possible to incorporate fish oil into milk and dairy-based beverages in amounts sufficient to promote heart health, ...

Researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute have discovered how a common diarrhea-causing bacterium sends the body's natural defenses into overdrive, actually intensifying illness while fighting infection. The discovery, recently published in PLOS One, may lead to new drug treatments for Clostridium difficile, a common germ in health care-associated infections often referred to as C. diff. It has been linked to the death of 14,000 Americans annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers ...

PHILADELPHIA – As public health researchers continue efforts to understand the effects of neighborhood conditions on health, residents themselves can provide valuable insights regarding public health issues and potential solutions. A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania uses in-depth interviews with local residents to examine perspectives on how vacant land affects community, physical, and mental health. The study highlights the importance of community engagement in promoting urban revitalization. Full results of ...

"The United States is, as in so many things involving the criminal justice system, the country most in need of change. It is also, because of the entrenched constitutional bases of its prosecution systems, probably the most resistant to change," Michael Tonry argues in Prosecutors and Politics: A Comparative Perspective. The latest volume in the Crime and Justice series presents research that critically examines the role of prosecutors within the United States and cross-nationally, asking the question: Can policy makers look across national boundaries to find ways to ...

Sweeping environmental policies come with hidden challenges – not only striving to achieve sustainability and benefit the environment – but over time ensuring the program itself can endure. Scientists at Michigan State University and their colleagues in China are examining China's massive Grain to Green Program (GTGP) – an effort to persuade farmers to return cropland to forest through financial incentives. Their results were reported in this week's journal Ecological Indicators. The goal – developing a unique targeted approach that applies the combination of environmental ...

This press release is available in German. Scientists from the DZNE sites in Göttingen and Bonn, the UMG as well as from the US participated in this basic research project on Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in "EMBO Molecular Medicine". The researchers led by Prof. André Fischer, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Medical Center Gottingen and Site Speaker of the DZNE in Göttingen, investigated mice with a modified genetic background. The animals showed behavioural disorders and brain deposits that are typically associated with Alzheimer's ...

This press release is available in German. The carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere continues to climb and heat up the climate. The gas is, however, indispensable for plants, as they use the carbon it provides to form glucose and other important substances. Therefore, the more carbon dioxide the better? The equation is unfortunately not as simple as that. The plants, which ensure our basic food supply today, have not been bred for vertical growth but for short stalks and high grain yields. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology ...

The Counter Terrorist Magazine's 28th issue will be available at several events including the NRA Life of Duty ATACTV Law Enforcement & Military Range Day and the 3 Gun Nation Pro Series Event. In addition to these key shooting events you can pick up your copy on the show floor at exhibitor booths throughout the Shot Show. As part of the continuous commitment to make sure that The Counter Terrorist Magazine has the best distribution in the industry, we've partnered with some of the best names in the business to have free copies of the magazine available at their ...

Worcester, Mass. -- Living in an environment teaming with bacteria and fungi, fish have evolved powerful defenses against waterborne pathogens, including antimicrobial peptides located in their gills. Undergraduate researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) are studying the biology and the mechanics of one of those peptides with the hope they can use that knowledge to create engineered surfaces that kill bacteria responsible for foodborne illnesses and hospital-acquired infections. The research team, led by Terri Camesano, professor of chemical engineering, ...

New Rochelle, NY, November 29, 2012—Asian-American children have been at low risk for being overweight or obese compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., but that may be changing. Yet as rates of overweight and obesity rise, the risk appears to vary depending on the Asian country of origin, according to an article in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Childhood Obesity website at http://www.liebertpub.com/chi. In the article "Prevalence of Obesity among Young Asian-American ...

Scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified two genes involved in establishing the neuronal circuits required for breathing. They report their findings in a study published in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience. The discovery, featured on the journal's cover, could help advance treatments for spinal cord injuries and neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which gradually kill neurons that control the movement of muscles needed to breathe, move, and eat. The study identifies a molecular code that distinguishes a group ...

The scientists of Kiel University, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Technische Universität München (TUM) have published their results in the current issue of the journal Advanced Materials. "The luminescent features of zinc oxide tetrapod crystals are well established. According to our work hypothesis, these characteristics showed pronounced variations under a mechanical load, and we realised that it could help to detect internal damages of composite materials", says Dr. Yogendra Mishra of Kiel University's Technical Faculty. In one experiment, the scientists ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A study has found that young, less-experienced surgeons made major surgical mistakes almost half the time during a "simulated" gall bladder removal when they were distracted by noises, questions, conversation or other commotion in the operating room. In this analysis, eight out of 18, or 44 percent of surgical residents made serious errors, particularly when they were being tested in the afternoon. By comparison, only one surgeon made a mistake when there were no distractions. Exercises such as this in what scientists call "human factors engineering" ...