AUSTIN, Texas — The storage capacity of hard disk drives could increase by a factor of five thanks to processes developed by chemists and engineers at The University of Texas at Austin. The researchers' technique, which relies on self-organizing substances known as block copolymers, was described this week in an article in Science. It's also being given a real-world test run in collaboration with HGST, one of the world's leading innovators in disk drives. "In the last few decades there's been a steady, exponential increase in the amount of information that can be stored ...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13—Drawing heavily upon nature for inspiration, a team of researchers has created a new artificial lens that is nearly identical to the natural lens of the human eye. This innovative lens, which is made up of thousands of nanoscale polymer layers, may one day provide a more natural performance in implantable lenses to replace damaged or diseased human eye lenses, as well as consumer vision products; it also may lead to superior ground and aerial surveillance technology. This work, which the Case Western Reserve University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, ...

This press release is available in German. A collaboration between scientists in Munich, Germany and Bloomington, USA may have overcome one of the major challenges drug makers have struggled with for years: Delivering powerful nuclear hormones to specific tissues, while keeping them away from others. The teams led by physician Matthias Tschöp (Helmholtz Zentrum München, and Technische Universität München) and chemist Richard DiMarchi (Indiana University) used natural gut peptides targeting cell membrane receptors and engineered them to carry small steroids known to ...

Fairfax, Va., (November 13, 2012) — A new study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies found that the degree to which a disease disrupts daily functioning is associated with reduced happiness. Lead author Erik Angner, associate professor of philosophy, economics and public policy at George Mason University, worked with an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Chicago and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The full study is available at http://www.springerlink.com/content/k5231631755g86g2/?MUD=MP. Previous ...

Philadelphia, PA, November 13, 2012 – Advocates of planned home birth have emphasized its benefits for patient safety, patient satisfaction, cost effectiveness, and respect for women's rights. A clinical opinion paper published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology critically evaluates each of these claims in its effort to identify professionally appropriate responses of obstetricians and other concerned physicians to planned home birth. Throughout the United States and Europe, planned home birth has seen increased activity in recent years. Professional ...

As they develop, vertebrate embryos form vertebrae in a sequential, time-controlled way. Scientists have determined previously that this process of body segmentation is controlled by a kind of "clock," regulated by the oscillating activity of certain genes within embryonic cells. But questions remain about how precisely this timing system works. A new international cross-disciplinary collaboration between physicists and molecular genetics researchers advances scientists' understanding of this crucial biological timing system. The study, co-authored by McGill University ...

DURHAM, N.H. – Underemployment has remained persistently high in the aftermath of the Great Recession with workers younger than 30 especially feeling the pinch, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. "While on the decline, these rates have yet to return to their prerecession levels. Moreover, as the recession and other economic forces keeps older workers in the economy, openings for full-time jobs for younger workers might remain limited in the short-term," said Justin Young, a doctoral student in sociology at UNH and a ...

Mountain View, California; November 13, 2012. Edison Pharmaceuticals today announced the initiation of a phase 2B study entitled, "A Phase 2B Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Clinical Trial of EPI-743 in Children with Leigh Syndrome." Four clinical trial sites have been selected in the United States: Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center – Palo Alto, California; Akron Children's Hospital – Akron, Ohio; Seattle Children's Hospital – Seattle, Washington; and Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor University – Houston, Texas. The ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil- Resveratrol is a naturally occurring dietary compound found in grapes, berries, and peanuts. This polyphenol protects plants against pathogens such as bacteria and fungi by inducing cell death in invading organisms. The compound was discovered in red wine in 1939 but by large did not attract the attention of the scientific community. More recently, pre-clinical studies have revealed the many beneficial properties of resveratrol. These include antidiabetic, cardioprotective, and chemopreventive effects. The latter has been associated to resveratrol ...

New Rochelle, NY, November 13, 2012—The average incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among service members deployed in Middle East conflict zones has increased 117% in recent years, mainly due to proximity to explosive blasts. Therapeutic exposure to a high oxygen environment was hoped to minimize the concussion symptoms resulting from mild TBI, but hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) treatment may not offer significant advantages, according to an article in Journal of Neurotrauma, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free ...

Consumers will spend more to get rid of worn bills because they evoke feelings of disgust but are more likely to hold on to crisp new currency, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "The physical appearance of money can alter spending behavior. Consumers tend to infer that worn bills are used and contaminated, whereas crisp bills give them a sense of pride in owning bills that can be spent around others," write authors Fabrizio Di Muro (University of Winnipeg) and Theodore J. Noseworthy (University of Guelph). Does the physical appearance of ...

Analysis of 90 years of observational data has revealed that summer climates in regions across the globe are changing -- mostly, but not always, warming --according to a new study led by a scientist from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences headquartered at the University of Colorado Boulder. "It is the first time that we show on a local scale that there are significant changes in summer temperatures," said lead author CIRES scientist Irina Mahlstein. "This result shows us that we are experiencing a new summer climate regime in some regions." The ...

Marginalized groups of consumers can mobilize as an online community to seek greater inclusion in and more choice from mainstream markets, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "In order to gain greater inclusion in the mainstream market, fatshionistas have tried to persuade established companies to serve them better, publicized the offerings of companies that have tried meeting their needs, and looked for opportunities to interact with influential designers and retailers in order to influence them to do more to serve their needs," write authors ...

New Rochelle, NY, November 12, 2012--Radiolabeled agents are powerful tools for targeting and killing cancer cells and may help improve outcomes and lengthen survival times of patients with advanced disease that has spread beyond the initial tumor site. Effective therapy for metastatic cancer requires a combination of treatments, and the benefits of adding radionuclide therapy are explored in three studies published in Journal of Clinical Investigation, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The articles are available free on the Journal of Clinical ...

Consumers prefer matching brands for products that are consumed together because they believe products from the same brand have been designed to go together, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "How much do brand combinations affect how much consumers enjoy products that are consumed together? It seems that matching brand labels enhance enjoyment by encouraging consumers to believe that the products were tested and designed to go well together," write authors Ryan Rahinel and Joseph P. Redden (both University of Minnesota). In one study, consumers ...

Athens, Ga. – Scientists at the University of Georgia, Harvard Medical School and the University of Utah have discovered a new gene that regulates heme synthesis in red blood cell formation. Heme is the deep-red, iron-containing component of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood. The study was published online Nov. 7 and will be in the Nov. 22 print edition of the journal Nature. The findings promise to advance the biomedical community's understanding and treatment of human anemias and mitochondrial diseases, both ...

Consumers seek out novel consumption experiences to increase their knowledge about products but do so selectively based on their level of expertise, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "It has been said that experience is the best teacher. Perhaps the lessons learned through trying new experiences can help explain the reason consumers seek out novel experiences that do not necessarily offer the greatest satisfaction?" write authors Joshua J. Clarkson (University of Cincinnati), Chris Janiszewski (University of Florida), and Melissa D. Cinelli ...

WASHINGTON — November 13, 2012 — Scientists from the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and University of California, Berkeley have demonstrated that plants and soils could release large amounts of carbon dioxide as global climate warms. This finding contrasts with the expectation that plants and soils will absorb carbon dioxide and is important because that additional carbon release from land surface could be a potent positive feedback that exacerbates climate warming. The study was published today in a Journal of Climate paper titled, "Carbon cycle uncertainty ...

A controversial program that uses the private market to provide affordable malaria treatments to people in Africa has dramatically increased access to care and should be continued, according to a policy article by scholars including Ramanan Laxminarayan of Princeton University in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal Science. The researchers stated that the two-year old pilot program, which is up for renewal this November and enables reduced-price malaria drugs to be sold in shops and market stalls, successfully broadened the availability of effective malaria therapies and ...

Consumers may be less satisfied with the choices they make if their options are presented one at a time rather than all at once, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Sequentially presented choices create uncertainty. Consumers know that alternatives will become available in the future, but not what those alternatives will be. So there is always the possibility that a better option could later be available," write authors Cassie Mogilner (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania), Baba Shiv (Stanford University), and Sheena Iyengar (Columbia ...

Optical Boomerangs P. Aleahmad et al. Physical Review Letters (forthcoming) P. Zheng et al. Physical Review Letters, 109, 193901 (2012) Bending light around corners is usually done with mirrors, but now scientists have realized self-bending light beams that propagate along curved paths. Two independent groups have reported experiments on special light waves that can skid around curves. The researchers demonstrated that modified laser beams can be made to move along parabolic and elliptical paths. Furthermore, if obstacles are in their path, these beams can self-heal, ...

Different units can be used to describe product features, but what may seem a rather arbitrary choice may have profound consequences for consumer product evaluations, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Consumers find it easier to process information expressed in default units and attribute the positive feeling associated with easier understanding to the product itself," write authors Christophe Lembregts and Mario Pandelaere (both Ghent University). Would you evaluate a cell phone differently if its warranty was expressed in days instead ...

WASHINGTON — Legal responses to juvenile offending should be grounded in scientific knowledge about adolescent development and tailored to an individual offender's needs and social environment, says a new report from the National Research Council. Accountability practices should not be carried over from criminal courts to juvenile courts; in particular, confinement should be used only in rare circumstances such as when a youth poses a high risk of harming others. The specific aims of the juvenile justice system are to hold youths accountable for wrongdoing, prevent further ...

AUSTIN, Texas — University of Texas at Austin sociologist Chandra Muller and economist Sandra Black have received a $3.2 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to study the effects of cognition on health, mortality, education and employment from high school and beyond. The three-year grant will support a study, led by Muller, that follows 14,825 respondents (born in 1964-65) of the nationally representative "High School and Beyond" survey. Designed and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the multiphase survey examines educational, vocational and personal ...

(Boston) – A new Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) study has found that improving Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates in black women may require culturally sensitive approaches that address ethnic-specific barriers. The findings are published online in the November/December issue of the journal, Women's Health Issues. According to the Centers for Disease Control, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. There are more than 40 HPV types that can infect the genital areas of males and females and in advanced stages, can cause cervical cancer. ...