LIVERMORE, Calif. — As part of ongoing research to help prevent and mitigate disruptions to computer networks on the Internet, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in California have turned their attention to smartphones and other hand-held computing devices. Sandia cyber researchers linked together 300,000 virtual hand-held computing devices running the Android operating system so they can study large networks of smartphones and find ways to make them more reliable and secure. Android dominates the smartphone industry and runs on a range of computing gadgets. The ...

Charlottesville, VA (October 2, 2012). What does it mean to have a head concussion? Much has been written in recent years about the short- and long-term consequences of concussions sustained in sports, combat, and accidents. However, there appear to be no steadfast rules guiding the definition of concussion: the characteristics associated with this type of traumatic head injury have shifted over time and across medical disciplines. Within the context of a larger longitudinal investigation of the biomechanical factors in play that correlate with concussions in collegiate ...

Charlottesville, VA (October 2, 2012). A favorite physical activity engaged in by Americans is bicycling, and children are perhaps its most ardent participants; it has been estimated that 70% of children ages 5 to 14 ride bicycles. Bicycling is not without its dangers, however, and one of the worst is the risk of head and brain injury during a crash. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, head injury is the most common cause of death and serious disability from bicycle crashes. The best protection offered to mitigate this injury is the bicycle helmet. However, ...

Charlottesville, VA (October 2, 2012). Much has been printed suggesting gender-related differences in athletes' responses to sports-related concussion, including differences in concussion incidence, symptoms reported, and scores on neurocognitive tests before and after injury. Nevertheless, findings have not been unanimous, and no guidelines regarding gender-specific strategies for prevention or treatment of sports-related concussion have been developed. Researchers at Vanderbilt University, the University of Albany, and ImPACT Applications, Inc., set out to review symptoms ...

As female participation in sports grows rapidly, there is a popular notion that there are gender-related differences in athletes' responses to sports-related concussion, and prior research has supported these gender discrepancies. However, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study, conducted to review symptoms and neurocognitive findings in male and female high school soccer players, shows no gender-related differences. "There has been good data that suggests girls score worse on neurocognitive testing following a sports-related concussion. Our hypothesis was that ...

PULLMAN, Wash. -- A study published this week by Washington State University research professor Charles Benbrook finds that the use of herbicides in the production of three genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops -- cotton, soybeans and corn -- has actually increased. This counterintuitive finding is based on an exhaustive analysis of publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Service. Benbrook's analysis is the first peer-reviewed, published estimate of the impacts of genetically engineered (GE) herbicide-resistant ...

Character strengths can be defined as traits that are evaluated as morally positive, such as self-control, teamwork or kindness. Character strengths that are particularly distinctive for a person and which he or she likes to use frequently are referred to as signature strengths. Everybody typically has between three and seven of these signature strengths. For the first time, Claudia Harzer and Professor Willibald Ruch from the Section on Personality and Assessment at the University of Zurich now prove in two studies that a job is particularly cherished if it suits one's ...

According to latest research, social scientists with PhDs working in central government make valuable contributions to policy, and report that holding a PhD can enhance their credibility with senior officials. It also shows that they are more likely to have climbed the career ladder and progressed into leadership roles. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which provides significant support for postgraduate training (PhD) and other schemes, commissioned the research. It was carried out over an eight-month period from October 2011 and was led by Mariell Juhlin, ...

A fossil which has lain in a museum drawer for over a century has been recognized by a University of Leicester geologist as a unique clue to the long-lost skills of some of the most sophisticated animal architects that have ever lived on this planet. It has provided evidence that early organisms developed specialised roles and that these specialists displayed co-operation in order to construct their homes – much like today's builders employ a team of bricklayers, plasters and decorators. The fossil is a graptolite, a planktonic colony from nearly half a billion years ...

The results of scientific tests using replicas of two ancient Egyptian artificial toes, including one that was found on the foot of a mummy, suggest that they're likely to be the world's first prosthetic body parts. The University of Manchester researcher Dr Jacky Finch wanted to find out if a three part wood and leather toe dating from between 950 to 710 BC found on a female mummy buried near Luxor in Egypt, and the Greville Chester artificial toe from before 600 BC and made of cartonnage (a sort of papier maché mixture made using linen, glue and plaster), could be ...

Oxygen isotopes in tree rings are an excellent archive of precipitation dynamics in the tropical Amazon region. The precise determination of the ratios of stable oxygen isotopes (18O/16O) proves to be a new parameter for detecting the dynamics of the water cycle in tropical rain forest areas. It can therefore replace the classic climate observables such as tree ring width or wood density, which are unsuitable for high-quality reconstructions of climate conditions in tropical areas. These are the findings of a group of researchers from the GFZ German Research Centre for ...

St. Louis, MO, October 2, 2012 – What's the latest, research-supported best practice in periodontal care and implant dentistry? Dental specialists and generalists alike can read about it in the first of a new series from The Journal of Evidence-Based Dental Practice (JEBDP), the foremost publication of information about evidence-based dental practice, published by Elsevier. The inaugural edition of the Annual Report on Periodontal and Implant Treatment is now available, containing concise, authoritative reviews based on the evidence about practice-critical topics. Mark ...

Modulating immune response to injury could accelerate the regeneration of severed peripheral nerves, a new study in an animal model has found. By altering activity of the macrophage cells that respond to injuries, researchers dramatically increased the rate at which nerve processes regrew. Influencing the macrophages immediately after injury may affect the whole cascade of biochemical events that occurs after nerve damage, potentially eliminating the need to directly stimulate the growth of axons using nerve growth factors. If the results of this first-ever study can ...

This press release is available in Spanish. The study, published by Professor Eduardo Pérez Asenjo of UC3M's Economics Department, shows that relative earnings affect our happiness and our job performance. Summing up: if the people with whom I compare myself earn more than I do, I will be unhappier and I will work more. "This confirms the hypothesis of what I perceived, but not the way I would like things to be," the author of the study comments. "I would find it healthier not to compare what we earn to what others earn and I think it would be 'better' if these things ...

Gene ends communicate Human genomes harbour thousands of genes, each of which gives rise to proteins when it is active. But which inherent features of a gene determine its activity? Postdoctoral Scholar Pia Kjølhede Andersen and Senior Researcher Søren Lykke-Andersen from the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for mRNP Biogenesis and Metabolism have now found that the distance between the gene start, termed the 'promoter', and the gene end, the 'terminator', is crucial for the activity of a protein-coding gene. If the distance is too short, the gene is transcriptionally ...

You can thank your parents for your smarts—or at least some of them. Psychologists have long known that intelligence, like most other traits, is partly genetic. But a new study led by psychological scientist Christopher Chabris reveals the surprising fact that most of the specific genes long thought to be linked to intelligence probably have no bearing on one's IQ. And it may be some time before researchers can identify intelligence's specific genetic roots. Chabris and David Laibson, a Harvard economist, led an international team of researchers that analyzed a dozen ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — At a time when the value of gold has reached an all-time high, Michigan State University researchers have discovered a bacterium's ability to withstand incredible amounts of toxicity is key to creating 24-karat gold. "Microbial alchemy is what we're doing – transforming gold from something that has no value into a solid, precious metal that's valuable," said Kazem Kashefi, assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics. He and Adam Brown, associate professor of electronic art and intermedia, found the metal-tolerant bacteria Cupriavidus ...

This press release is available in German. A team of scientists, led by Joachim Reichert, Johannes Barth, and Alexander Holleitner (Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Clusters of Excellence MAP and NIM), and Itai Carmeli (Tel Aviv University) developed a method to measure photocurrents of a single functionalized photosynthetic protein system. The scientists could demonstrate that such a system can be integrated and selectively addressed in artificial photovoltaic device architectures while retaining their biomolecular functional properties. The proteins represent light-driven, ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2—Nearsightedness, or myopia, affects more than 40 percent of people in the U.S. and up to 90 percent of children in some parts of Asia. The problem begins in childhood and often progresses with age. Standard prescription lenses can correct the defocus but do not cure nearsightedness, and do not slow progression rates as children grow. But recent experimental work by biomedical scientist David Troilo and colleagues at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry in New York City supports the development of a potential cure for myopia by ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2012—In the operating room, surgeons can see inside the human body in real time using advanced imaging techniques, but primary care physicians, the people who are on the front lines of diagnosing illnesses, haven't commonly had access to the same technology – until now. Engineers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have created a new imaging tool for primary care physicians: a handheld scanner that would enable them to image all the sites they commonly examine, and more, such as bacterial colonies in the middle ear in 3-D, or monitor ...

(San Diego, California – October 2, 2012) A tall ship owned and operated by Sea Education Association (SEA) will depart port tomorrow on a research expedition dedicated to examining the effects of plastic marine debris, including debris generated by the 2011 Japanese tsunami, in the ocean ecosystem. During their 37-day cruise, the crew of the Woods Hole, Mass.-based sailing oceanographic research vessel Robert C. Seamans will explore a region between San Diego and Honolulu, popularly dubbed the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch", where high concentrations of plastic debris ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Epileptic and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) may look similar, but actually have different causes and treatments. Up to 20 percent of patients diagnosed with epilepsy actually have PNES, which are not treated by antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). According to a new study by Rhode Island Hospital researcher W. Curt LaFrance Jr., M.D., M.P.H., director of neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology, increasing access to video electroencephalography (video-EEG) may aid in distinguishing between epilepsy and PNES. The study is published online in advance ...

BETHESDA, MD – October 2, 2012 -- Cancerous tumors contain hundreds of mutations, and finding these mutations that result in uncontrollable cell growth is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. As difficult as this task is, it's exactly what a team of scientists from Cornell University, the University of North Carolina, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York have done for one type of breast cancer. In a report appearing in the journal GENETICS, researchers show that mutations in a gene called NF1 are prevalent in more than one-fourth of all noninheritable ...

In the tribal societies of the Amazon forest, violent conflict accounted for 30 percent of all deaths before contact with Europeans, according to a recent study by University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Walker. Understanding the reasons behind those altercations in the Amazon sheds light on the instinctual motivations that continue to drive human groups to violence, as well as the ways culture influences the intensity and frequency of violence. "The same reasons - revenge, honor, territory and jealousy over women - that fueled deadly conflicts in the Amazon continue ...

FAIRFAX, Va., October 1, 2012—A longterm study conducted by researchers at George Mason University may be a benchmark in determining health threats to marine mammals. Over ten years of research in Belize was conducted studying the behavioral ecology, life history and health of manatees in an area relatively undisturbed by humankind. "Manatees are the proverbial 'canaries in the mineshaft,' as they serve as indicators of their environment and may reflect the overall health of marine ecosystems," says Alonso Aguirre, executive director of the Smithsonian-Mason School ...