A new hypothesis posed by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, associate professor and colleagues could be a game changer in the evolution arena. The hypothesis suggests some species are surviving by discarding genes and depending on other species to play their hand. The groundbreaking "Black Queen Hypothesis" got its name from the game of Hearts. In Hearts, the goal is to avoid "winning" the Queen of Spades (the Black Queen), which is worth a lot of points. Subsequently, players allow others to take the high-point card while they enjoy low-score tallies. This same ...

The Dorchester Arts Centre is set to welcome blues band Midnight Train on Saturday April 21st.   Fronted by vocalist Debbie Giles, the five-piece group play a dynamic selection of classic blues, funk and soul numbers.   Their diverse and tightly-honed live set typically contains songs by the likes of Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, T-Bone Walker and BB King.   Music fans heading to the Dorset venue for their performance are in for treat, as Midnight Train have played to packed crowds around the UK and drawn praise from a number of blues publications.   Guitarist Pete ...

(CHICAGO) – Two new studies published in the April 4 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, suggest that a person's memory declines at a faster rate in the last two-and-a-half years of life than at any other time after memory problems first begin. The second study shows that keeping mentally fit through board games or reading may be the best way to preserve memory during late life. Both studies were conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center. "In our first study, we used the end of life as a reference point ...

Defying thousands of years of conventional wisdom, scientists are reporting that it is possible for water to float on oil, a discovery they say has important potential applications in cleaning up oil spills that threaten seashores and fisheries. Their report appears in ACS' journal Langmuir. Chi M. Phan and colleagues point out that the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle made an early attempt to explain flotation around 350 B.C. Today, most people know that less dense liquids float on more dense liquids. So crude oil with a density of about 58 pounds per cubic foot floats ...

The Great Saunter, an annual walk around the rim of Manhattan, offers people a unique way to explore the famous New York borough.   Due to take place for the 27th time on Saturday May 5th this year, the event traditionally attracts walkers from across the Big Apple and around the world.   The 32-mile route begins and ends at the South Street Seaport, passing through 20 parks and providing some spectacular waterside views along the way.   Walkers set off at 07:30 local time, with a break for lunch in Inwood Hill Park at 13:00. The Great Saunter finishes with a celebration ...

CORAL GABLES, FL (March 20, 2012)—Delayed gratification: People who are good at overcoming their immediate impulses to take small rewards now — in favor of larger rewards down the road — do better in many areas of life, including academic achievement, income, job performance and health. What life experiences develop this ability? A new study published online, ahead of print, by the journal of Evolution and Human Behavior, finds that religious people are better able to forgo immediate satisfaction in order to gain larger rewards in the future. The study is the first to demonstrate ...

The first real-world, head-to-head comparison of "improved cookstoves" (ICs) and traditional mud stoves has found that some ICs may at times emit more of the worrisome "black carbon," or soot, particles that are linked to serious health and environmental concerns than traditional mud stoves or open-cook fires. The report, which raises concerns about the leading hope as a clean cooking technology in the developing world, appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science &Technology. Abhishek Kar, Hafeez Rehman, Jennifer Burney and colleagues explain that hundreds of millions ...

The worldwide concert phenomenon Video Games Live will be returning to Malaysia this May for a pair of shows at Kuala Lumpur's Istana Budaya venue.   Following the success of the show's original Malaysian run in 2010, the world's largest videogame concert spectacular will be seen once again on May 26th and 27th at 20:30 local time.   Created by veteran games composer Tommy Tallarico, the event sees the National Symphony Orchestra performing new arrangements of some of gaming's most iconic tunes.   Themes will be taken from famous videogames from across the ages, from ...

A dose of carbon nanotubes more than doubles the growth rate of plant cell cultures — workhorses in the production of everything from lifesaving medications to sweeteners to dyes and perfumes — researchers are reporting. Their study, the first to show that carbon nanotubes boost plant cell division and growth, appears in the journal ACS Nano. Mariya V. Khodakovskaya and colleagues explain that their previous research demonstrated that so-called multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can penetrate through the thick coatings on seeds, stimulate germination of the seeds and ...

Efforts are underway to develop a more environmentally friendly process for dyeing denim with indigo, the storied "king of dyes," used to the tune of 50,000 tons annually to color cotton blue jeans and hundreds of other products. That effort is the topic of an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN). C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. In the article, C&EN Assistant Managing Editor Michael McCoy notes that concerns about the environmental effects of indigo represent ...

Thailand's SailQuest Sailing School is to organise a series of exciting boat races at the SailQuest Samui Regatta in May 2012.   It gets started on May 26th and runs through to June 5th, combining on-the-water competitions and festivities with a number of shore-based tie-in celebrations.   The regatta itself is held between May 29th and June 2nd, with the remaining days dedicated to transporting participants back and forth from the Ocean Marina in Pattaya, where the SailQuest school is based.   A number of different classes of boat will compete in the lavish event, ...

People with severe depression are constantly despondent, lacking in drive, withdrawn and no longer feel joy. Most suffer from anxiety and the desire to take their own life. Approximately one out of every five people in Germany suffers from depression in the course of his/her life – sometimes resulting in suicide. People with depression are frequently treated with psychotherapy and medication. "However, many patients are not helped by any therapy," says Prof. Dr. Thomas E. Schläpfer from the Bonn University Medical Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. "Many spend more ...

New Rochelle, NY, April 4, 2012—Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women, and evidence-based national guidelines promote the use of daily aspirin for women at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. However, less than half of the women who could benefit from aspirin are taking it, according to an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online at the Journal of Women's Health website. "Based on this survey, it is evident that the majority of women for whom aspirin is recommended ...

Taking the 'White Privilege Pop Quiz' by Molly Secours might reveal the inner racist. The quiz is merely a mirror that reflects how internalized racial biases and fears prevent those classified as white from recognizing, understanding--and ultimately perpetuating--inequities in education, health care, criminal justice and perhaps even premature death. Sample questions from the quiz are on her site, mollysecours.com. In light of the recent, untimely, and racially charged death of Trayvon Martin, Secours posted a blog on the site Redroom that included a few of the questions ...

Nick and Bobbi Ercoline, the couple depicted on the "Woodstock" soundtrack album cover, have now been happily married for over 40 years. However, a new special issue of The Gerontologist showing the Ercolines as they look today — a portrait of successful aging — finds that their unmarried baby boomer counterparts generally fare much poorer in terms of economic, health, and social outcomes. In 2011, the first of the 79 million American baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) reached age 65. Among this population, approximately one in three people are unmarried; ...

Observations by the two of the European Space Agency's space observatories have provided a multi-wavelength view of the mysterious galaxy Centaurus A. The new images, from the Herschel Space Observatory and the XMM-Newton x-ray satellite, are revealing further hints about its cannibalistic past and energetic processes going on in its core. At a distance of around 12 million light years, Centaurus A is the closest large elliptical galaxy to our own Milky Way. It has been marked as unusual since shortly after its discovery in the 19th century due to a thick lane of dust ...

A showcase of Malaysian artwork is coming to Bali at the Floated art exhibition, to be held later this month at the Kendra Gallery.   Beginning on April 14th, the event will feature pieces from a trio of acclaimed contemporary artists and will run through until May 10th.   Visitors to the show will be able to see how these three creative contributors offer different interpretations of social and cultural realities in Malaysia, a quickly-evolving society with a thriving arts scene.   Jalaini Abu Hassan's art aims to offer a unique perspective on the way historical ...

World-leading ship science expert, Professor Ajit Shenoi, says that a seafaring tragedy on the scale of the Titanic disaster is unlikely to happen again. Professor Shenoi, who is the Director of the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute at the University of Southampton, believes this is due to the many lessons that have been learned as a result of the tragedy 100 years ago. "A detailed Board of Trade inquiry set up after the tragedy identified that the reasons behind the Titanic's sinking and the huge loss of life could be categorised under two headings," Professor ...

Superstar instrumentalist Kenny G will be treating audiences in Malaysia to some of his greatest hits at the forthcoming Heart and Soul show at Resorts World Genting.   To be held at the Arena of Stars on May 19th 2012, the performance will encompass many of the phenomenally popular entertainer's most enduring classics, including Songbird and The Moment.   Born Kenneth Bruce Gorelick, the artist burst on to the international music scene in 1986 with his scintillating saxophone solos, collaborating with music legends such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra ...

Researchers are increasingly aware that fat in some parts of the body is more harmful than fat in other places. To help determine how obesity works, scientists turn to animal models and now, they are able to visualize how much fat their lab rats are carrying and where they are storing it. The method will be published in the April issue of the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). "One of the key benefits of this technique versus existing methods, like ex vivo analysis, is that this technique allows for non-invasive and longitudinal assessment of fat in small animal ...

A Chorus Line, one of Broadway's most celebrated musicals, is set to be performed in Singapore this May in a spectacular production.   The show will be staged at the Marina Bay Sands hotel from May 4th to 27th 2012, with show times available at 19:30 local time from Tuesdays to Fridays, while 13:30 matinees will also take place on weekends.   Telling the individual stories of 17 dancers whose lives have led them to a bare audition hall and a dream of appearing on the Broadway stage, the show debuted in 1975 and became one of the longest-running productions of all time.   It ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A compound found in red wine, grapes and other fruits, and similar in structure to resveratrol, is able to block cellular processes that allow fat cells to develop, opening a door to a potential method to control obesity, according to a Purdue University study. Kee-Hong Kim, an assistant professor of food science, and Jung Yeon Kwon, a graduate student in Kim's laboratory, reported in this week's issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry that the compound piceatannol blocks an immature fat cell's ability to develop and grow. While similar in ...

The web is all about searching and finding exactly what you want. Sometimes you find something a little extra, too. To introduce its new and improved website, OpenMoves, the leader in online marketing based in Huntington, NY, is launching an online search game, The Great April Moo Hunt on April 5, 2012. To enter, participants must seek out the grazing "April Moo" cow (recognized by her pinkish complexion) upon the newly expanded OpenMoves website. Up for grabs is $1,000, $500 and $250 worth of online marketing services: Email, search engine optimization (SEO), ...

Young males who have been sexually abused are five times more likely to cause teen pregnancy compared to those with no abuse history, according to University of British Columbia research. Sexually abused boys are also three times more likely to have multiple sexual partners and twice as likely to engage in unprotected sex. Published online in advance of the Journal of Adolescent Health's June issue, the UBC study explores links between sexual abuse and risky sexual behaviour, focusing on three areas: teen pregnancy, multiple sexual partners and unprotected sexual intercourse. ...

SEATTLE – The first large-scale U.S.-based study to evaluate the link between an injectable form of progestin-only birth control and breast cancer risk in young women has found that recent use of a year or more doubles the risk. The results of the study, led by breast cancer epidemiologist Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, are published online ahead of the April 15 print issue of Cancer Research. While the contraceptive, called depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate, or DMPA, contains the same kind of progestin as the menopausal hormone-therapy ...