New Haven, Conn.— The water quality of lakes and coastal systems will be altered if hurricanes intensify in a warming world, according to a Yale study in Geophysical Research Letters. Bryan Yoon, the study's co-author and a doctoral student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, found that last summer during Hurricane Irene — the worst storm in the New York area in 200 years — record amounts of dissolved organic matter darkened Catskill waters and affected the Ashokan Reservoir that supplies New York City with drinking water. "This is the biggest rain ...

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Large earthquakes can alter seismicity patterns across the globe in very different ways, according to two new studies by U.S. Geological Survey seismologists. Both studies shed light on more than a decade of debate on the origin and prevalence of remotely triggered earthquakes. Until now, distant but damaging "aftershocks" have not been included in hazard assessments, yet in each study, changes in seismicity were predictable enough to be included in future evaluations of earthquake hazards. In a study published in this week's issue of "Nature," USGS ...

PASADENA, Calif.—As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." For people in certain professions — acting, modeling, and even politics — this phrase rings particularly true. Previous studies have examined how our social judgments of pictures of people are influenced by factors such as whether the person is smiling or frowning, but until now one factor has never been investigated: the distance between the photographer and the subject. According to a new study by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), this turns out to make a difference ...

You're waiting in the reception area of your doctor's office. The magazines are uninteresting. The pictures on the wall are dull. The second hand on the wall clock moves so excruciatingly slowly that you're sure it must be broken. You feel depleted and irritated about being stuck in this seemingly endless moment. You want to be engaged by something—anything—when a thought, so familiar from childhood, comes to mind: "I'm bored!" Although boredom is often seen as a trivial and temporary discomfort that can be alleviated by a simple change in circumstances, it can also be ...

Akron, Ohio, Sept. 26, 2012 — Leptin — commonly dubbed the "fat hormone" — does more than tell the brain when to eat. A new study by researchers at The University of Akron and Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) shows that leptin may play a role in hearing and vision loss. This discovery, made in zebrafish treated to produce low leptin, could ultimately help doctors better understand sensory loss in humans. While the scientists expected the leptin-deficient fish would be unable metabolize fat, "we did not expect that the leptin also affects the development of sensory ...

BOSTON – September 26, 2012 — As part of their ongoing research investigating the biology of aging, the greatest risk factor for type 2 diabetes and other serious diseases, scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have identified a new factor — microRNA processing in fat tissue — which plays a major role in aging and stress resistance. This finding may lead to the development of treatments that increase stress resistance and longevity and improve metabolism. The findings appear in the September 5 online edition of Cell Metabolism. Over the past several years, it has become ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An international team of scientists, including geochemists from the University of California, Riverside, has uncovered new evidence linking extreme climate change, oxygen rise, and early animal evolution. A dramatic rise in atmospheric oxygen levels has long been speculated as the trigger for early animal evolution. While the direct cause-and-effect relationships between animal and environmental evolution remain topics of intense debate, all this research has been hampered by the lack of direct evidence for an oxygen increase coincident with the appearance ...

Despite being infamously demoted from its status as a major planet, Pluto (and its largest companion Charon) recently posed as a surrogate extrasolar planetary system to help astronomers produce exceptionally high-resolution images with the Gemini North 8-meter telescope. Using a method called reconstructive speckle imaging, the researchers took the sharpest ground-based snapshots ever obtained of Pluto and Charon in visible light, which hint at the exoplanet verification power of a large state-of-the-art telescope when combined with speckle imaging techniques. The data ...

The green stink bug is one of the most damaging native stink bug species in the United States. Stink bugs feeding on cotton, soybeans, tomatoes, peaches, and other crops can result in cosmetic damage as well as reduced quality and yield. A new article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management, "Biology and Management of the Green Stink Bug," offers farmers and growers advice on how to deal with this insect pest. According to the authors, stink bugs have become a major challenge to integrated pest management systems because control options are basically limited ...

NASA's TRMM satellite measured the rainfall of Super Typhoon Jelawat and Tropical Storm Ewiniar as they continue moving through the western North Pacific Ocean. Super Typhoon Jelawat had super rainfall rates around its eye, while nearby Tropical Storm Ewinar's heaviest rainfall was pushed north and west of its center because of wind shear. Jelawat was intensifying and close to a category five super typhoon when NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed above on September 24, 2012 at 1611 UTC (12:11 p.m.). A 3-D image was created using TRMM's Precipitation ...

Once a powerful hurricane, Miriam is now a tropical storm off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Tropical Storm Miriam was seen in the Eastern Pacific Ocean by NOAA's GOES-15 satellite, and the visible image revealed that the strongest part of the storm was north and west of the center. NOAA's GOES-15 satellite sits in a fixed position over the western U.S. that allows it to monitor the Eastern Pacific Ocean and it captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Miriam on Sept. 26, 2012 at 10:45 a.m. EDT off the coast of Baja California. The image, created by NASA's GOES ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Coating a bone graft with an inorganic compound found in bones and teeth may significantly increase the likelihood of a successful implant, according to Penn State researchers. Natural bone grafts need to be sterilized and processed with chemicals and radiation before implantation into the body to ensure that disease is not transmitted by the graft. Human bones have a rough surface. However, once a graft is sterilized the surface changes and is not optimal for stimulating bone formation in the body. "We created a method for resurfacing bone that ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- When nurses feel safe admitting to their supervisors that they've made a mistake regarding a patient, they are more likely to report the error, which ultimately leads to a stronger commitment to safe practices and a reduction in the error rate, according to an international team of researchers. In addition, when nurse leaders' safety actions mirror their spoken words -- when they practice what they preach -- unit nurses do not feel caught between adhering to safety protocols and speaking up about mistakes against protocols. "Patient errors remain ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- People are more likely to trust health messages tweeted by doctors who have a lot of followers, but not the messages they retweet, according to researchers. A study of the credibility of health messages on Twitter showed that credibility dips when doctors who have a large number of Twitter followers passed on messages, instead of composing their own tweets, said Ji Young Lee, a former master's degree student in media studies, Penn State. When non-medical professionals with a lot of Twitter followers forward messages about health on Twitter, however, ...

Total knee replacement is a very common and safe surgery that's used to relieve severe pain and disability caused by knee osteoarthritis, and to improve patients' quality of life. However, it's also very expensive at approximately $15,000 per procedure. With an estimated 600,000 total knee replacements performed annually in the United States, the aggregate annual cost for total knee replacement (also known as total knee arthroplasty or TKA) is $9 billion. Researchers at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine studied trends in TKA surgeries over a 20-year period ...

Backing up usually isn't easy, yet when Nir Sapir observed agile hummingbirds visiting a feeder on his balcony in Berkeley, California, he was struck by their ability to reverse. 'I saw that they quite often fly backwards', he recalls, adding that they always reverse out of a bloom after feasting. However, when he searched the literature he was disappointed to find that there were hardly any studies of this particular behaviour. 'This was a bit surprising given that they are doing this all the time', Sapir says, explaining that the tiny aviators visit flowers to feed once ...

Type the word 'superfood,' into a web browser and you'll be overwhelmed: some websites even maintain that dark chocolate can have beneficial effects. But take a closer look at the science underpinning these claims, and you'll discover just how sparse it is. So, when University of Calgary undergraduate Lee Fruson became curious about how dietary factors might affect memory, Ken Lukowiak was sceptical. 'I didn't think any of this stuff would work', Lukowiak recalls. Despite his misgivings, Lukowiak and Fruson decided to concentrate on a group of compounds – the flavonoids ...

Researchers have identified 12 DNA sequences that may help doctors determine which men will suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED) following radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Identifying these patients in advance of treatment may better inform men and their families as to which prostate cancer treatments are best for their specific cancer and lifestyle, according to a study to be published online September 27, 2012, in advance of the October 1, 2012 print issue, in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology.Biology.Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific ...

Cincinnati, OH, September 27, 2012 – Functional somatic symptoms (FSS) are physical complaints, such as headaches, pain, fatigue, and dizziness, that cannot be explained medically. These symptoms affect 10-30% of children and adolescents and account for 2-4% of all pediatric doctor visits. A new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics finds that infants with regulatory problems (i.e., feeding, sleeping, and tactile reactivity) and/or maternal psychiatric problems may have an increased risk of FSS in later childhood. It is believed that maternal ...

In the first study of its kind, a research team led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University discovered 12 genetic markers associated with the development of erectile dysfunction (ED) in prostate cancer patients who were treated with radiation. The findings, to be published online September 27, 2012, in advance of the October 1, 2012 print issue in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology• Biology• Physics, the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, are an important step towards ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Sept., 26, 2012 – Fewer than 100 people in the world are known to be affected by a movement disorder called rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism (RDP), but its symptoms are life-changing. Seemingly normal young people are suddenly and dramatically unable to control movement of their arms or legs and have trouble speaking or swallowing. A normal life is nearly impossible. RDP is caused by a genetic mutation (ATP1A3) that often runs in families. Now Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers believe that same genetic predisposition might also be ...

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. – New optical imaging technology developed at Tufts University School of Engineering could give doctors new ways to both identify breast cancer and monitor individual patients' response to initial treatment of the disease. A five-year clinical study of the procedure, funded by a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, is now underway at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. The non-invasive technology uses near infrared (NIR) light to scan breast tissue, and then applies an algorithm to interpret that information. Differences in ...

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have discovered that the micro ribonucleic acid miR-214 plays a critical role in regulating ovarian cancer stem cell properties. This knowledge, said the researchers, could pave the way for a therapeutic target for ovarian cancer. The study appears in a recent issue of the The Journal of Biological Chemistry. According to the study's lead author, Jin Q. Cheng, Ph.D., M.D., senior member of the Molecular Oncology Department and Molecular Oncology and Drug Discovery Program at Moffitt, certain miRNAs can cause therapeutic resistance ...

Glenn D. Prestwich, Presidential Professor, Director of Therapeutic Biomaterials Center, and Special Presidential Assistant for Faculty Entrepreneurism of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Utah Will Give a Plenary Keynote Presentation on "Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine: From Bench to Business" at the 8th Modern Drug Discovery & Development Summit (October 24-26, 2012 in Philadelphia, PA) Dr. Glenn Prestwich will describe the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the University of Utah as well as describe a case study for commercialization of a university ...

It's the kind of socially hip development that makes CEOs sweat. The kind of thing that one person mentions, then another, then another—and before the world knows it, an entire business model goes the way of the dinosaur while a rockstar replacement arises. Red Box did it in the movie rental business. Now Robofusion is doing it in the yogurt business, albeit coyly. "That's not something we can comment on at this time," said a high-ranking Robofusion employee on the condition of anonymity. "Red Box is an amazing product. We are flattered to be compared ...