When scientist David Valentine and colleagues published results of a study in early 2011 reporting that bacterial blooms had consumed almost all the deepwater methane plumes after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill, some were skeptical. How, they asked the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) geochemist, could almost all the gas emitted disappear? In new results published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Valentine; Igor Mezic, a mechanical engineer at UCSB; and coauthors report that they used ...

e21.com is thrilled to announce that the rare domain name MacauCasino.com is now available for purchase. "Gaming is booming in Macau and there is no indication that it will slow down. On the contrary, Macau keeps on getting bigger and more profitable. Macau is already generating gaming revenues many times the size of Las Vegas and in the coming months I will surpass the entire United States,," said Paul Wilson, domain name expert. "Some people prefer to spell it as Macau and some as Macao and both are correct. e21.com is happy to offer MacauCasino.com ...

Philadelphia, PA, January 10, 2012 – Going out to eat has become a major part of our culture. Frequently eating out and consuming high-calorie foods in large portions at restaurants can contribute to excess calorie intake and weight gain. However, a study in the January/February 2012 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior demonstrates that individuals can eat out and still lose weight. Investigators from The University of Texas at Austin enrolled 35 healthy, perimenopausal women aged 40 to 59 years who eat out frequently. Participants took part in ...

Napa Technology, developer of the WineStation Intelligent Preservation and Dispensing System, aptly declared 2011 the year of wines by the glass. Now, Napa Technology is upgrading the declaration in 2012 with premium and super premium wines by the glass leading the trend. This year wines by the glass are finally breaking that ultimate wine glass ceiling; the reserve list. More commonly hospitality and retail environments are now offering the rarely uncorked premium and super premium wines by the taste, half glass and full glass with the help of wine preservation and dispensing ...

These days, we hear a lot about the disorder of autism, but researchers at the University of Utah have created a program that helps kids with autism focus on building their skills and utilizing an aptitude for visual-spatial thinking, computers and other electronic media. One of the program participants is 12-year-old Christopher Charles, who was diagnosed with what's now known as high-functioning autism when he was 18 months old. His parents started him in therapies early on, but hadn't found something that seemed to hold Christopher's interest or accommodate his behaviors. Chris ...

Leading music industry expert, Moses Avalon, will be hosting three panels at the 2012 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) tradeshow in Anaheim, California on January 21st. Avalon's reputation for controversy and no holds barred honesty about the industry has boosted attendance at the trade show by attracting over 150 new members. NAMM organizers have invited Mr. Avalon to speak and lead three panels as part of H.O.T. Zone. H.O.T. Zone, a seminar within the tradeshow, provides live educational sessions and innovative ideas for professionals in the pro audio, entertainment ...

Everyone wants to be in shape and some are willing to take any risk to get that way. Some use crazy fad diets or diet pills, but there is no substitute for working out at a gym to shed those extra pounds. Until Now! Enter WorkoutHealthy.com's New Year Gift Card Sweepstakes for a chance to win a $300 or $20 gift card good towards home gym equipment. To enter the sweepstakes visit http://www.facebook.com/WorkoutHealthy?sk=app_184766258232400. With every New Year people make resolutions to improve something about their selves. Why not make good on those resolutions this ...

You've most likely have heard the jokes about reinventing the wheel, but now one company can seriously say that they did reinvent the wheel. ARIS Sport has released a skateboard with their new wheel design. The new design is better for carving; curved wheels allow the skateboard deck to roll at extreme angles, allowing the rider to cut sharp right and left turns while maintaining balance and control of the skateboard even at low speeds. The company has released a video of the design of the new skateboard, which you will find here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkJQdhkTJh0. As ...

HOUSTON -- Research from Rice University and the University of California at Berkeley may give science and industry a new way to manipulate graphene, the wonder material expected to play a role in advanced electronic, mechanical and thermal applications. When graphene – a one-atom thick sheet of carbon – rips under stress, it does so in a unique way that puzzled scientists who first observed the phenomenon. Instead of tearing randomly like a piece of paper would, it seeks the path of least resistance and creates new edges that give the material desirable qualities. Because ...

(Boston) -The incidence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension increases with cumulative levels of exposure to nitrogen oxides, according to a new study led by researchers from the Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC) at Boston University. The study, which appears online in the journal Circulation, was led by Patricia Coogan, D.Sc., associate professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health and the SEC. While it is well established that air pollution increases the risks of acute cardiovascular events such as stroke and myocardial infarction, it is not ...

Despite advances in both the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the disease remains a leading worldwide health concern. Now, a new imaging technology under investigation at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University may help researchers pinpoint subtle aberrations in cell nuclear structure, the molecular biosignature of cancer, thus significantly improving diagnostic accuracy and prognosis by providing early detection of the disease. The team, led by Professor Deirdre Meldrum, ASU Senior Scientist and Director of the Center for Biosignatures Discovery ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The smallest wires ever developed in silicon - just one atom tall and four atoms wide - have been shown by a team of researchers from the University of New South Wales, Melbourne University and Purdue University to have the same current-carrying capability as copper wires. Experiments and atom-by-atom supercomputer models of the wires have found that the wires maintain a low capacity for resistance despite being more than 20 times thinner than conventional copper wires in microprocessors. The discovery, which was published in this week's journal ...

Proton therapy, a type of external beam radiation therapy, is a safe and effective treatment for prostate cancer, according to two new studies published in the January issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology•Biology•Physics (Red Journal), the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO) official scientific journal. In the first study, researchers at the University of Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., prospectively studied 211 men with low-, intermediate-, and high-risk prostate cancer. The men were treated with proton therapy, a specialized type of ...

AMES, Iowa – In the two and a half years since Adam Bogdanove, professor at Iowa State University in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, along with Matthew Moscou, a former graduate student in that department, discovered how a class of proteins from plant pathogenic bacteria find and bind specific sequences in plant genomes, researchers worldwide have moved fast to use this discovery. Last year it was first shown that the proteins can be fused to DNA modifying enzymes to manipulate genes and gene functions by Bogdanove and colleagues at the University ...

A tiny, freshwater flatworm found in ponds and rivers around the world that has long intrigued scientists for its remarkable ability to regenerate has now added a new wrinkle to biology. Reporting in the journal Science today, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, MO, have discovered that the worm lacks a key cellular structure called a "centrosome," which scientists have considered essential for cell division. Every animal ever examined, from the mightiest mammals to the lowliest ...

Scientists have uncovered a lot about the Earth’s greatest extinction event that took place 250 million years ago when rapid climate change wiped out nearly all marine species and a majority of those on land. Now, they have discovered a new culprit likely involved in the annihilation: an influx of mercury into the eco-system. “No one had ever looked to see if mercury was a potential culprit. This was a time of the greatest volcanic activity in Earth’s history and we know today that the largest source of mercury comes from volcanic eruptions,” says Dr. Steve Grasby, co-author ...

Just 100 nanometers in diameter, nanowires are often considered one-dimensional. But researchers at Northwestern University have recently reported that individual gallium nitride nanowires show strong piezoelectricity – a type of charge-generation caused by mechanical stress – in three dimensions. The findings, led by Horacio Espinosa, James N. and Nancy J. Farley Professor in Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, were published online Dec. 22 in Nano Letters. Gallium nitride (GaN) is among the most technologically ...

In March 2010 an outbreak of a disease called acute Montipora White Syndrome (MWS) was discovered affecting coral reefs in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. Follow-up surveys found that the disease left trails of rubble in its wake. It was estimated that over 100 colonies of rice coral (Montipora capitata) died during that initial outbreak. The disease has reappeared and is killing corals in Kaneohe Bay. The current outbreak has already affected 198 colonies and a rapid response team led by Dr. Greta Aeby (HIMB) has been activated to document the outbreak. Members of the investigative ...

LOS ANGELES – Drinking red wine in moderation may reduce one of the risk factors for breast cancer, providing a natural weapon to combat a major cause of death among U.S. women, new research from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center shows. The study, published online in the Journal of Women's Health, challenges the widely-held belief that all types of alcohol consumption heighten the risk of developing breast cancer. Doctors long have determined that alcohol increases the body's estrogen levels, fostering the growth of cancer cells. But the Cedars-Sinai study found that ...

A large percentage of patients with mild-to-moderate asthma have persistently non-eosinophilic disease which may not respond to currently available anti-inflammatory treatments, according to a new study. In a cross-sectional study of 995 asthmatic subjects enrolled in nine clinical trials conducted by the NHLBI's Asthma Clinical Research Network, sputum eosinophilia (≥2% eosinophils) was found in only 36% of asthmatics not using an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and 17% of those using an ICS. Among patients who achieved good asthma control, 26% had sputum eosinophilia, ...

Use of statins may influence susceptibility to or the progression of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in smokers, according to a new study. While some studies have suggested that statins might be beneficial in the treatment of fibrotic lung disease, others have suggested that they may contribute to the progression of pulmonary fibrosis by enhancing secretion of inflammasome-regulated cytokines, and numerous case reports have suggested that statins may contribute to the development of various types of ILD. "Based on earlier case reports of statin-associated ILD and data ...

Men enrolled in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer (PLCO) Screening Trial had no evidence of a mortality benefit compared to a control group of men undergoing usual care, according to a study published online Jan. 6 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening (PLCO) Trial is a multi-center, two-arm trial, which began enrollment in November 1993 with follow-up through December 2009, and was designed to evaluate the effect of screening on these specific cancers. The enrollees were aged 55-74 ...

Intensive botanical explorations for taxonomic studies on the members of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) in India by V.P. Thomas and M. Sabu of the University of Calicut, have resulted in the discovery of an interesting species of Amomum (Cardamom) from Silent Valley National Park on the Western Ghats of Kerala. The ginger family consists of 53 genera and over 1,200 species, many of which are widely used as spices, for medical purposes, or simply for decoration. Amomum Roxb. is the second largest genus within the Zingiberaceae, comprising about 150-180 species, including ...

BOSTON (MA) -- Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard University, and the University of Cambridge have found that the age-related impairment of the body's ability to replace protective myelin sheaths, which normally surround nerve fibers and allow them to send signals properly, may be reversible, offering new hope that therapeutic strategies aimed at restoring efficient regeneration can be effective in the central nervous system throughout life. In a proof-of-principle study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the researchers report that defects in the regeneration ...

New research highlights the possibility of reversing ageing in the central nervous system for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The study is published today, 06 January, in the journal Cell Stem Cell. As we get older, our bodies' ability to regenerate decreases. This is not only true for our skin (which is evident in the wrinkles that develop as we age) but also true for other tissues in the body, including the regenerative processes in the brain. For diseases which often span several decades and are affected by regenerative processes, such as multiple sclerosis, this ...