PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Wrinkles and folds are ubiquitous. They occur in furrowed brows, planetary topology, the surface of the human brain, even the bottom of a gecko's foot. In many cases, they are nature's ingenious way of packing more surface area into a limited space. Scientists, mimicking nature, have long sought to manipulate surfaces to create wrinkles and folds to make smaller, more flexible electronic devices, fluid-carrying nanochannels or even printable cell phones and computers. But to attain those technology-bending feats, scientists must fully understand the ...

Burton, leading British menswear retailer, has revealed several different ways in which the classic tuxedo can be worn. As the Christmas party season approaches, the tux, which is due to celebrate its 150th birthday, can be a key item to own. The tux is best known as a special occasion suit, traditionally worn with a bowtie; however, Burton has found that it's more versatile than one might initially think. According to Burton, the tux has become a cool and contemporary piece of clothing, and can be worn and styled in a multitude of different ways. For example, the menswear ...

British Airways is changing its Mauritius timetable to give customers an extra day in the sun this winter. Flights back from the Indian Ocean isle will take off 12 hours later than at present, creating more time for relaxation before travellers have to get their flights to London. The better timing coincides with the route being switched from Heathrow to Gatwick, further strengthening the airline's premium leisure programme at the airport. British Airways has recently opened the new state-of-the-art terminal extension at Gatwick, which will be home to all British ...

Although women have little or no control over some of the risk factors for breast cancer, such as those related to aging and genetics, they may be able to reduce their chances for developing the disease by avoiding certain environmental risks. BREAST CANCER AND THE ENVIRONMENT: A LIFE COURSE APPROACH, a new report from the Institute of Medicine, assesses the breast cancer risk posed by various environmental factors, identifies actions that offer potential to reduce women's risk for the disease, and recommends targets for future research. The report, sponsored by Susan ...

EUGENE, Ore. -- University of Oregon chemists have developed a boron-nitrogen-based liquid-phase storage material for hydrogen that works safely at room temperature and is both air- and moisture-stable -- an accomplishment that offers a possible route through current storage and transportation obstacles. Reporting in a paper placed online ahead of publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a team of four UO scientists describes the development of a cyclic amine borane-based platform called BN-methylcyclopentane. In addition to its temperature and stability ...

Rezidor, a rapidly expanding global hotel company, has announced plans for a new hotel, the Radisson Blu Hotel, Belgrade. The property, which features 236 rooms, is already under construction and will welcome the first guests in Q4 2013. It is Rezidor's first hotel in Serbia and the hotel group is now present in 64 countries across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Kurt Ritter, President and CEO of Rezidor, said: "We are delighted to come to Serbia. The country is an emerging nation, and Belgrade a vibrant, dynamic city with 1.7 million inhabitants where we see a ...

Bupa is warning Brits to face up to the realities of excessive drinking as research reveals that despite having one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption in the world, they are the least likely to want to cut down their intake. The International Bupa Health Pulse survey which studied over 13,000 people in 12 countries, found that Brits are over a third (41%) more likely to drink alcohol than the international average. They are also twice as likely to describe themselves as 'regular drinkers', with almost 1 in 10 (9%) admitting to drinking 'every day' - over double ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – People sleep significantly better and feel more alert during the day if they get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week, a new study concludes. A nationally representative sample of more than 2,600 men and women, ages 18-85, found that 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week, which is the national guideline, provided a 65 percent improvement in sleep quality. People also said they felt less sleepy during the day, compared to those with less physical activity. The study, out in the December issue of the journal Mental Health and Physical ...

Proposals to remove the carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuel from the atmosphere include letting commercially managed forests grow longer between harvests or not cutting them at all. An article published in the journal Forests says, however, that Pacific Northwest trees grown and harvested sustainably, such as every 45 years, can both remove existing carbon dioxide from the air and help keep the gas from entering the atmosphere in the first place. That's provided wood is used primarily for such things as building materials instead of cement and steel – which require ...

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), the global hotel group behind the Comfort, Quality, and Clarion brands and one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world, has announced the winners of its various "Hotels of the Year" awards. It has awarded Comfort Hotel Great Yarmouth the title of "UK Comfort Hotel of the Year", Quality Hotel Edinburgh Airport the "UK Quality Hotel of the Year" award and Clarion Hotel Carrickfergus the "UK Clarion Hotel of the Year" accolade. The hotels were judged to ...

The Radisson Blu Hotel, Kuwait recently hosted the third Concert of Hope. This beautiful musical black tie event under the patronage of H.E. The British Ambassador Mr. Frank Baker O.B.E. was in association with The Kuwait Chamber Philharmonia. Held in the Al Hashemi Ballroom at the hotel, the evening of musical delight featured opera singing sensation from 'Arabs Got Talent', Abdulrahman Al Mahmeed as well as a variety of other musical talent. The recent winner of 'Arabs Got Talent', Abdulrahman Al Mahmeed is known to hold his audiences spellbound as he sings a varied ...

This press release is available in Spanish. A custom-made machine for packaging mealworms infected with beneficial nematodes could improve the delivery, timing and use of the wormlike organisms as biological control agents. The machine is the result of a cooperative research and development agreement involving US Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and Southeastern Insectaries, Inc., of Perry, Ga. The Heterorhabditis and Steinernema nematodes being used can infect and kill a wide array of insect crop pests, including Japanese beetles, vine weevils, root borers ...

This press release is available in German. As the "recycling plant" of the cell, the proteasome regulates vitally important functions. When it is inhibited, the cell chokes on its own waste. Cancer cells, in particular, are very sensitive because they need the proteasome for their uncontrolled growth. Biochemists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have now identified the lead structure of a new class of drugs that attacks the proteasome in an unusual way. New medication could be developed on the basis of this previously unknown binding mechanism. The scientists ...

The National Trust has revealed the results from a new survey* which show that the vast majority (93 per cent) of people in Great Britain don't know the best time of year to enjoy eating British lamb. Only seven per cent of respondents correctly identified autumn as the time for tucking into one of Britain's favourites, with half (49 per cent) choosing spring as the best time to serve lamb - the time of year when most lambs are born. The research marks six months of the National Trust's mass on-line MyFarm experiment at its 1,200 acre organic farm at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire. ...

Super 8 Monroe North Carolina Hotel announces a special savings package for their hotel guest to enjoy. Guests who book their stay of 3 or more nights, from now through November 22, 2011 will receive a 20% discount off Best Available Rates (excluding taxes and incidentals). Stays must be completed by November 30, 2011. This offer cannot be combined with any other special rates and is subject to availability. As an additional bonus, now Wyndham Rewards members can earn DOUBLE miles or points with the stays you book until November 18th. All stays must be completed by ...

The latest invader of the Great Lakes—Hemimysis anomala, or more commonly the bloody red shrimp after its bright red spots—may become a new food source for fish, allaying concerns about how it will impact native fish populations. "Forecasting how an invader will affect the growth and production of a specific native fish species is very relevant to conservation groups and government agencies hoping to conserve those fish," says Biology graduate student Mike Yuille. Mr. Yuille is the lead author of a study that suggests for the first time that several native fish species ...

A remarkable first occurred recently at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History when ornithologists Carla Dove and Storrs Olson used 700- to 1,100-year-old feathers from a long extinct species of Hawaiian ibis to help determine the bird's place in the ibis family tree. The feathers are the only known plumage of any of the prehistorically extinct birds that once inhabited the Hawaiian Islands. Discovered with a nearly complete skeleton, the feathers retained enough microscopic structure to allow the scientists to confirm the classification of the bird, known ...

"It feels like there's two of you inside – like there's another half of you, which is my anorexia, and then there's the real K, the real me, the logic part of me, and it's a constant battle between the two." - 36 year old study participant with anorexia nervosa. (Garrison, NY) People with anorexia nervosa struggle with questions about their real, or "authentic," self – whether their illness is separate from or integral to them – and this conflict has implications for compulsory treatment, concludes a study in the Hastings Center Report. The researchers also conclude that ...

Spook Spann, of Spook Nation TV, is selling 405 acres of hunting land in Grant, Iowa. Located in the heart of Iowa's prime buck land with a one acre working vineyard, this Iowa hunting property contains a great number of existing amenities and is sure to impress the most avid deer hunter. "I have personally harvested several great bucks off of this land, and I know that this will make an awesome farm for someone who is serious about hunting true world class bucks," asserts Spook Spann, professional hunter and manager of Spook Nation Farms. "When it comes ...

The question of how many polyhedral nanocrystals of silver can be packed into millimeter-sized supercrystals may not be burning on many lips but the answer holds importance for one of today's hottest new high-tech fields – plasmonics! Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) may have opened the door to a simpler approach for the fabrication of plasmonic materials by inducing polyhedral-shaped silver nanocrystals to self-assemble into three-dimensional supercrystals of the highest possible density. Plasmonics ...

"My New Goalie has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..." "My new goalie has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..." Don't be surprised if you overhear an NHL GM singing this song to himself in a Pittsburgh hotel lobby in June 2012. Ok, it's pretty corny, so you probably won't actually hear anyone signing it, but come draft day, there will be a GM who will be feeling as happy as a kid with a hot dog. After all, he will have just selected a goalie named Oscar with his team's first round pick. Oscar Dansk is currently the highest ranked goalie in the upcoming ...

Concentrix, a global business service provider and wholly-owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation, recently announced it has established a world-class contact center in Nicaragua. This new facility, located in the country's capital, has the capacity to house 60 service agents on its first phase and plans to increase to approximately 200 next year. The company's operations in Nicaragua will include a broad span of services in customer retention such as customer service and customer win-backs; in customer renewals such as licensing and contract renewals, extended warranty ...

NYU Langone Medical Center researchers have discovered the novel protective role dendritic cells play in the pancreas. The new study, published in the November issue of journal Gastroenterology, shows dendritic cells can safeguard the pancreas against acute pancreatitis, a sudden dangerous swelling and inflammation of the pancreas gland. "Our study findings demonstrate that an abundance of dendritic cells are needed in the pancreas for normal, healthy pancreatic function, especially when there are high levels of inflammation caused by acute pancreatitis," said senior ...

Having survived long centuries, political upheaval, and even bombings during World War II, Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece Last Supper now faces the risk of damage from air pollution due to its location in one of Western Europe's most polluted cities. In late 2009, the refectory of Santa Maria Delle Grazie Church, where the painting is located, installed a sophisticated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system to protect the painting from the polluted air of Milan. To test the effectiveness of their pollution countermeasures, Italian officials called on Constantinos ...

GREENBELT, Md. -- The Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard NASA's newest Earth-observing satellite, NPP, acquired its first measurements on Nov. 21, 2011. This high-resolution image is of a broad swath of Eastern North America from Canada's Hudson Bay past Florida to the northern coast of Venezuela. The VIIRS data were processed at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) in Suitland, Md. VIIRS is one of five instruments onboard the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite that launched ...