A new study shows significant differences in brain development in high-risk infants who develop autism starting as early as age 6 months. The findings published in the American Journal of Psychiatry reveal that this abnormal brain development may be detected before the appearance of autism symptoms in an infant's first year of life. Autism is typically diagnosed around the age of 2 or 3. The study offers new clues for early diagnosis, which is key, as research suggests that the symptoms of autism - problems with communication, social interaction and behavior - can improve ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – New research concludes that a one-two punch of drought and mountain pine beetle attacks are the primary forces that have killed more than 2.5 million acres of pinyon pine and juniper trees in the American Southwest during the past 15 years, setting the stage for further ecological disruption. The widespread dieback of these tree species is a special concern, scientists say, because they are some of the last trees that can hold together a fragile ecosystem, nourish other plant and animal species, and prevent serious soil erosion. The major form of soil ...

Gay parents face many of the same challenges as straight parents when it comes to sex and intimacy after having children, according to a new study of gay fathers published in the journal Couple and Family Psychology. The findings suggest that gay male couples who are raising children may experience lifestyle changes that could reduce their HIV risk. "When gay couples become parents, they become very focused on the kids, they are tired, there is less time for communication and less desire for sex," said Colleen Hoff, professor of sexuality studies at San Francisco State ...

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg have gained important insights for stem cell research which are also applicable to human tumours and could lead to the development of new treatments. As Rolf Kemler's research group discovered, a molecular link exists between the telomerase that determines the length of the telomeres and a signalling pathway known as the Wnt/β-signalling pathway. Telomeres are the end caps of chromosomes that play a very important role in the stability of the genome. Telomeres in stem cells are long ...

Australopithecus sediba, believed to be an early relative of modern-day humans, enjoyed a diet of leaves, fruits, nuts, and bark, which meant they probably lived in a more wooded environment than is generally thought, a surprising find published in the current issue of Nature magazine by an international team of researchers that includes a Texas A&M University anthropologist. Darryl de Ruiter, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, says the new findings are in contrast to previously documented diets of other hominin species and suggests that Australopithecus ...

The human-occupied submersible Alvin reached a major milestone in its upgrade project on June 22 when its new titanium personnel sphere successfully completed pressure testing, reports the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the vehicle's operator. The sphere, which holds a pilot and two scientists, is designed to descend to 6500 meters (21,000 feet or 4 miles) – depths that generate nearly 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure on the sphere. The tests validate the sphere design and fabrication and ensure it meets the requirements of the agencies that ...

For the first time, Lawrence Livermore researchers and international collaborators have peered into the makeup of complex airborne particulate matter so small that it can be transported into human lungs -- usually without a trace. The structure of micron-size particulate matter is important in a wide range of fields from toxicology to climate science (tobacco smoke and oil smoke particles are typically one micron in size). However, its properties are surprisingly difficult to measure in their native environment: electron microscopy requires THE collection of particles ...

Washington, D.C.—Although there have been about 800 extra-solar planets discovered so far in our galaxy, the precise masses of the majority of them are still unknown, as the most-common planet-finding technique provides only a general idea of an object's mass. Previously, the only way to determine a planet's exact mass was if it transits—has an orbit that periodically eclipses that of its host star. Former Carnegie scientist Mercedes López-Morales has, for the first time, determined the mass of a non-transiting planet. The work is published by Astrophysical Journal Letters. Knowing ...

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Tennessee team has used the Department of Energy's Jaguar supercomputer to calculate the number of isotopes allowed by the laws of physics. The team, led by Witek Nazarewicz, used a quantum approach known as density functional theory, applying it independently to six leading models of the nuclear interaction to determine that there are about 7,000 possible combinations of protons and neutrons allowed in bound nuclei with up to 120 protons (a hypothetical element called "unbinilium"). The team's results are presented in ...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Using studies that span the last three decades, scientists at UC Santa Barbara have compiled the first evidence-based comprehensive study of the potential for tsunamis in Northwestern California. The paper, "Paleoseismicity of the Southern End of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, Northwestern California," was co-written by professors Edward Keller and Alexander Simms from UCSB's Department of Earth Science, and published in a recent issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. The paper is based on the Ph.D. dissertation of David ...

VIDEO: Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have been able, for the first time, to watch viruses infecting individual bacteria by transferring their DNA, and to measure the rate... Click here for more information. PASADENA, Calif.—Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have been able, for the first time, to watch viruses infecting individual bacteria by transferring their DNA, and to measure the rate at which that transfer ...

Our eyes don't just take in the world around us, they can also reflect our emotional state, influence our memories, and provide clues about the way we think. Here is some of the latest research from the journals Psychological Science and Current Directions in Psychological Science in which scientists show there's much more to the eyes than people might think. Pupil Dilation Reflects the Creation and Retrieval of Memories Many people know that our pupils shrink when our eyes adjust to bright light, but the size and movement of our pupils can also reflect what's going ...

In the first side-by-side tests of a half-dozen palladium- and iron-based catalysts for cleaning up the carcinogen TCE, Rice University scientists have found that palladium destroys TCE far faster than iron -- up to a billion times faster in some cases. The results will appear in a new study in the August issue of the journal Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. TCE, or trichloroethene, is a widely used chemical degreaser and solvent that's found its way into groundwater supplies the world over. The TCE molecule, which contains two carbon atoms and three chlorine atoms, ...

27 June 2012: Element Six, the world leader in synthetic diamond supermaterials, and academic researchers from the University of Warwick's Departments of Chemistry and Physics, have demonstrated the key factors that determine the electrochemical properties of metal-like boron-doped synthetic diamond. The research shows that boron-doped synthetic diamond has outstanding electrochemical properties while retaining the full strength and durability of its chemical structure. This research opens the possibility of exploiting synthetic diamond's electrochemical technologies in ...

Scientists at UCLA have identified a new compound that could treat certain types of genetic disorders in muscles. It is a big first step in what they hope will lead to human clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD, is a degenerative muscle disease that affects boys almost exclusively. It involves the progressive degeneration of voluntary and cardiac muscles, severely limiting the life span of sufferers. In a new study, senior author Carmen Bertoni, an assistant professor in the UCLA Department of Neurology, first author ...

DA NANG, Vietnam—U.S. scientists and Vietnamese researchers will discuss coastal ocean circulation and land-ocean environmental trends this week as the R/V Roger Revelle, an auxiliary general purpose oceanographic research vessel (AGOR 28), continues its nine-day port call in the city of Da Nang. Owned by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the advanced research vessel arrived in Vietnam on June 22. Its visit highlights partnership between ONR and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology as part of a five-year ...

In the first two years following the death of a child, there is a 133% increase in the risk of the mother dying, a new study from the University of Notre Dame shows. Titled "Maternal bereavement: the heightened mortality of mothers after the death of a child," the study is published in the current issue of Economics and Human Biology. Researchers William Evans, a health and labor economist at Notre Dame, and Javier Espinosa of the Rochester Institute of Technology, studied 69,224 mothers aged 20 to 50 for nine years, tracking the mortality of children even ...

You are what you eat, and that seems to have been true even 2 million years ago, when a group of pre-human relatives was swinging through the trees and racing across the savannas of South Africa. A study published in the journal Nature reveals that Australopithecus sediba, an ape-like creature with human features living in a region about 50 miles northwest of today's Johannesburg, exclusively consumed fruits, leaves and other forest-based foods, even though its habitat was near grassy savanna with its rich variety of savory sedges, tasty tubers and even juicy animals. ...

VERNON – Operating on the thought that, if it is not feasible, it's not going to be done, a group of Texas AgriLife Research scientists is studying the costs of getting potential bioenergy sources such as mesquite to the processed stage. AgriLife Research scientists from the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Service center at Vernon, Dr. Seong Park, economist; Dr. Jim Ansley, range ecologist; Dr. Mustafa Mirik, associate research scientist; and Marc Maindrault, a visiting forestry student intern from France, have completed a study on costs of delivered biomass. The ...

AMARILLO – Do potato psyllids migrate from one location to the next, starting in northern Mexico and moving northward as the potato season progresses, or are psyllid populations local? Knowing whether the insects are migratory or local could help more efficiently manage the insects which are increasingly inflicting damage on the country's potato industry, according to scientists working on the project. A study that is being done as a part of the national Zebra Chip Specialty Crop Research Initiative involves Dr. Arash Rashed, Texas AgriLife Research vector ecologist, ...

University of Texas Medical Branch researchers have significantly improved an existing experimental vaccine for Rift Valley fever virus, making possible the development of a more effective defense against the dangerous mosquito-borne pathogen. The African virus causes fever in humans, inflicting liver damage, blindness, encephalitis and even death on a small percentage of those it infects. It also attacks cattle, sheep and goats, producing high mortality rates in newborn animals and causing spontaneous abortions in nearly all infected pregnant sheep. In 2000, outbreaks ...

URBANA – A University of Illinois study shows that dietary fiber promotes a shift in the gut toward different types of beneficial bacteria. And the microbes that live in the gut, scientists now believe, can support a healthy gastrointestinal tract as well as affect our susceptibility to conditions as varied as type 2 diabetes, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. As these microbes ferment fiber in the intestine, short-chain fatty acids and other metabolites are produced, resulting in many health benefits ...

COLLEGE STATION – When Atlantic Richfield Co. was tasked with cleaning up a major superfund site it had purchased in Montana, Dr. Frank Hons, a Texas A&M University professor, got a call to assist the company's consultants, Pioneer Technical Services. Hons, a soil and crop science professor, spent two years leading a Texas A&M team studying revegetation solutions on land impacted by 100 years of copper mining, mineral processing and smelting in the Anaconda, Mont. area. The Anaconda Copper Co., a driving force and major employer in the region for 100 years, was purchased ...

Mathematicians at the University of Sheffield, as part of an international team, have discovered tornadoes in space which could hold the key to power the atmosphere of the Sun to millions of kelvin. The super tornadoes - which are thousands of times larger and more powerful than their earthly counterparts but which have a magnetic skeleton - spin at speeds of more than 6,000 mph at temperatures in millions of centigrade in the Sun's atmosphere. They are more than 1,000 miles wide – hundreds of miles longer than the total distance between Land's End to John O'Groats. ...

Contact: Dan Klotz dklotz@burnesscommunications.com 301-280-5756 Francesca Pispisa fpispisa@idlo.int 39-06-40403297 Burness Communications 2 year study helps African communities resolve conflicts, protect rights from land grab Communities that survived years of violent strife still struggle to secure permanent rights WASHINGTON, D.C./ROME (28 June, 2012)—A new report released today by Namati and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) details an effective and cost-efficient process to help rural communities work together to protect their lands ...