CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Copper — the stuff of pennies and tea kettles — is also one of the few metals that can turn carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels with relatively little energy. When fashioned into an electrode and stimulated with voltage, copper acts as a strong catalyst, setting off an electrochemical reaction with carbon dioxide that reduces the greenhouse gas to methane or methanol. Various researchers around the world have studied copper's potential as an energy-efficient means of recycling carbon dioxide emissions in powerplants: Instead of being released into ...

Imposing trade restrictions on parallel imports has the surprising effect of motivating a firm to export, according to a new study using game theory economic analysis. Economists Santanu Roy, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and Kamal Saggi, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, found that diverse parallel importing policies among countries today make it possible to analyze for the first time how competition between firms and allowing or banning parallel imports can influence competition in foreign and domestic markets. "Our research is the first to look at the consequence ...

A Changing Legal Landscape: Pill Mills in Florida A few years ago, Florida was the epicenter of the illicit trade in prescription pain medication in the United States. One year after new legal measures were established to crack down on the illegal prescription drug market in Florida, the pill mill scene in the state has changed, but some observers question whether the new law enforcement measures go too far -- in some cases, catching innocent bystanders in the crossfire. Two years ago, before the recent prescription drug crackdown began, arrests for prescription drug ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Women undergoing treatment for breast cancer can experience cognitive declines, such as decreased verbal fluency or loss of memory and attention. Often experienced by patients undergoing chemotherapy, the declines have become known as "chemo brain." However, a health psychologist at the University of Missouri says "chemo brain" isn't always to blame. Stephanie Reid-Arndt, an associate professor and chair of the Health Psychology Department in the MU School of Health Professions, found that women who had undergone surgery for breast cancer but who had not ...

Feinger LLC, developer of innovative tech accessories, today announces the pre-order availability of its new Feinger system, an accessory that secures your mobile devices to your hand, keeping them secure from dropping while on-the-go. Part of the proceeds from all pre-orders before April 30 will benefit the Indiana Tornado Relief Fund. Comprised of three main components - the Knuckle, the Sleeve, and the Unimount (with and without lanyard) - the Feinger easily attaches to any smartphone, cell phone, portable gaming systems and many other handheld devices. A comfortable ...

Choosing the right payroll software is an important decision for start-ups. For this holiday season, the small business owners can ease the headaches of payroll tax processing with the new ezPaycheck payroll software from http://www.Halfpricesoft.com now available in a no cost, no obligation trial version. Designed with simplicity in mind, the new edition of the already popular product was updated according to the suggestions from customers including: - New Form 941 (Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Form) - New custom tax withholding feature to handle deductions ...

Boulder, Colo., USA – Highlights from the 10 April Geology posting include studies of mafic volcanics from the SW Japan arc; Holocene stromatolites from Walker Lake, Nevada, USA; ammonite habitats in the U.S. Western Interior Seaway; differences in ocean wave size versus geographic variability; deep-water formation in Earth's oceans; a question of mass methane release and the end-Triassic mass extinction; and "foreign" magma in early eruption deposits of the world's youngest super-eruption at Taupo volcano, New Zealand. Highlights are provided below. Representatives of ...

aShell Launcher is a beautiful and convenient alternative to default home screen of Android phones. Its key advantages are speed, stability, elegant Android 4 style and an innovative docking bar. The launcher has been designed with the users´ convenience in mind: the docking bar provides quick access to your call log, text messages, task manager and device settings. Another useful feature of aShell Launcher is the animated widget preinstalled on the main screen. It consists of two panels that represent current date and time, and in future versions it will display ...

CORAL GABLES, FL (April 11, 2012)--On warm days, the beach seems an ideal destination for family rest and relaxation. Who hasn't built a sand castle or been buried up to the neck in sand? However, that family fun has a dark side -- sand can harbor illness-causing microbes. Unfortunately, there are no guidelines for sand quality at recreational sites. Now, environmental scientists at the University of Miami (UM) and at Northern Illinois University have created a reference guide for potentially harmful germs in sand, similar to the guidelines set by the US Environmental ...

In an interview with Manufacturing Digital, Brian Emerick, President and CEO of Micropulse, Inc discusses how the company's symbiotic relationship with its local community has led to 20 years of growth. The key to Micropulse's success is its business model, which is rooted in integrity and values. "Before profits or anything else, I want to be personally and corporately known for integrity; everything else will take care of itself. We're doing well as a company because we have a great bunch of people working here. It's not just me or some execs; it's a team of ...

CHICAGO --- Pregnant women who are overweight with moderately elevated blood sugar never set off any alarms for their physicians. The big concern was for women who were obese or who had gestational diabetes because those conditions are known to cause a host of health risks to the mom and baby. But a new study shows these women who are just above average for weight and blood sugar are at a higher risk of bad pregnancy outcomes than previously known. In fact, this group is at higher risk than pregnant women who are obese with normal blood sugar or pregnant women who ...

AUSTIN, Texas--Seed size is controlled by small RNA molecules inherited from a plant's mother, a discovery from scientists at The University of Texas at Austin that has implications for agriculture and understanding plant evolution. "Crop seeds provide nearly 70 to 80 percent of calories and 60 to 70 percent of all proteins consumed by the human population," said Z. Jeff Chen, the D.J. Sibley Centennial Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics at The University of Texas at Austin. "Seed production is obviously very important for agriculture and plant evolution." Chen and ...

When it comes to running a successful business over decades, passion is everything. At The Meat Factory, passion is no short supply. Whether it's supporting the community, its employees, progress in the realm of food safety, or Canada's agriculture industry, TMF is a company that is not content to do things half-heartedly. That passion is one of many traits that have served to cement the company as one of Canada's top food manufacturers. "We derive our livelihood from Canada and Canadian products, and we also have to be cognizant of the farmers and everyone else ...

Magnetics have been a major force in the steel industry for decades, and Magnetic Analysis Corporation has been at the forefront for just as long. Since first incorporating in 1928, MAC has been providing U.S. steel producers with innovative methods and equipment for testing their products. Today, the company has expanded its reach worldwide - but its dedication to groundbreaking technology is just as strong as ever. "Technology is always changing," says says Dudley Boden, Vice President of Sales at MAC. "Some eddy current and flux leakage technology ...

In 1915, Alfred Haigh moved from Mount Gambier to Adelaide with one goal: the chocolate business. Nearly a century later, Haigh's Chocolates is still standing strong with six locations in Adelaide, Melbourne, and now in Sydney. Still family-owned and operated to this day, Haigh's Chocolates finds ways to embrace new technology while still staying true to the friendliness and quality ingredients that have made the company famous. When a company is built upon family, it can be difficult finding the right people for the job. When that job also involves a precise artisan ...

Duck-billed dinosaurs that lived within Arctic latitudes approximately 70 million years ago likely endured long, dark polar winters instead of migrating to more southern latitudes, a recent study by researchers from the University of Cape Town, Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas and Temple University has found. The researchers published their findings, "Hadrosaurs Were Perennial Polar Residents," in the April issue of the journal The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology. The study was funded through a grant from the National ...

Rocky Veneziano and brothersJoe and John Kolenda are all self-made businessmen, solemnly dedicated to the pursuit of a business that is efficient and vertically integrated. But though their business is serious, their aim is to make The Groove Train a thoroughly engaging experience for both food and coffee lovers throughout Australia. "All our stores have a certain vibe about them: retro, groovy, casual, funky," says Rocky. "We have big communal tables, booth seating and table top arcade games machines which are also used as tables." "A lot ...

Ventana Research has begun its 2012 Value Index for Product Information Management. This 2012 Value Index will provide guidance that can enable organizations to ascertain the value of applications for addressing product information management. Using the Value Index, businesses and specific commerce, marketing, product, manufacturing and supply chain organizations will be able to evaluate vendors and their products and make choices based on an understanding of how well existing and new applications and technology best satisfy their needs. "The Value Index for ...

Using tiny tags to track a bird's location, biologists from PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO) have unlocked the mystery of where Golden-crowned Sparrows, which overwinter in California, go to breed in the spring. Published this week in the journal PLoS ONE, the study reveals for the first time the exact migration route of this small songbird to its breeding sites in coastal Alaska. During a time when birds are experiencing the negative impacts of climate and land-use changes, being able to pinpoint the most important breeding and stopover places is critical to prioritizing ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have definitively linked an increase in ocean acidification to the collapse of oyster seed production at a commercial oyster hatchery in Oregon, where larval growth had declined to a level considered by the owners to be "non-economically viable." A study by the researchers found that elevated seawater carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, resulting in more corrosive ocean water, inhibited the larval oysters from developing their shells and growing at a pace that would make commercial production cost-effective. As atmospheric ...

In November 2011, a National Academy of Sciences committee issued a report calling for the creation of a "Google Maps"-like data network intended to revolutionize medical discovery, diagnosis and treatment. Today, the co-chair of that committee, UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, is issuing a call-to-arms to patient advocates to help make that idea a reality. In her editorial, reported in the April 11 issue of "Science Translational Medicine," Desmond-Hellmann calls on patient advocates to work with policy makers in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere to develop ...

Plans for the International Dog Bite Prevention Challenge are well underway. Doggone Safe challenged its presenters to visit schools and educate 50,000 children about dog safety in a single month. The Challenge will occur during May in honor of Dog Bite Prevention Week (May 20-26, 2012). So far 57 presenters have pledged to educate over 18,000 kids in eight countries, five Canadian provinces and twenty four US states. Half of all children are bitten by a dog and most of the time the biter is the family dog or another dog known to the child. "The number of bites ...

During the massive oil spill from the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well in 2010, it seemed at first like there might be a quick fix: a containment dome lowered onto the broken pipe to capture the flow so it could be pumped to the surface and disposed of properly. But that attempt quickly failed, because the dome almost instantly became clogged with frozen methane hydrate. Methane hydrates, which can freeze upon contact with cold water in the deep ocean, are a chronic problem for deep-sea oil and gas wells. Sometimes these frozen hydrates form inside the well casing, where ...

New York, NY, April 11, 2012 – Chromosomes are strands of DNA that contain the blueprint of all living organisms. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes that instruct how genes are regulated during development of the human body. While scientists have developed an understanding of the one-dimensional structure of DNA, until today, little was known about how different parts of DNA are folded next to each other inside the nucleus. Using a powerful DNA sequencing methodology, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have now investigated the three-dimensional ...

The demand for caregivers is growing rapidly as California's population ages, but the majority of state's Medi-Cal caregivers earn poverty or near-poverty wages and have poor access to health care and food, a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has found. Fifty-seven percent of paid Medi-Cal caregivers — and almost half of all 450,000 paid caregivers in the state — have incomes that leave them in poverty or near poverty, according to the study, "Hidden in Plain Sight: California's Paid Medi-Cal Caregivers Are Vulnerable." Medi-Cal is the state's ...