Organisms living on small islands are particularly threatened by extinction. However, data are often lacking to objectively assess these threats. A team of German and British researchers used satellite imagery to assess the conservation status of endangered reptiles and amphibians of the Comoro archipelago in the Western Indian Ocean. The researchers used their results to point out which species are most threatened and to define priorities for future protected areas. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. A typical problem in species conservation ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- After last year's rollercoaster ride, the job market for college graduates has settled down and appears braced for slow but steady growth, according to Michigan State University's annual Recruiting Trends study. The survey of more than 3,300 employers nationwide – the largest of its kind – found that hiring is expected to increase a modest 4 percent, across all degree levels, for the current crop of students. And unlike last year when many employers were overly optimistic with their hiring forecasts – only to pull back on hiring – the job market ...

Platinum Play Online Casino, a member of the Fortune Lounge Group, is set to release its latest online casino game offering, Immortal Romance Video Slot on 5 December. The game has been dubbed "Microgaming's biggest game of the year", and with YouTube videos, a Facebook page and a full website dedicated to the game, there is certainly a great deal of hype surrounding the release of the online slot game. The 243 Ways video slot game features four unique Free Spins bonuses and a Random Wild Desire feature, revealing hidden truths and ancient treasures, treasures ...

NEWARK, DE -- While public gardens typically offer educational programming for adults and elementary school–aged children, the teenage audience has been largely underserved. A new study examined the institutional benefits, challenges, and strategies of offering successful programming for youth aged 13 years. The researchers hope their findings motivate staff at public horticultural institutions to create and implement positive development opportunities for teens. A research team surveyed institutional members of the American Public Gardens Association, and followed up ...

With zombies the new monster of choice in many recent horror films, there has been a growing fear of the living dead amongst Britons. However, a new experience day available to members of the public has been created in order to help train and prepare people for the eventuality of a zombie invasion. Experience day website www.wish.co.uk has introduced the new Zombie Boot Camp experience to the site, which has been designed with an undead invasion in mind. The experience is currently available in Droitwich, Worcestershire and costs GBP59 per person. On the day, the ...

DAVIS, CA -- In peach trees, as in other plants, the energy used to create carbohydrates that support growth and development comes from solar radiation through the process of photosynthesis. Peach tree productivity is therefore dependent on the tree's photosynthetic efficiency and effectiveness in distributing and using carbohydrates. A basic knowledge of carbon assimilation and partitioning concepts at the whole-tree level can aid growers in understanding how peach trees grow and help them adopt cultural practices that maximize production. Carbon assimilation and partitioning ...

The ISES competition recognizes outstanding student research in renewable energy in areas such as the use of sustainable energy, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, tidal power, biomass, renewable alternative fuels, conversion, storage and transportation of renewable energy, and energy saving. The projects can be concerned with all aspects related to renewable energy: science, technology, economics, management and planning, law, society etc. It is open to students in all universities and colleges in Israel. Among the winning projects were Solar-Driven CO2 Reduction ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Ever wondered why flies are attracted to beer? Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside have, and offer an explanation. They report that flies sense glycerol, a sweet-tasting compound that yeasts make during fermentation. "Insects use their taste system to glean important information about the quality and nutritive value of food sources," said Anupama Dahanukar, an assistant professor of entomology, whose lab conducted the research. "Sugars signal high nutritive value to flies, but little is known about which chemical cues flies use ...

COMO, ITALY -- Traditionally addressed through hand-weeding and/or herbicide application, controlling weeds is one of most costly operations in nursery production. Increased labor costs have made hand-weeding prohibitive as the sole method of weed control, and although herbicides may be effective and less expensive, non-target herbicide loss can be as high as 86% and can harm the environment. To address the economic and environmental impact of weed problems, nursery producers are looking for more sustainable and cost-efficient techniques to control weeds in container-grown ...

NOVEMBER 17, 2011 – The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) have issued a new white paper on the potential role of endoscopic bariatric therapies (EBTs) in treating obesity and obesity-related diseases like Type 2 diabetes. The white paper entitled, "A Pathway to Endoscopic Bariatric Therapies," appears online in both GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and Surgery for Obesity and Related ...

AMHERST, Mass. – New, high-precision equipment orbiting Earth aboard the Hubble Space Telescope is now sending such rich data back to astronomers, some feel they are crossing the final frontier toward understanding galaxy evolution, says Todd Tripp, leader of the team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Galaxies are the birthplaces of stars, each with a dense, visible central core and a huge envelope, or halo, around it containing extremely low-density gases. Until now, most of the mass in the envelope, as much as 90 percent of all mass in a galaxy, was undetectable ...

CorkSport, a leading manufacturer and reseller of Mazda aftermarket performance parts, is pleased to announce a new product line designed at enhancing shifting and providing positive gear changes on Mazdaspeed vehicles.The new line-up includes the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 Shifter Bushing Kit and the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 3 and Mazdaspeed 6 Short Shifter Plate. An easy upgrade that will eliminate side to side compliance and remove the slack on your shifter, the CorkSport Mazdaspeed Shifter Bushing replaces the rubber OEM shifter bushings with aluminum black anodized shifter ...

Autism Education Services is excited to announce another autism education success story with our training program at St. Vrain Valley School District. Autism EDS was instrumental in defining the district's needs as well as developing and implementing their autism education program. St.Vrain School District (http://www.stvrain.k12.co.us/), located in Longmont, Colorado, is Colorado's ninth largest school district and serves 27,000 students each year. The district believes that special education is not simply a place where special needs students are sent, but rather a ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- A new report by Duke University researchers offers several health and environmental measures for North Carolina lawmakers to consider as they debate legalizing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. The study, which has been accepted for publication in the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum journal, looks at potential environmental hazards and how lawmakers in other states are factoring health and environmental risks into regulatory approaches targeting the natural gas extraction method. "If North Carolina legalizes shale ...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2011 -- The American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, today released a series of audio podcasts highlighting the science and cutting-edge technology behind solar power. The podcasts, available without charge at http://www.acs.org/chemmatters, tell the story of how scientists and students are making progress in harnessing the abundant energy of the sun. Well-suited for classroom use, the first two episodes explain the chemistry behind solar power — a promising alternative to fossil fuels that could have a larger role ...

Vultures in South Asia were on the brink of extinction until Lindsay Oaks and Richard Watson, from The Peregrine Fund in the US, undertook observational and forensic studies to find out why the number of birds was falling so rapidly. They discovered the vultures were being poisoned by residues of an anti-inflammatory drug (diclofenac) used in cattle and other livestock, whose carcasses they feed on. The work is presented in a chapter of the new book, 'Wildlife Ecotoxicology - Forensic Approaches,' published by Springer. According to the authors: "The story is far from ...

National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded researchers may have at last answered a 50 year-old conundrum. They may now know how Antarctica's Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains were formed, which has been a question for scientists since their discovery in 1958. Researchers involved in a highly complex research deployment to the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, a centerpiece of the 2007-2009 International Polar Year (IPY), conclude the mountains formed as a result of multiple tectonic events, rather than a single event. This week's journal Nature reports the findings. According ...

Trios' Studio has launched their new online jewelry catalog on their custom design jewelry website, triosstudio.com, which features custom design, restyling of family jewelry, along with restorations, repair work, and wedding sets. In addition, Trios' offers uses eco-friendly metals and Fair Trade gemstones whenever and wherever possible. According to their website, Fair Trade is defined as "treating the earth, and the people who mine its gifts, with respect." This means providing fair pricing, a transparent supply chain, fair labor conditions for workers, ...

A new, unprecedented national survey of African American Catholics by University of Notre Dame researchers reveals several significant insights into individual religious engagement and identifies several notable demographic trends facing the church. The survey was sponsored by the National Black Catholic Congress and Notre Dame's Institute for Church Life and Office of the President. Notre Dame social scientists Darren W. Davis and Donald B. Pope-Davis, who coauthored the report, set out to test the validity of anecdotal accounts that African American Catholics were ...

A cosmic one-two punch of colossal volcanic eruptions and meteorite strikes likely caused the mass-extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period that is famous for killing the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, according to two Princeton University reports that reject the prevailing theory that the extinction was caused by a single large meteorite. Princeton-led researchers found that a trail of dead plankton spanning half a million years provides a timeline that links the mass extinction to large-scale eruptions of the Deccan Traps, a primeval volcanic range in western ...

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Recent studies conducted at Marshall University have demonstrated that nanoparticles of cerium oxide -- common diesel fuel additives used to increase the fuel efficiency of automobile engines -- can travel from the lungs to the liver and that this process is associated with liver damage. The data in the study by Dr. Eric R. Blough and his colleagues at Marshall's Center for Diagnostic Nanosystems indicate there is a dose-dependent increase in the concentration of cerium in the liver of animals that had been exposed to the nanoparticles, which are ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – More than 20 years ago, Charles Borduin, a University of Missouri researcher, developed a treatment for juvenile offenders that has become one of the most widely used evidence-based treatments in the world. Now, he has found that the treatment continues to have positive effects on former participants more than 20 years after treatment. Throughout the course of his career, Borduin, professor of psychological sciences in the College of Arts & Science, has pioneered the treatment called Multisystemic Therapy (MST) as a way to prevent serious mental health ...

KANSAS CITY, MO -- Each time a cell divides -- and it takes millions of cell divisions to create a fully grown human body from a single fertilized cell -- its chromosomes have to be accurately divvied up between both daughter cells. Researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research used, ironically enough, the single-celled organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae -- commonly known as baker's yeast -- to gain new insight into the process by which chromosomes are physically segregated during cell division. In a study published in the Nov. 17, 2011 issue of PLoS Genetics, ...

The Somoto toolbar was recently released by the company. It is considered as one of their solutions for monetization. The Somoto toolbar have been provided to the community of freeware programmers and software program. They are making preparations for total expansion by using launches of contemporary product and additional partners joining the membership of the network. Somoto was founded by Eyal Yaakov and Ben Garrun. They recognized that programmers had a necessity for improved software, amplified revenues and increased distribution functionality. The two founders have ...

Attorney website design and marketing agency Legal Web Experts is announcing the launch of http://www.mylegalbookmarks.com , the first social bookmarking website for lawyers and legal professionals. The site allows users to share news, websites, internet resources and other law-related web content with individuals in the legal profession as well as people with similar interests. "The legal industry is so large and has so much information available online that it deserves a social bookmarking website dedicated to it specifically," says Ryan Nelson, Director ...