New research suggests that hitch-hiking, once believed to be the exclusive domain of beat poets and wanderers, is in fact an activity that daring members of the animal kingdom engage in. And it may lead to a serious ecological problem. Dr David Chapple, Dr Bob Wong and Sarah Simmonds from Monash University's School of Biological Sciences, have published two complementary studies on invasive species, which are taking the opportunity to jump on board freight and cargo transports to explore, and settle, new lands. The researchers found that particular personality traits ...

There is no link between long-term use of mobile phones and tumours of the brain or central nervous system, finds new research published on bmj.com today. In what is described as the largest study on the subject to date, Danish researchers found no evidence that the risk of brain tumours was raised among 358,403 mobile phone subscribers over an 18-year period. The number of people using mobile phones is constantly rising with more than five billion subscriptions worldwide in 2010. This has led to concerns about potential adverse health effects, particularly tumours ...

Studies of ant populations in Borneo reveal an unexpected resilience to areas of rainforest degraded by repeated intensive logging, a finding which conservationists hope will lead governments to conserve these areas rather than allow them to be cleared and used for cash crop plantations. Leaf litter ants are often used to measure the overall ecological health of an area because of the large number of species present and because the health of the leaf litter is a good indication of the overall health of the forest. It is commonly assumed that repeated logging of rainforests ...

Visitors to Puchong in Malaysia this November will have the opportunity to participate in the IOI Community Run 2011, an exciting charity race event. To be held on November 20th, the race sees families and friends banding together on a fun-filled Sunday morning to take part in a physically demanding run through Puchong in order to help raise money for charity. Partners of the IOI Community Run 2011 include relief charity World Vision Malaysia, the SSL Stroke and Welfare Development Foundation and local foster home Rumah Shalom. Those participating will be able ...

Thailand visitors will be able to enjoy a celebration of friendship and local culture during next month's Silk Phuk Siew Festival and Red Cross Fair. Running from November 29th to December 10th this year, the event has been bringing the people of the area together since 1980 and centres around the friendship-making ritual of Phuk Siew. In local culture, the principle of siew refers to the most inseparable of affectionate relationships between two people, whose ties extend across both of their families. Phuk Siew is organised concurrently with the local silk ...

We all know the feeling, the short, sharp shock of waking to the sound of an alarm clock. Whether the traditional clattering metal bells, the incessant beeping of digital or the dulcet tones of today's radio news reader. Even the chance to slap the snooze button to grab a few extra moments between the sheets does not leave everyone feeling refreshed when they finally crawl out of bed. Now, researchers in India think they have the answer. Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, the researchers describe an alarm ...

Amateur athletes will be congregating in Phuket next month to take part in the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, which is to be held on November 27th this year.   Running for the last sixteen years, the event allows participants to put themselves to the ultimate physical test alongside top triathletes, while passing through striking tropical scenery.   Professionals such as Mark Allen, Greg Welch, Craig Alexander, Paula Newby-Fraser, Michellie Jones and Chrissie Wellington are among those who have taken part in past years.   The race starts with a 1.8 km swim from the beach, ...

A book or a screen – which of these two offers more reading comfort? There are no disadvantages to reading from electronic reading devices compared with reading printed texts. This is one of the results of the world's first reading study of its kind undertaken by the Research Unit Media Convergence of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in cooperation with MVB Marketing- und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels GmbH. "E-books and e-readers are playing an increasingly important role on the worldwide book market. However, readers in Germany are particularly skeptical when ...

A healthy diet is especially important during the menopause – a period in which the risk of suffering from health problems increases. Various studies analyse the diet of peri- and postmenopausal women in Spain alongside the troubles that come with this transition. The results show that all of those groups studied have a deficient intake of vitamin D. Marina Pollán, researcher at the Carlos III Institute of Health and one of the authors of the study explains that "biological and physiological changes in women caused by the menopause come with a greater risk of developing ...

SDC and Party Erotique come together again to bring you "Party Erotique Dallas" at the Aloft Saturday, October 29th, 2011. Doors open at 9pm and *masks are required* for entry. The Aloft is located at 1033 Young St in downtown Dallas. Advance ticket purchases are only $30 and if purchased the day of the event $50. Make it an Erotique Halloween Weekend and purchase a package starting at only $199 per couple. Packages include accommodations for two at Starwood's flagship Aloft Hotel, admission to afternoon educational seminars and demos, two tickets to Party ...

"It will be the first non-destructive method. This means that measurements can be taken in closed packaging and the gas composition over time can be checked. This will make it possible to check a much higher number of products than at present", says Märta Lewander, Doctor of Atomic Physics at Lund University in Sweden. Dr Lewander developed the technique in her thesis and now works as chief technical officer for the company Gasporox, which is commercialising the technology. Today, spot checks are performed on individual samples, with the risk that damaged products ...

"It is hoped that this reconstruction is a good likeness and that, if someone who knew him in life had been presented with this restoration, they would hopefully have recognised the face", says Jenny Barber, an MSc student at the University of Dundee in Scotland. She has scientifically rebuilt the face of the strong and stocky Viste Boy, who lived in the Vistehola cave near Stavanger, so that people can now look him right in the eye. Ms Barber is studying forensic art, an unusual discipline embracing such elements as human anatomy and identification in order to recreate ...

Steel City Displays, a full service custom exhibit house located in Phoenixville, PA, is pleased to announce that their valued client Saint-Gobain's Creative Services Group, won a prestigious 2011 Graphic Design USA award. Creative Services was honored for their design of the Saint-Gobain Corporate Communications display kiosks that were featured at the 2011 AIA (American Institute of Architects) Show. Steel City Displays designed and fabricated the custom built exhibits. Commenting on the award, Bob Heck, President of Steel City Displays, said, "We are thrilled ...

Sheep's head is not for wimps. Until now very few of us have been tempted by this traditional Norwegian dish. "It's a pity, because you will really have to look far and wide for a more tasty traditional dish," says Professor Reidar Mykletun at the Norwegian School of Hotel Management at the University of Stavanger. "With good potatoes, rutabaga mash, beer and aquavit sheep's head is a tempting experience for genuine lamb enthusiasts. But sheep's head is an example of a dish that is scary for many of us. With both ears, mouth, teeth, tongue and eyes looking at you from ...

Culture is not a trait that is unique to humans. By studying orangutan populations, a team of researchers headed by anthropologist Michael Krützen from the University of Zurich has demonstrated that great apes also have the ability to learn socially and pass them down through a great many generations. The researchers provide the first evidence that culture in humans and great apes has the same evolutionary roots, thus answering the contentious question as to whether variation in behavioral patterns in orangutans are culturally driven, or caused by genetic factors and environmental ...

A paper from the National Institutes of Health in the United States has evaluated the separate and combined effects of the frequency of alcohol consumption and the average quantity of alcohol drunk per occasion and how that relates to mortality risk from individual cancers as well as all cancers. The analysis is based on repeated administrations of the National Health Interview Survey in the US, assessing more than 300,000 subjects who suffered over 8,000 deaths from cancer. The research reports on total cancer deaths and deaths from lung, colorectal, prostate, and breast ...

Using a simple, single-step process, engineers and scientists at the University of California at Berkeley recently developed a technique to direct benign, filamentous viruses called M13 phages to serve as structural building blocks for materials with a wide range of properties. By controlling the physical environment alone, the researchers caused the viruses to self-assemble into hierarchically organized thin-film structures, with complexity that ranged from simple ridges, to wavy, chiral strands, to truly sophisticated patterns of overlapping strings of material--results ...

Banishing unsightly and aging "bingo wings" is easy with the new range of Mary Portas Armery from MyTights.com. In a survey by Charnos, women over 40 identified their upper arms as their number one problem area but now retail guru Mary Portas and hosiery manufacturer Charnos have joined forces to develop a new and stylish way to disguise and sculpt your upper arms - Armery. Research earlier this year showed that 75% of women over 40 hated their wobbly upper arms more than any other part of their body. Shapewear solutions exist for all parts of the body but ...

A new study published online in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that soy protein compared to dairy milk protein supplementation improves the lipid profile in healthy individuals. This study investigated the effect of soy and milk protein supplementation on lipids compared with carbohydrate among healthy adults. Numerous research studies have demonstrated that soy protein reduces LDL ("the bad") cholesterol and increases HDL ("the good") cholesterol, supporting the soy protein heart health and cholesterol-lowering claim that is approved in 12 countries ...

It has been well-documented that minorities are subject to discrimination in product pricing and customer service. What is startling is the result of a new study professors at the USC Marshall School of business in conjunction with University of San Diego's School of Business Administration, that shows that sometimes ill-treatment can make African-American consumers voluntarily pay more for goods and services than they would normally, as well as pay more than their Caucasian counterparts. Aarti S. Ivanic, assistant professor of marketing at the University of San Diego's ...

PHILADELPHIA—Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is one of a select number of medical centers nationwide offering a newly approved optical imaging agent for the detection of papillary cancer of the bladder in patients with known or suspected bladder cancer. The availability of imaging agent known as Cysview signals the arrival of an innovative diagnostic technology for patients who have or may have bladder cancer, and underscores Jefferson's reputation as a leading comprehensive medical facility in the Delaware Valley. The imaging agent is used to detect bladder cancer ...

HireDS, LLC - a certified disabled owned company promoting the inclusion of our Veterans and people with disabilities into mainstream employment - today released an updated listing of companies, federal agencies, organizations and universities that will be recruiting Veterans and their families during its next 2011 Veterans' Career Expo. The Expo, themed "Be A Hero, Hire A Hero" Global Veterans Career Expo, is being held on November 7th in New York City aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, as well as running virtually online simultaneously and for ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 20, 2011 – Are words weighing down America's ability to improve its health? According to a group of weight and health experts assembled by the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance, the answer is yes. There is a need for media and policymakers to more responsibly address weight-related health issues, the experts said, and remove the verbal barriers that are getting in the way of a more informed, responsible conversation. "With chronic diseases plaguing our health and driving up costs, we can no longer afford to overlook ...

The Vegetarian festival and the rituals involved are believed to give good luck to those who take part. This is for those who are of Chinese heritage, who will observe a strict vegetarian diet or alternatively a vegan diet. The event is designed to cleanse the soul, along with the rituals that are performed at temples. Visitors to the area can sample some of the traditional vegetarian foods that will be on offer at the restaurants and street stalls. Phuket has many hotels which cater for a variety of needs. Low-cost budget options are popular as they are comfortable ...

A new study recently published in the American Journal of Transplantation reveals that the ability to successfully carry a pregnancy after kidney transplantation is very high, with 73.5% live birth rates. Researchers led by Dorry Segev, MD, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of articles published between 2000 and 2010 that reported pregnancy-related outcomes among KT recipients. Results found that a successful pregnancy is possible after receiving a kidney transplant, although the relatively high rate of medical complications ...