PHILADELPHIA (September 12, 2011) – The Academy of Natural Sciences today announced the discovery of a new species of large predatory fish that prowled ancient North American waterways during the Devonian Period, before backboned animals existed on land. Drs. Edward "Ted" Daeschler and Jason Downs of the Academy and colleagues from the University of Chicago and Harvard University describe the new denizen of the Devonian they named Laccognathus embryi in the current issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The 375-million-year-old beast was discovered by the ...

Earth's coral reefs have not been faring well in recent decades, facing multiple threats from pollution, disease, elevated water temperatures, and overfishing. Often referred to as the "rainforests of the Sea," coral reefs support a wide variety of marine life, help protect shorelines, and contribute significantly to tourism and the fishing industry. A new study looks at a rare but catastrophic impact on reefs: the damage caused by natural disasters such as an earthquakes. In May of 2009, a powerful, magnitude-7.3 earthquake shook the western Caribbean, causing lagoonal ...

Since 2001, New York has restricted cellphone use while driving. Drivers could receive traffic citations, with up to a $185 fine, for using handheld cellphones while driving. Law enforcement officials, however, have found that the possibility of a ticket is not enough of a deterrent as drivers continue to talk on handheld cellphones and text while driving -- and, even worse, continue to cause accidents. In 2008, more than 45,000 motor vehicle accidents in New York -- about 18 percent of the state's accidents that year -- involved driver distraction or inattention. In ...

The risk of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding needs to be considered when determining the potential preventive benefits associated with low-dose aspirin for cardiovascular disease and cancer. According to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the use of low-dose aspirin increases the risk for GI bleeding, with the risk being increased further with accompanying use of cardiovascular disease-preventing therapies, such as clopidogrel and anticoagulants. In patients who took proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), bleeding risk decreased. Clinical Gastroenterology and ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The first transgenic mouse model of a rare and severe type of autism called Timothy Syndrome is improving the scientific understanding of autism spectrum disorder in general and may help researchers design more targeted interventions and treatments. The research is described in a paper published last week by scientists at the University at Buffalo and Stanford University in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The transgenic mouse developed at UB exhibits the repetitive physical behaviors, altered social behaviors and impaired communication ...

TORONTO, ON – A University of Toronto-led team of astronomers has observed extreme brightness changes on a nearby brown dwarf that may indicate a storm grander than any seen yet on a planet. Because old brown dwarfs and giant planets have similar atmospheres, this finding could shed new light on weather phenomena of extra-solar planets. As part of a large survey of nearby brown dwarfs – objects that occupy the mass gap between dwarf stars and giant planets – the scientists used an infrared camera on the 2.5m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to capture repeated ...

Fayrell Furr Jr., of Furr & Henshaw, Attorneys at Law, has been named the best medical malpractice attorney in the Myrtle Beach area for 2011 by the Myrtle Beach Herald. Mr. Furr has also been named to the list of South Carolina Super Lawyers for 2008, 2009 and 2010. He is board-certified as a civil trial attorney by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Furr & Henshaw has offices in Myrtle Beach and Columbia. The firm represents injured people statewide, as well as out-of-state visitors who were hurt in South Carolina, and has a well-established record of helping ...

Capturing CO2 from power stations and storing it deep underground carries no significant threat to human health, despite recently voiced fears that it might, a study has shown. Researchers found that the risk of death from poisoning as a result of exposure to CO2 leaks from underground rocks is about one in 100 million – far less than the chances of winning the lottery jackpot. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh studied historical data on deaths from CO2 poisoning in Italy and Sicily, where the gas seeps naturally from the ground because of volcanic activity. ...

Scientific research may be in decline across the globe because of growing pressures to report only positive results, new analysis suggests. A study by the University of Edinburgh examined more than 4,600 scientific research papers published between 1990 and 2007 and found a steady decline in studies in which the findings contradicted scientific hypotheses. Papers reporting null or negative findings are in principle as useful as positive ones, but they attract fewer readers and citations, so scientific journals tend to reject them. It is acknowledged among scientists ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a way to measure how badly a Wi-Fi network would be disrupted by different types of attacks – a valuable tool for developing new security technologies. "This information can be used to help us design more effective security systems, because it tells us which attacks – and which circumstances – are most harmful to Wi-Fi systems," says Dr. Wenye Wang, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research. Wi-Fi networks, which allow computer ...

NetApp reseller Reliant Technology is proud to announce the expansion of its Used NetApp Storage Division with the introduction of the NetApp Storage Continuity Program. The program provides Reliant Technology customers with a cost-effective option for upgrading their NetApp FAS systems, reducing maintenance costs, and extending the life of NetApp End Of Life systems. The NetApp Storage Continuity Program is designed to help current NetApp storage customers protect their IT investments and expand the life of their NetApp FAS systems, while reducing the cost of acquiring ...

Men take note: If you want women to remember, speak to them in a low pitch voice. Then, depending on what they remember about you, they may or may not rate you as a potential mate. That's according to a new study by David Smith and colleagues from the University of Aberdeen in the UK. Their work shows for the first time that a low masculine voice is important for both mate choice and the accuracy of women's memory. The research is published online in Springer's journal, Memory & Cognition. In a series of two experiments, Smith and colleagues show that memory in women ...

LONDON - For less than $100, poor, pregnant women in India can now give birth in a private hospital focusing on low-income families, with comparable quality to expensive, private ones. This is an alternative to overcrowded, poorly staffed government-funded hospitals. Lifespring is a rapidly growing chain of hospitals in India that provides maternity and delivery care. For one low price, as little as $90, it provides complete delivery services. This is one-third to one-half of the fees charged at other hospitals. The first pilot hospital opened in 2005. Within a year, ...

Flitting among the cool slopes of the Appalachian Mountains is a tiger swallowtail butterfly that evolved when two other species of swallowtails hybridized long ago. It's a rarity in the animal world, biologists have found. They discovered that the Appalachian tiger swallowtail, Papilio appalachiensis, evolved from mixing between the Eastern tiger swallowtail, P. glaucus, and the Canadian tiger swallowtail, P. canadensis. The Appalachian tiger swallowtail rarely reproduces with its parental species and is a unique mixture of the two in both its outward traits and ...

Impacting the lives of children across the nation, Reach Out and Read pediatricians distributed nearly 1.5 million free books during the summer of 2011. Recognized by the New York Times and MSNBC, Reach Out and Read is an early literacy initiative that prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Over an 80 day period, 28,000 pediatricians and medical providers handed out an average of 25,600 books per day - - giving out more books per day than the crowd capacity at ...

The Limousines will headline the third annual Left Coast Live (LCL) music festival on Saturday, October 8, 2011 in downtown San Jose, CA. The 2011 lineup also features The Postelles, Orgone, Mara Hruby, Chico Mann and more than 20 other regional and local acts. This year's festival takes place on three outdoor stages and smaller venues between South 1st and South Market, and features a beer garden, silent disco, and an Urban Food Zone where fans can sample the best of the local food truck scene. Headliner: The Limousines Since signing to Dangerbird Records in 2010, ...

In the race to enhance the efficiency of solar cells, spending the time and effort to get tiny nanowires to line up neatly on the top of ordinary silicon wafers may not be worth the effort. An international team of researchers has for the first time demonstrated that random, haphazardly grown silicon nanowires can significantly boost the power-producing capabilities of solar cells by trapping a broad spectrum of light waves and capturing sunlight streaming in from a wide variety of angles. The nanowires, which are wrapped in a shell of silicon oxide, serve as an antireflective ...

Friends, the mainstream media and the internet, all potentially unreliable sources, continue to be the way America's young adults find their health information. Research has found that while they trust health professionals and health educators, they often do not turn to them for information, especially when it comes to their sexual health. In an attempt to provide a reliable and trustworthy source for reproductive health information for teenagers, one physician-researcher at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island has launched the website Ask A Doc RI. "My thought ...

New research from the 2011 "Portrait of American Travelers" by the YPartnership / Harrison Group this summer identifies ongoing travel movement by multiple generations of U.S. families as the leading driver of leisure travel activity. The March 2011 survey polled 2,539 U.S. households with annual incomes of $50,000 or more who took a leisure trip of 75 miles or more requiring overnight accommodations in the previous 12 months. Among the findings were that seven in 10 leisure travelers (70%) took a "celebration vacation" to mark a "life event," ...

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana have harnessed another one of graphene’s remarkable properties to better control a relatively untamed portion of the electromagnetic spectrum: the terahertz band. Terahertz radiation offers tantalizing new opportunities in communications, medical imaging, and chemical detection. Straddling the transition between the highest energy radio waves and the lowest energy infrared light, terahertz waves are notoriously difficult to produce, detect, and modulate. Modulation, or varying the height of the terahertz waves, is ...

A simplified mathematical model of the brain’s neural circuitry shows that repetitious, overlapped firing of neurons can lead to the waves of overly synchronized brain activity that may cause the halting movements that are a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. The model provides a tool in the quest to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind this incurable degenerative disorder. Researchers from IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) reduced the complex biology of the basal ganglia, a part of the brain involved in voluntary motor control, down ...

Legend tells of Greek engineer and inventor Archimedes using parabolic mirrors to create “heat rays” to burn the ships attacking Syracuse. Though the underpinnings of that claim are speculative at best, a modern-day team of researchers at the Scientific and Production Association in Uzbekistan has proposed a more scientifically sound method of harnessing parabolic mirrors to drive solar-powered lasers. Small scale analogs of giant reflector telescopes, these proposed ceramic lasers would convert an impressive 35 percent of the Sun’s energy into a laser light, providing ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — There are many old wives' tales about what determines a baby's sex, yet it is the tight controls at the gene level that determine an organism's sex in most species. Researchers at Michigan State University have found that even when genetic and genomic mechanisms are disrupted, organisms quickly evolve ways to compensate. In research published this week in Evolution, scientists from MSU's BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action led a team of researchers using an experimental evolution approach to study adaptations in sexual determination ...

Higher flu vaccination rates for health care personnel can dramatically reduce the threat of flu outbreak among nursing home residents, according to a study published in the October issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The study, which focused on nursing homes in New Mexico, found that when a facility had between 51 and 75 percent of its health care personnel with direct patient care vaccinated, the chances of a flu outbreak in that facility went down by 87 percent. "The Centers for ...

A study published in the October issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, uses a famous case of international intrigue and murder to shed new light on the risks health care workers face while treating patients with radiation poisoning. The study focused on hospital staff involved in the care of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident and former KGB operative who died from Polonium-210 poisoning in a London hospital in 2006. While who poisoned Litvinenko remains unknown, public health ...