A prototype computer game has been developed to help improve decision making skills in all aspects of our lives. Supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), a team at Queen's University Belfast has developed a prototype that could be built on by commercial games manufacturers and turned into an e-learning or training tool for professionals in all walks of life – and for the general public too. Alternatively, some of its features could be incorporated into existing computer games that have a strategy element. The team has explored ...

A Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) or cell phone mesh network uses software to transparently hook together numerous active cell phones in a location to provide greater bandwidth and better network connections by allowing users to share "spare" resources while they use their phones, making data transfers faster and smoother. However, the usefulness of such ad hoc networks can be offset by vulnerabilities. Like any network, a MANET can be susceptible to attack from people with malicious intent. Illicit users might, for instance, hook up to such a network and impersonate a ...

Research conducted at the University of Granada warns about the negative effects of the so-called "benevolent sexism", a term used for apparently "positive" ideas and attitudes of men towards women, which are based on the assumption that men must take care of and sacrifice themselves for women. The research revealed that when individuals are told that a man has attitudes socially considered as "good" towards his wife –even although those attitudes are sexist– they tend to justify sexual violence within the couple and to exonerate the man (as they consider that he is entitled ...

A new study reports on the success of growing human liver cells on resorbable scaffolds made from material similar to surgical sutures. Researchers suggest that this liver tissue could be used in place of donor organs during liver transplantation or during the bridge period until a suitable donor is available for patients with acute liver failure. Findings of this study appear in the February issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. As of January 2011, more than 16,000 ...

Women who have survived childhood cancer should be advised to breastfeed if they can, in order to offset some of the negative health effects of their earlier cancer treatment. According to Susan Ogg and colleagues from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, making women aware of the benefits of breastfeeding should be part of routine post-cancer diet and healthy lifestyle recommendations. Their work is published online in Springer's Journal of Cancer Survivorship. It is estimated that one in every 640 young adults between the ages of 20 and 39 will ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new device that represents a significant advance for computer memory, making large-scale "server farms" more energy efficient and allowing computers to start more quickly. Traditionally, there are two types of computer memory devices. Slow memory devices are used in persistent data storage technologies such as flash drives. They allow us to save information for extended periods of time, and are therefore called nonvolatile devices. Fast memory devices allow our computers to operate quickly, but aren't able ...

A curious contagious cancer, found in dogs, wolves and coyotes, can repair its own genetic mutations by adopting genes from its host animal, according to a new study in the journal Science. Scientists at Imperial College London have uncovered an unusual process that helps the cancer survive by stealing tiny DNA-containing 'powerhouses' (known as mitochondria) from the cells of the infected animal, to incorporate as its own. They say this may be because genes in the tumour's own mitochondria have a tendency to mutate and degenerate. The results are surprising because mitochondria ...

A small pool of stem cells replenishes the human body with about 200 billion new blood cells daily. But the elaborate circuitry that determines if a cell will develop into a T cell, red blood cell, or one of the nine or more other blood cell types remains largely unknown. A research team led by scientists from the Broad Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital has taken a systematic approach to help decipher this circuitry, compiling a comprehensive catalog of the factors that determine a blood cell's fate. Their work appears in the January 21 issue of Cell. The researchers ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — It's easy for American society to label young killers as simply crazy. But new research suggests that a complex array of factors – from bullying to lack of parental support to ineffective mental health services – are potentially involved when a student turns to violence. The study, co-authored by Michigan State University's Hyunkag Cho, examined the risk factors of the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings by 23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho that left 33 people, including the gunman, dead. According to the study, which appears in the current issue of the ...

Patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are on long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) have more to worry about than breathing difficulties. According to a new study by researchers in Sweden, COPD patients on LTOT today face an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease and other non-respiratory ailments. The study's results suggest physicians need to carefully monitor for these conditions and treat them to help decrease the risk of mortality in these patients. The findings were published online ahead of the print edition of the American ...

A new study published in The American Journal on Addictions reveals that illicit use of HGH (human growth hormone) has become common among young American male weightlifters. Additionally, illicit HGH use in this population is often associated with polysubstance abuse involving both performance-enhancing and classical drugs. HGH, once an expensive performance-enhancing drug used exclusively by elite athletes, has become cheaply available for illicit users on the street. Researchers led by Brian P. Brennan, MD, MSc, of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, evaluated ...

JILA researchers have developed a laser-based source of terahertz radiation that is unusually efficient and less prone to damage than similar systems. The technology might be useful in applications such as detecting trace gases or imaging weapons in security screening. JILA is a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Terahertz radiation—which falls between the radio and optical bands of the electromagnetic spectrum—penetrates materials such as clothing and plastic but can be used to detect ...

An international research team working with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) scientists at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) in Charleston, S.C., has suggested for the first time that mercury cycling in the flora and fauna of the Arctic may be linked to the amount of ice cover present. Their study* is the latest work reported from the Seabird Tissue Archival and Monitoring Project (STAMP), a multiyear joint effort of NIST, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to track trends ...

The quantum computers of tomorrow might use photons, or particles of light, to move around the data they need to make calculations, but photons are tricky to work with. Two new papers* by researchers working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have brought science closer to creating reliable sources of photons for these long-heralded devices. In principle, quantum computers can perform calculations that are impossible or impractical using conventional computers by taking advantage of the peculiar rules of quantum mechanics. To do this, they need ...

Electronics researchers love graphene. A two-dimensional sheet of carbon one atom thick, graphene is like a superhighway for electrons, which rocket through the material with 100 times the mobility they have in silicon. But creating graphene-based devices will be challenging, say researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), because new measurements show that layering graphene on a substrate transforms its bustling speedway into steep hills and valleys that make it harder for electrons to get around. In a new article in Nature Physics,* NIST ...

Using a new experimental test structure, biophysicists at JILA have unraveled part of a 15-year mystery in the mechanics of DNA—just how the molecule manages to suddenly extend to almost twice its normal length. The new test structure should support research on DNA elasticity as a standard for tiny forces and help refine studies of how drugs and other substances bind to DNA. In a new paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society,* JILA scientists disprove a leading explanation for DNA overstretching, a curious behavior in which the molecule's double helix structure ...

MADISON, WI, JANUARY 19, 2011 – Invasive broadleaf weeds can destroy corn crops and fallow fields. Farmers use the chemical atrazine in herbicides to protect their plants. Despite atrazine's controversial environmental impacts, it can provide long term residual control of many weed species. However, the loss of atrazine's effectiveness has been a challenge for farmers in northeastern Colorado. In a collaborative study between scientists at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service Water Management Research Unit and Colorado State University, soil samples were collected from ...

Electron microscopes are among the most widely used scientific and medical tools for studying and understanding a wide range of materials, from biological tissue to miniature magnetic devices, at tiny levels of detail. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have found a novel and potentially widely applicable method to expand the capabilities of conventional transmission electron microscopes (TEMs). Passing electrons through a nanometer-scale grating, the scientists imparted the resulting electron waves with so much orbital momentum ...

Large wind farms are being built around the world as a cleaner way to generate electricity, but operators are still searching for the most efficient way to arrange the massive turbines that turn moving air into power. To help steer wind farm owners in the right direction, Charles Meneveau, a Johns Hopkins fluid mechanics and turbulence expert, working with a colleague in Belgium, has devised a new formula through which the optimal spacing for a large array of turbines can be obtained. "I believe our results are quite robust," said Meneveau, who is the Louis Sardella ...

The notion that feeling good may be good for your health is not new, but is it really true? A new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reviews the existing research on how positive emotions can influence health outcomes in later adulthood. "We all age. It is how we age, however, that determines the quality of our lives," said Anthony Ong of Cornell University, author of the review article. The data he reviews suggest that positive emotions may be a powerful antidote to stress, pain, ...

CINCINNATI—For years, RNA has seemed an elusive tool in nanotechnology research—easily manipulated into a variety of structures, yet susceptible to quick destruction when confronted with a commonly found enzyme. "The enzyme RNase cuts RNA randomly into small pieces, very efficiently and within minutes," explains Peixuan Guo, PhD, Dane and Mary Louise Miller Endowed Chair and professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati (UC). "Moreover, RNase is present everywhere, making the preparation of RNA in a lab extremely difficult." But by replacing a ...

RUSTON, La. – While most people were busy shopping during the holiday season, Dr. Daniela Mainardi, associate professor of chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech University and member of the Institute for Micromanufacturing, was preparing for a trip that would take her half way around the world. As part of a joint effort, Mainardi, together with Virendra Mathur from the University of New Hampshire, and Suddhasatwa Basu and Shantanu Roy from The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, was in charge of organizing a workshop titled, "Energy and Environment: Challenges and ...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2011 — The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning podcast series, "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions," focuses on development of a new ultra-light biodegradable foam plastic material made from two unlikely ingredients: The protein in milk and ordinary clay. The material could be used in numerous products, researchers report in the ACS' Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal. The finding comes amid ongoing concern about plastic waste accumulating in municipal landfills, and reliance on imported oil to make plastics. David ...

LA JOLLA, CA – January 20, 2011 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that a known enzyme in cells protects against measles virus, likely by altering the virus's genetic material, RNA. Cells lacking the enzyme become highly vulnerable to the virus's destructive effects. The enzyme also protects against several other respiratory viruses, including influenza A. "We believe that host cells use this RNA-editing enzyme to slow these viruses' ability to replicate," said Michael B. A. Oldstone, the study's senior author and a professor at Scripps Research's ...

Stanford, CA— Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes had an impact on the global carbon cycle as big as today's annual demand for gasoline. The Black Death, on the other hand, came and went too quickly for it to cause much of a blip in the global carbon budget. Dwarfing both of these events, however, has been the historical trend towards increasing deforestation, which over centuries has released vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as crop and pasture lands expanded to feed growing human populations. Even Genghis Kahn couldn't stop it for long. "It's a common ...