This press release is available in German. Lights off – projector on. Lecture theaters, conference halls and seminar rooms currently have to be darkened if the speaker wants to project a presentation on screen. Unfortunately, the attention of the listeners goes off with the lights, and tiredness takes over. A new technique promises to remedy this situation. The projectors of the futur will not only be small and easy to use but also shine so brightly that the images appear sharp and clear, even in a sun-filled room. The image illuminating the wall of the Fraunhofer ...

New research from the University of Sheffield has revealed that the molecular mechanism underlying deafness is caused by a mutation of a specific microRNA called miR-96. The discovery could provide the basis for treating progressive hearing loss and deafness. The research team, led by Dr Walter Marcotti, Royal Society University Research Fellow from the University's Department of Biomedical Science, in collaboration with Professor Karen Steel at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, discovered that the mutation in miR-96 prevents development of the auditory sensory hair ...

The levels of environmental contaminants in a mother's body decrease during breast-feeding. After a year of lactation, the levels of a number of environmental contaminants in breast milk drop by 15 – 94 per cent, according to a recent study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. There has been little study into this topic previously. Breast milk is nutritionally the best food for infants and contains all the substances a child needs for optimal growth and development. However, breast milk contains low but measurable concentrations of environmental contaminants, ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- An innovative, educational computing platform developed by University at Buffalo faculty members and hosted by the cloud (remote, high-capacity, scalable servers) is helping UB students understand parts of evolutionary biology on an entirely new level. Soon, high-school and middle-school students will benefit from the same tool as well. Pop! World, developed by UB faculty members with a $250,000 National Science Foundation grant, takes advantage of cloud computing, which allows programs to run on remote servers instead of through departmental or institutional ...

New research shows that 2010 set new records for the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, expected to be a major contributor to projected sea level rises in coming decades. "This past melt season was exceptional, with melting in some areas stretching up to 50 days longer than average," said Dr. Marco Tedesco, director of the Cryospheric Processes Laboratory at The City College of New York (CCNY – CUNY), who is leading a project studying variables that affect ice sheet melting. "Melting in 2010 started exceptionally early at the end of April and ended quite late in mid- ...

INDIANAPOLIS – A study conducted in four American Indian communities in the Pacific Northwest presents an effective strategy to convince mothers to switch young children from drinking sweetened soda to water and shows that eliminating these sugary drinks from the diets of the youngest members of the tribe significantly decreased tooth decay. The results of the dental arm of "The Toddler Overweight and Tooth Decay Prevention Study" (TOTS), which targeted American Indians from birth to 30 months of age, appear in the current issue (Volume 20, Number 4) of the peer reviewed ...

Mars Express has returned images from the Phobos flyby of 9 January 2011. Mars Express passed Mars' largest moon at a distance of 100km. The HRSC-camera recorded images of Phobos on 9 January 2011 at a distance of 100 km with a resolution of 8.1 m/pixel. Due to the stereo viewing geometry during the flyby a small part of the moon’s edge is only visible for the right eye resulting in odd 3D-perception in this area. This part has been slightly adjusted for better viewing. Also, for the left eye at the left edge of the image four small data gaps have ...

Under standard laboratory conditions, the human beta-defensin 1 (hBD-1), a human antibiotic naturally produced in the body, had always shown only little activity against microbes. Nevertheless the human body produces it in remarkable quantities. The solution to the puzzle was the investigation process itself, as the research group led by Dr. Jan Wehkamp at the Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute for Clinical Pharmacology of the Stuttgart-based Robert Bosch Hospital found out. Before the research group took a new approach to this research, defensins were usually tested ...

CHICAGO --- If NFL linemen can recover from back surgery and return to their spine-bruising careers, so can you get back into your "game" of horsing around with your kids or working out at the gym after back surgery. That's the good news from a new Northwestern Medicine study that found 80 percent of NFL lineman – whose spines are especially vulnerable to degeneration – were able to return to play many more games after the surgery. These elite athletes spend a lot of time in a squatting stance that puts tremendous stress on their spine. The study is encouraging ...

Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter. "Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long ...

Do mountain tops act as sky islands for species that live at high elevations? Are plant populations on these mountain tops isolated from one another because the valleys between them act as barriers, or can pollinators act as bridges allowing genes to flow among distant populations? Dr. Andrea Kramer and colleagues from the Chicago Botanic Garden and the University of Illinois at Chicago were interested in pursuing these questions, particularly for a genus of plants, Penstemon (Plantaginaceae), endemic to the Great Basin region of the Western United States. They published ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A water hammer can occur when a valve is suddenly opened or closed in a pipe carrying water or steam, causing a pressure wave to travel down the pipe with enough force that it can sometimes cause the pipes to burst. Now, new research shows that a similar effect takes places on a tiny scale whenever a droplet of water strikes a surface. MIT's Kripa Varanasi, co-author of a report on the new finding published this week in the journal Physical Review Letters, says the phenomenon could help engineers design more durable condensing surfaces, which are used ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Research is trying to determine whether Alzheimer's disease might be slowed or prevented with nutritional approaches, but a new study suggests those efforts could be improved by use of nutrient "biomarkers" to objectively assess the nutrient status of elderly people at risk for dementia. The traditional approach, which primarily relies on self-reported dietary surveys, asks people to remember what they have eaten. Such surveys don't consider two common problems in elderly populations – the effect that memory impairment has on recall of their diet, or ...

Millbrook, NY – A distant relative of shrimp, zooplankton are an important food source for fish and other aquatic animals. Long characterized as algae feeders, a new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that nearly a third of zooplankton diets are supported by material that originates on land in lake watersheds. The study brings scientists one step closer to clarifying the role that watershed inputs play in aquatic food webs. While it has been recognized that animals living at the bottom of lakes and streams rely, in ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Researchers from Upstate New York institutions, including the University at Buffalo, have documented elevated levels of two industrial pollutants in carp in eastern Lake Erie, adding to the body of scientific work demonstrating the lasting environmental effects of human activity and waste disposal on the Great Lakes. The two contaminants the scientists studied were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), manmade organic compounds once used in products including motor oils, adhesives, paints, plastics, pigments and dyes, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – In an article in the Nov. 23 issue of the journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers with Dow AgroSciences and the University of Missouri report on two bacterial enzymes that, when transformed into corn and soybeans, provide robust resistance to the herbicide 2,4-D. The discovery may soon provide Missouri corn and soybean growers a solution to the growing problem of herbicide-resistant weeds. The spread of herbicide resistance has become an increasing concern for growers because undesired plants, such as Palmer amaranth and ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – They pop up in farm fields across 22 states, and they've been called the single largest threat to production agriculture that farmers have ever seen. They are "superweeds" – undesirable plants that can tolerate multiple herbicides, including the popular gylphosate, also known as RoundUp – and they cost time and money because the only real solution is for farmers to plow them out of the field before they suffocate corn, soybeans or cotton. Now, thanks to the work of researchers at Dow AgroSciences, LLC, who have been collaborating with a University of Missouri ...

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have deciphered the genetic code for a type of pancreatic cancer, called neuroendocrine or islet cell tumors. The work, described online in the Jan. 20 issue of Science Express, shows that patients whose tumors have certain coding "mistakes" live twice as long as those without them. "One of the most significant things we learned is that each patient with this kind of rare cancer has a unique genetic code that predicts how aggressive the disease is and how sensitive it is to specific treatments," says Nickolas Papadopoulos, Ph.D., associate ...

iFunia, a professional developer of Mac multimedia software, announced today the release of its 3DGallery. 3DGallery is a hassle-free 3D photo gallery maker that can turn digital photos into stunning flash image presentation in minutes to let users view their favorite photos in 3D. Users can also upload the 3D flash photo gallery to liven up website or blog in seconds. "If you want impressive live slideshows on the Mac, it doesn't get better than 3DGallery", said Amy Lu, Product Manager of iFunia Corp. "No matter whether you are web designers, or Bloggers and social ...

Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur has been selected as the Preferred Wellbeing Partner for members of the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (BMCC), following the inking of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two organizations today. Commenting on the announcement Chief Executive Officer of Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur, Amir Firdaus Abdullah said: "We are absolutely delighted Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur has been selected as the preferred wellbeing partner by BMCC. We look forward to providing excellence of service and value to the members of BMCC." In this strategic ...

The Search Engine Pros - a full search engine optimization agency - has formally teamed up with Sea Hill Press, a successful book publishing company in Santa Barbara, operating nationwide. With this new pact in place, The Search Engine Pros will further maximize and enhance the power of Sea Hill's web services, ramping up traffic and business for clients. The Search Engine Pros delivers essential internet marketing website optimization that increases search engine rankings, drives qualified traffic, and helps to grow conversion levels. "If you're promoting a book ...

Women business owners strive to grow their businesses by providing products and services that serve their customers exceptionally well, and they will do this most effectively by following some simple, yet effective, guidelines. Best of the Janes: Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Your Ideal Customer is the latest article by professional marketing researcher and entrepreneurial expert Michele DeKinder-Smith. In this article, DeKinder-Smith outlines five important guidelines women business owners can use to get to know their customers better - and therefore serve them ...

MindFlash Advertising, A graphic design company that creates design projects from top-to-bottom and specializes in an array of design forms from logo and identity material to brochures, banners and websites, recently released the launch of their cutting edge application and their 2011 e-book, titled "The Five Best Design Concepts of 2011." MindFlash Advertising, a Dallas/Fort Worth-based company is currently offering their comprehensive e-book free of charge in exchange for readers taking a short quiz on their new web-based application. The company's new application ...

If you have recently watched Channel 4's 'Famous and Fearless' you may have noticed Kelly Holmes & Co sporting some great looking bespoke tracksuits ( http://www.team-colours.co.uk/teamwear/ ) for the shows. These custom tracksuits have been produced specially by Team Colours. Team Colours are proud to announce their involvement in the show by producing a series of different coloured tracksuits for the celebrities. The celebrities who star in Famous and Fearless, wearing the Team Colours custom tracksuits, are a combination of sporting greats, soap favourites, actors ...

"The MoneyMan Report" with Dan Frishberg on Friday featured guest Keith Fitz-Gerald, chief investment strategist for Money Map Press and a contributing editor to Money Morning (http://www.moneymorning.com/). Fitz-Gerald also wrote the book "Fiscal Hangover: How To Profit From The New Global Economy," released in 2009. During the interview with Frishberg, Fitz-Gerald talked about the effects of China liberalizing its policies regarding Americans doing business in yuan. He stressed the importance of this move, because it will allow Americans to invest in U.S. companies ...