U.S. academic institutions awarded 49,562 research doctorate degrees in 2009, the highest number ever reported by the National Science Foundation's Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), and a 1.6 percent increase over 2008's total of 48,802. The SED is an annual census of all individuals who receive a research doctorate from a U.S. academic institution in an academic year, which is July 1 through June 30 of the following year. The 2009 census covered individuals who earned doctorates in the academic year ending June 2009. NSF's Science Resources Statistics division compiled ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Water Resources Research (WRR), and Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface (JGR-F). In this release: Changing winds can influence amounts of carbon dioxide the ocean holds Large methane release from ocean sediments during glacial periods? Magnetic island observed at Earth's magnetopause Understanding particle movement improves models of stream erosion and deposition New method for assessing uncertainty in groundwater models ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University scientists have found the last undiscovered gene responsible for the production of the amino acid phenylalanine, a discovery that could lead to processes to control the amino acid to boost plants' nutritional values and produce better biofuel feedstocks. Natalia Dudareva, a distinguished professor of horticulture, and Hiroshi Maeda, a postdoctoral researcher in Dudareva's laboratory, determined that the gene is one of 10 responsible for phenylalanine production in plants. Understanding how the amino acid is produced could provide ...

Biologists have long thought that interactions between plants and pollinating insects hasten evolutionary changes and promote biological diversity. However, new findings show that some interactions between plants and pollinators are less likely to increase diversity than previously thought, and in some instances, reduce it. Findings, published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, show that local populations of one of the most distinctive plants in the Mojave Desert, the Joshua tree, are not as biologically diverse as would be expected. Joshua trees cannot produce seeds ...

Upper-class people have more educational opportunities, greater financial security, and better job prospects than people from lower social classes, but that doesn't mean they're more skilled at everything. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds surprisingly, that lower-class people are better at reading the emotions of others. The researchers were inspired by observing that, for lower-class people, success depends more on how much they can rely on other individuals. For example, if you can't afford ...

Current state-of-the-art global climate models predict substantial warming in response to increases in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The models, though, disagree widely in the magnitude of the warming we can expect. The disagreement among models is mainly due to the different representation of clouds. Some models predict that global mean cloud cover will increase in a warmer climate and the increased reflection of solar radiation will limit the predicted global warming. Other models predict reduced cloudiness and magnified warming. In a paper that has just appeared ...

Astronomers find cosmic dust annoying when it blocks their view of the heavens, but without it the universe would be devoid of stars. Cosmic dust is the indispensable ingredient for making stars and for understanding how primordial diffuse gas clouds assemble themselves into full-blown galaxies. "Formation of galaxies is one of the biggest remaining questions in astrophysics," said Andrey Kravtsov, associate professor in astronomy & astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Astrophysicists are moving closer to answering that question, thanks to a combination of new ...

Using hyperthermia, Virginia Tech engineering researchers and a colleague from India unveiled a new method to target and destroy cancerous cells. The research was presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the American Physical Society Nov. 23 in Long Beach, Calif. The cancer treatment uses hyperthermia to elevate the temperature of tumor cells, while keeping the surrounding healthy tissue at a lower degree of body heat. The investigators used both in vitro and in vivo experiments to confirm their findings. The collaborators are Monrudee Liangruksa, a Virginia Tech graduate ...

St. Louis, MO, November 23, 2010 – Proper nutrition therapy is essential for the successful management of type 1 and type 2 diabetes and registered dietitians (RDs) can play a key role as part of the health care team. An article in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reviews the evidence and nutrition practice recommendations presented in the American Dietetic Association Nutrition Practice Guidelines for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Adults. This complete and systematic review presents 29 key nutrition practice guidelines in order to ...

Wealth Masters International, the world's premier wealth creation community, announces the formation of Opes Partners, LTD., a financial services and insurance company, and WMI Health and Nutrition, LTD., both wholly owned subsidiaries of Wealth Masters International, GP. Opes Partners - The Future of Wall Street Opes Partners (pronounced Op-us), Latin for Wealth and Abundance, will serve as WMI's phase one presence in the over $1 trillion insurance and financial services industry, first domestically in the U.S, before expanding into global markets during the second ...

The Hampton Inn & Suites Atlanta Airport Hotel North I-85 offers the perfect Thanksgiving and Christmas Park, Stay, and Go package for guests. The package is ideal for those needing to leave their vehicle while on a trip this holiday season. The Park, Stay, and Go package includes one night accommodations and parking for 7 days. Additional days of parking can be added for a nominal fee. Parking at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is the world's busiest airport, can be a hassle. This package is great because guests don't have to worry about ...

Avoid the mall and warm up to our highest quality pajamas for women, men and children - and for a very limited time, the price just got even lower! Stay out of traffic when looking for Black Friday deals and get on the internet for Cyber Monday deals! Women love the PJ Lady's conversational print pajamas that fit so great, and teen girls go crazy over the new soft knit junior cut dorm pants. So comfortable they will want several pairs. Stop by www.pjlady.com for all your sleepwear needs. Our flannel pajamas and woven cotton pajamas for ladies, our loungepants for men, ...

Louisville, Kentucky cosmetic dentist and AACD member, Christian Hahn, DDS, volunteers for the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Charitable Foundation's Give Back a Smile (GBAS) program. This program is dedicated to healing the effects of domestic violence by providing free consultation and dental treatment to restore the smiles of survivors of domestic violence. "Through the Give Back a Smile program, AACD member dentists assist survivors by treating the dental injuries that were sustained from domestic violence, so that survivors may reclaim their smiles, their ...

SoloHealth (www.solohealth.com), a recognized leader in self-directed health care, is expanding the ad targeting capabilities of its unique self-service health screening units to address challenges marketers face in impacting consumers at the point of shopping. The enhanced self-service health screening units will give shopper marketing initiatives the individual targeting of premium online media, combined with the interactivity and engagement of mobile, in local high-traffic retail environments across the U.S., only a few feet from product shelves. Enabled by a $1.2 MM ...

ITW Trans Tech has introduced a significant new advancement in pad printing convenience and efficiency. ExpressPadTM, developed over the last few years in response to customer input, is a revolutionary, yet simple, approach to a common pad printing set-up concern. ExpressPadTM, which allows users to replace pads with absolutely no tools, cuts replacement time while improving the preciseness and repeatability of pad placement. Well suited for both short and long run production jobs, ExpressPadTM is available in 60, 90, and 130mm configurations. "During product testing ...

Following on from some harrowing statistics published by national money education charity Credit Action*, payday loan company speed-e-loans.com have highlighted how that some figures in the public domain do not necessarily reflect the whole loans market place. MYTH ONE - payday lenders pile debt on already indebted individuals Statistics from Credit Action show that average household unsecured debt in UK is GBP17,838. However, the average debt of a speed-e-loans customer is GBP8,193. Says Gary Miller-Cheevers from the company: "Our target market is employed individuals ...

Blue Tax is swiftly becoming a leader in the Tax Resolution industry related to Customer Care and Results. They make Bank Levies and Wage Garnishments a top priority and have a high success rate in removing levies and garnishments in a timely fashion. It is no wonder why Blue Tax is the #1 choice for Tax Payers seeking help with their tax problems. Cory H. of Chitook, MT who was laboring under a tax liability of $11,784 hired Blue Tax to help obtain a release of wage garnishment. Corey made it very clear that he could not afford to have his Paycheck Garnished. Blue Tax ...

Even as USA Today reports that more Americans are cutting out cable and satellite and replacing these services with set-top devices that stream TV shows and movies from the Web, many of us are now using these devices to attend church in people's homes. Case in point: More than 4,000 owners of the Roku player have installed a new channel from Northland, A Church Distributed (www.northlandchurch.net/roku) that streams live worship services, along with past sermons, music and classes. A pioneering church that has brought live worship to mobile devices including the iPhone ...

Fanatical customers of family-owned Whataburger will celebrate the holidays this year with some spare change thanks to the '12 Days of Whataburger.' As part of the company's 'Whataburger Serves' initiative, the month-long Internet coupon campaign offers customers the opportunity to receive up to 12 free food items throughout December. The coupons include offers for free menu items such as fries, drinks, fried pies and even the company's famous breakfast taquitos. Customers can sign up to receive the coupons via e-mail at www.whataburger.com. After signing up, customers ...

Research is showing that although people are more willing to spend money this holiday season they are still cost-conscious and are definitely looking for more 'bang for their buck'. Many U.S. families still want discount buys for their purchases and JustAddCoupons.com can help consumers achieve this by using coupons and free shipping deals for their holiday shopping. "Many shoppers are aware they can save up to 75% more by shopping online with coupons, but they don't have the time to hunt through countless websites in search of those exclusive savings codes," says Anita ...

Alternative Payment Solutions provider 2000Charge introduces its Agent2K program, the industry's first and only Alternative Payments agent program. The program was designed with one simple objective: provide Agents with a new opportunity to make more money by selling Alternative Payment Solutions. Alternative Payment Solutions are easy to sell, because they are a natural addition to existing credit card solutions and facilitate the acceptance of payments globally. Merchants need more than just credit card processing to maximize their profit; they need to reach out to ...

BOSTON, Mass. (November 21, 2010)—As debilitating as disease can be, sometimes it acts as a teacher. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine have found that by mimicking a rare genetic disorder in a dish, they can rewind the internal clock of a mature cell and drive it back into an adult stem-cell stage. This new "stem cell" can then branch out into a variety of differentiated cell types, both in culture and in animal models. "This certainly has implications for personalized medicine, especially in the area of tissue engineering," ...

STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have successfully transformed normal human tissue into three-dimensional cancers in a tissue culture dish for the first time. Watching how the cells behave as they divide and invade surrounding tissue will help physicians better understand how human cancers act in the body. The new technique also provides a way to quickly and cheaply test anti-cancer drugs without requiring laboratory animals. "Studies of this type, which used to take months in animal models, can now occur on a time scale of ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 21, 2010 -- Airplanes do not look much like birds -- unless you were to imagine a really weird bird or a very strange plane -- but should they? This question is exactly what a pair of engineers in California and South Africa inadvertently answered recently when they set about re-thinking the ubiquitous tube-and-wings aircraft architecture from scratch in order to make airplanes more fuel efficient. The modern airplane design works well, but from a fuel efficiency standpoint, could planes be designed more aerodynamically -- to lower drag and ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 21, 2010 -- For centuries, hunters have imitated their avian prey by whistling through their fingers or by carving wooden bird calls. Now a team of physicists at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has reproduced many of the characteristics of real bird song with a simple physical model made of a rubber tube. "We wanted to know if you [could] build a simple device, which has minimal control but reproduces some non-trivial aspects of bird song," says L Mahadevan, a professor at Harvard. The work is being presented today at the American ...