(Edmonton) If you have time to quickly swipe your pager or cell phone three times, that would be your best bet to get rid of most of the bacteria. And a simple tissue moistened with saline would do the trick. But if you only have time for a single swipe of a 'dirty' phone – you'd be better off reaching for a disinfectant wipe. Those are the highlights of a recently published research study that appeared online in PubMed, with the discoveries having been made by a team of researchers in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. "It was the mechanical ...

Few specimens inspire greater thrills among fossil collectors than a complete trilobite. These ancient arthropods – relatives of lobsters, spiders and insects – went extinct more than 250 million years ago, but are sometimes found in beautifully preserved condition. In rare instances, an entire population of trilobites is found fossilized together. Carlton E. Brett finds evidence for ancient environment and behavior in these mass graves. Brett, University of Cincinnati professor of geology, will present his findings March 20 at the Geological Society of America regional ...

A promising new approach for checking the accuracy of measurements of hazardous indoor air pollutants may soon be ready for prime time, report researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Virginia Tech.* The measurement tool, a reference sample for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), would be a boon to testers of indoor air quality and to manufacturers of paints, rugs, cleaners and other building products. The researchers put their innovation—thin squares of plastic saturated with vapors of a common solvent—through the paces at four testing ...

Just as a chain is as strong as its weakest link, a building is as secure against the environment as its most degraded joint sealants, about 50 percent of which fail in less than 10 years after installation. The upshot for U.S. homeowners is that moisture damage due to failed sealants is responsible for much of the $65 billion to $80 billion they collectively shell out for house repairs annually. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are assembling a toolkit of measurement devices and scientific data that will help manufacturers of ...

A recent study from North Carolina State University shows that while the number of visits to state parks across the country has grown, fund support for park operations has been significantly reduced. The reduction in funding during a time of park growth endangers the more than $20 billion in economic impact that state parks have on the nation's economy. "Obviously the reduction in general-fund support for operations puts stress on America's state-park systems," says Dr. Yu-Fai Leung, NC State associate professor of recreation ecology, park planning and visitor management, ...

PHILADELPHIA -- More than three quarters of domestic violence victims who report the incidents to police seek health care in emergency rooms, but most of them are never identified as being victims of abuse during their hospital visit. These findings, from a new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study, point to a missed opportunity to intervene and offer help to women who suffer violence at the hands of an intimate partner. "Emergency departments are a safety net for women with health issues of all kinds, but our study shows we're not doing a good enough job ...

16.03.2011 | Potsdam: The earthquake disaster on 11 March 2011 was an event of the century not only for Japan. With a magnitude of Mw = 8.9, it was one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded worldwide. Particularly interesting is that here, two days before, a strong foreshock with a magnitude Mw = 7.2 took place almost exactly at the breaking point of the tsunami-earthquake. The geophysicist Joachim Saul from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Helmholtz Association) created an animation which shows the sequence of quakes since March 9. The animated image ...

Eating out in the UK at top restaurant chains just became more affordable to all thanks to the latest deals from consumer voucher codes website DiscountVouchers.co.uk. The country's diners can enjoy money-saving deals this month redeemable at famous restaurants Zizzi, Ask and La Tasca. Zizzi is one of the country's favourite Italian restaurant chains and this month DiscountVouchers.co.uk can help people enjoy eating out there without having to break the bank. Available at present on the DiscountVouchers.co.uk website is a Zizzi voucher for getting 2 main meals for only ...

Bursts of intense global warming that have lasted tens of thousands of years have taken place more frequently throughout history than previously believe, according to evidence gathered by a team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego researchers. Richard Norris, a professor of geology at Scripps who co-authored the report, said that releases of carbon dioxide sequestered in the deep oceans were the most likely trigger of these ancient "hyperthermal" events. Most of the events raised average global temperatures between 2° and 3° Celsius (3.6 and 5.4° ...

In just a few months, millions of young adults will graduate from college and step into productive careers in the global economy. Meanwhile, those already involved in standardization, particularly in the engineering and technology sectors, and increasingly those with policy, legal, and business backgrounds, are working in a new environment where standards play a crucial role in international trade and competitiveness. But according to the attendees of a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance, comparatively few new ...

When you pull off the highway and head into your favorite campground, don't forget to tune in the latest Internet program - The RV Chef. RV Chef is produced for RVers to show that food on the road does not have to be fast or mediocre. With some planning and preparation, wonderful meals are no further away than the picnic table. As the producer and chef, George Murphy has gained a lot of experience in the 25 years he's been RVing. "We hope to produce one program every week or so that will run from 5 - 8 minutes and each and will show the viewer how to make wonderful ...

In the business of concrete making, what's old—even ancient—is new again. Almost 1,900 years ago, the Romans built what continues to be the world's largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world—the Pantheon. The secret, probably unknown to the Emperor Hadrian's engineers at the time, was that the lightweight concrete used to build the dome had set and hardened from the inside out. This internal curing process enhanced the material's strength, durability, resistance to cracking, and other properties so that the Pantheon continues to be used for special events to ...

More than 40 years ago, pioneering tectonic geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson published a paper in the journal Nature describing how ocean basins opened and closed along North America's eastern seaboard. His observations, dubbed "The Wilson Tectonic Cycle," suggested the process occurred many times during Earth's long history, most recently causing the giant supercontinent Pangaea to split into today's seven continents. Wilson's ideas were central to the so-called Plate Tectonic Revolution, the foundation of contemporary theories for processes underlying mountain-building ...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released its final report on its study of the June 18, 2007, fire at the Sofa Super Store in Charleston, S.C., that trapped and killed nine firefighters, the highest number of firefighter deaths in a single event since 9/11. The final report is strengthened by clarifications and supplemental text based on comments provided by organizations and individuals in response to the draft report of the study, released for public comment on Oct. 28, 2010. The revisions did not alter the study team's main finding: the ...

It's been more than 20 years since scientists first discovered the gene that causes cystic fibrosis (CF), yet questions about how the mutated gene causes disease remain unanswered. Using a newly created pig model that genetically replicates the most common form of cystic fibrosis, University of Iowa researchers have now shown that the CF protein is "misprocessed" in the pigs and does not end up in the correct cellular location. This glitch leads to disease symptoms, including gastrointestinal abnormalities and lung disease in the pigs, which mimic CF in humans. The findings ...

SEATTLE—Online messaging can deliver organized follow-up care for depression effectively and efficiently, according to a randomized controlled trial of 208 Group Health patients that the Journal of General Internal Medicine e-published in advance of print. After five months, compared to the half of the patients randomly assigned to receive usual care, the half who had three online care management contacts with a trained psychiatric nurse were significantly more likely to feel less depressed, take their antidepressant medication as prescribed, and be "very satisfied" ...

By national publicity expert, Annie Jennings, of the famous PR firm, Annie Jennings PR Authors are flocking to print on demand publishing and other non-traditional methods of publishing their book. With this growth of authors hitting the scene, so do a myriad of ways to promote a book. With so many choices available to them, how do author choose the right book marketing and book promotion strategy for them. National publicity expert, Annie Jennings PR, whose national PR firm has worked with thousands of book authors, shares 3 ways to tell if you like your book marketing ...

Scientists have long been aware of a link between naval sonar exercises and unusual mass strandings of beaked whales. Evidence of such a link triggered a series of lawsuits in which environmental groups sued the U.S. Navy to limit sonar exercises to reduce risk to whales. In 2008, this conflict rose to the level of the US Supreme Court which had to balance potential threat to whales from sonar against the military risk posed by naval forces inadequately trained to use sonar to detect enemy submarines. The court ruled that the Navy could continue training, but that it was ...

It's increasingly difficult to keep up with all the vulnerabilities present in today's highly complex operating systems and applications. Attackers constantly search for and exploit these vulnerabilities to commit identity fraud, intellectual property theft and other attacks. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released two updated publications that help organizations to find and manage vulnerabilities more effectively, by standardizing the way vulnerabilities are identified, prioritized and reported. Computer security departments work behind ...

The Aesthetics of Mould is a new art exhibition in Naples that examines the creative process and compares it to the way nature evolves. Running from March 25th to April 30th 2011, it will see the work of the production duo Ttozoi displayed at the Piazza S Eframo Vecchio. The strange and captivating images created by the artists are very modern in their approach, but lean heavily on movements such as Gutai and abstract expressionism. According to the organisers, the art on show is a perfect example of how a piece is born when the creator finishes painting it, but ...

NASA's Aqua and TRMM satellites are providing data to scientists about the Southern Atlantic Ocean Sub-tropical Storm Arani, a rare occurrence in the southern ocean. Rainfall data and cloud top temperatures revealed some heavy rain and strong thunderstorms exist in Arani as it continues to pull away from Brazil. NOAA's Satellite and Information Service classified Arani as a T1 on the Dvorak intensity scale which would indicate an estimated wind speed of about 29 knots (~33 mph). During the daytime on Tuesday, March 15 at 1820 UTC (2:20 p.m. EST) NASA's Tropical Rainfall ...

Washington, D.C. (March 16, 2011) -- A team of physicists in the United Kingdom has taken a giant step toward realizing efficient single-photon sources, which are expected to enable much-coveted completely secure optical communications, also known as "quantum cryptography." The team presents its findings in Applied Physics Letters, a journal published by the American Institute of Physics. Fluorescent "defect centers" in diamond act like atomic-scale light sources and are trapped in a transparent material that's large enough to be picked up manually. They don't need to ...

GRENOBLE, France -- (March 16, 2011) -- An international team of computing experts from the United States, Switzerland and Singapore has created a breakthrough technique for doubling the efficiency of computer chips simply by trimming away the portions that are rarely used. "I believe this is the first time someone has taken an integrated circuit and said, 'Let's get rid of the part that we don't need,'" said principal investigator Krishna Palem, the Ken and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing at Rice University in Houston, who holds a joint appointment at Nanyang Technological ...

Durham, NC — A new study of more than three dozen bacteria species — including the microbes responsible for pneumonia, meningitis, stomach ulcers and plague — settles a longstanding debate about why bacteria are more likely to steal some genes than others. While most organisms get their genes from their parents just like people do, bacteria and other single-celled creatures also regularly pick up genes from more distant relatives. This ability to 'steal' snippets of DNA from other species — known as lateral gene transfer — is responsible for the rapid spread of drug resistance ...

There is a treat in store for flamenco enthusiasts spending time in Seville next month, as critically acclaimed dancer and choreographer Belen Maya is going to take the stage. She will perform a piece entitled CIA with Olga Pericet, accompanied by singers and guitarists. The show will take place on April 5th at the Teatro Lope de Vega and its tagline translates as 'joyful dances for sad people'. Maya is the daughter of renowned flamenco performer Mario Maya, who passed away in 2008, but she has carved out a reputation of her own. Born in New York, she started ...