Kids with active father figures are less likely to suffer psychological and behavioral problems and having a father figure around can reduce crime and enhance cognitive skills like intelligence, reasoning and language, in low-income families. Researchers are calling for father figures to be more involved in health and policy makers to promote more father-friendly policies.
Graphene is a nanomaterial combining very simple atomic structure with intriguingly complex and largely unexplored physics. Since its first isolation about four years ago researchers suggested a large number of applications for this material in anticipation of future technological revolutions. In particular, graphene is considered as a potential candidate for replacing silicon in future electronic devices.
Researchers have discovered a possible added benefit of a novel new drug that lowers blood pressure.They found in animal studies that aliskiren not only lowered blood pressure but also significantly reduced artery-clogging lesions that are the leading cause of heart attack and stroke, the top cause of death worldwide.
With the aid of computerized image analysis, it may be possible in the future for radiologists to feel images with the help of a three-dimensional mouse. The new technology should make it easier to diagnose and plan the treatment of cancer, and other diseases. Computerized image analysis can be used to determine the size of organs like the liver, or to construct three-dimensional models of organs when surgery or radiation is being planned. The quality of these images often varies, however - what's more we humans can actually look very different from each other inside, which makes it difficult for the computer to find the information that is relevant fully automatically.
Research has shown that the main metabolite of the insecticide DDT could be associated with aggressive breast cancer tumors, but there has been no explanation for this observation to date. Now a new report shows how DDT could act to disrupt hormone-sensitive breast cancer cells.
Researchers have developed a non-invasive imaging method that can be used to diagnose and monitor a number of diseases, including osteoarthritis and inter-vertebral disc degeneration, in their early stages. The research team examined glycosaminogycans (GAGs), which are molecules that serve as the building blocks of cartilage and are involved in numerous vital functions in the human body. Mapping the GAG concentration in vivo, or in a living organism, is desirable for the diagnosis and monitoring of a number of diseases.
Topical drop application of alpha-linolenic acid led to a significant decrease in clinical signs of dry eye syndrome in animal models. ALA is a fatty acid that cannot be made by the body, and must be supplied in the diet.
Corneal grafts obtained from donors dying in the hospital or with cancer may be associated with an increased risk of infection for the recipient, according to a new report. The results provide evidence that the donor's health before death may affect their eye tissue, but do not warrant excluding broad categories of donors, the authors note.
Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who were treated with a gene therapy protocol began making antibodies that reacted against their own leukemia cells. Researchers inserted a gene with the potential to activate an immune response into six patients with CLL, the most common form of adult leukemia. Several of the patients started making antibodies that reacted against their own leukemia cells. When tested in the lab, the antibodies also reacted with the leukemia cells of other patients with the disease.
Astronomers have discovered two planets that resemble smaller versions of Jupiter and Saturn in a solar system nearly 5,000 light years away. The find suggests that our galaxy hosts many planetary systems like our own. The newly-discovered planets appear to be gaseous planets like Jupiter and Saturn -- only about 80 percent as big -- and they orbit a star about half the size of the sun. The star is dim and cold compared to ours, issuing only five percent as much light. Still, the new solar system appears to be a smaller analog of our own. The larger planet is about as massive compared to its star as Jupiter is to ours. The smaller planet shares a similar mass ratio with Saturn.
Officials will 'mitigate consequences' of any debris landing on other countries from rogue spy satellite it plans to shoot down Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 15 Feb 2008 | 12:43 pm
Benjamin Halpern, a marine ecologist from UC Santa Barbara on the new study detailing the total human impact on the world's oceans Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 15 Feb 2008 | 10:59 am
Scientists are no nearer finding a vaccine against HIV after more than 20 years of research, a top expert says. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 15 Feb 2008 | 10:23 am
Scientists claim heavy rain is normal for weather in the UK and the dry spell is over. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 15 Feb 2008 | 10:04 am
The Pentagon plans to fire a missile at a rogue spy satellite that is due to fall to Earth next month Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 15 Feb 2008 | 9:50 am
Authorities in the eastern Indian state of Orissa reject results of a new count of the tiger population. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 15 Feb 2008 | 5:13 am
A record number of rare large blue butterflies have been counted at a key site in England during 2007. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 15 Feb 2008 | 4:34 am
US scientists investigate whether robots could be used instead of animals for testing chemicals. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 15 Feb 2008 | 3:20 am
OHSWEKEN, Ontario (Reuters) - In a grey, shed-like building on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in southern Ontario, Esenogwas Jacobs is getting her kindergarten students ready to head home for the day.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to shoot down a disabled U.S. spy satellite before it enters the atmosphere to prevent a potentially deadly leak of toxic gas from the vehicle's fuel tank, officials said on Thursday.
Fishing, climate change and pollution have left an indelible mark on virtually all of the world's oceans Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 15 Feb 2008 | 12:24 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many of the government-supplied trailers housing thousands of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina contain potentially dangerous levels of the chemical formaldehyde, U.S. federal health officials said on Thursday.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Astronauts and ground control teams hustled to get Europe's newly delivered space laboratory prepared for science experiments on Thursday as NASA ironed out plans for a final spacewalk by the shuttle Atlantis crew.
MENLO PARK, California (Reuters) - The United States must collaborate with other countries to achieve its goal of putting humans on Mars or it may fall short of its aims, scientists and former space officials said on Thursday.
The US military is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite due to crash land on Earth. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 14 Feb 2008 | 10:07 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Government labs will start moving to non-animal methods such as cells and computer models to test chemicals, drugs and toxins for safety, officials said on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers and amateur stargazers have used an unusual technique to find a solar system that closely resembles our own and say it may be a new and more productive way to scour the universe for planets -- and life.
More than 40% of the world's oceans have been heavily affected by fishing, climate change and pollution, a huge mapping study has found Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 14 Feb 2008 | 7:10 pm
BERLIN (Reuters) - German lawmakers are considering changes to laws on stem cell research as pressure grows for an easing of restrictions that local scientists complain prevent them from keeping up with global advances.
LONDON (Reuters) - Black pepper could lead to better treatments for a disfiguring skin condition that affects about 1 percent of the world's population, British researchers said on Thursday.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fossils from two newly discovered meat-eating dinosaurs that lived in the Sahara Desert 110 million years ago paint a fearsome picture of life in Africa's Cretaceous period, which appears to have been teeming with unusual carnivores.
Prince Charles tells Euro MPs the biggest ever public-private partnership is needed to tackle climate change. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 14 Feb 2008 | 11:38 am
