Feeling your words: Hearing with your face

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New Haven, Conn. — The movement of facial skin and muscles around the mouth plays an important role not only in the way the sounds of speech are made, but also in the way they are heard according to a study by scientists at Haskins Laboratories, a Yale-affiliated research laboratory.

"How your own face is moving makes a difference in how you 'hear' what you hear," said first author Takayuki Ito, a senior scientist at Haskins.

Tension in the nanoworld

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A joint team of researchers at CIC nanoGUNE (San Sebastian, Spain) and the Max Planck Institutes of Biochemistry and Plasma Physics (Munich, Germany) report the non-invasive and nanoscale resolved infrared mapping of strain fields in semiconductors. The method, which is based on near-field microscopy, opens new avenues for analyzing mechanical properties of high-performance materials or for contact-free mapping of local conductivity in strain-engineered electronic devices (Nature Nanotechnology, advanced online publication, 11 Jan. 2009).

Scientists use lasers to measure changes to tropical forests

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HILO, Hawaii January 23, 2009—New technology deployed on airplanes is helping scientists quantify landscape-scale changes occurring to Big Island tropical forests from non-native plants and other environmental factors that affect carbon sequestration.

U.S. Forest Service and Carnegie Institution scientists involved in the research published their findings this month in the journal Ecosystems and hope it will help other researchers racing to assess threats to tropical forests around the world.

Cancer-causing gene discovery suggests new therapies

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Scientists have discovered a novel way by which a much-studied cancer-promoting gene accelerates the disease. The finding suggests a new strategy to halt cancer's progress.

Up to now, research has largely focused on how the mutated gene, Myc, disrupts the ability of DNA to be "transcribed" into RNA – the first step in making proteins that are essential for cell growth and function. But the new research shows that this altered Myc gene, called an oncogene, can also act directly on the final stage of protein production.

How natural oils can be hydrogenated without making unhealthy trans fats

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. – To prolong the shelf life of foods, manufacturers often add hydrogen to natural oils, a process called hydrogenation. But hydrogenation also results in the production of trans fats, which have adverse health effects such as raising bad cholesterol and increasing the risk for coronary heart disorders.

Trans fats are found in vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, cookies and snacks. Health authorities worldwide recommend that people reduce their consumption of trans fats.

Nurses with a second degree could impact workforce

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As the United States continues to experience a nursing shortage that is expected to grow to one million nurses by 2016, a new research study highlights a pool of potential candidates who could alleviate the shortage in an economical way.

NAU research ties tree mortality trends to climate warming

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(Flagstaff, Ariz.- Jan. 23, 2009) - Global warming is speeding up the mortality of trees, and Northern Arizona University research is providing some of the data to prove it.

Pete Fulé, an NAU associate professor in the School of Forestry and a director of the university's Ecological Restoration Institute, is a coauthor of "Widespread Increase of Tree Mortality Rates in the Western United States," an article to be published in the Jan. 23 issue of Science journal.

More accurate FEMA flood maps could help avoid significant damages and losses

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Oklahoma State University researchers make breakthrough against poxviruses

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Stillwater, Okla. – Smallpox has a nasty history throughout the world. Caused by poxviruses, smallpox is one of the few disease-causing agents against which the human body's immune system is ineffective in its defense.

A major breakthrough by Junpeng Deng, a structural biologist in the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (DASNR) at Oklahoma State University, and his first-year Ph.D. student, Brian Krumm, may be the first step towards a pharmaceutical medication for smallpox and the emerging human monkeypox.

Research elucidates way lungs fight bacteria and prevent infection

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NEW YORK (Jan. 23, 2009) – Actor and pancreatic cancer patient Patrick Swayze's recent hospitalization with pneumonia as a result of his compromised immune system underscores the sensitivity of the lungs: many patients die from lung complications of a disease, rather than the disease itself.