Culture

Scientists from Ghent University and VIB (The Flemisch Institute for Biotechnology) have demonstrated how nematodes, also known as roundworms, manipulate the transport of the plant hormone auxin in order to force the plant to produce food for them. Their findings, published January 16 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, could open up new possibilities for the development of nematode-resistant plants.

Bill Andresen, President of the Science Coalition (TSC) issued the following statement today in response to the House Appropriations Committee economic stimulus package proposal:

"The Science Coalition applauds the House for recognizing the vital need to include research funding in the economic stimulus and recovery efforts. Funding for targeted federal research programs will have the immediate impact of creating jobs and stimulating economic activity in communities across the country. This is an example that we hope the Senate will eventually follow.

Countries seeking to make massive changes in the way their economies are run, for example by privatising formerly state-run sectors, must take into account the potential impact of such changes on people's health, experts warn today.

The warning comes after a study of former countries of the Soviet Union, including Russia, that underwent privatisation programmes in the 1990s, following the collapse of communism, revealed how the process coincided with large increases in male mortality in some countries. The findings are published in the Lancet Online First today.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---As fighting continues in Gaza, a University of Michigan survey of neighboring Lebanon illuminates some of the values underlying the use of violence in the Middle East.

The findings are part of the World Values Surveys conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2009 – Recent research presented today at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Small Changes Summit that addresses childhood obesity shows that calories in recipes have gradually increased over time. Speaking before the Summit, Dr. Brian Wansink, Executive Director of the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion said, "As an example, the calories in recipes in the iconic cookbook, The Joy of Cooking, have increased by 63% from its first publication in 1937 to its most recent edition in 2006.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2009 – Recent research presented today at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Small Changes Summit that addresses childhood obesity shows that calories in recipes have gradually increased over time. Speaking before the Summit, Dr. Brian Wansink, Executive Director of the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion said, "As an example, the calories in recipes in the iconic cookbook, The Joy of Cooking, have increased by 63% from its first publication in 1937 to its most recent edition in 2006.

A researcher from the University of Leicester has identified what looks to be the oldest archaeological evidence for chemical warfare--from Roman times.

At the meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, University of Leicester archaeologist Simon James presented CSI-style arguments that about twenty Roman soldiers, found in a siege-mine at the city of Dura-Europos, Syria, met their deaths not as a result of sword or spear, but through asphyxiation.

Physicists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland have proposed a recipe for turning ultracold “boson” atoms—the ingredients of Bose-Einstein condensates—into a “supersolid,” an exotic state of matter that behaves simultaneously as a solid and a friction-free superfluid.

While exploring the properties of polymer formation, a team of scientists at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has made a fundamental discovery* about these materials that could improve methods of creating the stable crystalline films that are widely used in electronics applications—and also offer insight into a range of other phenomena.

DALLAS -- The official State Dinosaur of Texas is up for a new name, based on Southern Methodist University research that proved the titleholder has been misidentified.

Race and gender influence the way politicians speak, which is not always to their advantage. Camelia Suleiman from Florida International University and Daniel O'Connell from Georgetown University in the US have come to this conclusion as a result of their findings¹, published online in Springer's Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.

New North Carolina State University research shows that tequila's surge in popularity over the past 15 years has been a boon for industry, but is triggering a significant hangover of social and environmental problems in the region of Mexico where the once-notorious liquor is produced.

This is an agave field in Mexico.

(Photo Credit: Dr. Sarah Bowen)

The DRD theory, proposed by Prof. Yi Jin, Dr. Jun-Yong Yan and Dr.Kai-zhong Zuo, presents a theoretical and technological guide for the design of multi-valued computers.

The study of the DRD is reported in Issue 10 (October, 2008) of the Science in China Series F-Information Sciences.

AMES, Iowa -- Research led by Iowa State University scientists has them a step closer to finding a way to counter the Ebola virus.

A team led by Gaya Amarasinghe, an assistant professor in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, has recently solved the structure from a key part of the Ebola protein known as VP35.

VP35 interferes with the natural resistance of host cells against viral infections.

The scientists describe their work in this week's Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In the study, the team shows how the loss of the protein HMGB2, found in the surface layer of joint cartilage, leads to the progressive deterioration of the cartilage that is the hallmark of osteoarthritis.