Culture

BOSTON, Aug. 23, 2010 — With laws, government regulations, and funding priorities continuing to exert a broad impact on science, a group of graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is holding a special symposium Aug. 23 during the American Chemical Society (ACS) 240th National Meeting and Exhibition here to familiarize future scientists with the unfamiliar realm of public policy.

CAMDEN – Teenage years have always been linked with concerns about appearance but now some reality TV shows take full advantage and tout happiness as just a nip/tuck away, says a Rutgers–Camden psychologist who has found that teens fond of these kinds of programs are more likely to join the millions who go under the knife each year. For bodies - and minds - still in development, these drastic decisions could have implications long after prom night.

New Rochelle, NY, August 20, 2010—The U.S. needs a comprehensive and transformational policy for the 21st century to ensure that it remains competitive in the global science and technology arena, according to a provocative opinion piece in the latest issue of OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology.

A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy describes how using street outreach workers is an effective strategy to reach and engage youth with the goal of violence prevention and intervention. Street outreach workers are typically members of the community who intervene to prevent conflict and retaliation, and in some programs, also connect individuals with needed services, such as housing and job training.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A Midwest utility company learned firsthand that it pays to keep healthy employees fit, reaping a net savings of $4.8 million in employee health and lost work time costs over nine years.

A University of Michigan study of workplace wellness programs is one of the only longitudinal studies of its kind, said co-author Louis Yen, associate research scientist in the School of Kinesiology's Health Management Research Center.

Many scientists in academia bemoan the fact that their lifestyles do not allow them to have as many children as they would like. Surprisingly, male scientists harbor more regrets than female scientists, according to a study by Rice University sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund.

The ancient "terror bird" Andalgalornis couldn't fly, but it used its unusually large, rigid skull--coupled with a hawk-like hooked beak--in a fighting strategy reminiscent of boxer Muhammad Ali.

Italian youths whose parents allowed them to have alcohol with meals while they were growing up are less likely to develop harmful drinking patterns in the future, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher.

Only around half of acute hospital trusts in England have a formal chaperone policy, despite the recommendations of a public inquiry, reveals research published online in Postgraduate Medical Journal.

This could have "severe medico-legal repercussions in the future," particularly as the NHS seeks to rein in its budget and might consider monies for a chaperone policy could be better spent elsewhere, warn the study authors.

Culturally, some people are inclined to believe the media can impact children in every way except regarding sexual behavior. Fast food, guns, alcohol, cigarettes - check. Hollywood director Rob Reiner even wants censorship of smoking in movies. Impressionable is impressionable, right? Maybe not.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Teens who are overweight, get little exercise or who smoke may be more likely to have frequent headaches and migraines than teens with none of these factors, according to a study published in the August 18, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

A centuries‑old traditional Chinese medicine may reduce the intestinal side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients by stimulating gut cell division and reducing inflammation, a new study in mice suggests.

The research will appear in the Wednesday, 18 August issue of Science Translational Medicine, which is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.