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A new material that can retain and release heat according to specific temperature requirements could make a significant difference to the cost of heating and cooling buildings, scientists say.

Researchers based at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) believe their invention — which could be used in existing structures as well as new builds — could offer considerable energy savings.

A revolutionary biodegradable pellet which slowly releases antibiotics into the middle ear could transform the lives of thousands of children who suffer from glue ear.

Marine researchers in New Zealand have identified the direct impact of fishing as the largest known human factor in the decline of the endangered native sea lion population. The team's findings, published in Mammal Review, discount non-human factors, such as disease and identifies resource competition and by-catch incidents as the most likely causes.

Eight out of ten Australians would radically change their behaviour if tests showed they had a genetic susceptibility to depression, a national study has found.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and published online in the Journal of Affective Disorders, is the first population-wide analysis of Australian attitudes towards genetic testing for risk of mental illness.

Aging brings about a selective decline in the numbers and function of T cells – a type of white blood cell involved in the immune system's response to infection – and T cells that survive the longest may better protect against infections such as the flu, according to a study led by researchers from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. The finding may lead to targeting these cells with vaccinations that increase their number and improve protection against disease in older adults.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 percent of Americans have inactive lifestyles (they take fewer than 5,000 steps a day) and 75 percent do not meet the weekly exercise recommendations (150 minutes of moderate activity each week and muscle-strengthening activity twice a week) to maintain good health.

A national transplant policy change designed to give African-American patients greater access to donor kidneys has sliced in half the racial disparities that have long characterized the allocation of lifesaving organs, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

Before 2003, the researchers note, an African-American patient who joined the kidney transplant list on the same day as a white patient would have a 37 percent smaller chance than a white counterpart of getting a transplant. In recent years, the researchers say, that percentage has dropped to 19.

A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and elsewhere shows that methamphetamine use can fuel HIV infection risk among teenage boys and young men who have sex with men (MSM), a group that includes openly gay and bisexual men, as well as those who have sex with men but do not identify themselves as gay or bisexual.

About 50 to 60 percent of patients with melanoma have a mutation in the BRAF gene that drives the growth of their cancer. Most of these patients respond well to two novel agents being studied in clinical trials that inhibit the gene, with remarkable responses that are, unfortunately, almost always limited in duration.

LOMA LINDA, Calif. — Eating legumes at least three times a week and brown rice at least once a week was linked to a reduced risk of colon polyps by 33 percent and 40 percent respectively, according to Loma Linda University research recently published in Nutrition and Cancer. High consumption of cooked green vegetables and dried fruit was also associated with greater protection, the study shows.

A new study has found that smokers who take multivitamins offset their healthy behaviour by smoking more cigarettes. This is an example of what psychologists call the licensing effect, which occurs when people make a virtuous choice that permits them to make a poor choice later on, such as when someone 'earns' a weekend binge by avoiding alcohol all week. In this case, smokers take multivitamins, a healthy choice that they believe reduces the risk of cancer and allows them to smoke more. In fact, there is no evidence that multivitamins protect against cancer.

A synthesised compound which is also found in bear bile could help prevent disturbances in the heart's normal rhythm, according to research published today in the journal Hepatology by a team from Imperial College London.

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is manufactured as a drug to decrease production of cholesterol in the body and to dissolve gallstones. It is also present in many traditional Chinese medicines made from bear bile.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – New research indicates cholesterol lowering drugs known as statins may help prevent future strokes among young people who have already had a stroke. The study is published in the August 2, 2011, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

OAKLAND, Calif., August 1, 2011 – Women with high exposure to magnetic fields during pregnancy may have a higher risk of asthma in their children, according to a Kaiser Permanente study appearing online in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

A Johns Hopkins Children's Center study of Baltimore City children who have asthma and live with smokers shows that indoor air cleaners can greatly reduce household air pollution and lower the rates of daytime asthma symptoms to those achieved with certain anti-inflammatory asthma drugs. Although the air cleaners improved the overall air quality in homes, they did not reduce air nicotine levels and did not counter all ill effects of second-hand smoke, the researchers warn.