Body

It's well known that within the adult population body weight and self esteem are very much inter related. But until now, the same wasn't known about children's healthy body weight and its relationship with a positive self-image. Paul Veugelers has changed that.

The University of Alberta researcher recently surveyed nearly 5,000 Grade 5 students in Nova Scotia, asked questions about self-esteem, measured height and weight and linked the results with the standardized provincial exam results.

Smaller, even smaller, tiny. Miniaturization in chip manufacture is progressing at an impressive pace. Researchers continue to push the physical limits of semiconductor technology and are developing methods of making circuit elements even smaller and faster. At the same time, the associated processes are having to meet increasingly high requirements.

Richard Dawkins' Extended Phenotype (EP) concept is as relevant now as when it was first proposed 26 years ago and is not at odds with other evolutionary explanations. This was the conclusion of a recent workshop on the Extended Phenotype today, organized by the European Science Foundation (ESF).

The global trade in frog legs for human consumption is threatening their extinction, according to a new study by an international team including University of Adelaide researchers.

The researchers say the global pattern of harvesting and decline of wild populations of frogs appears to be following the same path set by overexploitation of the seas and subsequent "chain reaction" of fisheries collapses around the world.

The researchers have called for mandatory certification of frog harvests to improve monitoring and help the development of sustainable harvest strategies.

INDIANAPOLIS — Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine have identified a potential new target in the war on HIV/AIDS. The information was published in the Jan. 16 issue of the journal Molecular Cell.

The study revealed that a variant of a protein involved in HIV pathogenesis can suppress production of an HIV protein, known as Nef. Nef is required for the human immunodeficiency virus to develop into AIDS through a series of complex events involving viral elements and cellular proteins. Nef has never been a target for drug treatment in HIV patients.

A new study from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research has revealed the consequences of heavy and binge drinking on pregnancy even after these drinking patterns have stopped.

The study, to be published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, investigated the relationship between prenatal exposure to alcohol and the effects on fetal growth and preterm birth.

An African elephant never forgets – especially when it comes to the loss of its kin, according to researchers at the University of Washington. Their findings, published online in the journal, Molecular Ecology, reveal that the negative effects of poaching persist for decades after the killing has ended.

Mice from a strain that ordinarily develops systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but bred with a deficiency in receptor for the protein Interleukin 21, stayed healthy and exhibited none of the symptoms of the disease, researchers at The Jackson Laboratory and National Institutes of Health report.

SLE is an autoimmune disease, with symptoms of varying severity including include painful or swollen joints, unexplained fever and extreme fatigue. An estimated 2 million Americans—9 out of 10 of them female—live with SLE.

"Mom always liked you best."

The Smothers Brothers aside, chances are if you've got a sibling, this is something you've either heard or said at some point in your life. Many people feel that their parents were harder on them than on their siblings. And many are quick to blame negative outcomes in adulthood on it.

But results from a Temple University study published this month in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences suggest that if anything, the opposite is true.

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a prototype malaria test printed on a disposable Mylar card that could easily slip into your wallet and still work when you took it out, even months later.

If a person's blood flows through their arteries at too high a pressure, even when they are lying still on the sofa, they could be in danger. High blood pressure causes the heart to constantly pump at full speed, which strains both the heart and vessel walls. Drugs can provide relief, but in many cases the patient's blood pressure is still difficult to regulate and has to be consistently monitored over a long period of time. This is a tedious process: Patients have to wear a small case containing the blood pressure meter close to their body.

Scientists have developed a ground-breaking method for testing the quality of a sperm before it is used in IVF and increase the chances of conception.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh, funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), have created a way of chemically 'fingerprinting' individual sperm to give an indication of quality. Scientists can then consider whether the sperm is healthy enough to be used to fertilise an egg as part of an IVF treatment.

Worms from The University of Nottingham should be checking in for a flight onboard the Space Shuttle later this year — to help researchers investigate the effect of zero gravity on the body's muscle development and physiology. Researchers are also hoping to get primary school children involved in the project.

The worms will spend about two weeks in the Japanese Kibo laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS) before returning to earth.

It appears reliably and appears alone. Nimbly and quickly, it pulls itself up a rope meter for meter until it reaches a wind energy converter's giant rotor blades. Then it goes to work. It thoroughly inspects every centimeter of the rotor blades' surface. Nothing escapes it. It registers any crack and any delamination in the material and relays their exact positions. In this job, a robot is superior to humans.

The fossil of a lizard-like New Zealand reptile has been identified by a team of scientists from UCL (University College London), University of Adelaide, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The fossil, dating back 18 million years, has triggered fresh arguments over whether the continent was fully submerged some 25 million years ago.