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A team of researchers exploring the intergranular stress corrosion cracking of a type of metallic tubing used within nuclear power plants has developed a technique to both map and predict its propagation.

Metallic tubing plays a key role in transporting water coolant to steam generators within nuclear power plants. But for reasons that remain elusive, in this application, Alloy 600, a high-strength nickel-based alloy widely used and considered robust in other high-performance situations, is susceptible to costly failure caused by intergranular stress corrosion cracking.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) suggests that it may be the quality of cancer stem cells rather than their quantity that leads to better survival in certain patients with oral cancer.

Recreating the story of humanity's past by studying ancient bones can hit a snag when they deteriorate, but scientists are now reporting an advance inspired by seashells that can better preserve valuable remains. Their findings, which appear in the ACS journal Langmuir, could have wide-ranging implications for both archeology and paleontology.

Many U.S. cities are taking steps to grow urban centers in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But a challenge is the significant carbon footprint of spacious suburban living, which in many areas, may be cancelling out these efforts. The report, appearing in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, found that about half of the country's household carbon footprint comes from people living in the suburbs.

After years of research, development and testing, a new class of drugs is emerging on the market with two frontrunners acting as harbingers of what's to come. The cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine, explores the potential of these antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and the challenges in developing and manufacturing them.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 22, 2014) — A new study by University of Kentucky researchers shows that women who never or rarely screen for breast cancer are also unlikely to receive screening for cervical cancer. The study also identified four key barriers independently associated with the lack of these cancer screenings in Appalachian women.

African-American men incurred $341.8 billion in excess medical costs due to health inequalities between 2006 and 2009, and Hispanic men incurred an additional $115 billion over the four-year period, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study, published this week in the International Journal of Men's Health, looks at the direct and indirect costs associated with health inequalities and projects the potential cost savings of eliminating these disparities for minority men in the U.S.

Even though multiple sclerosis is largely caused by genetic factors, the risk of patients' relatives developing the disease is lower than previously assumed. This is the conclusion of a new population registry-based study, published in the scientific journal Brain.

New types of drug intended for use in place of antibiotics have been given a cautious welcome by scientists.

Researchers have been probing the long-term effectiveness of drugs currently being developed by the pharmaceutical industry. These work by limiting the symptoms caused by a bug or virus in the body, rather than killing it outright.

These treatments are designed to avoid the problem of infections becoming resistant to treatment, which has become widespread with antibiotics.

Marriage is good for the health of men's bones - but only if they marry when they're 25 or older, new UCLA researcher suggests.

In a study published online in the peer-reviewed journal Osteoporosis International, researchers found evidence that men who married when they were younger than 25 had lower bone strength than men who married for the first time at a later age.

An array of tiny diving boards can perform the Olympian feat of identifying many strains of salmonella at once.

The novel biosensor developed by scientists at Rice University in collaboration with colleagues in Thailand and Ireland may make the detection of pathogens much faster and easier for food-manufacturing plants.

A study on the discovery appears online this month in the American Chemical Society journal Analytical Chemistry.

Virginia Tech researchers who first discovered a devastating pest in India and devised a natural way to combat it have now put an economic value on their counterattack: up to $309 million the first year and more than $1 billion over five years.

That's the amount of damage the papaya mealybug would have wreaked on farmers and consumers in India without scientists' intervention.

NEW YORK, NY (January 21, 2014) — Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a blood cancer, but for many patients the cancer may originate from an unusual source: a mutation in their bone cells.

In a study published today in the online edition of Nature, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) found that a mutation in the bone cells called osteoblasts, which build new bone, causes AML in mice. The mutation was found in nearly 40 percent of patients with AML or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a precursor condition, who were examined as part of the study.

In the current issue of the Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME Journal, 20.1.2014) scientists from the University of Oldenburg and from the GFZ German Centre for Geosciences show that in deep, old and nutrient-poor marine sediments there are up to 225 times more viruses than microbes. In such extreme habitats viruses make up the largest fraction of living biomass and take over the role as predators in this bizarre ecosystem.

This news release is available in Spanish.