Tech

According to a new study by the University of Valencia (UV), "it is necessary to raise the awareness and level of training of the police in the area of violence against women". Researchers analysed the influence of sexism and empathy in more than 400 recently-hired local police.

Living in a deprived area increases the risk of violence more sharply for girls than boys, according to a Cardiff University study of former industrial areas.

The new results suggest violence prevention strategies need to focus more on local inequalities, especially to protect vulnerable adolescent girls.

Researchers from North Carolina State University and IBM have invented a way to update computer systems packaged in virtual machines in a computer "cloud" – even when those programs are offline.

CHICAGO – Using a mobile MRI unit, researchers followed runners for two months along a 4,500-kilometer course to study how their bodies responded to the high-stress conditions of an ultra-long-distance race, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

CHICAGO – People at risk for osteoarthritis may be able to delay the onset of the disease or even prevent it with simple changes to their physical activity, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

In the developing world, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is often seen as being in conflict with alleviating poverty, since improving the standard of living is usually associated with increased energy use.

A clean energy development initiative in rural Nicaragua, however, demonstrates that there are cost effective steps developing nations can take to reduce carbon emissions and at the same time help the rural poor reduce their energy expenses, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley.

Workplace asthma costs the UK at least £100 million a year, and may be as high as £135 million, reveals research published online in Thorax.

An estimated 3,000 new cases of occupational asthma are diagnosed every year in the UK, but the condition is under diagnosed, say the authors.

They reviewed published data on the costs of all asthma and workplace asthma, as well as the impact costs.

STANFORD, Calif. — Despite concerted efforts, no decreases in patient harm were detected at 10 randomly selected North Carolina hospitals between 2002 and 2007, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

In the scorching summer heat of the Chihuahuan Desert in southwest Texas, air temperatures can hover around 97°F (36°C) while at the surface of the soil temperatures can exceed 158°F (70°C). Encountering these extreme temperatures, plants must utilize creative methods to not only survive but thrive under these difficult and potentially lethal conditions.

Mexico City (23 November 2010) – A study released today amid debate over how to reduce the loss and degradation of the world’s most vulnerable forests suggests that negotiators at the upcoming UN climate change conference in Cancun should look to Mexico’s forest communities for a solution.

Giant pterosaurs – ancient reptiles that flew over the heads of dinosaurs – were at their best in gentle tropical breezes, soaring over hillsides and coastlines or floating over land and sea on thermally driven air currents, according to new research from the University of Bristol.

Pterosaurs (also referred to as pterodactyls) were too slow and flexible to use the stormy winds and waves of the southern ocean like the albatrosses of today, the research by Colin Palmer, an engineer turned paleontology PhD student in Bristol's School of Earth Sciences, found.

Working at a crossroad between biology and engineering, scientists have modeled and are now mimicking the ingenious natural design of falling geckoes, gliding snakes, cruising seagulls, flapping insects and floating maple seeds to improve the design of air vehicles.

IOP Publishing's Bioinspiration & Biomimetics publishes a special edition today, Wednesday 24 November 2010, entitled Bioinspired Flight, comprising of nine journal papers which display the wealth of knowledge being accrued by researchers in the field.