Tech

It's no secret that sharks have a keen sense of smell and a remarkable ability to follow their noses through the ocean, right to their next meal. Now, researchers reporting online on June 10th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have figured out how the sharks manage to keep themselves on course.

It turns out that sharks can detect small delays, no more than half a second long, in the time that odors reach one nostril versus the other, the researchers report. When the animals experience such a lag, they will turn toward whichever side picked up the scent first.

The differences in mothers' and fathers' interactions with their children, particularly in play situations, may influence toddlers' associations of specific behaviors with male and female genders. According to Eric Lindsey from Penn State Berks in the US, and his colleagues, context, gender of the parent and gender of the child combine in a complex pattern to shape parent-child interaction. Their findings1 are published online in Springer's journal Sex Roles.

The huge tonnages of waste steel from decommissioned offshore oil and gas structures represents a serious problem for operators looking to recoup losses and avoid environmental harm. A way to calculate the weight of the problem has been developed by US researchers and described in the International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology.

A University of Nottingham professor is to outline his vision for a UK powered completely by renewable energy by 2030 in an open lecture taking place later this month.

Professor Seamus Garvey, of the University's Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, will speak on the potential of vast floating offshore 'energy farms' off the UK coastline, which could produce 'green' electricity at a fraction of the cost of its nearest competitors.

Glasgow, UK 10 June, 2010 – Further results from the European Survey of Breakthrough Cancer Pain1 were presented for the first time today at the 6th Research Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) in Glasgow.

The survey, which is the first international survey to look in detail at breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP) from a patient perspective, show that up to 45% of cancer patients experiencing breakthrough pain do not adhere to medication despite suffering from devastating episodes.

An analysis of over 150,000 hospital discharges has revealed that there are significant insurance related differences in hospital mortality, length of stay, and costs among working-age Americans (age 18-64 years) hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, or pneumonia. These three conditions are among the leading causes of non-cancer in-patient deaths in patients under 65 years old. The analysis is published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

Money may not grow on trees, but gasoline, computers, and tennis shoes just might, thanks to new biotech advances that could allow manufacturers to produce fuel, plastics, and other chemicals from plants instead of petroleum. That's the topic of an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN).

BOSTON – It's time for physicians to talk to patients about driving while distracted, a problem that has risen to the rough equivalence of drunken driving thanks to the proliferation of phones that allow drivers to talk and text, Amy Ship, MD, a primary care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center suggests.

PITTSBURGH, June 9 – Widespread geographic variations exist in drug spending among Medicare beneficiaries, with some regions spending twice as much as others, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study. Published in the Online First June 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and the first to explore regional drug spending under Medicare, the study also found that higher spending on drugs was not balanced by lower spending on other medical care services such as hospitalizations and visits to the doctor's office.

Scientists are reporting the first evidence that a plastic antibody, an artificial version of the proteins produced by the body's immune system to recognize and fight infections and foreign substances,works in the bloodstream of a living animal.