Tech

A central challenge facing the planet is how to preserve forests while providing enough food to feed the world's population. It's really a "bad news/good news" story, says Eric Lambin, professor of environmental Earth system science and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford; and professor of geography at the University of Louvain.

Cost-effectiveness analysis should play a bigger role in the American health care system, argued a University of Chicago researcher Friday at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"The effects of science and technology on health care costs depend on the policy context in which those technologies are developed and applied," said David Meltzer, Associate Professor of Medicine, in his presentation, "Policies to Mobile Technology and Science for Health Care Cost Control."

When studying relationships, psychological scientists have often focused on how couples fight. But how they recover from a fight is important, too. According to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, couples' abilities to bounce back from conflict may depend on what both partners were like as infants.

A shift in the global research landscape will reposition the United States as a major partner, but not the dominant leader, in science and technology research in the coming decade, according to a Penn State researcher. However, the U.S. could benefit from this research shift if it adopts a policy of knowledge sharing with the growing global community of researchers.

SANTA CRUZ, CA. -- Storm chasers have become bat watchers.

A scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, working with meteorologists at the University of Oklahoma, is using mobile storm-chasing radars to follow swarms of bats as they emerge from their caves each night to forage on insects.

University of Oklahoma researchers are part of a growing cross-disciplinary collaboration that seeks to tap the potential of radar technologies to advance aeroecology—a field that integrates atmospheric science, earth science, geography, ecology, computer science, computational biology and engineering.

Parents and caregivers have traditionally relied on cribs, playpens and bassinets to protect children while they sleep. The massive crib recalls followed by the announcement in December 2010 by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban drop-side cribs have caused many families to question the safety of these products.

Using a method based on geographic positioning systems that allowed them to characterize the topography of the bats' molars in a way similar to how geographers characterize mountain surfaces, the researchers calculated a measure of dental complexity that reflects how "rugged" the surface of the tooth is. They illustrate a trend from relative simplicity of the shearing molars in insect eaters and omnivores to high complexity of the crushing molars in fruit eaters.

TUCSON, Ariz. (February 18, 2011) -- A University of Arizona College of Engineering researcher and his team who are developing intelligent robots for planetary exploration will be featured in a segment of an upcoming episode of the science program "WaveLengths."

The robots will be featured on the episode premiering Thursday night, February 24 at 8:30 p.m. MST on public television KUAT Channel 6. "WaveLengths" is a quarterly science program hosted by BIO5 Institute Member Dr. Vicki Chandler.

Patients who undergo elective orthopedic surgeries at high-volume, regional hospitals have better surgical outcomes and experience fewer complications than those who undergo those surgeries at local hospitals, according to research being presented by Hospital for Special Surgery investigators at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

A new study has identified factors that predict the ability of a professional dancer to return to professional performance after hip arthroscopy surgery. The study by Hospital for Special Surgery investigators will be presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting, held Feb. 15-19 in San Diego, Calif.

Novel green chemical technologies will play a key role helping society move towards the elimination of waste while offering a wider range of products from biorefineries, according to a University of York scientist.

Professor James Clark, Director of the University's Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, will tell a symposium at the Annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) that the use of low environmental impact green chemical technologies will help ensure that products are genuinely and verifiably green and sustainable.

St. Louis, MO, February 18, 2011 – Cancer survivors die of non-cancer-related causes at much higher rates than the general public. In 2008, the U.S. economic burden of cancer totaled over $228 billion but only 41% of these costs involved direct cancer care. The majority of expenses were attributed to increased morbidity, lost productivity, and premature mortality.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — How does a scientist fuel his enthusiasm for chemistry after 60 years? By discovering a new energy source, of course.

This week, SiGNa Chemistry Inc. unveiled its new hydrogen cartridges, which provide energy to fuel cells designed to recharge cell phones, laptops and GPS units. The green power source is geared toward outdoor enthusiasts as well as residents of the Third World, where electricity in homes is considered a luxury.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The psychological effects of the BP oil spill, the largest recorded environmental disaster in human history, extend far beyond people living around the areas of the Gulf of Mexico that were directly impacted by the spill, a new study finds.