Financially richer people tend to be happier than poorer people, according to sociological researcher Glenn Firebaugh, Pennsylvania State University, and graduate student Laura Tach, Harvard University. Their research is focused on whether the income effect on happiness results largely from the things money can buy (absolute income effect) or from comparing one’s income to the income of others (relative income effect). They present their research in a session paper, titled “Relative Income an
The same family of chemical signals that attracts developing sensory nerves up the spinal cord toward the brain serves to repel motor nerves, sending them in the opposite direction, down the cord and away from the brain, report researchers at the University of Chicago in the September 2005 issue of Nature Neuroscience (available online August 14). The finding may help physicians restore function to people with paralyzing spinal cord injuries.
Growing nerve cells send out axons, long
Pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) splicing is an integral step in gene expression, removing introns that would otherwise disrupt the coding potential of gene transcripts. As published in the August 15th issue of G&D, Drs. Tommaso Villa and Christine Guthrie at UCSF have identified a novel splicing fidelity factor, as well as provide additional evidence for a two-step model of pre-mRNA splicing.
The researchers found that deletion of the yeast gene ISY1 reduces the efficiency of the first step o
Gender gap in computer science due to pervasive stereotypes, too much choice too early
University diplomas in computer science are overwhelmingly earned by males, according to a new study of 21 nations, but significant country-to-country differences in the gender gap imply that much more than genetics is at work.
Coauthored by Maria Charles, professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego, with Karen Bradley of Western Washington University, the study
X-ray angiography falls short in critical finding
Electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) is more accurate than conventional catheter angiography for identifying which adult patients face the greatest risk of sudden death from congenital abnormalities in the arteries supplying blood to the heart, according to a study in the September 2005 issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.
The effort required to correctly hear and identify words may diminish the resources needed to memorize them
In a new study, Brandeis University researchers conclude that older adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss may expend so much cognitive energy on hearing accurately that their ability to remember spoken language suffers as a result.
The study, published in the latest issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, showed that even when older adults c
APL-Built Spectrometer on NASA’s Latest Mission to the Red Planet
With today’s launch of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars – or CRISM – joins the set of high-tech detectives seeking traces of water on the red planet.
Built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., CRISM is the first visible-infrared spectrometer to fly
To help achieve the Bush Administration’s goal of increased use of solar and other renewable forms of energy, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science has released a report describing the basic research needed to produce “revolutionary progress in bringing solar energy to its full potential in the energy marketplace.” The report resulted from a workshop of 200 scientists held earlier this year.
“The tax credits contained in the historic energy bill signed by President Bush
New York-based Veterinarians in Mongolia in unprecedented international effort
Wildlife health experts from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) warn that efforts to control the spread of avian flu across Asia and beyond must focus on better management practices on farms and in markets.
WCS is currently working with Mongolian agencies on the ground in Mongolia’s Kovsgol province, collecting samples from wild birds that have recently contracted the
Acceleration and quantum entanglement
Consider that Alice and Bob are two observers at rest separated by a long distance. Each of them has a measuring device that detects, respectively, two different quantum systems. The state of the joint system is said to be maximally entangled if, for many copies of the state, any measurement that Alice makes is completely determined by Bob’s and vice versa.
What would happen to their entanglement if Alice fell into a black ho
Cornell University researchers will present new audio evidence supporting the existence of the phantomlike ivory-billed woodpecker Aug. 24 and 25 at the 123rd American Ornithologists’ Union meeting in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology researcher Russ Charif will begin presenting the new audio evidence at 10:30 a.m. PST Aug. 24 in Lotte Lehmann Hall at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB). Lab members Ron Rohrbaugh and Ken Rosenberg and Director Jo
The impact of global warming has become obvious in high latitude regions, including Alaska, Siberia and the Arctic, where melting ice and softening tundra are causing profound changes. But, contrary to popular belief, the most serious impact in the next century likely will be in the tropics, says a group of researchers headed by a University of Washington ecologist.
Scientists have noted warming at higher latitudes that already appears to be causing some flowers to bloom earlie
Lymph circulates in our bodies through a complex network of lymphatic vessels, of which little is known. This network is, however, of major importance for the support of the immune system and the fluid in our body. Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected with the Catholic University of Leuven, are the first to indicate that this network can be studied with the help of tadpoles. This accelerates research of the lymphatic vessel network. With tadpoles
Physicists in Singapore have succeeded in creating the first paper battery that generates electricity from urine. This new battery will be the perfect power source for cheap, disposable healthcare test-kits for diseases such as diabetes. This research is published today in the Institute of Physics’ Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.
Scientists in research groups around the world are trying to design ever smaller “biochips” that can test for a variety of diseases at once
A collaborative project between American and Chinese researchers developed a way to study the function of genes in mice and man by using a moveable genetic element from moths, according to a report in the journal Cell.
“We know how many genes are in the mammalian genome, but that does not tell us how they carry out their jobs,” said senior author Tian Xu, Professor and Vice Chair of Genetics at Yale University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Invest
Penn State College of Medicine researchers have found a signal that could lead to earlier detection and treatment of ovarian cancer.
The Penn State team of scientists led by principal investigator Kathleen M. Mulder, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology, and working in conjunction with a researcher from the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., studied “km23,” a protein that helps to direct protein traffic in the cell. Mulder’s team has fou
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