Imagine being able to see or taste sounds, as well as hearing them. Sound like science fiction? For some people, it’s reality.
This blending of the senses occurs in a rare condition called “synesthesia.” In this condition, a stimulus, such as sound, creates a reaction in another sense, as well as the expected sense.
Now, professor Daphne Maurer of McMaster University’s department of psychology has found that at one time we all lived in a world in which sights had sounds
Individuals aged 65 and older are unlikely to receive needed mental health treatment in the United States, according to a recent national study by researchers at Texas A&M University. Drawing upon data from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health, the researchers found that older adults were three times less likely than younger adults (individuals aged 18-64) to receive outpatient mental heath care. Only 2.5% of older adults throughout the nation reported utilizing any outpatient m
Researchers at Purdue University have shown that artificial joints might be improved by making the implants out of tiny carbon tubes and filaments that are all aligned in the same direction, mimicking the alignment of collagen fibers and natural ceramic crystals in real bones.
The researchers already have shown in a series of experiments that bone cells in Petri dishes attach better to materials that possess smaller surface bumps than are found on conventional materials used t
Duke University Medical Center geneticists have discovered new proteins that help the olfactory system in mammals organize properly. Thus the proteins are key to the ability of mammals, including humans, to detect and respond appropriately to chemicals in the environment via their sense of smell. The finding in mice paves the way for scientists to unravel the underlying code that allows the brain to interpret smells, according to the researchers.
Using genetic manipulations, th
Dieters have higher metabolism, feel less hungry
Preliminary data from Children’s Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, published in the November 24 JAMA, suggest that weight-loss diets may be more effective when dieters seek to reduce glycemic load – the amount their blood glucose rises after a meal – rather than limit fat intake. The findings indicate that a low-glycemic diet may overcome the body’s natural tendency to slow metabolism and turn on hunger cues to “mak
Biology Letters
Temperature-dependent sex ratio in a bird by Dr A Göth and Dr DT Booth
Incubation temperature is known to determine sex ratios in reptiles, but not in birds. We show that incubation temperature affects sex ratios in megapode birds, which are exceptional because they use environmental heat sources for incubation. In a megapode species, the Australian brush-turkey (Alectura lathami), more males hatch at low and more females hatch at high incubation
Together with an international research team, researchers from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have developed an effective method for the screening and identification of genes that under normal conditions suppress cancer growth. The method enabled the discovery of a new cancer gene, which, when damaged, may promote prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most diagnosed form of cancer in men; it is also becoming increasingly common. Thus, this finding may have great significance for
Burgeoning marine life database tops 5 million records, 38,000 species
Scientists add over 4 million new records, 13,000 species in 2004;
Exponential growth of “information seaway” tops Census highlights
Even in Europe and the best studied seas, the rapid ongoing discovery of new marine species shows no end in sight, according to the world’s first Census of Marine Life, a massive collaboration to catalog and map marine species worldwide involving hundreds of scientists in
For the first time anywhere, scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and from Germany have succeeded in producing self-assembled spider web fibres under laboratory conditions, outside of the bodies of spiders. This fibre is significantly stronger than the silk fibre made by silkworms.
The achievement by the research team, described in an article in the Nov. 23 issue of Current Biology, opens the way to commercial development of this spider fibre for numerous industrial
Munich, Germany and Hong Kong, China – November 19, 2004 – Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX), a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for the…
A groundbreaking technique developed at The University of Manchester, which uses crystals to map ‘invisible’ parts of molecules, is set to revolutionise drug discovery.
The technique, which involves sending beams of neutrons through crystals at freezing temperatures, just a few degrees above ’absolute zero’, will for the first time allow scientists to see complete structures of protein molecules, right down to the last atom.
The problem faced by scientists
ESA’s Huygens probe, now orbiting Saturn on board the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft, is in good health and successfully passed its sixteenth ‘In-Flight Checkout’ on 23 November 2004.
This in-flight checkout procedure was the last one planned before separation of the Huygens probe from Cassini in December this year. The preliminary analysis of the real-time data received showed all events in the check-out procedure occurred as, and when, expected.
The procedure was carried out
Open up a pint of strawberries from the grocery store, and more often than not you’ll find a fuzzy berry or two in the mix. A blast of chlorine dioxide gas, however, promises to not only keep those berries fuzz-free, but also to kill off harmful bacteria living on their surface more efficiently than methods currently used by the food industry, say Purdue University researchers.
“Strawberries are tricky,” said Rich Linton, professor of food science and one of the leaders of
University of Kent astronomers Professor Glenn White, Dr Stephen Serjeant, Dr Toshi Takagi and collaborators, will be presented with the £10,000 Daiwa Adrian Prize 2004 at a Royal Society ceremony in London on Thursday 25 November.
The team have been awarded the prize in recognition of their pioneering work on the Japan-Anglo-Dutch ASTRO-F satellite, a powerful new space telescope which will make a map of the sky in far-infrared light.
Daiwa Adrian Prizes are trienni
A new computer programme that can help make intelligent judgements is set to advance the way we make decisions.
The software’s methodology, developed by a team led by Professor Jian-Bo Yang at The University of Manchester, could eventually be used in a wide range of fields, from measuring the excellence of an organisation to comparing the productivity of nations.
Professor Yang, head of the Decision Sciences and Operations Management group at Manchester Business School, e
An academic from the University of Sheffield has produced the first glacial map of Britain, which could allow us to better predict climate change in the future. The map is published in the latest edition of the journal Boreas.
Dr Chris Clark, of the University’s Department of Geography, along with colleagues, has compiled over 150 years of scientific discovery to create the Glacial Map, which itself is the result of over ten years’ work. The map identifies over 20,000 geographical
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