On 25 October 2004, the Initiative for Science in Europe (ISE) was officially launched at an ISE conference in Paris, France.
The launch marked the coming together of some 35 European scientific organizations to structure and give greater weight to the input of the scientific community into science policy-making and to promote the European Research Council (ERC).
ISE is an independent and informal platform for organizations committed to the scientific and technological develop
Cornell University researchers have demonstrated for the first time a device that allows one low-powered beam of light to switch another on and off on silicon, a key component for future “photonic” microchips in which light replaces electrons.
Photonics on silicon has been suggested since the 1970s, and previous light-beam switching devices on silicon have been demonstrated, but they were excessively large (by microchip standards) or have required that the beam of light that doe
There is new scientific evidence to support the time-honored advice to students cramming for exams to get themselves a good night’s sleep after studying. Researchers who analyzed brain activity in sleeping volunteers who had learned to navigate through a computer-generated virtual town have discovered evidence that spatial memories are consolidated during deep sleep.
Also, the researchers say that they have shown for the first time that the activity level in the brain’s learnin
New research shows that phonics-based instruction can actually change brain activity in adults with dyslexia, resulting in significant improvements in reading. The findings from a collaborative study by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and Georgetown University Medical Center were reported today in the journal Neuron. “With about 112 hours of phonic-based instruction, adults with dyslexia had significant improvements in reading and changes in brain activity while reading,” said L
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered another possible clue to the causes of high-temperature superconductivity, a phenomenon in which the electrical resistance of a material disappears below a certain temperature. In a superconducting compound, they found evidence of a rarely seen arrangement of “holes” – locations where electrons are absent. The results appear in the October 28, 2004, issue of Nature.
The researchers wer
Scientists have produced a potential solution to a problem fishing activity which costs the industry millions of pounds and has a major impact on the marine environment worldwide.
A team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, writing in the academic journal Marine Policy, say fishermen should be given incentives not to return unwanted fish and other marine animals – known as ’discards’ – back into the sea after they are caught in their trawlers’ nets.
The study fo
Breakthrough data suggests cognitive behavioral therapy alone is effective when provided by expert therapists
According to current epidemiological data, approximately 1 in 200 young people suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD patients ’obsess’ about thoughts of bad things that can happen (obsessions) and perform repetitive, destructive actions (compulsions) as a means of dealing with those thoughts. OCD can cripple their lives, disrupt their learning, and
Treating patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer more aggressively by giving them higher doses of radiation helps keep the disease from spreading and allows some patients to live longer, according to a new study published in the November 1, 2004, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
An estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people were diagnosed with loc
New findings from researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center in collaboration with Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that there is hope for individuals suffering a life-long history of reading problems. Using brain imaging technology the research group showed how the adult dyslexic brain responds to a specific phonological-based reading intervention program responsible for reading skill improvement. Published in the October 28 issue of the Journal Neuron, this is the
For elderly women, the location of body fat is more important than total fat amount in predicting future heart attacks, according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.
“In the over-70 age group, overall obesity did not predict heart attack risk,” said Barbara J. Nicklas, Ph.D., lead researcher. “It didn’t matter how much fat the older woman had – what mattered was where that fat was stored.”
The researchers found that int
Researchers hope to save millions and speed studies of toxic chemicals by using a tiny organism with genetic ties to humans
A primitive roundworm called Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is being evaluated in a Duke University laboratory as a cheaper and quicker alternative to rats and mice in testing chemicals for several kinds of toxicity.
In its natural environment, C. elegans spends its brief life dining on microbes in the soil. But Jonathan Freedman of Duke
Halloween weather has tricked, not treated, airport meteorologists the past two years in Denver. Heavy freezing drizzle–appearing to be harmless light drizzle–has cost airlines as much as $2 million in engine damage in a single storm as jets have waited for takeoff. Now Roy Rasmussen of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has developed a new system to identify the drizzle accurately. His research has enabled airlines to revise pilot training and on-ground procedures to avoid fu
An international team of astronomers is announcing today that they have identified the probable surviving companion star to a titanic supernova explosion witnessed in the year 1572 by the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe and other astronomers of that era.
A new discovery provides the first direct evidence supporting the long-held belief that Type Ia supernovae originate in binary star systems that contain a normal star and a burned-out white dwarf star. The normal star spills m
A test that generally is used to measure the amount of vitamin B12 in the body is not sensitive enough to detect a deficiency of the vitamin, which has been linked to several neurological conditions, according to Saint Louis University research. The findings were presented this month at a meeting of the American Neurological Association.
“B12 deficiency is associated with dementia, peripheral neuropathy and spinal cord disease,” says Florian Thomas, M.D., Ph.D., associate profess
Lack of physical activity is costly not just to people’s health but to their wallets as well, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that sedentary lifestyles can lead to higher medical costs, which they say are borne by consumers and employers in the form of health insurance premiums, member co-insurance and taxes to foot the bill for public health insurance. The findings, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, add to a growing body of evidence that physical
Research published today (Thursday 28 October) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction[1] , has found evidence that women with endometriosis[2] are at higher risk of having migraine.
A team from the University of Genoa in Italy studied 133 women with endometriosis and a control group of 166 women, and found that the prevalence of migraine was significantly higher among the women with endometriosis. Double the number of women in the endometriosis
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