The floods of 1997 and 2002 devastated much of Europe. But can we learn and be better prepared to cope with future extreme weather? The IST project OSIRIS has developed some practical solutions to help address the challenge.
The so-called ’Flood of the Century’ in 1997, caused havoc the length of the Oder valley, flooding swathes of land in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. The death toll was 55; the cost of damages estimated at some 3.5 billion euro; and the human cost, in t
Discovery May Lead to Prenatal Test For Debilitating Disorder A team of researchers has discovered a gene for Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, a disorder consisting of mental retardation, heart defects and a number of physical abnormalities. The researchers were funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers expect the discovery to speed the development of a prenatal genetic test for the syndrome. A
New study shows aklylating DNA damage stimulates regulated necrotic cell death
Researchers at the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania have found a second way by which chemotherapeutic agents can kill cancer cells. The finding – which will appear online and ahead of print in the June 1st edition of the journal Genes & Development – represents an important advance in understanding how and why some cancer cells die and others do
When you see a small child try to fit into or on top of a doll-sized toy, you’re likely to laugh. That’s exactly what three co-investigators of a new study initially did when their own toddlers attempted to fit into a toy car, a miniature room and a doll’s crib.
Based on those personal observations, as well as their research as developmental psychologists interested in how young children understand symbols, the researchers from the University of Virginia, Northwestern Universi
In an experiment that demonstrates how maps of the genetic codes of simpler organisms can shed light on human disease, a computerized comparison of the complete genetic codes of a type of algae, a weed and humans has led medical researchers to a gene linked to a human illness.
The comparison allowed researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to locate human genes that code for proteins likely to become part of hair-like structures on cells known as cilia or flagel
New research from the University of Warwick finds that boys really do have more reading difficulties than girls. The study into reading disabilities, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, confirms that boys are much more prone to having trouble than girls, and it’s not simply because they’re more disruptive.
About 15 percent of school-aged children have a learning disability, and the findings suggest boys are at least twice as likely to have dyslexia, a lea
Nature article reports photoreceptors involved in sensing the earth’s magnetic field
Migratory birds, as well as many other animals, are able to sense the magnetic field of the earth, but how do they do it? “A fascinating possibility is that they may actually see the earth’s magnetic lines as patterns of color or light intensity superimposed on their visual surroundings,” said John B. Phillips of Blacksburg, associate professor of biology at Virginia Tech. The results of mor
People in the central and eastern United States and Canada are used to the idea that the land they live on — its variety of hills, lakes and rivers — are left over from the great mile-thick ice sheets that covered the area 18,000 years ago.
They may, however, be surprised to learn that today, long after the glaciers melted, an international research team led by Northwestern University geologists using the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites can “see” the land moving — up to half a
Evidence is mounting that 251 million years ago, long before the dinosaurs dominated the Earth, a meteor the size of Mount Everest smashed into what is now northern Australia, heaving rock halfway around the globe, triggering mass volcanic eruptions, and wiping out all but about ten percent of the species on the planet. The “Great Dying,” as it’s called, was by far the most cataclysmic extinction event in Earth’s history, yet scientists have been unable to finger a culprit as they have with
Research in monkeys suggests that long-term use of estrogen therapy may reduce levels of androgens – hormones involved in maintaining bone density, muscle mass, sexual function, memory, and psychological wellbeing in postmenopausal women.
“Our findings suggest that it might be important for women taking estrogen after menopause to also take androgen supplements – which can include testosterone,” said Charles E. Wood, D.V.M., lead researcher, from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Cente
Devin Balkcom, a student in Carnegie Mellon University’s doctoral program in robotics, was looking for a challenge when he decided to develop the world’s first origami-folding robot as the subject of his thesis. Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper sculpture, looks deceptively simple at first glance.
“It’s something we humans can do well, but we don’t understand the mechanical details,” said Balkcom. “Because a five-year-old child can learn to fold origami, we assu
The most northerly active volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula is once again erupting, dusting the surrounding snow-white landscape with a wide expanse of dark ash that is visible from 800 km away in space.
This image of the Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia’s East Coast was acquired on 11 May 2004 by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument on ESA’s Envisat satellite in reduced resolution mode.
Two thirds of the way up the Peninsula can be seen
Some nuclear fusion reactions inside stars occur more slowly than we thought and, as a consequence, stars themselves, as well as galaxies and the entire universe are a bit older than expected. This is what comes out from the last results of Luna experiment (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear astrophysics), settled by National Laboratories of Gran Sasso and realized in cooperation by Infn and Ruhr University in Bochum (Germany). The study, that will be published on the review Physics Letters B next Ju
An essential switch in the life cycle of the malaria parasite has been uncovered by researchers in England, Germany and Holland.
They have established that to infect mosquitoes that transmit malaria, the parasites depend on a type of molecule normally found in plants, which they have named Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase 4 (CDPK4).
The finding, based on studies of the malaria parasite of rodents, Plasmodium berghei, is described as basic science, but the authors suggest it m
Let go, kids will do better in school
What can parents do to help children who are doing poorly in school? To investigate this question, we conducted two studies examining interactions between mothers and their elementary school-aged children over simulated schoolwork and after real-life failures.
In the first study, we evaluated 110 mothers’ use of control and their support of autonomy as they assisted their children with a simulated homework task. When the mothers assisted
Many children who grow up in poverty have higher levels of behavioral problems and lower IQ scores than children who grow up in middle class families. However, some children from poor family backgrounds are resilient — that is, they behave better and score higher on intelligence tests than might be expected given the level of social and economic deprivation they have experienced.
Researchers have identified several protective factors that promote children’s resilience, including a chil
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