In an important study forthcoming in the March 2006 issue of the American Naturalist, biologists from Yale University, University of Florida, and Dartmouth University explore the dynamics of pathogen survival and shed new light on a longstanding mystery: why some infectious diseases are limited to small outbreaks and others become full-blown epidemics.

“The capacity of a virus to propagate upon a novel host apparently is conditional on the recent experience of preceding generat

Stockholm University breaks fresh ground as the new academic discipline of Fashion Studies is established and a new professorship is announced.

Critical analyses of fashion’s role in society have revealed its significance as a cultural phenomenon. Recent academic studies have cited fashion’s contributions to visual culture, gender studies, art history, material culture and cultural studies, crucially highlighting fashion as a key factor in the formation of identit

Tired and worn out workers in the UK are making mistakes that cost money, comprise safety and even put lives at risk say the findings of a new survey launched on Thursday 23rd February 2006.

A catalogue of mistakes made by frazzled employees, ranging from car crashes to medical errors, is featured in the 24-7 survey report – an annual look at working life conducted by the Work Life Balance Centre, Leicestershire, Keele University, Staffordshire, and the University of Sheffield.

The British are a nation of shopkeepers, Napoleon observed. But the traditional British small shopkeeper is an endangered species. Corner shops are disappearing at a rate of nearly 40 a week, according to a new all party parliamentary report. Now, a leading academic says urgent action is needed if one of Britain’s great institutions is to be saved.

Ian Clarke, a professor at Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) who has spent the last four years researching the plight of the UK’s in

Adults often express fear that young people spend too much time online and, as a result, are losing a sense of the importance of social interaction, civic involvement and participation in social communities.

A Northwestern University researcher who for seven years has been studying a remarkable online community of 3,000 youngsters aged 10 to 16 disagrees.

“The involvement of youngsters in online communities today is qualitatively, not quantitatively, different than i

A study by Israeli and American researchers, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, says that reducing speed limits and extensive use of speed camera networks could significantly reduce the high number of road deaths in the United States.

The study was headed by Prof. Elihu Richter of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was jointly undertaken by a team from the Injury Prevention Center at the Braun Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Comm

Protective kelp forests found near many early coastal archaeological sites

If humans migrated from Asia to the Americas along Pacific Rim coastlines near the end of the Pleistocene era, kelp forests may have aided their journey, according to research presented today at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting.

Until recently, the “coastal migration theory” was not accorded much importance by most scholars. However, new discoveries ha

A study of 68 randomly selected weblogs produced by teenagers aged 13 to 17 finds that teen bloggers often willingly reveal their actual names, age and offline locations, putting them at risk for cyberstalking and cyberbullying.

David Huffaker, a Northwestern University researcher working in the technology and social behavior program with Northwestern Professor Justine Cassell, will present his study findings within the context of other studies of teenage Internet behavior a

A quarter of all people with MRSA in Sweden between 2000 and 2003 were infected abroad. A study published today in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases reveals that the number of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in Sweden nearly doubled between 2000 and 2003. The study also shows that 25% of all cases came from abroad. This highlights the threat posed by international transmission of MRSA to countries in which incidence of MRSA infection is still relatively lo

Variations in a number of different genes and environmental factors affect an individual’s risk for osteoporosis. Several gene variants have been linked to osteoporosis, but few have stood the test of time. The GENOMOS study, a large European collaboration led by Andre Uitterlinden (Erasmus University Medical Center), John Ioannidis (University of Ioannina), and Stuart Ralston (University of Edinburgh), now shows that a top candidate gene plays a role in osteoporosis, but with effects that

A small study suggests that chewing gum after colon surgery may speed the return of normal bowel function and shorten patients’ hospital stays, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Any type of abdominal surgery can cause ileus, a marked decrease or stoppage of intestinal function, according to background information in the article. Pain, vomiting and abdominal distension are the immediate consequences. Ileus also c

Men in their fifties are more satisfied with their sex lives than men in their thirties and forties, recording similar levels to 20-29 year-olds, according to a survey published in the February issue of BJU International.

A team of experts from Norway and the USA surveyed 1,185 men aged between 20 and 79, asking them about various aspects of their sex life, including drive, erections and ejaculation.

They found that although there was a strong relationship between a m

First scientific study of wolverines ever conducted in the Pacific Northwest

The closest encounter most wildlife biologists have with wolverines in the Pacific Northwest is seeing a set of the animal’s tracks in the snow. But wildlife biologist Keith Aubry recently got the call he had eagerly anticipated for several weeks.

A member of his research team called from a site high in the northern Cascade Range of Washington to report that a wolverine had just been captured.

University faculty with family responsibilities may practice bias avoidance behaviors to hide their caregiving responsibility and to prevent biased, negative career implications, according to a Penn State labor studies expert.

“We divide bias avoidance behaviors into productive types that improve work performance and unproductive types that are inefficient,” says Dr. Robert Drago, professor of labor studies and industrial relations and women’s studies. “Our study of univer

Why is it that so-called science centers do not succeed in attracting teenagers to their activities? Science-centre staff are asking themselves that question all over the world, and it is also the basis of a new doctoral dissertation from Luleå University of Technology in Sweden. Doctoral candidate Vaike Fors had a number of adolescents film a visit and then used the footage to chart these adolescents’ relationships to permanent exhibits.

The dissertation “The Missing Link in Learni

Current debate about the UK government’s proposed education reforms may be based on a false premise. Recent research suggests that education policy by itself contributes little to the rate at which people move between social classes, according to a new study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Comprehensive schooling is neither less nor more effective at promoting social mobility than a selective system, says the research carried out by Dr Cristina Iannelli an