With the festive season almost upon us, the realities and complexities surrounding our traditional notions of Christmas as a time for families are examined in important new research sponsored by the ESRC.

As thousands of divorced and separated parents decide where their children will be for the celebrations, a study into post divorce family life shows that fairness and equality between fathers and mothers may end up being unfair on the youngsters.

The Fathers 4 Justice

As thousands of divorced and separated parents decide where their children will spend this Christmas, an ESRC-funded study into post divorce family life shows that fairness and equality between fathers and mothers may end up being unfair on the youngsters.

The Fathers 4 Justice movement, whose ‘Xmas Demo’ takes place on Saturday (December 18), is among those calling for family law to adopt a principle of pure equality between parents. Its members, with support from Bob Geldof, an

As Christmas becomes ever more materialistic, Caribbean families in Britain are increasingly turning to Kwaanza – a festival rooted in an African tradition – as the setting for their family celebrations, according to research sponsored by the ESRC.

Many will go to church on Christmas morning in what they see as part of their Caribbean tradition. But Kwaanza is now also widely celebrated by black people across the Caribbean, the UK and rest of Europe, usually alongside Christmas, o

Experiments led by Nicolas Dauphas of the University of Chicago and Chicago’s Field Museum have validated some controversial rocks from Greenland as the potential site for the earliest evidence of life on Earth.

“The samples that I have studied are extremely controversial,” said Dauphas, an Assistant Professor in Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago and a Field Museum Associate. Some scientists have claimed that these rocks from Greenland’s banded iron for

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh will examine the way a fish-rich diet helps maintain a low risk of heart attack amongst Eskimos, in the first study of its kind to be carried out in the city. Investigators hope that the results would help to guide the development of future heart treatments.

Researcher Dr Jehangir Din explained: “We know that fish oils benefit the heart, but we don’t know how exactly how this process works. We intend to look at the action of both fish

Two studies by University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor Sharon Donovan show that the soy isoflavone genistein, in amounts present in commercial soy infant formulas, may inhibit intestinal cell growth in babies. So what are we to think about soy in a baby’s diet?

Donovan said it’s an important question to ask because almost 25 percent of formula-fed babies in the United States consume soy formula. Although babies on soy formula appear to grow normally, th

Stiffer building codes in the Los Angeles basin may come in the near future as a result of a new study completed by University of Nevada, Reno seismologists of an anticipated large thrust-fault earthquake.

“Our study in California’s Kern County is a good indicator of what could happen in Los Angeles because the geology of the areas is so similar,” said James Brune, seismology pioneer and University Foundation Professor. The conditions, he said, would indicate “high motion” i

Perhaps Ukrainian Viktor Yushchenko should try olestra to get rid of dioxin. It’s worked before. A new study shows how diet affects chlorinated hydrocarbons trapped in body fat and how olestra raises their excretion rate up to 30-fold.

Perhaps Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko should try an “Olestra diet” to rid his body of dioxin. It wouldn’t be the first time that the “fake fat” product was used as an emergency agent to flush out dioxin, one of a group of

A child’s level of anxiety prior to surgery is predictive of whether they will experience post-surgical delirium and maladaptive behavioral changes, including anxiety, nighttime crying, and bedwetting, according to a Yale study published in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia.

“This finding is of importance to the clinician, who can now better predict the development of adverse postoperative phenomena in children based on the child’s preoperative anxiety,” said Zeev K

A new study by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center shows that genetic testing offers a less invasive and more cost efficient alternative in diagnosing inner ear hearing loss in children. In fact, the study shows that some of the standard tests conducted today are not necessary and should only be done on a case by case basis.

“Our paradigm emphasizes the use of genetic tests, particularly a screen for the GJB2 gene, as the initial diagnostic test of choice.

Seeking to find a way to lessen patients’ vulnerability to deadly infections following chemotherapy, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have figured out a way to boost the immune function in animals following such treatments. Their approach involves increasing the pool of cells that give rise to neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that is critical for fighting bacterial and fungal infections but is particularly ravaged by chemotherapy.

“Our approach ha

More than half of adults over the age of 65 have trouble sleeping, characterized by both lighter sleep and frequent awakenings during the night. A decline in cognitive function is common with advanced age, and research has shown that disturbed sleep in younger adults and in the elderly causes daytime sleepiness and negatively affects cognitive performance.

Now, a study by sleep researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine suggests that even short-term ex

Except for women in their 40s, women who are screened with mammography every 2 years may not have an increased risk of late-stage breast cancer compared with women screened every year, according to a new study in the December 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The ideal interval between screenings for breast cancer using mammography has not been determined. In the United States, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening with mammograph

Keeping blood pressure & cholesterol low may help some dementia patients more than Alzheimer’s drugs

Could the same actions that help prevent a heart attack or stroke also prevent or slow the memory loss, confusion and thinking problems of dementia? A new study suggests that for many people, the answer could be yes. And for some, the impact of steps like controlling blood pressure and cholesterol might be greater than the effect of high-priced memory-preserving drugs.

Journal of The Royal Society Interface

Sharks can detect changes in the geomagnetic field by Dr G Meyer, Dr N Holland and Mr P Papastamatiou

Scientists have long suspected that sharks are able to use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate across seemingly featureless oceans but until now evidence of this ’compass sense’ has been circumstantial. We showed that captive sharks can be trained to swim over a target whenever an artificial magnetic field is activat

They piggyback on iron-storing proteins after surviving digestive juices

A new study from the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine shows that the infectious version of prion proteins, the main culprits behind the human form of mad cow disease or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), are not destroyed by digestive enzymes found in the stomach. Furthermore, the study finds that the infectious prion proteins, also known as prions, cross