Are you losing sleep at night because you’re afraid that all life on Earth will suddenly be annihilated by a massive dose of gamma radiation from the cosmos?
Well, now you can rest easy.
Some scientists have wondered whether a deadly astronomical event called a gamma ray burst could happen in a galaxy like ours, but a group of astronomers at Ohio State University and their colleagues have determined that such an event would be nearly impossible.
Gamma ray b
Study interviewed people in 29 countries
Older couples who live in Western countries and who enjoy more equality between men and women are most likely to report being satisfied with their sex lives, according to a new study on sexual well-being, aging and health that was conducted in 29 countries by a University of Chicago research team.
In contrast, older people reported less satisfaction with the physical and emotional quality of their sex lives in countries where
Study warns of hazards for children and older adults
Mowing the lawn can be a weekly ritual of the spring and summer months for many Americans. However each year, nearly 80,000 Americans require hospital treatment from injuries caused by lawn mowers, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers also concluded that the number of injuries from lawn mowers is increasing, with the majority of injuries occurri
In four separate studies of mothers and their infants, preschoolers, kids and teens, a multi-university research team has shown, for the first time, that a simple test of a little drool can provide new insight into the role of social stressors, including relationships with parents and teachers, in child development.
The test monitors alpha amylase, an enzyme secreted by the salivary glands, that has been linked in adults to the sympathetic nervous system’s (SNS) fight or flight response.
Researchers at the Forsyth Institute have discovered a new mechanism responsible for early left/right patterning, the process by which organs locate themselves on the left or right side of the body. The discovery of this novel mechanism, garnered through the study of three different vertebrates (frogs, chickens and zebrafish), marks the first time that a single common mechanism has been identified in left-right patterning in three distinct species. Such a discovery may have far-reaching implicatio
The food that people eat is just as important as what kind of cars they drive when it comes to creating the greenhouse-gas emissions that many scientists have linked to global warming, according to a report accepted for publication in the journal Earth Interactions.
Both the burning of fossil fuels during food production and non-carbon dioxide emissions associated with livestock and animal waste contribute to the problem, the University of Chicago’s Gidon Eshel and Pamel
Patients who receive healthy hearts from donors 50 years of age and older appear to fare just as well as patients who receive younger hearts, and that may be good news for potentially expanding a small donor pool, a University of Alberta study has found.
A study published in the March/April 2006 issue Journal of Cardiac Surgery reviewed the outcomes of using heart donors 50 years of age and older and discovered that there were no differences in ICU or post-operative length of hosp
Patients with severe sleep-disordered breathing are two to four times more likely to experience complex, abnormal heart rhythms while sleeping than individuals without the problem, according to the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS).
These findings appear in the April 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
Reena Mehra, M.D., M.S., of University Hospitals of Cleveland at Case Western Reserve
There will be 78.08 million 3G users in China by the year 2008, according to a report by Analysys International, an Internet-based provider of technology business information.
According to the report, telecoms operators will begin construction of 3G networks and purchase of 3G devices as soon as 3G licenses are issued in China in the second half of this year. 3G mobile communication services will be provided in China in the first half of 2007 while mature 3G commercial applications will b
Survival rates following the most common form of cardiac arrest increased three-fold when emergency medical personnel used a new form of CPR developed at The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center. The new approach, called Cardiocerebral Resuscitation, is dramatically different from guideline-directed CPR procedures.
Because of its importance, the editors of the American Journal of Medicine chose to publish the report online in advance of the journal’s April print is
It looks so simple – catching a fly ball. But of all of the balls hit into the outfield, the straight shot is the most difficult to catch. And if it’s twilight, it’s even worse.
Ken Fuld, professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire, studies visual psychophysics. A former assistant baseball coach at UNH with a son playing for one of the Chicago Cubs minor league teams, Fuld says there’s more than meets the eye to catching fly balls and hitting pitches for the boys o
Study finds that people are more willing to lie to coworkers than to strangers
Though explicit talk of money may be considered gauche, we are frequently confronted with the dreaded query “How much did you pay for that?” Our response to being put on the spot? Lies. But a new study in the June issue of the Journal of Consumer Research found that we are more likely to muddle the truth with our coworkers than with perfect strangers.
Interestingly, the researchers also found
A study in the June issue of the Journal of Consumer Research reveals that some people don’t go for products marketed as better or more effective than its rivals. Individuals who focus on potential gains will go for a product advertised as far superior to its competitors. However, those concerned with potential losses will disregard such campaigns in favor of comparisons that claim a product is similar to or just as good as established brands.
“Our results are novel in suggesting
UC study is first to demonstrate that this specific receptor is working in breast cancer cells and can be “turned on” by excessive estrogen.
A hormone receptor with regulatory roles as diverse as food intake, fear response, and cardiovascular function may also be involved in breast cancer, according to UC researchers.
The UC research team, led by Hassane Amlal, PhD, and Sulaiman Sheriff, PhD, report their laboratory findings on the hormone, neuropeptide Y, and its rece
A courtroom jury views a computer animation of a vehicle accident or heinous crime. Does it help bring a conviction or acquittal? With no clear standards for animations that re-create incidents, the verdict is still out, and, for now, it may depend on which side created the simulation, researchers say.
In a study of 117 undergraduate students, psychologists discovered that movements in a sequence of events, as well as the duration portrayed, in animations such as re-creations
Based on data obtained from one of the largest family sets of its kind, Yale School of Medicine researchers have identified a genetic linkage for dependence on drugs such as heroin, morphine and oxycontin.
The lead author, Joel Gelernter, M.D., professor in the Department of Psychiatry, said the researchers recruited a sample of 393 small families, most with at least two individuals with opioid dependence. They then searched genetic signposts throughout the entire genome i
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