feed info

191,281 articles from EurekAlert

Saving the wild orchids of Borneo

Borneo (Kalimantan) is the third largest island in the world. Borneo's rain forests are also home to some extremely rare species of orchids, all highly valued for their exotic aromas and aesthetic beauty. Borneo's orchids are also endangered, a result of the loss of natural habitat from fire, forest damage, and illegal logging. Increased exploitation of the forests of West Borneo, including gold...

Scientists demonstrate the sharpest measurement of ice crystals in clouds

Scientists have created an instrument designed to help determine the shapes and sizes of tiny ice crystals typical of those found in high-altitude clouds, down to the micron level (comparable to the tiniest cells in the human body), according to a new study in Optics Letters, a journal published by the Optical Society. The data produced using this instrument likely will help improve computer...

Second flight for ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang

ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang from Sweden has been assigned as a mission specialist onboard the 11-day STS-128 mission, currently scheduled for launch with Space Shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station on July 30, 2009.

Second national scorecard on US health care system finds no overall improvement

A new national scorecard from The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System finds that the US health care system has failed to improve overall and that scores on access have declined significantly since the first national scorecard in 2006. Despite spending more on health care than any other industrialized nation, the US overall continues to fall far short on key indicators...

Study: Migrant laborers valuable to horticulture industry

Despite tremendous growth in mechanization and technological advances, nursery, greenhouse, and sod production in the US are still extremely labor-intensive. The agricultural industry depends heavily on laborers who can provide on-time production of highly perishable horticultural crops. Savvy employers know that a skilled and accessible labor supply is imperative for the agricultural industry's...

Suckling infants trigger surges of trust hormone in mothers' brains

Researchers from the University of Warwick, in collaboration with other universities and institutes in Edinburgh, France and Italy, have for the first time been able to show exactly how, when a baby suckles at a mother's breast, it starts a chain of events that leads to surges of the "trust" hormone oxytocin being released in their mothers brains.

Super-resolution X-ray microscopy

A novel super-resolution X-ray microscope developed by a team of researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) and EPFL in Switzerland combines the high penetration power of x-rays with high spatial resolution, making it possible for the first time to shed light on the detailed interior composition of semiconductor devices and cellular structures.

Surges of trust hormone between mother and infant are created by dendrites

Researchers from China, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, have created a model that shows exactly how, when a baby suckles at a mother's breast, it starts a chain of events that leads to a surge of the "trust" hormone oxytocin in their mother's brain. Details are published July 18 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology.

The aorta is torn apart in the Marfan syndrome

A severe complication of the Marfan syndrome is that the aorta may split and be torn apart. The patient can be protected if the syndrome is diagnosed and treated in good time. In the current edition of the Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, the human geneticist Mine Arslan-Kirchner from Hannover University Medical School and his coauthors present additional studies on Marfan patients.

UNC, Caltech research finds further evidence for genetic contribution to autism

Some parents of children with autism evaluate facial expressions differently than the rest of us -- and in a way that is strikingly similar to autistic patients themselves, according to new research by psychiatrist Dr. Joe Piven of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and neuroscientist Ralph Adolphs, Ph.D., of the California Institute of Technology.

Vaccine for koala chlamydia close

Eighteen female koalas treated with an anti-chlamydia vaccine are showing positive results, giving QUT scientists hope they have an answer to the disease that is threatening the survival of koalas in the wild.

Weill Cornell science briefs June/July 2008

Weill Cornell Science Briefs is an electronic newsletter published by the Office of Public Affairs that focuses on innovative medical research and patient care at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

When fish talk, scientists listen

New research on the midshipman fish, a close relative of the toadfish, indicates that that the ability to make and respond to sound is an ancient part of the vertebrate success story.

Yale researchers discover remnant of an ancient 'RNA world'

Some bacterial cells can swim, morph into new forms and even become dangerously virulent -- all without initial involvement of DNA. Yale University researchers describe Friday in the journal Science how bacteria accomplish this amazing feat -- and in doing so provide a glimpse of what the earliest forms of life on Earth may have looked like.


WEDNESDAY 16. JULY 2008


A new method to weigh giant black holes

How do you weigh the biggest black holes in the universe? One answer now comes from a new and independent technique that UC Irvine scientists and other astronomers have developed using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

A new way to weigh giant black holes

How do you weigh the biggest black holes in the universe? One answer now comes from a completely new and independent technique that astronomers have developed using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. By measuring a peak in the temperature of hot gas in the center of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4649, scientists have determined the mass of the galaxy's supermassive black hole. The...

After ER visit, many patients in a fog, U-M study finds

Every year, more than 115 million patients enter emergency rooms at hospitals around the nation. And more than three-quarters of them leave with an impression of what happened -- or what should happen next -- that doesn't match what their emergency care team would want.