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Most Detailed Global Study Of Genetic Variation CompletedA schematic of worldwide human genetic variation, with colors representing different genetic types. The figure illustrates the great amout of genetic variation in Africa. (Credit: Illustration by Martin Soave/University of Michigan) ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008) — University of Michigan scientists and their colleagues at the National Institute on Aging have produced the largest and most detailed worldwide study of human genetic variation, a treasure trove offering new insights into early migrations out of Africa and across the globe. Like astronomers who build ever-larger telescopes to peer deeper into space, population geneticists like U-M's...

Further survey work undertaken by ORB, in association with its research partner IIACSS, confirms our earlier estimate that over 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens have died as a result of the conflict which started in 2003. Following responses to ORB’s earlier work, which was based on survey work undertaken in primarily urban locations, we have conducted almost 600 additional interviews in rural communities. By and large the results are in line with the ‘urban results’ and we now estimate that the death toll between March 2003 and August 2007 is likely to have been of the order of 1,033,000. If one takes...

The AP reports, and the New York Times expands, on a new study by a supposedly "independent" organization that claims to have assembled hundred of "false statements" by the Bush administration in the course of the Iraq war. However, the Center for Public Integrity hardly qualifies as "independent". It gets much of its funding from George Soros, who has thrown millions of dollars behind Democratic political candidates, and explicitly campaigned to defeat George Bush in 2004: A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security...

Surprise -- Cholesterol May Actually Pose Benefits, Study Shows ScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2008) — If you’re worried about high cholesterol levels and keeping heart-healthy as you get older, don’t push aside bacon and eggs just yet. A new study says they might actually provide a benefit. Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered that lower cholesterol levels can actually reduce muscle gain with exercising. Lead investigator Steven Riechman, assistant professor of health and kinesiology, and Simon Sheather, head of the Department of Statistics, along with colleagues from The Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine,...

Reversal Of Alzheimer's Symptoms Within Minutes In Human StudyPET Scan of Alzheimer's Disease Brain. (Credit: NIH/National Institute On Aging) ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation. This new study highlights the importance of certain soluble proteins, called cytokines, in Alzheimer’s disease. The study focuses on one of these cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), a critical component of the brain’s immune system. Normally, TNF finely regulates the transmission of neural impulses...

When She's Turned On, Some Of Her Genes Turn Off, Fish Study Shows ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2007) — When a female is attracted to a male, entire suites of genes in her brain turn on and off, show biologists from The University of Texas at Austin studying swordtail fish. Molly Cummings and Hans Hofmann found that some genes were turned on when females found a male attractive, but a larger number of genes were turned off. "When females were most excited--when attractive males were around--we observed the greatest down regulation [turning off] of genes," said Cummings, assistant professor of integrative...

REPORT BY AMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH FINDS AT LEAST 20 PERCENT OF COLLEGE GRADS UNABLE TO DO FUNDAMENTAL COMPUTATIONS WASHINGTON, D.C. – Twenty percent of U.S. college students completing 4-year degrees – and 30 percent of students earning 2-year degrees – have only basic quantitative literacy skills, meaning they are unable to estimate if their car has enough gasoline to get to the next gas station or calculate the total cost of ordering office supplies, according to a new national survey by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The study was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The AIR study...

CHICAGO - A teaspoon of honey before bed seems to calm children's coughs and help them sleep better, according to a new study that relied on parents' reports of their children's symptoms. The folk remedy did better than cough medicine or no treatment in a three-way comparison. Honey may work by coating and soothing an irritated throat, the study authors said. "Many families are going to relate to these findings and say that grandma was right," said lead author Dr. Ian Paul of Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine. The research appears in December's Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine...

A new report reviews the domestic violence deaths of 48 people and holds recommendations aimed at preventing future tragedies. Findings on Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Homicide (Hamilton County, Ohio) Separated 77 percent Substance abuse 68 percent Increase in frequency of abuse 66 percent Gun involved 66 percent Criminal history 63 percent Stalking 53 percent Prior domestic violence charge 48 percent Threats to kill 46 percent Prior history child abuse 41 percent Threats of suicide 41 percent Perpetrator mental illness 33 percent Perpetrator bought a weapon 33 percent Property damage 33 percent Threats with weapons 32 percent Previous serious injury...

What's In A Name? Initials Linked To Success, Study Shows ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2007) — Do you like your name and initials? Most people do and, as past research has shown, sometimes we like them enough to influence other important behaviors. For example, Jack is more likely to move to Jacksonville and marry Jackie than is Philip who is more likely to move to Philadelphia and marry Phyllis. Scientists call this phenomenon the “name-letter effect” and argue that it is influential enough to encourage the pursuit of name-resembling life outcomes and partners. However, if you like your name too much,...

Aids study shows it arrived in US in 1960s By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 5:01pm GMT 29/10/2007 A widely-held theory of how Aids arrived in the west - as an infection carried by a promiscuous gay Canadian flight attendant - is overturned by a study published today that shows the American epidemic was born two decades earlier, during the sixties. The western epidemic was first recognised in 1981 with an outbreak of a rare form of cancer among gay men in New York and California, along with a rash of seemingly healthy young men presenting with fevers, flu-like...

SALT LAKE CITY, October 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A male homosexual was the teacher most apt to have sex with his pupils in a study encompassing 7 countries. Overall, 43% of teachers who made the news for having sex with their pupils over the last 27 years engaged in homosexuality. Homosexual teachers violated 1,925 (56%) of the 3,457 pupil-victims. Women were 11% of perpetrators, but a heterosexual female teacher was least apt to have sex with pupils. Sexual abuse incidents are frequently kept hidden by victims out of fear and shame and so the actual numbers of such teacher...

Home buyers in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods in New York City were more likely to get their mortgages last year from a subprime lender than home buyers in white neighborhoods with similar income levels, according to a new analysis of home loan data by researchers at New York University. The analysis, by N.Y.U.’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, illustrates stark racial differences between the New York City neighborhoods where subprime mortgages — which can come with higher interest rates, fees and penalties — were common and those where they were rare. The 10 neighborhoods with the...

People are influenced by gossip about others, even when it contradicts what they see with their own eyes, suggests a new study. The new study, published this week online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals individuals sometimes place so much stock in gossip that they accept it as true even if their own observations and experiences suggest otherwise. "Gossip has a strong manipulative potential that could be used by cheaters to change the reputation of others or even change their own," lead author Ralf Sommerfeld of the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology and his colleagues write. "This...

The Interstate 69 corridor is one of six highways selected for a new federal program to develop multi-state corridors to help reduce congestion, according to Texas transportation officials. Interstate 69 from Texas to Michigan, and Interstate 10 from California through Texas to Florida, were among the highways selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of its "Corridors of the Future" program.It is aimed at developing innovative national and regional approaches to reduce congestion and improve efficiency of freight delivery, according to Marcus Sandifer, spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation's Atlanta District. Eight states, including Texas, will divide...

Even in humdrum nonpolitical decisions, liberals and conservatives literally think differently, researchers show. By Denise Gellene, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 10, 2007 Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work. In a simple experiment reported todayin the journal Nature Neuroscience, scientists at New York University and UCLA show that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.

Mobile phone study to establish long-term risks By Nic Fleming Science Correspondent Last Updated: 3:42am BST 08/09/2007 Ministers will launch a multi-million pound, large-scale study next week into long-term health risks of mobile phone use. Some experts warn that children should only make mobile phone calls in emergencies The decision indicates that mobile phone use has not yet been given a clean bill of health even though a Government committee is poised to report that research shows no proven health hazards associated with mobiles. The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme, which has provided funding for 28 studies since...

WASHINGTON - Iraq's security forces will be unable to take control of the country in the next 18 months, and Baghdad's national police force is so rife with corruption it should be scrapped entirely, according to a new independent assessment. The study, led by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, is a sweeping and detailed look at Iraq's security forces that will factor heavily into Congress' upcoming debate on the war. Republicans see success by the Iraqi forces as critical to bringing U.S. troops home, while an increasing number of Democrats say the U.S. should stop training and equipping such...

WASHINGTON - As the world warms, the United States will face more severe thunderstorms with deadly lightning, damaging hail and the potential for tornadoes, a trailblazing study by NASA scientists suggests. While other research has warned of broad weather changes on a large scale, like more extreme hurricanes and droughts, the new study predicts even smaller events like thunderstorms will be more dangerous because of global warming. The basic ingredients for whopper U.S. inland storms are likely to be more plentiful in a warmer, moister world, said lead author Tony Del Genio, a NASA research scientist. And when that happens,...

MIAMI -- Jewish inmates who follow strict religious diets at state prisons are no longer provided meals in line with their beliefs. Muslims must now eat vegan food to satisfy their religious requirements. The Corrections Department has ended the Jewish Dietary Accommodation Program, which provided kosher meals to not only Jews, but to Muslims as well, because the state prison system does not offer halal food. Cost -- and fairness -- were cited as factors. "We have 100 faiths represented by DOC inmates, so it would be impossible to satisfy everyone's preferences and unfair to do it for one group...

DES MOINES, Iowa - The state has agreed to pay $925,000 to unwitting subjects of an infamous 1930s stuttering experiment — orphans who were badgered and belittled as children by University of Iowa researchers trying to induce speech impediments. Johnson County District Court Judge Denver Dillard issued an order approving the settlement Friday morning; it still must be ratified by the State Appeal Board, which next meets Sept. 4. The six plaintiffs, who said the experiment left lifelong psychological and emotional scars, had originally sought $13.5 million. "We believe this is a fair and appropriate settlement," Attorney General Tom Miller...

CHICAGO - More than 30 percent of American adults have abused alcohol or suffered from alcoholism at some point in their lives, and few have received treatment, according to a new government study. Alcoholics who got treatment first received it, on average, at about age 30 — eight years after they developed dependence on drinking, researchers reported. "That's a big lag," especially combined with the fact that only 24 percent of alcoholics reported receiving any treatment at all, said study co-author Bridget Grant of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The treatment rate for alcoholics was slightly less...

The average American man has sex with seven women during his lifetime, compared to four male sexual partners for the average woman, according to a new federal survey that used high-tech methods to solicit candid answers on sexual activity and illegal drug use.

Anti-death penalty forces have gained momentum in the past few years, with a moratorium in Illinois, court disputes over lethal injection in more than a half-dozen states and progress toward outright abolishment in New Jersey. The steady drumbeat of DNA exonerations - pointing out flaws in the justice system - has weighed against capital punishment. The moral opposition is loud, too, echoed in Europe and the rest of the industrialized world, where all but a few countries banned executions years ago. What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to...

OMAHA, Neb.—Building hope for one pill to prevent many cancers, vitamin D cut the risk of several types of cancer by 60 percent overall for older women in the most rigorous study yet. The new research strengthens the case made by some specialists that vitamin D may be a powerful cancer preventive and most people should get more of it. Experts remain split, though, on how much to take. "The findings ... are a breakthrough of great medical and public health importance," declared Cedric Garland, a prominent vitamin D researcher at the University of California-San Diego. "No other method to...

Studies have shown that white children are hospitalized more often for medical emergencies than Hispanic or black children. Researchers from George Washington University School of Medicine assumed that the disparity was because the children of color were receiving less aggressive care. But in a new study, researchers found instead that all children were admitted equally when they had true emergencies, and the white children were over-admitted for conditions that could be readily treated at home. Using data available on 8,952 children at 13 pediatric emergency rooms across the country researchers compared observed and expected admission rates for different levels of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here's one more reason not to smoke -- smoking may damage sperm, passing along genetic damage to a man's children, Canadian researchers report. A study in mice shows that cigarette smoke caused changes in the DNA of sperm cells, the researchers said in this week's issue of the journal Cancer Research. Such mutations, know as germline mutations, are known to be permanent. "If inherited, these mutations persist as irreversible changes in the genetic composition of offspring," said Carole Yauk of Health Canada's Environmental and Occupational Toxicology Division, who led the study. "We have known that mothers who...

Aborigines came out of Africa, study shows By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 2:24am BST 08/05/2007 Australia's Aborigines were formed from a single group of migrants who left Africa about 55,000 years ago, DNA evidence suggests. Once there the settlers evolved in relative isolation, developing genetic characteristics not found anywhere else and leading to unusual fossil finds that threatened the "out of Africa" hypothesis of human origins. DNA tests show that Aborigines did not develop separately but were part of the migration from Africa 55,000 years ago However, research published today confirms that all modern humans stem from a...

British researchers say they are stunned to discover people get more of a buzz from eating chocolate than passionately kissing their lovers. "These results really surprised and intrigued us," psychologist Dr David Lewis said after leading a study that recorded brain activity and heart rate from volunteers who tasted pieces of dark chocolate or kissed their partners. "There is no doubt that chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz - a buzz that, in many cases, lasted four times as long as the most passionate kiss."

A few years back, one-third of freshmen entering Wheaton College (Illinois) didn't know that Paul's travels are recorded in Acts or that the Christmas story is found in Matthew. Gary Burge, Ph.D., Wheaton professor of New Testament, reported these findings from a Bible literacy test administered to incoming freshmen. Burge also said he asked 45 seniors to paraphrase, from memory, the Ten Commandments. Only one student could do so. Though these students are mostly from strongly evangelical churches, their ignorance of Bible basics is disturbing. The professor maintained that biblical illiteracy is "a universal and growing problem" among students and...

Luke, the physician, notified Theophilus, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us… it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order” (1:1, 3). What Luke compiled is the longest gospel (1151 verses), containing cherished material that Matthew, Mark, and John do not have: e.g., “Infancy Narratives” (chs. 1-2) and “Galilee to Jerusalem: Discipleship” (9:51-18:14). In 1997, Frank Pollard wrote Timely Answers to Key Questions, the Adult Winter Bible Study book that examined ten parables unique to Luke: e.g.,...

LAWRENCE, Kan. - In a cramped laboratory, graduate student Nazia Ahmed tinkers with a radar system that will soon withstand some of the harshest conditions on Earth. Across campus, Richard Hale is putting the final touches on a model of an unmanned aerial vehicle that will eventually carry Ahmed's contraption over the polar ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Together, the University of Kansas researchers are part of a team at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, where they are developing new technology and computer models to measure and predict sea level changes resulting from the melting of...

Study Explains Why We're Not All Beautiful By Andrea Thompson LiveScience Staff Writer posted: 28 March 2007 09:47 am ET A new study explains why we aren't all born with Brad Pitt’s perfectly chiseled features or Angelina Jolie’s pouty lips. A long-standing thorn in the side of biologists has been the difficulty in accounting for the enormous variation between individuals when sexual selection by females for the most attractive mates should quickly spread the “best” genes through a population. “It is a major problem for evolutionary biology,” said study team leader Marion Petrie of Newcastle University. The lek paradox For...

Reindeer Change Their Eyes for Summer and Winter, Study Finds James Owen for National Geographic News March 13, 2007 Reindeer have a different set of eyes for summer and winter, a new study suggests. Scientists say the animals change their eye color and structure with the seasons in Arctic regions where permanent summer sunlight is replaced by 24-hour darkness in winter. The visual alterations appear to be an adaptation to deal with polar light extremes, according to the researchers from Norway and the U.K., who add that the phenomenon has never before been recorded in mammals. The researchers studied reindeer...

Source: Durham University Date: March 13, 2007 Pig Study Forces Rethink Of Pacific Colonisation Science Daily — A survey of wild and domestic pigs has caused archaeologists to reconsider both the origins of the first Pacific colonists and the migration routes humans travelled to reach the remote Pacific. Scientists from Durham University and the University of Oxford, studying DNA and tooth shape in modern and ancient pigs, have revealed that, in direct contradiction to longstanding ideas, ancient human colonists may have originated in Vietnam and travelled between numerous islands before first reaching New Guinea, and later landing on Hawaii and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Calls made on cell phones do not affect hospital medical devices, U.S. researchers said Friday, but store anti-theft alarms might make implanted heart devices misfire. Tests at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, showed normal use of cell phones, also called mobile phones, caused no noticeable interference with patient care equipment, they said. But a portable CD player caused an abnormal electrocardiographic (ECG) reading when a patient used it near one of the leads of the device, according to one of several reports in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. And at least two reports suggest...

WASHINGTON - House Democrats, intent on making climate change a marquee issue, created a special panel Thursday to study and offer recommendations on how to deal with global warming. The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, advanced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), was approved on a vote of 269-150. A majority of Republicans voted against it, arguing the committee was unnecessary or that its budget could better be used by the ethics committee. "Global warming may be the greatest challenge of our time, setting at risk our economy, environment and national security," Pelosi, D-Calif.,...

WASHINGTON - The nation has three-quarters of a million homeless people, filling emergency shelters through the year and spilling into special seasonal shelters in the coldest months, the government said Wednesday. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated there were 754,000 homeless people in 2005, including those living in shelters, transitional housing and on the street. That's about 300,000 more people than available beds in shelters and transitional housing. The report is the government's latest attempt to count people who are notoriously difficult to track. The estimate is similar to one by an advocacy group in January. The 2000...

A chemical in male sweat can boost mood, brain activity and sexual arousal in heterosexual women, according to a new study released just in time for Valentine's Day. The study offers the first direct evidence that humans secrete a scent that can affect the physiology of the opposite sex, said researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Their findings were published this week in The Journal of Neuroscience. "This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that a change in women's hormonal levels is induced by sniffing an identified compound of male sweat," said study leader Claire Wyart, a postdoctoral...

Study: Metro Detroit teachers tops in pay DETROIT, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Teachers in the Detroit area have the highest pay compared to teachers in 66 other major U.S. areas, a New York think tank study found. The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research study found that in 2005, teachers in the Detroit metropolitan area made more than $13 an hour above the national average for their profession, the Detroit News reported. Metro Detroit teachers earned $47.28 an hour that year, while their national counterparts made $34.06 per hour. By analyzing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the study...

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 7:36 AM CST U.S. May Have Botched Training of Iraqis By LAURIE KELLMAN WASHINGTON - Training the police is as important to stabilizing Iraq as standing up an army there, but the United States has botched the job by assigning the wrong agencies to the task, two members of the Iraq Study Group say. "The police training system has not gone well," former Rep. Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the bipartisan commission, said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was joined in his statements by another member of the study group,...

Source: Society of Chemical Industry Date: January 18, 2007 New Study To Test Statin-Parkinson's Link Science Daily — Researchers are sufficiently worried by new study results that they are planning clinical trials involving thousands of people to examine the possible link between Parkinson's disease and statins, the world biggest selling drugs, reports Patrick Walter in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. Suggestions of a statin link are not new, but the results of a recent study linking low LDL cholesterol to Parkinson's provide the strongest evidence to date that it could be real, because statins work by reducing...

Most diet plans focus on what foods we eat. But there's mounting evidence that how we eat our food matters, too. While it's still the case that eating too much and exercising too little is what makes you fat, a number of researchers are looking at other factors that influence our weight. How fast we eat, whether we eat when we're distracted, and even the size of our plates and glassware appear to have a powerful influence on how many calories we ultimately ingest. In November, University of Rhode Island researchers showed how the speed at which we eat influences...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fast-growing weeds have evolved over a few generations to adapt to climate change, which could signal the start of an "evolution explosion" in response to global warming, scientists reported on Monday. This means that the weeds will likely keep up with any attempts to develop crops that can adapt to global warming, said Arthur Weis, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine. But some long-lived species -- like the venerated California redwood tree, with a life-span of hundreds of years -- will not have the capacity to adapt so quickly, because...

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to build public support for his eagerly awaited health care overhaul, he turned to a study by the New America Foundation. The report, released recently by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute, concluded that the average family in California pays a $1,200 "hidden tax" to subsidize health care for the uninsured. Never mind that Families USA, a liberal advocacy group, released a similar study in 2005. The Schwarzenegger administration has cultivated a close relationship with the New America Foundation, whose centrist philosophy is more in tune with the governor. Administration officials heard New America was working...

NEW ORLEANS - A new report by scientists studying Louisiana's sinking coast says the land here is not just sinking, it's sliding ever so slowly into the Gulf of Mexico. The new findings may add a kink to plans being drawn up to build bigger and better levees to protect this historic city and Cajun bayou culture. If the land is shifting — even slightly — engineers may need to take that into consideration as they build new levees and draw lines across the coast to identify areas that should and shouldn't be protected. Researchers have known for years that...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. - Using fire scars on nearly 5,000 tree stumps dating back 450 years, scientists have found that extended periods of major wildfires in the West occurred when the North Atlantic Ocean was going through periodic warming. With the North Atlantic at the start of a recurring warming period that typically lasts 20 to 60 years, the West could be in for an extended period of multiple fires on the scale of those seen in 2002 and 2006, said Thomas W. Swetnam. He's the director of the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research at the University of Arizona and...

A new study throws cold water on a long-cherished claim of toll road advocates, surprising some of them, and could redefine a debate over if and how Texas should toll its highways. For more than a year now, state officials have scared the dickens out of motorists by saying the gas tax would have to go up $1.20 a gallon to build all the roads needed statewide over the next quarter-century. That would almost triple the 38.4 cents drivers now pay in federal and state fuel taxes. Since that's politically impossible to do, the argument goes, toll roads should be...

This scientific study proves beyond a doubt that the media is Liberally biased. Read up! Article====== Liberal Bias Quantified in Media Study NewsMax .com Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004 Is there really a left-wing bias in most of the nation’s largest print and television news media? Absolutely, say researchers who are conducting an ongoing examination of mainstream news coverage. In its December 13 edition, the Weekly Standard reports that a pair of university professors has employed a unique research technique that is precise enough to assign actual bias values to each media outlet examined. Developed by Tim Groseclose of UCLA and...

As a result of the Iraq Study Group, President Bush has been given one last chance to alter course on Iraq. This did not, however, come about the way James Baker intended. It came about because the long-anticipated report turned out to be such a widely agreed-upon farce. From its wildly hyped, multiple magazine-cover rollout (Annie Leibovitz in Men's Vogue, no less) to its mishmash of 79 recommendations, the report has fallen so flat that the field is now clear for the President to recommend to a war-weary country something new and bold. The study group has not just been...