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Public Release: 30-Nov-2012
New study finds what makes a good mentor and mentee How-to books are full of advice on what makes a good mentor. But what makes a good mentee and what chemistry is needed to make the relationship work? Contact: Leslie Shepherd Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Defining career paths in health systems improvement Among numerous programs aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of the US health care system, training the next generation of experts needed to help lead these efforts has received inadequate, according to three physicians writing in the January 2013 issue of Academic Medicine. Their article proposes a framework for career development in what they call "health systems improvement." Contact: Sue McGreevey Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Technology use in the classroom helps autistic children communicate The use of technology in the classroom is nothing new, but Topcliffe Primary School in Birmingham is breaking new ground by using technology to help pupils with Autism communicate more effectively in the a project, jointly funded by the ESRC and the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council. Contact: Pressoffice Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Employers often more interested in hiring potential playmates than the very best candidates Employers are often more focused on hiring someone they would like to hang out with than they are on finding the person who can best do the job, suggests a study in the December issue of the American Sociological Review. Contact: Daniel Fowler Public Release: 29-Nov-2012
Behavior problems, not depression, linked to lower grades for depressed youths Behavior problems, not depression, are linked to lower grades for depressed adolescents, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Contact: Daniel Fowler Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Family's economic situation influences brain function in children Children of low socioeconomic status work harder to filter out irrelevant environmental information than those from a high-income background because of learned differences in what they pay attention to, according to new research published in the open access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Contact: Amedeo D'Angiulli Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Anthropological expertise facilitates multicultural women's health care Collaboration between medical and anthropological expertise can solve complex clinical problems in today's multicultural women's healthcare, shows Pauline Binder, a medical anthropologist, who will present her thesis on 1 Dec. at the Faculty of Medicine, Uppsala University, Sweden. Contact: Pauline Binder Public Release: 28-Nov-2012
Tiny algae shed light on photosynthesis as a dynamic property Many of the world's most important photosynthetic eukaryotes such as plants got their light-harnessing organelles (chloroplasts) indirectly from other organisms through endosymbiosis. In some instances, this resulted in algae with multiple, distinct genomes, some in residual organelles (nucleomorphs). To better understand why nucleomorphs persist after endosymbiosis, an international team including researchers at the DOE Joint Genome Institute collaborated to sequence and analyze two tiny algae. Their report appeared online Nov. 29, 2012 in Nature. Contact: David Gilbert Public Release: 27-Nov-2012
Rocks, water, air, space ... and humans: An NSF recipe for AGU success The National Science Foundation is suggesting adding a bit of spice to a geophysical scientist's research recipe of rocks, water, air, space and life: humans. At next month's Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union a behemoth of a conference of nearly 20,000 Earth and space scientists, educators, students and policy makers, an international group of scientists will make the case for adding the human element to their research. Contact: Sue Nichols Public Release: 27-Nov-2012
Researchers study cry acoustics to determine risk for autism Researchers at Women & Infants' Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk in collaboration with researchers at University of Pittsburgh have been studying the cry acoustics of six-month-old infants. Their research has recently been published in Autism Research Contact: Amy Blustein Public Release: 27-Nov-2012
Study finds heavily indebted med students choosing primary care face greater financial challenges Researchers at Boston University and the Association of American Medical Colleges have determined that heavily indebted medical students choosing primary care careers will experience difficulty paying their student debt unless they consider alternative strategies to support repayment. Contact: Jenny Eriksen Public Release: 26-Nov-2012
Students at cooperative schools are more engaged Student engagement is not independent of the type of school attended.Nor is it independent of the organizational development of the school. The school's organizational style affects the work of its teaching staff, which, in turn, has repercussions on the performance and engagement of their students. As IkerRos, the UPV/EHU researcher, has been able to verify in his PhD thesis, these factors vary when comparing public schools, subsidised schools and co-operative schools, the latter being the ones that fare best. Contact: Aitziber Lasa Public Release: 26-Nov-2012
Deciphering bacterial doomsday decisions Like a homeowner prepping for a hurricane, the bacterium Bacillus subtilis uses a long checklist to prepare for survival in hard times. Scientists from Rice University and the University of Houston have discovered that B. subtilis begins survival preparations well in advance of making the ultimate decision of whether to "hunker down" and form a spore. The research is available online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Contact: David Ruth Public Release: 26-Nov-2012
EARTH: Highlights of 2012 Considered individually, 2012's record high temperatures, droughts, wildfires, storms and diminished snowpack are not necessarily alarming. But combined, these indicators are much more significant from a climate standpoint. Two questions then remain: Will we see the same thing in 2013? And how do we increase our ability to weather the storms and other disasters coming our way in the future? Contact: Megan Sever Public Release: 26-Nov-2012
Old habits die hard: Helping cancer patients stop smoking It's a sad but familiar scene near the grounds of many medical campuses: Hospital-gowned patients, some toting rolling IV poles, huddled in clumps under bus shelters or warming areas, smoking cigarettes. Contact: Laura Bailey Public Release: 26-Nov-2012
Corporate wrongdoers should stick to the facts in post-crisis message When faced with scandal or wrongdoing, corporations should stick to the facts in their post-crisis messaging, according to a new study from researchers at Rice University, the University of Georgia and the University of Maryland -- College Park. Contact: David Ruth Public Release: 26-Nov-2012
The hidden disorder: Unique treatment proposed for children's neurological disorder An Indiana University study in the Journal of Child Neurology proposes an innovative treatment for developmental coordination disorder, a potentially debilitating neurological disorder in which the development of a child's fine or gross motor skills, or both, is impaired. Affecting one in 20 children, predominantly boys, the condition has broad academic, social and emotional impact. It can severely affect reading, spelling and handwriting abilities and lead to problems with self-esteem, obesity and injury. Contact: Liz Rosdeitcher Public Release: 22-Nov-2012
Star Trek Classroom: The next generation of school desks Researchers designing and testing the 'classroom of the future' have found that multi-touch, multi-user desks can boost skills in mathematics. New results from a three-year project working with over 400 pupils, mostly eight-10 year olds, show that collaborative learning increases both fluency and flexibility in maths. It also shows that using an interactive 'smart' desk can have benefits over doing mathematics on paper. Contact: Carl Stiansen Public Release: 22-Nov-2012
Study reveals the proteins expressed by human cytomegalovirus New findings reveal the surprisingly complex protein-coding capacity of the human cytomegalovirus and provide the first steps toward understanding how the virus manipulates human cells during infection. The related study appears in the Nov. 23 issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society. Contact: Natasha Pinol Public Release: 21-Nov-2012
Strengthening Canada's research capacity: The gender dimension A newly released report by the Council of Canadian Academies entitled, Strengthening Canada's Research Capacity: The Gender Dimension provides an assessment of the the factors that influence university research careers of women. This authoritative assessment has found that although there has been progress in the representation of women in the university research ranks, there are still gender equity challenges that must be overcome and the passage of time will not be enough to ensure parity. Contact: Cate Meechan Public Release: 20-Nov-2012
Proposals to record the age of youngsters when buying mobile phones Mobile telephone operators should verify the age of children and youngsters when they access multimedia services by having a record of users' dates of birth. This is one of the recommendations in a report by researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, that also suggest content classifications for mobiles by age, like in the case of video games. Contact: SINC Public Release: 20-Nov-2012
Robotic fish research swims into new ethorobotics waters Polytechnic Institute of New York University researchers have published findings in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface that illuminate the emerging field of ethorobotics -- the study of bioinspired robots interacting with animal counterparts. They studied how real-time feedback attracted or repelled live zebrafish. The fish were more attracted to robots with tail motions that mimicked the live fish. The researchers hope that robots eventually may steer live animal or marine groups from danger. Contact: Kathleen Hamilton Public Release: 20-Nov-2012
Huddersfield professor's ground-breaking research shows just how well the 2012 Games were run Research conducted by Professor David Bamford confirms just how successfully the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were designed, organized and delivered. His findings will reveal to planners of the 2016 Games in Brazil just what they must do to meet or exceed the standards set by London. Contact: John Ramsdin Public Release: 19-Nov-2012
Sequester will have a devastating impact on America's research enterprise Three organizations representing America's research universities today launched a website that aims to inform policymakers and the public of the impact that the upcoming budget sequester would have on federal funding for university research. Contact: Lauren Pulte Public Release: 19-Nov-2012
Happy youngsters more likely to grow into wealthy adults, study finds The first in-depth investigation of whether youthful happiness leads to greater wealth in later life reveals that, even allowing for other influences, happy adolescents are likely to earn more money as adults. Contact: Ed Nash |