News Articles

People will pay more for an iPhone, or any product, if it is owned by someone the consumer has 'positive' envy of, such as a friend or celebrity they like, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.But it works the other way also; those with 'malicious' envy or contempt of someone who has a product would instead buy, for example, a BlackBerry instead of an iPhone.  The researchers say their discoveries about the motivations that result from different kinds of envy could be key to understanding marketing in the future.

Alcohol is among the most commonly abused substances and men are almost twice as likely as women to develop alcoholism but there have been no clear reasons for this difference. A new study in Biological Psychiatry says that it may be biological and that dopamine is an important factor.  Dopamine is a catecholamine, molecules that serve as hormones and neurotransmitters,  and is a precursor of adrenaline.   Dopamine has multiple functions in the brain but the researchers considered it important in their research on a biology of alcoholism because of its pleasurable effects when it is released by rewarding experiences, such as sex or drugs.

If you've commented anonymously on this site or thousands of others where you are not a registered member, you've come across the Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) box - and maybe you dread it because, when it doesn't recognize the letters you think you are seeing, you are stuck.Venu Govindaraju, a computer scientist at the University of Buffalo who pioneered machine recognition of human handwriting, says a 21st-century solution to CAPTCHA problems may rest in the early days of human culture - handwriting. 

It's known that water vapor and clouds are by far the major contributors to the 'greenhouse effect' on Earth but since those have had a predictable range the planet's temperature ultimately hinges on atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, according to a new model by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which sought to analyze the nature of Earth's greenhouse effect and clarify the role that greenhouse gases and clouds play in absorbing outgoing infrared radiation. 

What happens when you think you have seen a recent collision between two asteroids but find a bizarre X-shaped object at the head of a comet-like trail of material?    You keep looking until you can figure it out.In January, astronomers thought the new collision they found would have a debris field expanding rapidly, like shrapnel flying from a hand grenade, but when they watched the aftermath using Hubble, they found the opposite; the object was expanding very, very slowly and that it started, not a few days, but nearly a year before the January observations.

Chiquita Brands has announced that following years of intensive research and investment,  FreshRinse(TM) technology is ready to go.  
Yes, for those of you who can't be bothered to wash even your pre-packaged salad, this can be a real time saver.    Their claim; it dramatically reduces microorganisms on leafy greens and better maintains freshness.
They claim that FreshRinse(TM) is a scientifically validated advancement for fresh produce safety that delivers a substantial reduction in microorganisms on leafy greens, including superior microbial efficacy against such pathogens as Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7, as compared to the industry's conventional chlorine sanitizers. 

How do astronomers weigh stars?    In most cases stars that are trillions of miles away can't be measured, though astronomers can get a best estimate using numerical models.But in some instances a star could be measured using inference.    If the star has a transit planet, and that planet has a moon, and both of them cross in front of their star, the size and orbit can be measured to learn about the star.  Has it been done yet?   Well, no, since we have not found a star with both a planet and moon that transit but NASA's Kepler spacecraft should discover several such systems.

Two women who took part in the world's first controlled study of a genetic screening test before IVF have given birth to healthy babies. The babies are the first deliveries in a pilot study of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) by microarray, a new method of screening oocytes, female gametocytes involved in reproduction, before in vitro fertilization (IVF) for a full range of chromosomal disorders. 

Lunch Hour Lectures have been running at University College London since 1942.  It's terrific to know that even at the height of World War II, British citizens wanted to learn about the latest science in an informal setting.Scheduled for today, the first one for the 2010-11 season has (well, had?) professor of genetics Steve Jones on ... incest. 

New research suggests that walking at least six miles per week may protect brain size and in turn, preserve memory in old age. For the study, 299 dementia-free people recorded the number of blocks they walked in one week. Then nine years later, scientists took brain scans of the participants to measure their brain size. After four more years, the participants were tested to see if they had developed cognitive impairment or dementia.

There is no quick fix for obesity - exercise devices on TV targeting fat are a hoax, for example.  Where is the first place most people lose weight?  Their face, yet no one is exercising their face.So-called natural remedies for people desiring quick obesity fixes are also a lucrative market but a new study of medical records in Hong Kong revealed 66 cases where people were suspected to have been poisoned by a 'natural' slimming therapy. In eight cases the people became severely ill, and in one case the person died. 

Intense, passionate feelings of love can provide effective pain relief on a par with painkillers or even illicit drugs like cocaine, according to a new study.That's not to say you should rely on a string of affairs when you have a headache, but a better understanding of these neural-rewards pathways that get triggered by 'love', or winning money, could lead to new methods for producing pain relief.