News Articles

The probability of having one’s child receive an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis involves a mother’s own medical conditions and her use of health services prior to having the child, a new study finds. Using records from a Northern California Kaiser Permanente database, the researchers identified three groups: mothers of children with ADHD, mother of children without ADHD and mothers of children with asthma. Authors then compared the mothers’ diagnoses, health care use and costs among the groups.

Human and veterinary medicine could receive a big boost through use of larger animals, especially pigs and dogs, in research, with Europe at the forefront, according to a recent workshop organized by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which called for a European pig clinic to facilitate generation and characterization of models of human disease that would be funded within the EU's Seventh Framework program, the main source of EU funding for research projects.They say this will improve the prospects of bringing drugs to the market more quickly at less cost, as well as accelerating progress in other forms of therapy, notably the use of stem cells in regenerative medicine.

Scientists say they have discovered the trigger that pulls together X chromosomes in female cells at a crucial stage of embryo development. Their discovery could also provide new insights into how other similar chromosomes spontaneously recognize each other and are bound together at key parts of analogous cell processes. This is an important mechanism as the binding togetgher of too many of too few of a particular chromosome can cause a number of medical conditions such as Down's Syndrome or Turner's Syndrome.

2008 will be a little longer than you might have assumed at the beginning of the year. But not so much that you’ll be early for that New Year’s Eve party.The spin of the Earth is slowing down. Not by much, only about 0.002 seconds a day (it actually varies), relative to our modern definition of the second. The varying rotation of the Earth is due to the cumulative effect of friction from the ocean's tides, the Moon’s orbital momentum, snow at the polar ice caps, the 23-degree tilt of the Earth, the atmosphere, solar wind, space dust and magnetic storms. In any case, the Earth does not rotate exactly once every 24 hours (or 86,400 seconds).

Researchers using a powerful instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found a long sought-after mineral on the Martian surface and, with it, unexpected clues to the Red Planet's watery past. 

Does Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket sound like science fiction to you?  NASA and Ad Astra Rocket Company of Webster, Texas, have signed a Space Act Agreement that could lead to the testing of their new plasma-based space propulsion technology, the VASIMR engine, on the International Space Station. The engine initially was studied by NASA and is being commercially developed by Ad Astra. This is the first such agreement for a payload on the station’s exterior and represents an expansion of NASA’s plans to operate the U.S. portion of the space station as a national laboratory. This effort follows the success achieved by the agency last year in reaching multiple agreements to utilize internal station sites for this endeavor. 

Adoption is a great change in the life of a child and the changes are even greater when a new language is included. According to figures from the adoption associations, around 18 000 children from 30 countries have come to Norway through adoption. Research and experience show that the children do very well and that the children adapt quickly and many overtake other children of the same age in motor function at record speed; but up to a third of the children adopted from abroad are having problems with language proficiency. This has largely gone undetected in kindergartens and schools, says Associate Professor Åse Kari Wagner at the Reading Research Center at the University of Stavanger in Norway. 

This Christmas 112,500 tons of recyclable rubbish will be thrown away, according to new research, by the new think credit card from the Co-operative Bank. This is equivalent to 14,940 red Routemaster buses, 93,360 Minis OR 406 Airbus A380's.
Cardboard, plastic packaging, polystyrene and paper add up to an average of 4.6 kilograms being dumped in the bin per household.

According to the Bible, when Jesus was born three Magi saw a star in the East that 'signaled the birth of a new king'. But just what was it, from an astronomical point of view, that the Magi could actually have seen?
Fred Grosse, a professor of physics and astronomy at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., says there are several popular theories that may answer this question.
“Astronomical objects or events which would be of interest to serious stargazers of the time include comets and meteors, nova or supernova, and auroras,” Grosse says. But the favorite candidate hypothesis for the star of Bethlehem, he explains, is a planetary conjunction.

One night each year, tiny magic reindeer pull Santa and his toy-filled sleigh around the world. Their names are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and maybe Rudolph (or Robbie, if you're under the age of 30 - editors), and flying reinder are an impressive feat, especially on a site with some very cranky physicists who take that sort of thing literally.
But what about the non-magical reindeer that don't fly, don't have cool names and who spend each day moving throughout the Alaskan and Canadian tundra hanging out with caribou rather than elves? Don't they deserve some attention too?
On a science site they sure do.

It is not only joy and goodwill that epitomize Christmas and the New Year. It is also stress, unrealistic expectations, letdowns, tension and, not least, drinking and partying.
This can be one of the worst times of the year for someone with alcohol issues: office parties, family parties, neighbours' parties; it goes on and on. Then comes January and the New Year, with bleak days and broken promises. For some the merriment of Christmas and the New Year masks a much deeper problem: a dependency on alcohol that can easily be passed-off as over-indulgence.
The Priory Hospital receive 20%* more enquiries to their addictions unit in January than many other times of the year.

Arrive at your In-Law's unprepared at Christmas and you may find yourself sitting in someone else's living room, unable to get to the remote control, and nothing but "The Wizard of Oz" on the TV.  Not that that could be bad (the movie), we're just saying.
A good majority of us end up away from home for at least one night staying with relatives. Like anything in life, Christmas is what you make it. So when packing your overnight bag for the festive season make sure you take enough entertainment of your own.
Here are our top survival tips to make it through Christmas: 1. Pack a book. Michael Parkinson's autobiography at 412 pages should take a couple of days even for the most prolific reader.