News Articles

Whereas most birds are sole proprietors of their nests, some tropical species “time share” together – a discovery that helps clear up a 150-year-old evolutionary mystery, says Queen’s University Biology professor Vicki Friesen.
The Queen’s-led international study confirms one of Charles Darwin’s more controversial theories – first put forward in 1859 and since disputed by many experts – that different species can arise, unhindered, in the same place. Others believe that a geographic barrier such as a mountain or a river is required to produce two separate species.
Although focused on how species change over time through natural selection, Darwin’s landmark book, The Origin of Species, also speculates that it is possible for different species to develop in the same place.

The CO2 emissions of 50,000 power plants worldwide, the globe’s most concentrated source of greenhouse gases, have been compiled into a massive new database, called CARMA — Carbon Monitoring for Action.
The on-line database, compiled by the Center for Global Development (CGD), an independent policy and research organization that focuses on how the actions of the rich world shape the lives of poor people in developing countries, lays out exactly where the CO2 emitters are and how much of the greenhouse gas they are casting into the atmosphere.

There is little substantive evidence that binge drinking while pregnant seriously harms the developing fetus, finds a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Consistently heavy drinking throughout pregnancy has been associated with birth defects and subsequent neurological problems. But it is not known what impact binge drinking, in the absence of regular heavy drinking, might have. And this drinking pattern is becoming increasingly common, particularly among women, say the authors.
Their findings are based on a comprehensive review of published research on binge drinking and women who were either pregnant or trying to conceive.

Agroforestry is the integration of trees and shrubs in agricultural areas, like farmland, to help protect the soil and in some cases to provide additional income.
Reduced soil erosion, biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration are some of the major effects agroforestry systems have on the environment.
Yet many of the areas crucial to world ecology are in developing countries where it is a difficult sell to discourage maximum utilization of available land for crops.

A new study from the Karolinska Institutet states that consumers of Swedish moist snuff – a smokeless tobacco called 'snus' – run a higher risk of dying from cardiac arrest and stroke. Snus also increases the risk of high blood pressure, a known factor of cardiovascular disease.
The use of snus has increased markedly in Sweden in the past few decades, so much so that it now accounts for half of all tobacco consumption in the country. Over 20 per cent of men between the ages of 18 and 79 are daily users.

On Sept. 21, 2007, the trial sponsors announced that vaccinations in the STEP study of Merck & Co.'s HIV vaccine (V520) were discontinued because the vaccine was not effective (see 'No Efficacy':V520 HIV Vaccine Study), and the available results from the study were presented at last week's meeting of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN).
Merck and the HVTN today announced that study volunteers in the STEP study of V520 will be told whether they received vaccine or placebo, and all study volunteers will be encouraged to continue to return to their study sites on a regular basis for ongoing risk reduction counseling and study-related tests.

A new study found that citrus juices enable more of green tea's unique antioxidants to remain after simulated digestion, making the pairing even healthier than previously thought.
The study compared the effect of various beverage additives on catechins, naturally occurring antioxidants found in tea.

A gene linked to pediatric brain tumors is an essential driver of early brain development, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.
The study, published in October in Cell Stem Cell, reveals that the neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) gene helps push stem cells down separate paths that lead them to become two major types of brain cells: support cells known as astrocytes and brain neurons.
The NF1 gene is mutated in the inherited medical condition known as neurofibromatosis type 1. The new results show that scientists likely will need separate treatments to deal with this condition's two major symptoms, brain cancers and learning disabilities.

Using an innovative device with microscopic chambers, researchers have gleaned important new information about how bacteria survive in hostile environments by forming antibiotic-resistant communities called biofilms.
These biofilms play key roles in cystic fibrosis, urinary tract infections and other illnesses, and the researchers say their findings could help in the development of new treatments and preventive measures.
“There is a perception that single-celled organisms are asocial, but that is misguided,” said Andre Levchenko, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in The Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School. “When bacteria are under stress—which is the story of their lives—they team up and form this collective called a biofilm.

Cranberry sauce is not the star of the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal, but when it comes to health benefits, the lowly condiment takes center stage. In fact, researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have found that compounds in cranberries are able to alter E. coli bacteria, which are responsible for a host of human illnesses (from kidney infections to gastroenteritis to tooth decay), in ways that render them unable to initiate an infection.
For the first time, the research has begun to reveal the biochemical and biophysical mechanisms that appear to underlie a number of beneficial health effects that have long been ascribed to cranberries and cranberry juice—in particular, the ability of cranberry juice to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs).

There are wide-ranging predictions about the coming solar cycle peak in 2012 and its influence on Earth's warming climate and the $88 million Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment(SORCE) mission, launched in 2003 can help find answers, according to the chief scientist on the project.
Senior Research Associate Tom Woods of CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics said the brightening of the sun as it approaches its next solar cycle maximum will have regional climatic impacts on Earth.

What is the fundamental creative force behind life on Earth? It's a question that has vexed mankind for millennia, and thanks to theory and almost a year's worth of number-crunching on a supercomputer, Rice University physicist and bioengineer Michael Deem thinks he has the answer: A changing environment may organize the structure of genetic information itself.
Deem's research is available online and slated to appear next month in Physical Review Letters.
"Our results suggest that the beautiful, intricate and interrelated structures observed in nature may be the generic result of evolution in a changing environment," Deem said. "The existence of such structure need not necessarily rest on intelligent design or the anthropic principle."