News Articles

Crowds formed from tiny particles disperse as their environment becomes more disordered, according to scientists from UCL, Bilkent University and Université Pierre et Marie Curie.
The new mechanism is counterintuitive and might help describe crowd behaviour in natural, real-world systems where many factors impact on individuals' responses to either gather or disperse.
"Bacterial colonies, schools of fish, flocking birds, swarming insects and pedestrian flow all show collective and dynamic behaviours which are sensitive to changes in the surrounding environment and their dispersal or gathering can be sometimes the difference between life and death," said lead researcher, Dr Giorgio Volpe, UCL Chemistry.

By now the entire world has heard that famed Russian tennis champion Maria Sharapova has tested positive for a banned substance. According to a March 9 Reuters article, she has been suspended, lost major sponsors and there is a possibility that she will miss the upcoming Olympics. The substance she was taking is Meldonium or Mildronate.
This is a heart medication that is most commonly used in Eastern Europe. This medication has been banned effective only this past January. Meldonium works by regulating the energy metabolism pathways. It has been used for treatment of heart failure, arrhythmia, heart attacks and diabetes. It has not been approved for use in the United States.

If the price of oil decreases, carbon dioxide emissions increase. This is what two Spanish scientists claim after comparing the relationship between air pollution and economic development by using the real oil prices in Spain between 1874 and 2011 as an indicator. The scientists suggest a need to design new energy taxes.
In the 1970s, the first environmental movements warned that air pollution was the result of our production and consumption patterns. At that point in time, economists argued that an improvement in per capita income would reduce the level of environmental degradation -- a relationship called the Environmental Kuznets Curve (with an inverted 'U' shape). Later studies would go on to show that they were right.

Estoril, Portugal: Beta-blockers could be used to reduce the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations, according to new findings.
Beta blockers are primarily used to treat stress or heart problems, such as high blood pressure and angina, but these new findings suggest they could have a potential benefit for patients with COPD.

In a large-scale study involving more than 6,000 fifth graders, an innovative science curriculum was found to have a positive impact on science learning for students with different levels of English proficiency.
The study, led by NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and published in the American Educational Research Journal, evaluated the effects of Promoting Science Among English Language Learners (P-SELL), a fifth-grade science curricular and professional development intervention designed with English language learners (ELLs) in mind.

Recently, researchers compared the effects of tai chi to leg strengthening exercises (a physical therapy called "lower extremity training," or LET) in reducing falls. Falls are a leading cause of serious injuries in older adults and can lead to hospitalization, nursing home admission, and even death. Arthritis, heart disease, muscle weakness, vision and balance problems, dementia, and other age-related health problems can increase an older adult's risk for experiencing a fall. The study is published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Recent studies have indicated that patients with sleep apnea may be associated with worse cancer outcomes. Now a new animal study, presented at the European Association of Urology Congress in Munich, uncovers a possible mechanism which may underlie this link.

ITHACA, N.Y. - Genetic cues from male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes passed on during sex affect which genes are turned on or off in a females' reproductive tract post-mating, including genes related to blood feeding, egg development and immune defense, according to new Cornell research.
The researchers believe such processes provide information that could be exploited to fight mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus.

People with type 2 diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may not experience improved glycemic control by using continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, as some studies have suggested, according to the results of a randomized, controlled trial published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

BOSTON, MA - The use of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), the surgical removal of a breast unaffected by cancer as part of the course of treatment for breast cancer, has more than tripled from 2002 to 2012 despite evidence suggesting no survival benefit over breast conservation, according to a new study from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) published in Annals of Surgery on March 11, 2016.

A regimen of beta carotene (precursor to vitamin A), vitamins C and E and magnesium has been linked to slow progression of hereditary deafness in the mice with a connexin 26 gene deletion. Mutations in this gene are a leading cause of genetic hearing loss in many populations.
The supplement cocktail had the opposite effect on another mutant mouse modeling AUNA1, a type of hearing loss, according to a paper in Scientific Reports. 

Imagine a house that could fit in a backpack or a wall that could become a window with the flick of a switch.
Harvard researchers have designed a new type of foldable material that is versatile, tunable and self actuated. It can change size, volume and shape; it can fold flat to withstand the weight of an elephant without breaking, and pop right back up to prepare for the next task.