Culture | Page 2861 | Science Codex

Changes needed in way the United States Conducts military interventions

In preparing for possible future military interventions, the United States needs to shift substantial resources to the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, and military-civilian efforts must be integrated from top to bottom, according to a new report issued today by a group of veteran government and private-sector leaders.

The report also recommends delegating spending authority to the field level and requiring that civilians and military officers gain extensive cross-agency experience in one another's disciplines.

Mandate for biofuels production requires science-based policy and global perspective

In his State of the Union Address on January 23, 2007, President Bush stated that, in order to substantially lower foreign oil imports, "We must increase the supply of alternative fuels, by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017."

Why some convince themselves through superstition, ritual and conspiracy theories

Evanston, Ill. (October 2, 2008) - New research published in the journal Science explains why individuals seek to find and impose order on an unruly world through superstition, rituals and conspiratorial explanations by linking a loss of control to individual perceptions. The research finds that a quest for structure or understanding leads people to trick themselves into seeing and believing connections that simply don't exist.

Under pressure at the nanoscale, polymers play by different rules

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists putting the squeeze on thin films of polystyrene have discovered that at very short length scales the polymer doesn't play by the rules.

From buttons to storage bins, the molding of polymers is big business. At the nanoscale, processes such as nanoimprint lithography squeeze polymers to form patterns during the manufacture of semiconductor devices, organic electronics and optics. Thin films of polymer are important in adhesives, coatings and lubricants.

Rethinking who should be considered 'essential' during a pandemic flu outbreak

Not only are doctors, nurses, and firefighters essential during a severe pandemic influenza outbreak. So, too, are truck drivers, communications personnel, and utility workers. That's the conclusion of a Johns Hopkins University article to be published in the journal of Biosecurity and Bioterrorism. The report, led by Nancy Kass, Sc.D, Deputy Director of Public Health for the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, provides ethical guidance for pandemic planning that ensures a skeletal infrastructure remain intact at all times. Dr.

APA letter to Bush: New policy limits psychologist involvement in interrogations

WASHINGTON – The American Psychological Association sent a letter today to President Bush, informing him of a significant change in the association's policy that limits the roles of psychologists in certain unlawful detention settings where the human rights of detainees are violated, such as has occurred at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at so-called CIA black sites around the world.

GOCE team gearing up for new launch date

ESA and European industries have updated the planning of the preparatory activities for a new tentative launch date of 27 October 2008 for the GOCE satellite.

On 7 September, preparatory activities for the launch of GOCE from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia were stopped by Eurockot due to an anomaly identified in one of the units of the guidance and navigation subsystem of the launcher's Upper Stage Breeze KM.

How to build crops that can beat aluminum's toxic effects

Researchers may have found the key to engineering plants capable of thriving in environments laden with toxic aluminum, according to a report published online on October 2nd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. Aluminum (Al)—a metal that is generally plentiful in the earth's crust—causes particular problems for farmers in South America, Africa, and Indonesia, where acidic environments turn the metal into a form that stunts the growth of plants and especially plant roots.

NIST/CSM sensor could help avert pipeline failures

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Colorado School of Mines (CSM) have developed a prototype sensor that quickly detects very small amounts of hydrogen accumulation in coated pipeline steel. The new sensor could provide early warning of pipes that have accumulated excessive amounts of hydrogen—a notorious source of embrittlement—and avert potentially disastrous failures of pipelines carrying hydrogen fuel.

African-American blogs offer key health communications tool

Blogs allow African Americans to discuss HIV and AIDS in an unfiltered way that is both public and private, according to a Penn State researcher, and this exploration may lead to another way to distribute health messages to the African American community.

Lynette Kvasny, associate professor of information sciences and technology (IST), an avid blog reader, noticed an interesting conversation on a blog following an August 2006 ABC News story, "Out of Control: AIDS in Black America."

Presence of safety measures affects people's trust in the safety of tourist destinations

Tirol, Austria – October 1, 2008 – According to the asymmetry principle of trust, information on negative events decreases trust to a much higher extent than information on positive events increases trust. A new study in the journal Risk Analysis examined whether this notion holds true with respect to trust in the safety of tourist destinations. Results show that proper safety measures have at least the same or higher impact on trust in the perceived safety of a tourist destination than the absence of such measures has on distrust.

Elite opinion leaders greatly vary in their foreign policy beliefs

Annville, PA – October 2, 2008 – A new study in the journal Politics & Policy shows how there is greater diversity of foreign policy beliefs held by elite opinion leaders than previously thought and identifies nine foreign policy orientations.

Chris J. Dolan, Ph.D., of Lebanon Valley College used a content analysis of national opinion and foreign policy journals between 1992 and 2004 to identify and detail nine foreign policy orientations held by elite opinion leaders.

Consumer benefits differ for changing product sizes in a specialty coffee market

Chapel Hill, N.C. – October 2, 2008 – When consumers hold private information about their tastes, companies can use nonlinear pricing as a screening mechanism to induce different types of customers to buy different products. Screening incentives may lead a firm to make a small version of its product "too small" in order to collect more profit from consumers who purchase the larger version. A study in the RAND Journal of Economics shows that firms distort the products.

Bullying common in cyberspace

Los Angeles, CA – October 2, 2008 – A new study in the Journal of School Health reveals that cyberbullying is common among teens who are frequent internet users, with 72 percent of respondents reporting at least one incident during the past year.

Advergames: Theme of game is secret to success

COLUMBIA, Mo. – It's all fun and games when it comes to the current trend in online advertising. Advergames, online video games used to advertise a product or brand, increasingly are being used by advertisers to attract and engage consumers. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers examined the impact of advergame themes on consumers' attitudes toward advergames and brands. The study revealed that consumers expressed strong positive relationships toward brands when they played advergames with strong thematic connections to the brands.