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Digging deep into diamonds, applied physicists advance quantum science and technology

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., By creating diamond-based nanowire devices, a team at Harvard has taken another step towards making applications based on quantum science and technology possible.

The new device offers a bright, stable source of single photons at room temperature, an essential element in making fast and secure computing with light practical.

The finding could lead to a new class of nanostructured diamond devices suitable for quantum communication and computing, as well as advance areas ranging from biological and chemical sensing to scientific imaging.

Physicists play Lego with photons

While many of us enjoyed constructing little houses out of toy bricks when we were kids, this task is much more difficult if bricks are elementary particles. It is even harder if these are particles of light – photons, which can only exist while flying at an incredible speed and vanish if they touch anything.

College dating violence - men are victims too

Thinking about a typical victim of college dating violence, you're probably imagining her, not him, and exaggerations and self-reporting surveys spun as fact only make the gap seem wider, but that is not the case, according to a Kansas State University expert on intimate partner violence. Sandra Stith, a professor of family studies and human services, said most research has looked at men as offenders and women as victims.

School districts should encourage citizen involvement in education policy making

COLUMBIA, Mo. –President Obama's "Race to the Top" grant program, which encourages school districts to compete for $4.35 billion, has made a strong push for education reform. While much of the education reform debate has focused on issues of adequate funding and teacher qualifications, few have addressed the role of citizen involvement in local education policy making. A University of Missouri researcher has examined the link between school board elections and local school performance.

Review calls for renewed action to create a fairer society

Politicians from all parties must renew their commitment to tackling health inequalities if we are to create a fairer society, say researchers on bmj.com today.

Their views come as an independent review by Professor Sir Michael Marmot is published, outlining the most effective strategies for reducing health inequalities in England from 2010.

Headache may linger years later in people exposed to World Trade Center dust, fumes

ST. PAUL, Minn. –Workers and residents exposed to dust and fumes caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 frequently reported headache years later, according to research released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.

Racial discrimination in Union Army pensions detailed by new study

Twenty years after the Civil War ended, the 179,000 African-American veterans of the Union Army saw racial inequality widen as the Pension Bureau left most of them out of a rapid expansion.

According to a new Brigham Young University study, the program shifted away from its relatively color-blind roots when it began granting disability claims based on chronic illness to soldiers who had not been wounded in the war.

Mexican-Americans come closest to meeting national physical activity goals

When it comes to meeting national health goals for physical activity, Mexican-Americans are the most active group in America and may benefit from exercise that researchers typically have not measured, according to research by scholars at the University of Chicago and Arizona State University.

The new research, which used electronic devices to measure people's movement, challenges other studies based on self-reports that claimed non-Hispanic whites are most likely to be physically active.

Benefits of badger culling not long lasting for reducing cattle TB, says study

Badger culling is unlikely to be a cost-effective way of helping control cattle TB in Britain, according to research published today in PLoS ONE. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and the Zoological Society of London, say their findings suggest that the benefits of repeated widespread badger culling, in terms of reducing the incidence of cattle TB, disappear within four years after the culling has ended.

Making the case for the social sciences

The first of a series of reports, the ACSS has collected a number of stories which demonstrates how evidence-based research can be translated into policies that will improve everyone's wellbeing. The impact of social science research is wide reaching – from crime prevention, education and re-employment to healthy diets and the wellbeing of children.

New research reveals burglars have changed their 'shopping list'

Globalisation, and particularly cheaper electronic goods from China and the Far East, has altered behaviour among Britain's burglars according research in progress at the University of Leicester.

James Treadwell, a lecturer in Criminology from the University of Leicester's Department of Criminology suggests that the incredible rise of the new superpower has made burglars 'redundant' due to the decline in cost of household goods traditionally targeted by thieves.

Treadwell is currently researching how crime has changed over time. He commented:

Role-playing games make students want to exercise more, says study

Research performed at the University of Granada (Spain) say it has proved that role-playing games (RPGs) have a very positive effect on the knowledge and habits of physical and sports practice from a health viewpoint in students of Secondary Education and that role playing can make exercise and healthy life habits more attractive for teenagers.

To conduct the study, the authors prepared an intervention program based on a role-playing game at the Institute of Secondary Education of Granada. The study was carried out over 3 months with 1-hour sessions twice per week.

Obese teens who receive gastric banding achieve significant weight loss

A higher percentage of severely obese adolescents who received laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding lost more than 50 percent of excess weight and experienced greater benefits to health and quality of life compared to those in an intensive lifestyle management program, according to a study in the February 10 issue of JAMA.

New study examines the impact on children of food product placements in the movies

LEBANON, NH-– (February 5, 2010) New research from the Hood Center for Children and Families at Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) for the first time sheds light on the significant potential negative impact that food product placements in the movies could be having on children.

Anorexics found to have excess fat-- in their bone marrow

Boston, Mass.-- People with anorexia nervosa, paradoxically, have strikingly high levels of fat within their bone marrow, report researchers at Children's Hospital Boston. Their findings, based on MRI imaging of the knees of 20 girls with anorexia and 20 healthy girls of the same age, appear in the February issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.