Worried about climate change and want to learn more? You probably aren't watching television then. A new study by George Mason University Communication Professor Xiaoquan Zhao suggests that watching television has no significant impact on viewers' knowledge about the issue of climate change. Reading newspapers and using the web, however, seem to contribute to people's knowledge about this issue.
Culture
Archaeologists surveying the world's oldest submerged town have found ceramics dating back to the Final Neolithic. Their discovery suggests that Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece, was occupied some 5,000 years ago — at least 1,200 years earlier than originally thought.
These remarkable findings have been made public by the Greek government after the start of a five year collaborative project involving the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and The University of Nottingham.
Experts concluding the global DIVERSITAS biodiversity conference today in Cape Town described preliminary research revealing jaw-dropping dollar values of the “ecosystem services” of biomes like forests and coral reefs – including food, pollution treatment and climate regulation.
Undertaken to help societies make better-informed choices, the economic research shows a single hectare of coral reef, for example, provides annual services to humans valued at US $130,000 on average, rising to as much as $1.2 million.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Here's a health idea that Democrats and Republicans agree on: when given information on the genetic factors that cause diabetes, both parties equally supported public health policies to prevent the disease.
But a study designed by the University of Michigan showed Republicans were less supportive of such policies after reading news reports that people with diabetes got their illness because of social or economic factors in which they live, such as lack of neighborhood grocery stores or safe places to exercise.
ALEXANDRIA, VA – As breast cancer awareness month is observed during October, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is hoping to shine a spotlight on lymphedema, a chronic, debilitating and often irreversible side effect of cancer treatment. According to APTA, breast cancer patients who seek the services of a physical therapist can reduce their risk of lymphedema, as it can be prevented or more effectively managed if caught in its earliest stages and treated by a physical therapist.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A newly recognized pest in Oregon continues to concern fruit growers and researchers with the recent discovery of a Spotted Wing Drosophila fly in a sample of Willamette Valley wine grapes.
The perception that antibiotic resistance is primarily the undesirable consequence of antibiotic abuse or misuse is a view that is simplistic and inaccurate, according to a recent report by the American Academy of Microbiology. The reasons behind the spread of resistance are much more complex, including appropriate antibiotic use, lack of proper sanitation and hygiene, and even the environment.
The development of new and innovative pharmaceuticals is being stifled by a U.S. law and successful patent challenges that embolden generic competition, according to an article published in this week's issue of the journal Science.
COLUMBUS, Ohio –Americans think locally when they consider whether the loss of U.S. troops overseas warrants troop withdrawals, a new nationwide study suggests.
Researchers found that people were more likely to support withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq if one or more soldiers from their home state were killed there within the past two to three weeks.
That was true regardless of how many soldiers from other parts of the country had been killed recently, or how many total national casualties had occurred.
Contrary to concerns that the human papillomavirus vaccine might promote promiscuity, a national survey of girls and young women found that the majority of respondents did not believe the HPV vaccine protected them against other sexually transmitted infections.
The study, conducted by University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Chicago researchers, appears online and in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
HOUSTON—October 15, 2009—As Congress debates the public health care option, a recent study reveals greater public support for reducing health care disparities among socio-economic groups (i.e. by income or education) than among racial groups. The respondents to the survey experiment, published in an upcoming issue of Social Science Quarterly, voiced strong concern about economic-based disparities and suggested government intervention would help to alleviate this imbalance.
WASHINGTON -- Smoking bans are effective at reducing the risk of heart attacks and heart disease associated with exposure to secondhand smoke, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The report also confirms there is sufficient evidence that breathing secondhand smoke boosts nonsmokers' risk for heart problems, adding that indirect evidence indicating that even relatively brief exposures could lead to a heart attack is compelling.
Med-Vet-Net, arguably the EU's foremost Network of Excellence, has drawn the final curtain on five years of EC funding with the launch of a new report entitled, Building a European Community to Combat Zoonoses.
The report details Med-Vet-Net's long list of scientific achievements across the spectrum of its thematic disciplines from epidemiology and surveillance to risk research and disease control.
CORAL GABLES, FL (October 14, 2009) – University of Miami Law Professor Lili Levi has recently authored a research paper titled "A 'Pay or Play' Experiment to Improve Children's Educational Television."
The number of children being admitted to hospitals in England for short stays increased by 41 per cent between 1996 and 2006, according to research published in PLoS One today. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London, say this increase may be linked to a shortfall in out-of-hours primary care services, but further research is needed before they can draw any firm conclusions.