Culture

COLUMBUS, Ohio – While the nation's foreclosure crisis has focused blame on bad loan practices by some lenders, new research shows how some banks may have actually reduced the default risk of their homebuyers.

Researchers found that low-income homeowners who received a mortgage from a local lender were less likely to default on their loans than are those who borrowed from a more distant bank or mortgage company.

Madison, WI DECEMBER 30, 2010 – A recent study by a team of researchers at the University of Arizona has tracked the incident of pathogens in biosolids over a 19 year period in one major U.S. city. In the same study, the researchers also analyzed pathogen levels in biosolids at 18 wastewater treatment plants in the United States.

With proper planning, selective rather than mass vaccination can provide immunity against flu

Jerusalem, January 3. 2011 – With the current outbreak of the flu season in Israel, hospitals are reporting overcrowding, and doctors are advising people who have not yet been vaccinated against flu to get their shots.

The notion of being angry with God goes back to ancient days. Such personal struggles are not new, but Case Western Reserve University psychologist Julie Exline began looking at "anger at God" in a new way.

"Many people experience anger toward God," Exline explains. "Even people who deeply love and respect God can become angry. Just as people become upset or angry with others, including loved ones, they can also become angry with God."

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – In a recent issue of HortTechnology, Purdue University researchers Christopher J. Currey and Roberto G. Lopez reported on a study of the effects of a technique called "bulb dipping" on Easter lily. While plant growth retardants (PGRs) are commonly applied as sprays or media drenches, bulb crops can be submerged, or "dipped" in PGR solutions before planting. The experiments were designed to determine if dipping Easter lily bulbs in paclobutrazol solutions would produce a commercially acceptable product.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) applauds Congressional reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act.

A new study by Dr. Zvi Reich, a researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beer-Sheva, Israel, documents the process through which journalists at major newspapers fought to receive byline recognition of their work, paving the way for today's celebrity journalists.

According to the work published in the December 2010 issue of Journalism,, "the proliferation of bylines characterized the news as an imperfect, all too human account of reality, and opened the way for celebrity journalism."

Complementary medicines (CAM) can be dangerous for children and can even prove fatal, if substituted for conventional medicine, indicates an audit of kids' CAM treatment published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

But parents often misguidedly think CAM treatments are better for their children because they are "natural" and therefore less likely to have harmful side effects, say the authors.

They base their findings on monthly reporting of adverse events associated with CAM to the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit between 2001 and 2003.

BOSTON, Mass. (December 22, 2010)—For most of us, the "placebo effect" is synonymous with the power of positive thinking; it works because you believe you're taking a real drug. But a new study rattles this assumption.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School's Osher Research Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have found that placebos work even when administered without the seemingly requisite deception.

The study is published December 22 in PLoS ONE.

For most of us, the "placebo effect" is synonymous with the power of positive thinking; it works because you believe you're taking a real drug. But a new study rattles this assumption.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School's Osher Research Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have found that placebos work even when administered without the seemingly requisite deception.

The study published on December 22 in PLoS ONE.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2010 — Just in time for New Year's Eve, a study may settle that long-standing disagreement over the best way to pour a glass of champagne: Scientists in France are reporting that pouring bubbly in an angled, down-the-side way is best for preserving its taste and fizz.

During recessions, increased spending on research and development and on advertising can benefit certain types of firms and punish others, according to researchers, who identified the firm types that spend most effectively.

More than 10,000 firm-years of data from publicly listed U.S. firms from 1969 to 2008 -- a period that included seven recessions -- were examined by Gary L. Lilien, Distinguished Research Professor of Management Science, Penn State Smeal College of Business; Raji Srinivasan, University of Texas; and Shrihari Sridhar, Michigan State University.