Culture | Science Codex

Scientists support more and continuous funding for R&D

The Science Coalition (TSC) strongly supports President Barack Obama's efforts to increase investment in basic research as a means to spur innovation and fuel the economy.

Speaking today at a community college in Troy, New York, the President articulated his strategy for innovation, which has at its core support for research and development. In order to restore America's leadership in fundamental research, the President called for doubling the R&D budgets of key science agencies, investing three percent of GDP in R&D, and making the R&E tax credit permanent.

Parenting by lying (but tell kids lying is unacceptable)

Parents say that honesty is the best policy, but they regularly lie to their children as a way of influencing their behavior and emotions, finds new research from the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Diego.

Study finds young women struggle with interrelated alcohol abuse, depression and obesity

There is new evidence that depression, obesity and alcohol abuse or dependency are interrelated conditions among young adult women but not men.

Using data collected when young adults were 24, 27 and 30 years of age, a team of University of Washington researchers found that nearly half the sample of 776 young adults tracked during the study met the criteria for one of these conditions at each of these time points.

Parents encourage desired behavior by lying to their kids

TORONTO, ON. – Parents say that honesty is the best policy, but they regularly lie to their children as a way of influencing their behaviour and emotions, finds new research from the University of Toronto and the University of California, San Diego.

What does sustainability really mean, anyway?

From book titles to real estate developments, it's easier to find things claiming to be sustainable than it is to define it.

That's why a Kansas State University geographer is trying to pin down exactly what sustainability means to those who might be trying to work toward it. Her goal is to better understand what is important to people who have to make decisions about what to sustain with the hope that this will later help civic and business leaders in rural communities make more informed decisions about sustainability.

Diamondback Terrapin saved by conservation efforts

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) researchers exploring strategies for conserving the Diamondback Terrapin along Alabama's Dauphin Island coastline are working to keep the once-celebrated turtle off the endangered species list.

The Diamondback Terrapin has been a national delicacy, a source of state taxes and a casualty of commercial development and victim of new predators, but now its prospects are improved by a UAB-based turtle hatchery that may accelerate the growth of the fledgling population.

New intervention program increases kids' healthy eating, reduces screen time

The SwitchTM programme, 'Switch what you Do, View, and Chew', has been shown to be capable of promoting children's fruit and vegetable consumption and lowering 'screen time'. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Medicine tested the programme and report that it offers promise for use in youth obesity prevention.

Decline in heart attack rates fuels push for more smoking bans

Strongly enforced legislation to restrict smoking produces rapid and substantial reductions in community rates of heart attack, according to a meta-analysis published today in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association.(1) The analysis pooled 13 studies from regions in North America, Italy, Scotland and Ireland and, despite their geographical range, found a consistent reduced risk of hospitalisation for heart attack (acute myocardial infarction, AMI) of 17% (ie, a relative risk for AMI of 0.83) at 12 months following implementation of the law.

OMG! R u kidding? Chatspeak has no impact on children's spelling ability

Parents, get ready to say OMG and watch your teens roflol.

This will prolly comes as a bit of a shock to UR system, but findings from a group of University of Alberta researchers show that language commonly used in instant messaging has no effect on your child's spelling abilities. If anything, says study author Connie Varnhagen, using language variations commonly used in instant messaging and texting is actually a good sign.

Backcountry driving dangerous for young motorists, study suggests

Results from Australia's largest study of young drivers have shown that they are at significant risk of crash on rural roads. According to researchers from The George Institute, young drivers living in rural areas are more likely to be involved in serious crashes than those in urban areas.

These results and other young driver issues will be discussed today at the launch of the Young Driver Fact base a new online resource of young driver issues and research evidence.

Drug development the wrong priority for cancer research, says policy expert

Cancer research is too focused on new drug development, while not enough money and effort is being devoted to pursuing important advances in knowledge likely to have the biggest impact on combating the disease in the next few decades, a leading research policy expert says, adding that a major shift in research priorities will be crucial to the ability to cope with the coming wave of cancer cases.

New type of sirolimus-eluting stent demonstrates superior results

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 21, 2009 – A new type of sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) successfully showed significantly greater neointimal suppression than the paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) with greater vessel wall integrity surrounding the stent, confirming the finding of superiority of the SES over the PES stent for the trial's primary endpoint of in-stent late loss.

Do fewer people die because of summer vacations? Researchers say yes

Mortality rates in several Mediterranean countries decline in September, due in part to environmental factors but possibly linked to summer vacations, suggests a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

The study looked at official statistics for Greece, Cyprus, Italy, France and Spain.

Extreme heat and cold are associated with an increased risk of death.

Do living conditions explain racial disparities in diabetes prevalence?

The higher incidence of diabetes among African Americans when compared to whites may have more to do with living conditions than genetics, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Race has little effect on people's ability to spot family resemblances - study

Rockville, MD — Scientists have ample evidence that individuals use a variety of cues to identify their own kin. People can also detect resemblances in families other than their own. A new study shows that their success in doing so is the same, whether or not those families are the same race as themselves.