Power holders often seem misguided in their actions. Leaders and commanders of warring nations regularly underestimate the costs in time, money, and human lives required for bringing home a victory. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies routinely overestimate their capacity to turn mergers and acquisitions into huge profits, leading to financial losses for themselves, their companies, and their stockholders. Even ordinary people seem to take on an air of invincibility after being promoted to a more powerful position.
Culture
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Scientists trying to understand why oaks are starting to disappear from North American forests may need to look just below the surface to find some answers.
Purdue University researcher Robert Swihart found that pine voles, small rodents that live underground, prefer oak roots to those of other commonly growing seedlings. The study identifies the rodents as a possible factor leading to high oak mortality rates that are threatening the resource base of the hardwood industry.
LEBANON, N.H. -- A Dartmouth-led study of young U.S. teens showed that between 11 and 20 percent own T-shirts or other items featuring an alcohol brand, and those who do appear more likely to transition through the stages of drinking from susceptibility, to beginning drinking, to binge drinking, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
A new Washington state program designed to help victims of domestic violence increase their knowledge of how to use technology safely and help minimize the risks that technology can pose when one is in an abusive relationship has been evaluated as highly successful.
DURHAM, N.C. -– Half of all Americans expect another country to emerge this century as the world's leader in addressing technological challenges that range from the economy to global warming, according to a survey of U.S. public opinion released Tuesday by Duke University.
Gifted youths already know what they want to be when they grow up. They usually choose to study applied sciences, but when they are asked why they made their choices, they are not able to explain.
The shift from electromechanical to digital technology generated a lot of opportunities for the gaming industry, but it simultaneously created a new set of prerequisites for success. Technological competence is not sufficient, it is also necessary to understand how the changed market functions, according to Mirko Ernkvist at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Should we dismiss the youth of today or look to them as future leaders? Teenagers are already forming thoughts and opinions on how policy should shape the society of tomorrow. Events during the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science (6-15 March) will showcase the views, ideas and motivations of young people in our society.
New York, NY (March 3, 2009) – A study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN) found that almost 40% of nurses who were on probation for professional misconduct in 2001 committed another act of misconduct between 2001 and 2005. Nurses on probation who had a history of criminal conviction were more likely to recidivate, suggesting that licensing boards should carefully screen and monitor nurses with a criminal background. The study was conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN).
Engineers and environmental scientists at the University of Leeds are developing methods of helping contaminated water to clean itself by adding simple organic chemicals such as vinegar.
The harmful chromium compounds found in the groundwater at sites receiving waste from former textiles factories, smelters, and tanneries have been linked to cancer, and excessive exposure can lead to problems with the kidneys, liver, lungs and skin.
A vaccine to protect humans from a bird flu pandemic is within reach after a new discovery by researchers at the University of Melbourne, Australia
The discovery, published today in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals how boosting T cell immunity could better protect humans from a bird flu pandemic.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Don't put much stock in rumblings that financial markets are a faulty barometer of the nation's economic climate, a University of Illinois business expert says.
While day-to-day ups and downs can be misleading, finance professor David Ikenberry says broader stock market trends are a good indicator of how the economy is faring and whether it's on the rise or sputtering.
A survey of airborne fungi and fungal spores found in Eastern Puerto Rico suggests that certain species may be a major cause of the high incidence of childhood asthma in this part of the world. A report published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, suggests this information could be used to alleviate human factors that lead to high levels of such fungi.
The discovery by Uppsala University researchers of a previously unknown protein in the cells of the lower air ways brings new potential for early diagnosis of a serious lung disease. The findings, published today in the Web edition of the American journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can also provide new knowledge of the cause of common diseases like asthma and chronic bronchitis.
DURHAM, N.C. – An immune system response that is critical to the first stages of fighting off viruses and harmful bacteria comes from an entirely different direction than most scientists had thought, according to a finding by researchers at the Duke University Medical Center.
"This finding will have important implications in vaccine science and autoimmune disease therapy development," said Michael Gunn, M.D., an immunologist and cardiologist at Duke and senior author of the study published in Nature Immunology.