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Research published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) introduced a new quantum phenomenon which the authors called the "quantum pigeonhole principle." Prior to this breakthrough, the pigeonhole principle was a basic tenet of conventional wisdom. It states that if you put three pigeons in two pigeonholes then at least two of the pigeons must end up in the same hole. It is an obvious yet fundamental principle of nature as it captures the very essence of counting.

During a field trip at 3000 metres above sea level, a group of scientists, led by Jaime Troncoso-Palacios, Universidad de Chile, discovered a new endemic iguana species, in the mountains of central Chile, scientists. Noticeably different in size and scalation, compared to the rest of the local lizards, what initially grabbed the biologists' attention was its colouration.

Washington, Jan. 20, 2016 - Only 17.4 percent of ambulatory care nurses reported compliance in all nine standard precautions for infection prevention, according to a study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

A new species of bird has been described in north-eastern India and adjacent parts of China by a team of scientists from Sweden, China, the US, India and Russia, led by Professor Per Alström, Uppsala University and Swedish University of Agricultural Science.

The bird has been named the Himalayan Forest Thrush, Zoothera salimalii. The scientific name honours the great Indian ornithologist Dr Sálim Ali (1896-1987), in recognition of his huge contributions to the development of Indian ornithology and nature conservation.

Although compressed natural gas represents a cleaner and more efficient fuel for vehicles, its volatile nature requires a reinforced, heavy tank that stores the gas at high pressure and therefore limits vehicle design. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering are utilizing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to develop a new type of storage system that would adsorb the gas like a sponge and allow for more energy-efficient storage and use.

LAWRENCE - In today's world, the old adage "good fences make good neighbors" may be more like "good Facebook privacy settings make good neighbors," two University of Kansas professors found.

Bonnie Johnson, associate professor of urban planning, and Germaine Halegoua, assistant professor of film and media studies, conducted a case study to see if social media could revive a struggling neighborhood association.

Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, CLEVELAND: Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is on the rise in women of child-bearing age. Those at the greatest risk, according to new Cleveland Clinic research, are women younger than 50 who are pregnant or have recently been pregnant.

This animal has done everything right. It has been around for 300 million years, outlived the dinosaurs and survived the catastrophic meteorite impact, warm phases and glacial periods. Even today, it continues to populate the sea at depths where it eats carrion and hunts prey. The Atlantic hagfish (Myxine glutinosa) is not really attractive at first glance. In fact, most people probably consider it quite disgusting.

Physicians have known for years that patients respond differently to vaccines as they age. There may soon be a new way to predict and enhance the effectiveness of vaccinations, in particular the hepatitis B vaccine. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Merck Research Laboratories have found that common biomarkers of inflammation can help to identify which patients might respond to vaccination and inform age-related vaccination schedules as well as interventions that might boost effectiveness, such as anti-inflammatory drugs.

Some drug regimens, such as those designed to eliminate tumors, are notorious for nasty side effects. Unwanted symptoms are often the result of medicine going where it's not needed and harming healthy cells. To minimize this risk, researchers have developed nanoparticles that only release a drug when exposed to near-infrared light, which doctors could beam onto a specific site. Their report appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Adults with long-term exposure to ozone (O3) face an increased risk of dying from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, according to the study "Long-Term Ozone Exposure and Mortality in a Large Prospective Study" published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Using data from a large U.S. study begun in 1982, researchers found that every additional 10 parts per billion (ppb) in long-term ozone exposure increased the risk of dying by:

(BOSTON) - Pre-pregnancy obesity is strongly associated with infant mortality, and compliance with weight-gain guidelines during pregnancy has a limited impact on that mortality risk, a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers shows.

Analyses of the results of a survey of Colorado high school students suggest there may be a potential association between substance use and indoor tanning, according to an article published online by JAMA Dermatology. The research letter by Robert P. Dellavalle, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.P.H., of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, and coauthors suggests any lifetime use of steroids was most strongly associated with indoor tanning, especially among adolescent boys.

PHILADELPHIA (January 20, 2016) - Patients are often unaware that choosing the right hospital is very important to having a good outcome. A novel study published today in the prominent surgery journal JAMA Surgery showed that patients undergoing surgery at Magnet hospitals recognized for nursing excellence, and good nurse staffing, have better outcomes at the same or lower costs as other hospitals.

The presence of frailty-defining diagnoses before surgery were strongly associated with an increased risk of death at one year after surgery, particularly in the early postoperative period, in younger patients, and after joint replacement, according to a study published online by JAMA Surgery.