Culture

Douglas J. Wiebe, PhD, assistant professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will present portions of an ongoing study about the daily activities of youth and their risk of being violently injured.

Violent injury, the second leading cause of death among US youth, appears to be the end result of a web of factors including alcohol, weapons, and dangerous urban environments. Using new techniques, a team led by Dr. Wiebe is investigating how the nature and whereabouts of daily activities relate to the likelihood of violent injury among youth.

This is the title of an upcoming symposium at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual conference in San Diego, California. And it's a topic that should not be taken lightly.

NSERC-funded researcher Dr. Simon Donner, an assistant professor in the department of geography at the University of British Columbia, will be talking about the vulnerability of coral reefs to climate change due to higher ocean temperatures.

TEMPE, Ariz. – Influenza surveillance mechanisms in Mexico were adequate during the fast-spreading H1N1 outbreak in 2009, yet Mexico did not have the infrastructure to quickly identify the emergence of this novel strain, according to an Arizona State University (ASU) epidemiologist.

Parental influence and access to mathematics courses are likely to guide students to careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or medicine (STEMM), according to research from Michigan State University.

The findings of Jon Miller, MSU Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies, and colleagues were presented at a symposium titled "Tomorrow's Scientists and Engineers." at this year's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The education of more researchers, engineers and others in the field of science is critical, said Miller.

February 20. "Nanotechnology could aid the future of development of the Arab region," says Mohamed H.A. Hassan, executive director of TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, and president of the African Academy of Sciences. Hassan made his remarks at a panel session, "Re-emergence of Science, Technology and Education as Priorities in the Arab World," taking place at the AAAS's annual meeting in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Solid-state lighting and its potential as a near-term generator of energy efficiencies will be the topic of a presentation by Julia Phillips, director of the Physical, Chemical, and Nano Sciences Center at Sandia National Laboratories, at the 2010 AAAS annual meeting. The meeting runs Feb. 18-22 in San Diego, Calif.

Colleges and universities should seize the opportunity to make premedical and medical education more interactive and interdisciplinary, says Peter J. Bruns, vice president for grants and special programs at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Boston, MA – In a national poll aimed at helping with planning efforts for a public health response to a possible bioterrorism attack, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that, in response to a fictional scenario describing a significant anthrax attack in their city or town, most Americans (89%) will likely follow public health recommendations to obtain prophylactic antibiotics.

TEMPE, Ariz. – The adage says that to discover the right solutions to a problem you first have to ask the right questions.

As Arizona State University engineering professor Brad Allenby sees it, our search for technological solutions to large-scale environmental problems sometimes gets off on the wrong track largely because we're posing the wrong questions.

The Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) has brought the research and education communities together with suborbital vehicle providers and government funding agencies for the first time.

SAN DIEGO – The American Physical Society (APS), the world's leading organization of physicists, has released a report identifying technical steps that will help the U.S. achieve its goals to downsize the nuclear arsenal, prevent the spread of atomic bombs and keep the stockpile safe and secure.

Seattle, Feb. 18 -- Childhood leukemia rates have more than doubled over the last 15 years in the southern Iraq province of Basrah, according to the study, "Trends in Childhood Leukaemia in Basrah, Iraq (1993-2007), published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The authors, three of whom are from the University of Washington, say they hope their calculations can now pave the way for an investigation into reasons why the rates have climbed so high, and why they are higher than found in nearby Kuwait, or in the European Union or the United States.

RICHMOND, Va. (Feb. 18, 2010) – Socioeconomic status can affect life expectancy, a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher said in a study published today.

People who live in areas with lower household incomes are much more likely to die because of their personal and household characteristics and their community surroundings, according to Steven H. Woolf, M.D., M.P.H., director of the VCU Center on Human Needs, professor in the Department of Family Medicine and lead author of the study.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Traditional gauges of economic activity severely overstate the standard of living as experienced on 'Main Street,' say University of Maryland researchers, who have worked with their state officials to apply a more accurate and greener index.

Maryland recently became the fourth U.S. state to adopt the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) as a supplement to the traditional state-level economic index, the Gross State Product (GSP).

Irvine, Calif., Feb. 18, 2010 – Dispelling the notion that urban "green" spaces help counteract greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found – in Southern California at least – that total emissions might be lower if lawns did not exist.