Culture

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 14, 2009 – The most detailed seismic images yet published of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano shows a plume of hot and molten rock rising at an angle from the northwest at a depth of at least 410 miles, contradicting claims that there is no deep plume, only shallow hot rock moving like slowly boiling soup.

Overseas development charities are highly dependent on donations from individuals. In this new study, researchers from the Universities of Southampton, Oxford and Cass Business School examined how the level of donations to overseas development charities has changed over time, what kind of people give money to such charities and their reasons for giving, and how government policy affects people's willingness to donate.

SAN ANTONIO – Lapatinib plus trastuzumab are significantly better than lapatinib alone in extending the lives of breast cancer patients whose tumors are HER2-positive, according to Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center. Blackwell presented the findings today at the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

New discoveries about the deep ocean's temperature variability and circulation system could help improve projections of future climate conditions.

The deep ocean is affected more by surface warming than previously thought, and this understanding allows for more accurate predictions of factors such as sea level rise and ice volume changes.

BATON ROUGE, LA—Keeping with the global "green" trend, educators worldwide are relying more on environmental education lessons to enhance students' science knowledge. Studies have revealed that bringing environmental education into the curriculum raises not just science scores—environmental-based lessons can also improve student test scores in other subject areas. Naturally, educators are interested in developing new ways to integrate these relevant lessons into the classroom in hopes of piquing student interest and comprehension in multiple subject areas.

GETTYSBURG, PA—As consumer demand for premium fruit increases, growers are being challenged to bring consistently high-quality fruit to market. And to boost their bottom line, orchard owners are experimenting with new techniques that can increase fruit quality while reducing labor costs.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The impact of text messaging on the decline of formal writing among teens has been debated in pedagogical circles ever since cell-phone ownership became an adolescent rite of passage in the mid-2000s. But according to a University of Illinois expert in media literacy, not only are critics who argue that texting is synonymous with literary degradation wrong, they also often overlook the bigger role that texting and its distant cousin, "tweeting," could play in education and research.

Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC (Dec 10, 2009) Observers were able to accurately judge some aspects of a stranger's personality from looking at photographs, according to a study in the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSBP), the official monthly journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Self-esteem, ratings of extraversion and religiosity were correctly judged from physical appearance.

A groundbreaking discovery two years ago that turned ordinary skin cells back into an embryonic or "pluripotent" state was hailed as the solution to the controversial ethical question that has plagued stem-cell science for the past decade.

But is it the solution? Or have iPS cells (induced pluripotent stem cells) simply added a new dimension to the legal, social and ethical debates that are an important and necessary part of stem-cell advances.

COPENHAGEN (11 December 2009)—Disagreement over what constitutes a forest could undermine an agreement to protect forests, which is expected to be one of the bright spots at the UN climate change meeting in Copenhagen, according to an analysis by the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) Partnership for Tropical Forest Margins.

What factors have an influence in making us like sport in the physical education classes we receive in school? According to a new investigation, physical education teaching staff must develop the responsibility, encourage social interaction and avoid making comparisons between the pupils. The objective is to make us feel capable of doing physical exercise and playing sport throughout our lives.

In a new study to asses patient awareness of medications prescribed during a hospital visit, 44% of patients believed they were receiving a medication they were not, and 96% were unable to recall the name of at least one medication that they had been prescribed during hospitalization. These findings are published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

The sound level of songs blue whales sing across the vast expanses of the ocean to attract potential mates has been steadily creeping downward for the past few decades, and a scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and his colleagues believe the trend may be good news for the population of the endangered marine mammal.

ITHACA, N.Y. — Female birds in species that breed in groups can find themselves under pressure to sexually show off and evolve the same kinds of embellishments – like fanciful tail feathers or chest-puffing courtship dances - as males, according to new research in the latest issue of Nature (Dec. 10, 2009).

As they pop the champagne corks to celebrate New Year's Eve, drug industry executives will likely be glad to put 2009 behind them. That's because pharmaceutical companies who make top-selling drugs for heart disease, asthma, and many other conditions had a tough year in the midst of mounting market pressures and a global recession. A timely year-end analysis of the state of the pharmaceutical industry is scheduled for the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine.