Culture

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of images derived from classified data that could be used to better understand rapid loss and transformation of Arctic sea ice should be immediately released and disseminated to the scientific research community, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Despite constant warnings about childhood obesity, too many Australian parents are still oblivious to the fact their children are overweight, according to the findings of the national MBF Healthwatch survey.

The disturbing results showed that only 7.9% of children were considered to be overweight by their parents. However, this is a gross underestimation according to the recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report , which showed almost a quarter of all children (aged two to 12) are overweight or obese.

Just in time for Discovery Channel's Shark Week (don't get eaten, even in a PR stunt), a new paper, "Seasonal cycles and long-term trends in abundance and species composition of sharks associated with cage diving ecotourism activities in Hawai'i,", comes to their rescue.

Ask middle-school students if they are popular or make friends easily, they likely will depend on social comparisons with their peers for an answer. Such reliance on the perceived opinions of others, or reflected self-appraisals, has long been assumed, but new evidence supporting this claim has now been found in the teen brain.

Teenagers yearn to fit in and be accepted by their friends. A new study suggests that girls and boys think differently about being judged by their peers as they move through adolescence.

The study, by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Georgia State University, appears in the July/August 2009 issue of the journal Child Development.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Popular culture may have an uncharitable attitude toward community colleges, but a University of Illinois expert in education says they are an underfunded community asset and an invaluable resource for first-generation college students, low-skilled adult workers and immigrants aspiring to enter college, and downsized workers and mid-career changers transitioning to a recession-proof career.

McDonald's seems recession-proof, its profitability apparently untouched by the newest economic crisis to hit America. Though the average family may not be able to eat out in style, they can afford a Dollar Menu double cheeseburger - or four.

INDIANAPOLIS –A study in the Journal of Geography reports that despite increased support for K-12 geography education over a 15-year period, geography knowledge among Indiana college freshmen has not improved.

A test measuring ability in map skills, place name location, physical geography and human geography was administered in 1987 and again in 2002 to college freshmen at public and private colleges and universities in Indiana. Test scores were two percent lower in 2002 than in 1987.

Young, American-raised Asian and Pacific Islanders (API), who are in the sexual minority, face psychological and social stresses in dealing with their families' values and ancestral cultures that significantly impact the development of their ethnic and sexual identities.

API teens and young adults identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender face a different set of challenges than their western or Caucasian peers. These challenges often lead to rejection by their families who emigrated to the U.S. and a stigmatization by the larger Asian community.

CHICAGO (July 14, 2009) – Results of a survey published in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons show that a large subset of surgical residents consider duty hour regulations (DHR) a significant barrier to their surgical education and express a desire for flexibility to work longer hours than current restrictions allow.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] ‹ Brazil's nearly two-decade effort totreat people living with HIV and AIDS shows that developing countries cansuccessfully combat the epidemic. Inexpensive generic medicines are a largepart of the solution, say researchers from Brown University and the HarvardSchool of Public Health.

Brazil did this, researchers said, largely by pursuing controversialpolicies that prompted pharmaceutical companies with exclusive drugs tolower their prices dramatically and generic companies to develop lower-costalternatives for use in emerging markets.

A study published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine has found that of six interventions promoting exercise in adults in Australia, encouraging the use of pedometers – simple step counting devices that can be used as a motivational tool – and promoting physical activity through mass media campaigns are the most cost-effective in terms of the money spent for the health benefits they result in.

For people without a prior conviction for a hands-on sex offense, the consumption of child pornography alone does not, in itself, represent the risk factors for committing such an offense. Researchers writing in BMC Psychiatry studied 231 men convicted of consuming child pornography in 2002 and found that only 1% had gone on be convicted of committing a hands-on sex offense in the following six years.

Convictions not being instances, of course, nor did the study determine how many child abusers did not look at child pornography at all.

HOUSTON - From March 31 to July 14, a six-man international crew called an isolation chamber in Moscow their home. The crew, composed of four Russians and two Europeans, simulated a 105-day Mars mission full of experiments and realistic mission scenarios, including emergency situations and 20-minute communications delays.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) joined with two other physician groups to offer strong support for the Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) provisions included in the Tri-Committee health reform bill about to be considered in the House. The Tri-Committee, which unveiled its proposed legislation on June 19, is made up of the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor Committees.