Culture

Washington, DC – Science, technology and innovation are key elements in addressing the economy, health care, energy and a host of other challenges our nation will face in the coming years.

VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. -- If you're looking for bonefish from Miami down to the Marquesas Islands, you have about 321,000 to choose from, and that is down slightly from the average of previous censuses—mostly due to increased participation among those who are counting, researchers speculate.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Many Americans have lost more than just retirement savings amid a year-long economic meltdown that has sliced the U.S. stock market's value by nearly half in a little over a year, a University of Illinois elder law expert says.

Law professor Richard L. Kaplan says many older investors also may now be short of funds for costly long-term medical care such as nursing homes if their health fails during their golden years.

New images taken by instruments on board ESA's Venus Express provide a unique insight into the windy atmosphere of our neighbouring planet and reveal that global patterns at the Venus cloud tops are the result of variable temperatures and cloud heights.

A method of producing synthetic bone, using techniques normally used to make catalytic converters for cars, is being developed by researchers at WMG at the University of Warwick.

The team is now working closely with Warwick Ventures, the University's technology transfer office, to find a suitable partner to help commercialise the technology, and will be presenting their work on 9 December at the national university technology showcase event, Bioversity.

Monolity.

Three great earthquakes and destructive tsunamis over the past four years is not enough to spare the region of another large earthquake, warns an international group of earthquake researchers in their paper published in the Dec. 4 issue of the journal Nature.

Forget what's number one at the box office this week. The most exciting new film features the intricate workings of the body, filmed by scientists using ground-breaking technology.

For the first time in Australia, scientists at Sydney's Centenary Institute have filmed an immune cell becoming infected by a parasite and followed the infection as it begins to spread throughout the body.

MADISON - A handful of sand contains countless grains, which interact with each other via friction and impact forces as they slip through your fingers. When a handful becomes a load in an excavator bucket, those interactions multiply exponentially.

PORTLAND, Ore. December 3, 2008. The first 5-year forest inventory report for Oregon's private and public lands is now available to the public: Oregon's Forest Resources, 2001-2005: Five-Year Forest Inventory and Analysis Report.

Here are some key findings from the report:

For over two centuries, meteorologists were puzzled by the observation that atmospheric pressure in the tropics peaks at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. nearly every day. In the late 1960s, a theory was proposed that these surface pressure variations result from waves that are generated by the sun's heating of the upper atmosphere. The waves, called solar tides, propagate to the ground as they travel around the globe.

A pale yellow-green dot to the human eye, Earth's twin planet comes to life in the ultraviolet and the infrared. New images taken by instruments on board ESA's Venus Express provide insight into the turbulent atmosphere of our neighbouring planet.

Using Venus Express, it is possible to compare what the planet looks like in different wavelengths, giving scientists a powerful tool to study the physical conditions and dynamics of the planet's atmosphere.

New York, N.Y. – December 3, 2008 – In conventional macroeconomic thinking, the money supply is considered the main determinant of long-run inflation. A variety of monetary aggregates have been proposed to measure the money supply. Yet, nowadays, monetary aggregates play little role in monetary policy deliberations at most central banks. A new study in the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking examines the leading arguments for assigning an important role to tracking the growth of monetary aggregates when making decisions about monetary policy.

DURHAM, N.C. -- A Duke University study suggests that evolution can behave as differently as dogs and cats. While the dogs depend on an energy-efficient style of four-footed running over long distances to catch their prey, cats seem to have evolved a profoundly inefficient gait, tailor-made to creep up on a mouse or bird in slow motion.

For over two centuries, meteorologists were puzzled by the observation that atmospheric pressure in the tropics peaks at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. nearly every day. In the late 1960s, a theory was proposed that these surface pressure variations result from waves that are generated by the sun's heating of the upper atmosphere. The waves, called solar tides, propagate to the ground as they travel around the globe.

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland – "The unrelenting, month-by-month loss of American jobs throughout 2008 provides a revealing snapshot of our path into this recession," says University of Maryland economist Peter Morici, a professor in the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Morici predicted the recession early on – late last year when holiday sales proved disappointing.

Morici predicts the trend to continue with this Friday's release of November employment figures, forecasting the loss of nearly 300,000 more jobs.