Culture

A new report from the National Research Council, THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF HIGH-END COMPUTING ON FOUR FIELDS OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, looks at scientific advances that could be achieved using high-end computing. The report – which focuses on the fields of astrophysics, atmospheric science, chemical separations, and evolutionary biology – identifies major scientific questions that will require high-end computing to address. The report also describes the requirements needed to address these questions and discusses the ramifications of postponing the use of high-end computing.

As portion sizes have increased, Americans' waistlines have expanded. And as a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research demonstrates, consumers are tricked into drinking more soft drinks when retailers eliminate small drink sizes.

No matter what the volume of the soft drink, customers tend to avoid the largest and smallest options, according to authors Kathryn M. Sharpe, Richard Staelin, and Joel Huber (all Duke University). "Our basic premise is that consumer purchases are altered by the portfolio of drink sizes made available," the authors explain.

Households located in poor neighborhoods pay more for the same items than people living in wealthy ones, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

WASHINGTON -- When done correctly, public participation improves the quality of federal agencies' decisions about the environment, says a new report from the National Research Council. Well-managed public involvement also increases the legitimacy of decisions in the eyes of those affected by them, which makes it more likely that the decisions will be implemented effectively. Agencies should recognize public participation as valuable to their objectives, not just as a formality required by the law, the report says.

The European Space Agency is about to launch the most sophisticated mission ever to investigate the Earth's gravitational field and to map the reference shape of our planet – the geoid - with unprecedented resolution and accuracy.

Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, and Washington, DC – (August 21, 2008) It costs money to improve the quality of nursing care through work environment changes or increases in staffing but those costs may be offset through improved nursing satisfaction and patient outcomes, according to research in a Special Issue of Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice published by SAGE.

GALVESTON, Texas — A universal vaccine effective against several strains of influenza has passed its first phase of testing, according to Dr. Christine Turley of the University of Texas at Galveston.

Turley, who is director of clinical trials and clinical research at the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at UTMB and the study's principal investigator, said that VaxInnate's M2e universal vaccine could possibly protect against seasonal and pandemic influenza strains.

AMARILLO – Triticum mosaic virus poses a new threat to Texas wheat, according to Texas AgriLife Research scientists in Amarillo.

The disease was discovered in 2006 by Dr. Dallas Seifers, a Kansas State University researcher, said Jacob Price, AgriLife Research associate researcher.

Price is working with Dr. Charlie Rush, AgriLife Research plant pathologist, and Dr. Ron French, Texas AgriLife Extension Service plant pathologist, on a variety of studies to determine how big of a role it plays in the disease pressure put on area wheat.

GALVESTON, Texas — A universal vaccine effective against several strains of influenza has passed its first phase of testing, according to Dr. Christine Turley of the University of Texas at Galveston.

Turley, who is director of clinical trials and clinical research at the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at UTMB and the study's principal investigator, said that VaxInnate's M2e universal vaccine could possibly protect against seasonal and pandemic influenza strains.

Americans are better at saving money when they set goals in the near future -- such as next month -- rather than the more distant future, according to a new study by researchers at Rice University and Old Dominion University. The study was presented this month at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association.

Stained glass windows that are painted with gold purify the air when they are lit up by sunlight, a team of Queensland University of Technology experts have discovered.

Associate Professor Zhu Huai Yong, from QUT's School of Physical and Chemical Sciences said that glaziers in medieval forges were the first nanotechnologists who produced colours with gold nanoparticles of different sizes.

Professor Zhu said numerous church windows across Europe were decorated with glass coloured in gold nanoparticles.

BOSTON -- The PTEN tumor suppressor gene controls numerous biological processes including cell proliferation, cell growth and death. But PTEN is frequently lost or mutated; in fact, alteration of the gene is so common among various types of human cancer that PTEN has become one of the most frequently mutated of all tumor suppressors.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Researchers here have found a way to convert ethanol and other biofuels into hydrogen very efficiently.

A new catalyst makes hydrogen from ethanol with 90 percent yield, at a workable temperature, and using inexpensive ingredients.

Umit Ozkan, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State University, said that the new catalyst is much less expensive than others being developed around the world, because it does not contain precious metals, such as platinum or rhodium.

Ever since Bram Cohen invented BitTorrent, Web traffic has never been the same. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, however, is a matter of debate.

Peer-to-peer networking, or P2P, has become the method of choice for sharing music and videos. While initially used to share pirated material, the system is now used by NBC, BBC and others to deliver legal video content and by Hollywood studios to distribute movies online. Experts estimate that peer-to-peer systems generate 50 to 80 percent of all Internet traffic. Most predict that number will keep going up.

Do you know someone who claims to remember their first day of kindergarten? Or a trip they took as a toddler? While some people may be able to recall trivial details from the past, laboratory research shows that the human memory can be remarkably fragile and even inventive.

In fact, people can easily create false memories of their past and a new study shows that such memories can have long-term effects on our behavior.