The centre ground of British politics could be further to the left than we think, according to new research by the University of Sussex and Queen Mary University of London.
A study into the views of supporters of the main political parties in the country suggests that many are more left wing than they think they are.
Stringent climate policies would increase the cost of fossil fuels, including those used for the cleaner burning stoves (such as kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, electricity, and piped gas) that are slowly replacing traditional cooking fuels. Without simultaneous targeted efforts to increase funding for energy access, many who would otherwise have been able to switch from traditional solid fuels to modern cooking fuels would no longer be able to afford the switch, according to a study published in the first issue of the new journal Nature Energy.
Scientists from the University of Southampton have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown large volcanic eruption in the Caribbean Sea.
By studying ash layers, known as tephras, in marine sediments they identified an eruption that took place on Guadeloupe 2.4 million years ago.
The research, published in the journal Geology, indicates this eruption is the largest documented volcanic event in the region since that time.
Could alcohol abstinence campaigns like Dry January do more harm than good? Two experts debate the issue in The BMJ today.
Lack of evidence that such campaigns work and don't have unintended consequences, concerns Ian Hamilton, a lecturer at York University.
The Dry January campaign estimates that "Last year over 2 million people cut down their drinking for January," he writes. But popular doesn't necessarily mean effective, and he argues that this type of campaign "has had no rigorous evaluation."
Target dates are critical when the semiconductor industry adds small, enhanced features to our favorite devices by integrating advanced materials onto the surfaces of computer chips. Missing a target means postponing a device's release, which could cost a company millions of dollars or, worse, the loss of competitiveness and an entire industry. But meeting target dates can be challenging because the final integrated devices, which include billions of transistors, must be flawless - less than one defect per 100 square centimeters.
While lithium-ion batteries have transformed our everyday lives, researchers are currently trying to find new chemistries that could offer even better energy possibilities. One of these chemistries, lithium-air, could promise greater energy density but has certain drawbacks as well.
Now, thanks to research at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, one of those drawbacks may have been overcome.
Florida's citrus industry has been struggling for nearly a decade with citrus greening, also known as Huanglongbing (HLB), a disease caused by a bacterium that destroys fruit production and eventually kills the tree. An effective cure has eluded researchers so far, and crop production is declining steadily.
From 2003 to 2013, the number of scientists and engineers residing in the United States rose from 21.6 million to 29 million. This 10-year increase included significant growth in the number of immigrant scientists and engineers, from 3.4 million to 5.2 million.
More than 10% of American women aged 15-44 struggle to conceive or maintain full-term pregnancies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Assisted reproductive technology (ART), through which eggs are fertilized with sperm in a lab and then returned to a woman's uterus, is often the last resort for reproductively-challenged couples. But the physical, emotional, and financial toll they exact is high because the success rates of ART treatments are low -- only 20-30%, according to the CDC.
The racial composition of a labor market plays a significant role in whether workers find out about job leads - regardless of the race of the worker, according to new research from Rice University and North Carolina State University (N.C. State).
The study found that in a job market that was 20 percent white, there was a 25 percent probability that a respondent had gotten an unsolicited job lead in the past year. But in a market that was 80 percent white, there was a 60 percent probability of a respondent having gotten such a lead.
When Thomas Schöps wants to create a three-dimensional model of the ETH Zurich main building, he pulls out his tablet computer. As he completes a leisurely walk around the structure, he keeps the device's rear-facing camera pointing at the building's façade. Bit by bit, an impressive 3D model of the edifice appears on the screen. It takes Schöps, a doctoral student at the Institute for Visual Computing, just 10 minutes to digitise a historical structure such as the main building.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers are using a technology likened to "mini force fields" to independently control individual microrobots operating within groups, an advance aimed at using the tiny machines in areas including manufacturing and medicine.
Until now it was only possible to control groups of microbots to move generally in unison, said David Cappelleri, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University.
Scientists have discovered that a commonly prescribed dementia drug could hold the key to helping prevent debilitating falls for people with Parkinson's.
The research, published today in The Lancet Neurology (1), shows people with Parkinson's who were given the oral drug rivastigmine were 45% less likely to fall and were considerably steadier when walking, compared to those on the placebo.
Toronto - Moral people have a pure heart. Immoral acts feel dirty. Expressions that describe morality in terms of purity abound in English and numerous other languages. The idea is rooted in religions around the world as well. For example, ritual purification of the physical body symbolizes moral purification, from baptism of Christianity and mikvah of Judaism, to ablution of Islam and Buddhism, to bathing in the Ganges of Hinduism and amrit of Sikhism. Across human societies, bodily purity seems deeply intertwined with morality.
A discovery by University of Strathclyde researchers could have a major impact on advancing smaller, cheaper, laser-driven particle accelerators - and their potential applications.
The research found that the diffraction of ultra-intense laser light passing through a thin foil could be used to control charged particle motion. This new observation in the fundamental physics of intense laser-plasma interactions could have a wide-reaching impact in medicine, industry and security.