Using color-shifting cylinders as substitutes for sand grains or coal lumps, a Duke University-led team of physicists has pinpointed a critical density level where granular materials suddenly cease flowing like a liquid and instead congeal into a state of rigidity.
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Instead of dismissing grumblings about being tired or exhausted, people should take these complaints seriously before they lead to a worsened health state or even death, says a University of Alberta researcher investigating fatigue.
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For the first time, NASA scientists have used a shrewd spaceborne detective to track the origin and movement of water vapor throughout Earth’s atmosphere. This perspective is vital to improve the understanding of Earth’s water cycle and its role in weather and climate.
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As carbon-based life forms, humans and other animals, invariably, are treated for disease with the help of carbon-based medicines. But now, in a promising new study, scientists have shown that silicon - the stuff of computer chips, glass and pottery - may have extraordinary therapeutic value for treating human disease.
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Women living in areas with higher levels of air pollution have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease and subsequently dying from cardiovascular causes, according to a University of Washington study appearing in the February 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study is one of the largest of its kind, involving more than 65,000 Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study participants, age 50 to 79, in 36 cities across the United States.
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An easy-to-use in home monitoring device for patients is changing the way doctors monitor the health of patients with implanted defibrillators. Rush University Medical Center is participating in a pilot study of the Latitude Patient Management system to determine if the wireless home monitoring system can decrease hospitalizations for heart failure.
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According to a new study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, erectile dysfunction is highly prevalent across white, black and Hispanic populations in the United States. For the first time in an adequately-sized, nationally representative probability sample, the effect of health and lifestyle variables on the odds of having ED were determined in order to estimate prevalence by race and ethnicity.
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Migratory swans carrying a mild form of avian influenza depart from the Netherlands more than a month after their healthy counterparts do. They also feed slower and fly shorter distances. These insights will be published on January 31, 2007 in PLoS ONE, the International, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication from the Public Library of Science (PLoS) by scientists from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and the Department of Virology of the Erasmus MC.
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Researchers have begun a clinical study of oral insulin to prevent or delay type 1 diabetes in at-risk people, the National Institutes of Health announced. Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet, an NIH-funded network of researchers dedicated to the understanding, prevention, and early treatment of type 1 diabetes, is conducting the study in more than 100 medical centers across the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
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Armor-piercing projectiles made of depleted uranium have caused concern among soldiers storing and using them. Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory are close to developing a new composite with an internal structure resembling fudge-ripple ice cream that is actually comprised of environmentally safe materials to do the job even better.
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