A vast array of physical and biological systems across the earth are being affected by warming temperatures caused by humans, says a new analysis of information not previously assembled all in one spot. The effects on living things include earlier leafing of trees and plants over a number of regions; movements of species to higher latitudes and altitudes in the northern hemisphere; changes in bird migrations in Europe, North America and Australia; and shifting of the oceans plankton and fish from cold- to warm-adapted communities. The study appears in the May 15 issue of the leading scientific journal Nature........

A study performed by scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) on the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, unveils how distinct signaling pathways operate between neighboring cells in order to activate the cell proliferation machinery that results in the organized growth of the fly wing. The signaling pathways involved in this process are also conserved in humans, and when altered in diverse tissues give rise to the appearance of different types of cancer, including cancer of the colon and skin, and leukemia. The study has been undertaken in the Cell and Development Biology Laboratory headed by ICREA Research Professor, Marco Milán, at IRB Barcelona, and has been released in and advanced online format by the EMBO Journal........

Ripping out and tearing down to create a divinely designed home, a la HGTV, is all the rage today and the economic downturn may be leading more families to renovate rather than relocate. But a new study has observed that parents need to be aware that all this interior renovation can put their children's health at risk due to exposure to lead........

A much-discussed idea to offset global warming by injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere would have a drastic impact on Earth's protective ozone layer, new research concludes. The study, led by Simone Tilmes of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., warns that such an approach would delay the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole by decades and cause significant ozone loss over the Arctic........

Ernest Moore, an audiologist and cell biologist at Northwestern University, developed tinnitus -- a chronic ringing and whooshing sound in his ears -- twenty years ago after serving in the U.S. Army reserves medical corps. His hearing was damaged by the crack of too a number of M16 rifles and artillery explosions. He suspects his hearing also suffered from hunting opossum with rifles as a kid on his grandmother's farm in Tennessee........

People act in their own best interests, as per traditional views of how and why we make the decisions that we do. However, psychology experts at the Universities of Leicester and Exeter have recently found evidence that this assumption is not necessarily true. In fact the research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, shows that most of us will act in the best interest of our team often at our own expense........

Whether you live in a cardboard box or a luxurious mansion, whether you subsist on homegrown vegetables or wolf down imported steaks, whether you're a jet-setter or a sedentary retiree, anyone who lives in the U.S. contributes more than twice as much greenhouse gas to the atmosphere as the global average, an MIT class has estimated........

A full recovery of the stratospheric ozone hole could modify climate change in the Southern Hemisphere and even amplify Antarctic warming, as per researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA. While Earth's average surface temperatures have been increasing, the interior of Antarctica has exhibited a unique cooling trend during the austral summer and fall caused by ozone depletion, said Judith Perlwitz of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and NOAA. "If the successful control of ozone-depleting substances allows for a full recovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica, we may finally see the interior of Antarctica begin to warm with the rest of the world," Perlwitz said........

A new study reported in the Journal of Marriage and Family reveals that attendance at religious services predicts marital fidelity. Led by David C. Atkins and Deborah E. Kessel of the Fuller Theological Seminary, the study explores how various dimensions of religious life, including prayer, closeness to God, faith, and religious activities correlation to infidelity........

Off to buy a new handbag and fabulous red shoes, or how about overalls and a riding lawnmower? Before going, a mood check for signs of despair and gloom might be in order because how a person feels can impact routine economic transactions, whether he or she is aware of it or not. So says a team of behavioral researchers from four major U.S. universities, whose research study finds that sadness impacts spending. Specifically, people who feel sad and self-focused pay more money for goods than those in neutral states, even when purchasing the same item........

If a picture is worth a thousand words, creating one can have as much value to the illustrator as to the intended audience. This is the case with andquot;Picturing to Learn,andquot; a project in which college students create pencil drawings to explain scientific concepts to a typical high school student. The National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Undergraduate Education, provides support for this effort........

Innovators trying to establish new markets would be wise to try to attract attention by publicizing not only themselves, but also the competition, as per a new sociological study by a faculty member at the University of Southern Californias (USC) Marshall School of Business. Mark Thomas Kennedy, assistant professor of Management and Organizations at USC, used breakthrough research methods to reduce tens of thousands of pages of media coverage into mental maps of technology market competitors........

The term "short selling" refers to the practice of selling shares the seller does not own, in the hope of repurchasing them later at a lower price. A new study in The Journal of Finance reveals that there is a large occurrence of shorting activity and that short sellers are highly informed about the relative value of stocks........

A study appearing in the March 2008 issue of The Journal of Risk and Insurance reveals that proximity to a flood zone lowers property values. By law, a property is considered in a "flood zone" if any part of the structure falls within a floodplain, an area that is adjacent to a stream or river that experiences periodic flooding. It has been acknowledged that the level of risk linked to a property may be linked to natural hazards........

Imagine having one polymer and one small molecule that instantly assemble into a flexible but strong sac in which you can grow human stem cells, creating a sort of miniature laboratory. And that sac, if used for cell treatment, could cloak the stem cells from the human body's immune system and biodegrade upon arriving at its destination, releasing the stem cells to do their work........