Field Museum scientists describe “loop and pull” in Nature Snakes are known to swallow their prey whole, which limits the size of what they can eat. But now scientists have discovered that a species of snake can tear apart its prey. This snake loops its body around a crab to hold one end while using its mouth to pull off legs or rip the crab’s body into pieces. This “loop and pull” method allows a snake to eat crabs that are relatively huge – far too large to swallow whol

Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who underwent placebo arthroscopic surgery were just as likely to report pain relief as those who received the real procedure, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Baylor College of Medicine study published in the July 11 New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers say their results challenge the usefulness of one of the most common surgical procedures performed for osteoarthritis of the knee. “The fact that the effecti

The monuments of ancient Egypt may have stood for thousands of years in the desert sands, but now they face a new threat — from rising groundwater.

Ayman Ahmed of the University of Sohag, Egypt, is working with Graham Fogg, professor of hydrology at the University of California, Davis, to study the problem and find ways to solve it.

Preliminary findings by Ahmed and Fogg indicate that farming, urbanization and residential housing near the temples are causing water tables to rise.

Almonds are a prime example, providing more alpha-tocopherol vitamin E than any other nut, and lowering LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels

Three studies released this week give the term “health nut” new meaning, as they tie the consumption of nuts with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and sudden heart attacks.

Two studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that the antioxidant vitamin E and other antioxidants in nuts, leafy green vegetabl

Full-time work for wives decreases the likelihood of divorce but does not improve marital happiness, Penn State researchers say.

Marital unhappiness frequently drives wives into the workplace, says Dr. Robert Schoen, the Hoffman Professor of Family Sociology and Demography at Penn State. Whether it be unhappy wives, husbands or both, unhappiness can play an important role in wives taking on full-time employment.

Schoen, Dr. Stacy Rogers, assistant professor of sociology, and Dr.

By the age of three, Catholic children are already twice as likely to say they don`t like the police compared to Protestant children. By the age of six, a third of children are identifying with one of the two main communities and just under one in six (15%) are making sectarian statements according to a major University of Ulster research report published today.

The report, called ‘Too Young to Notice? The Cultural and Political Awareness of 3-6 Year Olds in Northern Ireland,’ is the first

Choosing a product is largely an emotional process. The subject of Pieter Desmet’s research project was to try to unravel this relationship between product and emotion. Along with his research, he also developed a Product-Emotion meter (PrEmo) with which emotions towards a product can be measured. Desmet will defend his thesis on Tuesday 25 June at TU Delft.

Emotions can, for example, lead us to drive a certain car or use a certain brand of toothpaste. Producers and developers of products

University of California, Santa Barbara scientists and U.S. Army researchers are making progress in the study of spider dragline silk, according to recently published proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The protein that lets spiders drop and helps the web to catch prey is what interests the researchers. The molecules are designed to be pulled; they are elastic and very strong. The silk can be extended 30 to 50 percent of its length before it breaks. It is stronger than steel a

Universities, companies and research centres have sent more than 15,000 ideas for European research projects to the European Commission. More than 100,000 groups and institutions were involved in drafting the ideas; the proposed teams involve potentially several hundreds of thousands of researchers across Europe and beyond. In a radical departure from previous programmes and for the first time, on March 20, 2002, the Commission asked the scientific community to say what they see as the most promising

This is the first community study which specifically addresses the relationship between childhood abuse and vulnerability to illness with reliable methods. It derives from the collaboration of New Zealand (University of Dunnedin) and Italian (University of Modena) investigators coordinated by Professor Sarah Romans.

There have been many studies documenting adverse psychiatric consequences for people who have experienced childhood and adult sexual and physical abuse. These include posttraum

Research designed to enable a goalkeeper to significantly improve his chance of saving a penalty may help England to banish the penalty shootout nightmares that have dogged the team in major competitions over the past decade.

University of Greenwich sports scientists, working with West Ham United football academy, have completed a study proving that penalty takers subconsciously give readable physical clues to the direction of their penalty kicks. These clues could be used by goalkeepers to

A report published today by the European Commission establishes for the first time the situation of women scientists in 30 European countries . The report is presented at a seminar opening today in Madrid and organised with the Spanish Presidency of the European Union on “Women and Science: promoting women in the scientific sector”.

The report, prepared by a group of national representatives known as the `Helsinki Group on Women and Science`, compiles national statistical profiles which ar

Cooperation to better follow, understand and predict the climate
Eight institutes observe the climate together

On Thursday 23 May 2002, an agreement will be signed in Cabauw by 8 cooperating institutes situated in the Netherlands. The cooperation project is called CESAR, and is in the form of a national observatory for the atmosphere. The goal of the cooperation is to be able to better follow the development of the climate and to be able to better understand and predict it. Only a

An academic at the University of Edinburgh is attempting to solve the riddle of how jokes work — and to set up a way of analyzing the language used in jokes — as part of wider research into humour. Dr Graeme Ritchie is not investigating how funny particular jokes are, as opinions about that vary widely. Instead, he is looking at whether something is or is not a joke, about which there is more agreement. He plans to experiment, to see how much agreement there is amongst people as to what actually cons

Europe’s leading researchers on human health and wildlife impacts of endocrine disrupters will be brought together under a new research “cluster” supported by DG Research which is to contribute €20 million. This cluster project will provide a critical mass for new and existing research on endocrine disrupters and their effect on human health and on the environment. Endocrine disrupters are suspected of causing problems for human health and wildlife. For instance, cases have been reported of fish, fro

Researchers at the Universities of Warwick and Keele are being supported by the Economic and Social Research Council to watch the popular game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The globally broadcast show is a treasure trove of data on how all sorts of people of different ages and genders and nationalities perceive and act on risk.
One of the researchers, economist Professor Ian Walker from the University of Warwick said:

“Many decisions involve weighing up potential gains and losses w