Studies and Analyses

U-M researchers report more effective method for separating viable sperm

A new technique to find the viable sperm in the semen of men with low sperm motility could lead to a new approach for infertility treatment, according to University of Michigan Health System researchers.

In a study published online and in the July/August issue of Reproductive BioMedicine Online (http://www.rbmonline.com), UMHS researchers used a microscopic chip divided into two channels to encourage vi

Not looks or money but rather life-long fidelity is what most people seek in an ideal mate, according to a Cornell University behavioral study that also confirmed the “likes-attract” theory: We tend to look for the same characteristics in others that we see in ourselves.

The study began when Cornell University students in an animal-behavior class conducted a scientific survey of 978 heterosexual residents of Ithaca, N.Y., ages 18-24. Hoping to learn whether likes attract, students asked the

The University of Bradford has conducted a study that reveals that mobile phone use can improve the short-term memory of men – but not women.

Dr Jim Smythe and Professor Brenda Costall of the University’’s School of Life Sciences carried out an experiment on both the long and short-term memory of people that were briefly exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted from mobile telephones.

Thirty-three male and twenty-nine female students volunteered to be randomly assigne

The human brain combines motion and shape information to recognize faces and facial expressions, a new study suggests.

That new finding, part of an engineer’s quest to design computers that “see” faces the way humans do, provides more evidence concerning a controversy in cognitive psychology.

Were computers to become adept at recognizing faces and moods, they would be more user-friendly, said Aleix Martinez, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Ohio State University. T

Police should hand out more traffic tickets. While Robert Tibshirani, PhD, won’t win any popularity contests with that sentiment, the Stanford School of Medicine researcher and his colleagues at the University of Toronto report in a paper being published in the June 28 issue of The Lancet that vigilant traffic law enforcement may reduce fatal car crashes.

The team examined the records of drivers in Ontario, Canada, and found that receiving a traffic ticket reduces a driver’s risk of dying i

Biodiversity in urban/suburban yards correlates with household income

Biodiversity in urban and suburban yards directly correlates with household income, scientists have found.

Researchers at the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site found higher plant diversity in “upscale” neighborhoods. “The line flattens out, however, at about the $50,000 per year salary mark,” said scientist Charles Redman. “When inves