Ohio State University
A new study suggests that typical non-smokers' net worth is roughly 50 percent higher than that of light smokers and about twice the level of that of heavy smokers. And that wealth gap grows by about $410, or 4 percent, each year that a person continues to smoke, said Jay Zagorsky, author of the study and a research scientist at Ohio State University's Center for Human Resource Research. Federal statistics on cigarette spending suggest that the wealth reductions are roughly equal to how much smokers spend on their habit.
A new study suggests that people with autism may perform unusually well on some tests of visual processing. The researchers found that autistic people were less likely than others to have false memories about images they had seen earlier. The researchers had previously demonstrated this kind of effect with verbal material, but not with visual material. In this case, the results suggest that the autistic people had trouble seeing the images in context -- a hallmark of the disorder.
For the first time, sociologists have mapped the romantic and sexual relationships of an entire high school over 18 months, providing evidence that these adolescent networks may be structured differently than researchers previously thought. The results showed that, unlike many adult networks, there was no core group of very sexually active people at the high school. There were not many students who had many partners and who provided links to the rest of the community.
Critics who dismiss the importance of greenhouse gases as a cause of climate change lost one piece of ammunition this week. In a new study, scientists found further evidence of the role that greenhouse gases have played in Earth's climate. In Thursday's issue of the journal Geology, Ohio State University scientists report that a long-ago ice age occurred 10 million years earlier than once thought. The new date clears up an inconsistency that has dogged climate change research for years.
Experiments on moss grown aboard two space shuttle Columbia missions showed that the plants didn't behave as scientists expected them to in the near-absence of gravity. The common roof moss (Ceratodon purpureus) grew in striking, clockwise spirals, according to Fred Sack, the study's lead investigator and a professor of plant cellular and molecular biology at Ohio State University.
He and his colleagues noted this even in moss cultures grown aboard the second of the two space shuttle missions, STS-107, which had disintegrated upon its reentry in early 2003. Most of the hardware that contained the moss was later recovered on the ground, with some of the moss cultures still intact.
Ohio State University engineers are designing super-slick, water-repellent surfaces that mimic the texture of lotus leaves. The patent-pending technology could lead to self-cleaning glass, and could also reduce friction between the tiny moving parts inside microdevices. Scientists have long known that the lotus, or water lily, makes a good model for a water-repellent surface, explained Bharat Bhushan, Ohio Eminent Scholar and the Howard D. Winbigler Professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State. The leaf is waxy and covered with tiny bumps, so water rolls off.
A genetically unusual population of ants is changing some of the fundamental ways researchers think about insect colonies. Social insects, like ants and bees, thrive on the caste system -- a precise division of duties among colony members. In most of these societies, environment is thought to influence whether larvae develop into queens or sterile female workers, said Steve Rissing, a professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology at Ohio State University.
Jay Leno’s comedy routines are helping to advance technologies for distance learning on the Internet. Ohio State University engineers are using video recordings of Leno and other TV personalities to test software that transmits more information in an Internet video using less bandwidth.
One of the obstacles to distance learning on the Internet is the difficulty with viewing lectures, explained James Davis, professor of computer science and engineering at Ohio State. A high-resolution video of a speaker takes too long to download, but a low-resolution video makes fine details such as the speaker’s face and hands appear fuzzy.
A simple stroll after a full day of field research near a high Andean glacier in Peru led glaciologist Lonnie Thompson to discover a bed of previously hidden plants that date back at least 50,000 years. And while that discovery is novel enough to please any scientist, it's the implication that those perfectly preserved plants may suggest that really excites him. Thompson, a professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University and a world-class glaciologist, has made nearly annual pilgrimages to Peru's Quelccaya ice cap to monitor its slow demise, a probably victim of recent global climate change.
Glaciologist Lonnie Thompson worries that he may have found clues that show history repeating itself, and if he is right, the result could have important implications to modern society. Thompson has spent his career trekking to the far corners of the world to find remote ice fields and then bring back cores drilled from their centers. Within those cores are the records of ancient climate from across the globe. From the mountains of data drawn by analyzing countless ice cores, and a meticulous review of sometimes obscure historic records, Thompson and his research team at Ohio State University are convinced that the global climate has changed dramatically.
Biochemists at Ohio State University and their colleagues have overcome one of the major obstacles to drug design, by trimming some of the fat from a molecular sponge that scientists use to study proteins. In the December issue of the journal Structure, the biochemists report using their method successfully in experiments with two common cellular proteins. The results suggest that scientists could one day use the method as a step in designing drugs for diseases such as cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's, and tuberculosis.
New research suggests that rigid gas permeable contact lenses may help slow the progression of nearsightedness, or myopia, in young children. At the end of a three-year study of more than a hundred 8- to 11-year olds, researchers determined that wearing rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses slowed the progression of myopia by nearly 30 percent, compared to soft contact lens wear.
While stock prices of firms almost always go up immediately after an announcement of a takeover bid by another company, a new study shows that there's a lot of variation in just how far the stock prices may change. In fact, the study showed that about one-quarter of stock prices actually go higher than the initial bid price announced by the acquiring firm.
Genetically modified corn won't threaten native corn species in Mexico, according to a new report issued by the North American Free Trade Association. In a country whose culture and identity revolve heavily around corn, or maize -- the crop was first developed here thousands of years ago -- the thought of imported GM varieties contaminating indigenous plants frightens many citizens, said Allison Snow, a co-author of the report and a professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology at Ohio State University.
A smoldering coal fire ? and the continuing attempt to control it through the voyage ? may have led to the sinking of the Titanic 92 years ago, says engineer Robert Essenhigh of Ohio State University. While everyone knows it was a collision with an iceberg that sank the White Star Liner on her maiden voyage, nobody knows why the Titanic was sailing full steam through a known iceberg field at night. Coal's tendency to ignite and smolder while stored may provide the answer, says Essenhigh. There are records that there was such a fire in the Titanic's forward bunker #6.
