program director
Troy, N.Y. ? Sleep disturbances increase as we age. Some studies report more than half of seniors 65 years of age or older suffer from chronic sleep disturbances. Researchers have long believed that the sleep disturbances common among the elderly often result from a disruption of the body's circadian rhythms?biological cycles that repeat approximately every 24 hours.
NEW YORK, May 27, 2009 ? People with type 1 diabetes who have already been successful in achieving recommended blood sugar goals can further benefit from using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices, according to results of a major multi-center clinical trial by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
In the rat race of life, one thing is certain: there's no place like home.
Now, a study published this week in the journal Molecular Ecology finds the same is as true for rats as for humans.
Although inner city rodents appear to roam freely, most form distinct neighborhoods where they spend the majority of their lives.
Scientists who have just returned from an expedition to an erupting undersea volcano near the Island of Guam report that the volcano appears to be continuously active, has grown considerably in size during the past three years, and its activity supports a unique biological community thriving despite the eruptions.
Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have identified a gene associated with narcolepsy, a disorder that causes disabling daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks, irresistible bouts of sleep that can strike at any time, and disturbed sleep at night.
The enduringly popular theory that the Chicxulub crater holds the clue to the demise of the dinosaurs, along with some 65 percent of all species 65 million years ago, is challenged in a paper to be published in the Journal of the Geological Society on April 27, 2009.
Using compounds preserved in sedimentary rocks more than 635 million years old, researchers have found some of the earliest evidence for the existence of animals.
Two newly described fossil whales--a pregnant female and a male of the same species--reveal how primitive whales gave birth and provide new insights into how whales made the transition from land to sea.
While toys can be a big part of the holidays for children, many can pose serious injury risks at different stages of a child's development according to Duke University Medical Center emergency room workers. Claudia McCormick, program director of the Duke Trauma Center, said parents can help prevent toy-related injuries by following simple safety guidelines, beginning with shopping for the toy.
Researchers have developed a process to create wires only 50 nanometers (billionths of a meter) thick. Made from silica, the same mineral found in quartz, the wires carry light in an unusual way. Because the wires are thinner than the wavelengths of light they transport, the material serves as a guide around which light waves flow. In addition, because the researchers can fabricate the wires with a uniform diameter and smooth surfaces down to the atomic level, the light waves remain coherent as they travel.
The Associated Press reports materials researchers have begun experimenting with chicken feathers and soy resin to craft future computer processors. Researchers in the University of Delaware's ACRES program --- Affordable Composites from Renewable Sources --- looked to chicken feathers because they have shafts that are hollow but strong, and made mostly of air, which is a great conductor of electricity. The feathers and resin are crafted into a composite material that looks and feels like silicon, according to program director Richard Wool. In initial tests, electric signals moved twice as fast through the organic chip as through a silicon chip, researchers said. "The first time, Dr. Wool's response was, 'Recheck,'" said post-doc Chang Kook Hong, who headed the research. "I repeated the test three times with the same results. Then he said, 'You have a hit here.'" Don't expect feather Pentiums any time soon, however. The natural bumps and irregularities that come from using an organic base are a big impediment to commercial use. "The microchip industry depends on materials that are ultrasmooth and ultraflat," said one researcher. "This was anything but that."
