Social networking provides insights into leadership, trust and mobility

ScienceDaily (2011-01-28) -- Computer scientists provide insights into how the analysis of our social networking interactions could discover things like the emergence or decline of leadership, changes in trust over time, and migration and mobility within particular communities online.

Cold cases gone hot: Researchers solve decades-old medical mysteries using genetics

ScienceDaily (2011-01-28) -- The mystery began in 1976. A patient was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer associated with the occurrence of multiple tumors in his stomach and colon. His medical team was stumped and was unable to answer the most important questions for him and his family: the cause of his disease and the risk for future generations. Now, 35 years later, the answers are at hand thanks to a new genetic study.

On the hunt for universal intelligence

ScienceDaily (2011-01-28) -- How do you use a scientific method to measure the intelligence of a human being, an animal, a machine or an extra-terrestrial? So far this has not been possible, but researchers have taken a first step towards this by presenting the foundations to be used as a basis for this method, and have also put forward a new intelligence test.

Perception of time spent with fathers can lead to bullying

ScienceDaily (2011-01-28) -- Do your children think you work too much and don't spend enough time with them? If so, their perception could lead to bullying behavior, according to new research.

Exposure to worm infection in the womb may protect against eczema, study suggests

ScienceDaily (2011-01-28) -- Exposure to worm infections in the womb may protect a newborn infant from developing eczema, a new study suggests. A large trial in Uganda showed that treating a pregnant woman for worm infections increased her child's chances of developing the allergic skin disease. This research supports the so-called 'hygiene hypothesis', which proposes that exposure to infections in early childhood can modify the immune system and protect the child from allergies later in life.

Infants ascribe social dominance to larger individuals

ScienceDaily (2011-01-28) -- Psychologists have found that infants less than one year old understand social dominance and use relative size to predict who will prevail when two individuals' goals conflict. The lead author says the work suggests we may be born with -- or develop at a very early age -- some understanding of social dominance and how it relates to relative size, a correlation ubiquitous across human cultures and the animal kingdom.

Presence of peers heightens teens' sensitivity to rewards of a risk

ScienceDaily (2011-01-29) -- Teenagers take more risks when they are with their friends. A new study sheds light on why. The findings demonstrate that when teens are with their friends they are more sensitive to the rewards of a risk than when alone.

Cocaine production increases destruction of Colombia’s rainforests

ScienceDaily (2011-01-29) -- Scientists are reporting new evidence that cultivating coca bushes, the source of cocaine, is speeding up destruction of rainforests in Colombia and threatening the region's "hotspots" of plant and animal diversity. The findings underscore the need for establishing larger protected areas to help preserve biodiversity.

A clearer picture of how rivers and deltas develop

ScienceDaily (2011-01-30) -- By adding information about the subsoil to an existing sedimentation and erosion model, researchers have obtained a clearer picture of how rivers and deltas develop over time. A better understanding of the interaction between the subsoil and flow processes in a river-delta system can play a key role in civil engineering (delta management), but also in geology (especially in the work of reservoir geologists).

Scientists unlock the 'gates' on sudden cardiac death

ScienceDaily (2011-01-30) -- Australian researchers have come one step closer to understanding how the rhythm of the heartbeat is controlled and why many common drugs, including some antibiotics, antihistamines and anti-psychotics, can cause a potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythm.