Married men and women who divide household chores in traditional ways report having more sex than couples who share so-called men’s and women’s work, according to a new study co-authored by sociologists at the University of Washington.
Other studies have found that husbands got more sex if they did more housework, implying that sex was in exchange for housework. But those studies did not factor in what types of chores the husbands were doing. (more…)
Analysis of Online Video in Brazil Shows Facebook as the Fastest Growing Top 10 Online Video Destination in Past Year
Sao Paulo, Brazil, February 6, 2013 – comScore , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an analysis on online video activities in Brazil based on insights from its comScore Video Metrix service. The study found that Google Sites is the largest online video destination in Brazil, while Facebook is the fastest growing among the top ten. The study also showed that Brazil is the seventh largest online video market worldwide with a viewing audience of 43 million people in December.
“Online video is an important part of the internet landscape in Brazil, reaching a large number of people in an engaging context that is attractive to marketers and advertisers,” said Alejandro Fosk, comScore senior vice president for Latin America. “comScore Video Metrix supports this growing market in Latin America by providing accurate and objective insights on online video viewing behavior that publishers, advertisers and agencies can rely on to make smarter digital investments.” (more…)
A team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter has invented a new fibre which changes colour when stretched. Inspired by nature, the researchers identified and replicated the unique structural elements, which create the bright iridescent blue colour of a tropical plant’s fruit.
The multilayered fibre, described in the journal Advanced Materials, could lend itself to the creation of smart fabrics that visibly react to heat or pressure.
“Our new fibre is based on a structure we found in nature, and through clever engineering we’ve taken its capabilities a step further,” says lead author Dr Mathias Kolle, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). “The plant, of course, cannot change colour. By combining its structure with an elastic material, however, we’ve created an artificial version that passes through a full rainbow of colours as it’s stretched.” (more…)
Collaboration Led by Berkeley Lab Researchers Creates High-Resolution Map of Gene Regulatory Elements in the Brain
Future research into the underlying causes of neurological disorders such as autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia, should greatly benefit from a first-of-its-kind atlas of gene-enhancers in the cerebrum (telencephalon). This new atlas, developed by a team led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is a publicly accessible Web-based collection of data that identifies and locates thousands of gene-regulating elements in a region of the brain that is of critical importance for cognition, motor functions and emotion.
“Understanding how the brain develops and functions, and how it malfunctions in neurological disorders, remains one of the most daunting challenges in contemporary science,” says Axel Visel, a geneticist with Berkeley Lab’s Genomics Division. “We’ve created a genome-wide digital atlas of gene enhancers in the human brain – the switches that tell genes when and where they need to be switched on or off. This enhancer atlas will enable other scientists to study in more detail how individual genes are regulated during development of the brain, and how genetic mutations may impact human neurological disorders.” (more…)
Viruses such as those that cause the common cold are some of the most hardy and adaptable things on earth, but even they have trouble surviving the unpredictable and sudden temperature changes predicted by climate change models.(more…)
History has long denied the political genius of the Black Panther Party. At worst, its members have been cast as unconscionable criminals. At best, such seminal figures as party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and early supporter Stokely Carmichael have been portrayed as outlaw folk heroes who, propelled by the progressive winds of the late 1960s, dared to take on the establishment.
But a UCLA graduate student in sociology who worked alongside former Panthers a decade ago as a community organizer in Oakland, Calif., didn’t buy the conventional wisdom. (more…)
Johannesburg, South Africa – 05 Feb 2013: IBM today accelerated its strategy to make big data and cloud computing a reality for businesses of all sizes with new Power Systems and Storage Systems that provide deep insights into big data, simplify data storage in the cloud, and can reduce costs through consolidation.
The announcement was made today in Johannesburg, South Africa, where IBM convened over 100 CEOs, CIOs, government officials, and academics at a leadership forum to chart a course for future business opportunities across the continent. (more…)
Decoded genome reveals secrets of pigeon traits and origins
Scientists have decoded the genetic blueprint of the rock pigeon, unlocking secrets about pigeons’ Middle East origins, feral pigeons’ kinship with escaped racing birds and how mutations give pigeons traits like feather head crests.
“Birds are a huge part of life on Earth, but we know surprisingly little about their genetics,” says Michael Shapiro, one of the study’s two principal authors and a biologist at the University of Utah. (more…)
