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Financial Crisis to Blame for Increased Suicides in Italy

By Guest PostAugust 21, 2012Economy, Generalausterity package, bologna, crisis year, david stuckler, economic reason, Europe, global financial crisis, great recession, Greece, increase, italy, michael gideon marmot, rate, regression model, roberto de vogli, suicide, tax office, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The global financial crisis has contributed to an increase in the rates of suicide and attempted suicide for economic reasons in Italy, new research shows.

A team of researchers, co-led by Roberto De Vogli, associate professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health,

looked at data from 2000-10 and found an increase in suicides and attempted suicides for economic reasons during the entire period. (more…)

Ecologist: Genetically Engineered Algae for Biofuel Pose Potential Risks That Should Be Studied

By Guest PostAugust 21, 2012Environmentenvironmental risks, genetically altered algae, genetically engineered algae, harmful algal blooms, microalgae

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Algae are high on the genetic engineering agenda as a potential source for biofuel, and they should be subjected to independent studies of any environmental risks that could be linked to cultivating algae for this purpose, two prominent researchers say. (more…)

Experiment Would Test Cloud Geoengineering as Way to Slow Warming

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012Environment, Scienceairplane, burning fuel, climate science, climatological impact, cloud geoengineering, Environment, global warming, john latham, long lived clouds, marine cloud brightening, particle, phenomenon, pollutant, rob wood, salt water, satellite, science fiction, sea salt, sensor, ship trails, sky, sunlight, warming

Even though it sounds like science fiction, researchers are taking a second look at a controversial idea that uses futuristic ships to shoot salt water high into the sky over the oceans, creating clouds that reflect sunlight and thus counter global warming.

University of Washington atmospheric physicist Rob Wood describes a possible way to run an experiment to test the concept on a small scale in a comprehensive paper published this month in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

The point of the paper — which includes updates on the latest study into what kind of ship would be best to spray the salt water into the sky, how large the water droplets should be and the potential climatological impacts — is to encourage more scientists to consider the idea of marine cloud brightening and even poke holes in it. In the paper, he and a colleague detail an experiment to test the concept. (more…)

New Study Finds Consumption Measures Poverty Better than Income

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012Economyanti poverty programs, bruce d meyer, child tax credit, consumption, government spending, income based poverty, james x sullivan, neediest americans, policymaker, poverty indicator, poverty measure, supplemental poverty measure, tax credit, u.s. census bureau, university of chicago

The U.S. Census Bureau should reconsider income-based poverty measures in favor of a consumption-based method, according to a new study that strives to more accurately identify the neediest Americans.

The report found that the official poverty rate and the Census Bureau’s new Supplemental Poverty Measure—both of which are income-based—do not gauge the extent of poverty as well as a method based on real purchasing ability. Bruce D. Meyer, the McCormick Foundation Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, co-authored the study with James X. Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame. (more…)

In India, 1 in 4 Online Minutes are Spent on Social Networking Sites

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012TechnologyComscore, comscore mmx, Facebook, google sites, India, kedar gavane, Microsoft, nic, rediff, top online sites, Yahoo, YouTube

Google Sites, Facebook and Yahoo! Sites Lead as Top Destinations in India

comScore to Present Complimentary Webinar on “The Rise of India’s Digital Consumer and What it Means for the Future”

Mumbai, India, August 20, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on the top online sites and activities in India from its comScore MMX service. The report found that Google Sites ranked as the top destination in June 2012 reaching nearly 95 percent of the online population, while social networking reigned as the top online activity accounting for 25.2 percent of all online minutes. These findings, among others, will be presented via a complimentary, live webinar titled The Rise of India’s Digital Consumer and What it Means for the Future on Tuesday, August 21. For more information and to register, (more…)

Yale Team Discovers How Stress and Depression Can Shrink the Brain

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2012Health, Scienceanimal model, antidepressant therapy, ashley lepack, bhavya voleti, brain, brain cell, brain mass, brain volume, chronic stress, cognitive impairment, depression, emotional, gata1, gene, gene activation, genetic switch, h j kang, mounira banasr, pattern, pawel licznerski, prefrontal cortex, ronald duman, shrink, stress, symptoms of depression, synaptic connection, transcription factor, yale

Major depression or chronic stress can cause the loss of brain volume, a condition that contributes to both emotional and cognitive impairment. Now a team of researchers led by Yale scientists has discovered one reason why this occurs — a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models.

The findings, reported in the Aug. 12 issue of the journal Nature Medicine, show that the genetic switch known as a transcription factor represses the expression of several genes that are necessary for the formation of synaptic connections between brain cells, which in turn could contribute to loss of brain mass in the prefrontal cortex. (more…)

New Book Explores Water along Devil’s Highway

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2012Environmentarizona, armchair explorer, bill broyles, borderland explorers, borrego tank, cactus, desert aficionados, desert flats, devils highway, elcamino del diablo, gary paul nabhan, gayle harrison hartmann, gold seekers, high tanks, lava flows, mary charlotte thurtle, mexico border, natural watering holes, rock basin, sand dunes, thomas e sheridan, tinajas altas, water

Written by an expert cast of UA affiliates, “Last Water on the Devil’s Highway: A Cultural and Natural History of Tinajas Altas” is perfect for desert aficionados and armchair explorers wishing to learn more about southwestern Arizona.

The University of Arizona Press, in collaboration with the University of Arizona Southwest Center, has announced the release of “Last Water on the Devil’s Highway: A Cultural and Natural History of Tinajas Altas.“

Written by an expert cast of UA affiliates and well-known Tucsonans, this book is perfect for desert aficionados and armchair explorers wishing to learn more about the High Tanks, the iconic natural watering holes of southwestern Arizona.

The Devil’s Highway – El Camino del Diablo – crosses hundreds of miles and thousands of years of Arizona and Southwest history. This heritage trail follows a torturous route along the U.S. Mexico border through a lonely landscape of cactus, desert flats, drifting sand dunes, ancient lava flows and searing summer heat. (more…)

Divorced Couples’ Co-Parenting Relationships Can Improve, MU Researcher Says

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2012Culturechildren, communicating issues, conflict, divorced couple, divorced mother, ex spouse, family studies, hostile relationship, human development, kansas state university, marilyn coleman, marriage, mindy markham, the bad, the good, the ugly, university of missouri

Focusing on children instead of relationship problems helps separated couples parent effectively, civilly

COLUMBIA, Mo. – New research conducted at the University of Missouri offers hope for divorced parents and suggests hostile relationships can improve when ex-spouses set aside their differences and focus on their children’s needs.

“Most people falsely believe that, when people get divorced, they’ll continue to fight, to be hostile,” said Marilyn Coleman, Curators’ Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at MU. “We found in our study that’s not always true. Some couples get along from the very beginning, and, for about half of the women we interviewed, the couples whose relationships started badly improved over time.” (more…)

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