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Dennis Hogan: Understanding Families of Children with Disabilities

By Guest PostApril 22, 2012General, Mediabest job, challenge, children, consequence, courtney coelho, dennis hogan, disability, down syndrome, family, katie beckett, oxygen tank, parent, plethora, raising robbie, rhode island, russell sage foundation, ssi, supplemental security income

In his recently published book, Family Consequences of Children’s Disabilities, Dennis Hogan offers the first comprehensive account of families of children with disabilities. He talked with Courtney Coelho about his findings, including some of the more surprising ways having a child with a disability can affect the family structure.

Families of children with disabilities often face a plethora of challenges, ranging from the financial to the emotional. Still, little research has been done to document exactly how families are affected by a child with a disablity. Dennis Hogan’s recently published book, Family Consequences of Children’s Disabilities (Russell Sage Foundation), is the first comprehensive account of these experiences. Motivated by his own experience of growing up with a brother with Down syndrome, Hogan, the Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies, merged existing data with interviews with more than two dozen family members of disabled children. He talked with Courtney Coelho about his findings, including some of the more surprising ways having a child with a disability can affect the family structure. (more…)

Study Finds Surprising Arctic Methane Emission Source

By Guest PostApril 22, 2012Environmentarctic methane, arctic ocean, arctic region, Arctic sea ice, arctic tundra soil, beaufort seas, carbon monoxide, chukchi, climate, concentration, earth system, eric kort, geologic reservoir, global warming, greenhouse gas, harvard university, hippo, jet propulsion laboratory, marine sediment, methane, NASA, ozone, reservoir, water vapor

The fragile and rapidly changing Arctic region is home to large reservoirs of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. As Earth’s climate warms, the methane, frozen in reservoirs stored in Arctic tundra soils or marine sediments, is vulnerable to being released into the atmosphere, where it can add to global warming. Now a multi-institutional study by Eric Kort of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has uncovered a surprising and potentially important new source of Arctic methane: the ocean itself. (more…)

New ’Bumblebee’ Gecko Discovered in Papua New Guinea

By Guest PostApril 22, 2012Naturebook of life, bumblebee gecko, forest ecosystem, nactus kunan, new guinea, pacific lizard biodiversity, sohoniliu village

WASHINGTON – Biologists from the Papua New Guinea National Museum and the U.S. Geological Survey have discovered a new species of gecko, adorned like a bumblebee with black-and-gold bands and rows of skin nodules that enhance its camouflage on the tropical forest floor. (more…)

Why Some Pain Drugs Become Less Effective Over Time

By Guest PostApril 22, 2012Healthdpdpe, graciela pineyro, journey, ligands, molecular mechanism, neural cell, opioid analgesics, opioid pain drugs, painkilling function, poppy plant, receptor recycling, sainte justine hospital, snc 80 t, university of montreal

Researchers at the University of Montreal’s Sainte-Justine Hospital have identified how neural cells are able to build up resistance to opioid pain drugs within hours. “A better understanding of these mechanisms will enable us to design drugs that avoid body resistance to these drugs and produce longer therapeutic responses, including longer-acting opioid analgesics”, lead author Dr. Graciela Pineyro said.

Humans have known about the usefulness of opioids, which are often harvested from poppy plants, for centuries, but we have very little insight into how they lose their effectiveness in the hours, days and weeks following the first dose. “Our study revealed cellular and molecular mechanisms within our bodies that enable us to develop resistance to this medication, or what scientists call drug tolerance,” she added. (more…)

Scanning the Brain for Impending Error

By Guest PostApril 22, 2012Sciencebrain scanning, brain states, brain wave data, cognitive workload

UA computer science doctoral student Federico Cirett is using new technology to predict, in advance, when people will make a mistake. He’s been testing subjects taking the SAT exam in math

Our bodies and brains tend to give us good cues about when we are becoming stressed, fatigued or overwhelmed. (more…)

Distinct “God Spot” in the Brain Does Not Exist, MU Researcher Says

By Guest PostApril 21, 2012Healthbrain function, brain injury, frontal lobe, god spot, higher power, human brain, spiritual experiences, spirituality

Study shows religious participation and spirituality processed in different cerebral regions

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Scientists have speculated that the human brain features a “God spot,” one distinct area of the brain responsible for spirituality. Now, University of Missouri researchers have completed research that indicates spirituality is a complex phenomenon, and multiple areas of the brain are responsible for the many aspects of spiritual experiences. (more…)

Earth in 20 Years

By Guest PostApril 21, 2012Environmentenvironmental challenges, environmental crisis, environmental justice, environmental movement

The world will face many challenges over the coming decades, not least among them environmental challenges. On the heels of Earth Day, we asked three leading researchers at the U to answer three questions for us in their specialties of sustainable agriculture, environmental justice, and economics and ecology. (more…)

Amateur Astronomers to ‘Target Asteroids!’

By Guest PostApril 21, 2012Scienceamateur astronomers, asteroid sample, carbonaceous asteroid, robotic telescopes, rotation rates, target asteroids

Researchers on NASA’s robotic asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, are turning to amateur astronomers for new data on near-Earth asteroids in a citizen science observing campaign called Target Asteroids!

Amateur astronomers are about to make observations that will affect current and future space missions to asteroids. (more…)

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