Research by the University of Exeter has revealed that ants have a big impact on their local environment as a result of their activity as ‘ecosystem engineers’ and predators.
The study, published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, found that ants have two distinct effects on their local environment. (more…)
The 5th annual Microsoft Firenze BXT Student Innovation Competition brings together business, design and engineering students to showcase how innovation happens in the real world. This year’s finals take place this weekend on Microsoft’s Redmond campus
REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 4, 2011 – Midway through last year’s Microsoft Firenze BXT student innovation competition, James Liu realized something he wasn’t expecting. (more…)
Even the most horrible criminals feel guilt, and according to new research from the University of Montreal, playing on that sentiment might be a good way to extract a confession. In order to gain a better understanding of why and how criminals admit to their crimes, Michel St-Yves, a forensic psychologist and lecturer, and lead author Nadine Deslauriers-Varin, both of the university’s School of Criminology, worked with 221 prisoners from a federal penitentiary, analyzing the conditions under which they did or didn’t confess. (more…)
*Research project completes drilling for the year, reaching two miles below West Antarctic Ice Sheet*
On Friday, Jan. 28 in Antarctica, a research team investigating the last 100,000 years of Earth’s climate history reached an important milestone completing the main ice core to a depth of 3,331 meters (10,928 feet) at West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS). The project will be completed over the next two years with some additional coring and borehole logging to obtain additional information and samples of the ice for the study of the climate record contained in the core.
As part of the project, begun six years ago, the team, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been drilling deep into the ice at the WAIS Divide site and recovering and analyzing ice cores for clues about how changes in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have influenced the Earth’s climate over time. (more…)
New study proves the power of hyperlocal online ad targeting in driving sales
SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Yahoo! Inc. today announced the launch of Yahoo! AdLabs, a group focused on 
providing scientific leadership to the industry and accelerating innovation in digital advertising products through Yahoo! Labs (https://labs.yahoo.com/), one of the world’s premier industrial research organizations. (more…)
*From sound science to sound sleep*
New research from U of T could provide some restful nights for the 18 million North Americans who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.
In a recent study that appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience, U of T scientists demonstrated that repeated obstruction of the airways requires release of the brain chemical noradrenaline. The release of this chemical helps the brain learn to breathe more effectively and purposefully. (more…)
People of many professions have their own superstitions. Most likely, they did not appear from scratch.
Doctors, for example, try not to exchange their night duties. If they do, they will have a tough night, they say. They also try not to have sex the day before the night duty. There is nothing funny about it because people usually get relaxed and become less attentive after sex. (more…)
