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iPad Defies Skeptics, User Satisfaction Still Increasing, MU Survey Finds

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Since its launch in April last year, Apple’s iPad tablet has defied skeptics and set a high bar for manufacturers that are now introducing their own tablets. An internationally recognized authority on media tablets and e-readers from the University of Missouri, has found that iPad owners are reporting exceptionally high levels of satisfaction and that user satisfaction appears to be increasing the longer they use the device.

Roger Fidler, program director for digital publishing at the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri, has been conducting surveys of iPad users since last fall to gain insights into how iPad owners use the devices in their daily lives and how the iPad may influence journalism and news consumption. Fidler says he is surprised by the high levels of user satisfaction. (more…)

Red Knots and Horseshoe Crabs Knotted Together

Environment, Nature

*Research Bolsters Importance of Horseshoe Crab Spawning for Migrating Shorebirds*

LAUREL, Md. – Speculation that the welfare of a small, at-risk shorebird is directly tied to horseshoe crab populations is in part supported by new scientific research, according to a U.S. Geological Survey- led study published in Ecosphere, a journal of the Ecological Society of America.

Population health of the red knot, a shorebird species whose population has plummeted over the last 15 years, has been directly tied to the number of egg-laying horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay — between Delaware and New Jersey — during the red knot’s northward migration each spring. (more…)

The Universe may have been Born Spinning, according to New Findings on the Symmetry of the Cosmos

Science

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Physicists and astronomers have long believed that the universe has mirror symmetry, like a basketball. But recent findings from the University of Michigan suggest that the shape of the Big Bang might be more complicated than previously thought, and that the early universe spun on an axis. (more…)

Evaluation of Climate Policy Rocketing But in an Undeveloped and Unsystematic Way

Environment

*New research led by the University of East Anglia and the VU University Amsterdam shines new light on the little studied but politically vital practices of climate policy evaluation in Europe.*

Published in the international journal Policy Sciences, a meta-analysis by a team of researchers from across Europe offers the very first systematic cataloging of the emerging patterns of policy evaluation undertaken in different parts of the European Union.

In the last decade or so the politics surrounding the development of new policies has attracted unprecedented attention. Many new targets and policies have been adopted. But a lot less is known about what is being done to check that the resulting policies are actually delivering on their promises. (more…)

When Viruses Infect Bacteria

Science

*Looking in vivo at virus-bacterium associations sets stage for better understanding of such interactions in human health*

Viruses are the most abundant parasites on Earth. Well known viruses, such as the flu virus, attack human hosts, while viruses such as the tobacco mosaic virus infect plant hosts.

More common, but less understood, are cases of viruses infecting bacteria known as bacteriophages, or phages. In part, this is due to the difficulty of culturing bacteria and viruses that have been cut off from their usual biological surroundings in a process called in vitro. (more…)

Some Russians Still Live in The USSR

Culture, Politics

The Soviet passport stopped its existence seven years ago. Nevertheless, about 5,000 residents of the city of Sverdlovsk live in a non-existent country. They refuse to exchange their ID for a Russian passport. What is the reason behind such absurd situations? Do those people feel nostalgic about the erstwhile superpower or are they stuck-in-the-mud kind of people? What can be done about such citizens who can not even be referred to as citizens?

A local news agency says that many of those “Soviet passport people” ask officers of migration services to glue in new photos in their invalid passports. Some others decide not to exchange their Soviet passports for Russian ones in order not to pay the state duty of 1,000 rubles ($30). There are people who say that the new passport insults their religious feelings. (more…)

‘Combining Therapies Appears Safe, May Benefit Patients with Advanced Liver Cancer’

Health

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Few treatments exist for patients with advanced primary liver cancer, but University of Florida researchers have found a new way to broaden the range of options and potentially improve health outcomes by combining two treatments.

In the first study of its kind, the researchers combined sorafenib, the only Food and Drug Administration-approved pill for treating advanced liver cancer, with another routinely used therapy known as transarterial chemoembolization, which works by cutting off the blood supply to tumors. No unexpected toxic effects were seen, and the combo appears to have the potential to improve survival for certain groups of patients. (more…)

Being Small Has Its Advantages, If You Are a Leaf

Nature

The size of leaves can vary by a factor of 1,000 across plant species, but until now, the reason why has remained a mystery. A new study by an international team of scientists led by UCLA life scientists goes a long way toward solving it. (more…)