Channel 42
Science is the answer to everything.

University of Pittsburgh faculty will address the successes and challenges of reducing health disparities at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in San Diego. Faculty will present on a program to train barbers to teach prostate cancer prevention to customers and a program to increase physical activity among African-Americans via the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route, a 2,100 mile cycling route from Mobile, Ala., to Owen Sound, Ontario.

More: continued here

For the second time this year, the University of Western Ontario Meteor Group has captured incredibly rare video footage of a meteor falling to Earth. Astronomers suspect the fireball dropped meteorites in a region north of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, that may total as much as a few hundred grams in mass. The Physics and Astronomy Department at Western has a network of all-sky cameras in southern Ontario that scan the sky monitoring for meteors.

More: continued here

The Heidelberg researcher Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger Rupp has developed a method with which a pianist can operate the right pedal of a concert grand wirelessly — a first in the world. A paraplegic pianist can thus overcome the handicap of being able to play the piano using only his arms and hands.

More: continued here

Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital have discovered a new genetic disease that can lead to severe liver damage. Because a protective component of the bile is missing, the liver cells are exposed to the toxic components of the bile, resulting in cirrhosis of liver. This could explain some of the cases of liver cirrhosis of unknown origin and open up a new approach for treatment. The research has now been published in the journal Hepatology.

More: continued here

Every year, almost 4000 babies in Germany are born with alcohol-related defects. The mothers of these children have often drunk alcohol regularly during the pregnancy. The consequences are often devastating and commonly persist into adulthood. The various forms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are presented by the pediatricians Hans-Ludwig Spohr and Hans-Christoph Steinhausen in the latest issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.

More: continued here

Researchers from Uppsala University have discovered a mechanism that silences several genes in a chromosome domain. The findings, published in today’s on-line issue of Molecular Cell, have implications in understanding the human disorder Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome.

More: continued here

Materials science and the pharmaceutical industry could soon be revolutionized by emerging nanotechnologies based on designer molecules with long complex tree-and branch structures. Such molecules offer almost limitless scope for design of bespoke compounds for specific applications in disease therapy, for novel materials such as resins, as well as electronic displays, and energy storage. Almost every field involving design and synthesis of chemical compounds will be transformed by the arrival of technologies allowing nanoscale design of these branched molecules, known as hyperbranched polymers.

More: continued here

Making vegetable juice a daily habit could be a small step that can lead to big changes in meeting daily vegetable recommendations, according to a new study being presented by researchers from the University of California-Davis this week at the American Dietetic Association annual conference.

More: continued here

Researchers at the University of Denver Morgridge College of Education are conducting a groundbreaking study that will compare two early literacy intervention approaches to educating young children with Down syndrome. The Rocky Mountain Down Syndrome Educational Fund is funding the study, which hopes to improve teaching methods for children with the condition.

More: continued here

Researchers from Boston Medical Center have found that education on addiction is inadequate during medical training, resulting in suboptimal medical care for those at risk. However, the research also found that a Chief Resident Immersion Training program in addiction medicine is an effective “train the trainers” model for dissemination of addiction knowledge and skills to generalist physician trainees. These findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

More: continued here