Culture

Terrorist organizations sometimes have an advantage in the media. A new study by Dr. Yaniv Levyatan of the University of Haifa, published in the journal of Israel's National Security College, describes how our side can regain the advantage in this arena too. "Information warfare" plays a crucial role in the struggle against terrorist organizations, sometimes more so than conventional weapons. Therefore, the information warfare against terrorist organizations ought to be instigated and on the attack, and should continue even when military warring has ended. Thus concludes a new study by Dr.…

They are at present the most accurate clocks in the world: Caesium fountain clocks furnish the second accurate to 15 places after the decimal point. Until they reach this accuracy, caesium fountain clocks, however, need a certain measurement time. This time has now been considerably reduced with the aid of a new method developed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) which makes the output frequency of the caesium fountains more stable. For excitation of the caesium atoms, the PTB physicists make use of a novel microwave source: they replace the oscillating quartz by a…

Dangling a lucrative financial carrot at the end of a professional sport season can cause certain players to exert the effort necessary to put together a string of successful performances, sometimes known in sporting circles as a "hot hand" or "hot streak." That's the result of a forthcoming study by North Carolina State University economists to be published in the Journal of Sports Economics. The study examined the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Tour both before and after 1987 and the creation of its season-ending financial carrot, the Tour Championship. Participation in the big…

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's Cliff I. Davidson, Joseph B. Kadane and Nanjun Chu have found that polluted air in the highly populated East End areas of Pittsburgh are more affected by major sources to the city's southeast than previously thought. Because more than three-quarters of particulate matter found in the city originates from outside the Pittsburgh urban area — mainly to the west — the importance of certain air quality sources had not been quantified in the past. However, the new study shows that the most polluted days often occur when the winds are from the southeast…

Boston, Mass. - Many households harbor a threat to young children that safety regulations, surprisingly, have overlooked: glass-topped tables and tables with glass panels. A review by Children's Hospital Boston, in collaboration with Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, finds that glass-table injuries aren't as rare as one might think, and that many could have been avoided had tempered glass been used. The report appears in the March issue of Pediatric Emergency Care. Consumer tips and information on other safety-related issues are available in the Consumer Reports…

Try this at home: If fruit flies are buzzing around your kitchen, switch on your hairdryer and aim it at the flies. A gentle stream of air will stop them in their tracks, putting them in prime position for swatting. The reaction of fruit flies to wind was something that had intrigued biologist David J. Anderson for some time. When the flies sensed the wind, they went into a defensive, hunkering-down position until the feel of the wind ceased, then resumed flying around. With an interest in animals' defensive behavior and its evolutionary ties to emotion, Anderson became interested in the…

Using the natural glue that marine mussels use to stick to rocks, and a variation on the inkjet printer, a team of researchers led by North Carolina State University has devised a new way of making medical adhesives that could replace traditional sutures and result in less scarring, faster recovery times and increased precision for exacting operations such as eye surgery. Traditionally, there have been two ways to join tissue together in the wake of a surgery: sutures and synthetic adhesives. Sutures work well, but require enormous skill and longer operating times. Additionally, the use of…

A passion for opera starts with an initial explosive, emotional experience. This is followed by a gradual learning process over a number of years during which fans discover how to truly appreciate it fully. Through his observation of middle class opera fans who stand on the upper floors of the Colón Opera House in Buenos Aires, Claudio Benzecry from the University of Connecticut in the USA sheds light on what it takes to develop a true passion for opera. His findings are published online in Springer's journal Qualitative Sociology. Throughout the 2002 to 2005 seasons, Professor Benzecry…

Last summer, it was very expensive to fill up a gas tank when the gasoline price hit close to four dollars a gallon. Transportation by road or air consumes fuel, which not only increases our vulnerability to foreign imports but also is a source of greenhouse gas emissions that will impact adverse change in climate and global warming. A mechanical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis is developing techniques that will lessen our monetary pain at the pump by reducing the drag of vehicles. Drag is an aerodynamic force that is the result of resistance a body encounters when it moves in…

Washington, DC – The President of the American College of Preventive Medicine commended the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today for its recommendations on aspirin use for primary prevention of heart attack and stroke, released in the March 17 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, citing its improved specificity over previous guidelines. The task force recommends aspirin use for prevention of cardiovascular disease when the benefits clearly outweigh the risks or harms. The task force found that men between the ages of 45 and 79 should use aspirin to reduce their risk for…