Science Education & Policy

ZURICH, Switzerland, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- - NGOS Join Forces to Protect Cetacean Populations in the Region The conservation status of whales and dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea is of growing concern due to increasing pressure from human activities. Unknown to most people, about 15 different species of whales and dolphins can be found in the Mediterranean Sea and eight of them regularly. The situation of three whale and dolphin species - sperm whale, common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin - is critical and one - the orca in the Strait of Gibraltar - is in immediate danger of extinction.…

LONDON, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- - Partnership Addresses Increased Market Demand for Endpoint Data Protection Solutions GuardianEdge, the leading provider of endpoint data protection for the enterprise, today announced it has added IT Security Experts Ltd. (ITSE), an independent IT security consultancy in the U.K., to its Trusted Partner Network as a channel partner. The agreement marks the continued success in GuardianEdge's channel program development, further expansion in the U.K. and the ability to meet growing market demand for endpoint data protection services and applications. "ITSE…

Jean Piaget, founder of genetic epistemology and key researcher in child development psychology, showed that kids attribute “life status” to all things that move on their own, like bikes or clouds, and even 10-year-olds have difficulty understanding the nature of a 'living' thing. Understanding the concept of a living thing is a late developmental achievement, he stated. New research by Northwestern University psychologist Florencia Anggoro and colleagues Sandra Waxman and Doug Medin proposes that the way in which “alive” and other biological concepts are named within a given language also…

REHOVOT, Israel and JERSEY CITY, New Jersey, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- - Rosetta Genomics In-Licenses, on a Non-Exclusive Basis, Proprietary MicroRNAs for Research Applications From Rockefeller University - Following This Agreement, Rosetta Genomics has Access to a Full Range of Potential MicroRNA Applications Based on These MicroRNAs Rosetta Genomics (Nasdaq:ROSG), a leading developer of microRNA-based diagnostics and therapeutics, announced today that it has signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Rockefeller University for research application of proprietary microRNA genes. The…

It's legal, it's gaining popularity among teenagers and young adults and it's one of the most potent hallucinogens around. Brain-imaging studies performed in animals at Brookhaven National Laboratory have provided researchers with clues about why this increasingly popular recreational drug that causes hallucinations and motor-function impairment in humans is abused. Using trace amounts of Salvia divinorum – also known as “salvia,” a Mexican mint plant that can be smoked in the form of dried leaves or serum – Brookhaven scientists found that the drug’s behavior in the brains of primates mimics…

NEW YORK and Bangalore, INDIA, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- - US$150,000 Prize to Stanford's Koller for Groundbreaking Work in Making Computers Intelligent ACM (the Association for Computing Machinery) announced today that Daphne Koller, a professor at Stanford University, has been awarded the first-ever ACM-Infosys Foundation Award in Computing Sciences. Koller, 39, is being recognized for her innovative approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) that allows computers to reason and learn about the world from real-world data. By combining the previously incompatible tools of logic and probability…

CHICAGO, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- - Three-day Forum Will Highlight Economic Development, Education, Environment Issues Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley today welcomes municipal leaders from throughout the United States, Canada and Arab world for the first-ever U.S.-Arab Cities Forum, aimed at sharing information and implementing strategies to build local economies that are competitive in the global society. The Forum, whose working sessions will be held at the University of Illinois-Chicago's Conference Center April 28-30, is co-hosted by Mayor Daley and Chicago's Sister City partners, Mayor…

TAIPEI, Taiwan, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- - In Five of 22 Categories at Least One Taiwan Institution Ranks Within the World's Top 100 for 2003-2007 Period Universities in Taiwan are ranked amongst the top one percent of research institutions from around the world over a period of five years from January 2003 to December 2007. According to data derived from the (1)Essential Science Indicators (SM) (ESI) database of the Scientific business of Thomson Reuters, at least one Taiwan institution is ranked among the world's top 100 in five of 22 categories, namely Agricultural Science, Chemistry,…

PHILADELPHIA, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- - Patients' Vision Improved from Detecting Hand Movements to Reading Lines on Eye Chart In a clinical trial at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers from The University of Pennsylvania have used gene therapy to safely restore vision in three young adults with a rare form of congenital blindness. Although the patients have not achieved normal eyesight, the preliminary results set the stage for further studies of an innovative treatment for this and possibly other retinal diseases. An international team led by The University of Pennsylvania…

Evolutionary trees, or "phylogenies", are a major part of modern evolutionary science. They depict hypotheses regarding the relationships among taxa, and are therefore important in reconstructions of the historical path of evolution (Gregory 2008a,b). Various approaches can be taken to formulating phylogenetic hypotheses, including analyses based on morphological, fossil, and/or molecular data. These methods often agree well, but sometimes one or another can throw up some surprises and challenge previous hypotheses about the relationships among groups of organisms. Reconstructing the tree…