Science & Society

Just this once, anti-fishing organizations can fall back on capitalistic economics to make their case - with huge increases in fuel costs, it may be time to have government-run fisheries rather than spend more money on fuel subsidies currently given to fishing fleets. In addition, it would actually save money to invest in re-training fishers, says University of British Columbia fisheries economist Rashid Sumaila, a 2008 Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation. Dramatic fuel price increases over the past weeks have sparked large-scale protests by fishers around the world. In France, fishers set up…

Continuing my science policy blogging streak (we'll get back to real science here soon, I promise!), it's worth noting Washington Post columnist George Will's recent piece about our "perverse national policy of expelling talented people." If you've spent any time recently around America's science PhD programs, you'll have heard about the problem: we bring talented people in from all over the world, train them to do great science, and then make it impossible for them to get a job here, even when US companies and universities want to hire them. As George Will writes, this creates yet one more…

However much popular television chefs like Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay might want to shake up our diets, culinary evolution dictates that our cultural cuisines remain little changed as generations move on, shows new research in the New Journal of Physics. The research shows that three national cuisines - British, French and Brazilian – are affected by the founder effect which keeps idiosyncratic and nutritionally ambivalent, expensive and sometimes hard to transport ingredients in our diets. Using the medieval cookery book, Pleyn Delit, and three authoritative cook books from Britain,…

While it's true that the attractiveness of orthodontic braces is related to less metal, according to a recent survey, the least attractive ones remain the most effective. It's that old form versus function issue. Study findings published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics found that the public's attitude about the attractiveness of various styles of braces indicates that the types of dental appliances with no visible metal were considered the most attractive. Braces that combine clear ceramic brackets with thin metal or clear wires were a…

Girls moving through adolescence may experience unhealthy levels of weight gain and a new study in The Journal of Pediatrics analyzes the effect of Internet usage, sleep, and alcohol and coffee consumption. Dr. Catherine Berkey and colleagues from Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women's Hospital, and Washington University led the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), which surveyed more than 5000 girls between the ages of 14 and 21 years from all 50 states. They asked the girls to reflect on their weekly habits over the past year and report the following: 1) hours of sleep per night; 2) time…

An increasing number of 70 year olds are having good sex and more often, and women in this age group are particularly satisfied with their sex lives, according to a study published today on BMJ.com. Knowledge about sexual behaviour in older people (70 year olds) is limited and mainly focuses on sexual problems, less is known about "normal" sexual behaviour in this age group. Nils Beckman and colleagues from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, studied attitudes to sex in later life among four representative population samples of 70 year olds in Sweden, who they interviewed in 1971-2, 1976-…

Women get PMS and men get IMS. While it may be common knowledge that PMS is the psychological and emotional symptoms related to a woman’s menstrual cycle it is not so clear what IMS, or Irritable Male Syndrome, is. The name for the result of a drop in testosterone levels in male mammals may interfere extensively with a man's daily life, causing everything from depression and anxiety to hyper-sensitivity and anger. Jed Diamond, author of “Male Menopause,” specializes in helping men and women overcome negative outcomes of the condition. Diamond describes IMS as being similar to PMS. “IMS is…

REDMOND, Washington, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement: In the past week we have had the opportunity to discuss with Carl Icahn the prospects for a possible agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo!. Despite working since January 31 of this year, as well as in the early part of last year, we have never been able to reach an agreement in a timely way on acceptable terms with the current management and Board of Directors at Yahoo!. We have concluded that we cannot reach an agreement with them. We confirm, however, that after the shareholder election…

The emotional well-being of families where children lack a genetic or gestational link to one or both of their parents (where the children have been conceived through surrogacy, egg donation or donor insemination) has long been a subject of debate. In the first worldwide study of this issue, British scientists have shown that relationships within such families appear to be functioning well, and that there are few differences between them and families in whom children were conceived naturally. Miss Polly Casey, from the Centre for Family Research, Cambridge University, UK, will tell the 24th…

Since 1969 a U.S. patent has been registered on the process of turning alcohol into powder. This year, products, such as gelatin shots and margaritas, based from alcohol powder are set to be released by Pulver Spirits and BPNC Distillery. Though alcohol powder is regulated the same as other alcoholic beverages in the U.S., it is only sold as a food flavoring. However, in other countries such as the Netherlands, lack of regulations make obtaining powdered alcohol within reach to minors. In May of 2007, the drink Booz2go, developed by a group of students at Helicon Vocational Institute, about…