Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: academic research

academic research stories: 18 news summaries
h1n1 outbreak

Swine Flu Turns Critical With Deadly Speed, Taxing ICUs

Sickest H1N1 patients deteriorate rapidly, studies say

Oct 12, 09 4:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Swine flu can turn from mild to critical extremely rapidly, with the sickest patients needing to be moved to intensive care only a day or so after being admitted to the hospital, new studies show. The worst cases have the potential to overwhelm health care facilities in the event of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Canada • influenza • academic research • scientific study • swine flu • H1N1 virus

College Kids' iPod Volume Hurts Hearing

Most subjects in study set volume to damaging level

Oct 12, 09 2:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Most young people listen to their iPods at levels that will damage hearing over time, a new study shows. Researchers measured the output of an iPod while college-age students listened to music in a lab setting, and they found 55% of the subjects set the volume higher than 85 decibels—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
music • iPod • mp3 • hearing loss • Hearing loss • headphones • academic research

 Even a Little Exercise 
 Boosts Your Ego 

Psychological benefits of working out not related to actual fitness: study

Oct 8, 09 2:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Good news for the semi-motivated couch potato: doing just a little exercise—not actually getting fit—will make you feel better about yourself, a new study says. University of Florida researchers reviewing 57 studies on exercise and body image found that people who exercised got the same body-image boost no... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health • exercise • fitness • body image • academic research

Scientists Retract Paper Touting Sperm From Stem Cells

But say attribution, not science itself, at issue

Jul 31, 09 2:56 PM CDT
(Newser) - A paper by British scientists on the creation of synthetic human sperm had to be retracted from the journal Stem Cell and Development, AFP reports. The paper, which reported the revolutionary creation of sperm from stem cells, included text written by another scientist, who was not credited. The retraction is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
plagiarism • sperm • stem cells • genetic research • academic research • scientific journal

(Newser) - Online dating sites are so packed with possible matches that they cause “cognitive overload” in seekers, leading to unconsidered choices, the MIT Technology Review reports. The lovelorn may say they want a wider variety of candidates, but they spend less time evaluating them, new research shows. “More search... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • love • search engine • online dating • relationship • academic research • matchmaking • cognitive overload

 Beach Sand Is Bad For You: 
 Study 

Contact with sand can increase risk of diarrhea, gastrointestinal sickening

Jul 16, 09 1:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Bird droppings, road runoff, and raw sewage are just some of the contaminants present at your local beach—and the reason playing in the sand could be hazardous to your health, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. A new study, which assessed the health of more than 27,000 beach-goers over... More »

MORE ABOUT:
disease • beach • public health • sand • diarrhea • academic research • health risks • gastrointestinal

 Cats Do Use 
 Mind Control: 
 Study 

Cry used by hungry kitties shows knowledge of human hearing, psychology

Jul 13, 09 4:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cats seeking food use a cry that humans find maximally urgent and annoying, LiveScience reports. Researchers played a range of cat calls for humans and found that one—a high-pitched cry embedded in a purr—to be the most difficult to ignore, whether the subject owned a cat or not.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
food • infant • crying • academic research • cat • feline

Promising 'Trojan Horse' Cells Kills Animal Cancer

Sydney biotech firm to begin human trials in coming months

Jun 29, 09 1:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Australian researchers have achieved promising results with a new approach to treating cancer, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Scientists have developed mutant bacteria nanocells that slip into tumor cells to switch off drug-resistant genes, and allow cancer-fighting drugs inside, also delivered by the nanocells. The strategy has achieved near-universal success... More »

MORE ABOUT:
cancer • chemotherapy • cells • cancer treatment • tumor • academic research • scientific research

 Schoolkids Need 
 Less Work, 
 More Play 

Recess cutbacks creating unruly students, researchers discover

Jan 26, 09 5:13 AM CST
(Newser) - Recess isn't just for fun, according to a new study, which has found that cutting back on playtime is harming schoolchildren. The loss of a 15-minute daily recess tended to make 8- and 9-year-old students unruly and deprived them of an opportunity to exercise and socialize, reports Reuters. The study... More »

MORE ABOUT:
education • recess • No Child Left Behind • academic research • medical study

Brain Looks Beyond Eyes to Recognize Faces: Scientists

New research shows that eyebrows, noses are key to distinguishing people

Jan 19, 09 3:43 PM CST
(Newser) - Want to make yourself hard to recognize? Get a nose job and shave your eyebrows, say facial-recognition experts, who have yet to fully understand—or agree upon—how we “see” or “read” faces. Psychologists and neuroscientists, fueled by the need to quickly and correctly identify people in the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
intelligence • homeland security • brain • cognitive science • academic research • security system • scientific breakthroughs • identification • facial recognition technology

Chemicals Hitting Males Where It Hurts

Toxins triggering sex changes across species, research finds

Dec 7, 08 5:28 AM CST
(Newser) - Common chemicals are speeding the pace of evolution and having a feminizing impact on males across several species, reports the Independent. New research reveals that baby boys whose mothers have been exposed to more "gender-bending" chemicals—endocrine-disrupters like many pesticides—have smaller, feminized genitals. "This research shows... More »

MORE ABOUT:
gender • chemicals • wildlife • academic research • feminization

43% of Women Have Sex Issues, But Few Are Troubled

Experts caution that dysfunction is relative, say 12% bothered is lower than thought

Oct 31, 08 2:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - Just under half of the female population suffers from sex problems, ABC News reports. A new study found that 43% of its 32,000-women sample reported problems with low desire, arousal or difficulty with orgasms, but only 12% of women said such problems cause them personal anguish. More »

MORE ABOUT:
women • sex • sexuality • relationship • academic research • scientific research • sexual dysfunction

OPINION

 Anti-'Frankenfood' Activists
 Should Modify Stance

Opposition to genetically souped-up crops has run its course

Aug 4, 08 5:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - The recent destruction of a research crop of genetically modified potatoes in England highlights how attitudes towards altered crops have changed, the Economist writes. A decade ago, Greenpeace activists caught in the act of destroying food crops were acquitted because of popular fear of the consequences of “Frankenfoods.”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
food • hunger • genetically modified crops • famine • crops • experiments • academic research • environmentalists

Firebombed Researcher Fears Animal-Rights Activists

UC Santa Cruz biologist speaks out after weekend firebombing of home

Aug 4, 08 4:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - A university researcher says he fears for his family’s safety after a weekend firebomb attack, the San Jose Mercury News reports. David Feldheim, who does neuroscience research on mice at the University of California Santa Cruz, was slightly injured. He said he expects a continuining threat from animal-rights activists—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
California • bomb • animal rights • attack • academic research • Animal Liberation Front • UC Santa Cruz

OPINION

 Big Pharma
 Sickens Universities 

It's too easy for drug companies to skirt lax academic regulations

Jun 22, 08 6:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Weak legislation allows professors to collect huge under-the-table payments from Big Pharma, and it’s time to fight back, Dan Greenberg writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Pharmaceutical companies pay professors to shill drugs and lend their names to industry research, and the only oversight is an honor-system mechanism... More »

MORE ABOUT:
ethics • pharmaceutical companies • pharma • university • academia • pharmaceutical industry • academic research

Better Red
Than Dead in
Online Games

Red teams win more often than blue teams, researchers find

Jun 12, 08 2:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - If you want to win, at least in the online first-person shooter Unreal Tournament 2004, get your red on. Researchers have found that red teams beat blue teams in the multiplayer game 55% of the time, even though players choose their own teams. One scientist suggested this is because the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
psychology • multiplayer games • academic research • red • Unreal Tournament 2004

$3.7M Study Questions Origins of Faith

UK researchers will
ask if people believe
in God naturally

Feb 20, 08 1:40 PM CST
(Newser) - UK researchers will spend $3.7 million probing whether belief in God is a matter of nature or nurture, the Times of London reports. The University of Oxford crew will examine whether faith in a deity conferred an evolutionary advantage, or might be byproduct of other advantageous human characteristics, such... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Christianity • religion • God • faith • Oxford University • academic research

Let Facebook Ring from the Ivory Tower

Academics unleash study of social networking craze

Dec 16, 07 12:11 PM CST
(Newser) - Move over, preening teenagers: byte-thirsty academics are now frequenting social networking hangouts like Facebook and MySpace. Hoping to snatch a dissertation out of the latest digital craze, plus a side of fame, they’ll all have to line up behind danah boyd (small caps intended), a Berkeley PhD candidate who’... More »

MORE ABOUT:
social networking • MySpace • Facebook • scholarship • danah boyd • Journal of Computer Mediated Communication • National Science Foundation • academic research

18 Stories


from our news partners