news 2012

Loud music damages your hearing ­— a warning that we're used to taking as fact. But surprisingly, little research has actually been done into how sustained exposure to loud music affects our hearing in the long term, and the results we do have are far from conclusive. A new research project taking place at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing, based at The University of Nottingham, is the first to explicitly examine the effect of long-term exposure to loud music.

Paleolithic paintings in El Castillo cave in Northern Spain date back at least 40,800 years - making them Europe's oldest known cave art, according to new research published today in Science. The practice of cave art in Europe thus began up to 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, indicating the paintings were created either by the first anatomically modern humans in Europe or, perhaps, by Neanderthals.

A year-long study on children's music-making indicates that playing music in groups on a regular basis greatly improves a child's ability to empathise with others.

Researchers at the University of Melbourne have identified a formula to understand why some branded movies go viral on the internet. Researchers at the University of Melbourne have identified a formula to understand why some branded movies go viral on the internet. In a study of more than 130 YouTube movies created by some of the biggest brands, researchers identified patterns which form the basis of a Branded Viral Movie Predictor algorithm, which they say identifies why some movies are watched and passed on more than others.

There are no definitive findings that Marcellus Shale drilling activity has affected crime rates in Pennsylvania, but more study is needed, according to a preliminary report conducted recently by the Justice Center for Research at Penn State. The report was produced in response to public concerns that crime rates may be on the rise in areas experiencing drilling-related population growth.

In a new review article, researchers at the University of Toronto , The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Children's Hospital Boston have found there frequently is a lack of patient-family comprehension at the time of discharge from the emergency department, leaving patients and families unable to report the diagnosis or understand instructions for at-home care, medication use or reasons to return to the hospital.

Treatment with the drug dutasteride (Avodart) and regular monitoring delays the progression of low-risk, localized prostate cancer, according to the results of a three-year clinical trial conducted by the University of Toronto's Neil Fleshner . The research also shows that the treatment reduces anxiety, said Fleshner, a professor of surgery and head of the Division of Urology at the University Health Network.