news 2012

AUSTIN, Texas — A research team led by The University of Texas at Austin, and including engineering and environmental testing firms URS and Aerodyne Research, is conducting a major field study to measure methane emissions from natural gas production, about which little empirical data exist.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found that regulations introduced to reduce children's exposure to junk food advertising have not had a significant impact. Emma Boyland , from the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society , compared food adverts broadcast on the 13 UK TV channels most popular with children in February 2008, with those from the same period in 2010.

Extensive environmental regulations have brought cleaner air and health improvements to the United States, but they also have increased the cost of manufacturing and reduced industrial productivity, according to a study by economists at the University of Chicago and MIT. Some economists have suggested that the regulations encouraged companies to become more efficient, thus reducing costs at upgraded plants.

As data centres continue to come under scrutiny for the amount of energy they use, researchers at University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) have a suggestion: turn the air conditioning down. Their new research suggests that turning up the temperature could save energy with little or no increased risk of equipment failure.

Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley and George Mason University have received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to map out the illicit activities taking place in the cybersecurity underworld and to understand how the mind of a cybercriminal works.

In gigantic server farms around the world, billions of database entries are queried every second. Researchers have developed a system that drastically improves the circulation of this flow of information.

Although the English are generally healthier than Americans, both countries grapple with large health inequalities. A new study suggests that in both countries, health and wealth are tightly linked. The study , published online Sept. 20 in the American Journal of Public Health, links income level with obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma and other health conditions.

Moving from a high-poverty to lower-poverty neighborhood spurs long-term gains in the physical and mental health of low-income adults, as well as a substantial increase in their happiness, despite not improving economic self-sufficiency, according to a new study published in the Sept. 20 issue of Science by researchers at the University of Chicago and partners at other institutions.

A 'can do' attitude is the key to a healthy lifestyle, University of Melbourne economists have determined. Researchers from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research analysed data on the diet, exercise and personality type of more than 7000 people. The study found those who believe their life can be changed by their own actions ate healthier food, exercised more, smoked less and avoided binge drinking.

Evidence suggests that progress towards universal health coverage generally results in substantial improvements to population health, according to a new paper from researchers at Imperial College London. The issues surrounding universal health coverage - how an adequate standard of healthcare can be provided to all people, while ensuring that use of health services does not expose people to financial hardship - have never been more controversial or politically relevant than now.

Crises are said to bring people closer together. But a new study from UC Berkeley suggests that while the have-nots reach out to one another in times of trouble, the wealthy are more apt to find comfort in material possessions. "In times of uncertainty, we see a dramatic polarization, with the rich more focused on holding onto and attaining wealth and the poor spending more time with friends and loved ones," said Paul Piff, a post-doctoral scholar in psychology at UC Berkeley and lead author of the paper published online this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Since 2004, nearly 1.9 million East Europeans have come to the UK1 . New research, led by academics at the University of Bristol, has examined how current East European migration to the UK has been racialised in immigration policy and tabloid journalism, providing the first insights into how racism is affecting migrants' experiences of work and life in the UK.

A new study of nine coastal cities around the world suggests that Shanghai is most vulnerable to serious flooding. European cities top the leader board for their resilience. These finding are based on a new method to calculate the flood vulnerability of cities, developed by a team of researchers from the Netherlands and the University of Leeds.

Neighbourhood income deprivation has a strong negative effect on altruistic behaviour when measured by a 'lost letter' experiment, according to new UCL research published today in PLoS One. Researchers from UCL Anthropology used the lost letter technique to measure altruism across 20 London neighbourhoods by dropping 300 letters on the pavement and recording whether they arrived at their destination.

Research at the University of Liverpool has found that more than 1,000 people committed suicide due to the 2008-2010 economic recession in the UK. Suicides began to rise in the UK in 2008 following 20 years of decline – figures rose 8% among men and 9% among women in 2008, compared to 2007. And even though suicides did begin to fall in 2010 figures were still above the 2007 averages.

Study: Warming episodes hurt poor countries and limit long-term growth. Even temporary rises in local temperatures significantly damage long-term economic growth in the world's developing nations, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT economist. Looking at weather data over the last half-century, the study finds that every 1-degree-Celsius increase in a poor country, over the course of a given year, reduces its economic growth by about 1.3 percentage points.

Research led by the University of Birmingham has shown that a specialised drug prescribing system could help to prevent a repetition of the notorious 2002 killings of elderly patients by nurse Colin Norris. A nurse at the Leeds General Infirmary and St James Hospitals, Norris was convicted in 2008 of murdering four patients using insulin, which lowered their blood glucose levels and led to their deaths.

Formula One teams are more likely to cross the finish line first if their boss is a former F1 driver, according to new research conducted by the University of Sheffield and the Cass Business School. The pioneering study shows putting money on teams like Red Bull and Sauber, which are headed by experts not general managers, is a wise move as former drivers and mechanics win twice as often as other types of F1 leaders.

Birmingham researcher shows net value of Polish entrepreneurship to the West Midlands economy A major new study of Polish migrants coming to the UK, shows that their business adds significant value to the economy of the West Midlands. The study also shows the huge diversity of businesses that this group of migrants has become involved with, moving beyond the stereotypes of construction.

The University of Manchester is heading up a new research hub that will investigate the efficiency and whole-life impact of a variety of bioenergy techniques. Science and Universities Minister David Willetts announced the £3.5m SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub which will look at ways of accelerating the deployment of sustainable bioenergy.