news 2012

Mechanical engineering professor David Sinton and his research team have developed a process to analyze the behaviour of bitumen in reservoirs using a microfluidic chip, a tool commonly associated with the field of medical diagnostics. The process may reduce the cost and time of analyzing bitumen-gas interaction in heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs.

The upper class has a higher propensity for unethical behavior, being more likely to believe - as did Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street - that "greed is good," according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

The upper class has a higher propensity for unethical behavior, being more likely to believe - as did Gordon Gekko in the movie "Wall Street" - that "greed is good," according to a new study from the University of California, Berkeley. In seven separate studies conducted on the UC Berkeley campus, in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationwide, UC Berkeley researchers consistently found that upper-class participants were more likely to lie and cheat when gambling or negotiating; cut people off when driving, and endorse unethical behavior in the workplace.

Public attitudes toward immigration policy are more influenced by cultural and social concerns than economic ones such as wages and taxes, according to new UCL research. The research, conducted by David Card, Christian Dustmann and Ian Preston from the UCL Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM) analyses the main factors that drive public opposition to immigration.

Having a simple, easy-to-pronounce name is more likely to win you friends and favour in the workplace, a study by Simon Laham at the University of Melbourne and Adam Alter at New York University Stern School of Business, has found. In the first study of its kind, and published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers analysed how the pronunciation of names can influence impression formation and decision-making.

One in four UK children facing multiple risks to development, study finds More than one in four UK infants is growing up in families facing multiple challenges such as parental depression and financial hardship that can have a damaging effect on children's development, new research suggests. The study, co-authored by Ricardo Sabates from the Education department at Sussex, sheds fresh light on the number and diverse combinations of difficulties that young children have been exposed to during the first decade of the 21 st century.

Americans' chances of reaching extreme old age are much lower than previously thought, new research shows. The findings by a team of demographers at the social science research organization NORC at the University of Chicago contradict a long-held belief that mortality rates level off above age 80. They also explain why the number of Americans age 100 and above is less than half of what the Census Bureau predicted as recently as six years ago.

What does "free time" mean to you? When you're not at work, do you pass the time - or spend it? The difference may impact how happy you are. A new study shows people who put a price on their time are more likely to feel impatient when they're not using it to earn money. And that hurts their ability to derive happiness during leisure activities.

University Park, Pa. The U.S. may have its first black president and the Fortune 500 its first black female chief executive, but African American CEOs account for a mere one percent of the chiefs of those 500 largest companies.

Trying to resist that late-night tweet or checking your work email again? The bad news is that desires for work and entertainment often win out in the daily struggle for self-control, according to a new study that measures various desires and their regulation in daily life. "Modern life is a welter of assorted desires marked by frequent conflict and resistance, the latter with uneven success," said Asst.

A new study shows that countries with high incomes and high carbon emissions do not achieve higher life expectancies than those with moderate incomes and lower carbon emissions. This finding challenges the assumption that human wellbeing requires growth in both economic activity and carbon emissions.

For centuries, gossip has been dismissed as salacious, idle chatter that can damage reputations and erode trust. But a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests rumor-mongering can have positive outcomes such as helping us police bad behavior, prevent exploitation and lower stress.

The growth of Chinese cities is increasing wealth in the country, but it's coming at a cost, with farmers needing to make room for city dwellers as a consequence of the country's ongoing economic boom. The new study by Professor Xuemei Bai from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society has revealed that China is experiencing unprecedented and rapid urbanisation.

New research from the University of Warwick suggests the way foreign aid is distributed following a natural disaster in developing countries does little to help small firms recover. Economists are calling for a reassessment of the way aid is distributed in low-income countries hit by disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

Though emphasizing that quitting is the best remedy to combat health problems for smokers, Cornell researchers have found a way to make cigarettes less toxic. Researchers from the lab of Jack H. Freed, the Frank and Robert Laughlin Professor of Physical Chemistry, have demonstrated that lycopene and grape seed extract literally stuffed into a conventional cigarette filter drastically lowers the amount of cancer-causing agents passing through.

Despite food company pledges to reduce marketing of unhealthy products to children, a Yale University study finds that children are disproportionately targeted by food company websites using branded computer games, known as advergames. Researchers also found that playing these games increases children's consumption of junk food.

Just because you think a food arrangement looks appetizing doesn't mean it's appealing to kids: Children are most attracted to food plates with seven different items and six different colors. Adults, on the other hand, tend to prefer only three items and three colors, reports a new Cornell study. "What kids find visually appealing is very different than parents," concluded Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing in Cornell's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.