news 2012

Stanford Report, December 5, 2012 In a sweeping study of the lifting of court-ordered desegregation plans, researchers show the fading of the dream of black and white students attending school together. The lifting of court-ordered school integration efforts over the last 22 years has led to the gradual unraveling of a key legacy of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.

AUSTIN, Texas — One of the most popular intervention therapies for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) lacks scientific support according to a literature review published by University of Texas at Austin Mark O'Reilly and an international team of scientists. The researchers reviewed 25 major studies on sensory integration therapy (SIT) to see if the current evidence base supports use of this therapy in the education and rehabilitation of children on the autism spectrum.

A new study has revealed we are basically honest. The research by the University of Oxford and the University of Bonn suggests that it pains us to tell lies, particularly when we are in our own homes. It appears that being honest is hugely important to our sense of who we are. However, while it might bother us to tell lies at home, we are more likely to bend the truth at work, suggests the study.

One million American school children are homeless each year, and many more are thought to move frequently. A researcher from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy & Practice is the lead author on a new longitudinal study linking homelessness and frequent moving with children's achievement.

An Oxford University pilot study, published in the journal PLoS One , shows that providing free sanitary pads to teenage girls in Ghana markedly improved attendance levels at school over just three months. More surprisingly perhaps, the attendance levels of girls who did not get free pads but had lessons on puberty also improved by the same rate over a slightly longer period of five months.

The Biggest Loser might be a TV ratings winner, but its extreme depiction of exercise is more likely to turn people off than get them off the couch, according to new research from the University of Alberta. Researchers in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation found that watching a short video clip of The Biggest Loser fuelled negative attitudes toward exercise, raising further questions about how physical activity is shown in the popular media.

Patients suffering from a distressing side-effect of radiotherapy for head and neck cancers can benefit from acupuncture treatment, reveals a new study published today (Wednesday 24 October 2012). Patients who have received radiotherapy for head and neck cancer often suffer from the unpleasant and distressing side-effect of a dry mouth, caused by damage to their salivary glands from the radiation.

Volcanic eruptions vary from common, small eruptions that have little impact on humans and the environment to rare, large-to-gigantic eruptions so massive they can threaten civilizations. While scientists don't yet fully understand the mechanisms that control whether an eruption is large or small, they do know that eruptions are driven by the rapid expansion of bubbles formed from water and other volatile substances trapped in molten rock as it rises beneath a volcano.