Christmas
BUENOS AIRES -- Poinsettias can be a lucrative crop for ornamental plant growers, particularly during the Christmas season.
An empty store shelf tempts shoppers to buy the next best thing, according to a new study from the University of Alberta.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- H1N1 influenza could slow growth in key industries and stall already-weak GDP growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2009, says a health economist in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Business.
Two BYU researchers who just returned from Antarctica are reporting a hardy worm that withstands its cold climate by cranking out antifreeze.
Monday morning 24 January: feel like turning over and ignoring the alarm? An expert from Cardiff University has devised a formula to explain your Monday blues. Dr Cliff Arnall, part-time tutor at the University’s Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning, is an expert in seasonal disorders and has created a formula looking at the numerous factors leading to a gloomy January. The formula shows that 24th January is officially the worst day of the year.
It was propelled by a rocket instead of reindeer, but the Progress cargo craft made things aboard the International Space Station look a lot more like Christmas. The unpiloted Russian cargo carrier docked to the International Space Station Saturday evening with a Christmas delivery of 2.5 tons of food, fuel, oxygen, water, supplies and gifts for Commander Leroy Chiao and Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov.
As thousands of divorced and separated parents decide where their children will spend this Christmas, an ESRC-funded study into post divorce family life shows that fairness and equality between fathers and mothers may end up being unfair on the youngsters.
The Fathers 4 Justice movement, whose 'Xmas Demo' takes place on Saturday (December 18), is among those calling for family law to adopt a principle of pure equality between parents. Its members, with support from Bob Geldof, and organisations such as the Equal Parenting Council, demand that on divorce or separation, children should be shared equally.
Wouldn't it be convenient if your birthday, Christmas and the Fourth of July -- not to mention most other major holidays -- all fell on the same day of the week, year after year? Wouldn't it make life -- or at least planning -- easier, for instance, to know that Dec. 17 would always fall on a Saturday or that January 1 -- New Year's Day -- would always be celebrated on a Sunday? Richard Conn Henry, professor in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University, thinks it would. He has designed -- using computer programs and complex mathematical formulas -- a new calendar that would make it happen.
Educational Christmas toys can leave a mark on more than just your checkbook - they can also leave a permanent imprint on a child's brain. That's according to a Stanford University School of Medicine study in owls showing that early learning experiences forever change the brain's structure. Previous work by study leader Eric Knudsen, PhD, professor and chair of neurobiology, showed that young owls could quickly pick up new skills that leave older owls baffled. What's more, once the young owls learn a new skill they can easily pick it back up as an adult.
Scientists in this week's Christmas issue of the BMJ have discovered the 'Polymeal', a set of ingredients which cuts the risk of heart (cardiovascular) disease by 76% and significantly increases life expectancy. Results of dining on the Polymeal were most dramatic for men, who were projected to live on average 6.6 years longer in total than those not eating the meal. Men will also live for nine years longer without succumbing to heart disease, and those that do will suffer it for less years of their lives. The Polymeal includes wine, fish, dark chocolate, fruits and vegetables, almonds and garlic, eaten on a daily basis.
Cardiac and non-cardiac deaths peak during Christmas and New Year's in part because people delay seeking medical treatment, researchers report in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. For the study, researchers examined records for 53 million deaths from natural causes over a 26-year period (1973-2001), excluding suicides, homicides and accidents. They compared the number of deaths during the holiday period, which they defined as Dec. 25 to Jan. 7, to the number of deaths that would be expected at that time of year if deaths from natural causes were unaffected by the holidays.
A fake Christmas tree may be more popular, but here's a new reason to appreciate the real thing: Researchers have identified a group of anti-inflammatory compounds in the bark of the Scotch pine -- widely used for Christmas trees -- that they say could be developed into food supplements or drugs for treating arthritis and pain. The compounds, which show promise in preliminary cell studies, are likely to be found in other pine species as well, the scientists say.
It wasn't Christmas in May, but it might have been the next best thing. An unpiloted Russian cargo craft smoothly linked up to the International Space Station Thursday morning, delivering 2.5 tons of food, fuel, water, equipment and supplies to the two crewmembers.
The idea that dying people hang on to life in order to celebrate one more birthday or holiday lacks any scientific basis, say scientists who reviewed two decades' worth of research. ''The studies published to date have not convincingly established that death can be postponed through force of will or hastened by the loss of the desire to live,'' say Judith A. Skala, R.N., Ph.D., and Kenneth E. Freedland, Ph.D., of Washington University School of Medicine.
Early Wednesday morning, the Beagle 2 spacecraft landed on the surface of Mars at the end of a 250 million mile (400 million km), six-month trek to the Red Planet. Although the first attempt to use NASA?s Mars Odyssey orbiter to communicate with the lander three hours later was unsuccessful, scientists and engineers are still awaiting the best Christmas present possible ? the first faint signal to tell them that Beagle 2 has become only the fourth spacecraft to make a successful landing on Mars.
