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It can crush ice sideways and stay precisely on station to an accuracy of a metre. It can drill a hole 1,000 metres deep into the seabed while floating above 5,000 metres of ocean and it can generate 55 megawatts of power. So far, Aurora Borealis is the most unusual ship that has never been built, and it represents a floating laboratory for European science, a breakthrough for polar research and a very big headache for international lawyers.

The majority of relationships between parents and their adult children improve as parents transition to old age, a Purdue University researcher has found. Karen Fingerman, an associate professor of developmental and family studies in the College of Consumer and Family Sciences, examined relationships adults 70 and older have with at least one of their adult offspring. The parents in the study also suffered either vision or hearing loss or were seeking help with general health care from one of their children.

Sociological research has shown that when couples move, the husband’s career gets a boost, while the wife’s career suffers. A University of Iowa professor investigated the reason behind the phenomenon and discovered that couples tend to put more emphasis on the man’s career, even if the wife works full-time and is college-educated. “This is bad news for people who are interested in men and women having equal success in the labor force,” said Mary Noonan, associate professor of sociology in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Even for highly educated married women with prestigious occupations, employment still suffers when they move, while the husbands’ careers benefit. These women likely share the role of breadwinner, earning a significant part of the family income, but their career is still seen as secondary within the dynamic of the couple.”

Treatment with ibuprofen is associated with a significantly slower rate of decline in lung function in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis, according to a new study. Researchers found that patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) who took high doses of ibuprofen had a 29 percent reduction in loss of lung function compared to those who did not use the anti-inflammatory drug twice daily over a period of two to seven years.

Researchers using supercomputer simulations have exposed a very violent and critical relationship between interstellar gas and dark matter when galaxies are born – one that has been largely ignored by the current model of how the universe evolved. The findings, published today in Science, solve a longstanding problem of the widely accepted model – Cold Dark Matter cosmology – which suggests there is much more dark matter in the central regions of galaxies than actual scientific observations suggest.

Imagine strapping on a bit of virtual-reality gear and becoming a T-rex – not just looking like one, but feeling like it from the inside out. That could be pretty cool, right? After a few minutes of practice you become comfortable in your new skin. Your arms and hands grow stubby, with little of the range and dexterity you’re used to. But elsewhere, your new body is full of compensations. Your dainty human mouth is replaced by a fearsome set of jaws that you can open almost 90 degrees. Your legs are huge, long and powerful with a wide, splayed stance. Your spine is now stiff and sinewy, and you can pivot your whole body forward and backward about your hips like a seesaw. And last but not least, a huge, heavy tail that you can control with amazing grace and speed swooshes around behind you, giving you a whole new sense of balance and maneuverability.

A new study published in Personal Relationships examines the way in which perceptions of physical attractiveness are influenced by personality. The study finds that individuals – both men and women – who exhibit positive traits, such as honesty and helpfulness, are perceived as better looking. Those who exhibit negative traits, such as unfairness and rudeness, appear to be less physically attractive to observers.

Astronomers at the University of Illinois have found the first clear evidence for a cradle in space where planets and moons form. The cradle, revealed in photographs taken with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, consists of a flattened envelope of gas and dust surrounding a young protostar. “We are seeing this object in the early stages of stellar birth,” said U. of I. astronomy professor Leslie Looney, the lead author of a paper accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. “Eventually, the protostar will form into a star much like our sun, and the disk will form into planets and moons.”

With 8 million people at high risk for advanced age-related macular degeneration, researchers from Harvard and Japan discovered that the experimental drug, endostatin, may be the cure. A research report published in the December 2007 issue of The FASEB Journal, describes how giving endostatin to mice significantly reduced or eliminated abnormal blood vessel growth within the eye, which is ultimately why the disease causes blindness.

Scientists have revealed an important discovery that raises doubts concerning the viability of plans to fertilize the ocean to solve global warming, a projected $100 billion venture. Research performed at Stanford and Oregon State Universities, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, suggests that ocean fertilization may not be an effective method of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a major contributor to global warming. Ocean fertilization, the process of adding iron or other nutrients to the ocean to cause large algal blooms, has been proposed as a possible solution to global warming because the growing algae absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.

Venus is a hellish place of high temperatures and crushing air pressure. The European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission adds into this mix the first confirmation that the Venusian atmosphere generates its own lightning. The discovery is part of the Venus Express science findings that appear in a special section of the Nov. 29 issue of the journal Nature.

It’s not a cure, but this may be some of the best news patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have heard in a long time: A new drug, eltrombopag, appears to be effective in boosting low platelet counts, one of the major reasons why patients can’t endure antiviral treatments. Other drugs that can restore normal platelet functions are infusions or injections; eltrombopag is a pill taken just once a day.

Integrating HIV testing programmes into primary medical care can help achieve early diagnosis of HIV infection, even in relatively poor areas, research published in the online open access journal AIDS Research and Therapy has shown. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the non-governmental organisation Partners In Health (PIH, www.pih.org), both based in Boston, USA set out to see if HIV diagnosis was delayed because doctors missed opportunities to test people who were at risk of HIV during clinic visits.

A technique for controlling the magnetic properties of a commonly used blue dye could revolutionise computer processing power, according to research published recently in Advanced Materials. Scientists have demonstrated that they can control the properties in a dye known as Metal Phthalocyanine, or MPc, with the use of magnetism.

In two days, December 1st, the media all over the world will be filled again with those pretty red ribbons, at the edge of a newspaper, on the corner of the TV screen, beside the logo of major websites. It is that special day of every year that many people see it, but don’t realize [...]

Pedophilia might be the result of faulty connections in the brain, according to new research released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The study used MRIs and a sophisticated computer analysis technique to compare a group of pedophiles with a group of non-sexual criminals. The pedophiles had significantly less of a substance called “white matter” which is responsible for wiring the different parts of the brain together.

One of the fastest moving stars ever seen has been discovered with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This cosmic cannonball is challenging theories to explain its blistering speed. Astronomers used Chandra to observe a neutron star, known as RX J0822-4300, over a period of about five years. During that span, three Chandra observations clearly show the neutron star moving away from the center of the Puppis A supernova remnant. This remnant is the stellar debris field created during the same explosion in which the neutron star was formed about 3700 years ago.

Computed Tomography (CT) scans are an increasingly used X-ray-based tool for providing a three-dimensional view of a particular organ or tissue. The value of CT scanning to diagnose injury, cancer and other health problems is undisputed. But are these scans being used too frequently, in some cases unnecessarily? What are the health consequences of having too many CT scans over the course of a person’s life?

In recent years, researchers ahave uncovered a host of reasons for people to remain physically active as they age, ranging from better brain function to improved immune responses. Now a new study points to yet another benefit: a link between moderate exercise and decreased inflammation of damaged skin tissue.

Scientists analysing data gathered by the Cassini spacecraft have confirmed the presence of heavy negative ions in the upper regions of Titan’s atmosphere. These particles may act as organic building blocks for even more complicated molecules and their discovery was completely unexpected because of the chemical composition of the atmosphere (which lacks oxygen and mainly consists of nitrogen and methane). The observation has now been verified on 16 different encounters and findings will be published in Geophysical Research Letters on November 28.