(Washington, DC) - Humans have a natural drive to reduce physical effort in nearly every activity, including using language. Instead of saying "goodbye", we often say "bye", getting the same message across with half the syllables. The ways that effort-reduction affect human language have been the subject of extensive research in the field of linguistics, though the overwhelming focus has been on spoken languages. By studying this effect in sign languages, two linguists from Swarthmore College have discovered a new way in which language is shaped by our innate drive to make physical activity easier.

Continuing their research into potential ingredients for human-safe pesticides, Drexel University researchers recently found an artificial sweetener that, while harmless for male fruit flies, proved particularly lethal for females.

Past research conducted by Drexel College of Arts and Sciences' Sean O'Donnell, PhD, professor and associate department head of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science (BEES) and Daniel Marenda, PhD, an associate professor of Biology, indicated that erythritol, an artificial sweetener in name-brand products like Truvia, is poisonous to fruit flies.

GAINESVILLE, FL - Producers of container-grown landscape plants often use fertilizers to ensure that consumers take home healthy, vigorous plants. This "residual fertilizer" adds value to plants by extending the benefits beyond the greenhouse. A new study recommends the best fertilizer strategies to give plants staying power and add value for consumers.

In a study of older women with newly diagnosed stage I to III breast cancer, approximately one in five lost the ability to complete some of the basic tasks necessary for independent living within one year of initiating treatment. The study also found that a simple survey can help identify which women are at risk of such functional decline. The findings are published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Washington, DC-- Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars. They're stars' dim, low-mass siblings and they fade in brightness over time. They're fascinating to astronomers for a variety of reasons, but much about them remains unknown. New work from a Carnegie-led team reports the distances of a number of brown dwarfs, as well as low-mass stars, in The Astronomical Journal.

Brown dwarfs are too small to sustain the hydrogen fusion process that powers stars. Their temperatures can range from nearly as hot as a star to as cool as a planet, and their masses also range between star-like and giant planet-like. They are of particular interest to scientists because they can offer clues to star-formation processes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) developed by a University of Cincinnati doctoral graduate was recently assessed by subject-matter expert and retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee - who holds extensive aerial combat experience as an instructor and Air Battle Manager with considerable fighter aircraft expertise - in a high-fidelity air combat simulator.

The artificial intelligence, dubbed ALPHA, was the victor in that simulated scenario, and according to Lee, is "the most aggressive, responsive, dynamic and credible AI I've seen to date."