Neural prosthetic devices represent an engineer's approach to treating paralysis and amputation. Electronics are used to monitor the neural signals that reflect an individual's intentions for the prosthesis or computer they are trying to use.

With atoms and molecules in a gas moving at thousands of kilometres per hour, physicists have long sought a way to slow them down to a few kilometres per hour to trap them.

A group of physicists from The University of Texas at Austin have found a way to slow down, stop and explore a much wider range of atoms than ever before.

Inspired by the coilgun that was developed by the University’s Center for Electromechanics, the group has developed an "atomic coilgun" that slows and gradually stops atoms with a sequence of pulsed magnetic fields.

Scientists at the University of Missouri-St. Louis used DNA sequences from feather lice to study how island populations of their host, the Galápagos Hawk might have colonized the Galápagos islands, home to the endangered and declining raptor.

The study, focuses on genes from three parasite species restricted to the Galápagos Hawk. The scientists also sequenced the same genes in the hawk to compare levels of genetic variation across these distantly related species.

New York City’s infant mortality rate – widely regarded as a barometer of a population’s general health – fell slightly in 2006, the Health Department reported today. The rate in 2006 was 5.9 infant deaths for every 1,000 births, down from 6.0 the previous year. The City has made major progress in reducing infant deaths since the early 1990s, when the rate was double what it is today, but the decline has leveled off in recent years. The Health Department also reported that in poorer sectors of the city, infant mortality rates are still double the citywide rate.

In 2006, there were 740 infant deaths (defined as deaths of infants less than a year old) out of 125,506 New York City births.

If one spouse exercises, quits smoking, stops drinking alcohol, receives a flu shot, or undergoes a cholesterol screening, the other spouse is more likely to do the same, according to a new study in Health Services Research.

“We found that when one spouse improves his or her health behavior, the other spouse was likely to do so as well,” said co-author Jody Sindelar, health economist and public health professor in the Yale School of Public Health. “This was consistent across all the behaviors analyzed and was similar among both males and females.”

Dark matter is believed to exist in the form of tiny particles that do not interact with light. Because they don’t emit or reflect electromagnetic radiation the way atomic, or baryonic, matter does, these dark matter particles haven’t been directly observed. However, scientists have long theorized their existence based on their gravitational effects on visible matter throughout the universe.

“The evidence for dark matter is now overwhelming, and the required amount of dark matter is becoming precisely known," says Howard Baer, Professor of Physics at Florida State University.

“For example, the gravitational effect of dark matter makes galaxies spin faster than one would otherwise expect,” Baer said.