Reducing medical resident duty hours may have unforeseen consequences; changes must be made carefully and evaluated rigorously to ensure patient safety and resident well-being, according to an analysis published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Canada's National Steering Committee on Resident Duty Hours recently released recommendations to help inform a discussion on the issue. The United States and Quebec have reduced resident duty hours because of concerns over patient safety and resident quality of life. Residents in Quebec now cannot work more than 16 hours in hospital, compared with about 24 hours in the rest of Canada plus 2 hours for handover of patient care information.

A study led by scientists from the Polytechnic University of Marche (Ancona, Italy) involving researchers from the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM, CSIC) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), has determined that fishing trawling causes intensive, long-term biological desertification of the sedimentary seabed ecosystems, diminishing their content in organic carbon and threatening their biodiversity.

The first "Global Matrix" using
nine indicators
of children's physical activity has ranked video game-obsessed Scots among the least active in the world.

For several decades, there has been speculation about the formation of the enigmatic, vegetation-free circles frequently found in certain African grassland regions.

Now researchers have tested different prevailing hypotheses as to their respective plausibility. For the first time they have carried out a detailed analysis of the spatial distribution of these fairy circles – and discovered a remarkably regular and spatially comprehensive homogenous distribution pattern.

This may best be explained by way of reference to local resource-competition for water among plants and vegetation, the team now reports in the scientific journal Ecography.

Using artificial intelligence, computational geometry and geo/ultrasound techniques, a project begun in 2009 at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) have a success to report - a device to help people with low vision or blindness to navigate more easily.

The new navigation device consists of glasses with stereo sound sensors, GPS technology and a tablet, which guides the blind person to a specific point and avoids hitting static or moving obstacles - but it also recognizes currency of various denominations and the color of clothing. No more crazy plaids and stripes, no chance of getting cheated in a store.

Is life great or what?

We have all kinds of wonderful choices available to us. Yankees or Mets (better still, neither), Frosted Flakes or Cap'n Crunch, Homeland or The Walking Dead. Awesome. 

And now we get to choose between an old artificial sweetener that was perfectly safe and a new one that is perfectly safer. 

For more than 30 years, aspartame (aka NutraSweet), has been the target of conspiracy crazies and those who profit from the crazies. Speaking of whom, supplement mogul Crazy Joe Mercola calls aspartame "By far the most dangerous substance added to most foods today." 

The laws of physics are absolute - in theory.  And with an exception. So absolute doesn't always mean what we think it means.

How heat and temperature related to energy, the laws of thermodynamics, seem to violate the laws of physics theoretically. But now they theoretically don't.

A paper recently published in EPJ B discussed a theoretical model of the environment's influence on a particle does not violate the third law of thermodynamics, despite appearances to the contrary. These findings are relevant for systems at the micro or nanometer scale that are difficult to decouple from the heat or the quantum effects exerted by their environment.

She will tell you it doesn't matter. But it does, men. It does.

Up to a third of all men have had premature ejaculation - it's all good for them, but a University of Zurich sex researcher says curtailed sexual intercourse without climaxing can be more frustrating for women. Or less. It depends. Women are complicated that way..

Premature ejaculation in men can causes increased psychological strain and stress in women, according to the survey conducted by Andrea Burri, a clinical psychologist at the University of Zurich,  but if men are focused too heavily on controlling ejaculation, they ignore the sexual needs of women and are unable to cater to their individual desires, which can seriously jeopardize the relationship.  See? Complicated.

Some Sun-like stars are 'earth-eaters.' During their development they ingest large amounts of the rocky material from which 'terrestrial' planets like Earth, Mars and Venus are made.

Trey Mack, a graduate student in astronomy at Vanderbilt University, has developed a model that estimates the effect that such a diet has on a star's chemical composition and has used it to analyze a pair of twin stars which both have their own planets.

People attempting to quit smoking without professional help are approximately 60% more likely to report succeeding if they use e-cigarettes than if they use willpower alone or over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapies such as patches or gum, according to a large survey of smokers in England.

The results were adjusted for a wide range of factors that might influence success at quitting, including age, nicotine dependence, previous quit attempts, and whether quitting was gradual or abrupt.