Scientists funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) have found that, when jazz musicians are engaged in the highly creative and spontaneous activity known as improvisation, a large region of the brain involved in monitoring one’s performance is shut down, while a small region involved in organizing self-initiated thoughts and behaviors is highly activated.

The researchers propose that this and several related patterns are likely to be key indicators of a brain that is engaged in highly creative thought.

During the study, six highly trained jazz musicians played the keyboard under two scenarios while in the functional MRI scanner.

Turning just one Sumatran province's forests and peat swamps into pulpwood and palm oil plantations is generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands and rapidly driving the province's elephants into extinction, a new study by WWF and partners has found.

The study found that in central Sumatra's Riau Province nearly 10.5 million acres of tropical forests and peat swamp have been cleared in the last 25 years. Forest loss and degradation and peat decomposition and fires are behind average annual carbon emissions equivalent to 122 percent of the Netherlands total annual emissions, 58 percent of Australia's annual emissions, 39 percent of annual UK emissions and 26 percent of annual German emissions.

Considerable attention has been paid to the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in aquatic environments, but rather less attention has been given to routes of contamination on land. A new study by researchers at Cardiff University, reveals that wild birds foraging on invertebrates contaminated with environmental pollutants, show marked changes in both brain and behavior: male birds exposed to this pollution develop more complex songs, which are actually preferred by the females, even though these same males usually show reduced immune function compared to controls.

Katherine Buchanan and her colleagues studied male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) foraging at a sewage treatment works in the south-west UK and analysed the earthworms that constitute their prey. The researchers found that those birds exposed to environmentally-relevant levels of synthetic and natural estrogen mimics developed longer and more complex songs compared to males in a control group.

PERTH, Australia, February 27 /PRNewswire/ --

Nido Petroleum Ltd (Nido) is pleased to announce that the Galoc 3 horizontal production well flowed oil to the surface unassisted at a maximum rate of 5,397 barrels per day during clean up flow testing on 20 and 21 February 2008.

The purpose of the Galoc 3 clean up and oil flow to surface was to confirm the integrity of the well and installed completion equipment as well as to ascertain the well's ability to flow.

Pressure, temperature and flow rate data were recorded on surface and on subsurface gauges located down-hole, close to the reservoir. Oil samples were also collected and will be sent to a specialist laboratory for assay and PVT analysis.

Anthropologists from Wheaton College (Illinois) and The Field Museum have discovered how the ancient Maya produced an unusual and widely studied blue pigment that was used in offerings, pottery, murals and other contexts across Mesoamerica from about A.D. 300 to 1500.

First identified in 1931, this blue pigment (known as Maya Blue) has puzzled archaeologists, chemists and material scientists for years because of its unusual chemical stability, composition and persistent color in one of the world’s harshest climates.

The anthropologists solved another old mystery, namely the presence of a 14-foot layer of blue precipitate found at the bottom of the Sacred Cenote (a natural well) at Chichén Itzá. This remarkably thick blue layer was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century when the well was dredged.

UXBRIDGE, England, February 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Otsuka Pharmaceutical Europe Ltd. (OPEL) announced today that the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has accepted a marketing authorisation application (MAA) for the company's investigational oral once-daily medication tolvaptan, a selective V2-vasopressin receptor antagonist, for the treatment of worsening heart failure and the treatment of hyponatraemia. (1) These indications are based on data from two separate clinical development programmes.(2),(3),(4)

COPEHNAGEN, Denmark, February 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- Genmab Announced Today the Purchase Agreement Entered Into Between Genmab and PDL BioPharma Under Which Genmab Would Acquire PDL's Manufacturing Facility has Received Antitrust Clearance.

PARIS, February 26 /PRNewswire/ -- With a 40% increase in software sales, a tripling of results, and a profitability of over 20%, SynerTrade, a specialist in consultancy and producer of Purchasing Function software solutions, announces a record 2007 fiscal year.

2007 has been the best financial year in SynerTrade's history to date since the creation of the two original companies, SynerDeal and Trade2B. "2007 results have tripled compared to the previous financial year and we foresee a 40% increase in the number of orders for the new financial year", says Eberhard Aust, SynerTrade's Chief Executive Officer.

TOULOUSE, France and SANTA CLARA, California, February 26 /PRNewswire/ --

Intexys Photonics introduces its family of Optical Engines for parallel optics applications and more particularly for the Optical Active Cable emerging market.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070905/AQW066LOGO )

The Optical Engine Family consists of a (4+4) x5Gbit/s Infiniband compliant engine and a QSFP version just released. The family will also include a (4+4) x10Gbit/s engine in March with a 12x10Gbs engine in late 2008.

COVENTRY, England, February 26 /PRNewswire/ --

FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: FARO) the world leader in portable computer-aided measurement hardware and software, announced the launch of its new family of 3D Laser Scanners called Photon 80 and Photon 20. The new Photons, which replace the company's Laser Scanner LS 880, 840 and 420, offer greater clarity, accuracy and portability.

"The Photon is FARO's sixth new product release in seven months," FARO President and CEO Jay Freeland said. "It represents not only our commitment to this product line and the diverse markets it benefits, but also our dedication to developing innovative 3D laser scanner technology faster than any other company in the world."