Butterflies seem able to both attract mates and ward off predators using different sides of their wings, according to new research in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
 
Trying to find the balance between these two crucial behaviors is one of nature’s oldest dilemmas, according to Jeffrey Oliver, a postdoctoral associate in Yale’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and lead author on the study.

6 out of every 10 university students, regardless their field of study, get anxious when it comes to mathematics, according to a research work carried out at the University of Granada.  There are significant differences between men and women in this sense, as men suffer less anxiety when it comes to deal with mathematical tasks (47% of men against 62% of women).

Is today's academic and corporate culture stifling science's risk-takers and stopping disruptive, revolutionary science from coming to the fore?  Writing in Physics World, Mark Buchanan looks at those who have shifted scientific paradigms and asks what we can do to make sure that those who have the potential to change our outlook on the world also have the opportunity to do so.

A groundbreaking new loudspeaker, less than 0.25mm thick, has been developed by University of Warwick engineers, it's flat, flexible, could be hung on a wall like a picture, and its particular method of sound generation could make public announcements in places like passenger terminals clearer, crisper, and easier to hear. 

All speakers work by converting an electric signal into sound. Usually, the signal is used to generate a varying magnetic field, which in turn vibrates a mechanical cone, so producing the sound.   Lightweight and inexpensive to manufacture, the new 'Flat, Flexible Loudspeaker' (FFL) speakers are slim and flexible: they could be concealed inside ceiling tiles or car interiors, or printed with a design and hung on the wall like a picture.

Sure, things are tough all over.    Heck, Linda Evangelista recently stated she now would get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day(1).   

Can't wait for the next Star Trek movie?    Okay, this doesn't have Zoe Saldana but it's still pretty terrific -  the first movie ever of carbon atoms moving along the edge of a graphene crystal. Given that graphene,  single-layered sheets of carbon atoms arranged like chicken wire, may hold the key to the future of the electronics industry, the audience for this new science movie might also reach blockbuster proportions.

BEIJING, April 1 /PRNewswire/ --

- US$33 million Gates Foundation grant to help China introduce innovative TB control methods, reduce growing threat of drug-resistant TB

At a global meeting of health ministers today, Bill Gates joined Chinese Minister of Health Chen Zhu to announce an innovative partnership to help fight a serious tuberculosis epidemic in China. The initiative will be led by the Chinese Ministry of Health and is supported by a grant of US$33 million over five years from the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation.

Okay, I am going to do something that will cost me my Republican voter card - I am going to recommend we reopen a government agency, the  Office of Technology Assessment (OTA).

SALT LAKE CITY, March 31 /PRNewswire/ --

- Consensus Guideline Reached For Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction

ARUP Laboratories and the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) announced today that a consensus guideline for a key laboratory method called qPCR (or quantitative polymerase chain reaction) was published by a group of international scientists representing the medical and research fields.

ANDOVER, England, April 1 /PRNewswire/ --

ANDOVER, England, April 1 /PRNewswire/ --

An overwhelming majority (71%) of employers believe that companies are responsible for looking after the oral health of their employees. This is according to Simplyhealth's Annual Dental Survey, which surveyed 255 Human Resources Managers/Directors via independent research agency Opinion Matters. On top of this, 40% of companies who offer dental benefits believe they help with increasing employee engagement, providing an overwhelming case for more companies to consider dental benefits.