Coffee shrubs, both in themselves and because they are most often cultivated in the shade of large trees, can have a positive impact on plant and animal diversity in those parts of the landscape that are deforested and dominated by agriculture.

What constitutes a dilemma for consumers wishing to shop ecologically is that when coffee is grown in a forest, which is also common, the impact on diversity is negative, say researchers at the Department of Botany, Stockholm University, in Sweden, who recently published two articles about the role of coffee cultivation in conserving plants and animals in Ethiopia, the original home of coffee.

For many children, a trip to the doctor or dentist is a stressful experience. The sensory environment (i.e., the sounds, smells, and lights associated with the clinical setting) can cause a child's anxiety levels to rise. This is especially true in children with developmental disabilities who may have difficulty understanding the unfamiliar clinical environment. A new study soon explores the relationship between the sensory environment and anxiety levels in children.

NASA's Kepler spacecraft will soon begin a journey to search for worlds that could potentially host life. Kepler is scheduled to blast into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a Delta II rocket on March 5 at 7:48 p.m. Pacific Time (10:48 p.m. Eastern Time). It is the first mission with the ability to find planets like Earth -- rocky planets that orbit sun-like stars in a warm zone where liquid water could be maintained on the surface. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life. 

WASHINGTON, February 19 /PRNewswire/ --

- 9th Biennial FISD Event Highlights Financial Information and its Interaction with Risk Management, New Markets, Product Innovation Cost Management

- Keynote by breakingviews.com's Rob Cox Offers Insights Regarding Today's Financial Services Challenges and Strategies

The Financial Information Services Division (FISD) of the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) today announced that Rob Cox, US Editor and Director for breakingviews.com, will be the opening keynote for its 9th Biennial World Financial Information Services Conference (WFIC), slated for October 4-7, 2009, at Divani Apollon, Athens, Greece.

Show Me The Science Month Day 17



Often when something new crops up in evolutionary history, it's usually the result of tinkering with functional, preexisting molecular tools.. In a paper published in Science, some NYU researchers find that the protein cues used by  fruit fly embryos to direct their migrating reproductive cells are processed by some very ancient cellular machinery. The scientists test their ideas with a very weird experiment: they use their newfound knowledge to direct the reproductive cells to migrate into the embryos' brains.

SEATTLE, February 19 /PRNewswire/ --

- Groundspeak's Geocaching Application makes high-tech treasure hunting fun, easy and affordable

Geocaching.com, the global headquarters for the sport of geocaching, recently released their official Geocaching iPhone Application. Developed by Groundspeak, the owner of Geocaching.com, the US$9.99 Geocaching Application is available online at Apple's iPhone Apps Store.

SAN JOSE, California, February 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- First Phase of Planned 7.1-Megawatt Solar Power Development

SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB), a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Sunshire, S.r.l., a subsidiary of Api Nova Energia S.r.l., to design and build a 2.2-megawatt solar electric power plant in Tolentino, Italy.

NEW YORK, February 18 /PRNewswire/ --

Wynston Hill Capital LLC, a boutique investment bank, announced today that it has been retained by Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. Corporation to serve as the company's lead investment banker. Wynston Hill Capital will assist and advise Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. with regard to the company's financings. Corey Singman and Bruce Shalett are the Investment Bankers for Wynston Hill Capital.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, February 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (Euronext: AMT), a leader in the field of human gene therapy, announced today that it will release its financial results for the full year 2008 on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 7:00 am Central European Time (CET). To discuss these results, the Company will conduct a conference call that day at 3 p.m. CET.

Thanks to advances in satellite technology, college students are giving government intelligence a run for its money.  A student geography project from UCLA made waves in the Harvard International review for using principles of wildlife diversity to narrow bin Laden’s likely location to a few promising structures in Pakistan.  

Bin Laden has everything in common with a member of a species trying to escape extinction. This allowed the UCLA students used theories of wildlife dispersion to predict his whereabouts.