A new study by researchers at the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center suggests that the incidence of heterosexual anal sex is increasing among teens and young adults – particularly those who have recently had unprotected vaginal sex. These findings mirror recent data that show anal sex rates among adults doubled between the years 1995 and 2004.

The study, published online by the American Journal of Public Health, is among the first to report on the little-known factors associated with heterosexual anal intercourse among adolescents and young adults.

by Diane Banegas, National Science Foundation

Researchers at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities are studying a remarkable species of bacteria, Geobacter sulfurreducens, that produces electric current when attached to a graphite electrode or other conductive surface.

Geobacter's current capability already has been harnessed in so-called "microbial fuel cells" that use bacteria to convert wastewater organic compounds into electricity. Daniel Bond, a microbiologist at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and his team have demonstrated the same phenomenon can be harnessed for use in batteries and biosensors. 

MACAU, November 19 /PRNewswire/ --

The GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry, and Huawei, a leading provider of next-generation end-to-end telecommunications solutions, have joined forces to help the mobile industry realise the huge potential market for consumer and industrial goods that can connect to 3G mobile networks. Huawei has joined the GSMA's Mobile Broadband Embedded initiative, which will initially focus on bringing the benefits of continuous mobile connectivity to the consumer electronics, clean energy, healthcare, transport and utilities sectors.

EDMONTON, Canada, November 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- Syncrude Partners Agree to Pay CDN$975 Million in Additional Royalties

The Government of Alberta and the Syncrude joint venture owners have reached an agreement that will see the owners pay CDN$975 million in additional royalties beginning in 2010 through 2015. This provides for full implementation of the New Royalty Framework by 2009 and meets the government's objectives for negotiated revisions to Crown agreements.

Imagine a future for ice cubes that burn, it may sounds impossible but gas hydrates are an alternate energy source said to put every other fossil fuel to shame.

Gas Hydrates are an ice-like solid composed from the bonding of water and natural gas molecules. The lattice-structure traps gas particles (mostly methane) within the ice. Hydrates form under the low temperatures and high pressures of the ocean floor, usually at depths greater than 500 meters and are primarily found to occur within sedimentary deposits along continental shelves and also beneath Arctic permafrost. The exact amount and whereabouts of the world's hydrate supply is unknown, but technological advances are pushing science closer to these answers.

A couple of years ago I co-taught a course in philosophy and science with a colleague in the Philosophy department at Stony Brook University. At some point the issue of “human nature” came up, and my colleague looked at me with a mix of surprise and pity: human nature, she maintained, is a quaint concept that has been long abandoned by serious scholars, so why are we still talking about it? Tell it to James Fowler and Darren Schreiber, who recently authored a paper in the prestigious Science magazine (7 November 2008) by the title “Biology, Politics, and the Emerging Science of Human Nature.”

Sometimes, you have to read between the lines.

As a columnist, I receive a host of press releases that fill up my mailbox with mostly unintelligible medical jargon which mostly amounts to nothing. So this past weekend, when I was sent a report from JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) saying that results from a six year study were being published in the following week’s journal, I eagerly awaited the study. However the study concluded that its six year evaluation on the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract on cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients yielded nothing.

BEATNIKS   &   DREAMACHINES

Almost fifty years ago, the beat poet Brion Gysin (1916 - 1986), described a visual hallucination that he experienced while riding a bus:

HAIFA, Israel, November 18 /PRNewswire/ -- In the news release, Oil Refineries Changes Time of Earnings Call to Discuss Third Quarter 2008 Results issued on 18 Nov 2008 16:07 GMT, by Oil Refineries Ltd TASE:ORL over PR Newswire, we are advised by a representative of the company that the company conference call is an hour later than originally issued. Complete, corrected release follows:

- Conference Call to be Held on November 24, 2008 at 10:00am ET

SLOUGH, England, November 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- Calls For IT Industry to Master Economic Downturn by Sharing Cost-Saving 'Tweak-Onomics' With Cash-Strapped IT Departments

With businesses facing economic uncertainty and freezing or shrinking IT budgets becoming a reality for many, international IT solutions provider Logicalis today calls upon the IT industry to share its knowledge and expertise in order to provide much needed advice and tangible cost-saving actions to IT departments.