A multi-center study has determined that wearing back braces would prevent the need for spinal correction surgery in children with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) - early results were overwhelmingly in favor of bracing.

Extreme weather event coverage may lead people to think more seriously about climate change, according to new surveys of New Jersey college students which found that shortly after Hurricane Irene and "Super Storm" Sandy, they were more likely to show support for a politician running on a "green" platform and expressed a greater belief that climate change is caused by human activity.

6,000 light-years away, in the constellation of Scorpius, nebula IC 4628 is a huge region filled with gas and clumps of dark dust which produces brilliant hot young stars. In visible light, these stars appear as a blue-white color, but they also emit intense radiation in other parts of the spectrum — most notably in the ultraviolet.

The Toxoplasma parasite has been linked spontaneous abortion in pregnant women and killing immune-compromised patients, but it has even stranger effects in mice. 

Infected mice lose their fear of cats.

That's good for cats and then for the parasite, because the cat gets an easy meal and the parasite gets into the cat's intestinal track, the only place it can sexually reproduce and continue its cycle of infection.

New research reveals a scary twist to this scenario: the parasite's effect seem to be permanent. The fearless behavior in mice persists long after the mouse recovers from the flu-like symptoms of toxoplasmosis, and for months after the parasitic infection is cleared from the body. 

Observational satellite data and a computer model have predicted response to human influence have a common latitude/altitude pattern of atmospheric temperature change.

The key features of this pattern are global-scale tropospheric warming and stratospheric cooling over the 34-year satellite temperature record.

The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. The stratosphere lies above the troposphere. 
A new report compared multiple satellite records of atmospheric temperature change with results from a large, multi-model archive of simulations. Fingerprint information has proved particularly useful in separating human, solar and volcanic influences on climate.

Employees who have a sense of unjustified entitlement are more likely to say that their bosses are abusive and mistreat them than their less entitlement-minded coworkers, according to a new paper.

A protein called isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH1) is present at high levels in lung cancers and can be detected in the blood, making it a noninvasive diagnostic marker for lung cancers, according to a new study.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States and worldwide. To detect lung cancer in blood, currently certain biomarkers including CEA, Cyfra21-1 and CA125 are used, but these markers are not very sensitive, according to He.

One subset of children frequently believed to have autism may be misdiagnosed because some of the social impairments associated with their developmental delay looks like features of autism, according to a new paper. 

The children have a genetic disorder called 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and their prevalence of autism has been reported as high as 50 percent, using what is called 'gold-standard' diagnostic criteria. But the researchers found that none of the children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome "met strict diagnostic criteria" for autism.  

Traditional peer review is not enough to ensure data quality amid the recent boom in scientific research findings and open access places to publish them, according to results of a 10-year collaboration between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and five technical journals.

An archaeological dig on Jerusalem's Mount Zion has revealed the well-preserved lower levels of what the archaeological team believes is an Early Roman period mansion from the first century AD, possibly belonging to a member of the Jewish priestly caste, which may yield significant domestic details about the rulers of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus.

Particularly important in the discoveries were a buried vaulted chamber that has proven to be an unusual finished bathroom (with bathtub) adjacent to a large below-ground ritual cleansing pool (mikveh) -- only the fourth bathroom to be found in Israel from the Second Temple period, with two of the others found in palaces of Herod the Great at Jericho and Masada.