Recent research at Yale provided a glimpse of the ancient mechanism that helped diversify our genomes; it illuminated a relationship between gene processing in humans and the most primitive organisms by creating the first crystal structure of a crucial self-splicing region of RNA.

Genes of higher organisms code for production of proteins through intermediary RNA molecules. But, after transcription from the DNA, these RNAs must be cut into pieces and patched together before they are ready for translation into protein. Stretches of the RNA sequence that code for protein are kept, and the intervening sequences, or introns, are spliced out of the transcript.

Having a husband creates an extra seven hours a week of housework for women, according to a University of Michigan study of a nationally representative sample of U.S. families.

For men, the picture is very different: A wife saves men from about an hour of housework a week.

The findings are part of a detailed study of housework trends, based on 2005 time-diary data from the federally-funded Panel Study of Income Dynamics, conducted since 1968 at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).

A new coating system to paint aircraft and other equipment is, ironically, safer to human health and the environment. The breakthrough comes after two years of research and testing on trivalent chromium-based primers and sealers.

Chromium has long been used in paint to create dense, protective
coatings. This is especially important to the Army which needs to cover its equipment with paint that can resist corrosive chemical agent. However, chromium, in its hexavalent form, is a known carcinogen.

Although the Army has used chromium-6-based paint safely to protect and extend the life of its expensive equipment, it was open to trying something else that wasn't so potentially harmful both to human health and the environment.

New research from Indiana University and Yale suggests that college-age men confuse friendly non-verbal cues with cues for sexual interest because the men have a less discerning eye than women -- but their female peers aren't far behind.

In the study, appearing in the April issue of the journal Psychological Science, men who viewed images of friendly women misidentified 12 percent of the images as sexually interested. Women mistook 8.7 percent of the friendly images for sexual interest.

Both men and women were even more likely to do the opposite -- when viewing images of sexually interested women, men mistakenly called 37.8 percent of the images "friendly." Women mistook 31.9 percent of the sexual interest cues for friendliness.

Using data from the Hinode and RHESSI solar observatories, astronomers have discovered that solar flares - explosions in the atmosphere of the sun - get much hotter when they stay "focused."

Dr Ryan Milligan of Oak Ridge Association of Universities, Tennessee, who is stationed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the US, will present his result on Wednesday 2 April at RAS National Astronomy Meeting in Belfast.

Solar flares are caused by the sudden release of magnetic energy. The largest can release as much energy as a billion one-megaton nuclear bombs. However, the flare observed in this study was a much more common "micro" flare. Researchers at space agencies like NASA and ESA want to understand flares because they generate radiation that can be hazardous to unprotected astronauts, like those walking on the surface of the Moon.

I got some questions from a writer named Captain Carrot who deduced that, because I write this column for peanuts, I must also be available for free science consultation and/or general life and relationship advice.

Here is a sample:

I am 27. Should I try to stop smoking, or will I regret it later in life?

Most of you know me well enough by now to realize that, unless you provide proof you are a supermodel, I am unlikely to even bother learning to spell your name.

Amit Kagian, an M.Sc. graduate from the TAU School of Computer Sciences, has successfully “taught” a computer how to interpret attractiveness in women.

The notion that beauty can be boiled down to binary data and interpreted by a mathematical model is nothing new. More than 2,000 years ago the Greek mystic, philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras observed the connection between math, geometry and beauty. He reasoned that features of physical objects corresponding to the “golden ratio” were considered most attractive.

But there’s a more serious dimension to this issue that reaches beyond mere vanity. The discovery is a step towards developing artificial intelligence in computers. Other applications for the software could be in plastic and reconstructive surgery and computer visualization programs such as face recognition technologies.

Selenium is a trace element used in proteins, in the form of the twenty-first naturally occurring amino acid (selenocysteine).

Selenium supplementation, for example in mineral tablets, might not be that beneficial for the majority of people according to researchers writing in Genome Biology.

Although this trace element is essential in the diet of humans, it seems that we have lost some of the need for selenium, which occurs in proteins and is transported in blood plasma, when our evolutionary ancestors left the oceans and evolved into mammals.

Unless a researcher owns stock in a company whose drug is being tested, telling potential research volunteers about an investigator’s financial interests is unlikely to affect their willingness to volunteer, a new study shows. But many research volunteers put less trust in clinical trial leaders with financial conflicts.

For the study, Jeremy Sugarman, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., professor at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and his colleagues at Duke University School of Medicine and Wake Forest Schools of Medicine and Law recruited 3,623 adults with asthma or diabetes from a national database of individuals who are willing to participate in internet-based research. Overall, the recruits, almost all white, were well educated and had middle to high income levels. They were located in all regions of the United States.

Most of the respondents indicated that the financial disclosure was less important to their decision about participating than such factors as potential risks and benefits, and the purpose of the research.

VANCOUVER, Canada, April 3 /PRNewswire/ --

- Small-cap Conference Provides Trans-Orient the Opportunity to Bring Greater Awareness to the Company's Waipawa-Whangai Fractured Oil-Shale Play

VANCOUVER, Canada, April 3 /PRNewswire/ --

Canadian-based oil and gas exploration company Trans-Orient Petroleum Ltd. (OTCBB/TOPLF) is pleased to announce today that it will deliver a presentation at the Annual Small-Cap Conference Series in Calgary, Alberta. Drew Cadenhead, Chief Operating Officer, Trans-Orient Petroleum Ltd. is scheduled to present to investment representatives on Saturday, April 5th at 10:50 a.m. MDT at the Artists of the World Conference Centre in Calgary.