New research says that we should be looking to the ground, not the sky, to see where climate change could have its most perilous impact on life on Earth.  Scientists at the University of Toronto Scarborough have published research findings in Nature Geoscience that says global warming actually changes the molecular structure of organic matter in soil.

Only people in the tobacco industry denial mindset realistically state that repeated exposure to sex and violence in the media does not lead to problems in children but television advocates can at least latch on to a study saying they may be the biggest but they aren't the only problem; a new study by Myeshia Price and Dr. Janet Hyde from the University of Wisconsin in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence says low self-esteem, poor relationships with parents, and low academic achievement are some of the other factors that may add up to young people having sex before the age of 15.

Drs. John Sij, Cristine Morgan and Paul DeLaune have studied nitrate levels in irrigation water from the Seymour Aquifer for the past three years, and have found nitrates can be as high as 40 parts per million. Though unacceptable for drinking, the water would benefit agricultural producers who use it for irrigation. 

This high concentration of nitrates is a concern because it exceeds the federal safe drinking water standards as the aquifer is used as a municipal water source for the communities of Vernon, Burkburnett and Electra, as well as some rural families, Sij said. 

A reconstruction of an extreme warm period shows the sensitivity of the climate system to changes in carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels as well as the strong influence of ocean temperatures, heat transport from equatorial regions, and greenhouse gases on Earth's temperature.

The researchers say the new data allow for more accurate predictions of future climate and improved understanding of today's warming because past warm periods provide insight into climate change and are natural laboratories for understanding the global climate system.

Scientists from the Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM) group, led by the U.S. Geological Survey, examined fossils from 3.3 to 3.0 million years ago, known as the mid-Pliocene warm period.

Showing loved ones that you're thinking of them is still the main focus at Christmas time but are traditional cards becoming outmoded by technology?   Results of a survey published today conducted by Christmas video messaging site Christmasee.com shows that whilst cards remain popular, nearly one in four (23 per cent) of those surveyed intend to send fewer cards or no cards at all this Christmas.

As daily use of the internet becomes more commonplace, almost a quarter (24 per cent) of under 45's quizzed view sending Christmas cards as old fashioned and believe that there are more effective ways to share greetings.

Half of those cutting back on the number of cards they'll send this year attribute their decision to the current economic climate.

A growth hormone that had shown some promise for treating people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) showed no benefit in a new study published in Neurology. 

Two previous, shorter studies using growth hormone insulin-like growth factor-1, or IGF-1, to treat ALS had conflicting results. A North American study found that the drug was beneficial, while a European study found no benefit. 

Don't give up the driving range just yet, but a group of physicists at the 61st Meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics say they can optimize a golf ball with numerical simulations, leaving prototyping to verify manufacturing rather than as part of the design.

That means some day you could have a golf ball optimized for your swing.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia and NEW YORK, November 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- Identifies the Web's 20 Most Heard Voices in the United Kingdom

- World's Largest Participatory News Network Measures the Visibility and Connectedness of the United Kingdom's Movers and Shakers

Were you first in line to buy a new iPhone?   Or are you still using your handy Motorola StarTAC from 1998?    Do you like changing jobs now and again because you get bored?

These personality traits may be hard-wired in your brain, according to scientists at the University of Bonn.   They say the neural connection between the ventral striatum and the hippocampus is what makes the difference. Both of them are reward centers in the brain. The reward system which urges us to take action is located in the striatum, whereas the hippocampus is responsible for specific memory functions.

Russian semiologist Yuri M. Lotman has analyzed how epidemics of fear work through the study of witch-hunting processes that claimed thousands of victims in Catholic and Protestant countries centuries ago.

In the article, published in the latest edition of the Revista de Occidente magazine, the most senior representative of cultural semiotics in Spain highlighted that the witch persecution intensity curve “paradoxically coincides with progress in the field of culture and science”. “As Renaissance ideas spread, so do fear and processes”, asserted the expert.