Researchers from Spain and Croatia led an investigation into the peculiar lifestyle of numerous spider species, which live, feed, breed and ‘walk’ in an upside-down hanging position. According to their results, such ‘unconventional’ enterprise drives a shape in spiders that confers high energy efficiency, as in oscillatory pendulums.

The great majority of land animals evolved to use the ground as the main support for their motion. Accordingly, they evolved legs capable of supporting the weight of their whole bodies, enabling them to move around with their heads above their feet.

However, many spider species found it more convenient to literally turn their world upside down. They spend most of their lives hanging suspended by their legs, and ‘walk’ by swinging under the influence of gravity.

LONDON, March 26 /PRNewswire/ --

Unite, the UK's largest trade union, is calling on the government and the UK's nuclear regulator to licence global designs for the new generation of UK power stations.

Unite, which has more than 26,000 energy sector members, says that a standard design is vital to encourage the largest number of bids for the new build nuclear contracts and to give UK industry the opportunity to supply the construction and manufacturing requirements.

The union says that as well as securing thousands of existing jobs, 10,000 additional jobs could be created if the UK regulator licence designs that could be used throughout the world.

LOS ANGELES, March 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Musician Latest to Join Chorus Expressing Support for Presidential Hopeful Barack Obama with New Web Site www.ObamaRocks08.com and Free Music Download "Obama, Yes We Can"

Andy Fraser, legendary musician, songwriter and activist best known for penning the rock anthem "All Right Now" for the 70s British Rock Band, Free, and Robert Palmer's mega-hit "Every Kinda People" has officially come out to support Senator Barack Obama's run for President in song.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080325/CLTU057 )

A new study reviewing 75 group-randomized cancer trials over a five-year stretch shows that fewer than half of those studies used appropriate statistical methods to analyze the results. The review suggests that some trials may have reported that interventions to prevent disease or reduce cancer risks were effective when in fact they might not have been.

More than a third of the trials contained statistical analyses that the reviewers considered inappropriate to assess the effects of an intervention being studied. And 88 percent of those studies reported statistically significant intervention effects that, because of analysis flaws, could be misleading to scientists and policymakers, the review authors say.

REDMOND, Washington and MILAN, Italy, March 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Companies to collaborate on the development of open source solutions for the Microsoft Office product suite.

Microsoft Corp and Sourcesense, a leading European open source systems integration consultancy, today announced that the two companies will collaborate on the strategy, development and deployment of open source solutions for the Microsoft Office product suite.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, March 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Institutional Identification System is Positioned to Become the Industry Standard

Thomson Scientific, a leading provider of information solutions to the worldwide research and business communities, and Ringgold, Inc. have announced the availability of Journal Analysis Database Expanded (JADE), which allows users to see a detailed analysis of authors and subscribers of a journal, or set of journals, using precisely defined definitions of the "publishing institutions" to which those authors and subscribers belong.

RALEIGH, North Carolina, March 25 /PRNewswire/ --

DARA BioSciences(TM) (Nasdaq: DARA) announced today the appointment of John Didsbury, Ph.D. as President and Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Didsbury has served as DARA's Chief Scientific Officer since November 2006. Dr. Didsbury previously served as President and CEO of Nuada Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Didsbury replaces Richard A. Franco, who notified the Board of Directors on March 21, 2008 of his decision to resign.

LONDON, March 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Valentine's Day Drives Traffic to Flowers, Gifts & Greetings Sites

- New Firefox Browser Helps Mozilla Organisation Grow to More than 3 Million Visitors

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its February rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in the U.K. based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080115/COMSCORELOGO)

When people think about the destruction and degradation of tropical forests, they tend to focus on rainforests. Tropical dry forests tend to get overlooked. They aren’t as striking - no cathedral-like understorey, no mind-boggling biodiversity. But more importantly, they often just aren’t there. Over much of their potential range they have simply been erased from the landscape. They may have covered as much as 42% of the land area in the tropics¹, but have been reduced to less than 27% of their former range in Mexico², and as little as 2% in Central America³ and New Caledonia⁴.

Despite this fact, tropical dry forests are often seen as being quite well-adapted to human disturbance.

Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time – something specific, like going down into a dark cellar where you know the Book of the Dead is waiting,or, in a more general sense, trepidation about what the future holds. Some people are gripped by powerful fears when confronted by quite normal everyday situations. For example, sufferers of agoraphobia frequently have panic attacks when caught up in a crowd.

Their blood 'curdles' or 'freezes in their veins' in a very real way, saya a Bonn-based research team, and it leads to increased risk of thrombosis or heart attack

The symptoms can be dramatic: palpitations, sweating, shaking, blind panic or fainting – even leading to death. Another anxiety disorder frequently encountered can be described as social phobia. Those affected fear above all situations in which they become the centre of attention in a group. They begin to stutter or turn red. In order not to avoid embarrassment, social phobia sufferers may become recluses, shying away from human contact and staying at home.