For the first time, a team of international researchers has found a way to view the accretion disks surrounding black holes and verify that their true electromagnetic spectra match what astronomers have long predicted they would be.

A black hole and its bright accretion disk have been thought to form a quasar, the powerful light source at the center of some distant galaxies. Using a polarizing filter, the research team, which included Robert Antonucci and Omer Blaes, professors of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, isolated the light emitted by the accretion disk from that produced by other matter in the vicinity of the black hole.

A recent study shows that popular fish oil supplements have an effect on the healing process of small, acute wounds in human skin. But whether that effect is detrimental, as researchers initially suspected, remains a mystery.

The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils are widely considered to benefit cardiovascular health and other diseases related to chronic inflammation because of their anti-inflammatory properties. But insufficient inflammation during the initial stage of wound healing may delay the advancement of later stages.

LONDON, July 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Software Solves the Challenges of Converting Pinnacle Files to New Omneon Playout Servers

AmberFin is pleased to announce the first results from its extensive work with Turner Entertainment Networks, a division of leading U.S. broadcaster Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.). By implementing AmberFin iCR Turner has resolved the incompatibility issues between its existing Pinnacle and incoming Omneon playout servers, saving over 46,000 hours of reingesting time and making over 200,000 video files accessible on its new servers.

CHICAGO, July 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Delivers Advanced Targeting and Campaign Optimization, Upholds Strict Consumer Permission & Data Privacy Standards

TOKYO, July 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- FIFA World Player of the Year (2007) to Promote Sony High Definition Products Globally

Sony Corporation today announced that Sony Latin America, Inc has signed a worldwide endorsement contract with Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, better known as Kaká, FIFA's 2007 World Player of the Year.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080723/314613 )

Kaká, renowned all over the world for his skill with a football, but especially in Europe and South America where football is an abiding passion, will globally promote Sony's High Definition (HD) products and a wide range of other Sony products.

Wealthy nations willing to collectively spend about $1 billion annually could prevent the emission of roughly half a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year for the next 25 years, says a new study. It would take about that much money to put an end to a tenth of the tropical deforestation in the world, which would lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions, they say, and reduce global carbon emissions by between 2 and 10 percent.

The calculation is one of several estimates described by a team of scientists and economists this week in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The calculations, based on three different forestry and land-use models, provide the best estimates so far of how much it would cost developed nations to participate in a program called "avoided deforestation" to reduce worldwide carbon emissions.

TORONTO, July 23 /PRNewswire/ --

- Service Providers in the U.S. Now Have Access to Redline's Full Suite of Advanced RedMAX Products

Redline Communications Group Inc. ("Redline") (TSX and AIM: RDL), a leading provider of WiMAX and broadband wireless infrastructure products, today announced that it has received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for its RedMAX(TM) AN100-UX Base Station and RedMAX(TM) SU-I Indoor Subscriber Unit in the United States. This approval completes the certification of Redline's full suite of WiMAX Forum Certified(R) 3.65 GHz RedMAX offerings.

A report by scientists from The Netherlands published in The FASEB Journal identifies a compound in human saliva that greatly speeds wound healing. This research may offer hope to people suffering from chronic wounds related to diabetes and other disorders, as well as traumatic injuries and burns.

In addition, because the compounds can be mass produced, they have the potential to become as common as antibiotic creams and rubbing alcohol.

Specifically, scientists found that histatin, a small protein in saliva previously only believed to kill bacteria was responsible for the healing.

The results of a new study suggest that past climate changes and sea level fluctuations may have promoted the formation of new species in the Amazon region of South America.

The Amazon basin is home to the richest diversity of life on earth - some place had to be it - yet the reasons why are not well understood. A team of American and Brazilian researchers studied three species of leafcutter ants from Central and South America to determine how geography and climate affect the formation of new species.

Climate changes during the last ice age affected where Amazonian species, such as leafcutter ants, were able to live, restricting some to isolated "refugia" that could cause them to evolve into new species.

Mark Mulac was once an avid lover of iced tea, downing up to six glasses a day. Unfortunately, he was forced to go cold turkey. Iced tea helped to bring on an excruciating bout of kidney stones that led to surgery at Loyola University Hospital in Maywood, Ill.

Iced tea contains high concentrations of oxalate, one of the key chemicals that lead to the formation of kidney stones, a common disorder of the urinary tract that affects about 10 percent of the population in the United States.

Kidney stones are crystals that form in the kidneys or ureters, the small tubes that drain the urine from the kidney to the bladder. Men are four times more likely to develop kidney stones than women, and their risk rises dramatically once they reach their 40s.