In the remote desert highlands of southern Yemen, a team of archaeologists have discovered new evidence of ancient transitions from hunting and herding to irrigation agriculture 5,200 years ago.

As part of a larger program of archaeological research, Michael Harrower from the University of Toronto and The Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia (RASA) team explored the Wadi Sana watershed documenting 174 ancient irrigation structures, modeled topography and hydrology, and interviewed contemporary camel and goat herders and irrigation farmers.

By measuring a peak in the temperature of hot gas in the center of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4649, scientists have determined the mass of the galaxy's supermassive black hole. The method, applied for the first time, gives results that are consistent with a traditional technique.

Astronomers have been seeking different, independent ways of precisely weighing the largest supermassive black holes, that is, those that are billions of times more massive than the sun. Until now, methods based on observing the motions of stars or of gas in a disk near such large black holes had been used.

"This is tremendously important work since black holes can be elusive, and there are only a couple of ways to weigh them accurately," said Philip Humphrey, leader of the study and an assistant project scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCI. David Buote, associate professor of physics and astronomy at UCI, also worked on this study.

Women exposed to high levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls – a group of banned environmental pollutants) are less likely to give birth to male children, according to a study published today in Environmental Health.

The researchers found that among women from the San Francisco Bay Area, those exposed to higher levels of PCBs during the 50s and 60s, were significantly more likely to give birth to female children.

Similar exposure is thought to have occurred in Wales, after a quarry on the edge of Groesfaen village near Cardiff was used as a toxic dumping ground from 1965 to 1972.

A two-year study led by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) reveals that low-carbohydrate and Mediterranean diets may be just as safe and effective in achieving weight loss as the standard, medically prescribed low-fat diet, according to a new study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

In the study, 322 moderately obese people were intensively monitored and were randomly assigned one of three diets: a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet; a Mediterranean calorie-restricted diet with the highest level of dietary fiber and monounsaturated/saturated fat; or a low-carbohydrate diet with the least amount of carbohydrates, highest fat, protein, and dietary cholesterol. The low-carb dieters had no caloric intake restrictions.

It's no secret that the Commonwealth Fund doesn't like private health care and their new national scorecard states that scores on access have declined significantly since the first national scorecard in 2006. Despite spending more on health care than any other industrialized nation, they state, the U.S. overall continues to fall far short on key indicators of health outcomes and quality, with particularly low scores on efficiency.

There are currently great needs and great opportunities for improvement in post-secondary science education. As world education improves, we need to provide more students with complex understanding and problem solving skills in technical subjects to allow them to be responsible and successful citizens in modern society.

Emerging research indicates that our colleges and universities are not achieving this. However, there are great opportunities to improve this situation using advances in the understanding of how people learn science and advances in educational technology.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanosconiosis is a type of lung disease. Pneumoconiosis, also called black lung or coal-miners disease, is different, but is estimated to be the cause of death for 1,500 U.S. coal miners. Besides being bizarre, words like these can be largely informative. The top scientific and mathematical words and laws judging off of complexity can transpire into a largely personal-opinion-oriented endeavor. Astute denizens of cyberspace expounded on a list of some semi-rare and contentious terms and classified them into an “organized mess.”

WASHINGTON, July 15 /PRNewswire/ --

XBRL International and XBRL US today jointly announced "The Ultimate Client: Business Reporting for Investors, Government and Citizens", a global conference that will explore how improved business and financial reporting through interactive data will affect investor communications, governance, risk and compliance as well as government reporting.

LONDON, July 15 /PRNewswire/ --

The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 32.47 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in June, an increase of 230,000 b/d from the May level of 32.24 million b/d, according to the latest Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials. Higher volumes from Saudi Arabia accounted for almost all of the increase.

Excluding Iraq, the 12 members bound by OPEC output agreements pumped an average 29.98 million b/d in June, up from 29.75 million b/d in May, and 307,000 b/d in excess of their 29.673 million b/d output target, the survey showed.

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, July 15 /PRNewswire/ --

More than 150 Muslim and Christian leaders, including some of the world's most eminent scholars and clerics, will gather at Yale University July 28-31 to promote understanding between the two faiths, whose members comprise more than half the world's population.

Prominent political figures and representatives of the Jewish community also will speak at the conference, which launches a series of interfaith events planned around the world over the next two years. These gatherings respond to the call for dialogue issued in an open letter, A Common Word Between Us and You, written by major Islamic leaders, to which Yale scholars responded with a statement that garnered over 500 signatures.