Writing in Alcoholism: Clinical&Experimental Research, scientists say that older adults who have more money, engage in more social activities, and whose friends approve more of drinking are more likely to engage in excessive or high-risk drinking.

Researchers examined 719 (399 men, 320 women) 55 to 65-year-old adults at baseline (between 1986-1988), and then again 10 and 20 years later. At each contact point, participants provided information regarding their drinking, as well as their social and financial resources.

Through the use of sophisticated brain-imaging techniques, researchers at UCLA say they have been able to predict a brain's progression to Alzheimer's by measuring subtle changes in brain structure over time, changes that occur long before symptoms can be seen. The research appears in two separate papers published in Human Brain Mapping and Neurobiology of Aging.

Painting the roofs of buildings white may reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect by as much as 33 percent, significantly cooling off cities and helping society adjust to the changing climate, suggests a new study soon to be published in Geophysical Research Letters.

The study's authors used a newly developed computer model to simulate the amount of solar

Researchers say they have devised a new strategy that increases the likelihood of a recipient's immune system accepting embryonic stem cell transplants. The strategy involves fusing bone marrow cells to embryonic stem cells. Once fused, the hybrid cells have DNA from both the donor and recipient, raising hopes that immune rejection of embryonic stem cell therapies can be avoided without drugs. The findings appear in the February issue of the FASEB Journal

The government financial support that has bolstered America's commercial news industry since its colonial days is now in sharp decline and is likely to fall further, according to a report released today by the University of Southern California's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. Because these cutbacks are occurring at the height of the digital revolution, they will have an especially powerful impact on an already weakened news industry.

Writing in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers say that many of the health benefits of aerobic exercise are due to the most recent exercise session, and the nature of these benefits can be greatly affected by the food we eat afterwards.

Researchers from George Washington University and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology have discovered a new species of Jurassic theropod dinosaur called Haplocheirus sollers in Xinjiang, China. The team says the discovery illustrates how one family of dinosaurs called Alvarezsauridae came to look like birds independent of birds.

WARNING!  Very bad joke alert.  Please engage brain before reading further.

Scoop!  Newsflash!  No Science At IPCC!

Following hot on the heels of recent news about emails, glaciers and rainforests comes a new discovery that will warm the hearts of climate change deniers everywhere.  It is indisputable fact that the IPCC does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters.

Since when has systems biology been a synonym for genomics?

This is from a Perspective piece in the Oct. 2 issue of Science:

The relative value of discovery aimed at hypothesis generation versus hypothesis testing has been debated. High-profile journals publish systems biology studies, including the human genome sequence, but most papers focus on hypothesis-driven investigations.