A study funded by the Atlanta-based Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) analyzed the viewing patterns of men and women looking at sexual photographs, and the result was not what one typically might expect. 

Researchers hypothesized women would look at faces and men at genitals, but, surprisingly, they found men are more likely than women to first look at a woman's face before other parts of the body, and women focused longer on photographs of men performing sexual acts with women than did the males. These types of results could play a key role in helping researchers to understand human sexual desires and its ultimate effect on public health.

For the growing number of people with diminished immune systems - cancer patients, transplant recipients, those with HIV/AIDS - infection by a ubiquitous mold known as Aspergillus fumigatus can be a death sentence.

The fungus, which is found in the soil, on plant debris and indoor air, is easily managed by the healthy immune system. But as medical advances contribute to a growing population of people whose immune systems are weakened by disease or treatment, the opportunistic fungus poses a serious risk.

Much of the research surrounding childhood asthma has sought new approaches to managing the disease. However, little was done to address other conditions that often appear along with asthma including depression and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which can negatively affect a child’s ability to cope.

Research completed at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital asserts that until these extra conditions or "co-morbidities" are addressed, asthma education programs will not be able to help young patients to the fullest. The results will be published in the April 12 issue of The Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

Since the 2001 launch of the Human Genome Project, which released a first draft of the entire sequence of human DNA, many researchers have dedicated themselves to creating a library of comprehensive, species-specific genetic sequence "maps" available for study. Scientists at LSU recently took part in the International Rhesus Macaque Sequence and Analysis Consortium, which successfully detailed the full DNA sequence of the rhesus macaque, the third primate – including humans – to undergo sequencing. The results will be published in the journal Science on Friday, April 13.

I originally wrote this equation for an interview on the PRI radio program Fair Game, but we got to chatting and ran out of time, so I thought I'd blog it as well.

Let me first say that I think it would be a lot of fun to invade Trinidad. While I mean no disrespect to Trinidad, I'm fairly certain it would not be an overly cumbersome task for the U.S. military (even extended as they are).

And the exit strategy would be obvious: after Carnival, we come home. We could make it a yearly event — invade Trinidad, party for a couple weeks, and then bring the troops home.

I rubbed the belly of the Gene Genie , and it revealed unto me that I shall search the OMIM database with the term "nine". So, let's venture into the unknown expanse of the human genome (cue some Carl Sagan space documentary music).

At MIT, researchers are working on an early version of intelligent, robotic helpers--a humanoid called Domo who grasp objects and place them on shelves or counters. Domo is the "next generation" of earlier robots built at MIT-Kismet, which was designed to interact with humans, and Cog, which could learn to manipulate unknown objects.

In the futuristic cartoon series "The Jetsons," a robotic maid named Rosie whizzed around the Jetsons' home doing household chores--cleaning, cooking dinner and washing dishes. The technology is not quite there yet.

The powerful earthquake struck suddenly, shaking the seven-story building so hard it bent, cracked and swayed in response.

But this was no ordinary earthquake. In a groundbreaking series of tests, engineering researchers from UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering jarred a full-size 275-ton building erected on a shake table, duplicating ground motions recorded during the January 17, 1994 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles, California.

Michael Marmor, MD, wanted to know what it was like to see through the eyes of an artist. Literally.

After writing two books on the topic of artists and eye disease, the Stanford University School of Medicine ophthalmologist decided to go one step further and create images that would show how artists with eye disease actually saw their world and their canvases.

Researchers from the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing used recently acquired topographic data from satellites to reveal an ancient mega-lake in the Darfur province of northwestern Sudan. Drs. Eman Ghoneim and Farouk El-Baz made the finding while investigating Landsat images and Radarsat data. Radar waves are able to penetrate the fine-grained sand cover in the hot and dry eastern Sahara to reveal buried features.