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AboveNet Announces Connectivity And Proximity Hosting Services With Chi-X Europe

AboveNet Announces Connectivity And Proximity Hosting Services With Chi-X Europe

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

LONDON, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- AboveNet, a leading provider of fibre optic connectivity solutions for business and carriers, today announced an agreement with multilateral trading facility Chi-X Europe. This agreement will provide financial institutions with ultra-low latency connectivity and proximity hosting for accessing Chi-X Europe's market data and trading platform services.

Brady Strategy Producing Strong Profits

Brady Strategy Producing Strong Profits

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

LONDON, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Brady plc (BRY.L), the leading supplier of trading and risk management solutions for metals and commodities, has announced significant progress and released preliminary results showing year-on-year operating profits that have more than doubled and pre-tax profits up by an impressive 63% to GBP1 million. Recurring revenue has increased by 36% to 35% of total revenues. New contract signings have trebled and there is significant growth in the sales opportunity pipeline. Sales revenues have increased 8% over 2007 to GBP6.2 million.

Brendan Light Of BuzzBack Market Research Hosts Free Online Consumer Research Webinar On March 18 And 19

Brendan Light Of BuzzBack Market Research Hosts Free Online Consumer Research Webinar On March 18 And 19

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

NEW YORK, March 11 /PRNewswire/ --

Brendan Light, Senior Vice President of Research and Product Development at BuzzBack Market Research will host two free Webinars: New Ways to Improve Online Consumer Research, on Wednesday, March 18 at 2 PM Eastern and Thursday, March 19 at 10 AM Eastern.

Neo Booking SA: Launch Of BookingDooH.com - The Only Global Digital-out-of-Home Online Planning And Booking Platform

Neo Booking SA: Launch Of BookingDooH.com - The Only Global Digital-out-of-Home Online Planning And Booking Platform

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Neo Booking SA, is launching the first global online planning and booking platform for digital-out-of-home advertising, called BookingDooH (http://www.bookingdooh.com).

BookingDooh is a free virtual marketplace for Digital-out-of-Home operators and media buyers. The platform provides a clear and simple insight into the DooH business and proposes innovative workflow processes for advertisers on the DooH market.

Economists: Don't Follow Us, We're Lost Too

Economists: Don't Follow Us, We're Lost Too

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

You wouldn't think that tanking an economy would make anyone happy but it puts a spring in the steps of a small group; economics professors.    

If the lousy economy is cause for a party, the election of Barack Obama and more government meandering is apparently icing on the cake.    Witness Professor Panicos Demetriades of the Economic and Social Research Council's World Economy and Finance  Programme, who is today speaking at the 'Politics of Macro-Adjustment and Poverty Reduction' Conference.
Stop Paying Attention And You Will Learn Better?

Stop Paying Attention And You Will Learn Better?

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

A new study challenges the prevailing assumption that you must pay attention to something in order to learn it. Research in the journal Neuron says that stimulus-reward pairing can elicit visual learning in adults ... even without awareness of the stimulus presentation or reward contingencies. 
Who Watches The Watchmen? Making The Unmakeable Film

Who Watches The Watchmen? Making The Unmakeable Film

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

The story’s Superman figure doubts if humanity is worth saving. Its Batman is impotent. Its Wonder Woman has mommy issues. And its closest thing to a protagonist also is a murderous sociopath.

Welcome to the world of Watchmen, considered by many to be the greatest comic book ever written. Dalhousie University english professor Anthony Enns, who teaches the course “Cartoons and Comics,” appreciates why people feel that way. He remembers Alan Moore’s comic being a sensation from the moment it first hit shelves over 20 years ago.

“If you were into comics then, everyone was taking about it, all the time,” he says. “People would gather and have these endless debates about what would happen next issue.”
Religious Kids Are Healthier, Says Study

Religious Kids Are Healthier, Says Study

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

Like adults, kids who are more spiritual or religious tend to be healthier. 

That’s the conclusion of Dr. Barry Nierenberg, Ph.D., ABPP, associate professor of psychology at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who has been studying the relationship between faith and health. He presented on the topic at the American Psychological Association’s Division of Rehabilitation Psychology national conference on February 27, in Jackson, Fla. 
Beta Blocker Propranolol Helps Eliminate 'Fear' Response

Beta Blocker Propranolol Helps Eliminate 'Fear' Response

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

Want to be fearless?   Create an army of super soldiers?   A limited test case may be on to something.  

A team of Dutch researchers led by Vici-winner Merel Kindt at Universiteit van Amsterdam has successfully reduced the 'fear response' - they weakened fear memories in human volunteers by administering the beta-blocker propranolol.   Most interestingly, the fear response does not return. 

Can fear be deleted?
Cobalt Oxide Nanocrystals And Artificial Photosynthesis

Cobalt Oxide Nanocrystals And Artificial Photosynthesis

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

For millions of years, green plants have employed photosynthesis to capture energy from sunlight and convert it into electrochemical energy. A goal of scientists has been to develop an artificial version of photosynthesis that can be used to produce liquid fuels from carbon dioxide and water. Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratoryhave now taken a critical step towards this goal with the discovery that nano-sized crystals of cobalt oxide can effectively carry out the critical photosynthetic reaction of splitting water molecules.
Unhealthy Behavior Can Be 'Socially' Contagious, Says Study

Unhealthy Behavior Can Be 'Socially' Contagious, Says Study

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

Human problems rarely occur in a vacuum, but persist as part of ongoing social interaction in which causes and effects are interwoven. One person's behavior can set the stage for what another does. A new study in the journal Family Process reveals that smoking can promote emotional connection for couples when both partners smoke.

Health-compromising behaviors, such as smoking or weight gain, may sometimes persist because they preserve stability in a vital close relationship. 
Geopolitical Worldviews Shaped For You, Courtesy Of Disposition Theory

Geopolitical Worldviews Shaped For You, Courtesy Of Disposition Theory

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

Humor is a powerful communications tool with potential political implications at various levels of society, as the recent Danish political cartoon representations of Islamic prophet Mohammad and the political repercussions and resulting economic boycotts demonstrated. A new paper by Darren Purcell, Melissa Scott Brown and Mahmut Gokmen looks at humor as an important form of popular culture in the creation of geopolitical worldviews.
Top 10 Sources Of Gamma Rays (We Can See)

Top 10 Sources Of Gamma Rays (We Can See)

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

A new map combining nearly three months of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is giving astronomers an unprecedented look at the high-energy cosmos. To Fermi's "eyes", the universe is ablaze with gamma rays from sources within the solar system to galaxies billions of light-years away.

A paper describing the 205 brightest sources the LAT sees has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Supplement. "This is the mission's first major science product, and it's a big step toward producing our first source catalog later this year," said David Thompson, a Fermi deputy project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
User Clickstreams Lead To A 'Map Of Science'

User Clickstreams Lead To A 'Map Of Science'

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

While science is of tremendous societal importance, it is difficult to probe the often hidden world of scientific creativity. Most studies of scientific activity rely on citation data, which takes a while to become available because both the cited publication and the publication of a particular citation can take years to appear. In other words, citation data observes science as it existed years in the past, not the present.

What we need is a Map Of Science.

Enter a group of Los Alamos researchers who created a high-resolution graphic depiction of the virtual trails scientists leave behind when they retrieve information from online services.
Platinum Nanowires Energize The Fuel Cell Future

Platinum Nanowires Energize The Fuel Cell Future

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

The creation of long platinum nanowires at the University of Rochester could soon lead to the development of commercially viable fuel cells.

Described in a paper published today in the journal Nano Letters, the new wires should provide significant increases in both the longevity and efficiency of fuel cells, which have until now been used largely for such exotic purposes as powering spacecraft. Nanowire enhanced fuel cells could power many types of vehicles, helping reduce the use of petroleum fuels for transportation, according to lead author James C. M. Li, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Rochester.
Medical Miracle: 7-Year-Old Girl Has Six Organs Removed For Tumor Surgery ... And Then Put Back

Medical Miracle: 7-Year-Old Girl Has Six Organs Removed For Tumor Surgery ... And Then Put Back

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

A 7-year-old girl from Long Island, NY, is on her way home a little more than four weeks after receiving a historic surgery that involved the removal and partial re-implantation of six organs in order to resect an abdominal tumor that otherwise would be inoperable. The 23-hour surgery, which began on Feb. 6, was led by Dr. Tomoaki Kato at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, and is the first reported pediatric case of its kind.
Salt May Be An Antidepressant - Which Would Also Explain Why It's Addictive

Salt May Be An Antidepressant - Which Would Also Explain Why It's Addictive

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

Most people consume far too much salt, and a University of Iowa researcher has discovered one potential reason we crave it: it might put us in a better mood.

UI psychologist Kim Johnson and colleagues found in their research that when rats are deficient in sodium chloride, common table salt, they shy away from activities they normally enjoy, like drinking a sugary substance or pressing a bar that stimulates a pleasant sensation in their brains.

"Things that normally would be pleasurable for rats didn't elicit the same degree of relish, which leads us to believe that a salt deficit and the craving associated with it can induce one of the key symptoms associated with depression," Johnson said.
Thomson Reuters Publishes Pharma Matters White Paper, 'The Five Myths Of Generic Competition'

Thomson Reuters Publishes Pharma Matters White Paper, 'The Five Myths Of Generic Competition'

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, March 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- Unique Survey Shows Much Room for Originator Pharmaceutical Companies to Improve Their Understanding of Generic Competition

The Healthcare and Science business of Thomson Reuters today released the white paper, The Five Myths of Generic Competition, highlighting what originator pharmaceutical and biotech companies can do to improve their forecasting of the likely timing, source and intensity of competition from generic drugs.

The findings in this white paper are based on an independent survey of commercial professionals in pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The research was conducted by Thomson Reuters during May and June 2008.

Recession Leads 1 In 3 Smokers To Cut Down Or Quit

Recession Leads 1 In 3 Smokers To Cut Down Or Quit

Mar 11 2009 | comment(s)

LONDON, March 11 /PRNewswire/ --

New research released to mark No Smoking Day (11 March) shows more than one in three (36%) of the nine million smokers in Great Britain are thinking about or planning to cut down or quit as a direct result of the economic downturn. The poll also shows that one in ten (9%) will be taking the first step and making a quit attempt on No Smoking Day.

No Smoking Day President and Dragons' Den star, Duncan Bannatyne, commented on the findings: Everybody is feeling the pinch during the current recession.

For smokers, who can spend over GBP2000 a year on cigarettes, it's particularly tough, so for those who are ready to quit there has never been a better time.

I Am Convinced That It Is The Light And The Way

I Am Convinced That It Is The Light And The Way

Mar 10 2009 | comment(s)

This statement about natural selection is the last sentence of Adaptation and Natural Selection, George Williams' masterpiece about evolution. George Williams is one of the unsung heroes of 20th century science. An evolutionary biologist I know (who shall remain anonymous to spare him/her public shaming) claimed not to know who was George Williams. I was/still am aghast. This anonymous evolutionary biologist is the inspiration for this post, indeed for my series of citation classics (see also here).