Moral behavior may increase our capacity for willpower and physical endurance, according to new research from Harvard University.

Participants in the new study who did good deeds -- or even just imagined themselves helping others -- were better able to perform a subsequent task of physical endurance. The research shows a similar or even greater boost in physical strength following dastardly deeds.

Results of the study are published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Many Americans go to foreign news sources for coverage of the war in Iraq and Palestinian-Israeli conflict because western media outlets censor gruesome war-time images, according to a study in Media, War and Conflict.

Researchers conducted two online surveys of Al-Jazeera Web users during November and December 2004. They found that most of those who use the Al-Jazeera English-language website are from the U.S., Canada, the U.K and Australia. Respondents indicated that they appreciate the graphic pictures of war they find on the site that they don't see in mainstream media. As one user explained:

NASA's Terra satellite has captured another image of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull-Fimmvörduháls volcano ash cloud, now moving into Germany. Eyjafjallajökull continues to spew ash into the air and the ash clouds are still impacting air travel in Northern Europe.

The satellite flew over the volcano on April 16 at 10:45 UTC (6:45 a.m. EDT) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS instrument aboard Terra captured a visible image of Eyjafjallajökull's ash plume over the England and the Netherlands, stretching into Germany.

Air travel into and out of northern Europe has either been grounded or diverted because volcanic ash particles pose a risk of damage to airplane engines.

Researchers from the University of Gothenburg have discovered a brand new species of bacterium found only in the Gullmarsfjord north of Gothenburg in Sweden. The new species has been dubbed Endoxenoturbella lovénii.

The bacterium is an endosymbiotic prokaryote living in the gut of a marine worm called Xenoturbella, a creature also unique to the Gullmarsfjord. Researchers identified two types of  endosymbiotic bacteria (Xenoturbellida, Bilateria). They say other scientists should consider the new endosymbionts "when interpreting the poorly understood ecology and evolution of Xenoturbella."
 

A new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research suggest that solar wind may charge polar lunar craters to hundreds of volts as it flows over natural obstructions on the moon.

The findings are important for NASA scientists who are investigating the resources, including water ice, which exist in polar lunar craters. Solar wind inflow into craters can erode the surface, which affects recently discovered water molecules. Static discharge could short out sensitive equipment, while the sticky and extremely abrasive lunar dust could wear out spacesuits and may be hazardous if tracked inside spacecraft and inhaled over long periods.