- How to feed a hungry world
Producing enough food for the world's population in 2050 will be easy. But doing it at an acceptable cost to the planet will depend on research into everything from high-tech seeds to low-tech farming practices. - Save the census
The Canadian government should rethink its decision to change the way census data are collected. - Palaeontology: Burrow builders
Geology38, 711?714 (2010) 10.1130/G30829.1Fossil burrows in ocean sediments from the Precambrian?Cambrian period about 540 million years ago are ubiquitous in the fossil record, but the creatures that created these Treptichnus burrows (pictured, left) remained a mystery. - Physics: Mini mass
Phys. Rev. Lett. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.031301 (2010)The mass of the elusive neutrino is less than 0.28 electronvolts ? the lowest upper limit predicted so far ? according to Shaun Thomas and his colleagues at University College London.Neutrinos are abundant in - Geoscience: When sea ice melts
Geophys. Res. Lett. doi:10.1029/2010GL042496 (2010)Rapid loss of floating sea ice is contributing a tiny amount, 50 micrometres, to the current annual global sea-level rise of around 3 millimetres.Andrew Shepherd of the University of Leeds, UK, and his colleagues
- Rocks on Mars may provide link to evidence of living organisms roughly 4 billion years ago
A new paper reveals groundbreaking research on the hydrothermal formation of Clay-Carbonate rocks in the Nili Fossae region of Mars. The findings may provide a link to evidence of living organisms on Mars, roughly 4 billion years ago in the Noachian period. - Calcium supplements linked to increased risk of heart attack, study finds
Calcium supplements, commonly taken by older people for osteoporosis, are associated with an increased risk of a heart attack, a new study finds. - Audubon's first engraving of a bird discovered
In 1824, John James Audubon (1785-1851), the eminent American artist, created a drawing of a running grouse for use in the design for a New Jersey bank note. Although the artist mentions the drawing and the resulting engraved paper money in two separate diary entries, no one has ever been able to locate or identify such an illustration. Until now. - Resting brain activity associated with spontaneous fibromyalgia pain
A recent study provides the first direct evidence of linkage between elevated intrinsic (resting-state) brain connectivity and spontaneous pain intensity in patients with fibromyalgia. This research shows an interaction of multiple brain networks, offering greater understanding of how pain arises. - Black carbon implicated in global warming
Increasing the ratio of black carbon to sulfate in the atmosphere increases climate warming, suggests a new study.
- Transforaminal steroid injection for lumbar radicular pain proves superior to placebo
A recent study from Australian researchers determined that transforaminal injection of steroids was a viable alternative to surgery for lumbar radicular pain due to disc herniation. Full details of... - Clinical trials can be improved by managing the learning curve
DURHAM, N.C. — Practitioners of clinical medicine are familiar with learning curves, and strategies like simulation are increasingly used to minimize learning-curve effects on clinical care.... - 30 million women to benefit from health reform law
New York, NY, July 30, 2010 — Thirty million women will benefit from the new health reform law over the next decade, either through new or strengthened insurance coverage, according to a new... - New study: Tools that assess bias in standardized tests are flawed
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Overturning more than 40 years of accepted practice, new research proves that the tools used to check tests of “general mental ability” for bias are themselves... - Story tips from the Department of Energy?s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, August 2010
To arrange for an interview with a researcher, please contact the Communications and External Relations staff member identified at the end of each tip. For more information on ORNL and its research...
