Washington, October 15 : A research council in the United Kingdom has launched the world’s largest ever household longitudinal study to understand how changes occurring in the ever-evolving societies affect human communities.
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) hopes that the ‘Understanding Society’ project will provide valuable new evidence to inform research on the vital issues facing our communities.
The initial funding of 15.5million dollars for the project comes from the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills and the ESRC.
This project is said to eb the largest single investment in academic social research resources ever launched in the UK.
Washington, October 15: For freshers, social networking site ‘Facebook’ is the best way to ease anxiety and loneliness during the crucial first year, shows a new study.
According to the researchers at the University of Leicester, a high percentage of freshers used the Internet to smooth the settling-in process by using social networking sites and podcasting.
The survey questioned 221 first year students and found 55 percent had registered at the social networking site before entering the university while 43 percent had joined straight away after starting university.
Washington, Oct 15: A Chinese herb - more than 2,000-year-old - eaten as salad in many countries has been given a new twist to develop a compound to combat cancer.
According to researchers at the University of Washington, the new compound is more than 1,200 times more specific in killing certain kinds of cancer cells than currently available drugs, and paves the way for more effective chemotherapy drug with minimal side effects.
Washington, Oct 15 : An astronomer from the University of Calgary’s Rothney Astrophysical Observatory has discovered a new comet, which is the second Canadian discovery of a comet using a Canadian telescope in nearly a decade.
The astronomer, who found the comet, is Rob Cardinal, who, on October 1, saw something move while observing a patch of sky near the North Celestial Pole while using the observatory’s Baker-Nunn telescope.
A subsequent computer analysis of the images taken showed a moving object that, although faint by visual standards, was actually exceptionally bright for what was a suspected asteroid at the time.
Washington, Oct 15 : A scientist has found that coastal dead zones do indeed support marine life, and that at least one commercially valuable clam actually benefits from oxygen-depleted waters.
The scientist in question is Andrew Altieri, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University, who studied dead zones in Narragansett Bay, one of the largest estuaries on the U. S. East Coast.
He found that quahog clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) increased in number in hypoxic zones, defined as areas where dissolved oxygen in the water has been depleted.
Washington, October 15: For freshers, social networking site ‘Facebook’ is the best way to ease anxiety and loneliness during the crucial first year, shows a new study.
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