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ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2011) - It is becoming well accepted that, as well as too little exercise, too much sitting is bad for people's health. Now a new study has found that it is not just the length of time people spend sitting down that can make a difference, but also the number of breaks that they take while sitting at their desk or on their sofa. Plenty of breaks, even if they are as little as one minute, seem to be good for people's hearts and their waistlines.

"At least it doesn't when you practise over and over again without a break. Sydney scientists have found learning improves when students take a rest from continuous study or training. ''It seems intuitive that every minute of study should make you better, but, actually, if you do too much it might backfire and you end up wasting time,'' said the study's lead researcher, Joel Pearson."

The studies found:People who perceive their car as a reflection of their self-identity are more likely to behave aggressively on the road and break the law.People with compulsive tendencies are more likely to drive aggressively with disregard for potential consequences.Increased materialism, or the importance of one's possessions, is linked to increased aggressive driving tendencies.Young people who are in the early stages of forming their self-identity might feel the need to show off their car and driving skills more than others. They may also be overconfident and underestimate the risks involved in reckless driving.Those who admit to aggressive driving also admit to engaging in more incidents of breaking the law.A sense of being under time and pressure leads to more aggressive driving.

"I visit a lot of molecular biology labs, and most of them look pretty much identical: lab benches, microscopes, computers, messy break rooms, big filing cabinets crammed into every free corner. When you look closely, though, every lab has its own flavor, its own culture. This is the first post of what I hope will be a fun, photo-heavy series on the culture of different labs. Florian Engert's lab at Harvard is large, colorful, and messy."

"Mice have a jungle of bacteria, viruses and fungi in their stomachs-and so do we. These microorganisms help both mice and us break down dinner. As we are finding, these bugs also help to regulate the immune system. But we are just starting to learn how these tiny organisms influence us and how changing their composition changes us... Interestingly, though, the mice with these microbes did not: their immune systems remained underdeveloped. Even when researchers gave rat microbiota to mice, the mice's immune systems failed to mature"

""We probably have underestimated the role our microbial flora play in modulating disease risk," says Daniel Rader, a heart disease specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Rader, who was not involved in the study, says that gut bacteria may not be as big a factor in causing heart disease as diabetes or smoking, but could be important in tipping some people toward sickness. Researchers led by Stanley Hazen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, didn't start out to study gut bacteria. In fact, says Hazen, he had "no clue - zero," that intestinal microbes were involved in heart disease. "I'd never even considered it or thought of the concept." Hazen and his colleagues compared blood plasma from healthy people to plasma from people who had had heart attacks, strokes or died to see if substances in the blood could predict who is in danger from heart disease. The researchers found 18 small molecules associated with fat buildup in the arteries. One of the best predictors turned out to be a byproduct made when gut bacteria break down a fat called choline (also known as lecithin). The more of this byproduct, called trimethylamine N-oxide or TMAO, a person or mouse has in the blood, the higher the risk of getting heart disease, the researchers found. Gut bacteria are actually middlemen in TMAO production. The microbes convert lecithin to a gas that smells like rotten fish. Then an enzyme in the liver changes the foul-smelling gas to TMAO."

"It is important to be aware that 20th century media ecosystem is a very unusual aberration in the way people communicated throughout history. Means of production were expensive. Very few people could afford to own printing presses, radio and TV studios, etc. Running all that complicated equipment required technical expertise and professional training. Thus media became locked up in silos, hierarchical, broadcast-only with little-to-none (and then again centrally controlled) means for feedback. There was a wealthy, vocal minority that determined what was news, and how to frame it, and the vast majority was consuming the news in silence"

"100,000 skin samples every year (that's 5 square meters of skin or a full cow's-worth annually) at its lab in Lyon. Currently, the company receives bits of donor skin from plastic surgery procedures. Then L'Oreal breaks the samples down into individual cells, re-cultures and grows them into .5 cm testing squares. The whole process takes about a week to complete but could soon be done much faster thanks to Organovo's NovoGen Bioprinting Platform. ... The bioprinter has already partnered with Merk to create liver and kidney tissues"

To try to illustrate the concept, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics made the accompanying movie of "Quantum Spin Dynamics in Loop Quantum Gravity." It depicts the quantum evolution of geometry in Loop Quantum Gravity

Supershear earthquakes are the fastest thing underground -- and they tear along hidden superhighways in areas previously not considered at risk

Fermilab physicists are examining the production, properties, and decay of top quarks to gain the most complete picture of the particle possible. They compare their observations to predictions made in the Standard Model of physics and in theories that build on that model.

"When biologist Anthony Cashmore claims that the concept of free will is an illusion, he's not breaking any new ground. At least as far back as the ancient Greeks, people have wondered how humans seem to have the ability to make their own personal decisions in a manner lacking any causal component other than their desire to "will" something. But Cashmore, Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, says that many biologists today still cling to the idea of free will, and reject the idea that we are simply conscious machines, completely controlled by a combination of our chemistry and external environmental forces."

You may have more in common with Kanzi, Panbanisha and Nyota, three language-competent bonobos living at Great Ape Trust, than you thought. And those similarities, right at your fingertip, might one day tell scientists more about the effect of culture on neurological disorders that limit human expression. Among humans, pointing is a universal language, an alternative to spoken words to convey a message. Before they speak, infants point, a gesture scientists agree is closely associated with word learning. But when an ape points, scientists break rank on the question of whether pointing is a uniquely human behavior. Some of the world's leading voices in modern primatology have argued that although apes may gesture in a way that resembles human pointing, the genetic and cognitive differences between apes and humans are so great that the apes' signals have no specific intent. Not so, say Great Ape Trust scientists, who argued in a recently published scientific paper, "Why Apes Point: Pointing Gestures in Spontaneous Conversation of Language-Competent Pan/Homo Bonobos," that not only do Kanzi, Panbanisha and Nyota point with their index fingers in conversation as a human being might, these bonobos do so with specific intent and objectives in mind.

The paper, Gentile et al, Nature, 461, 627, 2009, discusses the apparent constant surface mass density of disk galaxies in the centers, over several orders of magnitude in mass and luminosity of galaxies, and that the density, when fit with a cold dark matter inspired density profile for the galaxy halos, leads one to conclude the break radius is such that the inferred cold dark matter density decreases at a radius corresponding to an apparently near constant acceleration.

Brain cancer is one deadly disease which gives us a shudder just by hearing the name. This form of cancer that affects the human brain is considered to be the most dangerous and devastating of all types of cancer.

"ADAPT is a dynamic research centre that combines the world-class expertise of researchers at four universities (Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, University College Dublin and Dublin Institute of Technology) with that of its industry partners to produce ground-breaking digital content innovations"

Explore & Share at 9th World Congress on Biopolymers & Bioplastics, London, UK (A solution for Current & Future Global Predicament) August 26-27, 2019 London, UK: Since 2016, Biopolymer Congress has been contributing successfully to the global scientific research field. 8th World Congress on Biopolymers & Bioplastics was held during June 28-29, 2018 at Berlin, Germany with the theme "Biopolymer- A Drug to heal the nature". Active participation of Scientists, Engineers, Researchers, Students and Leaders from the fields of Polymer Science, plastics, Green technology, medical, and Biomaterials is highly appreciated and made this event a blast. Thanks to all of our Organizing Committee members, honourable guests, wonderful speakers, conference attendees and Media partners. With the success of Biopolymer Congress 2018 at Berlin, we are feeling proud to announce Biopolymer Congress 2019 conference with the theme "A solution for current & future Global predicament", is going to held in London, UK, during August 26-27, 2019. Importance and Scope: Over the past few years, global economic activities have increased a lot. This tremendous growth has raised serious problems about current important patterns of production and consumption. As the current society has increased its attention in understanding of the environmental aspects and its industrial practices, greater attention has been given to the concept of sustainable economic systems that rely on energy from undepletable source and materials. The use of biologically derived Polymers become as an important component of this global world. The history of Biopolymer is not a long one. Various reasons are associated with the research and development of Biopolymers. Use of Bioplastics will make a tremendous change and will help rid of the conventional plastics, which is a welcome change. Why to attend?: To take preventive steps for Global Predicament, Biopolymer Congress 2019 offers a fantastic opportunity to meet and

Extraterrestrial source confirmed for comet's amino acids