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(IsraelNN.com) A researcher at the University of Haifa has discovered that the hormone oxytocin, also known as the "love hormone," can trigger negative emotions such as jealousy as well. Oxytocin is released naturally in the body during childbirth, lactation and when engaging in intimate relations. Participants in a previous experiment who inhaled a synthetic form of the hormone displayed higher levels of altruistic feelings. However, it was also discovered in earlier studies on rodents that the hormone may be linked to higher levels of aggression as well.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vitaly Ginzburg, a Russian physicist who survived Stalin's purges by working on the Soviet atomic bomb project and later won the Nobel Prize for physics, died in Moscow late on Sunday after a long illness. He was 93. Ginzburg won the 2003 Nobel physics prize for developing the theory behind superconductors, materials which allow electricity to pass without resistance at very low temperatures. He shared the prize with British-American Anthony Leggett and Russian-born U.S. scientist Alexei Abrikosov. But Ginzburg's career as a Soviet scientist almost ended when he took as his second wife a woman arrested in...

A British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building did not commit suicide and may have been hurled to his death, says a doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination. Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna. An initial autopsy concluded that there were ‘no suspicious circumstances’. But it is understood that Mr Hampton’s widow Olena Gryshcuk and her family were deeply unhappy with that verdict. Now a doctor who undertook a second post-mortem examination on behalf...

SNIPPET: "Islamabad, Oct. 20 (ANI): A Pakistani nuclear scientist is among 32 members of banned terror organization Hizb- ut-Tahrir who were arrested from Islamabad on Sunday. Rizwan Aleem, a nuclear scientist and a PhD student at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology is currently being interrorgated by the Islamabad Police. According to Daily Times, the arrested activists also include a USAID official and an environmental scientist. Abid Mehmood is an officer of a United States Agency for International Development while Aman Hamza is an environmental scientist." SNIPPET: "Nearly, all the 32 are highly qualified persons such...

Note: The following text is a quote: Maryland Scientist Charged with Attempted Espionage WASHINGTON—A Maryland scientist who once worked in varying capacities for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been arrested for attempted espionage, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director for the FBI’s Washington Field Office, announced today. A criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of Columbia charges Stewart David Nozette, 52, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, with attempted espionage for...

A French physicist with the European atomic research centre near Geneva was charged with terrorism offences by a Paris judge last night after investigators said that he offered to work with the North African branch of al-Qaeda. Adlène Hicheur, 32, who is of Algerian origin, was arrested last week with his younger brother after intelligence agents intercepted his alleged internet contacts with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The physicist, who works at the giant atomic collider at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), which straddles Swiss and French territory, told the Islamic group that he was interested in committing an...

Tehran accuses US in case of missing Iranian nuclear scientist DEBKA file Special Report October 8, 2009, 6:23 PM (GMT+02:00) Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki charged Wednesday, Oct. 7 that Tehran had "documents that prove US interference" in the disappearance of the nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri during a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. He spoke after attending an Iranian cabinet meeting. Six days after meeting the six powers on its nuclear program in Geneva, Tehran appears to be preparing a new crisis. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly denied having any information "on this individual." Some Saudi sources claimed...

Top officials at the California Air Resources Board knew that the lead scientist on a study justifying sweeping new regulations on diesel emissions from heavy-duty trucks had lied about his academic background before adopting the rules on Dec. 12, according to an official document provided by the air board. The document is a 12-page "Notice of Adverse Action" to air board scientist Hien T. Tran, who was demoted and given a 60-day unpaid suspension for lying about having a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California, Davis. The finding of facts in the notice include a timeline of when...

In an unprecedented move Wednesday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee rescinded the Peace Prize it awarded in 2007 to former US vice president Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, amid overwhelming evidence that global warming is an elaborate hoax cooked up by Mr. Gore. A press release from the committee quotes a chagrined Rajendra Pachauri, the UN climate panel’s chair, who claims that he was the victim of a “cunning deception spanning decades”: “I am deeply ashamed for having unwittingly perpetuated such a massive fraud on the governments of the world,” said Mr. Pachauri.

Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist AQ Khan, who has been accused of running a proliferation network, Friday walked out a free man after the Islamabad High Court ended his house arrest. "These things happen. We should forget and look forward," Khan said after being declared a free man by the court. Khan told reporters that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had also been "inside". "The government had made arrangements and nobody could hurt me. Now also, the government will take care," Khan said. Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam, while announcing a verdict on several petitions...

Former Vice President Al Gore brought a stark message to the Senate on Wednesday: A new climate change treaty is critical to continuing human life on Earth. The Nobel Peace Prize winner urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to push for a U.S.-brokered treaty in December in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the United Nations will host a climate change conference. Only the United States can lead such an effort, he said. “This is the one challenge that could completely end human civilization, and it is rushing at us with such speed and force,” said Gore, who won an Oscar for the...

The key players are now all in place in Washington and in state governments across America to officially label carbon dioxide as a pollutant and enact laws that tax we citizens for our carbon footprints. Only two details stand in the way, the faltering economic times and a dramatic turn toward a colder climate. The last two bitter winters have lead to a rise in public awareness that CO2 is not a pollutant and is not a significant greenhouse gas that is triggering runaway global warming. How did we ever get to this point where bad science is driving big...

Link only - German Scientist Warns Climate Change Accelerating

POZNAN, Poland (AFP) – The head of the world's top climate scientists says he is stunned at the trillion-dollar cheques that have been signed to ease the banking crisis when funding for poverty and global warming is scrutinised or denied. In an interview on the sidelines of the UN climate talks here, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said he was both astonished and dismayed at the imbalance. "It seems very strange, what has happened in the past two or three months," he told AFP. "It defies any kind of logic, if you look...

PITTSBURGH - A federal judge does not have the jurisdiction to second-guess security clearance decisions and should throw out a lawsuit by a Muslim scientist who claims he wrongly lost his clearance — and his job — at a nuclear warship plant, U.S. Justice Department attorneys said in court documents. Lawyers for the Department of Energy contend the lawsuit filed by Egyptian-born scientist Abdel Moniem Ali El-Ganayni is an effort to publicize the security review process, which could pose a threat to the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union helped El-Ganayni sue this year, saying he was wrongly fired for...

2 teenage boys and a girl, all friends of the 19 year old daughter of the scientist, have been arrested in connection with the stabbing death. While the police have not said anything officially, a reporter for one station said the death was possibly related to "cult-like activity" and the reporter for a different station said the three suspects were involved in some sort of Goth group with the victim's daughter.

I'll grow marigolds on the moon, says scientistBy Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 17/04/2008 Marigolds could be growing on the moon by around 2015, if an ambitious effort by scientists pays off. In what marks an important step towards helping lunar colonists grow their own food, a Ukrainian team, working with the European Space Agency, ESA, has shown that marigolds can grow in crushed rock very like the lunar surface, with no need for plant food. Marigolds were shown to survive in crushed rock The research was presented at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna, by...

Terror threat sparks scientist check By Richard Alleyne Last Updated: 2:03am BST 31/03/2008 Police and secret service officers are carrying out background checks on thousands of scientists without their knowledge, amid fears terrorists are targeting British laboratories to obtain deadly viruses. The vetting, which includes checks on family backgrounds, political views and associates, is part of a review of some 800 laboratories in hospitals, universities and private firms where staff have access to incurable viruses such as ebola. Whitehall sources confirmed the operation by MI5 and the National Counter Terrorism Security Office. A series of spot checks and detailed inspections...

Chief scientist revolts over biofuel legislation 29 March 2008 From New Scientist Print Edition. Could biofuels do more damage to the climate than the fossil fuels they replace? That's the fear casting doubt on the wisdom of a law that from next month will require a certain proportion of vehicle fuel to come from biological sources. On Monday, Bob Watson, chief scientist at the UK's Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs, called into question the idea of switching to biofuels. This follows the publication of studies showing that more carbon is emitted in producing some biofuels than is saved...

A mysterious bomb-making experiment that ended with the accidental death of a government scientist has remained an official secret for more than five years, leaving his family in the dark about what went wrong. Terry Jupp, a scientist with the Ministry of Defence, was engulfed in flames during a joint Anglo-American counter-terrorism project intended to discover more about al-Qaida's bomb-making capacities. There has been no inquest into his death, as the coroner has been waiting for the MoD to disclose information about the incident. An attempt to prosecute the scientist's manager for manslaughter ended when prosecutors said they were withdrawing...

D.C. Fire Hazmat Teams responded to an apparent suicide in the District after fire officials said the man may have killed himself using cyanide. Police got a call around 4:30 p.m. on Monday for an unconscious male at a house in the 4300 block of 36th Street. Two officers responded and found a man laying next to a small vile of cyanide. Immediately, fire officials said police left the home and called in the hazmat crew, which is standard procedure. -snip-

Mumnesia is a medical fact, say scientists By Ben Farmer Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 06/03/2008 Forgetful new mothers can blame their loss of memory on the arrival of their children, according to scientists. For generations, many new mothers have noticed small lapses of memory such as struggling with names, misplacing things or forgetting what they are looking for. Now neuroscientists and psychiatrists have reported that rather than being merely an old wives' tale, the phenomenon of "mumnesia" is based on medical fact. A combination of fatigue, hormonal changes and stress can all contribute to a loss of memory. Louann Brizendine,...

The Pakistani scientist disgraced for selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya has been hospitalized after complaining of weakness, the military said Wednesday. Medics who checked on Abdul Qadeer Khan at his home Tuesday found that he was suffering from low blood pressure and fever, probably due to an infection, a military statement said. He was subsequently admitted to a hospital for a detailed examination, it said. Doctors are hopeful that Khan will make a full recovery and return home in a couple of days.

Deep in the basement of a dusty old library in Edinburgh lies a small black box that churns out random numbers. At first glance the box looks profoundly dull, but it is, in fact, the ‘eye' of a machine that appears capable of peering into the future. The machine apparently sensed the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened, and appeared to forewarn of the Asian Tsunami. "It's Earth shattering stuff," says Dr Roger Nelson, Emeritus researcher at Princeton University in the USA. "But unfortunately we don't have a box for predicting the future...

PHOENIX —Biologist Karen Krebbs used to study bats in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the Arizona-Mexico border. Then, she got tired of dodging drug smugglers all night. "I use night-vision goggles, and you could see them very clearly" — caravans of men with guns and huge backpacks full of drugs, trudging through the desert, Krebbs said. After her 10th or 11th time hiding in bushes and behind rocks, she abandoned her research. "I'm just not willing to risk my neck anymore," she said. Across the southwestern U.S. border and in northern Mexico, scientists such as Krebbs say their work...

Scientist Chases Fast-Melting Tropical Glaciers Charles J. Hanley in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Associated PressJanuary 14, 2008 For 5,000 years, great tongues of ice have spread over some of the tallest slopes of tropical New Guinea—the remotest reaches of this remote tropical island. Now those glaciers are melting, and Lonnie Thompson must reach them before they're gone. To the American glaciologist, the ancient ice is a vanishing "archive" of the story of El Niño, the equatorial phenomenon driving much of the world's climate. More than that, the little-explored glaciers are a last unknown for a mountaineering scientist who for...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Bert Bolin, a pioneering Swedish climate scientist and co-founder of the U.N.'s Nobel award-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has died, his colleague Henning Rodhe said Wednesday. He was 82. As early as the 1950s, Bolin produced research about the circulation of carbon in nature that remains relevant to the continuing debate on climate change. Most importantly, he played a key role in communicating the dangers of climate change to decision-makers and served as the first chairman of the IPCC from 1988 to 1998. He died in a Stockholm hospital from stomach cancer, but was active until...

Scientist claims men are funnier than women By Nick Britten Last Updated: 1:40am GMT 22/12/2007 Men are more naturally funny than women, according to a male scientist who says men make more jokes and the gags tend to be more aggressive. As part of his research Professor Sam Shuster, of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, rode a unicycle around Newcastle upon Tyne and judged the reaction of 400 onlookers. Comedians Victoria Wood and Peter Kay He said 75 per cent of male respondents made snide comments such as "Lost your wheel?" and jeered, while few women made cutting remarks and...

"The battle between science and creationism has reached the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where a former researcher is claiming he was fired because he doesn't believe in evolution. Nathaniel Abraham filed a lawsuit earlier this week in US District Court in Boston saying that the Cape Cod research center dismissed him in 2004 because of his Christian belief that the Bible presents a true account of human creation. Abraham, who is seeking $500,000 in compensation for a violation of his civil rights, says in the suit that he lost his job as a postdoctoral researcher in a biology lab...

Hillary backed lab of donorBy Jim McElhatton October 30, 2007 Lawmakers, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, have taken thousands in campaign cash from an embattled Nobel-prize winning scientist while earmarking federal money for his New York lab. Mrs. Clinton and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, also a New York Democrat, requested a $900,000 earmark in June for the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where James D. Watson served as chancellor before resigning last week after apologizing for comments that suggested that people descending from Africa aren't as intelligent as those from Europe. Federal campaign filings show that Mr. Watson has donated more...

Nobel scientist condemned for 'racist' claims By Stephen Adams Last Updated: 2:48pm BST 17/10/2007 Nobel Prize winning scientist Dr James Watson has been heavily criticised for making “racist” comments after he said Africans were not as intelligent as Europeans. Dr Watson is no stranger to controversy Dr Watson, who helped unravel the structure of DNA with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, was roundly condemned for saying he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not...

... Last week, Hansen, NASA's lead scientist on global warming, penned a rather strange ad hominem attack against critics that questioned the validity of his work in the wake of corrections prompted by Steve McIntyre at Climate Audit http://www.climateaudit.org/ Under most circumstances, it is inappropriate for a Federal Agency Administrator to pen such a highly policitical polemic, although Hansen has a long history of doing just that. Rather than respond with a proper full acknowledgement of his error and a promise to uncover other potential flaws which may be lurking in his data and analyis, his technical explanation is interspersed...

Scientist doubts efforts to detect avian flu in U.S. By Kevin Miller Monday, July 30, 2007 - Bangor Daily News ORONO, Maine - A potential avian flu pandemic may have slipped from the headlines, but the threat is still very real. And one leading expert worries that U.S. efforts to detect the deadly avian flu strain may be subpar. Peter Marra, a research scientist with the Smithsonian Institution and the National Zoo in Washington, told fellow ornithologists gathered at the University of Maine on Saturday that health and wildlife officials may be focusing too heavily on migratory birds when looking...

Scientist Tests Husband's DNA, Fidelity Wednesday July 4, 2007 1:46 AM By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN Associated Press Writer LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A state forensics scientist who said she tested DNA in her husband's underwear to find out whether he was cheating could be disciplined if investigators determine she violated the use of state equipment. Ann Chamberlain-Gordon of Okemos testified in a March 7 divorce hearing that she ran the test in September on the underwear of Charles Gordon Jr. Asked by his attorney what she found, she answered: ``Another female. It wasn't me.'' She also said during a May...

Reid Bryson, known as the father of scientific climatology, considers global warming a bunch of hooey.

JERUSALEM: Renowned British scientist Sir Isaac Newton, the father of modern physics and astronomy, predicted the world would end in 2060. He made the prediction in a 1704 letter that went on show in Jerusalem on Sunday. A famed rationalist, who secured a royal exemption from the ordination in the Church of England that was normally expected of academics of his day so he would not have to follow its teachings, Newton nonetheless based his prediction on a Biblical text. Working from verses in the Book of Daniel, the elaborator of the classical laws of gravity, motion and optics argued...

An Italian researcher is working on a project that could lead to the development of a real-life 'spider-man' suit. Nicola Pugno, a 35-year-old researcher at the Polytechnic University of Turin, says he has spent the past 10 years working on a form of adhesion based on the feet of gecko lizards. "It's a field that can have very interesting applications in science, like in space, for example," Mr Pugno said. "An astronaut could use a suit with a suction-cup adhesion system." He estimates the suit could be constructed in another 10 years.

Scientists find fatness gene By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 2:15am BST 13/04/2007 More than half of the population carries a gene that makes people more likely to pile on the pounds, scientists announce today. Half of English men and a third of women are classified as overweight They hope the discovery could eventually lead to treatments to help people lose excess weight they carry simply because of their genetic make-up. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other medical problems and is rising in prevalence in most western countries, where at...

WASHINGTON – One of the world's top scientists on global warming called for the United States to stop building coal-fired power plants and eventually bulldoze older generators that don't capture and bury greenhouse gases. But 159 coal-fired power plants are scheduled to be built in the next decade or so, generating enough power for about 96 million homes, according to a study last month by the U.S. Department of Energy. Burning coal is one of the major sources of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas causing global warming. In prepared remarks to be delivered at the National Press Club Monday...

Mysterious Death of Iranian Nuclear Physicist Esfandiar Saffari - 2007.02.08 Despite initial denials by Iran’s state-run media, Baztab news website [affiliated with former Passdaran Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezai] confirmed the “mysterious” death of Ardeshir Hosseinpour, a senior nuclear physicist involved in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. Baztab quoted “one of Hosseinpour’s acquaintances” as saying, “Unfortunately, 20 days ago, Dr. Ardeshir Hosseinpour, who was only 40 years old and a medal-holder in Kung Fu, passed away in a house belonging to a professor at Shiraz University.” Baztab did not reveal further more details about the death, but confirmed that Dr....

WASHINGTON — A prize-winning Iranian nuclear scientist has died in mysterious circumstances, according to Radio Farda, which is funded by the U.S. State Department and broadcasts to Iran. An intelligence source suggested that Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear physicist, had been assassinated by Mossad, the Israeli security service. Hassanpour worked at a plant in Isfahan where uranium hexafluoride gas is produced. The gas is needed to enrich uranium in another plant at Natanz which has become the focus of concerns that Iran may be developing nuclear weapons. According to Radio Farda, Iranian reports of Hassanpour’s death emerged on Jan. 21...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. government scientists Friday said the long-term outlook for global warming may be more dire than suggested by this week's United Nations' report, which they say doesn't fully address the impact of clouds and melting glaciers. Recent evidence of accelerated melting of glaciers in Greenland and the Antarctic ice cap came too late to be included in the report released Thursday by the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Glaciers are among the largest sources of fresh water in the world and are contributing to rising ocean levels. Rising sea levels could expose population centers bordering the ocean...

Interview: Why we help others By CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Why some of us help our fellow man while others stay selfish has long been a riddle to scientists. Now, Scott Huettel, an associate professor of psychiatry at Duke University and colleagues are beginning to form a picture of how our brains drive altruism. In the Jan. 21 issue of Nature Neuroscience, Huettel and colleagues report a novel discovery: Altruism may be linked to the perception of a person's actions, in addition to the potential for reward. United Press International talked to Huettel about his research. Q....

Source: University of Delaware Date: January 3, 2007 Scientists Discover New Class Of Polymers Science Daily — They said it couldn't be done. And that's what really motivated polymer chemist Chris Snively and Jochen Lauterbach, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Delaware. Since the late 1990s, Lauterbach and Snively have been developing a method to make extremely thin polymer layers on surfaces. The film covering the surface of these metal samples is at least 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. (Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson) For years, polymer chemistry textbooks have stated that a whole class of...

Some 10,000 US researchers have signed a statement protesting about political interference in the scientific process. The statement, which includes the backing of 52 Nobel Laureates, demands a restoration of scientific integrity in government policy. According to the American Union of Concerned Scientists, data is being misrepresented for political reasons. It claims scientists working for federal agencies have been asked to change data to fit policy initiatives. The Union has released an "A to Z" guide that it says documents dozens of recent allegations involving censorship and political interference in federal science, covering issues ranging from global warming to sex...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein objected to the testimony of a leading American forensic scientist called in to speak about a mass grave of Kurds, saying Tuesday that only neutral international experts should be permitted at his genocide trial. Clyde Snow — an expert from the University of Oklahoma who has also investigated mass graves in Argentina, Guatemala and the former Yugoslavia — took the stand and began to give background on his work. Saddam insisted that Snow should not be allowed to testify because he was American and demanded neutral international experts, suggesting that the bodies in the grave...

Renowned Scientist Defects From Belief in Global Warming – Caps Year of Vindication for Skeptics -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- October 17, 2006 Washington DC - One of the most decorated French geophysicists has converted from a believer in manmade catastrophic global warming to a climate skeptic. This latest defector from the global warming camp caps a year in which numerous scientific studies have bolstered the claims of climate skeptics. Scientific studies that debunk the dire predictions of human-caused global warming have continued to accumulate and many believe the new science is shattering the media-promoted scientific “consensus” on climate alarmism. Claude Allegre, a former...

Several prominent scientists said yesterday that they had formed an organization dedicated to electing politicians “who respect evidence and understand the importance of using scientific and engineering advice in making public policy.” Organizers of the group, Scientists and Engineers for America, said it would be nonpartisan, but in interviews several said Bush administration science policies had led them to act. The issues they cited included the administration’s position on climate change, its restrictions on stem cell research and delays in authorizing the over-the-counter sale of emergency contraception. In a statement posted on its Web site (www.sefora.org), the group said scientists...

A British Ministry of Defense scientist who helped improve the design of a protective suit worn by bomb disposal experts is now working in Iraq close to a military team that uses the suit. Scientist Mark Helliker is completing a tour as the head of an operational analysis team working in the Headquarters of the Multi-National Division - South East based in Basra. Helliker normally works in Warminster as the lead deployable analyst for the British 1 Armored Division in the Land Warfare Center. The post is a two-year duty from the Defense Science and Technology Division. "I was the...

SEOUL, South Korea - A discredited South Korean cloning scientist admitted in court Tuesday to ordering subordinates to falsify stem cell data for a paper in a scientific journal, but he insisted he should not be the only one blamed in the scandal. Hwang Woo-suk, who falsely claimed breakthroughs in creating stem cells from cloned human embryos, testified at the second hearing of a trial in which he is accused of accepting funds under false pretenses, embezzlement and violating the bioethics law by purchasing eggs for research. For a 2005 paper in the journal Science, Hwang acknowledged that he told...