Computer scientists in Taiwan have devised a neural network program that can successfully classify a computerized music file based on its beat and tempo. The system could be a boon for music archivists with large numbers of untagged recordings and for users searching through mislabeled mp3 libraries. Details of tests on ballroom dancing music are reported this month in the International Journal of...

Shell beads newly unearthed from four sites in Morocco confirm early humans were consistently wearing and potentially trading symbolic jewelry as early as 80,000 years ago. These beads add significantly to similar finds dating back as far as 110,000 in Algeria, Morocco, Israel and South Africa, confirming these as the oldest form of personal ornaments. This crucial step towards modern culture is r...

People with psoriasis – an often distressing dermatological condition that causes lesions and red scaly patches on the skin – are less likely to react to looks of disgust by others than people without the condition, new research has found. University of Manchester scientists used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to compare the brains of 26 men, half of whom had chronic psoriasis....

When it comes to alcohol consumption and depression, a new study by a team of Norwegian and British researchers shows that heavy drinkers – but also teetotalers — have higher levels of depression and anxiety than those who drink moderately. The study, "Anxiety and depression among abstainers and low-level alcohol consumers. The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study", was publish...

Persistent job insecurity poses a major threat to worker health, according to a new study published in the September issue of the peer-reviewed journal Social Science and Medicine. The study used long-term data from two nationally representative sample surveys of the U.S. population to assess the impact of chronic job insecurity apart from actual job loss. "Dramatic changes in the U.S. labor ...

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered why older people may be so vulnerable to cancer and infections in the skin. The team from UCL has shown in human volunteers that defective immunity in the skin is caused by an inability to mobilise essential defences that would otherwise recognise threats and clear them before irreparable damage...

Healthy middle-aged women with feelings of hopelessness appear to experience thickening of the neck arteries, which can be a precursor to stroke, according to new research out of the University of Minnesota Medical School. The study, published online August 27 in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, found that hopelessness — negative thinking and feelings of uselessness —...

A longstanding and fruitful collaboration between researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, together with contributions from colleagues in Munich and the US, has produced another first: the successful manipulation of a crop plant to emit a signal that attracts beneficial organisms. Genetic transformation of maize plants resul...

Patients infected with a particular subtype of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are more likely to develop dementia than patients with other subtypes, a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers shows. The finding, reported in the September Clinical Infectious Diseases, is the first to demonstrate that the specific type of HIV has any effect on cognitive impairment, one of the most common complicatio...

Transposons are mobile genetic elements found in the hereditary material of humans and other organisms. They can replicate and the new copies can insert at novel sites in the genome. Because this threatens the whole organism, molecular mechanisms have evolved which can repress transposon activity. Professor Klaus Förstemann of the Gene Center of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Mu...