http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Conventional wisdom, backed by years of research, suggests that healthy marriages equals a healthy society. And politicians and government officials have taken note, investing hundreds of millions of dollars each year in education programs designed to promote healthy marriages, focusing specifically on poor couples and couples of color. Is it working? No, says a Binghamton University researcher in a new study published in the current issue of American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association. And it's because many of these programs were based on research data gathered from White and middle-class marriages, and when applied to poor couples or couples of color, just don't work. http://phys.org/news256899933.html Other Sciences Tue, 22 May 2012 10:06:12 EST news256899933 A study carried out at the University of Leicester's School of Psychology has found that younger people who are disagreeable are more likely to prefer aggressive dogs, confirming the conventional wisdom that dogs match the personality of their owners. http://phys.org/news256899810.html Biology Tue, 22 May 2012 10:03:37 EST news256899810 Research to be published in Science on May 18, 2012, sheds light on a hot-button political issue: the role and effectiveness of government regulation. Does it kill jobs or protect the public? http://phys.org/news256475593.html Other Sciences Thu, 17 May 2012 14:00:09 EST news256475593 Much like the fabled tortoise and the hare, the competition between native and invasive plants growing in deciduous forests in the Eastern United States is all about how the plants cross the finish line in autumn. http://phys.org/news254576277.html Biology Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:00:10 EST news254576277 Defying thousands of years of conventional wisdom, scientists are reporting that it is possible for water to float on oil, a discovery they say has important potential applications in cleaning up oil spills that threaten seashores and fisheries. Their report appears in ACS' journal Langmuir. http://phys.org/news252757793.html Chemistry Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:30:34 EST news252757793 Carrying a gun in bear country doesn't mean you're more protected in the event of a bear encounter, according to new research out of Brigham Young University. http://phys.org/news250249967.html Biology Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:56:04 EST news250249967 Having a powerful member of congress could have unintended consequences for a state's economy, according to a study published today in the Journal of Political Economy. http://phys.org/news249661861.html Other Sciences Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:31:18 EST news249661861 Ghost imaging (GI), and its even more oddly named cousin virtual ghost imaging (VGI), seem to contradict conventional wisdom by being able to image an object by simply counting photons in a "light bucket." This non-intuitive technique, however, can lead to better images when conditions are less than ideal. In a first-of-its-kind demonstration, a team of researchers from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md., and the University of Maryland in Baltimore, captured reflected photons from a highly specialized laser beam to create a VGI image of a remote target. http://phys.org/news248545467.html Physics Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:24:39 EST news248545467 When you sit down to read a restaurant menu, do you read it like a book? Or do your eyes flit from place to place to find the most enticing dish? http://phys.org/news247337009.html Other Sciences Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:00:02 EST news247337009 Nintendo Co.'s upcoming Wii U game console will come with a controller that has a big, touch-enabled screen. At first glance, that seems like an obstacle to the kind of casual multiplayer gaming that made the first Wii console such a breakout hit. http://phys.org/news245437126.html Electronics Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:10:01 EST news245437126 Conventional wisdom has long had it that carbon-based life, so common here on earth, must surely be abundant elsewhere; both in our galaxy and the universe as a whole. http://phys.org/news243683827.html Space & Earth Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:58:15 EST news243683827 Racial minorities pay systemically more for basic water and sewer services than white people, according to a study by Michigan State University researchers. http://phys.org/news241793637.html Other Sciences Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:54:05 EST news241793637 Like a bull in a china shop, a massive, iodine-based ion called iodate should disrupt the surrounding water molecules until it is forcibly expelled. However, it doesn't. This disconnect between the molecule's attributes and its behavior has puzzled scientists for some time. Scientists at Pacific Northwest and Argonne National Laboratories discovered the secret. While iodate is huge and surrounded by negative oxygen atoms, its central iodine atom takes on a positive character, or becomes a cation. This cationic region draws in water's oxygen atoms and allows the ion to reside peacefully in the liquid. http://phys.org/news239967368.html Chemistry Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:00:01 EST news239967368 The conventional wisdom that says the 20th century was a disaster for crop diversity is nothing more than a myth, according to a forthcoming study by a University of Illinois expert in intellectual property law. http://phys.org/news239467265.html Biology Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:41:35 EST news239467265 When doping a disordered magnetic insulator material with atoms of a nonmagnetic material, the conventional wisdom is that the magnetic interactions between the magnetic ions in the material will be weakened. http://phys.org/news238666781.html Physics Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:20:01 EST news238666781 Consumers are more likely to choose products when marketers withhold some favorable information until late in the choice process, according to the Journal of Consumer Research. But marketers need to walk a fine line to disclose information at just the right time. http://phys.org/news238420478.html Other Sciences Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:20:01 EST news238420478 The conventional wisdom of galaxies is that they should have a central massive black hole (CMBH). The presence of such objects has been confirmed in our own galaxy as well as numerous other galaxies, including the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and even some dwarf galaxies. The mass of these objects, several million times the mass of the Sun, has been found to be related to many properties of galaxies as a whole, indicating that their presence may be critical in the formation and evolution of galaxies as a whole. As such, finding a massive galaxy without a central black hole would be quite surprising. Yet a recent study by astronomers from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor seems to have found an exception: The well known M85. http://phys.org/news238063235.html Space & Earth Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:40:50 EST news238063235 A major concern related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 was the impact on people living in coastal areas. News reports provided anecdotal evidence that those living along the coast and reliant on the fishing or oil and gas industries for their livelihoods were very distressed and worried about the impact of the spill on their future. http://phys.org/news237210790.html Other Sciences Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:55:29 EST news237210790 If so many poor people live around national parks in developing countries, does that mean that these parks are contributing to their poverty? http://phys.org/news233247728.html Other Sciences Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:02:31 EST news233247728 It's pretty much a given that the more educated someone becomes, the more likely they are to question their religious beliefs, stop going to church and even abandon their faith entirely. http://phys.org/news232025267.html Other Sciences Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:40:02 EST news232025267 Conventional wisdom among managers holds that employees helping each other can only be good for a company. Accordingly, firms spend money, time and effort to promote what’s known as "knowledge transfer." Policies range from the popular (lavish company retreats) to the maligned (switching desks every six months so that everyone has a chance to sit near everyone else). Recently, firms have even begun creating their own in-house social networks. http://phys.org/news229583658.html Other Sciences Mon, 11 Jul 2011 06:14:32 EST news229583658 (PhysOrg.com) -- At the smallest scales, magnetism may not work quite the way scientists expected, according to a recent paper in Physical Review Letters by Rafal Oszwaldowski and Igor Zutic of the University at Buffalo and Andre Petukhov of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. http://phys.org/news228583965.html Physics Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:35:16 EST news228583965 (AP) -- The upcoming Wii U - part tablet computer, part game machine - could help Nintendo surpass its rivals once again. http://phys.org/news226859296.html Technology Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:28:39 EST news226859296 (PhysOrg.com) -- Phil DeCicca studies the economics of one of the country's top killers - smoking. A health economist by trade, DeCicca researches the impact public policies have on the habits of smokers: Does the rate of smoking change with increased cigarette prices? Does age play a role? At what point do taxes encourage smokers to turn to smuggling? http://phys.org/news215190492.html Other Sciences Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:30:01 EST news215190492 Researchers have taken the scalpel of science to three urban myths in time for the party season, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) reports on Wednesday: http://phys.org/news211612507.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:10:01 EST news211612507 Why is there so much disagreement about whether using recreational drugs is morally wrong? A University of Pennsylvania psychology study shows that the debate about drugs might really be about sex. http://phys.org/news195884892.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:28:27 EST news195884892 Apologies may be good for more than just the soul, according to research by a University of Illinois professor of law and of psychology. http://phys.org/news194696440.html Other Sciences Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:40:03 EST news194696440 It may seem intuitive that greater amounts of exercise lead to less obesity, but an Indiana University study has found that this conventional wisdom applies primarily to white women. The findings draw attention not only to racial, ethnic and gender differences regarding exercise but also to the role work can play. http://phys.org/news193567320.html Medicine & Health Thu, 20 May 2010 10:00:01 EST news193567320 It's popular to assume retiring baby boomers will benefit from Social Security and Medicare at the expense of younger generations, as analysts estimate that these government-run programs will pay out more than they collect in payroll taxes by 2017. http://phys.org/news190560189.html Other Sciences Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:40:05 EST news190560189 (PhysOrg.com) -- Immigration is a long-simmering issue in the politics of many countries, including the United States. A 2007 Pew poll found that three-quarters of all U.S. citizens want to further restrict immigration. But what?s behind such strongly held views? http://phys.org/news185798031.html Other Sciences Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:20:01 EST news185798031