1. Fire just got hotter
Elsevier journal makes headlines after revealing that man was making fire long before we thought 
A new study published in the September issue of Quaternary Science Reviews gives evidence that our ancestors could already make fire 800,000 years ago. Until now, the oldest definitive proof that hominins were able to make fire dated back half as long, 400,000 years.The study, by archaeologist Nira Alperson-Afil, PhD, of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, involved 5,000 burned stone tools from archaeological excavations near Lake Hula, Israel. By investigating the positioning of these burned flints, Dr. Alperson-Afil was able to show that these fires were caused deliberately rather than by accidental natural ignition.¡§Discovery of fire was revolutionary in the development of humankind,¡¨ said journal Editor Neil Roberts. ¡§Dangerous animals could be chased off, cooked foods were more easily digested, and fire obviously provided warmth and illumination at night.¡¨ Because of the importance of this discovery, the Dutch newspaper NRC-Handelsblad featured it on the front page alongside the latest news about the financial crisis.
Quaternary Science Reviews deals with all aspects of Quaternary science, including geology, geography, archaeology, palaeontology, palaeoclimatology and applicable dating methods.
¡@

2. BrainNavigator captivates neuroscientists at international conference
Online model of Elsevier¡¦s brain atlases lets scientists explore the brain in 3D 
Neuroscientists spend hours examining atlases that map out the complexities of the brain. So when our employees showed them a tool that would let them explore the brain in 3D ¡V a virtual GPS for the brain ¡V they wanted to know more.Elsevier introduced the BrainNavigator last week at Neuroscience 2008 in Washington DC ¡V the annual conference of the Society for Neuroscience. The hourly demos had standing room only, and more than 500 researchers signed up for the beta version.
Some scientists suggested additional uses for it ¡V as an educational tool, a way to show images of their own brain research and a means to enhance the low-resolution images of an MRI.
Afterwards, National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States aired a segment about BrainNavigator on ¡§All Things Considered,¡¨ the nation¡¦s third most listened to radio show, with an audience of 12 million.¡§It was really astonishing how well people received this and how much interest there was,¡¨ said Dr. Johannes Menzel, Publisher for S&T Books in London. Johannes, who has a PhD in zoology with a specialization in neuroscience, came up with the idea to put Elsevier¡¦s brain atlases online eight years ago. ¡§By using an online research platform instead of massive desk atlases, scientists can work more effectively and save a lot of time,¡¨ he said. ¡§BrainNavigator will change the way neuroscience research is conducted ¡V it¡¦s revolutionary for brain science.¡¨
Elsevier developed BrainNavigator in partnership with the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, a non-profit medical research organization. Elsevier¡¦s four print atlases of the brain take on new life with the Allen Institute¡¦s 3D technology and software developed by Elsevier Labs. In addition, the original images from the atlas are easily searchable.This version encompasses the rat and mouse brains; the next release will be of the human and rhesus monkey brains. Many of the world¡¦s more than 70,000 neuroscientists use rat and mouse brains for experiments in psychology, pharmacology and genetics. With BrainNavigator, they can slice the brain virtually in their own chosen planes, providing ¡§brain maps¡¨ that relate much more closely to real situations in the laboratory, and saving them days of work identifying the brain structures they see in their experiments. They can also use this information to mark areas of the brain for research, or find the precise location to insert a probe.Future versions with the human and monkey brains could be used for neurology and clinical applications. As project sponsor, S&T Books has been working closely with Elsevier Labs, which developed the technology under the direction of David Marques, and User Centered Design (UCD), which has been interviewing scientists and watching how they do experiments. The IT department in Dayton, Ohio, is now involved in bringing the project to market in May 2009. In addition, the S&T Journals group is developing text-mining processes that will ultimately incorporate our journal literature.Karen Steele, Director of Business Development for S&T Books in San Diego, compares BrainNavigator to a GPS device. ¡§I still love looking at maps,¡¨ she said. ¡§But when it gets down to the workflow of driving a car, a global navigation system pinpoints the location and gets you there.¡¨

3. S&T Journal Publishing launches CiteAlert
Service, which notifies researchers when their work is cited in Elsevier journals, is expected to raise the profile of authors and journals  With the recent launch of CiteAlert (see Issue 584), researchers will be automatically notified by email when their work is cited by a newly published article in an Elsevier journal. Elsevier is the only STM publisher offering a service like this. ¡§We carried out extensive research and user testing,¡¨ said John Lardee, Senior Project Manager, Customer Service Development (CSD), S&T Journal Publishing. ¡§The results indicated that a user-friendly service to keep researchers up-to-date and alerted to newly published research in their area of specialisation would be a very welcome, useful and valuable research tool.¡¨The service notifies researchers whose articles are published in both Elsevier and non-Elsevier journals and cited in journals published by Elsevier, as long as the articles are indexed by Scopus. Scopus indexes 16,000 journals from more than 4,000 publishers.Life Sciences Publishing Director Bernard Aleva, who initiated the project, pointed out that in the pilot, 50% of respondents indicated that the research described in the citing article was new to them but relevant to their research. ¡§This suggests that CiteAlert will help accelerate the course of science,¡¨ he said. ¡¨It will improve our effectiveness disseminating the right research results to the right recipients.¡¨Bernard added that it would also raise the profile of the authors and the journals they are cited in, ultimately increasing the journals¡¦ usage and citation rates.
¡§CiteAlert is the single biggest initiative we have launched to promote individual journals,¡¨ said Nicolien van der Linden, Director of Marketing Communications, S&T Journal Publishing. ¡§It will make researchers even more aware of the individual journal and its latest published research, as well as promoting the journal to an even wider audience.¡¨The project was led by the CSD department of S&T Journal Publishing, which collaborated closely with the Scopus team, After John Lardee¡¦s execution of the project, Elizabeth Holmes, Group Marketing Communications Manager, will take over as business owner.
Related links:
• Example of CiteAlert email
• For more information

4. World-class publications, groundbreaking research
A timeline highlighting publication of key Elsevier titles.

5. Men are more likely to lose weight in workplace programmes
It is estimated that nearly 115 million people worldwide are overweight or obese. For men in particular, excess weight can lead to fat-related cancers, hypertension, diabetes and a range of other health risks. In Elsevier¡¦s Journal of Men¡¦s Health, a new study follows a group of 10 men as they participated in a six-week weight loss programme run by a Health of Men team in the workplace.
The study reveals a growing feeling of momentum and motivation among the men that related to the fact that the programme took place at work. All of the interviewed participants felt that having sessions in the workplace during work time was a crucial factor in their decision to attend. Many agreed that if the programme was not available at work, they would have been unlikely to seek help elsewhere.

6. Nominate your favorite scientist
ScienceDirect¡¦s For Great Thinking initiative seeks to honor the people who are shaping science
SFor Great Thinking ¡V a new initiative by ScienceDirect ¡V is billed as ¡§the opportunity to honor the people who are making extraordinary contributions to science and who have inspired others through their work.¡¨Nominations should be submitted by August 22, and people can nominate more than one scientist. Categories are Arts and Humanities, Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Engineering and Information Technology. To be eligible, nominees should:
• Be living
• Work in the academic world and be published
• Be known for the rigor of their research
• Produce highly original work
• Demonstrate an international perspective
• Make an impact ¡V socially or scientifically
• Inspire others (the mentoring or ¡§guru factor¡¨)
In September, a voting campaign on the website will determine the winner in each category. Voting will be open to everyone. Winners will each receive an exclusively commissioned portrait by an artist and have their stories told to audiences around the world.
Please click here to visit the website and nominate a scientist.

7. Reed Elsevier aims to change climate for the better
Carbon emissions study helps Reed Elsevier analyse its environmental impact and educate its readersReed Elsevier and its businesses have a direct impact on the environment, mainly through the use of energy and water, the generation of waste and through business travel. In addition, we affect the environment in our supply chain, through paper use, transportation and print and production technologies.Reed Elsevier aims to reduce its own carbon emissions 10% by 2010 from 2003 levels. RE is also working to identify supply chain emissions particularly in the production of our products and services. To compare the relative carbon efficiency of physical and online journal publications, Mark Gough, Environmental Health & Safety Coordinator for Reed Elsevier in London, commissioned a study with sustainability consultants Best Foot Forward early last year. The exercise, entitled ¡§the carbon footprint project,¡¨ was designed to examine the full life cycle impact of Elsevier¡¦s Fuel journal, comparing production of a print copy versus production of the online version. It is believed to be the first study of its kind by a media company.The carbon footprint project examined the lifecycle impact of Fuel over the years 2006 and 2007 in five stages: preparation in the UK; typesetting in India; printing in and distribution from the UK for the hard copy version; online hosting in the US; and end-user reading and printing. The study found that there was no statistically significant difference in carbon emission between the online and print versions of the journal, but that the behaviour of the end-user had a significant impact on the overall carbon footprint. Mark said that an individual¡¦s computer usage and printing can ultimately reduce the energy-saving benefit of the electronic version.There have been a number of valuable outcomes from the project. Reed Elsevier has been able to identify strategies to reduce specific production impacts at several of our sites. In addition, RE is taking advantage of the opportunity to educate its readers about how their behaviour affects the carbon footprint. As a result, RE is looking to develop a tool for journal websites that will show readers how time spent reading onscreen and printing behaviour impacts the environment.¡§End-users do have a big effect on the carbon footprint,¡¨ Mark said. ¡§We can¡¦t control them, but we certainly can inform them.¡¨Henri van Dorssen, Publisher for Elsevier¡¦s Energy journals, agreed. ¡§This is an important part of our business,¡¨ he said. ¡§We need to make readers aware of how we can improve.¡¨
Click here for more information on the carbon footprint project.
¡@

8. Journal launches YouTube channel
Authors published in the Journal of Number Theory are encouraged to supplement their articles with video abstractsWith its focus on sophisticated mathematical principles, the Journal of Number Theory may seem like an unusual choice for YouTube broadcasts. Yet the initiative to feature scholars published in the journal has already generated 7,000 channel views and drawn the attention of leading mathematicians.The project sprang from Editor-in-Chief David Goss¡¦ concept of creating video abstracts for papers. It¡¦s tied to Elsevier¡¦s strategy of developing various forms of multimedia content and Web 2.0 applications. At present, ScienceDirect is not able to support Flash, so YouTube was chosen as a viable and cost-effective portal to host the videos. Ultimately, they will appear in permanent electronic archives on ScienceDirect, probably by next year.To create this channel, David worked with Tyge Burgess, Publishing Editor for Journal Development. They aim to attract established mathematicians to publish in the journal as well as the next generation of upcoming mathematicians. Tyge said YouTube also acts as a marketing tool by building brand awareness and driving users back to ScienceDirect for the full-text article.¡§Most top graduate students aren¡¦t at the level where they can publish now, but in a few years they will be, and they will know the journal from YouTube,¡¨ he said.
To take part, scholars must have their paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Number Theory and be willing to put together a video abstract. Elsevier provides some general guidelines and specifications, but the authors are free to be as creative as they want.David and Tyge believe the broadcasting of scholars on YouTube could eventually be picked up by other publishing groups within Elsevier and evolve into an industry trend.¡§I like to think of the video abstract as the Model T of video,¡¨ Tyge said. ¡§With math, it¡¦s guys talking about their papers and ideas, but imagine if you had a video of Thomas Edison discussing his paper on the light bulb ¡V or Einstein presenting his paper on relativity. Well, it¡¦s today¡¦s equivalent that we¡¦re working towards.¡¨
Click here to view the channel.

9. UK employees bike across Britain in wind, rain and fog
RE Cares¡¦ Solstice Cycle raises more than £2,200 to send school equipment to West Africa. Before sunrise on Saturday, seven cyclists headed west in wind and rain from the Exeter office in Devon, England. Nearly 18 hours and 130 miles (209 kilometres) later, the last of them arrived in Lands End on the south-western tip of Britain. The group raised more than £2,200 (the equivalent of £á2,784 or $4,313 USD) from employees, local businesses and other donors. It will allow RE Cares in Exeter to send a 40-foot container of school equipment to the Eva Houston Preparatory School in Freetown, Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world. The ride follows three years of work towards sponsoring them as the chosen charity for the Exeter office. ¡§We have been fund-raising for this since 2005, and I wanted to have a big event to boost donations,¡¨ said Journal Manager Andrew Healey, the local RE Cares champion. ¡§I came up with the idea in December while making my usual 10-mile cycle commute to work.¡¨Riders were John Bailey (Journal Manager, Exeter), Paul Crabtree (Journal Manager, Exeter), Nick Pym (Director of UK Editorial-Production, Exeter/Oxford), Nick¡¦s son George Pym, Ian Hawley (Director of Customer Service, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific), and Philip Hibberd (Team Lead Project Delivery for Corporate Business Systems, Oxford).¡§Five of us stuck together as a group and it really helped us to help each other along,¡¨ said Ian, after reaching Lands End at 10:10 p.m.¡§It certainly felt like the longest day,¡¨ said fellow rider Nick Pym, ¡§but great support got everybody through it.¡¨The riders were supported by Sara Doman (Journal Manager, Exeter), Kirsty Driscoll (Local Application manager, Exeter), Marie Dymond (Journal Manager, Exeter), and Sara¡¦s son Alex, who followed them in two cars and made sure they didn¡¦t run out of food, drinks and energy bars. Along with the prize from the 2008 RE Cares Challenge competition, the team now has the £5,000 to pay for the shipment of the container. They hope to have it delivered by November. ¡§It¡¦s made the six months of training, punctures and falling off all worthwhile,¡¨ Andrew said.
Click here for more on the Solstice Cycle.

10. Can smoking evoke thoughts of suicide?
New research in Elsevier¡¦s Journal of Affective Disorders reveals a link between lighting up and suicidal thoughts and attempts. Researchers examined data from a longitudinal study with 3,021 adolescents and young adults. Participants were asked questions to capture details about their mental health, family history and demographics as well as their smoking habits and whether they had ever attempted suicide or thought about it. Results showed a strong link between suicide ideation and attempts and nicotine dependence. Suicide attempts were also associated with occasional smoking and past smoking. The authors suggest that anti-smoking campaigns may want to leverage this message.

11. Can China live up to its climate-change promises?
China is the second-largest global energy consumer after the United States, and estimates indicate that its total energy consumption will more than double from 2000 to 2020. In Elsevier¡¦s latest World Development, two German researchers investigated China¡¦s capacity for mitigating climate change. They concluded that, although structurally much of the Chinese economic development has been based on more energy-efficient models, any positive effects are undermined due to the absolute increase in output. While China is well-equipped technically, shortcomings in policy coordination, implementation, monitoring and sanctioning are likely to make it difficult to implement effective laws to stop climate change.
¡@