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Statisticians have combined state-of-the-art analytical techniques from the academic and business worlds to tackle the Big Data challenges confronting astrophysicists and astronomers as they explore the mysteries of our universe, Lars K.S. Daldorff and Siavoush Mohammadi today told an audience at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM 2015) in Seattle.

Researchers at the University of Montreal have developed techniques that enable computer cursors to interact in 3D in single or multiuser, local or remote collaboration scenarios. The system, unveiled today at the SIGGRAPH 2015 Conference in Los Angeles, is not so much about turning Word into an IMAX experience as offering designers an opportunity to navigate through and modify their creations manipulating 3D objects with 3D interactions.

Quantitative analysis of the performance of men and women professional tennis players over the past five completed seasons shows for the first time that evidence of inconsistency in women’s play is likely attributable to match format (e.g., best of three or five sets), not gender, Stephanie Kovalchik—an associate statistician with the RAND Corporation—today revealed at a session focused on analytics of women’s sports at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM 2015) in Seattle.

Astronomers at the 29th International Astronomical Union General Assembly will announce on August 14 the discovery of a new transiting “circumbinary” planet, bringing the number of such known planets into double digits. A circumbinary planet orbits two stars, and like the fictional planet “Tatooine” from Star Wars, this planet has two suns in its sky.

Wet adhesion is a true engineering challenge. Marine animals such as mussels, oysters and barnacles are naturally equipped with the means to adhere to rock, buoys and other underwater structures and remain in place no matter how strong the waves and currents.

Researchers at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with colleagues at Iowa State University and Texas Tech University, have discovered a novel fatigue syndrome affecting feedlot cattle. The syndrome is similar to one affecting the swine industry.

The bushmeat market in the city of Malabo is bustling—more so today than it was nearly two decades ago, when Gail Hearn, PhD, began what is now one of the region’s longest continuously running studies of commercial hunting activity. At the peak of recorded activity in 2010, on any given day more than 30 freshly killed primates, such as Bioko red-eared monkeys and drills, were brought to market and sold to shoppers seeking such high-priced delicacies.

Money can be a significant source of conflict in relationships, particularly during stressful times. New research from North Carolina State University details techniques romantic couples can use to address financial uncertainty, highlighting the importance of communication in managing uncertainty and reducing stress.

The study, carried out by researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the IMDEA Networks Institute and NEC Laboratories, has just been published in the journal PLOS ONE. The analysis focuses on the “trending topics” of Twitter because they share some of the same characteristics as news, dealing with subjects that attract the attention of a large number of people.

Thousands of nonhuman primates continue to be confined alone in laboratories despite 30-year-old federal regulations and guidelines mandating that social housing of primates should be the default. A new article co-authored by PETA scientists and Marymount University researchers, published in Perspectives in Laboratory Animal Science, argues that many laboratories cage primates alone—a harmful practice often done for convenience—and that the U.S.