Mutation found in swine flu virus: WHO

Medicine & Health / Diseases

3 hours ago | not rated yet | 0

The World Health Organisation said Friday that a mutation had been found in samples of the swine flu virus taken following the first two deaths from the pandemic in Norway.

Researchers identify role of gene in tumor development, growth and progression

Medicine & Health / Cancer

4 hours ago | not rated yet | 0

Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine researchers have identified a gene that may play a pivotal role in two processes that are essential for tumor development, growth ...

Just like old times: Generating RNA molecules in water

Chemistry / Biochemistry

4 hours ago | 4 / 5 (1) | 0

A key question in the origin of biological molecules like RNA and DNA is how they first came together billions of years ago from simple precursors. Now, in a study appearing in this week's Journal of Biological Chemistry, resear ...

Hunting for Planets in the Dark

Space & Earth / Astronomy

23 hours ago | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 2

A proposed space mission that aims to measure dark energy could also detect planets that current surveys are unable to find.

IBM scientists create rapid disease diagnostic chip (w/ Video)

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

22 hours ago | 5 / 5 (10) | 0

IBM scientists have created a one-step point-of-care-diagnostic test, based on an innovative silicon chip, that requires less sample volume, is significantly faster, portable, easy to use, and can test for ...

A Tiny Cage of Gold Responds to Light, Opening to Empty Its Contents

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

22 hours ago | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a polymer-coated gold nanocage that not only opens in response to light to release a small amount of a drug payload, but then closes when the ...

Astronauts get extra work done in 1st spacewalk (Update)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

23 hours ago | not rated yet | 1

(AP) -- A pair of spacewalking astronauts, one of them a surgeon, hustled through antenna and cable work outside the International Space Station on Thursday and even whipped off an extra chore.

Paleontologists find extinction rates higher in open-ocean settings during mass extinctions

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

23 hours ago | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

Arnie Miller, University of Cincinnati professor of paleontology in the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, and co-author Michael Foote of the University of Chicago publish their research in the Nov. 20 issue ...

Shifting blame is socially contagious

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

23 hours ago | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

Merely observing someone publicly blame an individual in an organization for a problem - even when the target is innocent - greatly increases the odds that the practice of blaming others will spread with the tenacity of the ...

Saving the single cysteine: new antioxidant system found (w/ Video)

Chemistry / Biochemistry

23 hours ago | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single ...

Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (22) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as ...

Mysteriously warm times in Antarctica

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 18, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (19) | 22

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. The latest analysis ...

Pulling the plug on hybrid myths

Technology / Energy

Nov 19, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (12) | 16

(PhysOrg.com) -- Whether you call them myths, urban legends, fables or old wives' tales, there's a lot of misinformation out there about plug-in electric hybrid vehicles. These vehicles, abbreviated PHEVs, ...

Do we need dark matter?

Physics / General Physics

Nov 12, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (19) | 35

It's the biggest problem in physics: the matter we can see in the universe accounts for just five per cent of the observed gravity that holds galaxies together.

Greenland ice cap melting faster than ever

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 12, 2009 | 3.6 / 5 (32) | 24

Satellite observations and a state-of-the art regional atmospheric model have independently confirmed that the Greenland ice sheet is loosing mass at an accelerating rate, reports a new study in Science.

Road trains may be coming soon to Europe (w/ Video)

Technology / Engineering

Nov 13, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (18) | 22

(PhysOrg.com) -- Road trains linking vehicles together in a traveling convoy are planned for Europe. With only the lead vehicle being actively driven, the road trains would allow commuters to sleep, read a ...