Nanoparticles used in common household items caused genetic damage in mice

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (23) | 11

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson ...

Extinct goat was cold-blooded

Biology / Plants & Animals

Nov 18, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (34) | 10

(PhysOrg.com) -- An extinct goat that lived on a barren Mediterranean island survived for millions of years by reducing in size and by becoming cold-blooded, which has never before been discovered in mammals.

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

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (25) | 8

(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 ...

Google's SPDY will speed up downloads

Technology / Internet

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (16) | 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- As part of its effort to speed up the Web, Google is experimenting with SPDY, a new application layer protocol, that it hopes will speed up the conversation between browsers and Web servers ...

New insights into the life of the Maya

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (15) | 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ancient artifacts are almost always concerned with rich and powerful religious and political leaders, but new excavations of an ancient Maya site have unearthed a pyramid decorated with murals ...

Alcohol helps lower heart disease risk for men: study

Medicine & Health / Health

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (6) | 7

Men who drink alcohol every day see a nearly one-third average reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, according to a long-term study among Spanish men published on Thursday.

Fossil fuel CO2 emissions up by 29 percent since 2000

Space & Earth / Environment

Nov 17, 2009 | 4.1 / 5 (18) | 7

The strongest evidence yet that the rise in atmospheric CO2 emissions continues to outstrip the ability of the world's natural 'sinks' to absorb carbon is published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience. ...

Accidental discovery produces durable new blue pigment for multiple applications

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (32) | 6

An accidental discovery in a laboratory at Oregon State University has apparently solved a quest that over thousands of years has absorbed the energies of ancient Egyptians, the Han dynasty in China, Mayan ...

Three of a kind: Revealing language’s universal essence

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

Nov 20, 2009 | 4.1 / 5 (13) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- On the surface, English, Japanese, and Kinande, a member of the Bantu family of languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have little in common. It is not just that the vocabularies ...

Turning heat to electricity... efficiently

Physics / General Physics

Nov 18, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (58) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way ...

Cigarettes harbor many pathogenic bacteria: Study

Medicine & Health / Health

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (5) | 6

Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher ...

Crashing the size barrier

Physics / General Physics

Nov 18, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (14) | 6

Like surfers on monster waves, electrons can ride waves of plasma to very high energies in a very short distance. Scientists have proven that plasma acceleration works. Now they're developing it as a way to ...

Battery Research Aims To Store Renewable Energy

Technology / Energy

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.1 / 5 (13) | 5

The biggest chemical battery in the United States is located near Interstate 90 in the small town of Luverne, Minn. The 80 ton device -- the size of two tractor-trailers stacked on top of each other -- stores ...

Volatile gas could turn Rwandan lake into a freshwater time bomb

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (10) | 5

A dangerous level of carbon dioxide and methane gas haunts Lake Kivu, the freshwater lake system bordering Rwanda and the Republic of Congo.

Common plastics chemicals linked to ADHD symptoms

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (5) | 4

Phthalates are important components of many consumer products, including toys, cleaning materials, plastics, and personal care items. Studies to date on phthalates have been inconsistent, with some linking exposure to these ...

Computer Based on Insights From The Brain Moves Closer to Reality

Technology / Computer Sciences

Nov 18, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (23) | 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today at SC 09, the supercomputing conference, IBM announced significant progress toward creating a computer system that simulates and emulates the brain's abilities for sensation, perception, ...