http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Taking inspiration from genetic screening techniques, researchers from Harvard and MIT have demonstrated a way to build better artificial visual systems with the help of low-cost, high-performance gaming hardware. http://www.physorg.com/news178997486.html Technology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:10:01 EST news178997486 Male and female shopping styles are in our genes---and we can look to evolution for the reason. Daniel Kruger, research faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, says it's perfectly natural that men often can't distinguish a sage sock from a beige sock or that sometimes women can't tell if the shoe department is due north or west from the escalator. http://www.physorg.com/news178997182.html Other Sciences Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:00:01 EST news178997182 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study using solid-state NMR spectroscopy to analyze intact bone paves the way for atomic-level explorations of how disease and aging affect bone. The research by scientists at the University of Michigan is reported in the Dec. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. http://www.physorg.com/news178994090.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:20:01 EST news178994090 (PhysOrg.com) -- Santa skeptics have long considered St. Nick`s ability to deliver toys to the world`s good girls and boys in the course of one night a scientific impossibility. But new research shows that Santa is able to make his appointed rounds through the pioneering use of cutting-edge science and technology. http://www.physorg.com/news178996612.html Other Sciences Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:17:24 EST news178996612 Every cook knows the ingredients for making bread: flour, water, yeast, and time. But what chemical elements are in the recipe of our universe? http://www.physorg.com/news178996002.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:13:29 EST news178996002 (PhysOrg.com) -- A portable instrument manufactured by Nanosphere Inc. and recently approved by the FDA, can detect genetic variations in blood that alter the effectiveness of some drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news178991057.html Nanotechnology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:20:03 EST news178991057 (PhysOrg.com) -- Yale University researchers have found very large RNA structures within previously unstudied bacteria that appear crucial to basic biological functions such as helping viruses infect cells or allowing genes to "jump" to different parts of the chromosome. http://www.physorg.com/news178987799.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:20:01 EST news178987799 In spite of their genetic similarity to humans, chimpanzees and great apes have maximum lifespans that rarely exceed 50 years. The difference, explains USC Davis School of Gerontology Professor Caleb Finch, is that as humans evolved genes that enabled them to better adjust to levels of infection and inflammation and to the high cholesterol levels of their meat rich diets. http://www.physorg.com/news178988828.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:00:02 EST news178988828 Two new University of Illinois studies report that lunasin, a soy peptide often discarded in the waste streams of soy-processing plants, may have important health benefits that include fighting leukemia and blocking the inflammation that accompanies such chronic health conditions as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. http://www.physorg.com/news178990755.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:42:56 EST news178990755 An important Brandeis study appearing in the December 3 issue of Nature raises the curtain on the hidden lives of proteins at the atomic level. The study reports that for the first time, researchers used x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to directly visualize protein structures essential for catalysis at the rare high-energy state. The study also showed how the motions of these rare, or hidden, structures collectively, directly contribute to enzyme catalysis. http://www.physorg.com/news178987418.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:30:01 EST news178987418 cylinders of carbon about a nanometer in diameter -- have been highly touted for potential applications such as ultrastrong fibers, electrical wires in molecular devices, or hydrogen storage components for fuel cells. Thanks to a new development by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and five partners, you can add one more application to the list: detection and destruction of an aggressive form of breast cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news178982129.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:20:01 EST news178982129 Getting the correct balance of proteins in our diet may be more important for healthy ageing than reducing calories, new research funded by the Wellcome Trust and Research into Ageing suggests. http://www.physorg.com/news178984012.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:40:02 EST news178984012 (AP) -- Scientists can start using taxpayer dollars to do research with 13 batches of embryonic stem cells and the government says dozens more cell lines should be available soon, opening a new era for the potentially life-saving field. http://www.physorg.com/news178983978.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:40:01 EST news178983978 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics have discovered one of the hottest stars in the Galaxy with a surface temperature of around 200,000 degrees - 35 times hotter than the Sun. http://www.physorg.com/news178987042.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:37:50 EST news178987042 Researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have been able to view in detail, and for the first time, the previously mysterious process by which long chains of a protein called ubiquitin are added by enzymes called ubiquitin ligases to proteins that control the cell cycle. Ubiquitin chains tag target proteins for destruction by protein-degrading complexes in the cell. http://www.physorg.com/news178983771.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:43:50 EST news178983771 Duke University Medical Center researchers have figured out how stem cells in the malignant brain cancer glioma may be better able to resist radiation therapy. And using a drug to block a particular signaling pathway in these cancer stem cells, they were able to kill many more glioma cells with radiation in a laboratory experiment. http://www.physorg.com/news178983338.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:41:28 EST news178983338 (PhysOrg.com) -- Achieving an important new capability in ultracold atomic gases, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute, a collaboration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland, have created "synthetic" magnetic fields for ultracold gas atoms, in effect "tricking" neutral atoms into acting as if they are electrically charged particles subjected to a real magnetic field. The demonstration, described in the latest issue of the journal Nature, not only paves the way for exploring the complex natural phenomena involving charged particles in magnetic fields, but may also contribute to an exotic new form of quantum computing. http://www.physorg.com/news178983240.html Physics Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:34:45 EST news178983240 How do fruit flies get high cholesterol and become obese? The same way as people do - by eating a diet that's too rich in fats. http://www.physorg.com/news178980135.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:46:34 EST news178980135 Before one of your muscles can twitch, before the thought telling it to flex can race down your nerve, a tiny floodgate of sorts -- called an ion channel -- must open in the surface of each cell in these organs to let in the chemical signals that spur the cell to action. New research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has allowed scientists to observe ion channels within the surface membrane for the first time, potentially offering insights for future drug development. http://www.physorg.com/news178979870.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:38:21 EST news178979870 Sally Hall, a PhD student at the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES) at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) has formally described four new species of king crab, all from the deep sea. http://www.physorg.com/news178979272.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:28:35 EST news178979272 Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Naval Research Laboratory have developed a new way to introduce magnetic impurities in a semiconductor crystal by prodding it with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Detailed in a recent paper, this technique will enable researchers to selectively implant atoms in a crystal one at a time to learn about its electrical and magnetic properties on the atomic scale. http://www.physorg.com/news178978543.html Nanotechnology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:16:57 EST news178978543 (AP) -- A group of European scientists said Wednesday they have successfully connected a robotic hand to an amputee, allowing him to feel sensations in the artificial limb and control it with his thoughts. http://www.physorg.com/news178976346.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:39:47 EST news178976346 Looks can be deceiving, but certain bird species have figured out that a voice can tell them most of what they need to know to find the right mate. http://www.physorg.com/news178976123.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:36:15 EST news178976123 (PhysOrg.com) -- Using the latest technology, researchers are uncovering evidence of exactly how major a role activity plays in the battle to keep obesity at bay. In new report published in the British Medical Journal, scientists have shown that it`s the type of exercise you do, rather than the amount, that's most important. http://www.physorg.com/news178975986.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:33:33 EST news178975986 (PhysOrg.com) -- Hydrogen is a promising alternative energy carrier that can be efficiently converted into electrical energy in fuel cells. One hurdle to the introduction of sustainable hydrogen technology is the fact that the large-scale industrial production of hydrogen through reforming processes is still largely based on fossil fuels, and thus is not carbon neutral. http://www.physorg.com/news178969673.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:30:01 EST news178969673 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes friends can become enemies and enemies become friends, and it`s difficult to understand exactly how or why the changes took place. A new study shows that when the shifting of alliances and rivalries is interpreted using principles from social psychology, the overall behavior can be modeled as arising from an energy minimization process. The work is part of a growing line of research that uses tools from physics to analyze complex social systems. http://www.physorg.com/news178954961.html Physics Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:50:04 EST news178954961 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Anglo-French scientists studying sedimentary deposits in the Bay of Biscay have concluded that Britain and France were separated by a "super-river" during three periods of glaciations, and they have produced a more complete picture of the process of separation than previously available. http://www.physorg.com/news178954083.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:30:01 EST news178954083 (PhysOrg.com) -- Chemistry professor Harry Frank led an international group of researchers that identified the molecules in algae which direct the organisms to convert sunlight into oxygen. The findings may ultimately help in developing new solar energy conversion devices. http://www.physorg.com/news178964604.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:24:06 EST news178964604 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study, aimed at estimating the prevalence of Down Syndrome in newborns, children and teenagers in 10 areas of the U.S., has found an increase in prevalence of more than 30 percent over the last 24 years. http://www.physorg.com/news178953188.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:20:02 EST news178953188 San Francisco and Amsterdam set an online stage for an environmental rivalry regarding which city is more nature-friendly. http://www.physorg.com/news178952100.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:55:55 EST news178952100