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. (PhysOrg.com) -- A pair of University of Massachusetts Amherst chemists believe they have for the first time explained how the main players in transcription -- RNA polymerase, RNA (red in illustration) and the DNA template (blue) -- come together and link tightly enough to create a stable complex while DNA unwinds to pass crucial genetic information to RNA, but not so tightly that they can't come apart easily once transcription is complete. This transcription process takes place in all cells and is essential for making the proteins that carry out almost every process important to life. http://www.physorg.com/news181325837.html Chemistry Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:17:56 EST news181325837 (AP) -- Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But don't expect it to be blue - the name has nothing to do with the color of our closest celestial neighbor. http://www.physorg.com/news181316313.html Space & Earth Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:38:52 EST news181316313 (AP) -- For more than 60 years, TV stations have broadcast news, sports and entertainment for free and made their money by showing commercials. That might not work much longer. http://www.physorg.com/news181312392.html Technology Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:00:08 EST news181312392 We see the popular "captcha" security mechanism often ― wavy letters websites ask us to type into a box. It's used by web pages and newsletter sign-up forms to prevent computer robots from hacking into servers and databases. But these codes, which are becoming increasingly complicated for an average person to use, are not immune to security holes. http://www.physorg.com/news181311669.html Technology Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:21:43 EST news181311669 2009 may well be remembered for its scandal-ridden headlines, from admissions of extramarital affairs by governors and senators, to corporate executives flying private jets while cutting employee benefits, and most recently, to a mysterious early morning car crash in Florida. The past year has been marked by a series of moral transgressions by powerful figures in political, business and celebrity circles. New research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University explores why powerful people - many of whom take a moral high ground - don't practice what they preach. http://www.physorg.com/news181311436.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:18:06 EST news181311436 (PhysOrg.com) -- Finding watermelon genes that confer resistance to the devastating zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) has just been made easier, thanks to molecular markers developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and university and international cooperators. http://www.physorg.com/news181310172.html Biology Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:58:28 EST news181310172 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of East Anglia, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Pennsylvania State University have demonstrated for the first time the mechanism by which some bacteria can transfer electrons across a membrane to the cell exterior, allowing them to "breathe" metals. These iron-respiring bacteria link the cycling of iron and carbon in subsurface and surface sediments and can catalyze the immobilization of subsurface contaminants such as uranium. http://www.physorg.com/news181309967.html Chemistry Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:53:48 EST news181309967 (PhysOrg.com) -- Shareholders of Nike, Gatorade and other Tiger Woods sponsors lost a collective $5 to $12 billion in the wake of the scandal involving his extramarital affairs, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis. http://www.physorg.com/news181305893.html Other Sciences Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:45:41 EST news181305893 (PhysOrg.com) -- The University of Colorado at Boulder has been awarded $840,000 from the National Science Foundation for students to build a tiny spacecraft to observe energetic particles in space that should give scientists a better understanding of solar flares and their interaction with Earth's atmosphere. http://www.physorg.com/news181305800.html Space & Earth Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:45:15 EST news181305800 It's the ultimate goal in the treatment of cancer: tailoring a person's therapy based on his or her genetic makeup. While a lofty goal, scientists are steadily moving forward, rapidly exploiting new technologies. Researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center report a significant advance in this field of research using a new chip that looks for hundreds of mutations in dozen of genes. http://www.physorg.com/news181295454.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:51:33 EST news181295454 As US lawmakers demand to know how a would-be attacker smuggled explosives aboard a plane on Christmas Day, the use of body scanners at airport security points is likely to be revisited. http://www.physorg.com/news181288691.html Technology Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:20:02 EST news181288691 Experts are studying the first Mayan hieroglyphic script dealing with the life of a high priest, his blood sacrifices and acts of penance, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said. http://www.physorg.com/news181288215.html Other Sciences Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:55:46 EST news181288215 US researchers have found an antibody that hunts down prostate cancer cells in mice and can destroy the killer disease even in an advanced stage, a study showed Monday. http://www.physorg.com/news181245375.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:56:53 EST news181245375 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have identified mutations in the gene for TRPV4 that cause two related degenerative motor nerve disorders, scapuloperoneal spinal muscular atrophy (SPSMA) and hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy type IIC (CMT2C). http://www.physorg.com/news181242749.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:13:48 EST news181242749 By combining a research technique that dates back 136 years with modern molecular genetics, a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist has been able to see how a mammal's brain shrewdly revisits and reuses the same molecular cues to control the complex design of its circuits. http://www.physorg.com/news181241784.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:57:14 EST news181241784 (PhysOrg.com) -- Moving pictures are more suitable to interpret the mood of a person than a static photograph. http://www.physorg.com/news181240600.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:37:32 EST news181240600 (PhysOrg.com) -- The timing of molar emergence and its relation to growth and reproduction in apes is being reported by two scientists at Arizona State University's Institute of Human Origins in the Dec. 28 online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). http://www.physorg.com/news181237351.html Biology Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:20:02 EST news181237351 Scientists have created what appears to be a schizophrenic mouse by reducing the inhibition of brain cells involved in complex reasoning and decisions about appropriate social behavior. http://www.physorg.com/news181238493.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:02:24 EST news181238493 (AP) -- A Nevada couple letting their SUV's navigation system guide them through the high desert of Eastern Oregon got stuck in snow for three days when the GPS unit sent them down a remote forest road. http://www.physorg.com/news181235682.html Technology Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:50:05 EST news181235682 (AP) -- They're not your grandpa's hearing aids. Today's newest models range from the completely invisible - it sits deep in the ear canal for months at a time - to Bluetooth-enabled gadgets that open cell phones and iPods for hearing-aid users. http://www.physorg.com/news181235770.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:50:01 EST news181235770 The sight of a cockroach scurrying for cover may be nauseating, but the insect is also a biological and engineering marvel, and is providing researchers at Oregon State University with what they call "bioinspiration" in a quest to build the world's first legged robot that is capable of running effortlessly over rough terrain. http://www.physorg.com/news181237551.html Electronics Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:49:21 EST news181237551 Transforming lead into gold is an impossible feat, but a similar type of "alchemy" is not only possible, but cost-effective too. Three Penn State researchers have shown that certain combinations of elemental atoms have electronic signatures that mimic the electronic signatures of other elements. According to the team's leader A. Welford Castleman Jr., Eberly Distinguished Chair in Science and Evan Pugh Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Physics, "the findings could lead to much cheaper materials for widespread applications such as new sources of energy, methods of pollution abatement, and catalysts on which industrial nations depend heavily for chemical processing." http://www.physorg.com/news181225307.html Physics Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:00:12 EST news181225307 Just like teenagers at a prom, proteins are tended by chaperones whose job it is to prevent unwanted interactions among immature clients. And at the molecular level, just as at the high school gym level, it's a job that usually requires a lot of energy. http://www.physorg.com/news181209738.html Biology Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:00:08 EST news181209738 Researchers at MIT and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals report this week that they have successfully used RNA interference to turn off multiple genes in the livers of mice, an advance that could lead to new treatments for diseases of the liver and other organs. http://www.physorg.com/news181225412.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:00:03 EST news181225412 Two consumer groups urged the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday to block Internet search and advertising giant Google's proposed purchase of mobile advertising company AdMob. http://www.physorg.com/news181226512.html Technology Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:42:15 EST news181226512 Two New York City high school students exploring their homes using the latest high-tech DNA analysis techniques were astonished to discover a veritable zoo of 95 animal species surrounding them, in everything from fridges to furniture, from sidewalks to shipping boxes, and from feather dusters to floor corners. http://www.physorg.com/news181209553.html Biology Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:00:03 EST news181209553 Spinal cord disorders like spina bifida arise during early development when future spinal cord cells growing in a flat layer fail to roll up into a tube. In the Dec. 6 issue of Nature Cell Biology, researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine team with colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley to report a never-before known link between protein transport and mouse spinal cord development, a discovery that opens new doors for research on all spinal defects. http://www.physorg.com/news181213580.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:07:49 EST news181213580 Like a spotlight that illuminates an otherwise dark scene, attention brings to mind specific details of our environment while shutting others out. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies shows that the superior colliculus, a brain structure that primarily had been known for its role in the control of eye and head movements, is crucial for moving the mind's spotlight. http://www.physorg.com/news181213605.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Dec 2009 09:07:17 EST news181213605 Japanese researchers said Monday they had developed a "hummingbird robot" that can flutter around freely in mid-air with rapid wing movements. http://www.physorg.com/news181208607.html Electronics Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:44:26 EST news181208607 (PhysOrg.com) -- "Terra firma." It's Latin for "solid Earth." Most of the time, at least from our perspective here on the ground, Earth seems to be just that: solid. Yet the Earth beneath our feet is actually in constant motion. It moves through time and space, of course, along with the other objects in the universe, but it moves internally as well. http://www.physorg.com/news181194545.html Space & Earth Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:50:49 EST news181194545