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. A new Northwestern University study suggests that American parents should ease up on antibacterial soap and perhaps allow their little ones a romp or two in the mud --- or at least a much better acquaintance with everyday germs. http://www.physorg.com/news179522243.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:18:02 EST news179522243 (PhysOrg.com) -- A single bacterium can act alone, performing the same kinds of actions that a group normally does. The behavior of that bacterium can be manipulated at the cellular level. That`s the intriguing finding by a group of researchers from UNM, the Dartmouth Medical School, the New Mexico Veterans Health Care System, and Sandia National Laboratories. The results are reported in the Nov. 22 issue of Nature Chemical Biology. A possible application is halting drug resistant bacteria found in hospital settings. http://www.physorg.com/news179520110.html Chemistry Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:42:40 EST news179520110 (PhysOrg.com) -- Being irritable, grumpy and seeking social isolation are also hallmarks of depression, and could explain the Grinch's disdain for the Who -- the tall and the small -- his mistreatment of his dog Max and, ultimately, why he tried to stop Christmas from coming. http://www.physorg.com/news179519904.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:38:58 EST news179519904 (PhysOrg.com) -- The huge increases in the power and capacity of computers, cell phones and communications networks in the last 40 years have been the result of ever-shrinking silicon transistors. But silicon transistors are now getting so small that they`re running up against fundamental physical limits: soon, it will be impossible to squeeze any better performance out of them. http://www.physorg.com/news179518970.html Technology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:25:46 EST news179518970 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Cornell researcher has created an extremely efficient transistor made from gallium nitride, which may soon replace silicon as king of semiconductors for power applications. http://www.physorg.com/news179518616.html Physics Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:17:33 EST news179518616 (PhysOrg.com) -- Simon Fraser University archeologists Mark Collard and Kevan Edinborough and colleagues from University College London have uncovered evidence that French farmers introduced agriculture to Britain some 60 centuries ago. http://www.physorg.com/news179515605.html Other Sciences Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:27:49 EST news179515605 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more compassionate and collaborative in our quest to survive and thrive. http://www.physorg.com/news179512429.html Other Sciences Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:34:54 EST news179512429 (PhysOrg.com) -- The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus used a new strategy to cross from birds into humans, a warning that it has more than one trick up its sleeve to jump the species barrier and become virulent. http://www.physorg.com/news179511901.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:25:30 EST news179511901 An international group of anthropologists offers a new theory about the diffusion of maize to the Southwestern United States and the impact it had. http://www.physorg.com/news179511725.html Other Sciences Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:22:37 EST news179511725 Humans have the same receptors for detecting odors related to sex as do other apes and primates. But each species uses them in different ways, stemming from the way the genes for these receptors have evolved over time, according to Duke University researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news179507288.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:40:13 EST news179507288 (PhysOrg.com) -- Australian astronomers have released the first set of data from the first project to look at the effects of "dark energy" halfway back in the Universe's lifetime. http://www.physorg.com/news179508040.html Space & Earth Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:21:06 EST news179508040 New scientific evidence refutes the preconception that testosterone causes aggressive, egocentric, and risky behavior. A study at the Universities of Zurich and Royal Holloway London with more than 120 experimental subjects has shown that the sexual hormone with the poor reputation can encourage fair behaviors if this serves to ensure one's own status. http://www.physorg.com/news179504442.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:50:04 EST news179504442 Estrogen seems to act like a middleman in its positive effect on the brain, raising the possibility that future drugs may bypass the carcinogenic hormone altogether while reaping its benefits. http://www.physorg.com/news179505580.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:40:42 EST news179505580 While navigating the microscopic world of immune system proteins and cells to save a patient suffering from a raging bacterial infection, young teenage players of the "Immune Attack" video game measurably improved their understanding of cell biology and molecular science, according to a study that will be presented at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) 49th Annual Meeting, Dec. 5-9, 2009 in San Diego. http://www.physorg.com/news179503928.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:30:06 EST news179503928 Females can be too attractive to the opposite sex -- too attractive for their own good -- say biologists at UC Santa Barbara. They found that, among fruit flies, too much male attention directed toward attractive females leads to smaller families and, ultimately, to a reduced rate of population-wide adaptive evolution. http://www.physorg.com/news179502397.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:20:01 EST news179502397 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Rochester optics professor Chunlei Guo made headlines in the past couple of years when he changed the color of everyday metals by scouring their surfaces with precise, high-intensity laser bursts. http://www.physorg.com/news179504199.html Physics Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:17:11 EST news179504199 Researchers have discovered how the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas' disease, prolongs its survival in infected cells. A protein on the parasite activates the enzyme Akt, which blocks cell death signals, preventing cell destruction and parasite elimination. Chagas' disease affects some 8 to 11 million people throughout Latin America and even the United States. http://www.physorg.com/news179502191.html Chemistry Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:45:49 EST news179502191 Although politicians are often criticized for making empty promises, when it comes to their voting records, their words may carry more weight than previously thought, according to findings by two Penn State information technology scientists. http://www.physorg.com/news179500357.html Other Sciences Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:30:20 EST news179500357 In the pipefish, the male cares for the offspring. Apart from the ones he sucks the life out of. The discovery of filial cannibalism in the pipefish is now creating a stir in the research world. http://www.physorg.com/news179499885.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:06:59 EST news179499885 Scientists have ruled out the possibility that methane is delivered to Mars by meteorites, raising fresh hopes that the gas might be generated by life on the red planet, in research published tomorrow in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news179499648.html Space & Earth Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:02:06 EST news179499648 (AP) -- Five of the nation's largest publishers of newspapers and magazines plan to challenge Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle electronic-book reader with their own digital format that would display in color and work on a variety of devices. http://www.physorg.com/news179497893.html Technology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:32:13 EST news179497893 (PhysOrg.com) -- In 2004, Hubble created the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the deepest visible-light image of the Universe, and now, with its brand-new camera, Hubble is seeing even farther. This image was taken in the same region as the visible HUDF, but is taken at longer wavelengths. http://www.physorg.com/news179489629.html Space & Earth Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:14:38 EST news179489629 An international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have found no evidence supporting an extraterrestrial impact event at the onset of the Younger Dryas ~13000 years ago. http://www.physorg.com/news179489405.html Space & Earth Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:10:36 EST news179489405 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the givens in physics is the weak equivalence principle. This principle has been considered solid since Einstein proposed that it is not possible to detect the difference between uniform acceleration and a uniform static gravitational field. The uniqueness of freefall allows uniform acceleration, even between masses that are different, according to Einstein's postulate in the theory of General Relativity. The weak equivalence principle is well established amongst the science community, but it has yet to be demonstrated completely. This is where Phillippe Bouyer at Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l`Institut d`Optique, Campus Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France, and his colleagues are attempting to go. http://www.physorg.com/news179481148.html Physics Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:00:01 EST news179481148 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research scientists in California and elsewhere are deliberately setting out to compromise the mobile phone system used by around three billion people. The system uses Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) encryption technology to prevent eavesdropping. http://www.physorg.com/news179479214.html Technology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:50:01 EST news179479214 (PhysOrg.com) -- The deadly bacterium behind cholera epidemics spends only a fraction of its life infecting humans. Most of the time, Vibrio cholerae lurks in estuaries and other semisalty aquatic habitats. http://www.physorg.com/news179483903.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:10:03 EST news179483903 (PhysOrg.com) -- Blue whales, the largest animals on earth, are singing with deeper voices every year, but scientists are unsure of the reason. http://www.physorg.com/news179478332.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:40:03 EST news179478332 (PhysOrg.com) -- UCLA AIDS Institute researchers have for the first time demonstrated that human blood stem cells can be engineered to target and kill HIV-infected cells. http://www.physorg.com/news179483720.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:35:54 EST news179483720 An Arizona State University research team has developed a process that removes a key obstacle to producing lower-cost, renewable biofuels. The team has programmed a photosynthetic microbe to self-destruct, making the recovery of high-energy fats--and their biofuel byproducts--easier and potentially less costly. http://www.physorg.com/news179483099.html Biology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:26:13 EST news179483099 Google search is getting eyes and ears, moving beyond typed key words to let people scour the Internet with mobile telephone cameras or spoken words in multiple languages. http://www.physorg.com/news179482371.html Technology Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:13:38 EST news179482371