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. When Sheila Effan found a Kindle electronic reader among her gifts last Christmas, one of her first thoughts was whether she would miss the smell and feel of real paper. She got her answer five months later. http://www.physorg.com/news179053093.html Electronics Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:01:33 EST news179053093 Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects 5 million individuals in the U.S. and is the leading cause of limb amputations. Doctors have long considered exercise to be the single best therapy for PAD, and now a new study helps explain why. Led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and published in this week's Online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the findings demonstrate that a protein called PGC-1alpha plays a key role in the process. http://www.physorg.com/news179051759.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:36:28 EST news179051759 A pair of studies by Duke University neuroscientists shows powerful new evidence of a deep biological link between human music and speech. http://www.physorg.com/news179045347.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:25:11 EST news179045347 (AP) -- Comcast Corp. announced Thursday it plans to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal for $13.75 billion, giving the nation's largest cable TV operator control of the Peacock network, an array of cable channels and a major movie studio. http://www.physorg.com/news179040808.html Technology Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:00:02 EST news179040808 A third of the most popular children's toys in the United States this year contain harmful chemicals including lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, a US consumer group said Wednesday. http://www.physorg.com/news179004304.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:30:01 EST news179004304 A study of the use of US newspaper stories on the Web has found that more than 75,000 websites reused content from newspapers without authorization during a 30-day period. http://www.physorg.com/news179004071.html Technology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:40:01 EST news179004071 It turns out that wearing a cap is good for you, at least if you are a mammal cell. http://www.physorg.com/news179003738.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:50:02 EST news179003738 (PhysOrg.com) -- An extraordinarily bright, extraordinarily long-lasting supernova named SN 2007bi, snagged in a search by a robotic telescope, turns out to be the first example of the kind of stars that first populated the Universe. The superbright supernova occurred in a nearby dwarf galaxy, a kind of galaxy that's common but has been little studied until now, and the unusual supernova could be the first of many such events soon to be discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news179002328.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:30:02 EST news179002328 Adult stem cells may help repair heart tissue damaged by heart attack according to the findings of a new study to be published in the December 8 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Results from the Phase I study show stem cells from donor bone marrow appear to help heart attack patients recover better by growing new blood vessels to bring more oxygen to the heart. http://www.physorg.com/news179001296.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:20:17 EST news179001296 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have used lasers to create the first practical macroscopic yarns from boron nitride fibers, opening the door for an array of applications, from radiation-shielded spacecraft to stronger body armor, according to a just-published study. http://www.physorg.com/news179001844.html Nanotechnology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:20:06 EST news179001844 (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. is releasing an updated version of its mapping service with street-level views and new "apps" that tack on tweets, traffic and other location-specific data. http://www.physorg.com/news179002196.html Technology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:20:03 EST news179002196 (AP) -- In its search for another technology to excite us, the consumer electronics industry is reaching deep - into the third dimension. The big push for 3-D TV won't happen until next year, but already we can get a taste of 3-D in the home - on laptops. http://www.physorg.com/news179001699.html Electronics Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:42:33 EST news179001699 A new fossil species suggests that some land animals may have survived the end-Permian extinction by living in cooler climates in Antarctica. Researchers have identified a distant relative of mammals that apparently survived the mass extinction by living in Antarctica. http://www.physorg.com/news179001673.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:42:01 EST news179001673 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers and colleagues have created cell phones that allow deaf people to communicate in sign language, the same way hearing people use phones to talk. http://www.physorg.com/news178997841.html Technology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:30:01 EST news178997841 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) -- Some plants have the ability to drastically reduce levels of indoor pollutants, according to new research at the University of Georgia. Researchers showed that certain species can effectively remove air-borne contaminants, including harmful volatile organic compounds, suggesting a critical new role for plants in home and office environments. http://www.physorg.com/news178998849.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:54:43 EST news178998849 (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