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. Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder but also in the relationship of the eyes and mouth of the beholden. The distance between a woman's eyes and the distance between her eyes and her mouth are key factors in determining how attractive she is to others, according to new psychology research from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Toronto. http://www.physorg.com/news180195066.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:30:04 EST news180195066 Is that really Bob? You've seen him hundreds of mornings for the last 10 years at local coffee shops. Since he started dating Sara, he looks you in the eye -- and smiles. Sara takes every opportunity to let coffee shop cronies know that Bob is her guy and to gush about how funny he is. And he is. Who knew? http://www.physorg.com/news180195189.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:50:01 EST news180195189 Some geologic faults that appear strong and stable, slip and slide like weak faults. Now an international team of researchers has laboratory evidence showing why some faults that "should not" slip are weaker than previously thought. http://www.physorg.com/news180193925.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:40:01 EST news180193925 Research teams led by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute announce the first comprehensive analyses of cancer genomes. All cancers are caused by mutations in the DNA of cancer cells which are acquired during a person's lifetime. The studies, of a malignant melanoma and a lung cancer, reveal for the first time essentially all the mutations in the genomes of two cancers. http://www.physorg.com/news180192956.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:30:06 EST news180192956 (PhysOrg.com) -- The American coot is a drab, seemingly unremarkable marsh bird common throughout North America. But its reproductive life is full of deception and violence. http://www.physorg.com/news180193135.html Biology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:10:04 EST news180193135 A new analysis of the geological record of the Earth's sea level, carried out by scientists at Princeton and Harvard universities and published in the Dec. 16 issue of Nature, employs a novel statistical approach that reveals the planet's polar ice sheets are vulnerable to large-scale melting even under moderate global warming scenarios. Such melting would lead to a large and relatively rapid rise in global sea level. http://www.physorg.com/news180192652.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:00:01 EST news180192652 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers announced today that they have discovered a "super-Earth" orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. They found the distant planet with a small fleet of ground-based telescopes no larger than those many amateur astronomers have in their backyards. Although the super-Earth is too hot to sustain life, the discovery shows that current, ground-based technologies are capable of finding almost-Earth-sized planets in warm, life-friendly orbits. http://www.physorg.com/news180193829.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:51:11 EST news180193829 In a developing animal, stem cells proliferate and differentiate to form the organs needed for life. A new study shows how a crucial step in this process happens and how a reversal of that step contributes to cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news180192279.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:27:15 EST news180192279 Aided by next-generation DNA sequencing technology, an international team of researchers has gained insights into how more than 60 carcinogens associated with cigarette smoke bind to and chemically modify human DNA, ultimately leading to cancer-causing genetic mutations. http://www.physorg.com/news180191982.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:21:09 EST news180191982 (PhysOrg.com) -- Techniques recently invented by researchers at the California Institute of Technology -- which allow the real-time, real-space visualization of fleeting changes in the structure of nanoscale matter -- have been used to image the evanescent electrical fields produced by the interaction of electrons and photons, and to track changes in atomic-scale structures. http://www.physorg.com/news180191808.html Physics Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:17:45 EST news180191808 The secret to the flight of the hummingbird and other tiny birds and insects lies in the looping, swirling flow of air, called a vortex, that their flapping wings create. http://www.physorg.com/news180186917.html Technology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:56:15 EST news180186917 Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University, Evanston, have discovered that common bacteria can turn microgears when suspended in a solution, providing insights for design of bio-inspired dynamically adaptive materials for energy. http://www.physorg.com/news180186704.html Chemistry Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:52:24 EST news180186704 Bacteria inhabited our planet for more than 4 billion years before humans showed up, and they'll probably outlive us by as many eons more. That suggests they may have something to teach us. http://www.physorg.com/news180182479.html Biology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:30:05 EST news180182479 (AP) -- The Federal Trade Commission sued Intel Corp. on Wednesday, looking to block pricing deals and other tactics the government said the world's biggest chip maker has used to snuff out competition. http://www.physorg.com/news180181446.html Technology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:50:07 EST news180181446 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Chinese astronomers have discovered a giant planet close to the exotic binary star system QS Virginis. Although dormant now, in the future the two stars will one day erupt in a violent nova outburst. Professor Shengbang Qian of Yunnan Observatory leads the team of scientists who report their work in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. http://www.physorg.com/news180173732.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:20:07 EST news180173732 Tissue-specific genes, thought to be dormant or not marked for activation in embryonic stem cells, are indeed marked by transcription factors, with proper marking potentially crucial for the function of tissues derived from stem cells. http://www.physorg.com/news180181077.html Biology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:19:05 EST news180181077 (PhysOrg.com) -- Herschel has peered inside an unseen stellar nursery and revealed surprising amounts of activity. Some 700 newly-forming stars are estimated to be crowded into filaments of dust stretching through the image. The image is the first new release of 'OSHI', ESA's Online Showcase of Herschel Images. http://www.physorg.com/news180180910.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:15:57 EST news180180910 (PhysOrg.com) -- Electric vehicles are far from new, but we are still a long way from electric cars being the norm. Now two new electric cars may bring that goal a step closer. http://www.physorg.com/news180171314.html Technology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:40:01 EST news180171314 (PhysOrg.com) -- Within a decade scientists could be able to detect the merger of tens of pairs of black holes every year, according to a team of astronomers at the University of Bonn`s Argelander-Institut fuer Astronomie, who publish their findings in a paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. By modelling the behaviour of stars in clusters, the Bonn team find that they are ideal environments for black holes to coalesce. These merger events produce ripples in time and space (gravitational waves) that could be detected by instruments from as early as 2015. http://www.physorg.com/news180173220.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:08:01 EST news180173220 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Cornell University in the U.S. have found a new way of breaking two of the strongest chemical bonds, at ambient temperature and pressure, and this breakthrough could lead to low-energy processes for making organic compounds containing nitrogen. http://www.physorg.com/news180170164.html Chemistry Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:22:43 EST news180170164 (PhysOrg.com) -- Temple study suggests that an amino acid found in red meats, fish, beans and other foods may increase possibility of dementia. http://www.physorg.com/news180169180.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:10:01 EST news180169180 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry imaged the growth of protein-studded mineral surfaces with unprecedented resolution and provided a glimpse into how living systems engineer key structural materials. http://www.physorg.com/news180167089.html Nanotechnology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:25:41 EST news180167089 (AP) -- More than 100 million Europeans will get to pick a Web browser after Microsoft agreed to offer Internet users a choice to avoid fresh fines - a move that could represent a real thawing of long-standing tensions between the software company and the European Union. http://www.physorg.com/news180166472.html Technology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:19:18 EST news180166472 Personalized newscasts culled from the Web and presented by digital avatars. Baseball stories written by computers using raw data. http://www.physorg.com/news180165769.html Technology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:03:31 EST news180165769 The DNA of a 1st century shrouded man found in a tomb on the edge of the Old City of Jerusalem has revealed the earliest proven case of leprosy. Details of the research will be published December 16 in the PloS ONE Journal. http://www.physorg.com/news180165623.html Other Sciences Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:01:01 EST news180165623 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Georgia Tech have developed a nanolithographic technique that can produce high-resolution patterns of at least three different chemicals on a single chip at writing speeds of up to one millimeter per second. The chemical nanopatterns can be tailor-designed with any desired shape and have been shown to be sufficiently stable so that they can be stored for weeks and then used elsewhere. The technique, known as Thermochemical Nanolithography is detailed in the December 2009 edition of the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The research has applications in a number of scientific fields from electronics to medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news180162467.html Nanotechnology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:08:15 EST news180162467 The conversations neurons have as they form and recall memories have been decoded by Medical College of Georgia scientists. http://www.physorg.com/news180162150.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:03:53 EST news180162150 A University of Florida researcher has co-authored a study tracing the evolution of the modern opossum back to the extinction of the dinosaurs and finding evidence to support North America as the center of origin for all living marsupials. http://www.physorg.com/news180161821.html Other Sciences Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:58:16 EST news180161821 Persons with higher levels of leptin, a protein hormone produced by fat cells and involved in the regulation of appetite, may have an associated reduced incidence of Alzheimer disease and dementia, according to a study in the December 16 issue of JAMA. http://www.physorg.com/news180125848.html Medicine & Health Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:30:02 EST news180125848 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists once thought that life could originate only within a solar system's "habitable zone," where a planet would be neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on its surface. But according to planetary scientist Francis Nimmo, evidence from recent NASA missions suggests that conditions necessary for life may exist on the icy satellites of Saturn and Jupiter. http://www.physorg.com/news180112635.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:55:19 EST news180112635