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 University of British Columbia study finds that our brains are much more active when we daydream than previously thought. http://www.physorg.com/news161280990.html Medicine & Health Mon, 11 May 2009 17:16:51 EST news161280990 People who live in urban areas are more likely to develop late-stage cancer than those who live in suburban and rural areas. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the June 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study's results indicate a need for more effective urban-based cancer screening and awareness programs. http://www.physorg.com/news161229442.html Medicine & Health Mon, 11 May 2009 03:08:40 EST news161229442 Desert environments are characterized by poor vegetative cover, strong winds, dry, non-cohesive sandy soils, and hyper-arid conditions. In this context, the land resources of Abu Dhabi Emirate in the United Arab Emirates are subjected to various land degradation stresses, including wind erosion, salinization, waterlogging, landfilling, and overgrazing. To sustain the land resources of Abu Dhabi Emirate, land degradation is a matter of urgency and must be accorded greater significance on the environmental agenda. http://www.physorg.com/news160832398.html Space & Earth Wed, 06 May 2009 12:40:31 EST news160832398 Toddlers with autism appear more likely to have an enlarged amygdala, a brain area associated with numerous functions, including the processing of faces and emotion, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, this brain abnormality appears to be associated with the ability to share attention with others, a fundamental ability thought to predict later social and language function in children with autism. http://www.physorg.com/news160675501.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 May 2009 17:05:24 EST news160675501 Barro Colorado Island in Panama, home of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's premier tropical biology field station, has been described as the best-studied piece of tropical real estate in the western hemisphere. Although the island has been a mecca for biologists for nearly 90 years, no one has ever photographed an elusive island visitor, the jaguar -until now. http://www.physorg.com/news160659472.html Biology Mon, 04 May 2009 12:38:34 EST news160659472 Ben W. Strowbridge, Ph.D, associate professor of Neuroscience and Physiology/Biophysics, and Yuan Gao, a Ph.D. student in the neurosciences program at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, are the first to discover a form of synaptic memory in the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain that processes the sense of smell. http://www.physorg.com/news160592963.html Medicine & Health Sun, 03 May 2009 18:09:42 EST news160592963 (PhysOrg.com) -- The pulsing of a single neuron can switch a brain`s waves from the equivalent of a big ocean swell to ripples on a pond, according to new research from Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Yang Dan of the University of California, Berkeley. http://www.physorg.com/news160407260.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 May 2009 14:34:46 EST news160407260 A new study provides direct experimental evidence that a brain region important for reading and word recognition contains neurons that are highly selective for individual real words. The research, published by Cell Press in the April 30th issue of the journal Neuron, provides important insight into brain mechanisms associated with reading and may lead to a better understanding of reading disabilities. http://www.physorg.com/news160229278.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:08:32 EST news160229278 (AP) -- Sixty percent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution levels, despite a growing green movement and more stringent laws aimed at improving air quality, the American Lung Association said in a report released Wednesday. http://www.physorg.com/news160207575.html Space & Earth Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:11:29 EST news160207575 Houston is a reflection of where most of America's cities will be in the next 20 years, according to Stephen Klineberg, Rice University sociologist and director of the annual Houston Area Survey. http://www.physorg.com/news160048038.html Other Sciences Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:47:46 EST news160048038 Researchers with the University of Hawaii Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit have examined the impact of unregulated planting of biofuel crops for their potential invasiveness and raised concerns about their impacts on Hawaii's environment. Their findings, published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, conclude that biofuel crops proposed for use in the Hawaiian Islands are two to four times more likely to establish wild populations or be invasive in Hawaii and in other tropical areas when compared to a random sample of other introduced plants. http://www.physorg.com/news159648113.html Biology Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:42:54 EST news159648113 In Maine, government scientists have figured out how to measure snowfall in remote areas with a bucket, a small windmill, and the sun - all the while saving money, energy, and, ultimately helping to save lives. http://www.physorg.com/news159630664.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:51:41 EST news159630664 In spite of a dramatic rise in concerns about the local economy, Houstonians are more positive about living in the region, according to the latest annual Houston Area Survey results from Rice University. http://www.physorg.com/news159448283.html Other Sciences Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:11:48 EST news159448283 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study by Oregon State University researchers shows that rural residents in Oregon who have HIV/AIDS experience stigma and discrimination in day-to-day living and when accessing health care services. http://www.physorg.com/news159200550.html Medicine & Health Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:23:02 EST news159200550 (AP) -- Treating African children at home for malaria doesn't help in cities because most fevers aren't actually caused by malaria, a new study said Tuesday. http://www.physorg.com/news158908029.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:07:33 EST news158908029 (PhysOrg.com) -- For those who think of nature as a wild, unspoiled Eden that preserves the natural flora and fauna free from human interference, global warming has a nasty surprise in store, according to University of California, Berkeley, biologist Anthony Barnosky. http://www.physorg.com/news158851283.html Space & Earth Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:22:12 EST news158851283 By doing a set of vigorous visual exercises on a computer every day for several months, patients who had gone partially blind as a result of suffering a stroke were able to regain some vision, according to scientists who published their results in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news157739842.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:38:17 EST news157739842 An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a new analytical tool to answer the question of how our brain cells record outside stimuli and react to them. http://www.physorg.com/news157720415.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:17:25 EST news157720415 President Barack Obama signed legislation on Monday expanding and protecting US public parks and wilderness areas from oil and gas development, billed as the largest US conservation measure in more than 15 years. http://www.physorg.com/news157655874.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:18:26 EST news157655874 The House of Representatives on Wednesday gave long-awaited final approval to a massive public lands package designed to protect wilderness, restore rivers and expand national parks. http://www.physorg.com/news157302209.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:04:02 EST news157302209 (AP) -- The first detailed statewide tree count in Texas history is headed toward this conclusion: Texas is No. 2. http://www.physorg.com/news157268101.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:37:25 EST news157268101 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Notre Dame biologist Sunny Boyd's research is a little like "Match.com" for amphibians. Say you're a female tree frog looking for a mate--how do you choose among a number of potential suitors? http://www.physorg.com/news157138053.html Biology Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:28:52 EST news157138053 In regions that have been devastated by hurricanes and other natural disasters, public officials should pursue a new direction in infrastructure projects, one that focuses on more durable designs and a greater sensitivity to the surrounding environment, a Johns Hopkins researcher says. http://www.physorg.com/news157051992.html Space & Earth Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:33:57 EST news157051992 A new study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers is the first to pinpoint damage inside the brains of veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome - a finding that links the illness to chemical exposures and may lead to diagnostic tests and treatments. http://www.physorg.com/news157018337.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:12:43 EST news157018337 A new study published in the journal Soil Use and Management attempts for the first time to measure the extent and severity of land degradation across the globe and concludes that 24% of the land area is degrading - often in very productive areas. http://www.physorg.com/news156768832.html Space & Earth Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:54:24 EST news156768832 Researchers trying to uncover the mechanisms that cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder have found an abnormality in the brains of adolescent boys suffering from the conditions, but not where they expected to find it. http://www.physorg.com/news156519731.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:43:04 EST news156519731 To cut the cost of bringing high-speed Internet to rural areas, Dr. Ka Lun Lee and colleagues at the University of Melbourne and NEC Australia in the state of Victoria are experimenting with a way to boost the reach of existing technology. Their results, which show a new way to cheaply cover 99 percent of those living in this province, will be presented during the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC), taking place March 22-26 in San Diego. http://www.physorg.com/news156428604.html Technology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:24:08 EST news156428604 New infra-red footage released Thursday captures hitherto unseen images of elusive Javan rhinos, the most endangered mammal in the world with less than 60 individuals believed to remain alive. http://www.physorg.com/news155484557.html Biology Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:09:47 EST news155484557 The African savanna is world famous for its wildlife, especially the iconic large herbivores such as elephants, zebras, and giraffes. But managing these ecosystems and balancing the interests of the large charismatic mammals with those of other species has been a perpetual challenge for park and game mangers. Now a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports the successful test of new remote-sensing technology to monitor the impact of management decisions on the savannah ecosystem. http://www.physorg.com/news155237869.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:39:56 EST news155237869 New research reveals a sophisticated brain mechanism that is critical for filtering out irrelevant signals during demanding cognitive tasks. The study, published by Cell Press in the February 26 issue of the journal Neuron, also provides some insight into how disruption of key inhibitory pathways may contribute to schizophrenia. http://www.physorg.com/news154787315.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:29:21 EST news154787315