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. Anyone who has ever had cats knows how difficult it can be to get them to do anything they don't already want to do. But it seems that the house cats themselves have had distinctly less trouble getting humans to do their bidding, according to a report published in the July 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. http://www.physorg.com/news166708958.html Biology Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:03:04 EST news166708958 The doctor's mouth opens, and "medicalese" pours forth: words like "pyrosis" and "myocardial infarction." The patient's eyes glaze over. If only the doctor said "heartburn" or "heart attack," the patient could learn what caused the chest pain. http://www.physorg.com/news166288132.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:40:01 EST news166288132 Errant pixels and blurry regions in a photo, whether digital or scanned, are the bane of photographers everywhere. Moreover, in vision processing research degraded photos are common and require restoration to a high-quality undegraded state. Research published this month in the International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering could provide new insights. http://www.physorg.com/news166267590.html Technology Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:27:54 EST news166267590 The Rosetta Stone of bacterial communication may have been found. http://www.physorg.com/news166162905.html Biology Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:30:11 EST news166162905 (PhysOrg.com) -- Organizational norms and social cues, not communication overload, are the strongest predictors of whether individuals use their laptops or smart phones to electronically multitask during a meeting, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. http://www.physorg.com/news165685060.html Other Sciences Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:40:49 EST news165685060 Miniature devices for trapping ions (electrically charged atoms) are common components in atomic clocks and quantum computing research. Now, a novel ion trap geometry demonstrated at the National Institute of Standards and Technology could usher in a new generation of applications because the device holds promise as a stylus for sensing very small forces or as an interface for efficient transfer of individual light particles for quantum communications. http://www.physorg.com/news165668548.html Physics Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:02:59 EST news165668548 After 18.6 years in space and defying several earlier expectations of its demise, the joint ESA/NASA solar orbiter Ulysses will achieve 'end of mission' on 30 June 2009. The final communication pass with a ground station will start at 17:35 CEST and run until 22:20 CEST (15:35-20:20 UTC) or until the final command is issued to switch the satellite's radio communications into 'monitor only' mode. No further contact with Ulysses is planned. http://www.physorg.com/news165233546.html Space & Earth Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:15:43 EST news165233546 Scientists have uncovered a novel mechanism linking soluble amyloid -- protein with the synaptic injury and memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The research, published by Cell Press in the June 25 issue of the journal Neuron, provides critical new insight into disease pathogenesis and reveals signaling molecules that may serve as potential additional therapeutic targets for AD. http://www.physorg.com/news165066096.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:43:18 EST news165066096 Bats can use the characteristics of other bats' voices to recognize each other, according to a study by researchers from the University of Tuebingen, Germany and the University of Applied Sciences in Konstanz, Germany. The study, published June 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, explains how bats use echolocation for more than just spatial knowledge. http://www.physorg.com/news163394004.html Biology Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:13:58 EST news163394004 Physicists at the California Institute of Technology have developed a nanoscale device that can be used for force detection, optical communication, and more. The device exploits the mechanical properties of light to create an optomechanical cavity in which interactions between light and motion are greatly strengthened and enhanced. These interactions, notes Oskar Painter, associate professor of applied physics at Caltech, and the principal investigator on the research, are the largest demonstrated to date. http://www.physorg.com/news163343394.html Nanotechnology Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:10:28 EST news163343394 The European Commission announced on Thursday that Inmarsat Ventures and Solaris Mobile had been chosen to beam high-speed Internet services to rural and remote areas in Europe not connected to existing networks. http://www.physorg.com/news161515264.html Technology Thu, 14 May 2009 10:22:14 EST news161515264 Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the single most common cause of death and disability in children and adolescents, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Now, according to a new study by UCLA researchers, the effects of a blow to the head, whether it's mild or a concussion, can linger for years. http://www.physorg.com/news161443303.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 May 2009 14:22:03 EST news161443303 (PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to nonlocal correlations, some correlations are more nonlocal than others. As the subject of study for several decades, nonlocal correlations (for example, quantum entanglement) exist between two objects when they can somehow directly influence each other even when separated by a large distance. Because these correlations require `passion-at-a-distance` (a term coined by physicist Abner Shimony), they violate the principle of locality, which states that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light (even though quantum correlations cannot be used to communicate faster than the speed of light). Besides being a fascinating phenomenon, nonlocality can also lead to powerful techniques in computing, cryptography, and information processing. http://www.physorg.com/news160911231.html Physics Thu, 07 May 2009 10:34:35 EST news160911231 To date, it has been unknown exactly how mammals are capable of sniffing out whether a conspecific is ill. The biologists Prof. Marc Spehr and Daniela Flügge are following a good lead. They have discovered that a messenger substance of the immune system that attracts defence cells to the affected site in bacterial infections also responds to receptors in the vomeronasal organ (VMO, Jacobson's organ). This organ, which has hardly been studied to date, reacts to pheromones and is also held responsible for spontaneous aversion or attraction when selecting a partner. The results of this study on the newly detected receptor family FPR (formyl peptide receptor) within the olfactory system have been published in the current Internet edition of Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news160905741.html Biology Thu, 07 May 2009 09:02:48 EST news160905741 Austrian physicists say a breakthrough in next-generation quantum cryptography could allow encrypted messages to be bounced off satellites, the British journal Nature reported Sunday. http://www.physorg.com/news160593524.html Physics Sun, 03 May 2009 18:19:09 EST news160593524 The threat of snakes gave primates superior vision and large brains -- and fueled a critical aspect of human evolution, UC Davis anthropology professor Lynne Isbell argues in a new book. http://www.physorg.com/news160389288.html Biology Fri, 01 May 2009 09:35:46 EST news160389288 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove on Thursday for the first time since April 8, acting on commands from engineers who are still investigating bouts of amnesia and other unusual behavior exhibited by Spirit in the past two weeks. http://www.physorg.com/news159802967.html Space & Earth Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:44:13 EST news159802967 Taiwan-based computer giant Acer on Wednesday launched a series of advanced mobile phones for the Asia-Pacific region, ramping up its expansion into the wireless communication market. http://www.physorg.com/news159599238.html Technology Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:08:36 EST news159599238 (PhysOrg.com) -- After three days of completing Earth-commanded activities without incident last week, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit had a bout of temporary amnesia Friday, April 17, and rebooted its computer Saturday, April 18, behavior similar to events about a week earlier. http://www.physorg.com/news159554640.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:44:38 EST news159554640 (PhysOrg.com) -- European researchers have developed a suite of tools to add non-verbal cues to email, phone calls, chats and other channels of electronic communication. It is fascinating work, and the real-world applications are even more compelling. http://www.physorg.com/news159195348.html Technology Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:56:17 EST news159195348 (Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- In the quest for quantum information processing, diamonds may be a physicist's best friend. http://www.physorg.com/news159024814.html Physics Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:37:09 EST news159024814 Reporting in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE April 8, Vincenzo Penteriani and Maria Delgado of the Estacion Biologica de Dońana, Spain, describe the evolution of white throat badges in association with dawn and dusk vocal signals in certain species of nocturnal bird, which maximise the potential for these species to communicate during hours when light is low. http://www.physorg.com/news158392404.html Biology Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:53:45 EST news158392404 Dogs and small children who share similar social environments appear to understand human gestures in comparable ways, according to Gabriella Lakatos from Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary, and her team. Looking at how dogs and young children respond to adult pointing actions, Lakatos shows that 3-year-olds rely on the direction of the index finger to locate a hidden object, whereas 2-year-olds and dogs respond instead to the protruding body part, even if the index finger is pointing in the opposite direction. These findings1 were just published online in Springer's journal Animal Cognition. http://www.physorg.com/news158227390.html Biology Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:03:57 EST news158227390 Nicotine isn't just addictive. It may also interfere with dozens of cellular interactions in the body, new Brown University research suggests. http://www.physorg.com/news157987668.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:28:23 EST news157987668 A team of researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Engineering in Medicine (MGH-CEM) has found the first evidence of cell-to-cell communication by amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, rather than by known protein signaling agents such as growth factors or cytokines. Their report will appear in an upcoming issue of the FASEB Journal and has been released online. http://www.physorg.com/news157987616.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:27:18 EST news157987616 Little is known about the long-term effects of the death of a child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on survivor siblings. These siblings may encounter unforeseen emotional difficulties and developmental consequences that can occur whether the siblings are born before or after the infant's death. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics explores the psychological and emotional issues related to siblings of children who died in the NICU. http://www.physorg.com/news157869949.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:49:22 EST news157869949 More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for an organ transplant, and an average of 17 die waiting each day, according to University of Illinois communication professor Brian Quick. http://www.physorg.com/news157738265.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:11:30 EST news157738265 Three members of the faculty at Stevens Institute of Technology recently collaborated on a paper focusing on free-space optical communication, which appears in the latest issue of Optics Express. http://www.physorg.com/news156522480.html Physics Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:28:32 EST news156522480 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 (AP) -- Internet search leader Google Inc. is preparing to steer more telephone traffic through an online command center that it acquired nearly two years ago. http://www.physorg.com/news156077044.html Technology Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:45:25 EST news156077044