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. Researchers have invented computational tools to decode and rapidly determine whether natural compounds collected in oceans and forests are new -or if these pharmaceutically promising compounds have already been described and are therefore not patentable. http://www.physorg.com/news166712684.html Biology Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:50:02 EST news166712684 (PhysOrg.com) -- Deciphering the very early history of life on Earth is difficult. In the darkest recesses of the first billion years there are no 'body' fossils - no physical remains. Instead, scientists use chemical signals left behind in the rock record. http://www.physorg.com/news166284392.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:07:08 EST news166284392 A new study by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital have found a substantial link between increased levels of nitrates in our environment and food with increased deaths from diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes mellitus and Parkinson's. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. http://www.physorg.com/news166078729.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:59:25 EST news166078729 Plants grown under high CO2 and drought conditions show an increase in toxic compounds, a decrease in protein content and a decrease in yield. Dr. Ros Gleadow will present her findings at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting on Monday, June 29, where she will discuss these results and the consequent requirement for new cultivars in order to sustain food production in a future environment. http://www.physorg.com/news165489315.html Biology Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:15:37 EST news165489315 With rising ozone levels scientists have found that high ozone conditions cause a 30 percent decrease in yield and an increase in the concentration of a group of compounds with toxic effects to livestock, but anticarcinogenic effects for humans, within oilseed rape plants. Maarten de Bock will present his findings at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting on Monday, June 29. http://www.physorg.com/news165474218.html Biology Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:10:01 EST news165474218 (PhysOrg.com) -- Tough new fire-resistant coating materials called HIPS (‘hybrid inorganic polymer system`) are being developed by CSIRO researchers in Melbourne. http://www.physorg.com/news165158181.html Chemistry Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:17:21 EST news165158181 Researchers at Oregon State University recently completed the largest animal study ever done in the field of toxicology, and the findings challenge some basic concepts about how to determine what level of a cancer-causing compound can be considered safe. http://www.physorg.com/news164546331.html Medicine & Health Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:30:01 EST news164546331 Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created bright, stable and bio-friendly nanocrystals that act as individual investigators of activity within a cell. http://www.physorg.com/news164384163.html Nanotechnology Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:46:55 EST news164384163 In revisiting a chemical reaction that's been in the literature for several decades and adding a new wrinkle of their own, researchers with Berkeley Lab and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have discovered a mild and relatively inexpensive procedure for removing oxygen from biomass. This procedure, if it can be effectively industrialized, could allow many of today's petrochemical products, including plastics, to instead be made from biomass. http://www.physorg.com/news164381686.html Chemistry Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:10:03 EST news164381686 (PhysOrg.com) -- Formic acid, a compound implicated in the origins of life, has been found at record levels on a meteorite that fell onto a frozen Canadian lake in 2000. http://www.physorg.com/news163259938.html Space & Earth Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:00:34 EST news163259938 (PhysOrg.com) -- Global warming may include some periods of local cooling, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Results from satellite and ground-based sensor data show that sweltering summers can, paradoxically, lead to the temporary formation of a cooling haze in the southeastern United States. http://www.physorg.com/news161886252.html Space & Earth Mon, 18 May 2009 17:24:39 EST news161886252 Salad dressing aside, a pile of spinach has more nutritional value than a wedge of iceberg lettuce. That's because darker colors in leafy vegetables are often signs of antioxidants that are thought to have a variety of health benefits. Now a team of plant physiologists has developed a way to make lettuce darker and redder -and therefore healthier -- using ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs). http://www.physorg.com/news161882368.html Biology Mon, 18 May 2009 16:20:02 EST news161882368 A research project that aims to produce hydrogen on an environmentally friendly and cost-effective basis by using energy from the sun has won a prestigious E.ON research award. http://www.physorg.com/news161870957.html Technology Mon, 18 May 2009 13:09:43 EST news161870957 A novel species of bacteria with cholesterol-busting properties has been discovered by scientists at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Dr Oliver Drzyzga and colleagues isolated the new bug, called Gordonia cholesterolivorans, from sewage sludge. Their findings are reported in the current issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. http://www.physorg.com/news161520387.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 11:46:58 EST news161520387 A popular television commercial from the 1970s shows a Native American man in buckskin and feathers paddling his canoe through ink-black waters, past refineries billowing smoke. He comes aground on a litter-strewn shoreline and finds a freeway clogged with cars and exhaust fumes. Someone chucks fast-food garbage out a car window and it splatters onto his moccasins. The camera zooms in on a single tear streaming down his cheek, while the voiceover tells us "People start pollution. People can stop it." http://www.physorg.com/news160328375.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:41:15 EST news160328375 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ten years ago, William Fenical of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography isolated from an ocean-living fungus a compound that has since shown the ability to kill cancer cells in the lab. Now, for the first time, MIT chemists have synthesized the compound, an advance that could open the door to new drug treatments for cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news159974241.html Chemistry Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:18:00 EST news159974241 The club moss Lycopodium serratum is a creeping, flowerless plant used in homeopathic medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. It contains a potent brew of alkaloids that have attracted considerable scientific and medical interest. However, the plant makes many of these compounds in extremely low amounts, hindering efforts to test their therapeutic value. http://www.physorg.com/news159037185.html Chemistry Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:01:03 EST news159037185 (PhysOrg.com) -- It started out as a research project focused on getting rid of harmful bacterial accumulations called biofilms. Now it has the potential to make conventional antibiotics work against stubborn, drug-resistant bacteria. http://www.physorg.com/news158594722.html Chemistry Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:06:44 EST news158594722 Researchers at Temple University Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry found that a color-changing oral strip is as effective in detecting periodontal disease as traditional methods, and is easier and less costly to administer. http://www.physorg.com/news158584347.html Medicine & Health Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:12:56 EST news158584347 A new analytical technique is helping scientists learn how organisms as simple as seaweed can mount complex chemical defenses to protect themselves from microbial threats such as fungus. Known as desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS), the technique for the first time allows researchers to study unique chemical activity taking place on the surfaces of these organisms. http://www.physorg.com/news158259302.html Chemistry Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:55:27 EST news158259302 (PhysOrg.com) -- A collaboration of University of Pennsylvania and University of Wisconsin chemists and anesthesiologists have identified a fluorescent anesthetic compound that will assist researchers in obtaining more precise information about how anesthetics work in the body and will provide a means to more rapidly test new anesthetic compounds in the search for safer and more effective drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news157986643.html Chemistry Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:11:10 EST news157986643 An international team of scientists have discovered a transparent form of the element sodium (Na). The team, led by Artem Oganov, Professor of Theoretical Crystallography at Stony Brook University, and Yanming Ma, the lead author and professor of physics at Jilin University in China, was able to demonstrate that sodium defies normal physical expectations by going transparent under pressure. The results are published in the March 12 edition of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news156104532.html Physics Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:22:47 EST news156104532 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Michigan researchers have developed a nanoporous material with a surface area significantly higher than that of any other porous material reported to date. http://www.physorg.com/news155814659.html Nanotechnology Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:51:46 EST news155814659 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a world-first, scientists at the University of Glasgow have grown micro-tube structures from crystals of inorganic compounds. http://www.physorg.com/news155236276.html Chemistry Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:11:49 EST news155236276 Compounds extracted from green vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage could be a potent drug against melanoma, according to cancer researchers. Tests on mice suggest that these compounds, when combined with selenium, target tumors more safely and effectively than conventional therapy. http://www.physorg.com/news155132202.html Medicine & Health Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:17:19 EST news155132202 Muscular dystrophy, which affects approximately 250,000 people in the United States, occurs when damaged muscle tissue is replaced with fibrous, bony or fatty tissue and loses function. While scientists have identified one protein, dystrophin, as an important piece to curing the disease, another part of the mystery has eluded scientists for the past 14 years. Now, one University of Missouri scientist and his team have identified the location of the genetic material responsible for a molecular compound that is vital to curing the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news154893866.html Medicine & Health Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:10:26 EST news154893866 One of agriculture's most versatile crops could one day play a role in combating climate change, Purdue University research shows. http://www.physorg.com/news154882567.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:56:49 EST news154882567 (PhysOrg.com) -- Two compounds developed by Northwestern University chemists have been shown to be effective in pre-clinical trials in protecting against cerebral palsy, a condition caused by neurodegeneration that affects body movement and muscle coordination. http://www.physorg.com/news154784556.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:43:16 EST news154784556 Proteins are widely viewed as a promising alternative to synthetic chemicals in everything from medications to hand lotion. The naturally occurring molecules have been shown to be more efficient and effective than many of the most sophisticated chemical compounds on the market. But outside the controlled confines of the lab bench, proteins quickly change structure, causing irreversible damage to their functionality and often safety. http://www.physorg.com/news154626303.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:46:15 EST news154626303 (PhysOrg.com) -- Complex computer simulations have, for the first time, allowed scientists to examine in detail the processes that help to ensure the stability of DNA when exposed to UV light. The findings, achieved primarily in relation to DNA component 9H-adenine, have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). Moreover, in recognition of the high quality of the work, they have also been posted in the publication's newly established online section JACS Select. The results of the project, which was supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, show that an ultrafast, two-step process forms one basis for the photostability of DNA. http://www.physorg.com/news154621056.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:18:13 EST news154621056