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. (PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words, particularly when the picture is used to illustrate science. Technology is giving us better pictures every day, and one of them is helping a NASA-funded scientist and her team to explain the behavior of a greenhouse gas. http://www.physorg.com/news172772116.html Space & Earth Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:50:02 EST news172772116 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are one step closer to creating a micro-aircraft that flies with the manoeuvrability and energy efficiency of an insect after decoding the aerodynamic secrets of insect flight. http://www.physorg.com/news172414949.html Technology Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:03:10 EST news172414949 The composition of some of our nation's forests may be quite different 200 to 400 years from today according to a recent study at the University of Illinois. The study found that temperature and photosynthetic active radiation were the two most important variables in predicting what forest landscapes may look like in the future. The uncertainties became very high after the year 2200. http://www.physorg.com/news172241321.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:50:06 EST news172241321 (PhysOrg.com) -- Tests on Earth simulating Spirit's predicament on Mars have reinforced understanding that getting Spirit to rove again will be very difficult. http://www.physorg.com/news172220956.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:20:01 EST news172220956 UK researchers have developed a new computer model - Expecting - that can be used as a design tool for automotive designers to help ensure that vehicle designs can accommodate the safety needs of pregnant occupants. They report details in the latest issue of the International Journal of Vehicle Design. http://www.physorg.com/news171565238.html Technology Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:01:22 EST news171565238 In the new era of personalized medicine, physicians hope to provide earlier diagnoses and improve therapy by evaluating patients' genetic blueprints. But, as a new bioinformatics study emphasizes, the first step must be to correctly decipher the deluge of information locked in our DNA and determine its impact on human health. http://www.physorg.com/news171193637.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:00:07 EST news171193637 Researchers are developing computer models to comb through thousands of injury reports in large administrative medical datasets or insurance claims data to automatically classify them based on specific words or phrases. http://www.physorg.com/news171115329.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:20:03 EST news171115329 Salpinx, barbiton, aulos, syrinx. Never heard them? Never heard of them? Neither had anyone else, for centuries. Until now. http://www.physorg.com/news170963147.html Other Sciences Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:46:22 EST news170963147 (PhysOrg.com) -- One major threat of planetary warming is the melting of the great polar ice sheets, and the resulting rise in global sea level. Particularly worrisome to researchers is the fragility of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS), whose bed lies well below sea-level, accelerating the natural flow between the grounded ice sheet itself and the floating ice shelves that make up its boundary. http://www.physorg.com/news170690352.html Space & Earth Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:00:03 EST news170690352 (PhysOrg.com) -- Subtle connections between the 11-year solar cycle, the stratosphere, and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according to research appearing this week in the journal Science. The study can help scientists get an edge on eventually predicting the intensity of certain climate phenomena, such as the Indian monsoon and tropical Pacific rainfall, years in advance. http://www.physorg.com/news170601993.html Space & Earth Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:00:01 EST news170601993 A research report in the current issue of the International Journal of Engineering Systems Modeling and Simulation suggests that help desks can be optimized by adding very few extra staff. http://www.physorg.com/news170518460.html Technology Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:40:02 EST news170518460 Computer scientists in Taiwan have devised a neural network program that can successfully classify a computerized music file based on its beat and tempo. The system could be a boon for music archivists with large numbers of untagged recordings and for users searching through mislabeled mp3 libraries. Details of tests on ballroom dancing music are reported this month in the International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems. http://www.physorg.com/news170499586.html Technology Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:00:24 EST news170499586 Without at least a temporary reprieve from hunting, the world's largest species of fruit bat, Pteropus vampyrus or the "large flying fox", could be driven to extinction in Peninsular Malaysia at the current hunting rate, scientists have warned. Writing in the new issue of the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology, they say around 22,000 flying foxes are legally hunted (in addition to those illegally hunted) each year in Peninsular Malaysia, a level of hunting that is unsustainable based on their estimates of the number of bats in the country. http://www.physorg.com/news170447435.html Biology Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:40:02 EST news170447435 A comprehensive new study of irrigation in Asia warns that, without major reforms and innovations in the way water is used for agriculture, many developing nations face the politically risky prospect of having to import more than a quarter of the rice, wheat and maize they will need by 2050. http://www.physorg.com/news169737873.html Space & Earth Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:50:01 EST news169737873 After searching for more than 50 years, scientists finally have discovered a number of new mosquito repellents that beat DEET, the gold standard for warding off those pesky, sometimes disease-carrying insects. The stuff seems like a dream come true. It makes mosquitoes buzz off three times longer than DEET, the active ingredient in many of today's bug repellents. It does not have the unpleasant odor of DEET. And it does not cause DEET's sticky-skin sensation. http://www.physorg.com/news169644175.html Chemistry Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:24:11 EST news169644175 Professor Kevin Lansey, head of the department of civil engineering and engineering mechanics at The University of Arizona, and four of his UA colleagues have been awarded $2 million by the National Science Foundation to research water reuse and supply systems. http://www.physorg.com/news168705908.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:46:02 EST news168705908 Early relatives of spiders that lived around 300 million years ago are revealed in new three-dimensional models, in research published today in the journal Biology Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news168683057.html Biology Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:24:56 EST news168683057 (PhysOrg.com) -- Tidal stream farms, in which electricity is generated by turbines from regions of strong tidal flow, may influence the natural balance of marine sands, according to research at Bangor University. http://www.physorg.com/news168016350.html Space & Earth Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:30:03 EST news168016350 (PhysOrg.com) -- 95%. That is the percentage of the known Universe that is missing. As in it is not there. Or at least if it is there, we can't see it. We call this unseen stuff "dark matter". That has been well known for sometime. What is trickier in answering is why? Why is it that 95% of the universe is made up of this so-named "dark matter?" An even trickier question is where? As in where is this dark matter? It is those two questions that have plagued physicists for decades. Dark matter, by its own definition cannot be seen, hence its name. So how do we "see" it, how do we know "where" to look? http://www.physorg.com/news167555163.html Physics Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:00:02 EST news167555163 Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute have researched the geology of the seabed in the Labrador Sea on board of the research vessel Maria S. Merian. They have studied the so-called Eirik Drift at the southern tip of Greenland, a structure of several hundred kilometres length formed like a ridge. They discovered a submarine mountain (seamount) at the south-western fringe of their area of investigation that indicates volcanic eruptions during the past few million years. http://www.physorg.com/news167477092.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:25:51 EST news167477092 Research at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute into the mechanics of how two types of white blood cells grow and die is fundamentally changing the development of computer models that are used to predict how immune system cells respond to a pathogenic threat. http://www.physorg.com/news167390887.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:50:01 EST news167390887 A wind storm that ripped across western China's Taklimakan desert kicked up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dust that high-altitude winds then carried around the world in less than two weeks, a study says. http://www.physorg.com/news167315325.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:00:02 EST news167315325 Tropical cyclone Nargis made landfall in the Asian nation of Myanmar on May 2, 2008, causing the worst natural disaster in the country's recorded history - with a death toll that may have exceeded 138,000. In the July 2009 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers report on a field survey done three months after the disaster to document the extent of the flooding and resulting damage. http://www.physorg.com/news167047971.html Space & Earth Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:15:02 EST news167047971 (AP) -- A transplant surgeon who completed an unprecedented eight-way kidney swap this week said Tuesday he believes such intricate, multistate exchanges can drastically reduce the number of patients waiting for eligible donors. http://www.physorg.com/news166206446.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:28:39 EST news166206446 A research paper co-written by a Virginia Tech faculty member explains a 60-year mystery behind a rare bat's nose that is unusually large for its species. The findings soon will be published in the scientific trade journal, Physical Review Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news166182701.html Physics Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:30:07 EST news166182701 (PhysOrg.com) -- `Geoengineering` experiments proposed to reduce global warming by blocking sunlight with atmosphere-injected particles may cool the world but still leave carbon dioxide levels dangerously high, Stanford scientists say. http://www.physorg.com/news165847604.html Space & Earth Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:47:15 EST news165847604 The number of recorded swine flu cases has reached 70,893 worldwide, with 311 deaths, since the virus was first discovered in late March, data released by the World Health Organisation Monday showed. http://www.physorg.com/news165499318.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:02:20 EST news165499318 Researchers from North Carolina State University and Mayo Clinic have developed a computer model that medical doctors can use to determine the best time to begin using statin therapy in diabetes patients to help prevent heart disease and stroke. http://www.physorg.com/news165492869.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:15:05 EST news165492869 A new and novel computer modeling platform developed through intensive, multidisciplinary collaboration at New York University can help hospitals and cities to be more prepared for catastrophic public health scenarios, according to an article published in the American Medical Association's Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness journal. http://www.physorg.com/news163939987.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:30:01 EST news163939987 (AP) -- A new El Nino could be approaching. Sea-surface temperatures have been warming in the tropical Pacific Ocean, suggesting the potential for the development of the El Nino climate phenomenon this summer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. http://www.physorg.com/news163692154.html Space & Earth Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:03:33 EST news163692154