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. Every Friday afternoon, the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab opens its doors to anyone who wishes to drop by and play. On one such recent day, Jason Begy, a graduate student in the Comparative Media Studies program and a GAMBIT researcher, greeted a visitor from the MIT News Office before offering him tea and a place to hang his coat. http://www.physorg.com/news178792685.html Technology Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:38:50 EST news178792685 The goal of an integrated, miniaturized laboratory analysis system, also known as a "lab-on-a-chip," is simple: sample in, answer out. However, researchers wanting to use these microfluidic devices to analyze complex solutions containing particulates or other contaminating materials often find that the first part of the process isn't so easy. Effective sample preparation from these solutions can be laborious, expensive and time-consuming, involving complicated laboratory methods that must be performed by skilled technicians. This can significantly diminish the benefits associated with using miniaturized analytical techniques. Recent work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology could help change that. http://www.physorg.com/news177763391.html Chemistry Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:01 EST news177763391 It is very difficult to predict whether a cancer drug will help an individual patient: only around one third of drugs will work directly in a given patient. Researchers at the Heinz Nixdorf Chair for Medical Electronics at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM, Germany) have developed a new test process for cancer drugs. With the help of microchips, they can establish in the laboratory whether a patient's tumor cells will react to a given drug. This chip could help in future with the rapid identification of the most effective medication for the individual patient. http://www.physorg.com/news175412440.html Chemistry Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:50:02 EST news175412440 Scientists at the University of Toronto have developed a new "lab-on-a-chip" technique that analyses tiny samples of blood and breast tissue to identify women at risk of breast cancer much more quickly than ever before. http://www.physorg.com/news174144025.html Chemistry Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:21:07 EST news174144025 Flasks, beakers, and hot plates may soon be a thing of the past in medicinal chemistry labs. Instead of handling a few experiments on a benchtop, scientists may simply pop a microchip into a computer and instantly run thousands of chemical reactions, with results -- literally shrinking the lab down to the size of a thumbnail. http://www.physorg.com/news173281486.html Chemistry Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:55:55 EST news173281486 Johns Hopkins engineers are using a popular children's toy to visualize the behavior of particles, cells and molecules in environments too small to see with the naked eye. These researchers are arranging little LEGO pieces shaped like pegs to re-create microscopic activity taking place inside lab-on-a-chip devices at a scale they can more easily observe. http://www.physorg.com/news170440803.html Nanotechnology Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:41:15 EST news170440803 University of Central Florida researchers have shown for the first time that light energy can gently guide and change the orientation of living cells within lab cultures. That ability to optically steer cells could be a major step in harnessing the healing power of stem cells and guiding them to areas of the body that need help. http://www.physorg.com/news169223722.html Physics Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:50:01 EST news169223722 (PhysOrg.com) -- The International Space Station has a new "engawa" -- and it's open for business. http://www.physorg.com/news169142871.html Space & Earth Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:20:01 EST news169142871 (PhysOrg.com) -- Flasks, beakers and hot plates may soon be a thing of the past in chemistry labs. Instead of handling a few experiments on a bench top, scientists may simply pop a microchip into a computer and instantly run thousands of chemical reactions, with results -- literally shrinking the lab down to the size of a thumbnail. http://www.physorg.com/news168522738.html Chemistry Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:53:14 EST news168522738 (PhysOrg.com) -- The masterpieces that spring from the talents of Rembrandt, Van Gogh and other artists often begin with the creation of a gradient of colors on a palette. In a similar manner, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have created an innovative device called the `microfluidic palette` to produce multiple, steady-state chemical gradients -gradual changes in concentration across an area -in a miniature chamber about the diameter of a pinhead. The tool can be used to study the complex biological mechanisms in cells responsible for cancer metastasis, wound healing, biofilm formation and other fluid-related processes. http://www.physorg.com/news168018490.html Chemistry Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:50:03 EST news168018490 (PhysOrg.com) -- A portable 'lab on a chip' that can identify target molecules in blood samples has been created by European researchers. It is being used to measure fertility hormones and detect the genes associated with certain types of cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news166856463.html Chemistry Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:01:36 EST news166856463 The equipment used for biomedical research is shrinking, but the physical properties of the fluids under investigation are not changing. This creates a problem: the reservoirs that hold the liquid are now so small that forces between molecules on the liquid's surface dominate, and one can no longer shake the container to mix two fluids. Instead, researchers must bide their time and wait for diffusion to occur. http://www.physorg.com/news165592415.html Chemistry Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:54:14 EST news165592415 In a joint effort by national laboratory-, university- and private-sector institutions, researchers are developing new tools for rapidly characterizing biological pathogens that could give rise to potentially deadly pandemics such as Influenza A (H1N1). http://www.physorg.com/news163779239.html Medicine & Health Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:14:52 EST news163779239 Scientists of the Electronic Technology group of the University of Seville (Spain), led by Professor José Manuel Quero, have completed the first phase of Mireia, a research project financed by the Plan Nacional del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (National Plan of the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry), whose aim is to develop an intelligent chip to regulate diabetes in any kind of patients suffering this disease. http://www.physorg.com/news163397396.html Medicine & Health Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:10:41 EST news163397396 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Project Whirlwind Computer collection -- a compilation of pioneering digital computing research conducted at MIT in the 1940s and 1950s -- has been transferred back to the Institute from the MITRE Corporation, and its contents are being opened to the public for the first time. http://www.physorg.com/news162485135.html Technology Mon, 25 May 2009 15:46:39 EST news162485135 Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed an experiment that sheds new and fascinating light on how life on Earth might have begun. http://www.physorg.com/news161456485.html Chemistry Wed, 13 May 2009 18:02:05 EST news161456485 (PhysOrg.com) -- Like tiny Jedi knights, tunable fluidic micro lenses can focus and direct light at will to count cells, evaluate molecules or create on-chip optical tweezers, according to a team of Penn State engineers. They may also provide imaging in medical devices, eliminating the necessity and discomfort of moving the tip of a probe. http://www.physorg.com/news161277474.html Physics Mon, 11 May 2009 16:18:36 EST news161277474 (PhysOrg.com) -- The need for improved monitoring of neurotrauma patients has resulted in the development of a prototype of a novel, multitasking `lab on a tube` at the University of Cincinnati (UC). http://www.physorg.com/news160670390.html Chemistry Mon, 04 May 2009 15:41:35 EST news160670390 South Korea on Wednesday conditionally lifted a ban on stem cell research using human eggs, three years after outlawing the practice because a scientist was found to have faked his work. http://www.physorg.com/news160208331.html Biology Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:19:32 EST news160208331 (PhysOrg.com) -- A tiny electrochemical cell, developed by researchers of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, The Netherlands, is able to mimick the behaviour of medicine inside a human body. This chip is presented in the journal Lab on a Chip. http://www.physorg.com/news159795004.html Chemistry Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:30:44 EST news159795004 Just as no two humans are the same, a Purdue University scientist has shown treating mice more as individuals in laboratory testing cuts down on erroneous results and could significantly reduce the cost of drug development. http://www.physorg.com/news157643106.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:45:34 EST news157643106 (AP) -- It was a nightmare scenario: A scientist accidentally pricked her finger with a needle used to inject the deadly Ebola virus into lab mice. Within hours, members of a tightly bound, yet far-flung community of virologists, biologists and others were tensely gathered in a trans-Atlantic telephone conference trying to map out a way to save her life. http://www.physorg.com/news157386912.html Medicine & Health Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:36:27 EST news157386912 Sepsis, an infection of the blood, can quickly overwhelm the body's defenses and is responsible for more than 200,000 deaths per year in the U.S. alone. Premature newborns and people with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable. Since most existing treatments are ineffective, researchers in the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston have come up with a first line of defense -- using magnetism to quickly pull pathogens out of the blood. http://www.physorg.com/news157215145.html Chemistry Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:54:37 EST news157215145 Johns Hopkins engineers have invented a method that could be used to help figure out how cancer cells break free from neighboring tissue, an "escape" that can spread the disease to other parts of the body. The new lab-on-a-chip, described in the March issue of the journal Nature Methods, could lead to better cancer therapies. http://www.physorg.com/news156602858.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:48:57 EST news156602858 This science may literally be outside the box: A briefcase-sized kit is carried to a field where thousands of tons of food are growing. The search is for microorganisms that could infect and kill the plants, wreaking havoc on the food supply and market. http://www.physorg.com/news154628642.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:24:24 EST news154628642 One of the challenges that cancer researchers face in designing new antitumor agents is that of predicting how drug molecules will behave in the complex microenvironment that surrounds a tumor. In particular, tumors create all sorts of chemical and physical barriers that limit how much drug is able to enter a tumor, let alone reach cells deep within a tumor. Now, Neil Forbes, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts have built a microfluidic device that can mimic these chemical and physical barriers, providing researchers with a new screening tool that may help with the design of more effective anticancer drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news154627972.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:13:39 EST news154627972 Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a new tool that makes it possible to study the signals in the body that control the generation of blood vessels.  The researchers` findings, published in the new issue of Lab on a Chip, enable scientists to determine what signals in the body attract or repel blood vessels, knowledge that is extremely interesting in tumor research. http://www.physorg.com/news154274706.html Chemistry Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:06:43 EST news154274706 For centuries, animals have been our first line of defense against toxins. A canary in a coalmine served as a living monitor for poisonous gases. Scientists used fish to test for contaminants in our water. Even with modern advances, though, it can take days to detect a fatal chemical or organism. http://www.physorg.com/news154097769.html Chemistry Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:56:56 EST news154097769 Imagine unloading a pile of bricks onto the ground and watching the bricks assemble themselves into a level, straight wall in only a few minutes. While merely a fantasy for builders in the everyday world, these types of self-assembled structures are a reality for those who build materials in the nanoworld. Michael C. Tringides, a senior physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, has shown that nanoscale "straight wall" lead islands on silicon are spontaneously and quickly created by unusually mobile atoms. http://www.physorg.com/news153668283.html Nanotechnology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:39:50 EST news153668283 (PhysOrg.com) -- Natural wood, with its unique grain patterns, is what gives traditional acoustic instruments warm and distinctive sounds, while the power of modern electronic processing provides an unlimited degree of control to manipulate the characteristics of an instrument's sound. Now, a guitar built by a student at MIT's Media Lab promises to provide the best of both worlds. http://www.physorg.com/news152896191.html Technology Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:10:35 EST news152896191