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. Now, a pair of Scripps Research Institute scientists has taken a significant step toward answering that question. The scientists have synthesized for the first time RNA enzymes that can replicate themselves without the help of any proteins or other cellular components, and the process proceeds indefinitely. http://www.physorg.com/news150739469.html Chemistry Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:04:29 EST news150739469 (PhysOrg.com) -- Right now Intel dominates the netbook market with its Atom processors which can be found in netbooks costing around $299. This may all change with the introduction of Freescale's i.MX515 processor chip. http://www.physorg.com/news150482343.html Electronics Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:39:03 EST news150482343 (PhysOrg.com) -- Winter quarter at UC San Diego begins on Jan. 5 and many students are carrying a variety of New Year`s resolutions along with their textbooks. Students who have resolved to improve their lives can take advantage of an array of wellness programs designed to help them improve their mind, body and spirit in the new year. http://www.physorg.com/news150395132.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:25:32 EST news150395132 Automakers who favor the flexibility and price savings of outsourcing production must weigh carefully the product life cycle implications of sacrificing in-house manufacturing, according to the Management Insights feature in the current issue of Management Science, the flagship journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). http://www.physorg.com/news149866773.html Other Sciences Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:39:33 EST news149866773 Adult Cystic Fibrosis patients can provide important information that helps to predict their prognosis, according to research that asked 223 adult CF patients to assess their own health and well-being. http://www.physorg.com/news149750128.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:15:28 EST news149750128 Here's another argument against intelligent design. An evolutionary geneticist from the Université de Montréal, together with researchers from the French cities of Lyon and Montpellier, have published a ground-breaking study that characterizes the common ancestor of all life on earth, LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor). Their findings, presented in a recent issue of Nature, show that the 3.8-billion-year-old organism was not the creature usually imagined. http://www.physorg.com/news148741334.html Biology Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:02:14 EST news148741334 The 2008 Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences survey shows that eight in 10 adults nationwide favor making genetic testing easily available to all who want it, and 54 percent say that the benefits of conducting genetic research outweigh the risks. http://www.physorg.com/news148735626.html Other Sciences Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:27:06 EST news148735626 (PhysOrg.com) -- A simple and reliable method for converting one of the simplest chemical entities into one of the most difficult-to-make molecular building blocks of life, with complete control over its shape, is reported by scientists at the University of Bristol in this week's Nature [11 December]. http://www.physorg.com/news148138547.html Chemistry Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:35:47 EST news148138547 (PhysOrg.com) -- Is there someone on your gift list who could use a little help opening the jar of candied cherries for the holiday fruitcake? Or needs to raise the thermostat without getting up from the recliner? http://www.physorg.com/news148067269.html Medicine & Health Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:47:49 EST news148067269 (PhysOrg.com) -- Today, scientists understand pretty well how life evolves, by mechanisms based on Darwin`s theory of natural selection for survival of the fittest. However, Darwin`s 1859 classic, On the Origin of Species, somewhat ironically doesn`t answer that very question - how species actually originated. And to this day, how that first tiny pool of chemicals twitched to life remains a puzzle. http://www.physorg.com/news148050302.html Biology Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:05:02 EST news148050302 Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego returning from research expeditions in Mexico have captured unprecedented details of vibrant sea life and ecosystems in the Gulf of California, including documentations of new species and marine animals previously never seen alive. Yet the expeditions, which included surveys at unexplored depths, have revealed disturbing declines in sea-life populations and evidence that human impacts have stretched down deeply in the gulf. http://www.physorg.com/news147538994.html Space & Earth Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:03:14 EST news147538994 Persons with temporal lobe epilepsy who do not respond to medication could receive a substantial gain in life expectancy and quality of life by undergoing surgery of the temporal lobe part of the brain, according to an analysis reported in the December 3 issue of JAMA. http://www.physorg.com/news147463504.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:05:04 EST news147463504 The first comprehensive "inventory" of sea and land animals around a group of Antarctic islands reveals a region that is rich in biodiversity and has more species than the Galapagos. The study provides an important benchmark to monitor how they will respond to future environmental change. http://www.physorg.com/news147354761.html Biology Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:52:41 EST news147354761 (PhysOrg.com) -- In an age when biotechnology has made it possible to alter the fundamentals of our food supply, our energy sources and even our genetic makeup, one graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, is pushing the limits of what it means to be human by exploring the intersections of biotechnology, art and virtual-reality in an immersive, durational performance titled "Becoming Dragon." http://www.physorg.com/news146932385.html Technology Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:33:05 EST news146932385 Want to quickly improve your happiness and satisfaction with life? Then the pen may be a mighty weapon, according to research done by Kent State University's Dr. Steven Toepfer. http://www.physorg.com/news146830747.html Medicine & Health Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:19:07 EST news146830747 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have detected an organic sugar molecule that is directly linked to the origin of life, in a region of our galaxy where habitable planets could exist. The discovery, part funded by the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), is published today (25th November) on the Astro-ph website. http://www.physorg.com/news146828393.html Space & Earth Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:39:53 EST news146828393 (PhysOrg.com) -- Understanding how life started remains a major challenge for science. At a European Science Foundation (ESF) and COST ‘Frontiers of Science` conference in Sicily in October, scientists discussed two new approaches to the problem. The first applies complex systems theory to the chemistry that preceded early life. The second involves studying Mars, which may yield ample evidence about what Earth was like when life evolved. http://www.physorg.com/news145790809.html Space & Earth Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:26:49 EST news145790809 The universe is full of water, mostly in the form of very cold ice films deposited on interstellar dust particles, but until recently little was known about the detailed small scale structure. Now the latest quick freezing techniques coupled with sophisticated scanning electron microscopy techniques, are allowing physicists to create ice films in cold conditions similar to outer space and observe the detailed molecular organisation, yielding clues to fundamental questions including possibly the origin of life. Researchers have been surprised by some of the results, not least by the sheer beauty of some of the images created, according to Julyan Cartwright, a specialist in ice structures at the Andalusian Institute for Earth Sciences (IACT) of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Granada in Spain. http://www.physorg.com/news145097410.html Physics Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:50:10 EST news145097410 (PhysOrg.com) -- Environmental gains derived from the use of nanomaterials may be offset in part by the process used to manufacture them, according to research published in a special issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology. http://www.physorg.com/news143907040.html Nanotechnology Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:10:40 EST news143907040 Researchers at the University of Sheffield and Royal Holloway, University of London will argue today that the nation's diet is unlikely to improve significantly if healthy eating policies fail to take into account the diverse nature of contemporary family life. http://www.physorg.com/news143892106.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:01:46 EST news143892106 Terminally ill patients who had end-of-life discussions with physicians were not more likely to experience emotional distress, received less aggressive medical care in their final week of life and had a better quality of life near death, compared to patients who did not have these discussions, according to a study in the October 8 issue of JAMA. http://www.physorg.com/news142617128.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:52:08 EST news142617128 New findings from a Decision Analysis for the US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) suggest that routine colorectal cancer screenings can be stopped in patients over the age of 75. The results are based on patients who began screenings at age 50 and have had consistently negative screenings up to the age of 75. Lead author Ann Graham Zauber, PhD, Associate Attending Biostatistician in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and her colleagues' findings are published in the October 7, 2008 online edition of [i]Annals of Internal Medicine[/i] and will appear in a forthcoming issue. http://www.physorg.com/news142565004.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:23:24 EST news142565004 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctors seeking to balance the complex needs of their patients and the patients' families may make an imperfect compromise, withdrawing life support systems over a prolonged period of time. This practice is much more common than previously believed, and is also surprisingly associated with higher satisfaction with care-at least among surviving family members. http://www.physorg.com/news142564851.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:20:51 EST news142564851 A little exercise goes a long way toward helping severely obese individuals improve their quality of life and complete important daily tasks, according to researchers at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center. http://www.physorg.com/news142483576.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:46:16 EST news142483576 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has awarded five-year grants, averaging $7 million each, to 10 research teams from across the country, including two from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, to study the origins, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe. http://www.physorg.com/news142260169.html Space & Earth Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:42:49 EST news142260169 (PhysOrg.com) -- Intelligent life from other planets would be able to tell that Earth is inhabited if they had come into contact with a space voyaging piece of Orkney rock, scientists have revealed. http://www.physorg.com/news142175898.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:18:18 EST news142175898 The next time you see students playing an energized game of touch football or studying in the sunshine on a college quadrangle, consider this: campus green spaces can help students feel better about life and improve learning. http://www.physorg.com/news141916723.html Other Sciences Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:18:43 EST news141916723 Second Life, a virtual world created in 2003, currently boasts more than 12 million users worldwide who go there for everything from college recruiting to shopping. Now, Penn State researchers are investigating how virtual teams can better solve real world problems by collaborating in Second Life. http://www.physorg.com/news141910130.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:28:50 EST news141910130 In a computer-based model evaluating the benefits and costs of three types of HIV disease monitoring strategies, early initiation of antiretroviral therapy and monitoring using the CD4 count, a measure of immune system function, instead of based on symptoms appear to provide health benefits in low- and middle-income countries, according to a report in the September 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news141322965.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:22:45 EST news141322965 In the world of Down syndrome, 'Mr. C' is a rarity. A real person whose progress has been tracked for the past 16 years, at seventy, 'Mr. C' has well surpassed the average life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome, currently in the late fifties, but in the teens when 'Mr. C' was born. Further, 'Mr. C' does not exhibit clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, which is almost a given for people with typical Down syndrome over 65 yeas of age. http://www.physorg.com/news140242284.html Medicine & Health Wed, 10 Sep 2008 05:11:24 EST news140242284