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. The first comprehensive analysis of air emissions associated with natural gas and oil production in the Barnett Shale area finds that emissions can be a significant contributor to Dallas-Fort Worth smog formation, comparable to the combined emissions from all Metroplex cars and trucks. http://www.physorg.com/news153514020.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:47:41 EST news153514020 (GPEARI, Portugal) -- Cooperation, despite being now considered the third force of evolution, just behind mutation and natural selection, is difficult to explain in the context of an evolutionary process based on competition between individuals and selfish behaviour. But this puzzle, that has haunted scientists for decades, is now a little closer to be solved by research about to be published in the journal Physical Review Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news153150016.html Physics Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:40:49 EST news153150016 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with the Ethiopian government, have completed the first high-resolution CT scan of the world's most famous fossil, Lucy, an ancient human ancestor who lived 3.2 million years ago. http://www.physorg.com/news153146616.html Other Sciences Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:44:04 EST news153146616 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study of natural pest control on conventional and organic farms in the southwest has found no difference between the two systems. http://www.physorg.com/news152895747.html Biology Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:02:49 EST news152895747 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cattle and sheep grazed on natural grasslands help maintain biodiversity and produce tastier, healthier meat, according to a study by the University of Exeter. The research concludes that pasture-based farming is good for the environment, the consumer and the producer but needs stronger support from British policy makers if it is to realise its full potential. http://www.physorg.com/news152544705.html Biology Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:32:11 EST news152544705 A new and comprehensive analysis confirms that the evolutionary relationships among animals are not as simple as previously thought. The traditional idea that animal evolution has followed a trajectory from simple to complex -from sponge to chordate -meets a dramatic exception in the metazoan tree of life. New work suggests that the so-called "lower" metazoans (including Placozoa, corals, and jellyfish) evolved in parallel to "higher" animals (all other metazoans, from flatworms to chordates). It also appears that Placozoans -large amoeba-shaped, multi-cellular animals -have passed over sponges and other organisms as an animal that most closely mirrors the root of this tree of life. http://www.physorg.com/news152259480.html Biology Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:18:25 EST news152259480 Why have some of our genes evolved rapidly? It is widely believed that Darwinian natural selection is responsible, but research led by a group at Uppsala University, suggests that a separate neutral (nonadaptive) process has made a significant contribution to human evolution. Their results have been published today in the journal PLoS Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news152252193.html Biology Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:16:58 EST news152252193 New molecular research shows that birds within the family Zosteropidae -named white eyes for the feathers that frame their eyes -form new species at a faster rate than any other known bird. Remarkably, unlike other rapid diversifications, which are generally confined in their geography, white eyes have managed to diversify across multiple continents and far-flung islands spanning much of the eastern hemisphere. The research was published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news152212973.html Biology Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:23:26 EST news152212973 Half of the immune system has a hidden talent, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news152212893.html Medicine & Health Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:21:53 EST news152212893 (PhysOrg.com) -- To prolong the shelf life of foods, manufacturers often add hydrogen to natural oils, a process called hydrogenation. But hydrogenation also results in the production of trans fats, which have adverse health effects such as raising bad cholesterol and increasing the risk for coronary heart disorders. http://www.physorg.com/news151936292.html Chemistry Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:32:25 EST news151936292 Biological invasions are one of the major threats to biodiversity and in many cases they have considerable impact on economy and human health. For their effective management it is important to understand which areas and ecosystems are at the highest risk of being invaded. http://www.physorg.com/news151839762.html Biology Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:44:41 EST news151839762 Becky Fowler was shipwreck-diving 66 feet below the surface, exploring a watery paradise, when she came face to face with a 4-inch-long, zebra-striped Cujo of the deep. http://www.physorg.com/news151834754.html Space & Earth Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:19:53 EST news151834754 (PhysOrg.com) -- Language in humans has evolved culturally rather than genetically, according to a study by UCL (University College London) and US researchers. By modelling the ways in which genes for language might have evolved alongside language itself, the study showed that genetic adaptation to language would be highly unlikely, as cultural conventions change much more rapidly than genes. Thus, the biological machinery upon which human language is built appears to predate the emergence of language. http://www.physorg.com/news151671102.html Biology Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:52:58 EST news151671102 Scientists have developed a ground-breaking method for testing the quality of a sperm before it is used in IVF and increase the chances of conception. http://www.physorg.com/news151595395.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:51:13 EST news151595395 At Hogwarts, Harry Potter uses an invisibility cloak to hide from his enemies. In nature, animals like cuttlefish and chameleons use the awe-inspiring tricks of camouflage to hide from theirs. http://www.physorg.com/news151250657.html Biology Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:04:17 EST news151250657 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the rogues' gallery of microscopic infectious agents, the prion is the toughest hombre in town. http://www.physorg.com/news151169843.html Biology Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:37:23 EST news151169843 Cattle and sheep grazed on natural grasslands help maintain biodiversity and produce tastier, healthier meat, according to a study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The research, part of the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme which draws together the social and natural science, concluded that pasture-based farming is good for the environment, the consumer and the producer but needs stronger support from British policy makers if it is to realise its full potential. http://www.physorg.com/news151140196.html Other Sciences Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:23:16 EST news151140196 Modern microscopy technology has allowed two scorpion biologists, Carsten Kamenz of the Humboldt University in Berlin and Lorenzo Prendini of the American Museum of Natural History, to study and document what is nearly invisible. Looking at tiny morphological features like the sculpting of the hair-like outgrowths on lamellae -structures that fold like the leaves of a book and give the scorpion respiratory system its name, the book lung -Kamenz and Prendini found a wealth of new variation that gives insight into the evolutionary relationships among scorpions. Their research, recently published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, presents their raw data as an illustrated atlas of the book lungs of all major lineages of scorpions. http://www.physorg.com/news150984224.html Biology Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:03:44 EST news150984224 Researchers from the University of Granada and the University of Barcelona have shown that treatment with maslinic acid, a triterpenoid compound isolated from olive-skin pomace, results in a significant inhibition of cell proliferation and causes apoptotic death in colon-cancer cells. Maslinic acid is a novel natural compound and it is able to induce apoptosis or programmed death in human HT29 colon-cancer cells via the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway. Scientifics suggest this could be a useful new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of colon carcinoma. http://www.physorg.com/news150636441.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:27:21 EST news150636441 A survey of employers in the landscape industry revealed the importance of arming landscaping and horticulture students with technical knowledge, practical application, and problem-solving skills. Teaching students the skills necessary to solve complex landscape management decisions is crucial to their career success. http://www.physorg.com/news149769871.html Other Sciences Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:44:31 EST news149769871 Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have taken a major step forward in the field of metabolic engineering, successfully using the bacterium Escherichia coli to synthesize a class of natural products known bacterial aromatic polyketides, which include important antibiotic and anticancer drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news149179802.html Biology Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:50:02 EST news149179802 (PhysOrg.com) -- A crew drilling on the Big Island of Hawaii has discovered magma, the molten rock material - never before found in its natural habitat underground - that is the central ingredient in the evolution of planets and the lifeblood of all volcanoes. http://www.physorg.com/news148664988.html Space & Earth Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:49:48 EST news148664988 You'd think that if scientists were to discover a new species, it would be in some remote, uncharted tropical forest, not a laboratory in New York. But a team from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History has done the unexpected. Looking at the genes of the African dwarf crocodile, researchers found that the group -genetically speaking -comprises three distinct species rather than one. This not only ends a long debate about the taxonomy of this group, previously thought to consist of two closely related subspecies, but also defines a new, distinct species from genetic samples. http://www.physorg.com/news148316247.html Biology Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:57:27 EST news148316247 Transposons are the Clark Kents of a genome. Apparently mild-mannered and inconsequential but with sudden bursts of activity, these free-floating bits of genetic material have for millions of years been sneaking into the genetic maps of plants and animals, dramatically increasing a genome's size. http://www.physorg.com/news148131257.html Biology Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:34:17 EST news148131257 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most promising new ideas about the causes of cancer, known as the cancer stem-cell model, must be reassessed because it is based largely on evidence from a laboratory test that is surprisingly flawed when applied to some cancers, University of Michigan researchers have concluded. http://www.physorg.com/news147532400.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:13:20 EST news147532400 Computational neuroscientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computational model that provides insight into the function of the brain's visual cortex and the information processing that enables people to perceive contours and surfaces, and understand what they see in the world around them. http://www.physorg.com/news146321002.html Medicine & Health Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:43:22 EST news146321002 When Lee Cerveny arrived in coastal southeast Alaska in 1999, she intended to interview local women about their relationship with the natural environment. She soon found, however, that women she met were more interested in talking about tourism and making sense of the changes that were taking place within their communities. Cerveny adapted her research focus on the fly, ultimately conducting more than 200 hour-long interviews as part of a two-year-long ethnographic study on coastal Alaskans' perceptions of tourism. The findings of her work were recently published as a book titled "Nature and Tourists in the Last Frontier: Local Encounters with Global Tourism in Coastal Alaska." http://www.physorg.com/news145792334.html Space & Earth Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:52:14 EST news145792334 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Princeton University scientists has discovered that chains of proteins found in most living organisms act like adaptive machines, possessing the ability to control their own evolution. http://www.physorg.com/news145549897.html Biology Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:31:37 EST news145549897 It took less than a decade for native rats to become extinct on the Indian Ocean's previously uninhabited Christmas Island once Eurasian black rats jumped ship onto the island at the turn of the 20th century. But this story is more than the typical tale of direct competition: according to new genetic research published in PLoS One on November 5, black rats carried a pathogen that exterminated two endemic species, Rattus macleari and R. nativitatis. This study is the first to demonstrate extinction in a mammal because of disease, supporting the hypothesis proposed a decade ago that "hyperdisease conditions" -- unusually rapid mortality from which a species never recovers -can lead to extinction. http://www.physorg.com/news145088302.html Biology Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:18:22 EST news145088302 (PhysOrg.com) -- Why are some species of plants and animals favored by natural selection? And why does natural selection not favor other species similarly? http://www.physorg.com/news144947425.html Biology Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:10:25 EST news144947425