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. Through a recent modeling experiment, a team of NASA-funded researchers have found that future concentrations of carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere and of nitrogen in the soil are likely to have an important but overlooked effect on the cycling of water from sky to land to waterways. http://www.physorg.com/news166357620.html Space & Earth Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:00:01 EST news166357620 Biologists know that when plants battle for space, often the actual battle is for getting the nitrogen. http://www.physorg.com/news166120181.html Biology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:30:03 EST news166120181 Wake Forest University scientists have developed a new research tool in the pursuit of heart medications based on the compound nitroxyl by identifying unique chemical markers for its presence in biological systems. http://www.physorg.com/news166081501.html Chemistry Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:20:01 EST news166081501 (PhysOrg.com) -- A Princeton-led research team has revealed surprising information about how electron behavior influences the conduction of electricity in a class of high-temperature superconductors. An increased understanding of this mechanism could one day transform a number of technologies, including the transmission of electrical power. http://www.physorg.com/news165511195.html Physics Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:20:36 EST news165511195 (PhysOrg.com) -- Synthetic fertilizers have dramatically increased food production worldwide. But the unintended costs to the environment and human health have been substantial. Nitrogen runoff from farms has contaminated surface and groundwater and helped create massive `dead zones` in coastal areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico. And ammonia from fertilized cropland has become a major source of air pollution, while emissions of nitrous oxide form a potent greenhouse gas. http://www.physorg.com/news164918496.html Space & Earth Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:20:01 EST news164918496 Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) losses from tile drains are an underquantified portion of the terrestrial carbon cycle. This is particularly important in the eastern corn belt where tile drainage dominates the agricultural landscape. Specific land management practices, such as manure application, can play a large role in the export of DOC as soluble organic carbon is applied to or injected into the soil surface. As animal agriculture intensifies in the upper Midwest, measuring DOC exported through tile drains is important when evaluating carbon budgets and carbon sequestration potential. http://www.physorg.com/news164639559.html Space & Earth Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:51:03 EST news164639559 Synthetic fertilizers have dramatically increased food production worldwide. But the unintended costs to the environment and human health have been substantial. Nitrogen runoff from farms has contaminated surface and groundwater and helped create massive "dead zones" in coastal areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico. And ammonia from fertilized cropland has become a major source of air pollution, while emissions of nitrous oxide form a potent greenhouse gas. http://www.physorg.com/news164553776.html Space & Earth Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:23:17 EST news164553776 A collaboration of researchers, which includes scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) and Virginia Tech, have completed the genome sequence of Azotobacter vinelandii, uncovering important genetic information that will contribute to a more complete understanding of the biology of this versatile, soil-living bacterium. The work will help advance research on A. vinelandii's role as a model study organism for investigation of nitrogen fixation and other biochemical processes. It will also pave the way for new applications in biotechnology, including the possible use of A. vinelandii as a "factory" for the production of other proteins, in particular those that may be damaged by the presence of oxygen. http://www.physorg.com/news164461475.html Biology Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:44:55 EST news164461475 It may not be the Yeti, but in a remote region of the Russian mountains a previously unknown and entirely unique form of plant root has been discovered. Lead Scientist Professor Hans Cornelissen and his Russian-Dutch team describe this finding today in Ecology Letters. http://www.physorg.com/news163988604.html Biology Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:30:01 EST news163988604 More and more, scientists are getting a better grip on the nitrogen cycle. They are learning about sources of nitrogen and how this element changes as it loops from the nonliving, such as the atmosphere, soil or water, to the living, whether plants or animals. Scientists have determined that humans are disrupting the nitrogen cycle by altering the amount of nitrogen that is stored in the biosphere. http://www.physorg.com/news163344321.html Space & Earth Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:28:56 EST news163344321 There is growing interest in using crop residues as the feedstock of choice for the production of cellulosic-based ethanol because of the more favorable energy output relative to grain-based ethanol. This would also help provide a solution to the debate of food versus fuel, because less of the grain would be diverted to ethanol production, leaving more available for food and feed consumption. http://www.physorg.com/news163159091.html Space & Earth Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:58:36 EST news163159091 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Liverpool have developed a molecular structure that could help create current-generating machines at the nanoscale. http://www.physorg.com/news162640123.html Nanotechnology Wed, 27 May 2009 10:49:13 EST news162640123 Australian and US scientists have successfully tested hypersonic aircraft technology which could revolutionise international flight, officials said. http://www.physorg.com/news162184185.html Technology Fri, 22 May 2009 04:10:19 EST news162184185 Excess phosphorus and nitrogen produced by human activities on neighboring land is making its way into our coastal waters and degrading both water quality and aquatic life. Although historically the priority has been to control phosphorus, Professor Hans Paerl, from the University of North Carolina in the US, argues that nitrogen imbalance is equally damaging. He adds that a dual nutrient strategy - tackling both phosphorus and nitrogen surplus - is necessary to manage effectively this nutrient over-enrichment and resulting habitat degradation of coastal waters in the long-term. His perspective is published online in Springer's journal Estuaries and Coasts. http://www.physorg.com/news161871031.html Space & Earth Mon, 18 May 2009 13:11:22 EST news161871031 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Hubble community bids farewell to the soon-to-be decommissioned Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 onboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. In tribute to Hubble's longest-running optical camera, which was developed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a planetary nebula has been imaged as the camera's final "pretty picture." http://www.physorg.com/news161276661.html Space & Earth Mon, 11 May 2009 16:04:51 EST news161276661 Contrary to the prevailing view, cereal crops derive the majority of their nitrogen from the soil, not fertilizer. Soils differ considerably in microbial activities that determine nitrogen-supplying power, and these differences must be taken into account if nitrogen fertilizers are to be used efficiently. http://www.physorg.com/news161256687.html Space & Earth Mon, 11 May 2009 10:31:51 EST news161256687 With each passing year, the human population of our planet continues to expand. This growth has created a wide ranging strain on our water and soil resources, as well as our environment, creating an unprecedented urgency to address the issue of food security. One way that scientists are working towards this goal is through the genetic modification of seeds, both as a method of improving crop yields as well as enhancing the nutritional composition of foods. A new book published by American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America addresses the issue of seed modification for the improvement of food sources around the world. http://www.physorg.com/news160656148.html Biology Mon, 04 May 2009 11:44:06 EST news160656148 Scientists in Washington State are reporting the first discovery of potent mutagenic substances in smoke from forest fires that often sweep through huge stands of Ponderosa pine in the western United States and Canada. http://www.physorg.com/news160233080.html Space & Earth Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:11:38 EST news160233080 (PhysOrg.com) -- Don't be fooled by the collection of empty soda bottles in James Cryan's office at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Cryan isn't a caffeine fiend -the cola bottles are for science. As a graduate student with the PULSE Institute for Ultrafast Energy Science, he is studying how nitrogen gas responds to stimulation by an optical laser, and he needed a container for the gas. Instead of ordering a cell and waiting for it to arrive, Cryan cast about for something close at hand -and happened upon one of the empty Coke bottles on his desk. http://www.physorg.com/news159123961.html Physics Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:06:43 EST news159123961 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 An invasion of soybean aphids poses a problem for soybean farmers requiring application of pesticides, but a team of Penn State entomologists thinks a careful choice of nitrogen-fixing bacteria may provide protection against the sucking insects. http://www.physorg.com/news158926862.html Biology Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:23:04 EST news158926862 (PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Toronto research team from the Department of Chemistry has discovered useful "green" catalysts made from iron that might replace the much more expensive and toxic platinum metals typically used in industrial chemical processes to produce drugs, fragrances and flavours. http://www.physorg.com/news158856665.html Chemistry Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:51:40 EST news158856665 Trichodesmium is unusual among marine microbes because it both "breathes" carbon dioxide like plants, while also taking nitrogen gas from the air and "fixing" it into a fertilizer of the seas. http://www.physorg.com/news157653960.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:46:31 EST news157653960 Two new greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere, according to an international research team led by scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US and CSIRO scientist, Dr Paul Fraser, from the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research. http://www.physorg.com/news157108592.html Space & Earth Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:17:04 EST news157108592 Can the key to "clean" energy be found down in the sewer? That's the idea in Oslo, where city officials soon plan to introduce buses that run on biofuels extracted from human waste. http://www.physorg.com/news156914737.html Technology Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:26:35 EST news156914737 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the UT Dallas Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute have demonstrated a fundamentally new type of artificial muscle, which can operate at extreme temperatures where no other artificial muscle can be used -- from below the temperature of liquid nitrogen (-196° C) to above the melting point of iron (1538° C). http://www.physorg.com/news156781465.html Nanotechnology Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:25:48 EST news156781465 Tiny creatures at the bottom of the food chain called diatoms suck up nearly a quarter of the atmosphere's carbon dioxide, yet research by Michigan State University scientists suggests they could become less able to "sequester" that greenhouse gas as the climate warms. The microscopic algae are a major component of plankton living in puddles, lakes and oceans. http://www.physorg.com/news156513486.html Biology Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:58:45 EST news156513486 Throughout the world, nitrogen compounds are released to the atmosphere from agricultural activities and combustion of fossil fuels. These pollutants are deposited to ecosystems as precipitation, gases, and particles, sometimes many hundreds of miles downwind of their release point. The Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York are a case in point -though they contain little in the way of industrial or agricultural pollution sources, they receive some of the highest nitrogen deposition rates in North America due to pollutants drifting in from midwestern power plants and east-coast cities. http://www.physorg.com/news156434150.html Biology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:56:48 EST news156434150 (PhysOrg.com) -- Large, perfect diamonds are precious to almost all of us but to some scientists, it is the defects that really matter. This is because defects can form nanoscopic color centers, which play a key role in the development of both quantum computing and quantum cryptography. A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen has now probed these color centers inside the crystal with unprecedented resolution using an optical microscope. Using STED microscopy, the scientists identified even densely packed color centers and determined their position inside the crystal with a precision better than 0.15 nanometers, corresponding to the dimension of an atom. (Nature Photonics, 22nd February 2009). http://www.physorg.com/news155233957.html Physics Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:33:30 EST news155233957 Globally, commercial ships emit almost half as much particulate pollution into the air as the total amount released by cars, according to a new study. Ship pollutants affect both the Earth's climate and the health of people living along coastlines. http://www.physorg.com/news154878659.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:51:37 EST news154878659