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. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution, with colleagues, have found that a plant steroid prompts two genes to battle each other -one suppresses the other to ensure that leaves grow normally in rice and the experimental plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of mustard. The results, published in the December 15, 2009, issue of The Plant Cell, have important implications for understanding how to manipulate crop growth and yield. http://www.physorg.com/news180116701.html Biology Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:40:05 EST news180116701 Researchers in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering believe they have pinpointed a pathway by which arsenic may be contaminating the drinking water in Bangladesh, a phenomenon that has puzzled scientists, world health agencies and the Bangladeshi government for nearly 30 years. The research suggests that human alteration to the landscape, the construction of villages with ponds, and the adoption of irrigated agriculture are responsible for the current pattern of arsenic concentration underground. http://www.physorg.com/news177515521.html Space & Earth Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:52:45 EST news177515521 One might say plants don't have a leg to stand on, but that may actually give them a leg up on the animal kingdom when it comes to environmental adaptability. http://www.physorg.com/news176398340.html Biology Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:50:04 EST news176398340 Once-in-a-lifetime floods in the Philippines, India's delayed monsoon, and extensive drought in Australia are taking their toll on this year's rice crops, demonstrating the vulnerability of rice to extreme weather. http://www.physorg.com/news174911666.html Biology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:00:02 EST news174911666 (AP) -- Grilled chicken replaced the hot dogs. Strawberries instead of cookies at snack time. No more fruit juice - water or low-fat milk only. This is the new menu at a Delaware day care center, part of a fledgling movement to take the fight against obesity to pudgy preschoolers. http://www.physorg.com/news174574721.html Medicine & Health Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:59:12 EST news174574721 A Taiwanese scientist has said her research team has found the gene that allows rice to grow under water and believes the breakthrough could help develop other flood-resistant crops. http://www.physorg.com/news174481177.html Biology Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:00:18 EST news174481177 Plants that live in the soil don't live alone -- a mere teaspoon of soil teems with an estimated billion microscopic organisms. http://www.physorg.com/news171634295.html Biology Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:12:05 EST news171634295 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new Cornell study reports that the gene that gives rice its highly valued fragrance stems from an ancestor of basmati rice and dispels other long-held assumptions about the origins of basmati. http://www.physorg.com/news171133209.html Biology Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:30:01 EST news171133209 (AP) -- A team of Japanese scientists has discovered genes that enable rice to survive high water, providing hope for better rice production in lowland areas that are affected by flooding. http://www.physorg.com/news169978241.html Biology Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:11:39 EST news169978241 When there's something bugging rice farmers, a large segment of the world's population is likely to find out. http://www.physorg.com/news169313740.html Biology Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:00:10 EST news169313740 (PhysOrg.com) -- Rice is one of the most important crops worldwide, as it feeds over half of the world's population. Domesticated rice is an important supply of the world's rice. However, these strains are genetically static and cannot adapt to changing growing conditions. Traditional varieties, or landraces, of rice are genetically evolving and provide a pool of traits that can be tapped to improve crops worldwide. http://www.physorg.com/news168020267.html Biology Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:18:05 EST news168020267 Rice is the world's most important food crop. Understanding its valuable genetic diversity and using it to breed new rice varieties will provide the foundation for improving rice production into the future and to secure global food supplies. http://www.physorg.com/news167563846.html Biology Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:50:03 EST news167563846 (PhysOrg.com) -- Concrete accounts for about 5% of all human-related CO2 emissions. The fact that we use so much cement in building could mean that the issue becomes even more pronounced in the future. But what if there was a way to make concrete that was more environmentally friendly? A team of researchers in Texas things there might be -- by adding rice to concrete. http://www.physorg.com/news167405443.html Chemistry Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:31:08 EST news167405443 A $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation will allow University of Arizona researchers to unlock the genetic code of West African cultivated rice - and along the way to gain knowledge that could help commercial rice strains to better withstand dwindling resources, a changing climate and increased demand. http://www.physorg.com/news166720205.html Biology Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:10:27 EST news166720205 In a first-of-its-kind advance toward the next generation of genetically modified foods -- intended to improve consumers` health -- researchers in Japan are reporting that a new transgenic rice designed to fight a common pollen allergy appears safe in animal studies. Their report is in the current issue of ACS` Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. http://www.physorg.com/news165083485.html Chemistry Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:40:01 EST news165083485 Two years ago, Chuck Jones of Yardley, Pa., had high cholesterol, but his medicine caused severe leg cramps that routinely ruined his sleep. http://www.physorg.com/news164919092.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:20:06 EST news164919092 When scientist Loretta Mayer set out to alleviate diseases associated with menopause, she didn't realize her work could lead to addressing world hunger and feeding hundreds of millions of people. http://www.physorg.com/news162655011.html Chemistry Wed, 27 May 2009 14:57:22 EST news162655011 The beta-carotene in so-called "Golden Rice" converts to vitamin A in humans, according to researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Tufts University in an article that appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. http://www.physorg.com/news161441355.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 May 2009 13:49:48 EST news161441355 As a major food source for much of the world, rice is one of the most important plants on earth. http://www.physorg.com/news157818548.html Biology Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:29:28 EST news157818548 Researchers at Rice University have created a metamaterial that could light the way toward high-powered optics, ultra-efficient solar cells and even cloaking devices. http://www.physorg.com/news156182270.html Nanotechnology Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:58:14 EST news156182270 A Rice University study of microbes from a Houston-area cow pasture has confirmed once again that everything is bigger in Texas, even the single-celled stuff. The tests revealed the first-ever report of a large, natural colony of amoebae clones -- a Texas-sized expanse measuring at least 12 meters across. http://www.physorg.com/news156000141.html Biology Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:22:48 EST news156000141 Scientists across the world are building an extensive repository of genetically modified rice plants in the hope of understanding the function of the approximately 57,000 genes that make up the genome of Oryza sativa. The International Rice Functional Genomics Consortium recently announced the public availability of more than 200,000 rice mutant lines, which represent mutations in about half of the known functional genes mapped for rice to date. http://www.physorg.com/news155404515.html Biology Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:55:55 EST news155404515 The Martian volcano Olympus Mons is about three times the height of Mount Everest, but it's the small details that Rice University professors Patrick McGovern and Julia Morgan are looking at in thinking about whether the Red Planet ever had - or still supports - life. http://www.physorg.com/news155387639.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:14:29 EST news155387639 (PhysOrg.com) -- Metallic nanoparticles and other structures can manipulate light in ways that are not possible with conventional optical materials. In a recent example of this, Rice University researchers discovered that cup-shaped gold nanostructures can bend light in a controllable way. The cups act like three-dimensional nano-antennas. http://www.physorg.com/news155295096.html Nanotechnology Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:32:07 EST news155295096 A research project at Rice University has brought scientists to the brink of comprehending a long-standing medical mystery that may link cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and perhaps even Alzheimer's disease. http://www.physorg.com/news154100968.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:49:53 EST news154100968 (PhysOrg.com) -- If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Rice University's precise new image of a virus' protective coat is seriously undervalued. More than three years in the making, the image contains some 5 million atoms -- each in precisely the right place -- and it could help scientists find better ways to both fight viral infections and design new gene therapies. http://www.physorg.com/news154027398.html Chemistry Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:24:13 EST news154027398 (PhysOrg.com) -- Building on plant virus research started more than 20 years ago, a biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and his a colleague at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis have discovered a technology that reduces infection by the virus that causes Rice Tungro Disease, a limiting factor of rice production in Asia. http://www.physorg.com/news153510036.html Biology Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:41:07 EST news153510036 Need to store electricity more efficiently? Put it behind bars. That's essentially the finding of a team of Rice University researchers who have created hybrid carbon nanotube metal oxide arrays as electrode material that may improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries. http://www.physorg.com/news153404774.html Nanotechnology Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:27:24 EST news153404774 HOUSTON -- (Feb. 5, 2009) -- Rice University materials scientists have put a new "twist" on carbon nanotube growth. The researchers found the highly touted nanomaterials grow like tiny molecular tapestries, woven from twisting, single-atom threads. http://www.physorg.com/news153060785.html Nanotechnology Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:56:27 EST news153060785 This year's model isn't your father's nanocar. It runs cool. http://www.physorg.com/news152796958.html Nanotechnology Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:36:23 EST news152796958