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. Getting the most out of every drop of water is a high priority for grape growers in the southern Napa Valley, where summers are hot and dry and vines have to be irrigated to make it through the growing season. But Stanford researchers have found that a significant portion of the water applied to the vines zips right by the plants, hardly even pausing. http://www.physorg.com/news180182242.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:00:03 EST news180182242 A randomized, controlled study comparing standard conservative therapy to a minimally invasive treatment called percutaneous disc decompression for painful herniated disc revealed that while both treatments help patients in the short run, only disc decompression kept patients pain free up to two years later. Results of the study, the first of its kind, were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). http://www.physorg.com/news178952174.html Medicine & Health Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:20:01 EST news178952174 Plant roots can shrink as a result of water deficit and lose contact with the surrounding soil. This effect has been suspected for a long time, but has only now been demonstrated for a fact with the help of x-ray tomography. The formation of an air gap could initially help plants prevent impending water losses when the soil dries out, say scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) writing in the Vadose Zone Journal. http://www.physorg.com/news178803514.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:39:53 EST news178803514 (PhysOrg.com) -- iPhone users in Australia have been hit during the last few days with a worm called "ikee". The worm replaces the default wallpaper with a difficult to remove picture of British singer Rick Astley and a message "ikee is never going to give you up," a reference to Astley's 1980s hit song. http://www.physorg.com/news177054312.html Electronics Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:46:08 EST news177054312 A team of academic, government and industry researchers has completed a first draft of the cassava (Manihot esculenta) genome. The project is an important first step in accelerating the pace of research on this subsistence crop and addressing some of the many limitations that face cassava farmers around the world. http://www.physorg.com/news176992201.html Biology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:30:53 EST news176992201 (PhysOrg.com) -- A dentist carrying out root canal treatment will need to use a variety of compounds. These do not always bond together properly and sometimes expensive follow-up treatment has to be performed. But a new class of material meets the requirements and solves the problem. http://www.physorg.com/news176455335.html Chemistry Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:22:53 EST news176455335 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a novel enzyme responsible for the formation of suberin -- the woody, waxy, cell-wall substance found in cork. While effective at keeping wine inside a bottle, suberin's most important function in plants is to control water and nutrient transportation and keep pathogens out. Adjusting the permeability of plant tissues by genetically manipulating the expression of this enzyme could lead to easier agricultural production of crops used for biofuels. http://www.physorg.com/news175187051.html Biology Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:10:03 EST news175187051 Plants may not have eyes and ears, but they can recognize their siblings, and researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered how. http://www.physorg.com/news174747583.html Biology Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:14:10 EST news174747583 Just like the rest of us, golf courses show their age -- especially on putting greens, which experience more foot traffic than anywhere else on golf courses. Putting greens, which comprise only about 1.6% of the total area on most courses, require more intensive management than any other part of the course. To keep putting greens in top form, turfgrass experts study ways to provide proper nutrients to the root zone, a critical area for maintaining healthy turf. http://www.physorg.com/news171276920.html Space & Earth Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:00:01 EST news171276920 Kudzu, the nuisance vine that has overgrown almost 10 million acres in the southeastern United States, may sprout into a dietary supplement. Scientists in Alabama and Iowa are reporting the first evidence that root extracts from kudzu show promise as a dietary supplement for a high-risk condition - the metabolic syndrome - that affects almost 50 million people in the United States alone. Their study appears in the current issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. http://www.physorg.com/news170502897.html Chemistry Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:30:03 EST news170502897 After a three-year slog Colombian scientists have revved up a car that runs on yucca-derived ethanol, spurring hopes that the Latin American staple could be transformed into an abundant fuel. http://www.physorg.com/news170094894.html Technology Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:35:32 EST news170094894 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new tool developed by scientists at The University of Manchester will allow farmers to see under the soil to check how efficiently crop roots are using water and nutrients. http://www.physorg.com/news169143345.html Space & Earth Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:40:01 EST news169143345 Sprouting. Branching. Pruning. Neuroscientists have borrowed heavily from botanists to describe the way that neurons grow, but analogies between the growth of neurons and plants may be more than superficial. A new study from the National Institutes of Health and Harvard Medical School suggests that neurons and plant root cells may grow using a similar mechanism. http://www.physorg.com/news168791805.html Medicine & Health Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:00:01 EST news168791805 An alien plant species has invaded Missouri and is threatening to overrun crops and livestock pastures. To combat the scourge weed, officials are deliberately releasing two alien insect species to destroy its roots and seeds. What could possibly go wrong? http://www.physorg.com/news168542436.html Biology Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:20:02 EST news168542436 Previous studies have found that postmenopausal women who have taken a combined estrogen and progestin hormone replacement therapy have increased their risk of developing progestin-accelerated breast tumors. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that curcumin, a popular Indian spice derived from the turmeric root, could reduce the cancer risk for women after exposure to hormone replacement therapy. http://www.physorg.com/news166709024.html Medicine & Health Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:04:13 EST news166709024 (PhysOrg.com) -- Plant roots provide the crops we eat with water, nutrients and anchorage. Understanding how roots grow and how hormones control that growth is crucial to improving crop yields, which will be necessary to address food security and produce better biofuels. http://www.physorg.com/news166107244.html Biology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:10:01 EST news166107244 (AP) -- Scientists unveiled on Tuesday what they hope will be one of the world's fastest biofuel vehicles, powered by waste from chocolate factories and made partly from plant fibers. http://www.physorg.com/news160755240.html Technology Tue, 05 May 2009 15:14:28 EST news160755240 Consider the cumulative stresses that transplanted trees must endure from the time they are harvested until they become established in a landscape. Multiple stress factors can mean the difference between survival and death for trees. For starters, when "balled-and-burlapped" trees are dug prior to transport, the majority of the root system is often separated from the tree. After this initial stress, trees are typically taken to a loading site and placed on trucks or trailers for shipment. At each stage of the transplanting process, trees are exposed to mechanical shock and vibration that can further disrupt the root system and cause considerable injury. http://www.physorg.com/news160649265.html Biology Mon, 04 May 2009 09:48:21 EST news160649265 A simple and inexpensive method of assessing pain, developed by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers, is better than currently used techniques for distinguishing neuropathic pain - pain caused by damage to the nervous system - from other types of chronic back pain. Being able to more precisely determine the underlying nature of the pain is essential to choosing the best treatment. The report appears in the April 7 issue of the open-access journal PLoS Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news158302881.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:02:27 EST news158302881 One of the most significant developments in agricultural growth in modern times has been the continuous and substantial increase in corn yield over the past 80 years in the U.S. Corn Belt. http://www.physorg.com/news156434984.html Biology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:10:28 EST news156434984 German researchers are testing an impotency treatment for men made using only natural ingredients that in some cases works better than Viagra, newspapers reported Monday. http://www.physorg.com/news156407038.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:24:52 EST news156407038 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 Orchard floor and groundcover management is important to fruit growers, affecting the efficiency of orchard operations, fruit tree performance, and soil quality. http://www.physorg.com/news154968453.html Biology Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:47:57 EST news154968453 A researcher at The University of Texas at Austin has found that secondary security screening at airports is mathematically flawed, and has identified a way to select people for screenings more efficiently and fairly. http://www.physorg.com/news152818326.html Other Sciences Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:32:35 EST news152818326 Plants come in all shapes and sizes, from grand Redwood trees to the common Snowdrop. Although we cannot see them, under the ground plants rely on a complex network of roots. What determines the pattern of root growth has been a mystery, but a new paper published this week in PLoS Biology shows that the shape of the existing root can determine how further roots branch from it - because shape determines hormone concentration. The work also suggests that the root-patterning system shares a deep evolutionary relationship to the patterning system of plant shoots, something that had not been realized previously. http://www.physorg.com/news148624736.html Biology Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:38:56 EST news148624736 In the face of climate change, being able to increase crop yields by enabling plants to take up nutrients and water more efficiently becomes increasingly important, as fertiliser and water supplies incur significant energy and environmental costs. http://www.physorg.com/news148485535.html Biology Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:58:55 EST news148485535 (PhysOrg.com) -- As Christmas tree farmers prepare for their busiest season, researchers at North Carolina State University are studying how to combat a disease that has killed thousands of North Carolina Christmas trees in recent decades. http://www.physorg.com/news146765768.html Biology Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:16:08 EST news146765768 Scientists in Italy have found bacteria in the root of a tropical grass whose oils have been used in the cosmetic and perfumery industries. These bacteria seem to promote the production of essential oils, but also they change the molecular structure of the oil, giving it different flavours and properties: termicidal, insecticidal, antimicrobial and antioxidant. http://www.physorg.com/news144668637.html Biology Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:43:57 EST news144668637 VIB researchers at Ghent University (Belgium) have discovered the substance that governs the formation of root offshoots in plants, and how it works. Root offshoots are vitally important for plants - and for farmers. Plants draw the necessary nutrients from the soil through their roots. Because they do this best with a well-branched root system, plants must form offshoots of their roots at the right moment. The VIB researchers describe how this process is controlled in the prominent professional journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news143987252.html Biology Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:27:32 EST news143987252 (PhysOrg.com) -- Aluminum toxicity, a global agricultural problem, halts root growth in plants, severely limiting agricultural productivity for more than half of the world's arable land. http://www.physorg.com/news142170971.html Biology Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:56:11 EST news142170971