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. (PhysOrg.com) -- The preliminary results from the first extrication drive for Spirit on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17, 2009) indicate the rover stopped less than 1 second after it began, sensing more vehicle lateral tilt than permitted. http://www.physorg.com/news177704677.html Space & Earth Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:40:01 EST news177704677 While most people head to Myrtle Beach for vacation, a group of scientists have been hitting the famous South Carolina beach for years to figure out how to keep the sand from washing away. http://www.physorg.com/news175528348.html Space & Earth Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:53:18 EST news175528348 (PhysOrg.com) -- The windswept deserts of northern China might seem an odd destination for studying the heavy monsoon rains that routinely drench the more tropical regions of Southeast Asia. http://www.physorg.com/news174053760.html Space & Earth Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:18:25 EST news174053760 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of MSU researchers and archaeology students has confirmed the existence of an undisturbed, prehistoric sand dune beneath a grove of pine trees between Demonstration Hall and Munn Ice Arena. http://www.physorg.com/news172776683.html Other Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:45:17 EST news172776683 (PhysOrg.com) -- The widespread idea that Mars is red due to rocks being rusted by the water that once flooded the red planet may be wrong. Recent laboratory studies show that the red dust may be formed by ongoing grinding of surface rocks and liquid water need not have played any significant role in the red dust formation process. These findings, which open up the debate about the history of water on Mars and whether it has ever been habitable, have been presented at the European Planetary Science Congress by Dr Jonathan Merrison. http://www.physorg.com/news172481192.html Space & Earth Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:26:56 EST news172481192 In a vivid illustration of natural selection at work, scientists at Harvard University have found that deer mice living in Nebraska's Sand Hills quickly evolved lighter coloration after glaciers deposited sand dunes atop what had been much darker soil. The work is described this week in the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news170601400.html Biology Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:17:01 EST news170601400 The parasites that cause leishmaniasis use a quirky trick to convince the immune system to effectively invite them into cells for dinner, according to a new study published today in PLoS Pathogens. The researchers, from Imperial College London, say their findings improve understanding of the way Leishmania parasites establish an infection and could aid the search for a vaccine against this neglected tropical disease. http://www.physorg.com/news170052545.html Biology Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:49:32 EST news170052545 By washing your hands after digging in beach sand, you could greatly reduce your risk of ingesting bacteria that could make you sick. In new research, scientists have determined that, although beach sand is a potential source of bacteria and viruses, hand rinsing may effectively reduce exposure to microbes that cause gastrointestinal illnesses. http://www.physorg.com/news169202278.html Space & Earth Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:38:30 EST news169202278 Mars rover engineers at JPL are winding down testing of different escape maneuvers using a test rover in a sand box filled with soil to mimic the Martian surface. It is possible that in early August the first extraction attempts with Spirit rover, which is dug-in on Mars, might take place. http://www.physorg.com/news168270821.html Space & Earth Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:30:02 EST news168270821 (AP) -- Hundreds of tiny footprints left by mammals some 190 million years ago have been found on a canyon wall in a remote part of Dinosaur National Monument, park officials said Thursday. http://www.physorg.com/news167636939.html Other Sciences Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:20:01 EST news167636939 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study published in the July 17 issue of the journal Science details how sandfish -- small lizards with smooth scales -- move rapidly underground through desert sand. In this first thorough examination of subsurface sandfish locomotion, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology found that the animals place their limbs against their sides and create a wave motion with their bodies to propel themselves through granular media. http://www.physorg.com/news166973246.html Physics Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:27:56 EST news166973246 (PhysOrg.com) -- Children and adults who build castles and dig in the sand at the beach are at greater risk of developing gastrointestinal diseases and diarrhea than people who only walk on the shore or swim in the surf, according to researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.physorg.com/news166372659.html Medicine & Health Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:38:24 EST news166372659 sand or gravel or snow -- develops ripples that make driving a very shaky experience. A team of physicists from Canada, France and the United Kingdom have recreated this "washboard" phenomenon in the lab with surprising results: ripples appear even when the springy suspension of the car and the rolling shape of the wheel are eliminated. The discovery may smooth the way to designing improved suspension systems that eliminate the bumpy ride. http://www.physorg.com/news166192085.html Physics Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:40:06 EST news166192085 Avoidance of inbreeding is evident amongst humans, and has been demonstrated in some shorebirds, mice and sand lizards. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology now report that it also occurs in a strictly monogamous species of bird, suggesting that the black-legged kittiwake possesses the ability to choose partners with a very different genetic profile. http://www.physorg.com/news165565521.html Biology Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:26:04 EST news165565521 Rice University researchers today announced that the first field tests of "nanorust," the university's revolutionary, low-cost technology for removing arsenic from drinking water, will begin later this year in Guanajuato, Mexico. http://www.physorg.com/news162642319.html Nanotechnology Wed, 27 May 2009 11:26:02 EST news162642319 (AP) -- A species of birds able to fly immediately after hatching from eggs buried beneath the tropical sand has just been given its own private beach in eastern Indonesia, a conservation group said Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news161583289.html Biology Fri, 15 May 2009 05:15:44 EST news161583289 In January 2004, NASA landed two identical robotic rovers named Spirit and Opportunity on the surface of Mars. The twins were primed for a brief 3-month mission to tell us a story of water and possibly life itself in the planet's past. More than five years later, the dynamic duo are still roving the Red Planet, engaged in a saga of overachievement that has transformed Mars exploration. http://www.physorg.com/news157305969.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:06:52 EST news157305969 (PhysOrg.com) -- Titan's vast dune fields, which may act like weather vanes to determine general wind direction on Saturn's biggest moon, have been mapped by scientists who compiled four years of radar data collected by the Cassini spacecraft. http://www.physorg.com/news154966417.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:14:26 EST news154966417 (PhysOrg.com) -- Water scarcity is a major problem for people living in desert areas, including much of the Middle East and Africa. According to the United Nations, more than 1.6 million people die every year due to lack of access to clean water. http://www.physorg.com/news154013899.html Nanotechnology Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:38:40 EST news154013899 At first, figuring out how pebble-sized rocks organize themselves in evenly-spaced patterns in sand seemed simple and even intuitive. But once Andrew Leier, an assistant geoscience professor at the U of C, started observing, he discovered that the most commonly held notions did not apply. http://www.physorg.com/news150556841.html Space & Earth Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:20:41 EST news150556841 It moves as quickly in sand as a fish moves through water, which is why this lizard, a species of skink (Scincus scincus) that grows to about 15 cm long and lives in the deserts of North Africa and the Near East, is commonly known by the name "sandfish." http://www.physorg.com/news142245361.html Biology Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:36:01 EST news142245361 Microbiologically contaminated water plagues approximately 1.1 billion people in rural and peri-urban populations in developing countries. Roughly 2.2 million people without safe access to drinking water die each year from the consumption of unsafe water, and most of them are children under 5 years of age. http://www.physorg.com/news141486132.html Biology Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:42:12 EST news141486132 Cutaneous leishmaniasis, a disease characterized by painful skin ulcers, occurs when the parasite Leishmania major, or a related species, is transmitted to a mammalian host by the bite of an infected sand fly. In a new study from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, scientists have discovered L. major does its damage by not only evading but also by exploiting the body's wound-healing response to sand fly bites, as reported in the August 15 issue of Science. http://www.physorg.com/news137942895.html Biology Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:28:15 EST news137942895