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. Biologists have identified plant enzymes that may help to engineer plants that take advantage of elevated carbon dioxide to use water more efficiently. The finding could help to engineer crops that take advantage of rising greenhouse gases. http://www.physorg.com/news179932670.html Biology Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:18:38 EST news179932670 A new study published this week in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics finds that operative plans for removing Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma, or JPA, tumors in the thalamus of the brain can be augmented with Diffusion Tensor Imaging, or DTI. The sensitivity of DTI imaging allows for the visualization of nerve fiber bundles in the brain. This information can maximize the potential of completely removing the tumor while avoiding damage to the fiber bundles that are directly related to motor functions of the patient. http://www.physorg.com/news179151614.html Medicine & Health Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:21:16 EST news179151614 New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities. http://www.physorg.com/news176557158.html Chemistry Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:39:46 EST news176557158 (PhysOrg.com) -- Trying to understand the complex workings of a biological cell by teasing out the function of every molecule within it is a daunting task. But by making synthetic cells that include just a few chemical processes, researchers can study cellular machinery one manageable piece at a time. http://www.physorg.com/news175281566.html Chemistry Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:22:07 EST news175281566 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made a series of observations immediately preceding and following the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur rocket stage and shepherding spacecraft impacts at the lunar south pole, on October 9 at 7:31 and 7:35 a.m. EDT. http://www.physorg.com/news174565682.html Space & Earth Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:40:06 EST news174565682 The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed a free, online collection of data on the properties of gas hydrates, naturally occurring crystalline materials that are a potential energy resource and also may affect the Earth's climate. http://www.physorg.com/news174140874.html Chemistry Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:02 EST news174140874 (PhysOrg.com) -- A knowledge gap exists in the area of climate research: for decades, scientists have been asking themselves whether, and to what extent man-made aerosols, that is, dust particles suspended in the atmosphere, enlarge the cloud cover and thus curb climate warming. http://www.physorg.com/news174049928.html Space & Earth Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:30:06 EST news174049928 In a development that holds much promise for the future of solar cells made from nanocrystals, and the use of solar energy to produce clean and renewable liquid transportation fuels, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have reported a technique by which the electrical conductivity of nanorod crystals of the semiconductor cadmium-selenide was increased 100,000 times. http://www.physorg.com/news171796742.html Nanotechnology Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:19:35 EST news171796742 For the first time, scientists have built completely flat, two-layer ice. While theoreticians have predicted that such ices are formed by squeezing water molecules between two surfaces, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Ruhr-Universitat Bochum are the first to create it. All it took was collaboration, creativity, and the absence of pressure. http://www.physorg.com/news171729768.html Chemistry Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:47:28 EST news171729768 (PhysOrg.com) -- A chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has demonstrated a relatively simple, inexpensive method for detecting and measuring elusive hazards such as concealed explosives and toxins, invisible spoilage in food or pesticides distributed in soil by wind and rain. The prototype method is more sensitive than conventional techniques for detecting traces of these materials, which are polar -like water molecules, having distinct electrically positive and negative ends -and do not readily evaporate. http://www.physorg.com/news171649873.html Chemistry Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:50:02 EST news171649873 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have long known that molecules dance about as the temperature rises, but now researchers know the exact steps that water takes with a certain molecule. Results with small, electrically charged cyanide ions and water molecules reveal that water zips around ions to a greater extent than expected. The findings improve our understanding of a chemical interaction important in atmospheric sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news171641348.html Chemistry Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:10:13 EST news171641348 Scientists have long known that molecules dance about as the temperature rises, but now researchers know the exact steps that water takes with a certain molecule. Results with small, electrically charged cyanide ions and water molecules reveal that water zips around ions to a greater extent than expected. The findings improve our understanding of a chemical interaction important in environmental and atmospheric sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news171173633.html Physics Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:14:43 EST news171173633 (PhysOrg.com) -- Research at the University of Liverpool has found how mirror-image molecules gain control over each other and dictate the physical state of superstructures. http://www.physorg.com/news169375753.html Chemistry Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:51:53 EST news169375753 "Imagine you're a water molecule in a glass of ice water, and you're floating right on the boundary of the ice and the water," proposes Emory University physicist Eric Weeks. "So how do you know if you're a solid or a liquid?" http://www.physorg.com/news169201786.html Physics Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:30:23 EST news169201786 In the classic fairy tale, "The Emperor's New Clothes," Hans Christian Andersen uses the eyes of a child to challenge conventional wisdom and help others to see more clearly. In similar fashion, researchers at the University of Illinois have now revealed the naked truth about a classic bell-shaped curve used to describe the motion of a liquid as it diffuses through another material. http://www.physorg.com/news167934205.html Physics Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:00:02 EST news167934205 A wind storm that ripped across western China's Taklimakan desert kicked up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dust that high-altitude winds then carried around the world in less than two weeks, a study says. http://www.physorg.com/news167315325.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:00:02 EST news167315325 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of researchers has discovered an unexpected concentration of a certain isotopic molecule in parts of the stratosphere that could have implications for understanding the carbon cycle and its response to climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news166795373.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:03:31 EST news166795373 (PhysOrg.com) -- You do two things at motorway services: fill up one tank and empty another. US chemists have combined refuelling your car and relieving yourself by creating a new catalyst that can extract hydrogen from urine. http://www.physorg.com/news165836803.html Chemistry Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:47:26 EST news165836803 (PhysOrg.com) -- In its atomic form, chlorine can destroy vast quantities of ozone. But exactly how chlorine is created in the ultracold conditions of the stratosphere has puzzled scientists. Now, a team of researchers from Italy and Germany has found a mechanism for how chlorine can easily form in these unfavorable conditions, which is based on water's ability to bond with a strong acid. http://www.physorg.com/news165172471.html Chemistry Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:15:08 EST news165172471 (PhysOrg.com) -- Below 0 °C, water turns to ice. But beyond that, or below about -75 °C, the ice may turn back into liquid water. While scientists have previously predicted this phase transition with computer simulations, recent experiments may have finally demonstrated the existence of this ultra-cold water. http://www.physorg.com/news165084657.html Chemistry Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:51:25 EST news165084657 Schizophrenia, a chronic and debilitating disorder marked in part by auditory hallucinations and paranoia, can strike in late adolescence or early adulthood at a time when people are ready to stand on their own two feet as fully independent adults. http://www.physorg.com/news164894857.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:08:52 EST news164894857 Exactly four water molecules and one hydrogen chloride molecule are necessary to form the smallest droplet of acid. This was the result of work by the groups of Prof. Dr. Martina Havenith (physical chemistry) and Prof. Dr. Dominik Marx (theoretical chemistry) within the research group at the Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum, Germany. http://www.physorg.com/news164613718.html Chemistry Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:02:52 EST news164613718 A new MR procedure that uses diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to determine whether or not a breast lesion is malignant or benign may help reduce unnecessary breast biopsies, according to a study performed at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD. DWI is a method that produces images detecting the exchange of water molecules between tissue compartments (diffusion). http://www.physorg.com/news159713601.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:53:46 EST news159713601 (PhysOrg.com) -- Gypsum was used as a building material in antiquity and is still widely used as a binder in plaster, drywall, and spackling paste. Known as dihydrate in construction chemistry, gypsum is a water-containing calcium sulfate (CaSO4• 2 H2O). In various calcination processes, some of the water of crystallization is removed, resulting in calcined gypsum, or hemihydrate (CaSO4• 0.5 H2O). When this material comes into contact with water, it reabsorbs it and sets up. The structure and exact water content of hemihydrate have remained a matter of speculation. http://www.physorg.com/news159012528.html Chemistry Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:09:54 EST news159012528 Single oxygen atoms dancing on a metal oxide slab, glowing brighter here and dimmer there, have helped chemists better understand how water splits into oxygen and hydrogen. In the process, the scientists have visualized a chemical reaction that had previously only been talked about. The new work improves our understanding of the chemistry needed to generate hydrogen fuel from water or to clean contaminated water. http://www.physorg.com/news156433818.html Physics Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:51:05 EST news156433818 Dual catalysts may be the key to efficiently turning carbon dioxide and water vapor into methane and other hydrocarbons using titania nanotubes and solar power, according to Penn State researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news155471367.html Nanotechnology Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:30:08 EST news155471367 (PhysOrg.com) -- Exquisitely detailed and beautifully symmetrical, the snowflakes that David Griffeath makes are icy jewels of art. http://www.physorg.com/news154715124.html Other Sciences Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:28:12 EST news154715124 Researchers may be able to "freeze" water into a solid, not by cooling but by confining it to narrow spaces less than one-millionth of a millimeter wide, according to new results from an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers. http://www.physorg.com/news154349951.html Physics Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:00:12 EST news154349951 A recent discovery at Case Western Reserve University may help keep food and drugs safer and fresher longer and electronic equipment dryer and more secure than ever before - all at a lower cost. http://www.physorg.com/news153144756.html Nanotechnology Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:13:15 EST news153144756 (PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have found the most distant water yet seen in the Universe, in a galaxy more than 11 billion light-years from Earth. Previously, the most distant water had been seen in a galaxy less than 7 billion light-years from Earth. http://www.physorg.com/news148753546.html Space & Earth Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:25:46 EST news148753546