February 19
-
Mutant champions save imperiled species from
almost-certain extinction:
Species facing widespread and rapid environmental
changes can sometimes evolve quickly enough to dodge the
extinction bullet. Populations of disease-causing
bacteria evolve, for example, as doctors flood their “environment,”
the human body, with antibiotics. Insects, animals and
plants can make evolutionary adaptations in response to
pesticides, heavy metals and overfishing. (U.
Washington)
January 9
-
Hawaiian Islands are dissolving:
Someday, Oahu’s Koolau and Waianae mountains will be
reduced to nothing more than a flat, low-lying island
like Midway. But erosion isn’t the biggest culprit.
Instead, scientists say, the mountains of Oahu are
actually dissolving from within. (Brigham Young U.)
December 5
Novembrer 13
-
Increasing
Efficiency of Wireless Networks:
Two professors at the University of California,
Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have developed a
new method that doubles the efficiency of wireless
networks and could have a large impact on the mobile
Internet and wireless industriess. (UC Riverside)
October 28
October 22
-
Changes in Sleep Architecture Increase Hunger, Eating:
A new study shows that both length of time and
percentage of overall sleep spent in different sleep
stages are associated with decreased metabolic rate,
increased hunger, and increased intake of calories (specifically
from fat and carbohydrates). The findings suggest an
explanation for the association between sleep problems
and obesity. (APS)
October 15
October 4
September 25
September 19
September 10
-
Salt Seeds Clouds in the Amazon Rainforest:
It’s morning, deep in the Amazon jungle. In the still
air innumerable leaves glisten with moisture, and fog
drifts through the trees. As the sun rises, clouds
appear and float across the forest canopy … but where do
they come from? Water vapor needs soluble particles to
condense on. Airborne particles are the seeds of liquid
droplets in fog, mist, and clouds. (LBNL)
September 6
-
Deep-Sea Crabs Grab Grub Using UV Vision:
Crabs living half-a-mile down in the ocean, beyond the
reach of sunlight, have a sort of color vision combining
sensitivity to blue and ultraviolet light. Their
detection of shorter wavelengths may give the crabs a
way to ensure they grab healthy grub, not poison. (Duke
U.)
September 2
-
Electronics Play By a New Set of Rules at the Molecular
Scale:
In a paper published in Nature Nanontechnology on
September 2, 2012, scientists from the U.S. Department
of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and
Columbia University’s departments of Chemistry and of
Applied Physics explore the laws that govern electronic
conductance in molecular scale circuits. (BNL)
August 28
August 6
July 23
-
Sequencing technology helps reveal what plant genomes
really encode:
Scientists from the James Hutton Institute and the
University of Dundee have teamed up with researchers in
the USA to use a new technique to sequence the genes of
the plant Arabidopsis. This approach, which allows
researchers to see exactly where a plant's genes end,
could be applied to crops in the hope of boosting
efforts to breed new varieties. (BBSRC)
July 19
July 17
July 16
July 10
-
Metamolecules That Switch Handedness at Light-Speed:
A multi-institutional team of researchers that included
scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has created
the first artificial molecules whose chirality can be
rapidly switched from a right-handed to a left-handed
orientation with a beam of light. (LBNL)
July 6
July 2
June 28
-
Programmable DNA Scissors Found for Bacterial Immune
System:
Genetic engineers and genomics researchers should
welcome the news from the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) where an international team of
scientists has discovered a new and possibly more
effective means of editing genomes. (LBNL)
June 25
-
Unraveling the mysteries of exotic superconductors:
In traditional electrical lines, a significant amount of
energy is lost while the energy travels from its source to
homes and businesses due to resistance. Superconductors,
materials that when cooled have zero electric resistance,
have the promise of someday increasing the efficiency of
power distribution, but more must still be learned about
superconductors before they can be widely used for that
purpose. (Ames L.)
June 21
-
Planetrise: Alien World Looms Large in its Neighbor's Sky:
Few nighttime sights offer more drama than the full Moon
rising over the horizon. Now imagine that instead of the
Moon, a gas giant planet spanning three times more sky
loomed over the molten landscape of a lava world. This
alien vista exists in the newly discovered two-planet
system of Kepler-36. (CfA)
June 18
-
Carbon is Key for Getting Algae to Pump Out More Oil:
Overturning two long-held misconceptions about oil
production in algae, scientists at the U.S. Department of
Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory show that ramping
up the microbes’ overall metabolism by feeding them more
carbon increases oil production as the organisms continue
to grow. (BNL)
June 13
June 12
June 8
-
Armored Caterpillar Could Inspire New Body Armor:
Military body armor and vehicle and aircraft frames could
be transformed by incorporating the unique structure of
the club-like arm of a crustacean that looks like an
armored caterpillar, according to findings by a team of
researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s
Bourns College of Engineering and elsewhere published
online today (June 8) in the journal Science. (BNL)
May 29
May 24
-
Researchers Demonstrate Possible Primitive Mechanism of
Chemical Info Self-Replication: When scientists
think about the replication of information in chemistry,
they usually have in mind something akin to what happens
in living organisms when DNA gets copied: a
double-stranded molecule that contains sequence
information makes two new copies of the molecule. But
researchers at the California Institute of Technology
(Caltech) have now shown that a different mechanism can
also be used to copy sequence information. (Caltech)
May 24
-
Nanoparticles Seen as Artificial Atoms:
In the growth of crystals, do nanoparticles act as
“artificial atoms” forming molecular-type building blocks
that can assemble into complex structures? This is the
contention of a major but controversial theory to explain
nanocrystal growth. (Duke
U.)
May 21
May 18
-
Novel Casting Process Could Transform How Complex Metal
Parts Are Made:
A Georgia Tech research team has developed a novel
technology that could change how industry designs and
casts complex, costly metal parts. This new casting method
makes possible faster prototype development times, as well
as more efficient and cost-effective manufacturing
procedures after a part moves to mass production. (GIT)
May 14
-
Questions About Incredible Sea Turtle Migration Answered
by Scientists:
Immediately after emerging from their underground nests on
the lush beaches of eastern Florida, loggerhead sea
turtles scramble into the sea and embark alone on a
migration that takes them around the entire North Atlantic
basin. Survivors of this epic migration eventually return
to North America's coastal waters. (NSF)
May 10
-
Unseen planet revealed by its gravity:
More than a 150 years ago, before Neptune was ever sighted
in the night sky, French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier
predicted the planet's existence based on small deviations
in the motion of Uranus. In a paper published today in the
journal Science online, a group of researchers led by Dr.
David Nesvorny of Southwest Research Institute has
inferred another unseen planet, this time orbiting a
distant star, marking the first success of this technique
outside the solar system. (SwRI)
May 5
-
Caltech Researchers Use Stalagmites to Study Past Climate
Change:
There is an old trick for remembering the difference
between stalactites and stalagmites in a cave: Stalactites
hold tight to the ceiling while stalagmites might one day
grow to reach the ceiling. Now, it seems, stalagmites
might also fill a hole in our understanding of Earth's
climate system and how that system is likely to respond to
the rapid increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide since
preindustrial times. (Caltech)
May 1
-
Study Is First to Show Transgenerational Effect of
Antibiotics:
In a paper published in Nature's open access journal
Scientific Reports, researchers at the University of
Nevada, Reno, report that male pseudoscorpions treated
with the antibiotic tetracycline suffer significantly
reduced sperm viability and pass this toxic effect on to
their untreated sons. They suggest a similar effect could
occur in humans and other species. (NSF)
April 25
-
Using a Foreign Language Helps Decision-Making:
If you think that decisions are based only on the evidence
presented, think again. In fact, think about the question
in a different language, assessing the risks inherent in
making decisions. Your reactions may be surprising. (APS)
April 24
-
Mental Stress May Be Harder on Women’s Hearts:
Coronary artery disease continues to be a major cause of
death in the U.S., killing hundreds of thousands of people
per year. However, this disease burden isn’t evenly
divided between the sexes; significantly more men than
women are diagnosed with coronary artery disease each
year. The reasons behind this difference aren’t well
defined. (APS)
April 20
April 17
April 13
April 10
April 9
-
Opening the gate to robust quantum computing:
Scientists have overcome a major hurdle facing quantum
computing: how to protect quantum information from
degradation by the environment while simultaneously
performing computation in a solid-state quantum system. (Ames
L.)
April 2
-
New isotope measurement could alter history of early solar
system:
The early days of our solar system might look quite
different than previously thought, according to research
at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National
Laboratory published in Science. The study used more
sensitive instruments to find a different half-life for
samarium, one of the isotopes used to chart the evolution
of the solar system. (ANL)
March 29
March 26
-
Huge
Hamsters and Pint-Sized Porcupines:
From miniature elephants to monster mice, and even
Hobbit-sized humans, size changes in island animals are
well-known to science. Biologists have long believed that
large animals evolving on islands tend to get smaller,
while small animals tend to get bigger, a generalization
they call "the island rule." (Duke U.)
March 23
-
New theory on gas-guzzling black holes:
Astronomers from the UK and Australia have put forward a
new theory about why black holes become so hugely massive
– claiming some of them have no ‘table manners’, and tip
their ‘food’ directly into their mouths, eating more than
one course simultaneously. (STFC)
March 22
March 20
-
Why can’t you sprint a marathon: Researchers
funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered a new memory
mechanism within the nervous system that helps to avoid
exhaustion. (BBSRC)
March 18
-
A Surprising New Kind of Proton Transfer:
Berkeley Lab scientists and their colleagues have
discovered an unsuspected way that protons can move among
molecules – revealing new opportunities for research in
biology, environmental science, and green chemistry. (LBNL)
March 13
-
Latest data confirms high failure rates for metal-on-metal
hip replacements:
Ten days after the Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced that patients who have
received stemmed metal-on-metal (MOM) hip replacements
will need annual check-ups, The Lancet publishes
"unequivocal evidence" from the largest database on hip
replacements in the world. The new study by the University
of Bristol confirms that stemmed MOM implants are failing
at much higher rates than other types, particularly those
with larger head sizes and those implanted in women, in
whom failure rates are up to four-times higher. (Bristol
U.)
March 12
-
Genetic analysis of ancient ‘Iceman’ mummy traces ancestry
from Alps to Mediterranean isle:
The Iceman mummy, also known as Otzi, is about 5,300 years
old. Scientists studying his body since his discovery in
the Italian Alps in 1991 have learned many things,
including the cause of his death (an arrow to the back)
and his last meal (ibex meat). An analysis of the corpse’s
chemical composition suggested that he was born and lived
his entire life in the Tyrol area where his body was
found. Now they’re delving deeper to unearth more clues in
the mummy’s DNA. (Stanford U.)
March 7
-
Oxygen-Deprived Baby Rats Fare Worse If Kept Warm:
Premature infants’ immature lungs and frequent dips in
blood pressure make them especially vulnerable to a
condition called hypoxia in which their tissues don’t
receive enough oxygen, sometimes leading to permanent
brain damage. (APS)
March 5
-
Berkeley Lab Quantifies Effect of Soot on Snow and Ice,
Supporting Previous Climate Findings:
A new study from scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), published in Nature
Climate Change, has quantitatively demonstrated that black
carbon—also known as soot, a pollutant emitted from power
plants, diesel engines and residential cooking and
heating, as well as forest fires—reduces the reflectance
of snow and ice, an effect that increases the rate of
global climate change. (LBNL)
February 27
-
New Studies Determine Which Social Class More Likely to
Behave Unethically:
A series of studies conducted by psychologists at the
University of California, Berkeley and the University of
Toronto in Canada reveal something the well off may not
want to hear. Individuals who are relatively high in
social class are more likely to engage in a variety of
unethical behaviors. (NSF)
February 24
February 23
-
Higgs Boson Gets New Mass Limit:
New, more precise measurements of a particle called the W
boson are again suggesting that physicists' prized Higgs
boson is lighter than previously predicted. (Duke U.)
February 21
February 20
-
Big, bad bacterium is an "iron pirate":
Life inside the human body sometimes looks like life on
the high seas in the 1600s, when pirates hijacked foreign
vessels in search of precious metals. (ANL)
February 16
February 14
February 13
February 9
-
Hydrogen from Acidic Water: A technique for
creating a new molecule that structurally and chemically
replicates the active part of the widely used industrial
catalyst molybdenite has been developed by researchers
with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). (LBNL)
February 6
-
Copper + Love Chemical = Big Sulfur Stink.
When Hiroaki Matsunami, PhD, associate professor at Duke
University, set out to study a chemical in male mouse
urine called MTMT that attracts female mice, he didn't
think he would stumble into a new field of study. (DUMC)
February 3
-
Right Hand or Left.
When you see a picture of a hand, how do you know whether
it’s a right or left hand? This “hand laterality” problem
may seem obscure, but it reveals a lot about how the brain
sorts out confusing perceptions. (APS)
February 2
-
A battle of the vampires, 20 million years ago.
They are tiny, ugly, disease-carrying little blood-suckers
that most people have never seen or heard of, but a new
discovery in a one-of-a-kind fossil shows that “bat flies”
have been doing their noxious business with bats for at
least 20 million years. (OSU)
February 1
-
Why the brain is more reluctant to function as we age.
New findings, led by neuroscientists at the University of
Bristol and published this week in the journal
Neurobiology of Aging, reveal a novel mechanism through
which the brain may become more reluctant to function as
we grow older. (Bristol U.)
January 27
-
Disappearing gold a boon for nanolattices.
When gold vanishes from a very important location, it
usually means trouble. At the nanoscale, however, it could
provide more knowledge about certain types of material. (ANL.)
January 26
January 23
January 20
January 17
-
Breeding better grasses for food and fuel.
Researchers from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council (BBSRC) Sustainable Bioenergy Centre
(BSBEC) have discovered a family of genes that could help
us breed grasses with improved properties for diet and
bioenergy. (BBSRC)
January 16
January 13
-
Study Offers Insight into Delicate Biochemical Balance
Required for Plant Growth.
In an ongoing effort to understand how modifying plant
cell walls might affect the production of biomass and its
breakdown for use in biofuels, scientists at the U.S.
Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National
Laboratory have uncovered a delicate biochemical balance
essential for sustainable plant growth and reproduction. (BNL)
January 12
-
Clearest Picture Yet of Dark Matter Points the Way to
Better Understanding of Dark Energy.
Two teams of physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s
Fermilab and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Berkeley Lab) have independently made the largest direct
measurements of the invisible scaffolding of the universe,
building maps of dark matter using new methods that, in
turn, will remove key hurdles for understanding dark
energy with ground-based telescopes. (LBNL)
January 10
January 6
January 4
-
Cold waters give up their hottest secret.
A seven-armed sea-star and a new species of yeti crab have
been found living on previously undiscovered hydrothermal
vents at the bottom of the Southern Ocean. (Newcastle
U.)
January 3
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