August 31

  • New Instrument Covertly Detects Signals from Illicit Chemicals. A new award-winning innovation developed at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory can covertly detect chemical plumes at great distances and may help thwart future chemical or nuclear-based terrorist attacks. The technology has a number of other uses, as well, from detecting environmental pollution to determining the extent of tissue damage in burn victims without physical contact. (ANL)

August 30

  • Chemists Get Grip on Slippery Lipids. The ability of the body's cells to correctly receive and convey signals is crucial to good health. (UIC)
  • Odorant Receptor for Queen Pheromone Identified. The mating ritual of the honey bee is a mysterious affair, occurring at dizzying heights in zones identifiable only to a queen and the horde of drones that court her. Now a research team led by the University of Illinois has identified an odorant receptor that allows male drones to find a queen in flight. The receptor, on the male antennae, can detect an available queen up to 60 meters away. (UIUC)
  • One Species' Genome Discovered Inside Another Species' Genome. A team of researchers has discovered that a bacterial parasite (called Wolbachia) can insert almost its entire genome into the genomes of members of one host species (a fly called Drosophila ananassae), and can insert parts of its genome into the genomes of members of several other host species. (NSF)
  • Scientists Find Elusive Waves in Solar Corona. Scientists for the first time have observed elusive oscillations in the sun's corona, known as Alfvén waves, that transport energy outward from the surface of the sun. The discovery may give researchers more insight into solar magnetic fields, eventually leading to a better understanding of how the sun affects Earth's atmosphere and the entire solar system. (NSF)

August 29

  • Volcanoes Key to Earth's Oxygen Atmosphere. A switch from predominantly undersea volcanoes to a mix of undersea and terrestrial ones shifted the Earth's atmosphere from devoid of oxygen to one with free oxygen, according to geologists. (PSU)
  • Amber Specimen Captures Ancient Chemical Battle. It appears that chemical warfare has been around a lot longer than poison arrows, mustard gas or nerve weapons – about 100 million years, give or take a little. (OSU)
  • Nanofluids not So Super-cool After All. MIT engineers have shown that nanofluids, which once held promise as a super-coolant, do not have the theoretical cooling capabilities many scientists believed they had. (MIT)
  • Researchers Find New Taste in Fruit Flies: Carbonated Water. That fruit fly hovering over your kitchen counter may be attracted to more than the bananas that are going brown; it may also want a sip of your carbonated water. Fruit flies detect and are attracted to the taste of carbon dioxide dissolved in water, such as water found on rotting fruits containing yeast, concludes a study appearing in the August 30 issue of the journal Nature. (NIH)
  • NASA Satellites Eye Coastal Water Quality. Armed with data from two NASA satellites, researchers have invented a way to map the fleeting changes in coastal water quality from space - something that has long evaded researchers and coastal managers relying only on ground-based measurements. (GSFC)
  • God Thoughts Influence Your Generosity. Thoughts related to God cultivate cooperative behaviour and generosity, according to University of British Columbia psychology researchers. (UBC)
  • Researchers Report On How Neurotransmitters Travel Between Cells. In studying how neurotransmitters travel between cells -- by analysis of events in the dimensions of nanometers -- Cornell researchers have discovered that an electrical current thought to be present during that process does not, in fact, exist. (Cornell U.)
  • Argonne Scientists Take Giant Step Forward in Understanding Exotic Nuclei. Developing good predictive powers of how all nuclei work is critical to advance our understanding of the universe. The vast nuclear landscape, which is thought to consist of about 6,000 isotopes is not well charted and half the nuclei remain unknown. (ANL)

August 28

  • Scientists Glean Turbulent Lessons from Titan. Ever spilled your drink on an airline because of turbulence? Researchers on both sides of the Atlantic are finding new ways to understand the phenomenon—both in Earth’s atmosphere and in that of Saturn’s moon Titan, aided by data gathered from the Cassini-Huygens probe. (APL)
  • Discovery May Help Defang Viruses. Researchers may be able to tinker with a single amino acid of an enzyme that helps viruses multiply to render them harmless, according to molecular biologists who say the discovery could pave the way for a fast and cheap method of making vaccines. (PSU)

August 27

August 24

  • Strong Evidence Points to Earth’s Proximity to Sun as Ice Age Trigger. When do ice ages begin? In June, of course. Analysis of Antarctic ice cores led by Kenji Kawamura, a visiting scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, shows that the last four great ice age cycles began when Earth’s distance from the sun during its annual orbit became great enough to prevent summertime melts of glacial ice. The absence of those melts allowed buildups of the ice over periods of time that would become characterized as glacial periods. (UCSD)

August 23

  • Study Takes First Look At Toxic Air Pollution In Urban Parking Garages, Finds SUVs Bigger Polluters. The pollution produced by light trucks, SUVs and minivans is only half a percent higher than that produced by conventional cars, based on a recent study. (OSU)
  • Researchers Learn to Control Nanotube Dimensions. Moving beyond carbon nanotubes, researchers are developing insights into a remarkable class of tubular metal-oxide nanomaterials that can be produced in water with a high degree of control over their diameter and length. (GIT)
  • New Cancer Weapon: Nuclear Nanocapsules. Rice University chemists have found a way to package some of nature's most powerful radioactive particles inside DNA-sized tubes of pure carbon -- a method they hope to use to target tiny tumors and even lone leukemia cells. (Rice U.)
  • Nasty Bacteria Need Sunlight to Do Their Worst. Certain types of bacteria have sunlight-sensing molecules similar to those found in plants, according to a new study. Surprisingly, at least one species—responsible for causing the flu-like disorder Brucellosis—needs light to maximize its virulence. The work suggests an entirely new model for bacterial virulence based on light sensitivity. (Carnegie I.)

August 22

  • Social Habits of Cells May Hold Key to Fighting Diseases. Scientists in Manchester are working to change the social habits of living cells - an innovation that could bring about cleaner and greener fuel and help fight diseases such as cancer and diabetes. (U. Manchester)
  • Metasearch Engine Digs Deeper, Faster for News. Are you getting all the news you need from Internet search engines that you use to find the latest headlines? Maybe not, said University of Illinois at Chicago computer science professor Clement Yu, who has devised software that finds a world of news stories that big search engines either overlook or do not deliver in a timely manner. (UIC)
  • Research May Unlock Mystery of Autism’s Origin in the Brain. In the first study of its kind, researchers have discovered that in autistic individuals, connections between brain cells may be deficient within single regions, and not just between regions, as was previously believed. (WFUBMC)
  • T. rex Quicker than Becks, Say Scientists. T. rex may have struggled to chase down speeding vehicles as the movie Jurassic Park would have us believe but the world's most fearsome carnivore was certainly no slouch, research out today suggests. (U. Manchester)
  • Area Responsible for Self-control. The area of the brain responsible for self-control is separate from the area associated with taking action, scientists say scientists say in the todays issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. (MPG)
  • Google Brings the Cosmos Down to Earth. Imagine cruising the heavens from your desktop and seeing all the spectacular images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Exploding stars and faraway galaxies are just a mouse click away today through ‘Sky in Google Earth’. (ESA)
  • Carnegie Mellon Scientists Investigate Initial Molecular Mechanism That Triggers Neuronal Firing. Carnegie Mellon University chemists have solved a decade-long molecular mystery that could eventually help scientists develop drug therapies to treat a variety of disorders, including epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease. (C. Mellon)

August 21

  • Sandia Researchers Help to Make Cars Smarter. Cars already automatically lock doors when they sense motion and turn on warning lights if they detect potential engine problems. But they are about to get smarter. (Sandia NL)
  • Study: Cow-Powered Fuel Cells Grow Smaller, Mightier. Cows could one day help to meet the rise in demand for alternative energy sources, say Ohio State University researchers that used microbe-rich fluid from a cow to generate electricity in a small fuel cell. (OSU)
  • Pellets of Power Designed to Deliver Hydrogen for Tomorrow's Vehicles. Hydrogen may prove to be the fuel of the future in powering the efficient, eco-friendly fuel cell vehicles of tomorrow. Developing a method to safely store, dispense and easily "refuel" the vehicle's storage material with hydrogen has baffled researchers for years. However, a new and attractive storage medium being developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists may provide the "power of pellets" to fuel future transportation needs. (PNNL)
  • Rocketing into HIPerSpace. Engineers at the University of California, San Diego have constructed the highest-resolution computer display in the world – with a screen resolution up to 220 million pixels. (UCSD)
  • MIT's 'Clutter Detector' Could Cut Confusion. The danger of clutter--especially on a visual screen--is that it causes confusion that affects how well we perform tasks. To that end, visual clutter is a challenge for fighter pilots picking out a target, for people seeking important information in a user interface, and for web site and map designers, among others. (MIT)
  • Researchers Evaluate Algae Jet Fuel. ASU researchers are part of a team led by UOP, a Honeywell company that is looking at alternative sources of oil that could be used to produce Jet Propellant 8 (JP-8) or military jet fuel. (ASU)

August 20

  • Ancient Organisms Discovered in Canadian Gold Mine. Scientists have suspected that the three known domains of life -- eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea -- branched off and went their separate ways around three billion years ago. But pinning down the time of that split has been an elusive task.. (UIC)
  • New Finding Bubbles to Surface, Challenging Old View. Chemical engineers have discovered a fundamental flaw in the conventional view of how liquids form bubbles that grow and turn into vapors, which takes place in everything from industrial processes to fizzing champagne. (Purdue U.)
  • Scientists Confirm Long-held Theory about Source of Sunshine. Scientists are a step closer to understanding sunshine. A monumental experiment buried deep beneath the mountains of Italy has provided Princeton physicists with a clearer understanding of the sun's heart -- and of a mysterious class of subatomic particles born there. (Princeton U.)
  • Our Neighbour, the Neutron Star. McGill University and Penn State University astronomers using NASA's Swift satellite have discovered what they believe to be the closest neutron star to Earth. (McGill U.)
  • Geologists Search for Prehistoric High. Not all areas of the Tibetan Plateau rose at the same time, according to researchers who are determining the past elevation of plateau locations by studying the remains of terrestrial plants that once grew there. (PSU)
  • Archaeology Team Discovers First Ancient Manioc Fields In Americas. A University of Colorado at Boulder team excavating an ancient Maya village in El Salvador buried by a volcanic eruption 1,400 years ago has discovered an ancient field of manioc, the first evidence for cultivation of the calorie-rich tuber in the New World. (UCB)
  • Silicon Nanoparticles Enhance Performance of Solar Cells. Placing a film of silicon nanoparticles onto a silicon solar cell can boost power, reduce heat and prolong the cell’s life, researchers now report. (UIUC)
  • New Microbial Fuel Cell Design Boosts Electricity Production. Biological engineers at Oregon State University have designed a microbial fuel cell that is capable of generating about 10 times more electricity than previously possible from an air cathode microbial fuel cell of the same size. (Oregon SU)
  • Girls Prefer Pink - or at Least a Redder Shade of Blue. A new study by scientists from Newcastle University gives substance to the old adage 'Pink for a girl, blue for a boy'. (U. Newcastle)
  • Nanoparticle Could Help Detect Many Diseases Early. Most people think of hydrogen peroxide as a topical germ killer, but the medicine cabinet staple is gaining steam in the medical community as an early indicator of disease in the body. (GIT)
  • Working Toward New Energy With Electrochemistry. In an effort to develop alternative energy sources such as fuel cells and solar fuel from "artificial" photosynthesis, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory are taking a detailed look at electrons - the particles that set almost all chemical processes in motion. (BNL)
  • New Catalysts May Create More, Cheaper Hydrogen. A new class of catalysts created at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory may help scientists and engineers overcome some of the hurdles that have inhibited the production of hydrogen for use in fuel cells. (ANL)

August 18

  • You Don't Have To Hate Other Groups To Love Your Own, Researcher Says. Shiite vs. Sunni. Red state vs. Blue state. Immigrant vs. native. While it may appear that conflict is an inevitable part of interaction between groups, research actually suggests that fighting, hating and contempt between groups is not a necessary part of human nature, according to an Ohio State University professor of psychology. (OSU)

August 17

  • The Building Blocks of Memory. Learning new things, remembering past experiences and adapting to a changing environment - these abilities carried out by the brain are essential for day-to-day survival. This unique flexibility is in part accomplished through the continuous remodeling of the brain’s nerve cells. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology were able to demonstrate that neuronal activity causes the formation of new cell connections, and to determine how quickly these new synapses become functional: while nerve cells create new contacts with neighboring cells within a few minutes after stimulation, it takes several hours before these connections are mature enough to transmit information. (MPG)
  • New Clues to Mechanism for "Colossal Resistance" Effects. Experiments at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory shed new light on some materials' ability to dramatically change their electrical resistance in the presence of an external magnetic or electric field. Small changes in resistance underlie many electronic devices, including some computer data storage systems. Understanding and applying dramatic resistance changes, known as colossal magnetoresistance, offers tremendous opportunities for the development of new technologies, including data-storage devices with increased data density and reduced power requirements. (BNL)

August 16

August 15

  • Clinical Depression Linked to Abnormal Emotional Brain Circuits. In what may be the first study to use brain imaging to look at the neural circuits involved in emotional control in patients with depression, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that brains of people with clinical depression react very differently than those of healthy people when trying to cope with negative situations. (UWM)
  • Physicists Discover 'Super Crystals' in a Semiconductor. University of Arizona physicists have discovered that "super crystals" -- crystals which are hundreds to thousands times larger than conventional crystals -- exist in certain organic semiconducting solids. (U. Arizona)
  • Ocean ‘Supergyre’ Link to Climate Regulator. Australian scientists have identified the missing deep ocean pathway – or ‘supergyre’ – linking the three Southern Hemisphere ocean basins in research that will help them explain more accurately how the ocean governs global climate. (CSIRO)

August 14

  • Older Climbers Face Uphill Battle on Mount Everest. In this era of not surrendering to age, some claim that 60 is the new 40. But new research shows that 60 year olds cannot keep up with 40 year olds on Mount Everest and suffer a sharply higher chance of dying if they do reach the summit. (U. Washington)
  • Comet May Have Exploded Over North America 13,000 Years Ago. New scientific findings suggest that a large comet may have exploded over North America 12,900 years ago, explaining riddles that scientists have wrestled with for decades, including an abrupt cooling of much of the planet and the extinction of large mammals. (NSF)
  • Conquest of Land Began in Shark Genome. When the first four-legged animals sprouted fingers and toes, they took an ancient genetic recipe and simply extended the cooking time, say University of Florida scientists. (U. Florida)
  • Sandia Researchers Seeking to Understand Consequences of Unintended Releases of H2. The Department of Energy’s domestic FreedomCAR and Fuels presidential initiative has now gone global, and researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are playing a key role in that worldwide effort. (Sandia L.)
  • New Imaging Detectors Could Take Snapshots from Deep Space. Snapshots from space may someday confirm the presence of lakes and oceans on Europa—one of Jupiter’s moons—and on other planetary bodies. Imaging detectors that capture information from every wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum could detect the presence of liquid methane or hydrocarbons, the stew that just might sustain microbial life forms. (RIT)
  • Frigid Enceladus: an Unlikely Harbor for Life. A new model of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus may quell hopes of finding life there. Developed by researchers at the University of Illinois, the model explains the most salient observations on Enceladus without requiring the presence of liquid water. (UIUC)

August 13

August 12

August 10

August 9

  • Computers Expose the Physics of NASCAR. Computer scientists at the University of Washington have developed software that is incorporated in new technology allowing television audiences to instantaneously see how air flows around speeding cars. (U. Washington)
  • Research Shows Skeleton to be Endocrine Organ. Bones are typically thought of as calcified, inert structures, but researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have now identified a surprising and critically important novel function of the skeleton. They’ve shown for the first time that the skeleton is an endocrine organ that helps control our sugar metabolism and weight, which makes it a major determinant of the development of type 2 diabetes. (Columbia U.)
  • X-ray Images Help Explain Limits to Insect Body Size. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have cast new light on why the giant insects that lived millions of years ago disappeared. (ANL)

August 8

  • NASA's Shuttle Endeavour Begins Mission to the Space Station. The space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-member crew lifted off at 6:36 p.m. EDT Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station for an assembly mission, designated STS-118. (NASA)
  • High Blood Pressure, Low Energy — a Recipe for Heart Failure. Many people with long-standing high blood pressure develop heart failure. But some don't. Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., and colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other institutions are trying to figure out what could explain that difference. (WUSTL)

August 7

  • Link Between Sunspots, Rain Helps Predict Disease in East Africa. A new study shows that sunspot cycles can be used to predict heavy rains, flooding and subsequent disease outbreaks in East Africa. (NSF)
  • New Mechanism Links Smoking to Lung Damage. In the August 7, 2007, issue of PLoS One, researchers show how a poorly understood and previously unsuspected mechanism may be the key to understanding how life-style associated forms of oxidative stress, such as exposure to cigarette smoke, damage cells in the lungs. (U. Chicago)
  • Miniature Implanted Devices Could Treat Epilepsy, Glaucoma. Purdue University researchers have developed new miniature devices designed to be implanted in the brain to predict and prevent epileptic seizures and a nanotech sensor for implantation in the eye to treat glaucoma. (Purdue U.)
  • Researchers Examine How Cells Change the Pace of Their Steps. Scientists at UC San Diego have discovered how cells of higher organisms change the speed at which they move, a basic biological discovery that may help researchers devise ways to prevent cancer cells from spreading throughout the body. (UCSD)
  • Seas Could Rise Higher than We Thought. Leading climatologist Professor Stefan Rahmstorf has revealed at a UNSW public lecture that sea-level rises caused by global warming are higher than those published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this year. (UNSW)
  • Quantum Analog of Ulam's Conjecture Can Guide Molecules, Reactions. Like navigating spacecraft through the solar system by means of gravity and small propulsive bursts, researchers can guide atoms, molecules and chemical reactions by utilizing the forces that bind nuclei and electrons into molecules (analogous to gravity) and by using light for propulsion. But, knowing the minimal amount of light required, and how that amount changes with the complexity of the molecule, has been a problem. (UIUC)
  • Experiment Suggests Limitations to Carbon Dioxide 'Tree Banking'. While 10 years of bathing North Carolina pine tree stands with extra carbon dioxide did allow the trees to grow more tissue, only those pines receiving the most water and nutrients were able to store significant amounts of carbon that could offset the effects of global warming, scientists told a national meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). (Duke U.)
  • Secret Life of Elephant Seals Not Secret Anymore! Miniature oceanographic sensors attached to southern elephant seals have provided scientists with an unprecedented peek into the secret lives of seals. (CSIRO)

August 6

  • Test of Through-The-Earth Communication System™ Exceeds Expectations. Rigorous testing at the Lake Lynn Experimental Mine last month proved the viability of Vital Alert Technologies' system for emergency warning, evacuation, and rescue communications. (LANL)
  • There is Nothing Like Experience, Even for Ants. Certain species of ants in Japan have fascinating behavior. Since they reproduce asexually, they are all clones of each other. Another distinctive feature is that they feed on ants (of other species). Without any hierarchy inside the nest, how are roles distributed? The experience they acquire when young determines their "job" as adults. This is what the researchers of the Laboratoire d'éthologie expérimentale et comparée (CNRS/Université Paris 13) have shown. (CNRS)
  • Full-time Sensors Can Detect Bridge Defects. Networks of small, permanently mounted sensors could soon check continuously for the formation of structural defects in I-beams and other critical structural supports of bridges and highway overpasses, giving structural engineers a better chance of heading off catastrophic failures. (Sandia NL)
  • Study Shows Novel Way to Trigger New Neuron Production in the Aging Brain. Researchers have shown for the first time that putting two specific types of neural cells directly into an aging brain can kick-start creation of brain cells linked to learning and memory. (DUMC)
  • Where Broken DNA is Repaired. Ionizing radiation, toxic chemicals, and other agents continually damage the body's DNA, threatening life and health: unrepaired DNA can lead to mutations, which in turn can lead to diseases like cancer. Intricate DNA repair mechanisms in the cells' nuclei are constantly working to fix what's broken, but whether the repair work happens "on the road" — right where the damage occurs — or "in the shop" — at specific regions of the nucleus — is an unanswered question. (LBNL)
  • Monster Galaxy Pileup Sighted. Four galaxies are slamming into each other and kicking up billions of stars in one of the largest cosmic smash-ups ever observed. (Yale U.)
  • Keck Finds Largest Exoplanet to Date. An international team of astronomers has discovered the largest-radius and lowest-density exoplanet of all those whose mass and radius are known. It is a gas-giant planet about twice the size of Jupiter, and is likely to have a curved comet-like tail. It has been named TrES-4, as the fourth planet detected by the Trans-atlantic Exoplanet Survey (TrES) network of 10-cm telescopes. (WM Keck O.)
  • Locked in Glaciers, Ancient Microbes May Return to Life. The DNA of ancient microorganisms, long frozen in glaciers, may return to life as the glaciers melt, according to a paper published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and Boston University. (Rutgers)
  • See What You're Spewing as You Speed Along. A team from The University of Manchester has constructed a laser measuring device capable of recording levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane from directly inside an exhaust. (U. Manchester)
  • Theory of Facial Aging Gets a Facelift from Researchers. The longstanding idea that the entire human face ages uniformly is in need of a facelift, say researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center who have found that multiple, distinct compartments of fat in the face age at different rates. (UTSMC)

August 3

August 2

  • Water, Air and Soil Pollution Causes 40 Percent of Deaths Worldwide. About 40 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by water, air and soil pollution, concludes a Cornell researcher. Such environmental degradation, coupled with the growth in world population, are major causes behind the rapid increase in human diseases, which the World Health Organization has recently reported. (Cornell U.)

August 1

July 31

  • Hallucinations in Schizophrenia Linked to Brain Area that Processes Voices. For the first time, researchers using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have found both structural and functional abnormalities in specific brain regions of schizophrenic patients who experience chronic auditory hallucinations, according to a study published in the August issue of Radiology. (RSNA)
  • When Exercise Stops, How Long do Benefits Last? Scientists examining the relationship between the intensity and length of a workout and the duration of its benefits have made a surprising discovery: More isn't necessarily better, and none may be worse than we ever imagined. (DUMC)
  • Reading More Into a Face Than Noticeably Meets the Eye. Reading the face of a person who is trying to conceal fear or other emotions is tricky business, according to a new Northwestern University study of electrical activity in the brain. (Northwestern U.)

July 30

  • Researchers Think Pink To Produce "Green" Solar Energy. When it comes to producing earth-friendly solar energy, pink may be the new green, according to Ohio State University researchers. (OSU)
  • MIT Team Building Robotic Fin for Submarines. Inspired by the efficient swimming motion of the bluegill sunfish, MIT researchers are building a mechanical fin that could one day propel robotic submarines. (MIT)
  • Caffeine and Exercise Can Team Up to Prevent Skin Cancer. Regular exercise and little or no caffeine has become a popular lifestyle choice for many Americans. But a new Rutgers study has found that it may not be the best formula for preventing sun-induced skin damage that could lead to cancer. Low to moderate amounts of caffeine, in fact, along with exercise can be good for your health. (Rutgers)
  • Zebrafish Research Points Way to Answers about Human Development. Zebrafish cost about a dollar at the pet store. They grow from eggs to hunting their own food in three days. Adults can lay up to 500 eggs at once… and you have more in common with them than you think. (Rice U.)
  • Freq. of Atl. Hurricanes Doubled Over Last Century. About twice as many Atlantic hurricanes form each year on average than a century ago, according to a new statistical analysis of hurricanes and tropical storms in the north Atlantic. The study concludes that warmer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and altered wind patterns associated with global climate change are fueling much of the increase. (GIT)

July 27

  • Two Bacteria Better Than One in Cellulose-Fed Fuel Cell. No currently known bacteria that allow termites and cows to digest cellulose, can power a microbial fuel cell and those bacteria that can produce electrical current cannot eat cellulose. But careful pairing of bacteria can create a fuel cell that consumes cellulose and produces electricity, according to a team of Penn State researchers. (PSU)
  • Rare Example of Darwinism Seen in Action. A research team, including UC Riverside biologists, has found experimental evidence that supports a controversial theory of genetic conflict in the reproduction of those animals that support their developing offspring through a placenta. (UCR)
  • New Aerogels Could Clean Contaminated Water, Purify Hydrogen for Fuel Cells. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have identified a new technique for cleansing contaminated water and potentially purifying hydrogen for use in fuel cells, thanks to the discovery of a innovative type of porous material. (ANL)
  • Science Steps in to Discover Wonders of Toe-tankhamun. An artificial big toe attached to the foot of an ancient Egyptian mummy could prove to be the world's earliest functional prosthetic body part, say scientists. (U. Manchester)

July 26

July 25

  • Hand Gestures Dramatically Improve Learning. Kids asked to physically gesture at math problems are nearly three times more likely than non-gesturers to remember what they've learned. (U. Rochester)
  • Learning a Second Language: Is It All In the Head? Think you haven't got the aptitude to learn a foreign language? New research led by Northwestern University neuroscientists suggests that the problem, quite literally, could be in your head. (Northwestern U.)
  • Graphene Oxide Paper Could Spawn a New Class of Materials. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the discovery of paper revolutionized human communication. Now researchers at Northwestern University have fabricated a new type of paper that they hope will create a revolution of its own -- and while it won't replace your notepad, this remarkably stiff and strong yet lightweight material should find use in a wide variety of applications. (Northwestern U.)
  • Do Cigarettes Help Smokers Cope with Stress? Many smokers excuse their habit by claiming that smoking relieves their feelings of stress. In fact, the stress they feel may just be one of the short-term symptoms of withdrawal, if they haven't smoked for a while. (Bristol U.)
  • Study Links Air Pollution to Clogged Arteries. Got high cholesterol? You might want to stay away from air pollution. (UCLA)
  • Researchers Watch Antibiotics, Bacteria Meet At Atomic Level. A new understanding of an enzyme important for the transfer of genetic information in bacteria may help scientists improve current antibiotics and also create antibiotics that are less vulnerable to resistance. (OSU)
  • Obesity Is ‘Socially Contagious,’ Study Finds. Are your friends making you fat? Or keeping you slender? According to new research from Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, the short answer on both counts is “yes.” (UCSD)
  • MIT Duo See People-powered "Crowd Farm". Two graduate students at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning want to harvest the energy of human movement in urban settings, like commuters in a train station or fans at a concert. (MIT)
  • Scratch no more: Gene for itch sensation discovered. Itching for a better anti-itch remedy? Your wish may soon be granted now that scientists at the School of Medicine have identified the first gene for the itch sensation in the central nervous system. The discovery could rapidly lead to new treatments directly targeting itchiness and providing relief for chronic and severe itching. (WUSTL)

July 24

  • My bad! Why We Feel Guilt in the First Place. Guilt plays a vital role in the regulation of social behavior. That worried feeling in our gut often serves as the impetus for our stab at redemption. However, psychologists have trouble agreeing on the function of this complex emotion. (APS)
  • Enzyme Discovery Sheds Light on Vitamin D. Surprising findings by Queen’s researchers have shed new light on how the “sunshine vitamin” D – increasingly used to treat and prevent cancer and other diseases – is broken down by our bodies. (Queen's U.)
  • Surprisingly, Chemists Find, Some Solvents Can Alter Chemical Bonds. New University at Buffalo research demonstrates that some solvents can significantly enhance certain acid-base interactions and strengthen the bonding interaction between two molecules when one is electron-deficient and one is electron-rich. (U. Buffalo)
  • Researchers Produce Firsts with Bursts of Light. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have generated extremely short pulses of light that are the strongest of their type ever produced and could prove invaluable in probing the ultra-fast motion of atoms and electrons. (BNL)
  • The future of Medicine: Insert Chip, Cure Disease? Imagine a chip, strategically placed in the brain, that could prevent epileptic seizures or allow someone who has lost a limb to control an artificial arm just by thinking about it. (U. Florida)
  • Low Literacy Equals Early Death Sentence. Not being able to read doesn't just make it harder to navigate each day. Low literacy impairs people's ability to obtain critical information about their health and can dramatically shorten their lives. (Northwestern U.)
  • Faster-Acting Antidepressants Closer to Becoming a Reality. A new study has revealed more about how the medication ketamine, when used experimentally for depression, relieves symptoms of the disorder in hours instead of the weeks or months it takes for current antidepressants to work. (NIH)

July 23

  • Graphene Nanoelectronics: Making Tomorrow’s Computers from a Pencil Trace. A key discovery at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute could help advance the role of graphene as a possible heir to copper and silicon in nanoelectronics. (RPI)
  • Arizona Radio Observatory Team Discovers Supergiant Star Spews Molecules Needed for Life. University of Arizona astronomers who are probing the oxygen-rich environment around a supergiant star with one of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes have discovered a score of molecules that include compounds needed for life. (U. Arizona)
  • CU Researchers Discover Fruit Fly Gene from 'Out of Nowhere'. Scientists thought that most new genes were formed from existing genes, but Cornell researchers have discovered a gene in some fruit flies that appears to be unrelated to other genes in any known genome. (Cornell U.)
  • Steroids, Not Songs, Spur Growth of Brain Regions in Sparrows. Neuroscientists are attempting to understand if structural changes in the brain are related to sensory experience or the performance of learned behavior, and now University of Washington researchers have found evidence that one species of songbird apparently has something in common with a few baseball sluggers. Both rely on steroids, birds to increase the size of song production areas of their brain and some players, apparently, to knock a fastball out of the park. (U. Washington)
  • Tightly Packed Molecules Lend Unexpected Strength to Nanothin Sheet of Material. Scientists at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have discovered the surprising strength of a sheet of nanoparticles that measures just 50 atoms in thickness. (U. Chicago)
  • Detection of Human Influence on Precipitation Patterns. For the first time, climate scientists have clearly detected the human fingerprint on changing global precipitation patterns over the past century. (UEA)
  • VA Ushers in New Era for Prostheses for Amputees. The first powered ankle-foot prosthesis, which propels users forward for walking, was demonstrated Monday morning at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Garth Stewart, an Iraq War veteran and amputee, showed off the invention created by MIT Media Lab Professor Hugh Herr and his team as part of a collaborative research initiative that includes the Providence VA Medical Center, Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Brown U.)
  • Interstellar Chemistry Gets More Complex With New Charged-Molecule Discovery. Astronomers using data from the National Science Foundation's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have found the largest negatively-charged molecule yet seen in space. The discovery of the third negatively-charged molecule, called an anion, in less than a year and the size of the latest anion will force a drastic revision of theoretical models of interstellar chemistry, the astronomers say. (NRAO)

July 22

  • Pluto's Moon an Ice Machine. Frigid geysers spewing material up through cracks in the crust of Pluto’s companion Charon could be making this distant world into the equivalent of an outer solar system ice machine. (ASU)

July 20

  • Unique Material May Allow Capacitors to Store More Energy. Imagine an electric car with the same acceleration capability as a gas-powered sports car, or ultrafast rechargeable “batteries” that can be recharged a thousand times more than existing conventional batteries. According to physicists at North Carolina State University, all of these things are possible, thanks to their research on a polymer – or plastic material – that when used as a dielectric in capacitors may allow the capacitors to store up to seven times more energy than those currently in use. (NCSU)
  • MIT Physicists Get Ultra-sharp Glimpse of Electrons. MIT physicists have developed a spectroscopy technique that allows researchers to inspect the world of electrons confined to a two-dimensional plane more clearly than ever before. (MIT)
  • One Species, Many Genomes. Faster growth, darker leaves, a different way of branching - wild varieties of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana are often substantially different from the laboratory strain of this small mustard plant, a favorite of many plant biologists. (MPG)

July 19

  • NASA Researchers Find Satellite Data Can Warn of Famine. A NASA researcher has developed a new method to anticipate food shortages brought on by drought. Molly Brown of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and her colleagues created a model using data from satellite remote sensing of crop growth and food prices. (GSFC)
  • Glaciers and Ice Caps to Dominate Sea Level Rise Through 21st Century. Ice loss from glaciers and ice caps is expected to cause more global sea rise during this century than the massive Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study. (NSF)
  • Rise of Dinosaurs Not So Rapid After All. Fossils discovered in the oft-painted arroyos of northern New Mexico show for the first time that dinosaurs and their non-dinosaur ancestors lived side by side for tens of millions of years, disproving the notion that dinosaurs rapidly replaced their supposedly outmoded predecessors. (UC Berkeley)
  • Computer Scientist Plans Bach Over Broadband. Dr Barry Cheetham, a senior lecturer in The School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester, is seeking to combine his academic expertise in communications, networks and digital signal processing with his love of choral singing. (U. Manchester)
  • Astronomers Find Highly Elliptical Disk Around Young Star. Dust and debris parade in an extremely misshapen ring around the young star, HD 15115. (HubbleSite)
  • Scientists Discover New Way to Study Nanostructures. Physicists at Georgia Tech have discovered a phenomenon which allows measurement of the mechanical motion of nanostructures by using the AC Josephson effect. The findings may be used to identify and characterize structural and mechanical properties of nanoparticles, including materials of biological interest. (GIT)
  • Research Boosts Wireless Data Transfer. New research at the Georgia Institute of Technology could soon make that tangle of wires under desks and in data centers a thing of the past. (GIT)

July 18

  • Laser Sets Records in Power and Energy Efficiency. The rise in global terrorism in recent years has brought significant attention to the needs for more advanced sensors and defense technologies to protect civilians and soldiers. (Northwestern U.)
  • The End of Barroom Brawls: Study Shows Alcohol Can Reduce Aggression. The link between alcohol and aggression is well known. What’s not so clear is just why drunks get belligerent. What is it about the brain-on-alcohol that makes fighting seem like a good idea? And do all intoxicated people get more aggressive? Or does it depend on the circumstances? (APS)
  • Study Explains How Pathogens Evolve to Escape Detection. In the evolutionary battle in which plants are trying to beef up their defenses against pathogens, Cornell researchers have discovered a bacterium that infects tomatoes by injecting a special protein into the plant's cells and undermines the plant's defense system. (Cornell U.)

July 17

July 16

  • Nano Propellers Pump with Proper Chemistry. The ability to pump liquids at the cellular scale opens up exciting possibilities, such as precisely targeting medicines and regulating flow into and out of cells. But designing this molecular machinery has proven difficult. (UIC)
  • What Personality is your Pooch? If your pet dog seems worried or is showing signs of neurotic behaviour, don't worry, it could be just their personality. (Monash U.)
  • One Giant Leap for Space Fashion: MIT Team Designs Sleek, Skintight Spacesuit. In the 40 years that humans have been traveling into space, the suits they wear have changed very little. The bulky, gas-pressurized outfits give astronauts a bubble of protection, but their significant mass and the pressure itself severely limit mobility. (MIT)
  • Wobbly Polarity is Key to Preventing Magnetic Avalanches on Disk Drives. Push two magnets together and you'll set off an avalanche of activity, forcing atoms on each magnet to align their polarity with the intruding magnetic field. It may sound like a party trick for physicists, but you do it every time you press "Save" on your computer. (UCSC)
  • Manchester Expert Helps With Pharaoh DNA Analysis. Preliminary results from DNA tests carried out on a mummy believed to be Queen Hatshepsut is expected to support the claim by Egyptian authorities that the remains are indeed those of Egypt's most powerful female ruler. (U. Manchester)

July 15

  • MIT IDs Mechanism Behind Fear.  Researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have uncovered a molecular mechanism that governs the formation of fears stemming from traumatic events. The work could lead to the first drug to treat the millions of adults who suffer each year from persistent, debilitating fears - including hundreds of soldiers returning from conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. (MIT)

July 13

  • Dwarf Star Gulps Giant to Form Supernova.  A team of European and American astronomers has announced the discovery of the best evidence yet for the nature of the star systems that explode as type Ia supernovae. The team obtained a unique set of observations with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Keck I 10-meter telescope in Hawaii. (Caltech)
  • Fisheries May Imply Climate Change. Watching the ebb and flow of populations of fisheries around the world can provide some insight into understanding the effects of global warming on our planet, according to a group of researchers writing in the summer 2007 issue of Natural Resource Modeling, an international journal devoted to mathematical modeling of natural resource systems. (ASU)
  • Geologists Witness Unique Volcanic Mudflow in Action in New Zealand. Volcanologist Sarah Fagents from the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa had an amazing opportunity to study volcanic hazards first hand, when a volcanic mudflow broke through the banks of a volcanic lake at Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand. (NSF)
  • On a Wire or in a Fiber, a Wave is a Wave. Around the world, students learn about the wave nature of light through the interference patterns of “Young’s double-slit experiment,” first performed more than 200 years ago and still considered among the most beautiful physics experiments. Using an analogous experiment, researchers at Brown and Stanford have shown that a simple analytical model can describe the wave nature of surface plasmon polaritons. Their work suggests that plasmonic devices cannot easily circumvent the limitations of electromagnetic waves. (Brown U.)

July 12

July 11

  • Columbia Scientists Peer Into Stem Cells in Live Brain. Columbia University Medical Center scientists report they have observed the detailed sub-cellular behavior of neuronal precursor cells in living rat brain tissue. (Columbia U.)
  • Benchmark Survey Shows that Giant Outer Extrasolar Planets Are Rare. Astronomers who used powerful telescopes in Arizona and Chile in a survey for planets around nearby stars have discovered that extrasolar planets more massive than Jupiter are extremely rare in other outer solar systems. (U. Arizona)
  • Killer Cells May Actually Be Picky Eaters. Neutrophils patrol the body and guard against infection by identifying and destroying any bacteria or fungi that cross their path. New evidence, which may lead to better drugs to fight pathogens, indicates that neutrophils might distinguish among their targets. (MIT)
  • Researchers Discover Evidence of Very Recent Human Adaptation. A study of genome sequences in African-Americans, European-Americans and Chinese suggests that natural selection has caused as much as 10 percent of the human genome to change in some populations in the last 15,000 to 100,000 years. (Cornell U.)

July 10

  • More Muscle for the Argument to Give Up Smoking. Researchers at The University of Nottingham have got more bad news for smokers. Not only does it cause cancer, heart attacks and strokes but smokers will also lose more muscle mass in old age than a non-smoker. (BBSRC)
  • Astronomers Claim to Find the Most Distant Known Galaxies. Using natural "gravitational lenses," an international team of astronomers claim to have found the first traces of a population of the most distant galaxies yet seen-the light we see from them today left more than 13 billion years ago, when the universe was just 500 million years old. (Caltech)
  • MIT Architects Design Building With 'Digital Water' Walls. Imagine a building made of water. It features liquid curtains for walls - curtains that not only can be programmed to display images or messages but can also sense an approaching object and automatically part to let it through. (MIT)
  • Researchers Use Web Images To Add Realism to Edited Photos. Computer graphics researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed systems for editing or altering photographs using segments of the millions of images available on the Web. (Carnegie M.)
  • New Light Cast on Key Chemical Reactions in Interstellar Space. A detailed understanding of key chemical reactions that take place in interstellar space has been provided by groundbreaking research at two U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and two European universities. (ANL)
  • Late Nights May Impact Preteen Behavior. A propensity for activities in the evening rather than in the morning may offer clues to behavioral problems in early adolescence, according to psychologists who have found that kids who prefer evenings are more likely to exhibit antisocial behavior, rule-breaking, and attention problems. (PSU)
  • Understanding Killer Electrons in Space. Settling a longstanding scientific debate, Los Alamos scientists have demonstrated conclusively how electromagnetic waves accelerate ordinary electrons in the belts of radiation outside Earth's atmosphere to a state where they become "killer electrons," particles that are hazardous to satellites, spacecraft, and astronauts. (LANL)