January 30

  • DNA is Blueprint, Contractor and Construction Worker for New Structures. DNA is the blueprint of all life, giving instruction and function to organisms ranging from simple one-celled bacteria to complex human beings. Now Northwestern University researchers report they have used DNA as the blueprint, contractor and construction worker to build a three-dimensional structure out of gold, a lifeless material. (Northwestern U.)
  • New Process Makes Nanofibers in Complex Shapes and Unlimited Lengths. The continuous fabrication of complex, three-dimensional nanoscale structures and the ability to grow individual nanowires of unlimited length are now possible with a process developed by researchers at the University of Illinois. (UIUC)
  • Researcher Studies How Enzymes Break Down Cellulose. Peter Reilly pointed to the framed journal covers decorating his office. Each of the six showed the swirling, twisting, complicated structure of an enzyme. Those bright and colorful illustrations are the work of his lab. And they're part of Reilly's work to understand how the structure of an enzyme influences its mechanism and its activity. (ISU)
  • Accelerated Head Growth Can Predict Autism Before Behavorial Symptoms Start. Children with autism have normal-size heads at birth but develop accelerated head growth between six and nine months of age, a period that precedes the onset of many behaviors that enable physicians to diagnose the developmental disorder, according to new research from the University of Washington’s Autism Center. (U. Washington)
  • Magnetism Loses Under Pressure. Scientists have discovered that the magnetic strength of magnetite—the most abundant magnetic mineral on Earth—declines drastically when put under pressure. (Carnegie I.)
  • Squeezed Crystals Deliver More Volts Per Jolt. A discovery by scientists at the Carnegie Institution has opened the door to a new generation of piezoelectric materials that can convert mechanical strain into electricity and vice versa, potentially cutting costs and boosting performance in myriad applications ranging from medical diagnostics to green energy technologies. (Carnegie I.)

January 29

  • Researchers Create Mathematical Model of Fruit Fly Eyes. Many researchers have tried to create a mathematical model of how cells pack together to form tissue, but most models have many different complicated factors, and no model is universal. (Northwestern U.)
  • Destined to Lie, Cheat or Steal? In an age where cheating scandals plague all levels of governments and major corporations are brought down by unethical actions, the debate about the origins and nature of how and why decisions are made play into a larger debate about genetic determinism and free will. (U. Minnesota)
  • What Goes Down the Drain, from Ibuprofen to Soaps, Gets Turned Out to Pasture Via Toxic Sludge. What goes down the drain -- detergents, personal-care products and discarded and excreted medications -- may be out of sight and out of mind, but they are not, unfortunately, out of this world. (Cornell U.)
  • Hyperfast Star Proven to Be Alien. A young star is speeding away from the Milky Way so fast that astronomers have been puzzled by where it came from; based on its young age it has traveled too far to have come from our galaxy. (Carnegie I.)
  • With a Jolt, ‘Nanonails’ Go from Repellant to Wettable. Sculpting a surface composed of tightly packed nanostructures that resemble tiny nails, University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers and their colleagues from Bell Laboratories have created a material that can repel almost any liquid. (UWM)
  • Unusual Supernovae May Reveal Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters. A strange and violent fate awaits a white dwarf star that wanders too close to a moderately massive black hole. According to a new study, the black hole's gravitational pull on the white dwarf would cause tidal forces sufficient to disrupt the stellar remnant and reignite nuclear burning in it, giving rise to a supernova explosion with an unusual appearance. Observations of such supernovae could confirm the existence of intermediate-mass black holes, currently the subject of much debate among astronomers. (UCSC)
  • Why Your Fertility Cells Must Have "Radio Silence". Researchers in Kobe, Japan, and Montreal, Canada, have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism which causes embryonic germ cells – which later develop into sperm or ova – to go through a period of “transcriptional silence,” during which information from the cell’s DNA cannot be copied. Without this important phase, unique to cells of this type, an organism produces sterile offspring. (McGill U.)
  • Scientists Use Nanomaterials to Localize and Control Drug Delivery. Using nanotechnology, scientists from Northwestern University and UCLA have developed a localized and controlled drug delivery method that is invisible to the immune system, a discovery that could provide newer and more effective treatments for cancer and other diseases. (Northwestern U.)
  • New Decontamination System Kills Anthrax Rapidly. A rapid, non-disruptive and less expensive method to decontaminate bioterrorism hazards has been developed. Flat panels producing X-rays and ultraviolet-C light kill anthrax spores, even hidden ones, in two to three hours without lingering effects. (GIT)

January 28

January 25

  • Great Apes Endangered by Human Viruses. The opening of gorillas and chimpanzees reserves for tourism is often portrayed as the key to conserving these endangered great apes. There are also however serious concerns that tourism may expose wild apes to infection by virulent human diseases. (MPG)
  • The World's Lowest Noise Laser. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and Leibniz University of Hanover have produced a laser beam of especially high quality. In doing so, they have achieved a new world record in the control of photons by precisely placing the photons in a specific order. This results in a reduction in the quantum mechanical intensity fluctuations, known as photon noise, of 90 percent. Using this extremely quite light in gravitational wave detectors can drastically increase their sensitivity. This so-called squeezed light can also be used in quantum key distribution, where a message is encrypted using a key whose security is guaranteed by quantum mechanics. (MPG)
  • Helium-8 Study Gives Insight into Nuclear Theory, Neutron Stars. The most neutron-rich matter that can be made on Earth—the nucleus of the helium-8 atom—has been created, trapped and characterized by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. This new measurement gives rise to several significant consequences in nuclear theory and the study of neutron stars. (ANL)

January 24

  • New MIT Tool Probes Brain Circuits. Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT report in the Jan. 24 online edition of Science that they have created a way to see, for the first time, the effect of blocking and unblocking a single neural circuit in a living animal. (MIT)
  • Nowhere to Hide - New Ultra-powerful Microscope Probes Atomic World. A unique electron microscope, the first of its kind in the world, was unveiled yesterday at the STFC Daresbury Laboratory in Warrington. It will enable scientists to study atoms within materials in a way that has never before been possible. (STFC)

January 23

  • Scientists Find Evidence of Link Between Outdoor Ozone and Building-Related Health Symptoms. A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has found evidence that the prevalence of building-related symptoms (BRS) increases with increasing outdoor concentrations of the pollutant ozone. They have also discovered that the type of air filter that some buildings use in their ventilation systems may also play a role in the prevalence of BRS. (LBNL)
  • Antarctic Ice loss Speeds Up, Nearly Matches Greenland Loss. Ice loss in Antarctica increased by 75 percent in the last 10 years due to a speed-up in the flow of its glaciers and is now nearly as great as that observed in Greenland, according to a new, comprehensive study by UC Irvine and NASA scientists. (UCI)
  • Evolutionary Phenonmenon in Mice May Explain Human Infertility. Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that field mice have evolved a unique way of ensuring faster fertilisation, a phenomenon which could explain some cases of infertility in humans. (U. Liverpool)
  • Stanford Site Advances Science of Turning 2-D Images into 3-D Models. An artist might spend weeks fretting over questions of depth, scale and perspective in a landscape painting, but once it is done, what's left is a two-dimensional image with a fixed point of view. But the Make3d algorithm, developed by Stanford computer scientists, can take any two-dimensional image and create a three-dimensional "fly around" model of its content, giving viewers access to the scene's depth and a range of points of view. (Stanford U.)
  • Ant Garden in a Tree: Smells Help Explain Rainforest Relationship Between Ants and Plants. In the Amazon rainforest, ants live in trees and plant gardens, and now, research led by a graduate student at North Carolina State University has explained in part how this symbiotic relationship between ants and plants functions. (NCSU)
  • New Method Enables Design, Production of Extremely Novel Drugs. A new chemical synthesis method based on a catalyst worth many times the price of gold and providing a far more efficient and economical method than traditional ones for designing and manufacturing extremely novel pharmaceutical compounds is described by its University at Buffalo developers in a review article in the current issue of Nature. (U. Buffalo)
  • Researchers Induce Bonding between Lithium and Beryllium. A team of three Cornell professors and one recent graduate student has discovered hypothetical conditions in which the elements lithium and beryllium, squeezed together under hundreds of thousands of atmospheres of pressure, bind to form stable -- and possibly superconducting -- alloys. (Cornell U.)

January 22

January 21

  • Chemists Solve Biological Challenge. Chemistry professor Ronald Kluger and PhD candidate Svetlana Tzvetkova have made discoveries that could not only allow scientists to generate new kinds of proteins —the building blocks of life—but also eventually lead to practical applications such as simplifying drug development and manufacturing. (U. Toronto)
  • Skin Care: New Research into Scar-free Healing. New research from the University of Bristol shows that by suppressing one of the genes that normally switches on in wound cells, wounds can heal faster and reduce scarring. This has major implications not just for wound victims but also for people who suffer organ tissue damage through illness or abdominal surgery. (U. Bristol)
  • Ebola Virus Disarmed by Excising a Single Gene. The deadly Ebola virus, an emerging public health concern in Africa and a potential biological weapon, ranks among the most feared of exotic pathogens. (UWM)

January 16

  • Portable Device Quickly Detects Early Alzheimer's. The latest medications can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, but none are able to reverse its devastating effects. This limitation often makes early detection the key to Alzheimer’s patients maintaining a good quality of life for as long as possible. (GIT)
  • Math Models Snowflakes. Three-dimensional snowflakes can now be grown in a computer using a program developed by mathematicians at UC Davis and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (UC Davis)
  • Researchers Put the Bite on Mosquitoes. Few things sting like a mosquito's bite – especially if that bite carries a disease such as malaria, yellow fever, Dengue fever or West Nile virus. But if researchers from The University of Arizona have their way, one day mosquito bites may prove deadly to the mosquitoes as well. (U. Arizona)

January 15

January 14

  • Arecibo Telescope Finds Critical Ingredients for the soup of life in a galaxy far, far away. Astronomers from Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, have detected for the first time the molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide -- two ingredients that build life-forming amino acids -- in a galaxy some 250 million light years away. (Cornell U.)
  • Unusual British Dinosaur Had Crocodile Skull. An unusual British dinosaur has been shown to have a skull that functioned like a fish-eating crocodile, despite looking like a dinosaur. It also possessed two huge hand claws, perhaps used as grappling hooks to lift fish from the water. (Bristol U.)
  • Lend Me Your Ears – and the World will Sound Very Different. Recognising people, objects or animals by the sound they make is an important survival skill and something most of us take for granted. But very similar objects can physically make very dissimilar sounds and we are able to pick up subtle clues about the identity and source of the sound. Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) are working out how the human ear and the brain come together to help us understand our acoustic environment. They have found that the part of the brain that deals with sound, the auditory cortex, is adapted in each individual and tuned to the world around us. (BBSRC)
  • T. Rex Had Teen Pregnancies. Dinosaurs had pregnancies as early as age 8, far before they reached their maximum adult size, a new study finds. (Ohio U.)
  • New Buffer Resists pH Change, Even as Temperature Drops. Researchers at the University of Illinois have found a simple solution to a problem that has plagued scientists for decades: the tendency of chemical buffers used to maintain the pH of laboratory samples to lose their efficacy as the samples are cooled. (UIUC)
  • Wine Study Shows Price Influences Perception. A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but slap on a hefty price tag, and our opinion of it might go through the roof. At least that's the case with the taste of wine, say scientists from the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University. (Caltech)

January 13

  • Researchers Uncover New Piece to the Puzzle of Human Height. In studies involving more than 35,000 people and a survey across the entire human genome, an international team supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found evidence that common genetic variants recently linked to osteoarthritis may also play a minor role in human height. (NIH)

January 11

  • Culture Influences Brain Function. People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, MIT researchers and colleagues report in the first brain imaging study of its kind. (MIT)
  • Evidence of Glaciation in 'Super Greenhouse' World. Large ice-sheets existed on Earth about 91 million years ago, during one of the warmest periods since life began, an international team of scientists, including members from Newcastle University, has found. (Newscastle U.)
  • Massive Gas Cloud Speeding Toward Collision With Milky Way. A giant cloud of hydrogen gas is speeding toward a collision with our Milky Way Galaxy, and when it hits -- in less than 40 million years -- it may set off a spectacular burst of stellar fireworks. (NRAO)

January 10

  • Physicists Uncover New Solution for Cosmic Collisions. It turns out that our math teachers were right: being able to solve problems without a calculator does come in handy in the “real” world. Two theoretical physicists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have used what they call “pen-and-paper math” to describe the motion of interstellar shock waves — violent events associated with the birth of stars and planets. (RPI)
  • Older Arctic Sea Ice Is Giving Way To Young, Thin Ice. A new study by University of Colorado at Boulder researchers indicates older, multi-year sea ice in the Arctic is giving way to younger, thinner ice, making it more susceptible to record summer sea-ice lows like the one that occurred in 2007. (UCB)
  • Africa’s Biggest Mammals Key to Ant-plant Teamwork. Throughout the tropics, ants and Acacia trees live together in intricate interdependent relationships that have long fascinated scientists. (U. Florida)
  • Energy-Efficient Refrigeration from Ultranarrow Silicon Wires. Supernarrow silicon wires, or silicon nanowires, are laying the foundation for a new type of cheap yet energy-efficient microscopic refrigeration, with no moving parts, report researchers from the California Institute of Technology in a study published today in the journal Nature. (Caltech)
  • Proton Powered Pooping. Muscles usually contract when a neurotransmitter molecule is released from nerve cells onto muscle cells. But University of Utah scientists discovered that bare subatomic protons can act like larger, more complex neurotransmitters, making gut muscles contract in tiny round worms so the worms can poop. (U. Utah)

January 9

  • Forces Out of Nothing. Stuttgart-based physicists observe the critical Casimir force and use it to cancel out an effect that brings nanomachines to a standstill. (MPG)
  • Two Unusual Older Stars Giving Birth to Second Wave of Planets. Hundreds of millions — or even billions — of years after planets would have initially formed around two unusual stars, a second wave of planetesimal and planet formation appears to be taking place, UCLA astronomers and colleagues believe. (UCLA)
  • Weird Object May Be Result of Colliding Protoplanets. Something bizarre orbiting a young, failed star 170 light-years from Earth may be the progeny of two protoplanets that collided and merged, astronomers announced at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas. (U. Arizona)
  • Astronomers are First to Successfully Predict Extra-Solar Planet. Astronomers, including one at The University of Arizona, have successfully predicted the existence of an unknown planet, the first since Neptune was predicted in the 1840s. This planet, however, is outside our own solar system, circling a star a little more than 200 light years from Earth. (U. Arizona)
  • Pygmy Dinosaur Inhabited Bristol’s Tropical Islands. The celebrated Bristol Dinosaur, Thecodontosaurus, has been shown to live on subtropical islands around Bristol, instead of in a desert on the mainland as previously thought. (Bristol U.)
  • Why it Pays to Be Choosy. Cooperative behaviour is common in many species, including humans. Given that cooperative individuals can often be exploited, it is not immediately clear why such behaviour has evolved. (Bristol U.)
  • An "Invisibility Cloak" For Sound? Contrary to earlier predictions, Duke University engineers have found that a three-dimensional sound cloak is possible, at least in theory. Such an acoustic veil would do for sound what the "invisibility cloak" previously demonstrated by the research team does for microwaves--allowing sound waves to travel seamlessly around it and emerge on the other side without distortion. (Duke U.)
  • Radio Telescopes' Precise Measurements Yield Rich Scientific Payoffs. Having the sharpest pictures always is a big advantage, and a sophisticated radio-astronomy technique using continent-wide and even intercontinental arrays of telescopes is yielding extremely valuable scientific results in a wide range of specialties. That's the message delivered to the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Austin, Texas, by Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a leading researcher in the field of ultra-precise astronomical position measurements. (NRAO)
  • Overweight People May Not Know When They've Had Enough. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have found new clues to why some people overeat and gain weight while others don't. Examining how the human brain responds to "satiety" messages delivered when the stomach is in various stages of fullness, the scientists have identified brain circuits that motivate the desire to overeat. Treatments that target these circuits may prove useful in controlling chronic overeating, according to the authorse. (BNL)

January 8

  • Scientists Detect Lowest Frequency Radar Echo From the Moon. A team of scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory, the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL's) Research Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and the University of New Mexico (UNM) has detected the lowest frequency radar echo from the moon ever seen with earth-based receivers. (NRL)
  • Research Sheds Light on the Mechanics of Gene Transcription. The molecular machinery behind gene transcription -- the intricate transfer of information from a segment of DNA to a corresponding strand of messenger RNA -- isn't stationed in special "transcription factories" within a cell nucleus, according to Cornell researchers. Instead, the enzyme RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and other key molecules can assemble at the site of an activated gene, regardless of the gene's position. (Cornell U.)
  • Protein Power: Researchers Trigger Insulin Production in Diabetic Mice. If the human body were a stage, then proteins would rank among the lead actors in the play we call “Life.” (U. Florida)
  • New Nanostructured Thin Film Shows Promise for Efficient Solar Energy Conversion. In the race to make solar cells cheaper and more efficient, many researchers and start-up companies are betting on new designs that exploit nanostructures--materials engineered on the scale of a billionth of a meter. Using nanotechnology, researchers can experiment with and control how a material generates, captures, transports, and stores free electrons--properties that are important for the conversion of sunlight into electricity. (UCSC)
  • Hope Diamond’s Phosphorescence Key To Fingerprinting. Shine a white light on the Hope Diamond and it will dazzle you with the brilliance of an amazing blue diamond. Shine an ultraviolet light on the Hope Diamond and the gem will glow red-orange for about five minutes. This phosphorescent property of blue diamonds can distinguish synthetic and altered diamonds from the real thing, and it may also provide a way to fingerprint individual blue diamonds for identification purposes, according to a team of researchers from the Naval Research Laboratory, the Smithsonian Institution and Penn State. (PSU)
  • Magnetic Alloy With Swiss Cheese Structure Morphs Shape. Researchers have turned a stubborn alloy into a shape-shifting foam by just giving it a little breathing room. (Northwestern U.)

January 7

  • New Study Will Explore Brain’s Connections Between Touch and Sound. In the middle of the night, as you hear the buzzing of a mosquito, your skin begins to prickle, anticipating that the annoying insect is about to light on you. It’s a common occurrence that you might take for granted. But for researcher Michael Beauchamp, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, it’s a sensory mystery that he would like to solve. (U. Texas)
  • Graphene Makes Movement Easy for Electrons. Researchers at The University of Manchester have found that electrons move more easily in graphene than all other materials, including gold, silicon, gallium arsenide and carbon nanotubes. (U. Manchester)
  • Lack of Imagination in Older Adults Linked to Declining Memory. Most children are able to imagine their future selves as astronauts, politicians or even superheroes; however, many older adults find it difficult to recollect past events, let alone generate new ones. A new Harvard University study reveals that the ability of older adults to form imaginary scenarios is linked to their ability to recall detailed memories. (APS)
  • Some 20,000 Soldiers a Year May Be Trained with Sandia-enhanced Simulation Video Game. Some 20,000 soldiers a year may soon be trained in interpersonal skill building and cross-cultural awareness using a videogame recently developed by researchers from Sandia and BBN Technologies. (SNL)
  • Researchers Bend Light Through Waveguides in Colloidal Crystals. Researchers at the University of Illinois are the first to achieve optical waveguiding of near-infrared light through features embedded in self-assembled, three-dimensional photonic crystals. Applications for the optically active crystals include low-loss waveguides, low-threshold lasers and on-chip optical circuitry. (UIUC)

January 4

  • Researchers Uncover Key Trigger for Potent Cancer-Fighting Marine Product. An unexpected discovery in marine biomedical laboratories at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has led to new, key information about the fundamental biological processes inside a marine organism that creates a natural product currently being tested to treat cancer in humans. The finding could lead to new applications of the natural product in treating human diseases. (Scripps IO)

January 3

January 2

  • Language Centers Revealed, Brain Surgery Refined with New Mapping. Neurosurgeons from the University of California, San Francisco are reporting significant results of a new brain mapping technique that allows for the safe removal of tumors near language pathways in the brain. The technique minimizes brain exposure and reduces the amount of time a patient must be awake during surgery. (UCSF)
  • UCLA Researchers Develop Method for Production of More Efficient Biofuels. Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a new method for producing next-generation biofuels by genetically modifying Escherichia coli bacteria to be an efficient biofuel synthesizer. The method could lead to mass production of these biofuels. (UCLA)
  • A Helping Hand from the ‘Grandparents’. A team of scientists led by the University of East Anglia has discovered the existence of ‘grandparent’ helpers in the Seychelles warbler – the first time this behaviour, which rarely occurs except in humans, has been observed in birds. (UEA)

January 1

  • Drivers on Cell Phones Clog Traffic. Motorists who talk on cell phones drive slower on the freeway, pass sluggish vehicles less often and take longer to complete their trips, according to a University of Utah study that suggests drivers on cell phones congest traffic. (U. Utah)

December 31

  • Lack of Deep Sleep May Increase Risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Suppression of slow-wave sleep in healthy young adults significantly decreases their ability to regulate blood-sugar levels and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, report researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center. (U. Chicago)

December 27

  • Fight Against Hay Fever and Other Allergies Helped by New Immune System Discovery. A mechanism which can lead to hay fever and other allergic reactions, by preventing the immune system from regulating itself properly, has been discovered by scientists. (ICL)
  • Study Maps Life in Extreme Environments, Creating Potential for Molecular Bioengineering and Dynamical Models of Cells. A team of biologists have developed a model mapping the control circuit governing a whole free living organism. This is an important milestone for the new field of systems biology and will allow the researchers to model how the organism adapts over time in response to its environment. This study marks the first time researchers have accurately predicted a cell’s dynamics at the genome scale (for most of the thousands of components in the cell). The findings, which are based on a study of Halobacterium salinarum, a free-living microbe that lives in hyper-extreme environments, appear in the latest issue of the journal Cell. (NYU)
  • MIT, Harvard Offer Solution to Mars Enigma. Planetary scientists have puzzled for years over an apparent contradiction on Mars. Abundant evidence points to an early warm, wet climate on the red planet, but there's no sign of the widespread carbonate rocks, such as limestone, that should have formed in such a climate. (MIT)

December 25

  • Brain Imaging and Genetic Studies Link Thinking Patterns to Addiction . Scientists have for the first time identified brain sites that fire up more when people make impulsive decisions. In a study comparing brain activity of sober alcoholics and non-addicted people making financial decisions, the group of sober alcoholics showed significantly more "impulsive" neural activity. (UCSF)

December 23

  • New Method Enables Scientists to See Smells. Animals and insects communicate through an invisible world of scents. By exploiting infrared technology, researchers at Rockefeller University just made that world visible. With the ability to see smells, these scientists now show that when fly larvae detect smells with both olfactory organs they find their way toward a scented target more accurately than when they detect them with one. (Rockefeller U.)

December 21

December 20

  • Youngsters Prefer a Home Like Mom's. When young mice leave their mothers' homes, they choose to live in places much like the ones where they were raised, according to research done at UC Davis. (UC Davis)
  • Missing Link Between Whales and Four-Footed Ancestors Discovered. Scientists have discovered the missing link between whales and their four-footed ancestors. (NSF)
  • 96-million-year-old Fossil Pollen Sheds Light on Early Pollinators. The collapse of honeybee colonies across North America is focusing attention on the honeybees’ vital role in the survival of agricultural crops, and a new study by University of Florida and Indiana University Southeast researchers shows insect pollinators have likely played a key role in the evolution and success of flowering plants for nearly 100 million years. (U. Florida)
  • Why Don't We Get Cancer All the Time? The seemingly inefficient way our bodies replace worn-out cells is a defense against cancer, according to new research. (U.Arizona)
  • MIT, Others Ask 'What would E.T. See?' As astronomers become more adept at searching for, and finding, planets orbiting other stars, it's natural to wonder if anybody is looking back. Now, a team of astronomers that includes a professor from MIT has figured out just what those alien eyes might see using technologies being developed by Earth's astronomers. (MIT)
  • The Quest for a New Class of Superconductors. Fifty years after the Nobel-prize winning explanation of how superconductors work, a research team from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Edinburgh, and Cambridge University are suggesting another mechanism for the still-mysterious phenomenon. (LANL)
  • Sulfur Dioxide May Have Helped Maintain a Warm Early Mars. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) may have played a key role in the climate and geochemistry of early Mars, geoscientists at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggest in the Dec. 21 issue of the journal Science. Their hypothesis may resolve longstanding questions about evidence that the climate of the Red Planet was once much warmer than it is today. (Harvard U.)
  • Food Quality Can Re-wire Young Appetite Control. A University of Alberta researcher has discovered evidence that suggests the part of our brain that controls appetite changes along with our diets during infancy - a fact that could lead to a greater understanding of childhood obesity. (U. Alberta)
  • Research on How Plants Transport Sugars Could Be of Critical Importance in Era of Global Warming. How do many plants ship sugars from their leaves to flowers, roots, fruits and other parts of their structure? Using genetic engineering techniques, Cornell researchers have finally proven a long-standing theory of how this occurs. (Cornell U.)
  • LIGO Sheds Light on Cosmic Event. An analysis by the international LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) Scientific Collaboration has excluded one previously leading explanation for the origin of an intense gamma-ray burst that occurred last winter. Gamma-ray bursts are among the most violent and energetic events in the universe, and scientists have only recently begun to understand their origins. (Caltech)

December 19

  • U of T Scientists Make Quantum Computing Leap. University of Toronto physicists are part of an international team that has made the first execution of a quantum calculation, a major step towards building the first quantum computers. (U. Toronto)
  • Why Diving Marine Mammals Resist Brain Damage from Low Oxygen. No human can survive longer than a few minutes underwater, and even a well-trained Olympic swimmer needs frequent gulps of air. Our brains need a constant supply of oxygen, particularly during exercise. (UCSC)
  • NIH Launches Human Microbiome Project. The human body contains trillions of microorganisms, living together with human cells, usually in harmony. Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about one to two percent of the body's mass. Many microbes maintain our health, while others cause illness. Yet, surprisingly little is known about the role this astounding assortment of bacteria, fungi and other microbes play in human health and disease. To better understand these interactions, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced the official launch of the Human Microbiome Project. The human microbiome is the collective genomes of all microorganisms present in or on the human body. (NIH)
  • Elevated Carbon Dioxide Changes Soil Microbe Mix Below Plants. A detailed analysis of soil samples taken from a forest ecosystem with artificially elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) reveals distinct changes in the mix of microorganisms living in the soil below trembling aspen. These changes could increase the availability of essential soil nutrients, thereby supporting increased plant growth and the plants' ability to "lock up," or sequester, excess carbon from the atmosphere. The research will be published online this week in the journal Environmental Microbiology. (BNL)
  • Hybrid Semiconductors Show Zero Thermal Expansion; Could Lead to Hardier Electronics and Optoelectronics. The fan in your computer is there to keep the microprocessor chip from heating to the point where its component materials start to expand, inducing cracks that interrupt the flow of electricity — and not incidentally, ruin the chip. Thermal expansion can also separate semiconducting materials from the substrate, reduce performance through changes in the electronic structure of the material or warp the delicate structures that emit laser light. (ANL)
  • Nylon Reveals its Antibiotic Powers. Nylon, we know, is incredibly versatile, strong and resilient. Now, it may be possible to add antibiotic powers to the list of qualities for the wonder synthetic material. (UWM)
  • Evolution Tied to Earth Movement. Scientists long have focused on how climate and vegetation allowed human ancestors to evolve in Africa. Now, University of Utah geologists are calling renewed attention to the idea that ground movements formed mountains and valleys, creating environments that favored the emergence of humanity. (U. Utah)
  • Songbirds Offer Clues to Highly Practiced Motor Skills in Humans. The melodious sound of a songbird may appear effortless, but his elocutions are actually the result of rigorous training undergone in youth and maintained throughout adulthood. His tune has virtually “crystallized” by maturity. The same control is seen in the motor performance of top athletes and musicians. Yet, subtle variations in highly practiced skills persist in both songbirds and humans. Now, scientists think they know why. (UCSF)
  • UCLA Scientists Working to Create Smaller, Faster Integrated Circuits. Integrated circuits are the "brain" in computers, cell phones, DVD players, iPhones, personal digital assistants, automobiles' navigation systems and anti-lock brakes, and many other electronic devices. (UCLA)
  • MIT Corrects Inherited Retardation, Autism in Mice. Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have corrected key symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice. (MIT)
  • Seabed Microbe Study Leads to Low-cost Power, Light for the Poor. A Harvard biology professor’s fascination with seafloor microbes has led to the development of a revolutionary, low-cost power system consuming garbage, compost, and other waste that could provide light for the developing world. (Harvard U.)
  • ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ Bacteria Offer Pest Control Hope. New research at York has revealed so-called ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ bacteria, suggesting a novel way to control insect pests without using insecticides. (U. York)

December 18

  • New View of Distant Galaxy Reveals Furious Star Formation. A furious rate of star formation discovered in a distant galaxy shows that galaxies in the early Universe developed either much faster or in a different way from what astronomers have thought. (NRAO)
  • Explosives on a Chip Improve Military Detonators. Tiny copper structures with pores at both the nanometer and micron size scales could play a key role in the next generation of detonators used to improve the reliability, reduce the size and lower the cost of certain military munitions. (GIT)
  • Stanford's Nanowire Battery Holds 10 times the Charge of Existing Ones. Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices. (Stanford U.)
  • Metal Foam Has a Good Memory. In the world of commercial materials, lighter and cheaper is usually better, especially when those attributes are coupled with superior strength and special properties, such as a material's ability to remember its original shape after it's been deformed by a physical or magnetic force. (NSF)
  • New Biochip Could Replace Animal Testing. With the cosmetics industry facing a European ban on animal testing in 2009, a newly developed biochip could provide the rapid analysis needed to insure that the chemicals in cosmetics are nontoxic to humans. (UC Berkeley)
  • Heavy Oil Discovery Could Revolutionize Oil Sands Production. The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, is one of the most successful invasive species in the world, having colonized parts of five continents in addition to its native range in South America. A new study sheds light on the secrets of its success. (UIUC)
  • 'Shot in the Dark' Star Explosion Stuns Astronomers. A team of astronomers has discovered a cosmic explosion that seems to have come from the middle of nowhere — thousands of light-years from the nearest galaxy-sized collection of stars, gas, and dust. This "shot in the dark" is surprising because the type of explosion, a long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB), is thought to be powered by the death of a massive star. (GSFC)

December 17

  • Life Beneath the Ice Caps. Pivotal studies of polar ice caps reveal an intricate subglacial lake system that moves large volumes of water beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. Research conducted by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego provides new insight into the previously unidentified processes occurring under the Antarctic ice sheet and its potential to harbor unique life forms. (Scripps IO)
  • Cat Fleas' Journey Into The Vacuum Is A 'One-Way Trip'. Homeowners dogged by household fleas need look no farther than the broom closet to solve their problem. Scientists have determined that vacuuming kills fleas in all stages of their lives, with an average of 96 percent success in adult fleas and 100 percent destruction of younger fleas. (OSU)

December 14

  • Reversible Data Transfers from Light to Sound. As a step towards designing tomorrow's super-fast optical communications networks, a Duke University-led research team has demonstrated a way to transfer encoded information from a laser beam to sound waves and then back to light waves again. (Duke U.)
  • Losses of Long-established Genes Contributed to Human Evolution, Scientists Find. The evolution of new genes is not the only way for a species to change. The loss of genes may also lead to adaptations that help species survive, but this idea has not been well studied. Now, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have carried out the first systematic computational analysis to identify long-established genes that were lost during the millions of years of evolution leading to the human species. (UCSC)
  • Tracking Earth Changes with Satellite Images. For the past two decades, radar images from satellites have dominated the field of geophysical monitoring for natural hazards like earthquakes, volcanoes, or landslides. These images reveal small perturbations precisely, but large changes from events like big earthquake ruptures or fast-moving glaciers remained difficult to assess from afar, until now. (Caltech)
  • Herbal Extract Found to Increase Lifespan. The herbal extract of a yellow-flowered mountain plant indigenous to the Arctic regions of Europe and Asia increased the lifespan of fruit fly populations, according to a University of California, Irvine study. (UCI)

December 13

December 12

  • Researchers Capture Optical 'Rogue Waves'. Once dismissed by scientists as fanciful sailors' stories akin to sea monsters and uncharted inlands, recent observations have shown that rogue waves are a real phenomenon, capable of destroying even large modern ships. Now, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, have succeeded in creating and capturing rogue waves propagating through optical fiber. (UCLA)
  • Genetic Switch for Circadian Rhythms Discovered. University of California, Irvine researchers have identified the chemical switch that triggers the genetic mechanism regulating our internal body clock. (UCI)
  • Energy from Abandoned Oil Reserves. Researchers from Newcastle University and Calgary University in Canada think they may have found a way of extracting more energy from the world's oil reserves. (Newcastle U.)
  • Building Disease-beating Wheat. Disease resistance genes from three different grass species have been combined in the world’s first ‘trigenomic’ chromosome, which can now be used to breed disease resistant wheat varieties. (CSIRO)
  • Can Massage Chairs or a Vibrating Mouse Prevent Computer-related Injuries? A chair that undulates, a mouse that vibrates, a monitor suspended over a desk on a movable arm. These are some of the kinds of newfangled ergonomic products that Alan Hedge, international authority on office ergonomics, studies to see if they can prevent repetitive motion injuries among the estimated 100 million people who now use computers in the United States. (Cornell U.)
  • Student Identifies Enormous New Dinosaur. The remains of one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs ever found have recently been recognized as representing a new species by a student working at the University of Bristol. (U. Bristol)

December 11

December 10

  • Explosives at the Microscopic Scale Produce Shocking Results. U.S. troops blew up enemy bridges with explosives in World War II to slow the advance of supplies or enemy forces. In modern times, patrollers use explosives at ski resorts to purposely create avalanches so the runs are safer when skiers arrive. (LLNL)
  • Light is Shed on New Fibre's Potential to Change Technology. Photonic crystal fibre’s ability to create broad spectra of light, which will be the basis for important developments in technology, has been explained for the first time in an article in the leading science journal Nature-Photonics. (U. Bath)
  • New Model Revises Estimates of Terrestrial Carbon Dioxide Uptake. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new model of global carbon and nitrogen cycling that will fundamentally transform the understanding of how plants and soils interact with a changing atmosphere and climate. (UIUC)
  • How the Anthrax Bacterium Eludes Our Immune Defenses. After having demonstrated the protective role of one of the enzymes of our natural immunity of against B. anthracis, the anthrax bacterium, researchers from the Institut Pasteur, INSERM, and the CNRS explain how the bacillus is capable of evading the bactericidal action of this enzyme: this bacterium produces a toxin that inhibits the enzyme synthesis. This research, published in PloS Pathogens, reveals potential new therapeutic avenues against anthrax. (CNRS)

December 7

December 6

  • Are Humans Evolving Faster? Researchers discovered genetic evidence that human evolution is speeding up - and has not halted or proceeded at a constant rate, as had been thought – indicating that humans on different continents are becoming increasingly different. (U. Utah)
  • Current Melting Of Greenland's Ice Mimics 1920s-1940s Event. Two researchers here spent months scouring through old expedition logs and reports, and reviewing 70-year-old maps and photos before making a surprising discovery. (OSU)

December 5

  • Missing Protein May Be Key to Autism. A missing brain protein may be one of the culprits behind autism and other brain disorders, according to researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. (MIT)
  • Sandia’s Sunshine to Petrol Project Seeks Fuel from Thin Air. Using concentrated solar energy to reverse combustion, a research team from Sandia National Laboratories is building a prototype device intended to chemically “reenergize” carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using concentrated solar power. The carbon monoxide could then be used to make hydrogen or serve as a building block to synthesize a liquid combustible fuel, such as methanol or even gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. (Sandia Labs.)
  • Space Station Experiment to Test Bacteria Hitchhiking to the Red Planet. If a trip to Mars seems like it would be a tough journey, imagine what it would be like on the outside of the spaceship. (U. Florida)
  • Herbal Extract Found to Increase Lifespan. The herbal extract of a yellow-flowered mountain plant indigenous to the Arctic regions of Europe and Asia increased the lifespan of fruit fly populations, according to a University of California, Irvine study. (UCI)

December 4

  • Labeling Keeps Our Knowledge Organized. A popular urban legend suggests that Eskimos have dozens of words for snow. As a culture that faces frigid temperatures year-round, it is important to differentiate between things like snow on the ground (“aput”) and falling snow (“qana”). Psychologists are taking note of this phenomenon and are beginning to examine if learning different names for things helps to tell them apart. (APS)
  • New Hypothesis For Origin of Life Proposed. Life may have begun in the protected spaces inside of layers of the mineral mica, in ancient oceans, according to a new hypothesis. (UCSB)
  • UCLA Researchers Discover Cancer Cells 'Feel' Much Softer Than Normal Cells. A multidisciplinary team of UCLA scientists was able to differentiate metastatic cancer cells from normal cells in patient samples using leading-edge nanotechnology that measures the cells' softness. (UCLA)
  • Discovery Could Help Bring Down Price of DNA Sequencing. In May, Nobel Laureate James D. Watson, the scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA, became the first person to receive his own complete personal genome -- all three billion base pairs of his DNA code sequenced. The cost was $1 million, and the process took two months. (Northwestern U.)
  • New Form of Compound Stimulates Research on Hydrogen Storage. Research on hydrogen-fueled cars may be one step closer to application thanks to a new form of hydride discovered by scientists at the ESRF. (ESRF)
  • Neanderthal Bearing Teeth. An international European research collaboration led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology reports evidence for a rapid developmental pattern in a 100,000 year old Belgian Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis). (MPG)

December 3

  • Got Sugar? Glucose Affects Our Ability to Resist Temptation. New research from a lab at Florida State University reveals that self-control takes fuel-- literally. When we exercise it, resisting temptations to misbehave, our fuel tank is depleted, making subsequent efforts at self-control more difficult. (APS)
  • Humans Appear Hardwired to Learn by “Over-Imitation”. Children learn by imitating adults—so much so that they will rethink how an object works if they observe an adult taking unnecessary steps when using that object, according to a Yale study today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Yale U.)
  • Where the First Stars Dark? Perhaps the first stars in the newborn universe did not shine, but instead were invisible "dark stars" 400 to 200,000 times wider than the sun and powered by the annihilation of mysterious dark matter, a University of Utah study concludes. (U. Utah)
  • Fossils Excavated from Bahamian Blue Hole May Give Clues of Early Life. Long before tourists arrived in the Bahamas, ancient visitors took up residence in this archipelago off Florida’s coast and left remains offering stark evidence that the arrival of humans can permanently change — and eliminate — life on what had been isolated islands, says a University of Florida researcher. (U. Florida)
  • Distorted Self-image the Result of Visual Brain Glitch, Study Finds. Although they look normal, people suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD, perceive themselves as ugly and disfigured. New imaging research reveals that the brains of these people look normal but function abnormally when processing visual details. (UCLA)
  • Radiation Flashes May Help Crack Cosmic Mystery. Faint, fleeting blue flashes of radiation emitted by particles that travel faster than the speed of light through the atmosphere may help scientists solve one of the oldest mysteries in astrophysics. (U. Chicago)
  • Academic Uncovers Holy Grail of Palaeontology. Palaeontologist Dr Phil Manning, working with National Geographic Channel has uncovered the Holy Grail of palaeontology in the United States: a partially intact dino mummy. (U. Manchester)
  • MIT Team Discovers Bacterial Surprise. A team of MIT researchers and others has discovered that bacteria employ a type of DNA modification never before seen in nature. (MIT)
  • "Magma P.I." Unearths Clues to How Crust Was Sculpted. About a decade ago, Johns Hopkins University geologist Bruce Marsh challenged the century-old concept that the Earth's outer layer formed when crystal-free molten rock called magma oozed to the surface from giant subterranean chambers hidden beneath volcanoes. (JHU)
  • Peanut Allergies Showing Up At Much Earlier Ages. Children are being exposed to peanuts and exhibiting signs of life-threatening peanut allergies at much earlier ages, according to a new study from researchers at Duke University Medical Center, who caution parents and care-givers to be alert to the trend. (DUMC)
  • Researchers Aim to Harness Sperm Power for Nano-robots. Researchers at Cornell are working to use the same energy that drives sperm to power nanoscale robots or to deliver chemo drugs or antibiotics, for example, to targeted sites within the body. (Cornell U.)
  • Attractiveness Is Its Own Reward. Studies of the snap judgments we often make about people are shedding new light not only on social behavior, but also on drug abuse, gambling addiction, and other disorders in which our ability to make decisions is impaired, say scientists at the California Institute of Technology. (Caltech)

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