|  Novel technology to produce gasoline by a metabolically-engineered microorganism  | Scientists have reported, for the first time, the development of a novel strategy for microbial gasoline production through metabolic engineering of E. coli. | Read More » Wagon-wheel pasta shape for better LED lights  | A problem developing more efficient organic LED light bulbs and displays is that much of the light is trapped within the light-emitting diode, or LED. Physicists believe they have solved the problem by creating a new organic molecule that is shaped like rotelle – wagon-wheel pasta – rather than spaghetti. | Read More » Largest, most accurate list of RNA editing sites  | Researchers have compiled the largest and most rigorously validated list to date of the genetic sites in fruit flies where RNA transcribed from DNA is then edited by an enzyme to affect a wide variety of fundamental biological functions. The list yielded several biological insights and can aid further research on RNA transcription because flies are a common model in that work. | Read More » Dawn spacecraft reality-checks telescope studies of asteroids  | Tantalized by images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based data, scientists thought the giant asteroid Vesta deserved a closer look. They got a chance to do that in 2011 and 2012, when NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbited the giant asteroid, and they were able to check earlier conclusions. A new study involving Dawn's observations during that time period demonstrates how this relationship works with Hubble and ground-based telescopes to clarify our understanding of a solar system object. | Read More » Climate models show potential 21st century temperature, precipitation changes  | New data visualizations from the NASA Center for Climate Simulation and NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., show how climate models used in the new report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimate possible temperature and precipitation pattern changes throughout the 21st century. | Read More » Astronauts practice launching in NASA's new Orion spacecraft  | NASA astronauts recently experienced what it will be like to launch into space aboard the new Orion spacecraft during the first ascent simulations since the space shuttles and their simulators were retired. Ascent simulations are precise rehearsals of the steps a spacecraft's crew will be responsible for -- including things that could go wrong -- during their climb into space. They can be generic and apply to any future deep space mission, or very specific to a launch that's been planned down to the second. For now, Orion's simulations fall into the first category, but practicing now helps ensure the team will have the systems perfected for the astronauts in any future mission scenario. | Read More » First-of-its-kind portable radar device: NASA, Homeland Security test disaster recovery tool  | NASA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are collaborating on a first-of-its-kind portable radar device to detect the heartbeats and breathing patterns of victims trapped in large piles of rubble resulting from a disaster. The prototype technology, called Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response (FINDER) can locate individuals buried as deep as 30 feet (about 9 meters) in crushed materials, hidden behind 20 feet (about 6 meters) of solid concrete, and from a distance of 100 feet (about 30 meters) in open spaces. | Read More » Computer program lets users learn keyboard shortcuts with minimal effort  | A computer scientist has developed software which assists users in identifying and learning shortcuts so that they can become as fast as expert users. This new interface mechanism is easy to integrate in programs using a toolbar, a menu or ribbons as a graphical user interface. | Read More » How engineers revamped Spitzer to probe exoplanets  | Now approaching its 10th anniversary, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has evolved into a premier observatory for an endeavor not envisioned in its original design: the study of worlds around other stars, called exoplanets. While the engineers and scientists who built Spitzer did not have this goal in mind, their visionary work made this unexpected capability possible. Thanks to the extraordinary stability of its design and a series of subsequent engineering reworks, the space telescope now has observational powers far beyond its original limits and expectations. | Read More » NASA rover inspects pebbly rocks at Martian waypoint  | NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has resumed a trek of many months toward its mountain-slope destination, Mount Sharp. The rover used instruments on its arm last week to inspect rocks at its first waypoint along the route inside Gale Crater. The location, originally chosen on the basis of images taken from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, paid off with investigation of targets that bear evidence of ancient wet environments. | Read More » Eilat's corals stand better chance of resilience than other sites  | Israel's southern Red Sea resort of Eilat, one of whose prime attractions is its colorful and multi-shaped underwater coral reefs, may have a clear advantage in the future over rival coral-viewing sites around the world, scientists have found. | Read More » A cosmic weather balloon at the centre of the Milky Way  | Astrophysicists have determined the strength of the radiation field using an intergalactic gas cloud. They have found that the radiation field at the center of the Milky Way must be 1,000 times stronger than in the area surrounding our sun. | Read More » Do black holes have 'hair'? New hypothesis challenges 'clean' model  | A black hole. A simple and clear concept, at least according to the hypothesis by Roy Kerr, who in 1963 proposed a "clean" black hole model, which is the current theoretical paradigm. From theory to reality things may be quite different. According to a new research black holes may be much "dirtier" than what Kerr believed. | Read More » Study finds new moves in protein's evolution  | Highlighting an important but unexplored area of evolution, scientists have found evidence that, over hundreds of millions of years, an essential protein has evolved chiefly by changing how it moves, rather than by changing its basic molecular structure. The work has implications not only for the understanding of protein evolution, but also for the design of antibiotics and other drugs that target the protein in question. | Read More » New paradigm for nanoscale resolution MRI experimentally achieved  | A team of researchers has devised a novel nuclear magnetic resonance imaging technique that delivers a roughly 10-nanometer spatial resolution. This represents a significant advance in MRI sensitivity -- modern MRI techniques commonly used in medical imaging yield spatial resolutions on the millimeter length scale, with the highest-resolution experimental instruments giving spatial resolution of a few micrometers. | Read More » Cell nuclei harbor factories that transcribe genes  | Copies of the DNA exit the nucleus to be read and translated into proteins in the cell cytoplasm. The transit between the nucleus and the cytoplasm takes place through the nuclear pores, genuine "customs agents" that monitor the import-export between these two compartments. Researchers have just discovered how nuclear pores also regulate the production speed of these DNA copies. | Read More » 'Worldviews' shape parents' approach to vaccinating their children  | New findings suggest that attitudes coming into play about making medical decisions around vaccinating children are shaped by prior cultural values. | Read More » Mobile tech and talk therapies strike at the moment binge eating urges do  | Two new treatment methods under investigation aim to help people reduce behavior associated with binge-eating disorder, which this week was reported twice as common as bulimia. A smartphone app in development will track users' individual patterns of behavior and alert them when they are at risk, among a comprehensive suite of other features. Another treatment is a new approach to small-group behavioral therapy to improve upon standard treatments for binge eating disorder. | Read More » Fique fibers from Andes Mountains part of miracle solution for dye pollution, find scientists  | A cheap and simple process using natural fibers embedded with nanoparticles can almost completely rid water of harmful textile dyes in minutes, report researchers who worked with native Colombian plant fibers. | Read More » Organized screening for prostate cancer does more harm than good  | Prostate cancer screening using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is widely used in France despite a lack of evidence showing that it reduces cancer deaths. Now, researchers have shown that men experience more harm than good from routine PSA screening. | Read More » Engineers invent programming language to build synthetic DNA  | Scientists have developed a programming language for chemistry that they hope will streamline efforts to design a network that can guide the behavior of chemical-reaction mixtures in the same way that embedded electronic controllers guide cars, robots and other devices. | Read More » First global study confirms widely held practices on science, math, and reading education  | Researchers examined what makes up "cultural educational excellence" among higher achieving fourth graders in science, math, and English. It's been long believed that administrative and parental support help in this area; now a massive amount of data from 180,000 students and 170,000 parents in 34 countries confirms these beliefs. | Read More » The world's sharpest X-ray beam  | At the X-ray light source PETRA III, scientists have generated a beam with a diameter of barely 5 nanometers -- this is ten thousand times thinner than a human hair. This fine beam of X-ray light allows focusing on smallest details. | Read More » Quantum computers: Trust is good, proof is better  | A quantum computer can solve tasks where a classical computer fails. The question how one can, nevertheless, verify the reliability of a quantum computer was recently answered in a new experiment. | Read More » New compounds display strong therapeutic potential for cystic fibrosis  | Cystic fibrosis is a lethal genetic disorder that in France affects one child per 4,500 births. An international team has recently discovered two new compounds that could be used to treat patients carrying the most common mutation. By means of virtual screening and experiments on mice and human cells in culture, the scientists were able to screen 200,000 compounds and selected two that allowed the causal mutated protein to express itself and fulfill its function. | Read More » Aspirin may act on blood platelets to improve survival in colon cancer patients  | Researchers believe they have discovered how aspirin improves survival in patients diagnosed with colon cancer. | Read More » Erratic proteins: New insights into a transport mechanism  | The outer membrane of bacteria contains many proteins that form tiny pores. They are important for absorbing nutrients and transmitting signals into the cell. Research has now shown for the first time at atomic resolution, that these pore proteins are transported in an unstructured, constantly changing state to the outer bacterial membrane. | Read More » ER visits for kids with concussions skyrocketing  | Researchers report a skyrocketing increase in the number of visits to the emergency department for kids with sports-related traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions. The study shows that emergency visits for sports-related TBI increased 92 percent between 2002 and 2011. | Read More » Psychotropic medication use in young children leveling off  | The use of psychotropic prescription medications to treat ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety and other mental health disorders in very young children appears to have leveled off. | Read More » And in the beginning was histone 1  | A research team has identified an essential protein for embryonic viability during the first cell divisions in the fly Drosophila. This protein, called dBigH1, which is a variant of histone 1, could also be associated with fertility issues. | Read More » Atherosclerosis: The Janus-like nature of JAM-A  | A new study sheds light on the role of the adhesion molecule JAM-A in the recruitment of immune cells to the inner layer of arteries – which promotes the development of atherosclerosis. | Read More » Olympians say poor oral health is impairing performance  | Many of the elite sportsmen and women who competed at the London 2012 Olympic Games had poor levels of oral health similar to those experienced by the most disadvantaged populations. 18 per cent of athletes surveyed said their oral health was having a negative impact on their performance. | Read More » Leukemia cells are addicted to healthy genes  | Researchers have discovered that a "standoff" between a mutated gene and its normal counterpart keeps certain cancer cells alive. | Read More » Forty-eight new genetic variants associated with MS  | Scientists have identified an additional 48 genetic variants influencing the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. This work nearly doubles the number of known genetic risk factors and thereby provides additional key insights into the biology of this debilitating neurological condition. The study is the largest investigation of multiple sclerosis genetics to date. | Read More » 3 of 4 aware of ACA individual mandate; only 4 of 10 aware of marketplaces, subsidies  | Three-quarters of US adults are aware of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, while only four of 10 are aware of the new health insurance marketplaces opening on Oct. 1, or the financial assistance that is available to help people with low or moderate incomes pay their health insurance premiums, according to a new Commonwealth Fund survey. It also finds broad support for expanding Medicaid in all states -- 68 percent in favor. | Read More » Beyond the little blue pill: Compound developed that may treat priapism  | It's not the little blue pill famous for helping men get big results, but the outcome might be more significant. New research offers hope for priapism, which causes erections lasting so long that they cause permanent damage. The compound, "C6'" offered mice relief by normalizing nitric oxide levels in penile blood. The action of C6' also provides insight for future research related to vascular and circulatory disorders. | Read More » Improving lithium-ion batteries with nanoscale research  | New research led by an electrical engineer is aimed at improving lithium-ion batteries through possible new electrode architectures with precise nano-scale designs. The researchers created nanowires that block diffusion of lithium across their silicon surface and promote layer-by-layer axial lithiation of the nanowire's germanium core. | Read More » Optical sensors improve railway safety  | A string of fiber-optic sensors running along a 36-km stretch of high-speed commuter railroad lines connecting Hong Kong to mainland China has taken more than 10 million measurements over the past few years in a demonstration that the system can help safeguard commuter trains and freight cars against accidents. Attuned to the contact between trains and tracks, the sensors can detect potential problems like excessive vibrations, mechanical defects or speed and temperature anomalies. | Read More » Traces of immense prehistoric ice sheets discovered  | Geologists and geophysicists have discovered traces of large ice sheets from the Pleistocene on a seamount off the north-eastern coast of Russia. | Read More » Alcohol leaving the UK charts with a hangover  | Are we allowing alcohol marketing to children and teens via the music they love? As many as one in five songs in the UK top ten today include references to alcohol -- a figure rising partly due to US-imported songs. What impact is this having on the youth of today? | Read More » The immune system benefits from life in the countryside  | Research has demonstrated that exposure to a farming environment may prevent or dampen hypersensitivities and allergies -- even in adults. | Read More » | |
