Arizona State University

Researchers find new form of Mars lava flow

High-resolution photos of lava flows on Mars reveal coiling spiral patterns that resemble snail or nautilus shells. Such patterns have been found in a few locations on Earth, but never before on Mars. The ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Simpler times: Did an earlier genetic molecule predate DNA and RNA?

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the chemistry of the living world, a pair of nucleic acids—DNA and RNA—reign supreme. As carrier molecules of the genetic code, they provide all organisms with a mechanism for ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (28) | comments 117 | with audio podcast

New DNA nanoforms take shape

some no larger than viruses—have been constructed through a revolutionary technique known as DNA origami. Now, Hao Yan, Yan Liu and their colleagues at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute have ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Apr 14, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Manipulating molecules for a new breed of electronics

(PhysOrg.com) -- In research appearing in today’s issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology, Nongjian “NJ” Tao, a researcher at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, has demons ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 20, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

On their own 2 feet: 3.2 million-year-old fossil foot bone supports humanlike bipedalism in Lucy's species

A fossilized foot bone recovered from Hadar, Ethiopia, shows that by 3.2 million years ago human ancestors walked bipedally with a modern human-like foot, a report that appears Feb. 11 in the journal Science, conclu ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Feb 10, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Cosmic magnifying lenses distort view of distant galaxies

Looking deep into space, and literally peering back in time, is like experiencing the universe in a house of mirrors where everything is distorted through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. Gravitational ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jan 12, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Mystery dissolves with calcium pump discovery

Geo-microbiologists from Arizona State University have solved a long-standing conundrum about how some photosynthetic microorganisms, endolithic cyanobacteria, bore their way into limestone, sand grains, mussel ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 30, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers demystify glasses by studying crystals

Glass is something we all know about. It's what we sip our drinks from, what we look out of to see what the weather is like before going outside and it is the backbone to our high speed communications infrastructure (optical ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 30, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Plant-derived scavengers prowl the body for nerve toxins

The brain is forever chattering to itself, via electrical impulses sent along its hard-wired neuronal "Ethernet." These e-messages are translated into chemical transmissions, allowing communication across ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 23, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A new read on DNA sequencing

A new technique for reading the DNA code relies on a fundamental property of matter known as quantum tunneling, which operates at the subatomic scale. The current paper shows that single bases inside a DNA ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 14, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (22) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Plants kick-start evolutionary drama of Earth's oxygenation

An international team of scientists, exploiting pioneering techniques at Arizona State University, has taken a significant step toward unlocking the secrets of oxygenation of the Earth's oceans and atmosphere.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 08, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

DNA art imitates life: Construction of a nanoscale Mobius strip

The enigmatic Mobius strip has long been an object of fascination, appearing in numerous works of art, most famously a woodcut by the Dutchman M.C. Escher, in which a tribe of ants traverses the form's single, ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Oct 04, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Visualizing viruses: new research pinpoints tiny invaders

In the war against infectious disease, identifying the culprit is half the battle. Now, research professor Shaopeng Wang and his colleagues from the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, describe a new method for ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Aug 24, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Search for the bridge to the quantum world

Science fiction has nothing over quantum physics when it comes to presenting us with a labyrinthine world that can twist your mind into knots when you try to make sense of it.

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jul 02, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (33) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Graphene 2.0: A new approach to making a unique material

Since its discovery, graphene -- an unusual and versatile substance composed of a single-layer crystal lattice of carbon atoms—has caused much excitement in the scientific community. Now, Nongjian(NJ) Tao, ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jul 01, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (16) | comments 0 | with audio podcast