http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Tornados, among the most violent of atmospheric storms, rarely reach the size and brutality of the twister that swept through an Oklahoma City suburb on Monday, experts say. http://phys.org/news288359566.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 13:10:01 EST news288359566 (Phys.org) —Grapefruits have long been known for their health benefits, and the subtropical fruit may revolutionize how medical therapies like anti-cancer drugs are delivered to specific tumor cells. University of Louisville researchers have uncovered how to create nanoparticles using natural lipids derived from grapefruit, and have discovered how to use them as drug delivery vehicles. UofL scientists Huang-Ge Zhang, D.V.M., Ph.D., Qilong Wang, Ph.D., and their team today (May 21, 2013), published their findings in Nature Communications. http://phys.org/news288359461.html Nanotechnology Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:02 EST news288359461 Scientists discovered a new enigmatic species of ant coming from the Philippines. Cardiocondyla pirata or the pirate ant engages the imagination with a bizarre pigmentation pattern that has no equivalent worldwide. The female castes in the colonies of these species can be recognized by a distinctive dark stripe across the eyes that resembles a pirate eye patch, which inspired the authors to choose the name of the species. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys. http://phys.org/news288359513.html Biology Tue, 21 May 2013 12:52:00 EST news288359513 Rice University scientists have unveiled a robust new method for arranging metal nanoparticles in geometric patterns that can act as optical processors that transform incoming light signals into output of a different color. The breakthrough by a team of theoretical and applied physicists and engineers at Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) is described this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://phys.org/news288359175.html Nanotechnology Tue, 21 May 2013 12:47:04 EST news288359175 A shipment of 259 elephant tusks smuggled out of Africa has been seized in the United Arab Emirates, the International Wildlife Fund for Animal Welfare said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news288358967.html Biology Tue, 21 May 2013 12:42:52 EST news288358967 (Phys.org) —Two tech talents, formerly employees at video game publisher Valve, have been working on their own vision in the form of game-ready glasses. Their company, Technical Illusions, will seek to commercialize their technology, being introduced to gaming fans as castAR, a projected augmented reality (AR) game system. The system features a pair 3-D AR glasses. The two creators are Jeri Ellsworth, former Valve hardware engineer, and programmer Rick Johnson. They belong to a corps of inventors with products designed to delight game players with novel ways to interact with their computers. Ellsworth and Johnson's creation made an appearance at Maker Faire, where they decided to debut their prototype system. http://phys.org/news288356705.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 12:30:02 EST news288356705 (AP)—Researchers say Thailand is showing the world how to respond to the global food crisis: by raising bugs for eating. http://phys.org/news288356299.html Biology Tue, 21 May 2013 12:30:02 EST news288356299 Wireless equipment maker Ericsson AB says it will close down its telecom cable manufacturing operation and cut around 350 jobs in Sweden. http://phys.org/news288356237.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 12:20:03 EST news288356237 Pinning the deadly tornado in the US state of Oklahoma on climate change is wrongheaded, even though the world is set to see a rise in high-profile weather disasters due to global warming, the leader of a UN body said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news288356104.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 12:10:02 EST news288356104 Positively charged gold nanoparticles are usually toxic to cells, but cancer cells somehow manage to avoid nanoparticle toxicity. Mayo Clinic researchers found out why, and determined how to make the nanoparticles effective against ovarian cancer cells. The discovery is detailed in the current online issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. http://phys.org/news288356822.html Nanotechnology Tue, 21 May 2013 12:07:21 EST news288356822 Yahoo has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to buy blogging forum Tumblr, ranking it in among the top 10 tech deals announced this year, according to research firm Dealogic. Here's a list of the top 10 tech mergers and acquisitions in 2013. Valuation is based on Dealogic's criteria and includes debt. http://phys.org/news288356374.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 11:59:43 EST news288356374 Sprint says it has raised its buyout offer for the stake in Clearwire it does not already own by 14 percent. http://phys.org/news288356263.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 11:57:49 EST news288356263 Sometime in the next quarter-century, NASA plans to send the first humans to Mars, a mission that will push the boundaries of teamwork for a handful of astronauts who will spend as long as three years together in a tiny capsule. http://phys.org/news288355872.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 11:51:19 EST news288355872 14 species of crocodile lived in South America around 5 million years ago, at least seven of which populated the coastal areas of the Urumaco River in Venezuela at the same time. Paleontologists from the University of Zurich have found evidence of an abundance of closely related crocodiles that remains unparalleled to this day. As they were highly specialized, the crocodiles occupied different eco-niches. When the watercourses changed due to the Andean uplift, however, all the crocodile species became extinct. http://phys.org/news288354556.html Other Sciences Tue, 21 May 2013 11:29:26 EST news288354556 Biologists have known for a long time that some creatures evolve more quickly than others. Exactly why isn't well understood, particularly for plants. But it may be that height plays a role, says Robert Lanfear of Australian National University and the U. S. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center. http://phys.org/news288354388.html Biology Tue, 21 May 2013 11:26:35 EST news288354388 A fried breakfast food popular in Spain provided the inspiration for the development of doughnut-shaped droplets that may provide scientists with a new approach for studying fundamental issues in physics, mathematics and materials. http://phys.org/news288354259.html Physics Tue, 21 May 2013 11:24:27 EST news288354259 Rapid climate change during the Middle Stone Age, between 80,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age, sparked surges in cultural innovation in early modern human populations, according to new research. http://phys.org/news288354109.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 11:22:24 EST news288354109 Manoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) developed species distribution models of the six dominant Hawaiian coral species around the main Hawaiian Islands including two species currently under consideration as threatened or endangered. They found the order of coral abundance (from highest to lowest) around the main Hawaiian Islands to be Porites lobata, Montipora patula, Pocillopora meandrina, Montipora capitata, Porites compressa, and Montipora flabellata. http://phys.org/news288354031.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 11:20:37 EST news288354031 Three dozen Malaysian NGOs on Tuesday denounced the world hydroelectric industry's decision to hold a conference in a Borneo state where dam projects have uprooted forests and native peoples. http://phys.org/news288347317.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 10:00:01 EST news288347317 As recreational boaters gear up for a summer of fun on coastal waters and the Great Lakes, NOAA is testing MyNOAACharts, a new mobile application that allows users to download NOAA nautical charts and editions of the U.S. Coast Pilot. The app, which is only designed for Android tablets for the testing period, will be released on May 20. http://phys.org/news288346946.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 09:50:02 EST news288346946 The privacy management of 16 popular social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, is "seriously deficient," according to a study being published in the June issue of Computer magazine. http://phys.org/news288346888.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 09:40:03 EST news288346888 (Phys.org) —An international team of wildlife researchers has found evidence to support the theory that some birds, such as penguins, lost the ability to fly because of adaptations that allowed for better swimming. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes the results of testing energy efficiency levels of birds that both fly and dive as compared to birds that have lost the ability to fly. http://phys.org/news288346514.html Biology Tue, 21 May 2013 09:30:01 EST news288346514 Will Xbox mark the spot once again for Microsoft? The company is set to reveal the next generation of its Xbox entertainment console during a presentation Tuesday at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. http://phys.org/news288347272.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 09:27:58 EST news288347272 In two critical reports released at the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Kiruna, Sweden on May 15th, the scientific expertise of the Wildlife Conservation Society helped inform an international body of senior government officials about changing conditions in the Arctic, and potential responses to those changes. http://phys.org/news288347016.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 09:23:44 EST news288347016 The vast majority of some 22,000 swimming beaches in the EU are clean and safe, the European Environment Agency said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news288346805.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 09:20:12 EST news288346805 (Phys.org) —A team of European researchers working at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland has created an artificial compound eye that is comparable to those in insects such as the fruit fly. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes how they overcame the problem of accurately aligning photoreceptors and other optical components on a curved surface by using stacked layers of microelectronics. http://phys.org/news288346286.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 09:11:45 EST news288346286 Australian home computer users and businesses are being warned to consider more closely the risks associated with cloud computing, as well as its many advantages. http://phys.org/news288342231.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 09:10:01 EST news288342231 Soon, it will be possible to produce electricity from heat over 30 degrees emitted from a waste incinerator, refinery, or data processor. The start-up Osmoblue has just confirmed the feasibility of this new concept. http://phys.org/news288345948.html Technology Tue, 21 May 2013 09:05:56 EST news288345948 New research that studied why people choose to make large donations to charity anonymously has found that it may act as a signal to other donors of the charity's quality. The findings, published today, also show that anonymous gifts rather than public ones induce larger donations from subsequent donors. http://phys.org/news288342192.html Other Sciences Tue, 21 May 2013 09:00:01 EST news288342192 In April, when the Hubble Space Telescope looked out towards Jupiter's orbit and observed what has been billed as the "Comet of the Century" – Comet C/2012 S1 ISON – the space telescope photographed a unique feature in the comet's coma. Now, a team of ground-based astronomers have performed follow-up observations, imaging Comet ISON as it heads towards the Sun and was just outside the orbit of Mars. They, too, have seen something in the coma and suspect it's a similar feature to what Hubble imaged. The object is thought to be a jet blasting dust particles off the sunward-facing side of the comet's nucleus. http://phys.org/news288345064.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 08:51:11 EST news288345064