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. In late September, USC Dornsife Ph.D. student Maureen McCarthy traveled 9,000 miles from Los Angeles to Hoima, Uganda, to begin a year devoted to collecting chimpanzee poop. http://phys.org/news268994044.html Biology Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:34:14 EST news268994044 A strong democracy depends on smart voters who choose their leaders based on their knowledge of important political issues. One of the ways that Americans learn about politics is by following the news. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri School of Journalism have found that simply following the news is not enough. http://phys.org/news267797726.html Other Sciences Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:15:34 EST news267797726 The idea that drinking red wine may provide health benefits – or possibly even extend your life—is an appealing thought for many people. Now, there may be added attraction. Researchers have found that when given resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, bees consume less food. http://phys.org/news267724076.html Biology Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:48:10 EST news267724076 (Phys.org)—Using a combination of traditional and innovative model-building techniques, scientists in the U.S. and a specialist in Denmark have created a lifelike reconstruction of an ancient mollusk, offering a vivid portrait of a creature that lived about 390 million years ago, and answering questions about its place in the tree of life, as described in the Sept. 18 edition of the journal Palaeontology. http://phys.org/news267278887.html Other Sciences Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:09:47 EST news267278887 Around the world, more than 850 million people use Facebook regularly to communicate. More and more employers also are using Facebook as a way to examine potential employees before making hires. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that comments left by users on Facebook profile pictures strongly affect the level of perceived attractiveness of the profile owner physically, socially, and professionally. http://phys.org/news266676145.html Other Sciences Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:42:45 EST news266676145 Thousands of kilometres from Kuala Lumpur in Cameroon, doctoral student Michael Nkwenti Ndongfack attends his Open University Malaysia classes online and hopes to defend his final thesis by Skype. http://phys.org/news265778455.html Technology Sun, 02 Sep 2012 04:21:15 EST news265778455 Children are often mystified by remote control cars and how they can control them with a device while standing several feet away from them. This past week, Chris Tate was mystified by the same power--only he was controlling something 150 million miles away, on another planet. http://phys.org/news264844209.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Aug 2012 08:50:16 EST news264844209 (Phys.org) -- New research out of the University of Cincinnati suggests that while some religious groups are becoming more tolerant in regard to some heated social issues, all are growing increasingly more conservative in their viewpoints on legalized abortion. Paul Anderson, a University of Cincinnati doctoral student in the UC Department of Sociology, will present his research on Aug. 20, at the 107th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Denver. http://phys.org/news264759533.html Other Sciences Tue, 21 Aug 2012 09:40:01 EST news264759533 (Phys.org) -- A commercial vaccine for cattle can effectively reduce levels of E. coli by more than 50 percent, a Kansas State University study has found. The vaccine is also effective using two doses instead of the recommended three doses, which can help cut costs for the beef industry. http://phys.org/news263469513.html Biology Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:59:04 EST news263469513 (Phys.org) -- Marrying multiple husbands at the same time, or polyandry, creates a safety net for women in some cultures, according to a recent study by a University of Missouri researcher. Extra husbands ensure that women's children are cared for even if their fathers die or disappear. Although polyandry is taboo and illegal in the United States, certain legal structures, such as child support payments and life insurance, fill the same role for American women that multiple husbands do in other cultures. http://phys.org/news263129914.html Other Sciences Thu, 02 Aug 2012 12:38:40 EST news263129914 Do you have what it takes to be an ethical hacker? Can you step into the shoes of a professional paid to outsmart supposedly locked-down systems? Now you can at least try, no matter what your background, with a new card game developed by University of Washington computer scientists. http://phys.org/news262366343.html Technology Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:32:36 EST news262366343 A ratings system developed by a group of Kansas State University researchers could keep bridges safer and help prevent catastrophic collapses. http://phys.org/news261913963.html Technology Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:53:35 EST news261913963 (Phys.org) -- A variety of public health issues plague the refugees from Burma living on the Thai border, not the least of which is drinking water contaminated by bacteria and pesticides. Yet few low-cost, sustainable and appropriate treatment technologies are available to people in rural and developing communities to ensure water safety. http://phys.org/news261814788.html Space & Earth Wed, 18 Jul 2012 07:19:56 EST news261814788 Scientists held a mock funeral march Tuesday marking the "death of evidence" in Canada, accusing the ruling Tories of muzzling government scientists to advance a political agenda that ignores research findings. http://phys.org/news261161979.html Other Sciences Tue, 10 Jul 2012 17:59:52 EST news261161979 The Internet is changing the way people get their news, but there's little proof that it is fragmenting or polarizing the news audience the way many assume, says professor David Tewksbury, the head of the University of Illinois department of communication. http://phys.org/news256360664.html Other Sciences Wed, 16 May 2012 04:18:04 EST news256360664 College professors and students are in an arms race over cheating. Students find new sources for pre-written term papers; professors find new ways to check the texts they get for plagiarized material. But why are all these young people cheating? A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests one reason: income inequality, which decreases the general trust people have toward each other. http://phys.org/news252773518.html Other Sciences Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:52:59 EST news252773518 Winifred Edgerton Merrill (1862-1951) was the first woman to receive a PhD in mathematics in the United States. Throughout her life, she worked to advance women in a male-dominated society. She helped to found Barnard College, the renowned women's college affiliated with Columbia University, and she founded a college preparatory school for girls. http://phys.org/news251033478.html Other Sciences Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:31:27 EST news251033478 Sweating in the gym, surrounded by others, pounding to the beat in group exercise class has become the norm for many women. But when it comes to the experience of changing in the locker room, the acts of disrobing, dressing, showering and being naked in front of others, can be very discomfiting. It's a complex experience as women are faced with an awareness of their bodies different than in any other space. http://phys.org/news251023618.html Other Sciences Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:47:08 EST news251023618 Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, chemists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a 3-D paper sensor that may be able to test for diseases such as malaria and HIV for less than 10 cents a pop. http://phys.org/news250428150.html Chemistry Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:23:00 EST news250428150 Fazel Yavari has developed a new sensor to detect extremely small quantities of hazardous gases. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute doctoral student harnessed the power of the world’s thinnest material, graphene, to create a device that is durable, inexpensive to make, and incredibly sensitive. http://phys.org/news250417115.html Nanotechnology Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:18:46 EST news250417115 In the past few years, the video game industry has grown from a niche market into a major part of mainstream media. This increase in popularity and use of technology has allowed video game developers to insert more detail and nuance into the storylines of their games. Many video games have begun incorporating religion as a key aspect to plot points and story lines. Greg Perreault, a doctoral student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, found that the many newer-generation video games equate religion with violence in the game narratives. http://phys.org/news249571935.html Other Sciences Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:34:14 EST news249571935 Spotted salamanders exposed to contaminated roadside ponds are adapting to their toxic environments, according to a Yale paper in Scientific Reports. This study provides the first documented evidence that a vertebrate has adapted to the negative effects of roads apparently by evolving rapidly. http://phys.org/news247322355.html Biology Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:39:21 EST news247322355 Glaciers are retreating at an unexpectedly fast rate according to research done in Peru's Cordillera Blanca by McGill doctoral student Michel Baraer. They are currently shrinking by about one per cent a year, and that percentage is increasing steadily, according to his calculations. http://phys.org/news243598897.html Space & Earth Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:21:49 EST news243598897 Networking within an organization and having a mentor are widely thought to promote career success, but a new University of Georgia study finds that African-American men don't receive the same measurable benefits from these professional connections that Caucasians do. http://phys.org/news243533278.html Other Sciences Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:08:09 EST news243533278 Efforts to reduce the flow of fertilizers, animal waste and other pollutants into the Chesapeake Bay appear to be giving a boost to the bay's health, a new study that analyzed 60 years of water quality data has concluded. The study, published in the November 2011 issue of Estuaries and Coasts, was conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. http://phys.org/news239558186.html Space & Earth Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:58:36 EST news239558186 For many of the women, the chemistry lab was a home away from home - a sorority for nerds, of sorts, that hints at the slow but steady shift in technical fields that have been traditionally filled with men. http://phys.org/news238513281.html Other Sciences Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:41:50 EST news238513281 A study conducted by Columbia Business School's Prof. Jonah Rockoff, Sidney Taurel Associate Professor of Business, Finance and Economics, and Cecilia Speroni, a doctoral student at Teachers College, set to estimate whether subjective evaluations of teacher effectiveness have predictive power for the achievement gains made by teachers' future students. The study, which was recently published in Labour Economics, found that subjective evaluations are comparable with and complementary to objective measures of teacher effectiveness taken from a teacher's first year in the classroom. The study's analysis drew on data on students and teachers in the public schools of New York City – specifically teachers of grades 3 to 8 in the school years 2003-04 through 2007-08, and their students' behavior, demographics, and achievement test scores in math and English. http://phys.org/news238073079.html Other Sciences Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:36:11 EST news238073079 A new University of Missouri study shows that Mexican-American students who identify and practice speaking their native language have higher grades than those who are put in English-only environments in their schools. http://phys.org/news235841172.html Other Sciences Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:26:58 EST news235841172 Victims of bullying often suffer academically, and this is particularly true for high achieving black and Latino students, according to new research to be presented at the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. http://phys.org/news233286806.html Other Sciences Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:53:41 EST news233286806 (PhysOrg.com) -- A full 25 percent of blog posts about politics occur on sites that are primarily about something else, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Information. And when authors post about politics, their readers reply and engage with the political content of the posts. http://phys.org/news229933987.html Other Sciences Fri, 15 Jul 2011 07:33:20 EST news229933987