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 a four-decade, Holy Grail-like quest to fully understand what it means to be in a "supersolid" state, physicists have found that supersolid isn't always super solid. In other words, this exotic state of frozen helium appears to have liquid-like properties, says a new paper published in the journal Science on May 13, 2011. http://phys.org/news224427393.html Physics Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:07 EST news224427393 (PhysOrg.com) -- To most people, the word "ceramics," refers to opaque clay flower pots or translucent porcelain tea cups. But not all ceramics block or scatter light. http://phys.org/news154021577.html Physics Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:48:59 EST news154021577 Several years after Duke University researchers announced spectacular behavior of a low density ultracold gas cloud, researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory have observed strikingly similar properties in a very hot and dense plasma "fluid" created to simulate conditions when the universe was about one millionths of a second old. http://phys.org/news153928950.html Physics Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:03:22 EST news153928950 Researchers in the laboratory of Samuel I. Stupp at Northwestern University have an interesting approach for tackling some major health problems: gather raw materials and then let them self-assemble into structures that can address a multitude of medical needs. http://phys.org/news153832994.html Nanotechnology Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:23:55 EST news153832994 (PhysOrg.com) -- The strange interaction of a parasitic wasp, the caterpillar in which it lays its eggs and a virus that helps it overcome the caterpillar’s immune defenses has some scientists rethinking the definition of a virus. http://phys.org/news153685639.html Biology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:27:44 EST news153685639 Canada's inland waters, the countless lakes and reservoirs across the country, are important "sentinels" for climate change and Ottawa and the provinces are ignoring the warnings. That's the message from University of Alberta biologist David Schindler and colleagues in a paper to be released Feb. 12, 2009, in the prestigious publication, Science. http://phys.org/news153672377.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:46:52 EST news153672377 (PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of scientists led by a Princeton University group recently discovered that on the surface of certain materials collective arrangements of electrons move in ways that mimic the presence of a magnetic field where none is present. The finding represents one of the most exotic macroscopic quantum phenomena in condensed-matter physics: a topological Quantum Spin Hall effect. http://phys.org/news153672136.html Physics Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:43:03 EST news153672136 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new ink developed by researchers at the University of Illinois allows them to write their own silver linings. http://phys.org/news153671928.html Nanotechnology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:39:19 EST news153671928 (PhysOrg.com) -- The most detailed map of the Moon ever created has revealed never-before-seen craters at the lunar poles. The map is also revealing secrets about the Moon's interior -- and hinting about Mars's interior as well. C.K. Shum, professor of earth sciences at Ohio State University, is part of the international research team that published the map in the February 13 issue of the journal Science. http://phys.org/news153671640.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:34:36 EST news153671640 Children who convey more meanings with gestures at age 14 months have much larger vocabularies at 54 months than children who convey fewer meanings and are accordingly better prepared for school, according to research at the University of Chicago published in the journal Science on Friday, Feb. 13. http://phys.org/news153671431.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:30:55 EST news153671431 (PhysOrg.com) -- As fuel cells are becoming more popular due to their potential use in applications such as hydrogen-powered vehicles, auxiliary power systems, and electronic devices, the need for the precious metal platinum is also increasing. In fuel cells, platinum is often used as the catalyst for oxygen reduction by splitting oxygen molecules into oxygen ions. However, platinum is rare and expensive: in a fuel cell for a typical car, the platinum catalyst costs about $4,000. http://phys.org/news153413712.html Nanotechnology Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:55:56 EST news153413712 (PhysOrg.com) -- On the eve of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, researchers at the University of New Mexico and University of Montana report a new twist in sexual selection theory - the realm of evolutionary science that Darwin founded alongside his more generally known theory of natural selection. This news, which appears in the February 6th issue of Science Magazine, is particularly propitious because the discovery was made during studies of some of the same species that Darwin used to develop his ideas. http://phys.org/news153150994.html Biology Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:57:52 EST news153150994 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown for the first time that the active training of the working memory brings about visible changes in the number of dopamine receptors in the human brain. The study, which is published in the prestigious scientific journal Science, was conducted with the help of PET scanning and provides deeper insight into the complex interplay between cognition and the brain's biological structure. http://phys.org/news153149048.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:24:48 EST news153149048 A recent discovery at Case Western Reserve University may help keep food and drugs safer and fresher longer and electronic equipment dryer and more secure than ever before - all at a lower cost. http://phys.org/news153144756.html Nanotechnology Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:13:15 EST news153144756 (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of researchers are reporting the ongoing emergence of a new species of fruit fly--and the sequential development of a new species of wasp--in the February 6 issue of the journal Science. http://phys.org/news153072466.html Biology Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:16:06 EST news153072466 With limited funding and an inadequate number of scientists, governments in countries containing "hotspots" of threatened biodiversity are wrestling with how to protect plants and animals in disappearing habitats. http://phys.org/news153066495.html Biology Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:28:56 EST news153066495 A gene that helped one species split into two species shows evidence of adapting much faster than other genes in the genome, raising questions about what is driving its rapid evolution. http://phys.org/news153066101.html Biology Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:22:11 EST news153066101 A missing link in the evolution of the front claw of living scorpions and horseshoe crabs was identified with the discovery of a 390 million-year-old fossil by researchers at Yale and the University of Bonn, Germany. http://phys.org/news153065999.html Other Sciences Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:20:32 EST news153065999 Paleontologists can still hear the echo of the death knell that drove the dinosaurs and many other organisms to extinction following an asteroid collision at the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago. http://phys.org/news153065721.html Other Sciences Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:16:05 EST news153065721 Research shows that it is possible to produce copper about 4 times stronger than commercial material - and doing so while also having a ductile material. As the thermal and electrical conductivity are also good, the manufacturing of, for example, electrical conductors with improved mechanical properties looks promising. http://phys.org/news152963281.html Nanotechnology Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:48:28 EST news152963281 (PhysOrg.com) -- Quantum entanglement, a type of correlation peculiar to quantum objects, has been found to disregard completely the "half-life" rule that is obeyed by all natural processes, such a radioactive decay. http://phys.org/news152899335.html Physics Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:02:40 EST news152899335 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at The University of Manchester have produced a ground-breaking new material, graphane, which has been derived from graphene. http://phys.org/news152545648.html Nanotechnology Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:48:11 EST news152545648 (PhysOrg.com) -- Some of the secrets behind the emergence of new species have been uncovered in a genetic study, conducted in collaboration with bioscientists at The University of Nottingham. http://phys.org/news152543787.html Biology Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:17:59 EST news152543787 Last week, a presidential limousine shuttled Barack Obama to the most important job in his life. Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have now identified a protein that does much the same for the telomerase enzyme — ferrying the critically important clump of proteins around to repair the ends of chromosomes that are lost during normal replication. Without such ongoing maintenance, stem cells would soon cease dividing and embryos would fail to develop. http://phys.org/news152461731.html Medicine & Health Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:29:33 EST news152461731 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study of college freshmen in the United States and in China found that Chinese students know more science facts than their American counterparts -- but both groups are nearly identical when it comes to their ability to do scientific reasoning. http://phys.org/news152461628.html Other Sciences Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:27:29 EST news152461628 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have uncovered the underlying biological reason why locusts form migrating swarms. Their findings, reported in today's edition of Science, could be used in the future to prevent the plagues which devastate crops (notably in developing countries), affecting the livelihood of one in ten people across the globe. http://phys.org/news152461358.html Biology Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:23:00 EST news152461358 Neurobiologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified pathways that allow microscopic worms to survive in a low-oxygen, or hypoxic, environment. http://phys.org/news152461216.html Medicine & Health Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:20:47 EST news152461216 As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles. http://phys.org/news152360207.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:17:30 EST news152360207 Large-scale data mining of gene networks in fruit flies has led researchers to a sensitive and specific diagnostic biomarker for human renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer. In the journal Science, published early online January 22, a team based at the University of Chicago shows that the biomarker known as SPOP is produced by 99 percent of clear cell renal cell carcinomas but not by normal kidney tissue. http://phys.org/news152273169.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:06:47 EST news152273169 When an infection attacks, the body's immune system sounds the alert, kills the invading germs and remembers the pathogen to protect against contracting the same type of infection again. Exactly how immunological memory develops is a mystery just beginning to be unveiled by Emma Teixeiro, PhD, in an article published in the Jan. 23 issue of the journal Science. http://phys.org/news151858322.html Medicine & Health Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:52:30 EST news151858322