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. (PhysOrg.com) -- Whether a common atmospheric particle stays in a stable form or twists into something else depends on the amount of water it encounters in the atmosphere, according to scientists at the University of Iowa and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This result for malonic acid challenges conventional wisdom; the results are based on the complementary experiments conducted at two Department of Energy user facilities in a collaborative project facilitated through PNNL's Chemical Imaging Initiative. http://phys.org/news227869839.html Chemistry Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:11:30 EST news227869839 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from the University of Sydney are celebrating the 100th anniversary of superconductivity with a discovery of their own. http://phys.org/news227515972.html Physics Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:53:22 EST news227515972 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sensors, communications devices and imaging equipment that use a prism and a special form of light -- a surface plasmon-polariton -- may incorporate multiple channels or redundant applications if manufacturers use sculptured thin films. http://phys.org/news177086474.html Physics Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:42:05 EST news177086474 Researchers at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University have developed, characterized, and modeled a new kind of probe used in atomic force microscopy (AFM), which images, measures, and manipulates matter at the nanoscale. http://phys.org/news177073639.html Nanotechnology Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:08:34 EST news177073639 (PhysOrg.com) -- The catalytic processes that facilitate the production of many chemicals and fuels could become much more environmentally friendly thanks to a breakthrough achieved by researchers from Lehigh and Rice Universities. http://phys.org/news177006900.html Nanotechnology Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:20:09 EST news177006900 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands, working with American researchers, have succeeded in using an electrical signal to control both the elastic and the magnetic properties of a nanomaterial at a very localized level. This opens up new possibilities for data storage with very high data densities. Their findings are to be published in November in the leading scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology. http://phys.org/news175445828.html Nanotechnology Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:58:37 EST news175445828 Barnacles are a big problem for boats. Adhering to the undersides of vessels, carpets of the crustaceans can increase fuel consumption by as much as 25%. Ship owners would love to know how to stop these hitchhikers gluing on, but before you can learn how to disrupt an adhesive, you have to understand the curing process. Curious about many aspects of the crustacean's lifestyle, Dan Rittschof from Duke University decided to find out how barnacle adhesive polymerizes. http://phys.org/news174891043.html Chemistry Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:20:02 EST news174891043 (PhysOrg.com) -- A genetic mutation found in four children born with multiple abnormalities may provide insight into potential treatments for newborn lung distress and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). http://phys.org/news174827807.html Medicine & Health Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:50:01 EST news174827807 (PhysOrg.com) -- (PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Ludwig Maximilians University have succeeded in applying a novel optical method to nano-mechanical oscillators. New fabrication techniques have enabled the development of on-chip mechanical elements whose dimensions are on the nanometer scale. Their application, however, has been limited by the lack of sufficiently sensitive techniques for measuring the motion of these tiny devices. http://phys.org/news174757411.html Physics Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:50:59 EST news174757411 The molecular architecture of a protein complex that helps determine the fate of human cells has been imaged for the first time by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Known as a human RISC-loading complex, this structure consists of snippets of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that control whether genetic messages are silenced or expressed. http://phys.org/news174651185.html Chemistry Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:14:03 EST news174651185 (PhysOrg.com) -- European researchers who created an ultra-fast, extremely high-resolution video camera have enabled dozens of medical applications, including one scenario that can record 'thought' processes travelling along neurons. This is ingenious science. http://phys.org/news174554094.html Technology Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:16:25 EST news174554094 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Foresight Institute, a nanotechnology education and public policy think tank based in Palo Alto, has announced the winners of the prestigious 2009 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes in Nanotechnology. http://phys.org/news174230058.html Nanotechnology Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:14:43 EST news174230058 (PhysOrg.com) -- Quantum mechanics could help build ultra-high-resolution electron microscopes that won't destroy living cells, according to MIT electrical engineers. http://phys.org/news174035443.html Physics Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:12:08 EST news174035443 (PhysOrg.com) -- Think back to high-school biology and you may recall some basics about cellular respiration: how organelles called mitochondria function like little power stations, converting nutrients from food into a high-powered cell fuel called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. http://phys.org/news173636148.html Medicine & Health Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:00:01 EST news173636148 Using state-of-the-art electron microscopy techniques, a team led by researchers from Caltech has for the first time visualized and described the precise arrangement of chemoreceptors—the receptors that sense and respond to chemical stimuli—in bacteria. In addition, they have found that this specific architecture is the same throughout a wide variety of bacterial species, which means that this is a stable, universal structure that has been conserved over evolutionary time. http://phys.org/news173024669.html Biology Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:25:42 EST news173024669 A tiny neuron is a very complicated structure. Its complex network of dendrites, axons and synapses is constantly dealing with information, deciding whether or not to send a nerve impulse, to drive a certain action. http://phys.org/news172166873.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:08:26 EST news172166873 A network of proteins underlying the plasma membrane keeps epithelial cells in shape and maintains their orderly hexagonal packing in the mouse lens, say Nowak et al. The study will appear in the September 21, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology (online September 14). http://phys.org/news172145515.html Biology Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:12:44 EST news172145515 (PhysOrg.com) -- Peering at single molecules within an organism that makes its home near thermal vents, Yale University scientists have discovered the structure of a key player in the creation of protein-making factories in humans. http://phys.org/news171812800.html Chemistry Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:20:02 EST news171812800 Leeds scientists are using the most sophisticated techniques to tackle a question almost as old as mankind itself - what makes skin feel good, and why? http://phys.org/news171628346.html Chemistry Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:32:40 EST news171628346 (PhysOrg.com) -- IBM scientists have demonstrated a promising and practical method that effectively eliminates the mechanical wear in the nanometer-sharp tips used in scanning probe-based techniques. This discovery can potentially be used in the development of next generation, more advanced computer chips that have higher performance and smaller feature sizes. Scanning probe-based tools could be one approach to extend the capabilities, quality and precision beyond the projected limits of current production and characterization tools. http://phys.org/news171563990.html Nanotechnology Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:40:35 EST news171563990 (PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, IBM researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, have taken a 3D image of an individual molecule. Using an atomic force microscope, the researchers constructed a "force map" of pentacene, an organic molecule just 1.4 nanometers long. As the researchers explain, the technique is roughly analogous to how an x-ray machine images bones in the human body by looking through flesh. In this case, the scientists could look through the electron cloud and see the atomic backbone of the molecule. http://phys.org/news170685108.html Nanotechnology Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:34:27 EST news170685108 A non-toxic and environmentally friendly way to make tiny nanorods of zinc oxide has been developed for the first time by researchers in Saudi Arabia. The approach, described in the current issue of the International Journal of Nanoparticles, could allow the nanorods to be used safely in medical and for other applications. http://phys.org/news169901230.html Nanotechnology Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:49:13 EST news169901230 (PhysOrg.com) -- The veil is being lifted from the once unseen world of molecular activity. Not so long ago only the final products were visible and scientists were forced to gauge the processes behind those products by ensemble averages of many molecules. The limitations of that approach have become clear with the advent of technologies that allow for the observation and manipulation of single molecules. A prime example is the recent first ever direct observations in real-time of the growth of single nanocrystals in solution, which revealed that much of what we thought we knew is wrong. http://phys.org/news168874003.html Nanotechnology Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:27:13 EST news168874003 Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) cause plants to store GM proteins in special 'protein bodies', insulating them from normal cellular degradation processes and increasing the overall protein yield. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have visualised the mechanism by which the synthetic biopolymer increases the accumulation of recombinant proteins. http://phys.org/news168806270.html Biology Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:10:01 EST news168806270 (July 29, 2009) - Recycling is a critical component in the process of transmitting information from one neuron to the next, and a large protein called Tweek plays a critical role, said an international consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the current issue of the journal Neuron. http://phys.org/news168092690.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:40:02 EST news168092690 (PhysOrg.com) -- The mechanism used by 'Natural Killer' immune cells in the human body to distinguish between diseased cells, which they are meant to destroy, and normal cells, which they are meant to leave alone, is revealed in new detail in research published today in PLoS Biology. http://phys.org/news167989314.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:30:01 EST news167989314 Current methods of detecting breast cancer suffer from low sensitivity, limited spatial resolution, or the need to use complicated and expensive radioisotope-based technologies. A new report from investigators at the Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology suggests that targeted iron oxide nanoparticles may overcome these limitations and could serve as novel imaging agents for the early detection of breast tumors. http://phys.org/news167412130.html Nanotechnology Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:50:01 EST news167412130 (PhysOrg.com) -- Self-assembling and self-organizing systems are the Holy Grails of nanotechnology, but nature has been producing such systems for millions of years. A team of scientists has taken a unique look at how thousands of bacterial membrane proteins are able to assemble into clusters that direct cell movement to select chemicals in their environment. Their results provide valuable insight into how complex periodic patterns in biological systems can be generated and repaired. http://phys.org/news166199996.html Biology Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:43:15 EST news166199996 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the bustling economy of the cell, little bubbles called vesicles serve as container ships, ferrying cargo to and from the port — the cell membrane. Some of these vesicles, called post-Golgi vesicles, export cargo made by the cell’s protein factory. http://phys.org/news165846340.html Biology Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:26:32 EST news165846340 (PhysOrg.com) -- Finding a way to observe and record the behavior of matter at the molecular level has long been a holy grail among physicists. That ability could open the door to a wide range of applications in ultrafast electron microscopy used in a large array of scientific, medical and technological fields. http://phys.org/news165510685.html Physics Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:11:58 EST news165510685