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. University of Utah metallurgists used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. They hope it will be used for more efficient photovoltaic solar cells and LED lights, biological sensors and systems to convert waste heat to electricity. http://phys.org/news287034461.html Nanotechnology Mon, 06 May 2013 04:47:55 EST news287034461 New discoveries of the way plants transport important substances across their biological membranes to resist toxic metals and pests, increase salt and drought tolerance, control water loss and store sugar can have profound implications for increasing the supply of food and energy for our rapidly growing global population. http://phys.org/news286625740.html Biology Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:23 EST news286625740 Multifunctional mobile devices like the smartphone contain small quantities of valuable materials, yet most are not recycled. Something needs to give. http://phys.org/news284986913.html Space & Earth Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:02:00 EST news284986913 A study of mercury contamination in a southeastern Peruvian jungle area ravaged by illegal gold mining found unsafe levels of the toxic metal in 78 percent of adults in the regional capital and in 60 percent of fish sold at markets. http://phys.org/news283062905.html Space & Earth Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:35:19 EST news283062905 This Sunday, people around the world celebrated Chinese New Year with firework displays and sparklers, but new research confirms this tradition could seriously harm peoples health. An international team of scientists have shown that a firework display, even a small one at home, can spread toxic particles for miles. http://phys.org/news279787194.html Space & Earth Mon, 11 Feb 2013 07:10:06 EST news279787194 Chemists at the University of Burgos (Spain) have manufactured a sheet that changes colour in the presence of water contaminated with mercury. The results can be seen with the naked eye but when photographing the membrane with a mobile phone the concentration of this extremely toxic metal can be quantified. http://phys.org/news279371308.html Chemistry Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:13:38 EST news279371308 Leaks from a Finnish nickel mine that have dumped toxic metals into the environment were plugged on Wednesday, the mine operator said. http://phys.org/news272131150.html Space & Earth Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:59:25 EST news272131150 The Indiana Geological Survey has published an extensive collection of research papers about the reclamation of abandoned Indiana coal mine lands and the effects reclamation has on ground and surface water. http://phys.org/news268557187.html Space & Earth Thu, 04 Oct 2012 08:13:14 EST news268557187 (Phys.org)—A new way to prepare biaryls – compounds that are essential building blocks in the creation of drugs and many modern materials such as LEDs – using gold as a catalyst is described by researchers from the University of Bristol in this week's edition of Science. Gold catalysis is easier, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than current methods which use palladium as a catalyst. http://phys.org/news268046870.html Chemistry Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:28:07 EST news268046870 University of California, Berkeley, scientists have sequenced nearly all the genes in an underground community of microbes at a contaminated uranium mill site in Rifle, Colo., providing information that could help scientists better manipulate the microbes that remediate heavy metal contamination or those that take up and store carbon from the atmosphere. http://phys.org/news267972910.html Biology Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:00:03 EST news267972910 Harvard-led researchers have discovered that an Ascomycete fungus that is common in polluted water produces environmentally important minerals during asexual reproduction. http://phys.org/news261655739.html Biology Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:00:01 EST news261655739 A rare kind of mineral which scientists hope could be used to remove toxic metals and radioactive species from the environment played a similar, crucial role early in Earth's history. http://phys.org/news259947768.html Space & Earth Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:30:01 EST news259947768 Amid growing concerns about the spread of harmful mercury in plants and animals, a new study by researchers from The Johns Hopkins University and The National Aquarium has compared levels of the chemical in captive dolphins with dolphins found in the wild. The captive animals were fed a controlled diet, while the wild mammals dined on marine life that may carry more of the toxic metal. http://phys.org/news256820560.html Biology Mon, 21 May 2012 12:03:31 EST news256820560 There's something fishy going on in West Oakland. http://phys.org/news232627336.html Space & Earth Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:42:32 EST news232627336 Chicago's first round of testing for a toxic metal called hexavalent chromium found that levels in local drinking water are more than 11 times higher than a health standard California adopted last month. http://phys.org/news232027327.html Space & Earth Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:10:04 EST news232027327 (PhysOrg.com) -- For years, the U.S. army and many other agencies around the world have been using hand-held green light-emitting signal flares; flares which are very nearly indispensable under certain adverse conditions. The problem is, the flares contain barium, a toxic metal that can build up quickly on training grounds. Barium is also the ingredient used in fireworks to make them glow green, which creates a problem for places such as Disneyworld that shoot off fireworks every night. http://phys.org/news221735857.html Chemistry Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:17:55 EST news221735857 China has adopted a plan to tackle heavy-metal pollution, according to state media, after more than 30 major poisoning incidents since 2009. http://phys.org/news217349768.html Space & Earth Sat, 19 Feb 2011 15:10:01 EST news217349768 Complexity ever in the eye of its beholders, the animal with the most genes -- about 31,000 -- is the near-microscopic freshwater crustacean Daphnia pulex, or water flea. By comparison, humans have about 23,000 genes. Daphnia is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced. http://phys.org/news215964528.html Biology Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:09:06 EST news215964528 As farmers in Hungary ponder spring planting on hundreds of acres of farmland affected by last October's red mud disaster, scientists are reporting that high alkalinity is the main threat to a bountiful harvest, not toxic metals. In a study in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, they also describe an inexpensive decontamination strategy using the mineral gypsum, an ingredient in plaster. http://phys.org/news215859953.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:40:01 EST news215859953 Nano-sized fluorescent particles known as quantum dots have shown promise as powerful imaging agents capable of detecting a wide range of diseases, but these nanoparticles are usually made with toxic metals such as cadmium. Now, researchers at the University of Buffalo have developed a novel synthetic method that enables them to design and create biocompatible fluorescent nanocrystals made of non-toxic silicon. More importantly, the investigators have used these silicon nanocrystals to image tumors and spot spreading cancer in lymph nodes. http://phys.org/news214659485.html Nanotechnology Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:30:02 EST news214659485 A small-scale University of California, San Francisco-led study has identified the first evidence in humans that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may compromise the quality of a woman's eggs retrieved for in vitro fertilization (IVF). As blood levels of BPA in the women studied doubled, the percentage of eggs that fertilized normally declined by 50 percent, according to the research team. http://phys.org/news211629952.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:07:15 EST news211629952 (AP) -- Federal regulators launched an investigation Monday into lead levels in drinking glasses depicting comic book and movie characters, declaring that the items are subject to standards for "children's products." http://phys.org/news209664048.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Nov 2010 16:01:04 EST news209664048 (AP) -- Drinking glasses depicting comic book and movie characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman and the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz" exceed federal limits for lead in children's products by up to 1,000 times, according to laboratory testing commissioned by The Associated Press. http://phys.org/news209619673.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:41:36 EST news209619673 Two essential genes that control the accumulation and detoxification of arsenic in plant cells have been identified. This discovery is the fruit of an international collaboration involving laboratories in Switzerland, South Korea and the United States, with the participation of members of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Plant Survival. http://phys.org/news209131327.html Biology Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:30:01 EST news209131327 An unusual wildflower that accumulates metals in its leaves has been found to use them as a kind of 'armour' against bacterial infection. http://phys.org/news203330608.html Biology Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:43:45 EST news203330608 (AP) -- Cadmium has been discovered in the painted design on "Shrek"-themed drinking glasses being sold nationwide at McDonald's, forcing the burger giant to recall 12 million of the cheap U.S.-made collectibles while dramatically expanding contamination concerns about the toxic metal beyond imported children's jewelry. http://phys.org/news194846974.html Medicine & Health Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:09:55 EST news194846974 An asteroid strike may not only account for the demise of ocean and land life 65 million years ago, but the fireball's path and the resulting dust, darkness and toxic metal contamination may explain the geographic unevenness of extinctions and recovery, according to Penn State geoscientists. http://phys.org/news186661791.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:30:40 EST news186661791 (AP) -- Melamine-tainted dairy products were pulled from convenience store shelves in southern China more than a year after hundreds of thousands of children had been sickened in a massive milk safety scandal, a government spokeswoman said Monday. http://phys.org/news183629325.html Medicine & Health Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:09:08 EST news183629325 (PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, the widely used molecular synthesis technique known as click chemistry has been safely applied to a living organism. A team of Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley researchers has developed a unique copper-free version of click chemistry to create biomolecular probes for in vivo studies of live mice. Conventional click chemistry reactions require a copper catalyst that is toxic to cells and organisms. http://phys.org/news183110538.html Chemistry Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:13:34 EST news183110538 Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have patented a new method to remove toxic mercury from soil, sediment, sludge and other industrial waste. As described in recently awarded U.S. patent number 7,589,248 and application U.S. Publication No. 20080097138, the method allows mercury to be treated in situ - at its original location in the ground. http://phys.org/news172238217.html Chemistry Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:57:49 EST news172238217