News tagged with life science

Organic carbon from Mars, but not biological

(Phys.org) -- Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen--the building blocks of all life on Earth--have been the targets of missions to Mars from Viking to the present day. While these molecules ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Organic compounds found in proto-planetary disks

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from scientists in the US has reported that organic compounds could be formed in proto-planetary disks, and could have seeded the development of life in our own and other planetary ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

DNA nanorobot triggers targeted therapeutic responses

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a robotic device made from DNA that could potentially seek out specific cell targets within a complex ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Feb 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

A small step for lungfish, a big step for the evolution of walking

The eel-like body and scrawny "limbs" of the African lungfish would appear to make it an unlikely innovator for locomotion. But its improbable walking behavior, newly described by University of Chicago scientists, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (16) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Lightning sprites are out-of-this-world

Only a few decades ago, scientists discovered the existence of "sprites" 30 to 55 miles above the surface of the Earth. They're offshoots of electric discharges caused by lightning storms, and a valuable window ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Research group proposes first system for assessing the odds of life on other worlds

(PhysOrg.com) -- Within the next few years, the number of planets discovered in orbits around distant stars will likely reach several thousand or more. But even as our list of these newly discovered "exoplanets" ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Biologists discover how yeast cells reverse aging

Human cells have a finite lifespan: They can only divide a certain number of times before they die. However, that lifespan is reset when reproductive cells are formed, which is why the children of a 20-year-old ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (29) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Ocean's harmful low-oxygen zones growing, are sensitive to small changes in climate

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fluctuations in climate can drastically affect the habitability of marine ecosystems, according to a new study by UCLA scientists that examined the expansion and contraction of low-oxygen ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 17, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Bacteria can grow under extreme gravity: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that bacteria is capable of growing under gravity more than 400,000 times that of Earth and gives evidence that the th ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (22) | comments 43 | with audio podcast report

'Lost' samples from famous origin of life researcher could send search for first life in new direction

(PhysOrg.com) -- Stanley Miller gained fame with his 1953 experiment showing the synthesis of organic compounds thought to be important in setting the origin of life in motion. Five years later, he produced ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

New technology dramatically extends battery life for mobile devices

Technophiles who have been dreaming of mobile devices that run longer on lighter, slimmer batteries may soon find their wish has been granted.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 10, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (22) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Plants kick-start evolutionary drama of Earth's oxygenation

An international team of scientists, exploiting pioneering techniques at Arizona State University, has taken a significant step toward unlocking the secrets of oxygenation of the Earth's oceans and atmosphere.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 08, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Higher income improves life rating but not emotional well-being

(PhysOrg.com) -- People's life evaluations rise steadily with income, but their reported quality of emotional daily experience levels off at a certain income level, according to a new study by two Princeton ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Sep 07, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Study: Life and death during the Great Depression

The Great Depression had a silver lining: During that hard time, U.S. life expectancy actually increased by 6.2 years, according to a University of Michigan study published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the Na ...

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Sep 28, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (9) | comments 5

Scientists Find Clues to a Secret of Life

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists analyzing the dust of meteorites have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 17, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (13) | comments 4