 9 May 2008
Folding Proteins For Fun And Profit
A new computer game, called Foldit, turns protein folding into a competitive sport for anyone with a computer. Its creators say Foldit capitalizes on people's natural 3-D problem-solving skills and they hope to get a significant fraction of the world's population working on solving critical health problems...
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8 May 2008
Biodiversity: It's In The Water
A new method for predicting biodiversity, described by its creators as "ridiculously simple," uses only the geomorphology of a river network and rainfall measurements to accurately predict the biodiversity of species in a river system...
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7 May 2008
Epigenetic Changes Discovered In Abuse Victims' Brains
Scientists have discovered important differences between the brains of suicide victims who suffered abuse as children and so-called normal brains. The differences are in their epigenetic marking – a chemical coating on the DNA that is influenced by environmental factors...
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6 May 2008
Fungi Enlisted To Clean-Up Depleted Uranium
In a discovery that could have important implications for the clean-up of war ravaged countries, researchers have found evidence that fungi can "lock" depleted uranium into a mineral form that would be less likely to find its way into plants, animals, or the water supply...
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5 May 2008
Solar System's "Bouncing" Linked To Mass Extinction Events
A new computer model of our solar system's movement relative to the Milky Way indicates that it "bounces" up and down through the plane of the galaxy; a cycle that scientists say is a "beautiful match" with the mass extinction events that occur periodically on Earth...
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2 May 2008
Lack Of A McShrinky Makes Therapy Unappealing
Television's portrayal of psychological counselors as either buffoons or unethical clods in shows like Frasier, Tell Me You Love Me and In Treatment, makes people less willing to seek professional mental health services, suggests a new study...
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1 May 2008
Electromagnetic Fields Disrupt Newborns' Heart Rates
The electromagnetic fields produced by hospital incubators can interfere with newborn babies’ heart rates, potentially creating problems for infants born prematurely who may spend extended periods in incubators...
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30 April 2008
Nanoparticle Laced Wastewater Could Compromise Treatment Plants
The silver nanoparticles used in a growing number of consumer products can wreak havoc with the benign bacteria that are used by water treatment plants to remove ammonia from wastewater...
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29 April 2008
Graphene's "Muffin-Tin" Nanodots Explained
Researchers believe they now understand how graphene - a featureless, flat sheet of carbon atoms - lying on an equally featureless iridium surface, converted itself into a kind of "muffin tin" that formed identically sized and spaced muffins out of applied iridium atoms...
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28 April 2008
Quantum-Hall Effect Observed, Sans Magnetic Field
The quantum-Hall effect (where electrons condense into an exotic quantum fluid) was thought to only occur in specially prepared materials under the influence of an intense magnetic field, but US researchers have observed the effect in a bulk crystal of bismuth-antimony without any magnetic field being present...
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