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279,034 articles from PhysOrg

The Malaspina Expedition confirms that pollution reaches even the most remote areas of the ocean

Three years after the Hesperides vessel returned to Spain culminating the around the world of the Malaspina Expedition, researchers have an increasingly clear picture of how the global ocean works and what is its health condition. Specifically, the input of pollutants from the atmosphere is not limited to coastal areas, but also occurs in the most remote areas of the planet, and it is already...

Tokyo Game Show: On the hunt for the next Minecraft

The staggering $2.5 billion that Microsoft has just shelled out for Minecraft and its quirky graphics will be foremost in developers' minds at the Tokyo Game Show this week, where simple yet immersive games are expected to figure heavily.

Web filter lifts block on gay sites

A popular online safe-search filter is ending its practice of blocking links to mainstream gay and lesbian advocacy groups for users hoping to avoid obscene sites.

And so they beat on, flagella against the cantilever

A team of researchers at Boston University and Stanford University School of Medicine has developed a new model to study the motion patterns of bacteria in real time and to determine how these motions relate to communication within a bacterial colony.

For electronics beyond silicon, a new contender emerges

Silicon has few serious competitors as the material of choice in the electronics industry. Yet transistors, the switchable valves that control the flow of electrons in a circuit, cannot simply keep shrinking to meet the needs of powerful, compact devices; physical limitations like energy consumption and heat dissipation are too significant.

Global Hawk and satellites investigating Hurricane Edouard today

The unmanned Global Hawk aircraft that's part of NASA's airborne Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel, or HS3 mission was winging its way to Hurricane Edouard on September 16. In addition to the Global Hawk, various NASA satellites are continually providing data on the Atlantic hurricane.

Google to test cars without a driver

Google plans to begin testing its new prototype of a self-driving car - which, unlike earlier models, doesn't require a back-up driver - at NASA's Ames Research Center, just a few miles from the tech company's headquarters, space agency officials said this week.

Nanocontainers for nanocargo: Delivering genes and proteins for cellular imaging, genetic medicine and cancer therapy

By loading any specific protein and nucleic acid into an icosahedral phage T4 capsid-based nanoparticle, the resulting cell delivery vehicle's ligands can bind to the surface of specific target tissues to deliver the protein/DNA cargo. (Icosahedral viral nanoparticles are evolutionary protein shells assembled in a hierarchical order that results in a stable protein layer and an inner space for...

NASA sees Tropical Storm Odile knocking at US Southwest

Tropical Storm Odile continues to drench western Mexico and has now entered into the U.S. Southwest. On September 15, NASA's Terra satellite saw Odile's northernmost edge crossing the Mexican border into southern California. NOAA's GOES-East satellite on September 16 showed Odile's outer bands were already bringing storms to southern Arizona.

New camera sheds light on mate choice of swordtail fish

We have all seen a peacock show its extravagant, colorful tail feathers in courtship of a peahen. Now, a group of researchers have used a special camera developed by an engineer at Washington University in St. Louis to discover that female northern swordtail fish choose their mates based on a similar display.

Politics divide coastal residents' views of environment

From the salmon-rich waters of Southeast Alaska to the white sand beaches of Florida's Gulf Coast to Downeast Maine's lobster, lumber and tourist towns, coastal residents around the U.S. share a common characteristic: their views about coastal environments divide along political lines. That's a primary finding of a new study by University of New Hampshire sociologists published this month in the...

Tornadoes occurring earlier in 'Tornado Alley'

Peak tornado activity in the central and southern Great Plains of the United States is occurring up to two weeks earlier than it did half a century ago, according to a new study whose findings could help states in "Tornado Alley" better prepare for these violent storms.

Water-based nuclear battery can be used to generate electrical energy

From cell phones to cars and flashlights, batteries play an important role in everyday life. Scientists and technology companies constantly are seeking ways to improve battery life and efficiency. Now, for the first time using a water-based solution, researchers at the University of Missouri have created a long-lasting and more efficient nuclear battery that could be used for many applications...

Do ads showing sexy women make male consumers less charitable?

What happens when you use images of sexy women to attract men's attention? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, male consumers who are shown images of sexy women feel less connected to other people and are less likely to purchase products advertised as benefiting others or make charitable contributions.

Do you always get what you pay for? How consumers mispredict product quality

Consumers are willing to spend thousands of dollars for luxury brand watches such as Rolex and Cartier because they are synonymous with high quality. But does this mean that inexpensive watches made by low-cost rivals must always be low quality? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers mistakenly predict product quality based on quality consistency in other price...

Earthworms as nature's free fertilizer

Earthworm presence in the soil increases crop yield, shows a new study that was published this week in Scientific Reports. "This is not unexpected," says Jan Willem van Groenigen, associate professor in the Soil Biology group of Wageningen University, and lead author of the study. "People have known for millennia that earthworms can be good for plant growth. However, we did not know how strong...

Exxon Valdez 2014: Does media coverage of manmade disasters contribute to consumer complacency?

Twenty-five years ago, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. Americans found themselves cleaning up another giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, news coverage of environmental disasters serves to calm our immediate anxieties instead of catalyzing changes in the way fossil fuels...