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279,009 articles from PhysOrg

New developments in nanotechnology tackle the two biggest problems associated with chemotherapy

Huixin He, associate professor, nanoscale chemistry at Rutgers University, Newark, and Tamara Minko, professor at the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, have developed a nanotechnology approach that potentially could eliminate the problems of side effects and drug resistance in the treatment of cancer. Under traditional chemotherapy, cancer cells, like bacteria, can develop resistance to...

UCLA 'dark matter' conference highlights new research on mysterious cosmic substance

Dark matter, for more than 70 years as mysterious and unknowable a subject to science as the legendary island of Atlantis has been to history, is bringing 140 scientists from the U.S., Europe and Asia to the Marriott Hotel in Marina del Rey for the ninth UCLA Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe. The three-day conference runs through Friday, Feb. 26.

Cell-inspired electronics

(PhysOrg.com) -- A single cell in the human body is approximately 10,000 times more energy-efficient than any nanoscale digital transistor, the fundamental building block of electronic chips. In one second, a cell performs about 10 million energy-consuming chemical reactions, which altogether require about one picowatt (one millionth millionth of a watt) of power.

MSU students take aim at bear spray canisters

Visitors to national parks and forests are encouraged to use bear spray when they encounter grizzlies, but disposing of the bear spray canisters is a problem that three Montana State University engineering students addressed for their senior capstone project, sponsored by the Gallatin National Forest.

The First T2K Neutrino Event Observed At Super-Kamiokande

(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists from the Japanese-led multinational T2K collaboration announced today that they had made the first detection of a neutrino which had travelled all the way under Japan from their neutrino beamline at the J-PARC facility in Tokai village (about an hour north of Tokyo by train) to the gigantic Super-Kamiokande underground detector near the west coast of Japan, 295 km (185...

Basic quantum computing circuit built

(PhysOrg.com) -- Exerting delicate control over a pair of atoms within a mere seven-millionths-of-a-second window of opportunity, physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison created an atomic circuit that may help quantum computing become a reality.

Childhood stress such as abuse or emotional neglect can result in structural brain changes

New research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows that childhood stress such as abuse or emotional neglect, in particular when combined with genetic factors, can result in structural brain changes, rendering these people more vulnerable to developing depression. The study led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin has just been published in the international scientific...

Does the devil really wear Prada? The psychology of anthropomorphism and dehumanization

People talk to their plants, pray to humanlike gods, name their cars, and even dress their pets up in clothing. We have a strong tendency to give nonhuman entities human characteristics (known as anthropomorphism), but why? In a new report in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientists Adam Waytz from Harvard...

Introducing RoSS, a 'flight simulator' for robotic surgery

A collaboration between the Center for Robotic Surgery at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the University at Buffalo's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has produced one of the world's first simulators that closely approximates the "touch and feel" of the da Vinci robotic surgical system.

Personalized medicine in warfarin therapy

Researchers from the Ohio State University have developed a rapid, multiplexed genotyping method to identify the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that affect warfarin dose. The related report by Yang et al, "Rapid Genotyping of SNPs Influencing Warfarin Drug Response by SELDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry," appears in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.

Pretreatment SUV associated with head and neck cancer treatment outcomes, may help decide treatment plans

The maximal standardized uptake value (called SUVmax) measured from FDG PET readings taken from the primary tumor in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients before treatment is a strong predictor of disease-specific survival, overall survival and disease-free survival, while pretreatment SUVmax for lymphodenopathy is strongly associated with distant metastasis, according to a study...

Quantity More Important than Quality for Adult Sleep

(PhysOrg.com) -- For years, it has been thought that senior citizens don't require as much sleep as younger adults. However, a study at the University of California San Diego is turning that assumption on its head. For older folks, it appears that the amount of sleep they get is quite important when it comes to memory and other cognitive processing activities. What's not as important as we age is...

Water Quality Model Passes Another Test

(PhysOrg.com) -- A test of the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model on a small watershed with poor water quality in Maryland showed that the model accurately estimated pollutant levels over the long term, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators.

Can a single layer of cells control a leaf's size?

Ever looked carefully at the leaves on a plant and noticed their various sizes and shapes? Why are they different? What controls the size and shape of each individual leaf? Very little is known about the developmental control of leaf size and shape, and understanding the mechanisms behind this is a major issue in plant biology.

Does promiscuity prevent extinction?

Promiscuous females may be the key to a species' survival, according to new research by the Universities of Exeter and Liverpool. Published today (25 February) in Current Biology, the study could solve the mystery of why females of most species have multiple mates, despite this being more risky for the individual.