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168,100 articles from ScienceDaily

Seafarers' scourge provides hope for biofuel future

For centuries, seafarers were plagued by wood-eating gribble that destroyed their ships, and these creatures continue to wreak damage on wooden piers and docks in coastal communities. But new research is uncovering how the tiny marine isopod digests could hold the key to converting wood and straw into liquid...

How dinosaurs rose to prominence

How did dinosaurs become rulers of Earth more than 200 million years ago? Widespread volcanism and a spike in atmospheric carbon dioxide wiped out half of all plant species, and extinguished early crocodile relatives that had competed with the earliest dinosaurs, according to...

New bone-hard biomaterial for surgical screws

Screws used in surgical operations are often made of titanium. They usually have to be removed after a while or replaced by new ones. A new biomaterial makes this unnecessary. It promotes bone growth and is biodegradable.

How strong is your booze? True strength of alcohol revealed by new portable device

Both legitimate brewers and distillers -- and authorities on the track of illicit alcohol from home stills -- will soon have a helping hand. Measurement experts have unveiled a portable device to determine the strength of alcoholic drinks quickly and easily, almost anywhere. In a new study, the researchers show that their technique is just as accurate, and more sophisticated, than widely used...

Exploring the link between sunlight and multiple sclerosis

For more than 30 years, scientists have known that multiple sclerosis is much more common in higher latitudes than in the tropics. Because sunlight is more abundant near the equator, many researchers have wondered if the high levels of vitamin D engendered by sunlight could explain this unusual pattern of...

Cracking the plant-cell membrane code

To engineer better crops and develop new drugs to combat disease, scientists look at how the sensor-laden membranes surrounding cells interact with their environment. But remarkably little is known about how proteins interact with these protective structures. For the first time for any multicellular organism, researchers have analyzed 3.4 million potential protein/membrane interactions and have...

Giant 'microscope' will use neutrons to study glass transition mystery in solid-state research

Scientists are building an electrostatic levitation chamber that will be installed at the Spallation Neutron Source in Oakridge National Laboratory. Using neutrons as a probe, the instrument will allow scientists to watch atoms in a suspended drop of liquid as the drop cools and solidifies. Researchers are particularly eager to see what the new instrument will tell them about the "glass...

Immunology: New Gene Mutation Linked To Antibody Deficiency

Individuals who have abnormally low levels of immune molecules known as antibodies have an increased susceptibility to infection with certain types of bacteria. By analyzing one such person, researchers have identified a new genetic cause of antibody deficiency, mutations in the CD81...

Boosting endangered freshwater mussels population

The endangered freshwater mussel species has been given a welcome boost following a 12 year cultivation project. Over 300 of the mussels, which are threatened in many parts of Europe and North America, have been released back into the wild at a range of secret locations in Northern...

Cyber wars

As cyberspace has become the arena for political activism, governments are growing more sophisticated in controlling free expression online -- from surveillance to filtering. And it's now becoming harder than ever for human rights activists to outwit the authorities.

Diesel exhaust associated with lethargy in offspring

Breathing diesel exhaust during pregnancy is associated with sluggishness in offspring. Researchers studied the effects of pollution exposure in mice, finding that the offspring of mothers who breathed diesel fumes while pregnant were less likely to show spontaneous movement.

Disease-causing mutation disrupts movement of cell's 'power house'

New research shows how a mutation causes a common inherited neurodegenerative disease. The study shows that the mutation of a specific protein known to cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth disrupts the movement of mitochondria, the energy-supplying machines inside each cell. The regulated movement of mitochondria along nerve cell fibers is vital to normal communication between the brain and...