Humans might not be walking the face of the Earth were it not for the ancient fusing of two prokaryotes â€" tiny life forms that do not have a cellular nucleus. UCLA molecular biologist James A. Lake reports important new insights about prokaryotes and the evolution of life in the Aug. 20 advance online edition of the journal Nature.
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Engineers at Ohio State University have found a way to double the production of the biofuel butanol, which might someday replace gasoline in automobiles.
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We've struggled for 150 years to devise a theory of evolution for technology â€" now complexity theorist W. Brian Arthur believes he's cracked it
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Astronomers are celebrating 10 years of discovery by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Today's story highlights some of Chandra's most surprising, violent and beautiful images of the high-energy Universe.
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In the first study to look at what happens over the years to the billions of pounds of plastic waste floating in the world's oceans, scientists are reporting that plastics -- reputed to be virtually indestructible -- decompose with surprising speed and release potentially toxic substances into the water.
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New UBC research has literally and figuratively poked holes in single-band Hubbard physics--a model that has been used to predict and calculate the behavior of high-temperature superconductors for 20 years.
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Techniques used by courts and historians to identify individuals from their signature style are easy to beat, according to a new study
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A body that was stuffed into a suitcase and thrown in a trash bin in California is identified as that of Jasmine Fiore, 28, a former swimsuit model. She was strangled, according to police. They want to speak to a Canadian man, Ryan Alexander Jenkins, who reported her missing Saturday.
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Hurricane Bill has become a powerhouse in the Atlantic Ocean and NASA satellites are providing forecasters with important information to help their forecasts. Bill is now a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale and is expected to strengthen as it nears Bermuda, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured two views of his cloud cover.
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In a presentation today (Aug. 19) to the American Chemical Society meeting, Ankit Agarwal, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, described an experimental approach to wound healing that could take advantage of silver's anti-bacterial properties, while sidestepping the damage silver can cause to cells needed for healing.
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The dense star cluster RCW 38 glistens about 5500 light years away in the direction of the constellation Vela (the Sails). Like the Orion Nebula Cluster (ESO 12/01), RCW 38 is an "embedded cluster", in that the nascent cloud of dust and gas still envelops its stars. Astronomers have determined that most stars, including the low mass, reddish ones that outnumber all others in the Universe, originate in these matter-rich locations. Accordingly, embedded clusters provide scientists with a living laboratory in which to explore the mechanisms of star and planetary formation.
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A discovery has added to the prevailing notion that many ingredients for life came from asteroids and comets that made impact with the early Earth.
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Scientists at the University of Calgary have found that methane emission by plants could be a bigger problem in global warming than previously thought.
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Nerve fibers that link perception and motor regions of the brain are disconnected in tone-deaf people, according to new research in the August 19 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Experts estimate that at least 10 percent of the population may be tone deaf - unable to sing in tune. The new finding identifies a particular brain circuit that appears to be absent in these individuals.
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From 1995 to 2006 the rate of antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory tract infections decreased significantly, attributable in part to a decline in ambulatory visits for ear infections in young children, according to a study in the August 19 issue of JAMA. But prescription rates for broad spectrum antibiotics, namely azithromycin and quinolones, increased substantially during the study period.
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If some day you are tested for the H1N1 virus without the painful prick of a needle, thank a pig -- and a team of Kansas State University researchers and their collaborators who are connecting animal and human health.
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Elevated levels of the enzyme arginase contribute to vascular eye damage and Medical College of Georgia researchers say therapies to normalize its levels could halt progression of potentially blinding diseases such as diabetic retinopathy.
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Researchers at Uppsala University have found that the protein coding parts of a gene are packed in special nucleosomes. The same type of packaging is found in the roundworm C elegans, which is a primeval relative of humans. The mechanism can thereby be traced back a billion years in time, according to the study presented in the journal Genome Research.
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About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday â€" the latest incidents in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Anyone who has spent a sleepless night anguishing over a possible job loss has experienced the central finding of a new brain scan study: Uncertainty makes a bad event feel even worse.
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Severe breathing disorders during sleep are associated with an increased risk of dying from any cause according to research published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine. The study finds that the increased risk of dying is most apparent in men between 40 and 70 years of age with severe sleep-disordered breathing, and suggests a specific link between this condition and death from coronary heart disease in men.
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Once the much-mocked symbol of drab communist East Germany, Trabant cars are revving up for a dramatic rebirth as electric cars -- 20 years after they drove through the fallen Berlin Wall to ...
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Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a Miami man with the largest case of credit and debit card data theft ever in the United States. Authorities said Albert Gonzales, 28, has broken his own record for identity theft by hacking into more retail networks to steal data from 130 million accounts.
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Mozart’s death has been attributed to many causes over the centuries, but a new reports suggests he was a victim of an epidemic streptococcal infection.
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(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the largest surveys of substance use has found a remarkable amount of binge-drinking among older Americans. The findings, published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, were reported by researchers at Duke University Medical Center.
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A preliminary study suggests that a negative, inhibited personality type (type D personality) appears to predict an increased risk of death over four years among patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Surgery.
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