Physicists dream up plans for the world’s tiniest motor

Continue reading about To Fix This Engine, You’ll Need a Quantum Mechanic

admin on June 10th, 2009

Masses of nearby cosmic beasts are up to three times greater than thought

Continue reading about Black Holes Have Been Underestimated

admin on June 10th, 2009

Plus more from Science’s policy blog, ScienceInsider

Continue reading about Wins for Open Access and German Science

In what could be a breakthrough in animal breeding, scientists have discovered a set of genetic regions responsible for animal tameness. This discovery should help animal breeders, farmers, zoologists, and anyone else who handles and raises animals to more fully understand what makes some animals interact with humans better than do others.

Continue reading about Genetic Region For Tame Animals Discovered: Horse Whisperers, Lion Tamers Not Needed

admin on June 10th, 2009

During desperate times, such as fasting or muscle wasting that afflicts cancer or AIDS patients, the body cannibalizes itself, atrophying and breaking down skeletal muscle proteins to liberate amino acids. A new study shows that muscle atrophy is a more ordered process than was previously thought.

Continue reading about Muscle Atrophy: When The Body Cannibalizes Itself

New research documents a surprising chemical weapon used by some Amazonian poison frogs. The study identified for the first time a family of poisons never before known to exist in these brightly colored creatures or elsewhere in nature: the N-methyldecahydroquinolines. The authors then speculated on its origin in the frogs’ diet, most likely ants.

Continue reading about Newly Discovered Chemical Weapon In Poison Frogs’ Arsenal

Men with insomnia and sleep duration of six or fewer hours of nightly sleep are at an increased risk for mortality, according to a new research.

Continue reading about Insomnia With Objective Short Sleep Duration In Men Is Associated With Increased Mortality

admin on June 10th, 2009

Vast quantities of data are transferred in real time from telescopes around the world to a supercomputer in the Netherlands, where researchers combine the information to create high-resolution images of distant objects in space.

Continue reading about Network Creates Virtual Super-telescope

When it comes to concussions, children and teens require different treatment, according to international experts. The new guidelines say children and teens must be strictly monitored and activities restricted until fully healed. These restrictions include no return to the field of play, no return to school, and no cognitive activity.

Continue reading about Concussion Experts: For Kids — No Sports, No Schoolwork, No Text Messages

Researchers have made a fundamental new discovery about how birds breathe and have a lung capacity that allows for flight — and the finding means it’s unlikely that birds descended from any known theropod dinosaurs.

Continue reading about Discovery Raises New Doubts About Dinosaur-bird Links