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New Avocado Rootstocks Are High-performing and Disease-tolerant
Berkeley Lab Researchers Direct the Self-Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles into Device-Ready Thin films
Decorating nanowires with chains of tiny particles to increase their electrical and catalytic performance
Researchers combat global disease with a cell phone, Google Maps and a lot of ingenuity
The Generation X Report: Food in the lives of GenXers
Global Prices of Pollination-dependent Products such as Coffee and Cocoa Could Continue to Rise in the Long Term
Scientists provide first large-scale estimate of reef shark losses in the Pacific Ocean
Slow-Growing Babies More Likely in Normal-Weight Women; Less Common in Obese Pregnancies
The Solar Cell that Also Shines: Luminescent 'LED-type' Design Breaks Efficiency Record, Illuminates 50-Year Mystery
NIH Study Links Genes to Common Forms of Glaucoma
Researchers from the University of Zurich discover new particle (Xi_b^*) at CERN
Deadly Decision: Obese Drivers are Far Less Likely to Buckle Up
Folding light: Wrinkles and twists boost power from solar panels

New Avocado Rootstocks Are High-performing and Disease-tolerant

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 08:41 PM PDT

Avocado, a significant fruit crop grown in many tropical and subtropical parts of the world, is threatened by Phytophthora root rot (PRR), a disease that has already eliminated commercial avocado production in many areas in Latin America and crippled production in Australia and South Africa. Just in California the disease is estimated to cost avocado growers approximately $30-40 million a year in production losses.

Berkeley Lab Researchers Direct the Self-Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles into Device-Ready Thin films

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 12:18 PM PDT

Scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have directed the first self-assembly of nanoparticles into device-ready materials. Through a relatively easy and inexpensive technique based on blending nanoparticles with block co-polymer supramolecules, the researchers produced multiple-layers of thin films from highly ordered one-, two- and three-dimensional arrays of gold nanoparticles.

Decorating nanowires with chains of tiny particles to increase their electrical and catalytic performance

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:42 AM PDT

Engineers at Stanford have found a novel method for “decorating” nanowires with chains of tiny particles to increase their electrical and catalytic performance. The new technique is simpler, faster and provides greater control than earlier methods and could lead to better batteries, solar cells and catalysts.

Like a lead actress on the red carpet, nanowires—those superstars of nanotechnology—can be enhanced by a little jewelry, too. Not the diamonds and pearls variety, but the sort formed of sinuous chains of metal oxide or noble metal nanoparticles.

Researchers combat global disease with a cell phone, Google Maps and a lot of ingenuity

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:22 AM PDT

In the fight against emerging public health threats, early diagnosis of infectious diseases is crucial. And in poor and remote areas of the globe where conventional medical tools like microscopes and cytometers are unavailable, rapid diagnostic tests, or RDTs, are helping to make disease screening quicker and simpler.

The Generation X Report: Food in the lives of GenXers

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 10:53 AM PDT

Generation X adults prepare an average of 10 meals a week, and eat out or buy fast food an average of three times a week, according to a University of Michigan report that details the role food plays in the lives of Americans born between 1961 and 1981.

GenX men are surprisingly involved in shopping for food and cooking, the report shows. They go grocery shopping more than once a week, on average, and cook an average of about eight meals a week—much more often than their fathers did.

Global Prices of Pollination-dependent Products such as Coffee and Cocoa Could Continue to Rise in the Long Term

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 10:43 AM PDT

In recent years the economic value of pollination-dependent crops has substantially increased around the world. As a team of researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Technical University of Dresden and the University of Freiburg headed by the UFZ wrote in an article entitled "Spatial and temporal trends of global pollination benefit" in the open-access journal PLoS ONE the value of ecological pollination services was around 200 billion US dollars in 1993 and rose to around 350 billion US dollars in 2009.

Scientists provide first large-scale estimate of reef shark losses in the Pacific Ocean

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 10:28 AM PDT

Many shark populations have plummeted in the past three decades as a result of excessive harvesting – for their fins, as an incidental catch of fisheries targeting other species, and in recreational fisheries. This is particularly true for oceanic species. However, until now, a lack of data prevented scientists from properly quantifying the status of Pacific reef sharks at a large geographic scale.

Slow-Growing Babies More Likely in Normal-Weight Women; Less Common in Obese Pregnancies

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 09:59 AM PDT

Obesity during pregnancy puts women at higher risk of a multitude of challenges. But, according to a new study presented earlier this month at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine annual convention, fetal growth restriction, or the poor growth of a baby while in the mother’s womb, is not one of them. In fact, study authors from the University of Rochester Medical Center found that the incidence of fetal growth restriction was lower in obese women when compared to non-obese women.

The Solar Cell that Also Shines: Luminescent 'LED-type' Design Breaks Efficiency Record, Illuminates 50-Year Mystery

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 09:34 AM PDT

To produce the maximum amount of energy, solar cells are designed to absorb as much light from the Sun as possible. Now researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have suggested – and demonstrated – a counterintuitive concept: solar cells should be designed to be more like LEDs, able to emit light as well as absorb it. The Berkeley team will present its findings at the Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics (CLEO: 2012), to be held May 6-11 in San Jose, Calif.

NIH Study Links Genes to Common Forms of Glaucoma

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 09:26 AM PDT

Results from the largest genetic study of glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness and vision loss worldwide, showed that two genetic variations are associated with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a common form of the disease. The identification of genes responsible for this disease is the first step toward the development of gene-based disease detection and treatment.

Researchers from the University of Zurich discover new particle (Xi_b^*) at CERN

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 09:02 AM PDT

Physicists from the University of Zurich have discovered a previously unknown particle composed of three quarks in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator. A new baryon could thus be detected for the first time at the LHC. The baryon known as Xi_b^* confirms fundamental assumptions of physics regarding the binding of quarks.

Deadly Decision: Obese Drivers are Far Less Likely to Buckle Up

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 08:53 AM PDT

Obese drivers are far less likely to wear seatbelts than are drivers of normal weight, a new University at Buffalo study has found, a behavior that puts them at greater risk of severe injury or death during motor vehicle crashes.

Folding light: Wrinkles and twists boost power from solar panels

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 08:37 AM PDT

Taking their cue from the humble leaf, researchers have used microscopic folds on the surface of photovoltaic material to significantly increase the power output of flexible, low-cost solar cells.

The team, led by scientists from Princeton University, reported online April 22 in the journal Nature Photonics that the folds resulted in a 47 percent increase in electricity generation. Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, the principal investigator, said the finely calibrated folds on the surface of the panels channel light waves and increase the photovoltaic material's exposure to light.