science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Τρίτη 14 Αυγούστου 2012

Science News SciGuru.com

Computing in the net of possibilities
Major advance made in generating electricity from wastewater
New method may allow personalized clinical trial for cancer therapies
Chemical widely used in antibacterial hand soaps may impair muscle function
Gamma rays from galactic center could be evidence of dark matter
Scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars
Hybrid medical imaging technology may shed new light on cancer

Posted: 14 Aug 2012 06:28 AM PDT

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen have developed an entirely new principle for information processing. The complex network computer now stands as an alternative to the other possibilities in data processing - such as the conventional computer or the quantum computer. The fundamental requirement is a system, for instance a laser, with oscillating elements that can interact with one another.

Major advance made in generating electricity from wastewater

Posted: 13 Aug 2012 03:49 PM PDT

Engineers at Oregon State University have made a breakthrough in the performance of microbial fuel cells that can produce electricity directly from wastewater, opening the door to a future in which waste treatment plants not only will power themselves, but will sell excess electricity.

The new technology developed at OSU can now produce 10 to 50 more times the electricity, per volume, than most other approaches using microbial fuel cells, and 100 times more electricity than some.

New method may allow personalized clinical trial for cancer therapies

Posted: 13 Aug 2012 03:42 PM PDT

A new tool to observe cell behavior has revealed surprising clues about how cancer cells respond to therapy – and may offer a way to further refine personalized cancer treatments.

Chemical widely used in antibacterial hand soaps may impair muscle function

Posted: 13 Aug 2012 01:10 PM PDT

Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical widely used in hand soaps and other personal-care products, hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Colorado. The findings appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Gamma rays from galactic center could be evidence of dark matter

Posted: 13 Aug 2012 01:03 PM PDT

Gamma-ray photons seen emanating from the center of the Milky Way galaxy are consistent with the intriguing possibility that dark-matter particles are annihilating each other in space, according to research submitted by UC Irvine astrophysicists to the American Physical Society journal Physical Review D.

Scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars

Posted: 13 Aug 2012 10:58 AM PDT

For years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our solar system but on Earth. Now, a UCLA scientist has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's surface, also exists on Mars.

"Mars is at a primitive stage of plate tectonics. It gives us a glimpse of how the early Earth may have looked and may help us understand how plate tectonics began on Earth," said An Yin, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences and the sole author of the new research.

Hybrid medical imaging technology may shed new light on cancer

Posted: 13 Aug 2012 10:46 AM PDT

Scientists from USC and Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new type of medical imaging that gives doctors a fresh look at live internal organs.

The technology combines two existing forms of medical imaging — photoacoustic and ultrasound — and uses them to generate a high-contrast, high-resolution combined image that could help doctors spot tumors more quickly.