science newsletter: Science News SciGuru.com

Παρασκευή 12 Απριλίου 2013

Science News SciGuru.com

Researchers evaluate Bose-Einstein condensates for communicating among quantum computers
Scientists create phantom sensations in non-amputees
Diamond as a Building Material for Optical Circuits
Research discovers new drug target for metastatic breast cancer

Researchers evaluate Bose-Einstein condensates for communicating among quantum computers

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 09:47 AM PDT

Quantum computers promise to perform certain types of operations much more quickly than conventional digital computers. But many challenges must be addressed before these ultra-fast machines become available, among them, the loss of order in the systems – a problem known as quantum decoherence – which worsens as the number of bits in a quantum computer increases.

Scientists create phantom sensations in non-amputees

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 08:59 AM PDT

The sensation of having a physical body is not as self-evident as one might think. Almost everyone who has had an arm or leg amputated experiences a phantom limb: a vivid sensation that the missing limb is still present. A new study by neuroscientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that it is possible to evoke the illusion of having a phantom hand in non-amputated individuals.

Diamond as a Building Material for Optical Circuits

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 08:37 AM PDT

The application of light for information processing opens up a multitude of possibilities. However, to be able to adequately use photons in circuits and sensors, materials need to have particular optical and mechanical properties. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now for the first time used polycrystalline diamond to manufacture optical circuits and have published their results online in Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2710).

Research discovers new drug target for metastatic breast cancer

Posted: 11 Apr 2013 08:23 AM PDT

Research led by Dr. Suresh Alahari, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, is the first to report that two specific tumor suppressor genes work in concert to inhibit the growth and spread of breast tumor cells to the lungs. The research is published this week online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.