Science

A novel class of hybrid materials made from metals and organic compounds is changing the face of solid state chemistry and materials science just 10 years after its discovery, with applications already in safe storage of highly inflammable gases such as hydrogen and methane. Europe is aiming to capitalise on core strengths in the field [...]

From medicine to make-up, plastics to paper — hardly a day goes by when we don’t use titanium dioxide.
Now researchers at the University of Leeds have developed a simpler, cheaper and greener method of extracting higher yields of one of this most useful and versatile of minerals.
In powder form titanium dioxide (TiO2) is widely used [...]

University of Arizona optical scientists have broken a technological barrier by making three-dimensional holographic displays that can be erased and rewritten in a matter of minutes.
The holographic displays - which are viewed without special eyewear - are the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory ever to be developed, making them ideal tools for medical, industrial [...]

For Kansas State University physics professor Uwe Thumm, confirmation of a theory about the behavior of small molecules became music to his ears — literally. He and colleagues in Heidelberg, Germany, have shown how a hydrogen molecule responds to laser pulses by using the changing musical chord created by the molecule’s vibrational motion.
Thumm is a [...]

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Arizona State University have sequenced the genome of a rare bacterium that harvests light energy by making an even rarer form of chlorophyll, chlorophyll d. Chlorophyll d absorbs “red edge,” near infrared, long wave length light, invisible to the naked eye.
In so doing, the cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina, [...]

Using a tabletop laser, University of Rochester optical scientists have turned pure aluminum gold.
And blue. And gray. And many other colors. And it works for every metal tested, including platinum, titanium, tungsten, silver, and gold.
Chunlei Guo, the researcher who a year ago used intense laser light to alter the properties of a variety of metals [...]

New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.
What is the genetic mutation
“Originally, we all [...]

In the first study to use imaging technology to see what goes on in the brain when we scratch, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have uncovered new clues about why scratching may be so relieving — and why it can be hard to stop. The work is reported online in the Journal [...]

Beyond its role as the elixir of all life, water is a very unusual substance: Scientists have long marveled over counter-intuitive properties that set water apart from other solids and liquids commonly found in nature.
The simple fact that water expands when it freezes — an effect known to anyone whose plumbing has burst in winter [...]

Few things sting like a mosquito’s bite — especially if that bite carries a disease such as malaria, yellow fever, Dengue fever or West Nile virus. But if researchers from The University of Arizona in Tucson have their way, one day mosquito bites may prove deadly to the mosquitoes as well.
“Our goal is to turn [...]

Genetically modifying carrots to express increased levels of a gene that enables the transport of calcium across membranes of plant cells can make the vegetables a better source of calcium, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas A&M University in a report that appears [...]

All of us break the rules from time to time — even crystals.
“There are all sorts of rules about what crystals can do during phase transitions,” said Mark D. Hollingsworth, associate professor of chemistry at Kansas State University. “For a long time, scientists have assumed that the norm applied for all sorts of substances.
But aperiodic [...]

The growing strength of the movement to discredit evolution and promote the teaching of intelligent design and other non science-based views of biological diversity in public science classrooms is of great concern. Please see the UCS position statement on this alarming trend. UCS has not developed a comprehensive program or set of actions on this [...]

A new study suggests the largest fish in the sea is thriving under regulated ecotourism.
Up to 20 meters long and weighing as much as 20 tons, its enormous size gives the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) its name. Known as the ‘gentle giant’ for its non-predatory behavior, this fish, with its broad, flattened head and minute [...]

Mathematicians from the University of Exeter have solved the mystery of traffic jams by developing a model to show how major delays occur on our roads, with no apparent cause. Many traffic jams leave drivers baffled as they finally reach the end of a tail-back to find no visible cause for their delay. Now, a [...]

Researchers at Duke University have demonstrated that monkeys have the ability to perform mental addition. In fact, monkeys performed about as well as college students given the same test.
The findings shed light on the shared evolutionary origins of arithmetic ability in humans and non-human animals, according to Assistant Professor Elizabeth Brannon, Ph.D. and Jessica Cantlon, [...]

One of the simplest plants on the planet could help scientists create crops to survive the ravages of drought.
The moss Physcomitrella patens is a primitive plant, similar to the first plants which began to grow on land around 450 million years ago. Just one cell thick, these early plants had to adapt to withstand cold, [...]

Physicists at the University of Rochester have combined an atom-chiller with a molecule trap, creating for the first time a device that can generate and trap huge numbers of elusive-yet-valuable ultracold polar molecules.
Scientists believe ultracold polar molecules will allow them to create exotic artificial crystals and stable quantum computers.
“The neat thing about this technology is [...]

Anyone who has bonded with a puppy madly sniffing with affection gets an idea of how scents, most not apparent to humans, are critical to a dog’s appreciation of her two-legged friends. Now new research from Northwestern University suggests that humans also pick up infinitesimal scents that affect whether or not we like somebody.
“We evaluate [...]

Grape-seed extract is a viable natural alternative to synthetic ingredients that preserve meat quality in pre-cooked, frozen and refrigerated ready-to-eat meals, such as individual diet entrees or family-sized trays of frozen lasagna, according to a new University of Illinois study published in the Journal of Food Science.
“In the last five years, the section of the [...]