News

May 15, 2012 02:57 PM EDT

Reported Increase in Older Adult Fall Deaths Due to Improved Coding

The recent dramatic increase in the fall death rate in older Americans is likely the effect of improved reporting quality, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. The report finds the largest increase in the mortality rate occurred immediately followin...

May 15, 2012 02:42 PM EDT

Oxygen-separation Membranes Could Aid in CO2 Reduction

It may seem counterintuitive, but one way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere may be to produce pure carbon dioxide in powerplants that burn fossil fuels. In this way, greenhouse gases - once isolated within a plant - could be captured and stored in natural reservoirs, deep in Earth...

Stephen Moose, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
May 15, 2012 02:30 PM EDT

Maps of Miscanthus Genome Offer Insight into Grass Evolution

Miscanthus grasses are used in gardens, burned for heat and energy, and converted into liquid fuels. They also belong to a prominent grass family that includes corn, sorghum and sugarcane. Two new, independently produced chromosome maps of Miscanthus sinensis (an ornamental that likely is a parent o...

A Supernova Cocoon Breakthrough
May 15, 2012 02:10 PM EDT

A Supernova Cocoon Breakthrough

Observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have provided the first X-ray evidence of a supernova shock wave breaking through a cocoon of gas surrounding the star that exploded. This discovery may help astronomers understand why some supernovas are much more powerful than others.

May 15, 2012 01:36 PM EDT

Statistical Analysis Projects Future Temperatures in North America

For the first time, researchers have been able to combine different climate models using spatial statistics - to project future seasonal temperature changes in regions across North America.

Dr. David Picketts, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
May 15, 2012 01:26 PM EDT

Mice with Big Brains Provide Insight into Brain Regeneration and Developmental Disorders

Scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) have discovered that mice that lack a gene called Snf2l have brains that are 35 per cent larger than normal. The research, led by Dr. David Picketts and published in the prestigious journal Development...

May 15, 2012 01:06 PM EDT

Ancient Plant-fungal Partnerships Reveal How the World Became Green

Prehistoric plants grown in state-of-the-art growth chambers recreating environmental conditions from more than 400 million years ago have shown scientists from the University of Sheffield how soil dwelling fungi played a crucial role in the evolution of plants.

May 15, 2012 12:56 PM EDT

Brain Circuitry Is Different for Women with Anorexia and Obesity

Why does one person become anorexic and another obese? A study recently published by a University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher shows that reward circuits in the brain are sensitized in anorexic women and desensitized in obese women. The findings also suggest that eating behavior is rela...

Cells
May 15, 2012 12:17 PM EDT

Solar-Panel-Like Cells Help Restore Sight to the Blind

Using tiny solar-panel-like cells surgically placed underneath the retina, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a system that may someday restore sight to people who have lost vision because of certain types of degenerative eye diseases.

Location of New Phosphate Transporter in Root Cell Membranes
May 15, 2012 11:47 AM EDT

When the Soil Holds Not Enough Phosphorus

Plants cannot survive without phosphorus. It forms the backbone of many crucial molecules (such as DNA) and is a key player in energy transfer reactions. Low availability of phosphorus is a major environmental stress for plants and can lead to great losses in crop production.

Graphene
May 15, 2012 10:48 AM EDT

New Research Could Mean Faster Computers and Better Mobile Phones

Graphene and carbon nanotubes could improve the electronics used in computers and mobile phones, reveals new research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Watching an Electron Being Born
May 15, 2012 10:02 AM EDT

Watching an Electron Being Born

A strong laser beam can remove an electron from an atom - a process which takes place almost instantly. At the Vienna University of Technology, this phenomenon could now be studied with a time resolution of less than ten attoseconds (ten billionths of a billionth of a second).

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