Mark Hoffman : Science World Report

Apr 11, 2013 10:12 PM EDT

Level of Pain Astonishingly Visible in Brain Scans

Researchers were astonished by the surprising result of their analysis of brain scans, showing that the level of pain can be revealed in universal patterns. This is a major breakthrough that makes it possible to measure pain objectively for the first time.

Apr 11, 2013 06:45 PM EDT

Eyes of Mars Watching? Twin Crater Pits Result of Huge Underground Explosions

Two large and very similar Martian impact craters also reveal deep pits in their center, which most likely resulted from dramatic underground explosions. There are different theories about the cause of these explosions though.

Apr 11, 2013 03:18 PM EDT

Deleting Sensory Circuitry For Heat in Nervous System Causes Hypersensitivity to Cold, Painkiller Side-Effect

Biologists experimentally discovered the surprising phenomenon that deleting the nerve circuitry for heat and some kinds of itch in animals appears to automatically enhance sensitivity to cold in turn. The research results could have implications for people with types of chronic pain, especially reg...

Apr 11, 2013 11:56 AM EDT

Nanowire Network Research Boosted, Which Mimics Brain Functions

To continue potentially ground-breaking research into nanowire networks, the highest possible ERC research grant for an individual was awarded to Professor John Boland, Director of the CRANN nanoscience institute based at Trinity College Dublin. The professor in the School of Chemistry will receive ...

Apr 11, 2013 12:05 AM EDT

Recent Generations Are Less Healthy Despite Longer Life Expectancy

Adults of today are less "metabolically" healthy than their counterparts of previous generations, despite their greater life expectancy. That's the conclusion of a large cohort study from the Netherlands which compared generational shifts in a range of well established metabolic risk factors for car...

Apr 10, 2013 11:41 PM EDT

Giant Telescope Captures Ghostly Glow Of Planetary Nebula IC 1295

The most detailed picture ever captured of a ghostly dying star in our quarter of the galaxy has now been published by European astronomers, on which the nebula 3,300 light-years from Earth can be seen with its ghostly green light show.

Apr 10, 2013 11:06 PM EDT

Nanocomposite Material of Squid Beaks Model for Better Medical Implants

The special properties of squid beak, consisting of a nanocomposite material, could help to develop better medical implants in the future. While various kinds of implants often require hard materials, they also have to connect to or pass through soft body tissue, a mechanical mismatch that can lead ...

Apr 10, 2013 05:27 PM EDT

Nanocrystalline Germanium Could Drive Next Speed Revolution in Computer Chips

Comparable to "wonder material" graphene, scientists successfully created for the first time a one-atom-thick sheet of germanium that has incredible properties, promising a new pathway to take electronics to the next level. Interestingly, germanium also was the material that allowed the development ...

Apr 10, 2013 03:14 PM EDT

Neuroscientists Apply New 'Light Switch' Method to Decrypt Neuronal Microwiring

Applying a new method to decode the microwiring of the brain, Norwegian neuroscientists have used an optogenetic light switch to literally see which neurons communicate with each other in one small section of the brain.

Apr 09, 2013 11:20 PM EDT

Greenhouse Effect on Early Mars Was Probably Much Stronger Than Known

Giant active volcanoes in the early history of Mars blew huge amounts of gas in the atmosphere, with a significant climate warming effect. This is old news, but recent experiments provide evidence that the greenhouse effect could have been much larger, because instead of carbon dioxide the much more...

Apr 09, 2013 08:51 PM EDT

New Kind of Nanotechnology Imaging Technique Developed

By using high-energy X-rays produced by synchrotron sources, researchers achieved a major breakthrough in measuring the structure of nanomaterials under extremely high pressures. For the first time, they developed a way to get around the severe distortions of high-energy X-ray beams that are used to...

Apr 09, 2013 05:59 PM EDT

First Step Towards Optical Transistors With Semiconductor Nanocrystals

The global communication infrastructure, relying on fiber-optic backbones, struggles to keep pace with the ever rising surge of bandwidth and speed demand, because the light signals transmitted through the fiber-optic lines must still be switched and processed electronically, creating a bottleneck i...