Topics : Science World Report

Mar 07, 2012 11:19 AM EST

The Shape of Things to Come: NIST Probes the Promise of Nanomanufacturing Using DNA Origami

In recent years, scientists have begun to harness DNA's powerful molecular machinery to build artificial structures at the nanoscale using the natural ability of pairs of DNA molecules to assemble into complex structures. Such "DNA origami," first developed at the California Institute of Technology,...

Mar 06, 2012 04:24 PM EST

Basque Roots Revealed through DNA Analysis

The Genographic Project announced today the most comprehensive analysis to date of Basque genetic patterns, showing that Basque genetic uniqueness predates the arrival of agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula some 7,000 years ago. Through detailed DNA analysis of samples from the French and Spanish B...

Mar 06, 2012 03:05 PM EST

What Sank the Titanic? Scientists Point to the Moon

A century after the Titanic disaster, scientists have found an unexpected culprit of the crash: the moon.

Mar 06, 2012 02:57 PM EST

Listening to the 9.0-magnitude Japanese Earthquake

Last year's 9.0-magnitude Tohoku-Oki, Japan, earthquake was the fourth largest since 1900. However, because of thousands of seismometers in the region and Japan's willingness to share their measurements with the rest of the world, the Tohoku-Oki quake is the best-recorded earthquake of all-time.

Mar 06, 2012 01:33 PM EST

Ancient 'Graffiti' Unlock the Life of the Common Man

History is often shaped by the stories of kings and religious and military leaders, and much of what we know about the past derives from official sources like military records and governmental decrees. Now an international project is gaining invaluable insights into the history of ancient Israel thr...

Mar 06, 2012 11:25 AM EST

Dinosaur Fossil: Even Specialized Predators didn't Turn Down Free Meals

Scientists have discovered a bone from a pterosaur (giant flying reptile or 'pterodactyl') in the guts of the skeletal remains of a Velociraptor (small predatory theropod dinosaur) that lived in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia some 75 million years ago.

Mar 06, 2012 07:23 AM EST

Four-legged "Cheetah" Robot Sets New Speed Record

A four-legged robot known as the Cheetah lived up to its name on Monday, setting a new land speed record for legged robots by running at 18 mph on a treadmill at a laboratory in Massachusetts, its developer said.

Mar 05, 2012 10:26 AM EST

Final FACE Harvest Reveals Increased Soil Carbon Storage Under Elevated Carbon Dioxide

Elevated carbon dioxide concentrations can increase carbon storage in the soil, according to results from a 12-year carbon dioxide-enrichment experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The increased storage of carbon in soil could help to slow down rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentratio...

Mar 05, 2012 10:17 AM EST

X-rays Reveal How Soil Bacteria Carry out Surprising Chemistry

Researchers from Singapore, Japan, the UK and USA have discovered how soil bacteria carry out surprising chemistry, defying a longstanding set of chemical rules and thus paving the way for new synthesis of polyether drugs.

Mar 05, 2012 10:09 AM EST

2 Crystals Linked by Quantum Physics

For almost fifteen years Professor Nicolas Gisin and his physicist col- laborators have been entangling photons. If this exercise seems to them perhaps henceforth trivial, it continues to elude us ordinary humans. The laws that govern the quantum world are so strange that they completely escape us h...

Mar 05, 2012 09:06 AM EST

A New Optimum Design Method of Bicycle Parameters for a Specified Person

The optimum design of bicycle parameters has been explored by many scholars and institutes since bicycles were first invented. Professor Xin-Jun Liu and his group at Tsinghua University established a new way to design bicycle parameters according to the dimensions of the rider's body. They introduce...

Mar 03, 2012 08:52 AM EST

When your ship comes in

Every day, thousands of cargo containers from around the world pass through our nation's sea ports carrying items we need, and possibly some that are not so welcome: drugs, explosives, chemical, biological, or radiological weapons - even human cargo.