المؤسسة العربية للعلوم والتكنولوجيا : أخبار العلوم والتكنولوجيا

1.	Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, August 2010 (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) The following are story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory for August 2010.


2.	American Physical Society journals now free to public libraries in US (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (American Physical Society) Over a century of physics research published in the journals of the American Physical Society is now available for free to US public libraries.


3.	Graphene under strain creates gigantic pseudo-magnetic fields (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) By putting the right kind of strain onto a patch of graphene, Berkeley Lab researchers have created pseudo-magnetic fields far stronger than the strongest magnetic fields ever sustained in a laboratory. This finding opens a new window on a source of important applications and fundamental scientific discoveries going back over a century.


4.	HPC for phylogenetics tutorial aims to reduce analysis time (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS)) A phylogenetic analysis can take a long time to run, but there are ways to do it more efficiently and effectively. The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis will co-host a tutorial Oct. 13-15 focusing on high performance computing (HPC) for phylogenetics.


5.	Behind the secrets of silk lie high-tech opportunities (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Tufts University) Tougher than a bullet-proof vest yet synonymous with beauty and luxury, silks spun by worms and spiders are a masterpiece of nature whose properties have yet to be fully replicated in the laboratory. But scientists have begun to unravel the secrets of silk. Tufts biomedical engineers report that silk-based materials have been transformed from commodity textile to a growing web of high tech applications.


6.	Chances of hurricane hitting Texas discussed at UH conference (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (University of Houston) University of Houston researchers are doing things a little differently with a new model they developed to predict the number of hurricanes that could strike Texas this year. This and other hurricane-related topics will be discussed at a public conference from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Hilton University of Houston Hotel.


7.	'White graphene' to the rescue (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Rice University) Researchers in the lab of Pulickel Ajayan, Rice's Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and of chemistry, have figured out how to make sheets of h-BN, which could turn out to be the complementary apple to graphene's orange.


8.	Nano's brightest coming to Rice (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Rice University) Registration is open for Year of Nano events to be held Oct. 10-13 in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the carbon 60 molecule, the buckminsterfullerene, at Rice.


9.	Carnegie Mellon researchers create fluorescent biosensor to aid in drug development (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Carnegie Mellon University) Carnegie Mellon University has developed a new fluorescent biosensor that could aid in the development of an important class of drugs that target a crucial class of proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs are popular drug targets because of the pivotal role they play in cells' communication circuits responsible for regulating functions critical to health, including circuits involved in heart and lung function, mood, cognition and memory, digestion and the inflammatory response.


10.	Researchers study benefits of white button mushrooms (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (United States Department of Agriculture-Research, Education, and Economics) Agricultural Research Service-funded scientists have conducted an animal-model and cell-culture study showing that white button mushrooms enhanced the activity of critical cells in the body's immune system.


11.	A breakthrough in tuberculosis research (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (McGill University) The key to the fate of the macrophages is the balance between two kinds of eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are molecules that contribute to the control of our immune system. The genetic code of TB bacteria enables it to tip this balance in favor of necrosis, and human genetic analysis revealed that modification in eicosanoids production is associated with susceptibility or resistance to TB. Fortunately, drugs that target the production of eicosanoids are already in use for treating other inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.


12.	Playing with pills (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (University of Stavanger) Drug calculations is a particularly hard course for many nursing students. A specially made computer game, developed at the University of Stavanger, is set to help students pass this vitally important exam.


13.	Empa grows 'sea urchin'-shaped structures (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA)) Empa researchers have succeeded in growing sea-urchin shaped nanostructures from minute balls of polystyrene beads using a simple electrochemical process. The spines of the sea urchin consist of zinc oxide nanowires. The structured surface should help increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic devices.


14.	Graphene exhibits bizarre new behavior well suited to electronic devices (Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (University of California - Berkeley) Graphene, a sheet of pure carbon, has been touted as a possible replacement for silicon-based semiconductors because of its useful electronic properties. Now, UC Berkeley physicists have shown that graphene has another unique and amazing property that could make it even more suitable for future electronic devices. When contorted in a specific way it sprouts nanobubbles in which electrons behave as if they are moving in a strong magnetic field.


15.	Quantum fractals at the border of magnetism (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Rice University) Physicists from Rice University, the Max Planck Institute and the Vienna University of Technology are reporting new results from experiments on the perplexing class of materials that includes high-temperature superconductors. In this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the team reports the unexpected discovery of a simple fractal form of electronic excitations in ultra-low-temperature quantum magnets at the border of magnetism.


16.	Nanomaterials poised for big impact in construction (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Rice University) Nanomaterials are poised for widespread use in the construction industry, where they can offer significant advantages for a variety of applications ranging from making more durable concrete to self-cleaning windows. But widespread use in building materials comes with potential environmental and health risks when those materials are thrown away. Those are the conclusions of a new study published by Rice University engineering researchers this month in ACS Nano.


17.	Supercomputers take science by storm (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (DOE/Argonne National Laboratory) Five researchers at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory will lead projects that have been awarded almost 200 million processor-hours of computing time at Argonne's Leadership Computing Facility. The ALCF is home to an IBM Blue Gene/P, a supercomputer capable of performing 557 trillion calculations per second, enabling scientists and engineers to conduct cutting-edge research in weeks or months rather than years.


18.	Building a creativity collective (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Stevens Institute of Technology) Stevens Professors Nickerson and Sakamoto research crowdsourcing for the National Science Foundation.


19.	American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology honors 11 outstanding scientists (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology last week named 10 scientists the winners of the nonprofit's annual awards. Another winner was announced earlier this year.


20.	NJIT professor receives Fulbright to study at University of Salerno (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (New Jersey Institute of Technology) Anthony D. Rosato, Ph.D., a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering at NJIT has received a Fulbright Senior Research Award to study the dynamic behavior of systems composed of particles at the University of Salerno, in Fisciano, Italy. He'll start the four-month program next May.


21.	Small materials poised for big impact in construction (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (American Chemical Society) Bricks, blocks, and steel I-beams -- step aside. A new genre of construction materials, made from stuff barely 1/50,000th the width of a human hair, is about to debut in the building of homes, offices, bridges, and other structures. And a new report is highlighting both the potential benefits of these nanomaterials in improving construction materials and the need for guidelines to regulate their use and disposal. The report appears in the monthly journal ACS Nano.


22.	UC education researcher announces iPad plan to reduce paper trail (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (University of Cincinnati) Experiments involving iPads are becoming a trend at universities across the country. A new UC teacher-education initiative aims to reduce the pounds of paper used in reports to evaluate the professional development of teachers.


23.	Nanotechnology for water purification (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Inderscience Publishers) Writing in the International Journal of Nuclear Desalination, researchers at the D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, in Mumbai, India, explain that there are several nanotechnology approaches to water purification currently being investigated and some already in use.


24.	AWARD Fellowship highlights critical role of African women in agricultural research (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Burness Communications) A passion fruit pathologist, a catfish breeder, and a pigeon pea researcher are among the 60 outstanding women agricultural scientists from 10 African countries who received a fellowship today from African Women in Agricultural Research and Development. The fellowship will help these top researchers strengthen their research and leadership skills, and enhance their contributions to poverty alleviation and food security across the continent.


25.	Best hope for saving Arctic sea ice is cutting soot emissions, says Stanford researcher (Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EDT) (Stanford University) Soot from the burning of fossil fuels and solid biofuels contributes far more to global warming than has been thought, according to a new Stanford study. But, unlike carbon dioxide, soot lingers only a few weeks in the atmosphere, so cutting emissions could have a significant and rapid impact on the climate. Controlling it may be the only option for saving the Arctic sea ice before it all melts.