Science News

Low levels of dopamine markers may underlie symptoms; implications for treatment

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A brain-imaging study conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory provides the first definitive evidence that patients suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have lower-than-normal levels of certain proteins essential for experiencing reward and motivation.

Computer Scientists at Yale Develop New Hybrid Database System

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As the amounts of data being stored by databases around the world enters the realm of the petabyte (the amount of data stored in a mile-high stack of CD-ROM disks), efficient data management is becoming more and more important. Now computer scientists at Yale University have developed a new database system by combining the best features of multiple approaches to create an open source hybrid system called HadoopDB.

The molecular blueprint for evolution from cold-blooded to warm-blooded has been found

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The first genetic link in the evolution of the heart from three-chambered to four-chambered has been found, illuminating part of the puzzle of how birds and mammals became warm-blooded.

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Titan's atmosphere is extremely rich in an assortment of hydrocarbon chemicals, including propane, which we use to fill our barbecue tanks," said Cassini scientist Conor Nixon of the University of Maryland, College Park. "Titan's atmospheric inventory would fuel about 150 billion barbecue cookouts, enough for several thousand years of Labor Days

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Treat your eyes with respect: they are more than 500 million years old. In fact, in parts they may be closer to a

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New evidence that early modern humans used fire in southern Africa in a controlled way to increase the quality and efficiency of stone tools is changing how researchers understand the evolution of human behavior, and in particular, the evolution of human brain power.

MIT study illuminates thoughts and memories

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Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have found that rats use a mental instant replay of their actions to help them decide what to do next, shedding new light on how animals and humans learn and remember.

Scientists from Tübingen show that people really walk in circles when lost

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It is a common theme in many books and films: when people get lost in a desert or a jungle, they end up walking in circles. No matter how hard they try, at some point they will cross their own tracks and despair, because they realize that they will never make it back to civilization.

MPQ/Caltech scientists demonstrate mechanical analogue to an optical laser with single ions.

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For decades there has been interest in phonon lasers that emit quanta of vibrational energy – so called phonons – instead of light. In solids, with very short wavelength, the implementation of such a device would make it possible to achieve unprecedented resolution in imaging techniques like tomography.

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Magnetic reconnection could be the Universe's favorite way to make things explode. It operates anywhere magnetic fields pervade space--which is to say almost everywhere. On the sun magnetic reconnection causes solar flares as powerful as a billion atomic bombs. In Earth's atmosphere, it fuels magnetic storms and auroras. In laboratories, it can cause big problems in fusion reactors.

Stronger, lighter materials increase security and efficiency

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Lab scientists have discovered how to layer metals to make them stronger and lighter, improving cars, airplanes, computers, and nuclear power plants.

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Nuclear experts gathered in Idaho Falls for two weeks in July to share knowledge with more than 50 early career nuclear engineers. They converged for the Modeling, Experimentation and Validation (MeV) School, which was hosted by Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and Idaho State University (ISU).

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A new process for creating ultrathin, ultrasmall inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and assembling them into large arrays offers new classes of lighting and display systems with interesting properties, such as see-through construction and mechanical flexibility, that would be impossible to achieve with existing technologies.

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In a new study, researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro), McGill University have found an important mechanism involved in setting up the vast communications network of connections in the brain.

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By comparing proteins present in more than 3000 different prokaryotes - a type of single-celled organism without a nucleus -- molecular biologist James A. Lake from the University of California at Los Angeles' Center for Astrobiology showed that two major classes of relatively simple microbes fused together more than 2.5 billion years ago. Lake's research reveals a new pathway for the evolution of life on Earth.

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Inside a mountain range in central Italy, Columbia researchers are trying to solve one of the most pressing questions in modern physics: What is dark matter? The riddle has obsessed astronomers and physicists since the 1930s, when Caltech professor Fritz Zwicky first predicted its existence.

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Astronomers say that two rocky bodies, one as least as big as our moon and the other at least as big as Mercury, slammed into each other within the last few thousand years or so — not long ago by cosmic standards. The impact destroyed the smaller body, vaporizing huge amounts of rock and flinging massive plumes of hot lava into space.

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In the latest proof that the oceans continue to offer remarkable findings and much of their vastness remains to be explored, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues have discovered a unique group of worms that live in the depths of the ocean.

The discoveries feature worms—nicknamed “green bombers”—that can release body parts that produce a brilliant green bioluminescent display.

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August 19, 2009: About ten years ago Space Shuttle Columbia launched hauling 55,000 pounds worth of astronomers' dreams -- the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. This was the heaviest payload a space shuttle ever lifted – and one of the best day's labor the work-horse space shuttle ever put in.

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Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and IBM's Almaden Research Center have developed a new technique to orient and position self-assembled DNA shapes and patterns--or "DNA origami"--on surfaces that are compatible with today's semiconductor manufacturing equipment. These precisely positioned DNA nanostructures, each no more than one one-thousandth the width of a human hair, can serve as scaffolds or miniature circuit boards for the precise assembly of computer-chip components.