Latest and Breaking Chemistry & Physics News

Hearing metaphors activates brain regions involved in sensory experience
3 February 2012, 5:00 am
(Emory University) New brain imaging research reveals that a region of the brain important for sensing texture through touch, the parietal operculum, is also activated when someone listens to a sentence with a textural metaphor. The same region is not activated when a similar sentence expressing the meaning of the metaphor is heard.

Batchelor Foundation challenge grant to support helicopter purchase
3 February 2012, 5:00 am
(University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science) The University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science announced that it has received a challenge grant for $700,000 from the Miami-based Batchelor Foundation to support its exploration research efforts. The funds will be applied toward the acquisition of a helicopter outfitted with a suite of scientific equipment that will serve as the basis for a one-of-a-kind platform for environmental observations at the School.

AFER announces 2011 Genentech Fellowship recipients
3 February 2012, 5:00 am
(Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology) ARVO Foundation for Eye Research congratulates the first AFER/Genentech Age-related macular Degeneration Fellowship recipients -- Balamurali K. Ambati, M.D., Ph.D., and Stephen H. Tsang, M.D., Ph.D. Each received $40,000 to support their age-related macular degeneration research and will be honored at the 2012 ARVO Annual Meeting on Sunday, May 6, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Fellowships to assist 9 UC Riverside students secure doctoral degrees
3 February 2012, 5:00 am
(University of California - Riverside) The University of California, Riverside has awarded nine first-year graduate students an annual stipend of $30,000 for two years to increase underrepresented minority students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at the doctoral level. In addition to the stipend that covers living expenses, each student's graduate tuition and fees are fully covered. Because of the fellowships, the nine students will be fully engaged in research from the outset.

Classic portrait of a barred spiral galaxy
3 February 2012, 5:00 am
(ESA/Hubble Information Centre) The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1073, which is found in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is a similar barred spiral, and the study of galaxies such as NGC 1073 helps astronomers learn more about our celestial home.

Gamers on 3-D mission to save world, just don't tell them they are learning cell biology
3 February 2012, 5:00 am
(Iowa State University) Eve Syrkin Wurtele decided the best way to get the attention of the science-deprived, gamer generation is to take the information out of a text book and put it in a medium that kids crave - video games.So she and her team developed Meta!Blast, which won honorable mention in the 2011 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is featured in the Feb. 3 issue of the journal Science.

New technology to tackle treatment-resistant cancers
3 February 2012, 5:00 am
(Institute of Physics) Free-flowing cancer cells have been mapped with unprecedented accuracy in the bloodstream of patients with prostate, breast and pancreatic cancer, using a brand new approach, in an attempt to assess and control the disease as it spreads in real time through the body, and solve the problem of predicting response and resistance to therapies.

New investment aims to establish the UK as a global graphene research hub
2 February 2012, 5:00 am
(Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) Today sees the announcement of full details of how an additional £50 million will be spent to keep the UK at the forefront of research into 'wonder material' graphene. 200 times stronger than steel yet less than an atom thick, graphene is the strongest and thinnest material ever measured, and also the world's most conductive material. It has a wide range of potential uses, including electronics, flexible touch screens, sensors and in composite materials.

Elevated glucose associated with undetected heart damage
2 February 2012, 5:00 am
(Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health) A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that hyperglycemia injures the heart, even in patients without a history of heart disease or diabetes. The high-sensitivity test they used detected levels of cTnT tenfold lower than those found in patients diagnosed with a heart attack.

The discovery of deceleration
2 February 2012, 5:00 am
(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) Stellar astrophysics helps to explain the behavior of fast rotating neutron stars in binary systems.