IBM scientists have been able to image the “anatomy” — or chemical structure — inside a molecule with unprecedented resolution, using a complex technique known as noncontact atomic force microscopy. The results push the exploration of using molecules and atoms at the smallest scale and could greatly impact the field of nanotechnology, which seeks to understand and control s...

New research by scientists at UC Santa Barbara indicates a possible Antarctic location for ice that seemed to be missing at a key point in climate history 34 million years ago. The research, which has important implications for climate change, is described in a paper published today in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. "Using data from prior geological...

A new study finds that young muskoxen conserve heat almost as well as adults, a finding that runs contrary to a longstanding assumption among scientists that young animals should be more vulnerable in extreme cold. The study, by biologist Adam Munn from the University of Sydney, Australia, will be published in the forthcoming issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. Surviving freezing winte...

A long-term field and DNA study by the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, University of Miami, Field Museum of Chicago and others has shown that young lemon sharks born at the Bimini islands, Bahamas, tend to stay near their coastal birthplace for many years. While shark research and conservation typically focuses on baby sharks confined to shallow habitats, or oce...

Scientists at Michigan State University have found exposure to the hormone progesterone activates genes that trigger inflammation in the mammary gland. This progesterone-induced inflammation may be a key factor in increasing the risk of breast cancer. Progesterone is a naturally occurring steroid hormone and promotes development of the normal mammary gland. Progesterone previously has been identif...

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...

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit genomic research organization, have just published results describing new methods in which the entire bacterial genome from Mycoplasma mycoides was cloned in a yeast cell by adding yeast centromeric plasmid sequence to the bacterial chromosome. Researchers modified it in yeast using yeast genetic systems. This modified bacterial...

Graphene is nature`s thinnest elastic material and displays exceptional mechanical and electronic properties. Its one-atom thickness, planar geometry, high current-carrying capacity and thermal conductivity make it ideally suited for further miniaturizing electronics through ultra-small devices and components for semiconductor circuits and computers. But one of graphene`s intrinsic features is rip...

University of Central Florida researchers have shown for the first time that light energy can gently guide and change the orientation of living cells within lab cultures. That ability to optically steer cells could be a major step in harnessing the healing power of stem cells and guiding them to areas of the body that need help. The results, presented at the 2009 Conference on Lasers and Electro-O...

Using both animal and human cells, Duke University Medical Center scientists have demonstrated that a single lung cell can become one of two very different types of airway cells, which could lead to a better understanding of lung diseases. From this single "basal" cell, a small, squat stem cell that divides to replenish the lung lining layer, scientists created 3-D hollow spheres that we...