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Here is your customized PHYSorg.com Newsletter for July 3, 2011:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- NASA research offers new prospect of water on Mars- Research reveals vital insight into spintronics
- Warming ocean layers will undermine polar ice sheets
- Genetic variant linked to development of liver cancer in hepatitis C virus carriers
- NASA's Final 4: Fate grants them farewell flight
- Pigeons never forget a face
- Frog feet could solve a sticky problem
- Overlooked peptide reveals clues to causes of Alzheimer's disease
- Researchers decipher protein structure of key molecule in DNA transcription system
- Flapping micro air vehicles inspired by swifts
- 'Megapixel' DNA replication technology promises faster, more precise diagnostics
- Web weaving skills provide clues to aging
- Ocean floor muddies China's grip on '21st-century gold'
Space & Earth news
Los Alamos officials plan for return of residents
(AP) -- With firefighters holding their ground against the largest wildfire ever in New Mexico, officials at the nation's premier nuclear weapons laboratory and in the surrounding city planned for the return of thousands of evacuated employees and residents.
Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior III takes shape
In a vast hangar in a north German shipyard, environmental pressure group Greenpeace's latest weapon is nearing completion: the state-of-the-art Rainbow Warrior III.
Los Alamos evacuation order lifted; 12,000 go home
(AP) -- A smattering of summer rain gave a boost to firefighters battling a huge forest fire near Los Alamos, giving authorities enough confidence to allow about 12,000 people to return home for the first time in nearly a week.
NASA's Aura Satellite measures pollution from New Mexico, Arizona fires
NASA's Aura Satellite has provided a view of nitrogen dioxide levels coming from the fires in New Mexico and Arizona. Detecting nitrogen dioxide is important because it reacts with sunlight to create low-level ozone or smog and poor air quality.
Milestones in 30-year shuttle program
NASA's space shuttle flights began three decades ago with Columbia and will end this month with the final voyage of Atlantis and the retirement of the fleet. Between, there were triumphs and tragedies.
Indonesian volcano erupts
A volcano on Indonesia's Sulawesi island erupted Sunday, spewing ash and smoke 5,000 metres into the air.
Russia gains edge in space race as US shuttle bows out
As the United States winds down its shuttle programme in a symbolic twist in a long-running space rivalry, Russia will gain complete control of access to the International Space Station.
NASA's Final 4: Fate grants them farewell flight
America's longest space-flying streak ends this week with the smallest crew in decades - three men and a woman who were in high school and college when the first space shuttle soared 30 years ago.
Ocean floor muddies China's grip on '21st-century gold'
China's monopoly over rare-earth metals could be challenged by the discovery of massive deposits of these hi-tech minerals in mud on the Pacific floor, a study on Sunday suggests.
NASA research offers new prospect of water on Mars
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists are seeing new evidence that suggests traces of water on Mars are under a thin varnish of iron oxide, or rust, similar to conditions found on desert rocks in California's Mojave Desert.
Warming ocean layers will undermine polar ice sheets
Warming of the ocean's subsurface layers will melt underwater portions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets faster than previously thought, according to new University of Arizona-led research. Such melting would increase the sea level more than already projected.
Technology news
Vodafone buys out Essar from India unit for $5 bn
British mobile phone giant Vodafone is taking full control of its Indian joint venture by buying out its local partner Essar Group, a statement said Saturday, ending a troubled relationship.
Radiohead ventures into Chinese social media
(AP) -- Radiohead has taken a tentative step into censored Chinese cyberspace, even though the British rock band has been critical of China's human rights record.
Thais warned to stay off Twitter -- or face jail
Thai police on Saturday warned election candidates and citizens not to use websites such as Facebook or Twitter to continue campaigning on the eve of the national vote -- or risk going to jail.
Review: Sites break down neighborhood traits
(AP) -- If you find a home on the market that has the right look, amenities and price, you're still only halfway there.
Talent show mulled for Timberlake's Myspace
(AP) -- Justin Timberlake's longtime manager Johnny Wright said Friday that a talent show or some other way of developing new artists will be core to the revamp of Myspace.
Animation pioneer Pixar marks 25 years
Pixar, a pioneer of computer animation that has made a dozen profitable feature films and become one of the most successful studios on the planet, is celebrating its 25th birthday.
Go Daddy, an Internet domain registrar, is sold
(AP) -- The parent company of GoDaddy.com, a top registrar of Internet domain names, has been sold to a group of private investment firms for $2.25 billion, a person familiar with the transaction told The Associated Press.
Alibaba says China police arrest 36 in fraud probe
Police have arrested 36 people in southeast China following an investigation into fraud on e-commerce site Alibaba.com and other websites that duped buyers out of more than $6 million.
India's rural poor give up on power grid, go solar
(AP) -- Boommi Gowda used to fear the night. Her vision fogged by glaucoma, she could not see by just the dim glow of a kerosene lamp, so she avoided going outside where king cobras slithered freely and tigers carried off neighborhood dogs.
Havana's small community of Twitterati meets IRL
(AP) -- A few dozen members of Cuba's small but growing Twitter community have met in real space for the first time. They got to put unfamiliar faces with familiar user names, and they commiserated about the woeful Internet access on an island that has the second-worst Web connectivity rate in the world.
Flapping micro air vehicles inspired by swifts
Scientists have designed a micro aircraft that will be able to flap, glide and hover like a bird.
Medicine & Health news
Australia cigarette plan facing new legal threat
A second global tobacco giant has flagged legal action over Australia's plain packaging plan for cigarettes, warning of violations of its intellectual property rights, a report said Saturday.
J&J wins US approval for new blood thinner
(AP) -- Johnson & Johnson said Friday that U.S. regulators have approved its new type of blood thinner shown to reduce deadly blood clots in patients who have undergone knee and hip replacements.
Pre-pregnancy diet affects the health of future offspring
Poor maternal diet before conception can result in offspring with reduced birth weights and increased risk of developing type II diabetes and obesity.
French woman dies of E. coli
(AP) -- A 78-year-old French woman died early Saturday morning from complications of E. coli infection but a doctor said she was not suffering from the strain that has infected many other people in France and Germany.
Mobile phones 'don't cause cancer': yet another study
Scientific evidence goes increasingly against the theory that mobile phones cause cancer, a new study has concluded.
Overlooked peptide reveals clues to causes of Alzheimer's disease
Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI) and their collaborators have shed light on the function of a little-studied amyloid peptide in promoting Alzheimer's disease (AD). Their surprising findings reveal that the peptide is more abundant, more neurotoxic, and exhibits a higher propensity to aggregate than amyloidogenic agents studied in earlier research, suggesting a potential role in new approaches for preventing AD-causing amyloidosis.
'Megapixel' DNA replication technology promises faster, more precise diagnostics
UBC researchers have developed a DNA measurement platform that sets dramatic new performance standards in the sensitivity and accuracy of sample screening.
Genetic variant linked to development of liver cancer in hepatitis C virus carriers
A genome-wide study by researchers at the RIKEN Center for Genomic Medicine, Hiroshima University Hospital and Sapporo-Kosei General Hospital has identified a genetic variant associated with the development of liver cancer in chronic hepatitis C virus carriers. The findings are based on a study of 3,312 Japanese individuals and appear in the journal Nature Genetics.
Biology news
Scientists discover that Hawai'i is not an evolutionary dead end for marine life
The question of why there are so many species in the sea and how new species form remains a central question in marine biology. Below the waterline, about 30% of Hawai'i's marine species are endemic – being found only in Hawai'i and nowhere else on Earth – one of the highest rates of endemism found worldwide. But where did this diversity of species come from? Hawai'i is famous for its adaptive radiations (the formation of many species with specialized lifestyles from a single colonist) above the water line. Still, spectacular examples of adaptive radiations such as Hawaiian honeycreeper birds and fruit flies are not found in Hawaiian waters. Marine species were thought to colonize Hawaii and eventually diverge into an isolated native species, but were doomed to an evolutionary "dead end" with no further specialization and speciation.
Killer horse virus spreads in Australia
Australian officials were on Saturday working to isolate potential victims after uncovering two more cases of the deadly horse-borne Hendra virus, which has erupted in a second state.
Climate change threatens endangered freshwater turtle
The Mary river turtle (Elusor macrurus), which is restricted to only one river system in Australia, will suffer from multiple problems if temperatures predicted under climate change are reached, researchers from the University of Queensland have shown.
Web weaving skills provide clues to aging
Young house spiders weave webs with perfect angles and regular patterns, but as they reach old age their webs deteriorate, showing gaping holes and erratic weaving.
Frog feet could solve a sticky problem
Tree frogs have specially adapted self-cleaning feet which could have practical applications for the medical industry.
Pigeons never forget a face
New research has shown that feral, untrained pigeons can recognise individual people and are not fooled by a change of clothes.
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