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Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for July 29, 2012:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- Breakthrough in colloidal quantum dot films leads to record efficiency for next-generation solar cells- Cutting the graphene cake
- Giant ice avalanches on Saturn's moon Iapetus provide clue to extreme slippage elsewhere in solar system
- Cell receptor has proclivity for T helper 9 cells, airway inflammation
- Chronic 2000-2004 drought, worst in 800 years, may be the 'new normal': study
- Researchers discover elusive gene that causes Leber congenital amaurosis
- Martian polygons and deep-sea polygons on Earth: More evidence for ancient Martian oceans?
- Smell the potassium: Surprising find in study of sex- and aggression-triggering vomeronasal organ
- Gene discovery set to help with mysterious paralysis of childhood
- New discovery of how carbon is stored in the Southern Ocean
- Researchers find links between magnetic field inversions, mantle concection and tectonis
- Apple bowl-headed patent shows wearable computing plans
- Def Con hackers reach for digital wallets
- Even Usain Bolt can't beat greyhounds, cheetahs... or pronghorn antelope
- Discovery of new white blood cell reveals target for better vaccine design
Space & Earth news
Researchers analyze melting glaciers and water resources in Central Asia
As part of the ACQWA European project, coordinated by the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), researchers from UNIGE collaborated with scientists from the German-speaking part of Switzerland, Germany, and Russia to highlight the recent climate changes and glaciation in the Tien Shan Mountains (Central Asia), and explain their consequences.
Researchers monitor 'red tides' in Chesapeake Bay
Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science continue to monitor the algal blooms that have been discoloring Chesapeake Bay waters during the last few weeks. These "red tides" occur in the lower Bay every summer, but have appeared earlier and across a wider area than in years past, likely due to last winter's warmth and this summer's heat.
NASA sees organizing tropical low pressure area near the Philippines
A low pressure system in the western North Pacific has caught the eye of forecasters and several satellites as it continues to organize. NASA's Terra satellite captured a view of System 93W's clouds as they continue to appear more organized.
Researcher: Smaller 'dead zone' recorded in Gulf
A new report says this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone," an area of low oxygen that develops every spring and summer, is the fourth-smallest since measurements of the zones began in 1985.
Neuroscientist helping astronauts sleep better
A new sunrise takes place every 90 minutes. Docking maneuvers sometimes occur at odd hours. Then there's that feeling of apparent weightlessness.
Martian polygons and deep-sea polygons on Earth: More evidence for ancient Martian oceans?
Debate over the origin of large-scale polygons (hundreds of meters to kilometers in diameter) on Mars remains active even after several decades of detailed observations. Similarity in geometric patterns on Mars and Earth has long captured the imagination. In this new article from GSA Today, geologists at The University of Texas at Austin examine these large-scale polygons and compare them to similar features on Earth's seafloor, which they believe may have formed via similar processes.
Russian cargo ship redocks with space station
An unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft has redocked with the International Space Station after an aborted attempt five days earlier.
Chronic 2000-2004 drought, worst in 800 years, may be the 'new normal': study
The chronic drought that hit western North America from 2000 to 2004 left dying forests and depleted river basins in its wake and was the strongest in 800 years, scientists have concluded, but they say those conditions will become the "new normal" for most of the coming century.
New discovery of how carbon is stored in the Southern Ocean
A team of British and Australian scientists has discovered an important method of how carbon is drawn down from the surface of the Southern Ocean to the deep waters beneath. The Southern Ocean is an important carbon sink in the world – around 40% of the annual global CO2 emissions absorbed by the world's oceans enter through this region.
Researchers find links between magnetic field inversions, mantle concection and tectonis
On a time scale of tens to hundreds of millions of years, the geomagnetic field may be influenced by currents in the mantle. The frequent polarity reversals of Earth's magnetic field can also be connected with processes in the mantle. These are the research results presented by a group of geoscientists in the new advance edition of Nature Geoscience on July 29, 2012. The results show how the rapid processes in the outer core, which flows at rates of up to about one millimeter per second, are coupled with the processes in the mantle, which occur more in the velocity range of centimeters per year.
Giant ice avalanches on Saturn's moon Iapetus provide clue to extreme slippage elsewhere in solar system
Saturn's ice moon Iapetus has more giant landslides than any solar system body other than Mars. Measurements of the avalanches suggest that some mechanism lowered their coefficients of friction so that they flowed rather than tumbled, traveling extraordinary distances before coming to rest. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, who have been studying the ice avalanches suggest a experimental test that might provide some answers.
Technology news
Fake online editorial fools New York Times
The New York Times, which famously insists on the accuracy of its reports, was red faced Sunday after being fooled by a hoax online editorial posted under the name of ex-boss Bill Keller.
Smart home coming whether Americans are ready or not
Lowe's executives are hesitant to say that we've arrived at the home of the Jetsons, with everything in your house automated and controlled by computers and wireless devices, but they say we're not far off.
US spy master courts top hackers at Def Con
US spy master Keith Alexander on Friday courted hackers at an infamous Def Con gathering rife with software tricksters wary of police and ferociously protective of privacy.
Facebook's stock sinks, so who should buy it?
(AP) — Investors are dumping Facebook's stock, spooked by slowing revenue growth, the lack of a financial outlook and plans to spend more money in the coming months.
8.7 million mobile customers hacked in S. Korea
South Korean police have arrested two hackers who stole personal data of 8.7 million customers of the nation's second-biggest mobile operator, the company said Sunday.
Tech titans face off in court over iPhone, iPad
(AP) — Two tech titans will square off in federal court Monday in a closely watched trial over control of the U.S. smart phone and computer tablet markets.
Apple 'considering investment' in Twitter
Computer and smartphone maker Apple has been discussing with social media company Twitter the possibility of making a significant investment in it, The New York Times reported.
Apple, Samsung set for blockbuster US patent trial
Apple and Samsung are set to square off in a California court Monday in what is seen as the biggest patent US trial in recent memory.
Fluorescent lights keep smartphones from ten-second drifts
(Phys.org) -- One obvious way to reset a mobile device's clock is to check out a master clock online but Zhenjiang Li, a computer scientist and doctoral candidate at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and colleagues have another way of keeping devices time-worthy. Li and co-authors from universities in China, Singapore, and Illinois, have demonstrated that any mobile device, including a smartphone, that has a light sensor or camera can use the flicker from fluorescent lights to keep accurate time. They have authored a paper titled, "FLIGHT: Clock Calibration Using Fluorescent Lighting," to explore how smartphone clocks can keep precise time via the flicker of fluorescent lights.
Science fiction comes to life in Italian lab
Once the preserve of science fiction, increasingly sophisticated robotic devices are vying for a place side by side with humans in the real world.
Microsoft pays big to strengthen software defense
As hackers from around the world converged on Las Vegas, Microsoft doled out a quarter million dollars in prize money to researchers who found ways to thwart attacks on its software.
'Predictive policing' takes byte out of crime
Crime fighters have long used brains and brawn, but now a new kind of technology known as "predictive policing" promises to make them more efficient.
Def Con hackers reach for digital wallets
Hackers at a notorious Def Con gathering that ends here Sunday have come up with ways to reach into digital wallets.
Hackers build mobile phone network for Def Con
A custom mobile phone network came to life in the middle of Def Con as hackers showed off their technology skills in tribute to the infamous gathering's elite "ninjas."
Apple bowl-headed patent shows wearable computing plans
(Phys.org) -- Like Google, Apple has plans to win recognition as wearable computing leaders. Patently Apple reports on a patent that was filed by Apple in January last year but made known earlier this week. The patent application is causing a stir over what Apple has in mind to compete with Google over the latter’s highly anticipated Project Glass heads-up display. The Apple patent in question, titled “Display resolution increase with mechanical actuation,” speaks of multiple “embodiments,” but the concept appears to relate to raising the quality of a display placed over a wearer’s eye.
Medicine & Health news
Big AIDS meeting's bottom line: More treatment
(AP) — Call it a triple win for fighting the AIDS epidemic: Treating people with HIV early keeps them healthy, cuts their chances of infecting others, and now research shows it is also a good financial investment.
Bill Clinton urges transparency in AIDS funding
Former US president Bill Clinton on Friday said donors will continue to fund the response to the world AIDS crisis despite global financial woes and urged greater transparency by all involved.
Malaysian hospital separates conjoined twins
Conjoined 15-month-old twins attached at the pelvis and sharing three legs were successfully separated at a Malaysian hospital in a complex 24-hour operation, reports said Saturday.
India had 56% of world's new leprosy infections in 2010
India accounted for 56 percent of the world's new leprosy infections in 2010 despite declaring itself free of the nerve-destroying disease five years earlier, a report said Saturday.
2 babies died at Bahamas hospital after outbreak
(AP) — Hospital officials in the Bahamas say two babies have died and another six are being treated following a bacteria outbreak at a neonatal intensive care unit.
'Generic' medical devices could cut into name-brand profits
Generic competition - a billion-dollar problem for brand-name drug companies since the 1980s - is making inroads in the orthopedic medical devices industry. Last week Cardinal Health Inc., one of the three biggest device wholesalers, said it was increasing its offering of lower-cost products for broken bones.
Think you're a comic genius? Maybe you're just overconfident
Knock, knock! Who's there? Cows go. Cows go who? No, cows go moo! OK, OK. So it's not a side-slapper — especially if the teller has zero sense of comic timing. But most likely the person sharing the joke over the water cooler thinks he or she is pretty funny.
Fluoxetine -- a.k.a., Prozac -- is effective as an anti-viral: study
UCLA researchers have come across an unexpected potential use for fluoxetine – commonly known as Prozac – which shows promise as an antiviral agent. The discovery could provide another tool in treating human enteroviruses that sicken and kill people in the U.S. and around the world.
UK medical school teaching on physical activity virtually 'non-existent'
UK medical school teaching on physical activity is "sparse or non-existent," finds research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine today.
Officials: Ebola breaks out in Uganda
(AP) — The deadly Ebola virus has killed 14 people in western Uganda this month, Ugandan health officials said on Saturday, ending weeks of speculation about the cause of a strange disease that had many people fleeing their homes.
Controversial Down's syndrome testing gets Swiss go-ahead
Switzerland has given the green light for a new prenatal test for Down's syndrome amid controversy over whether this will lead to more abortions, a Swiss newspaper reported Sunday.
Mysterious nodding disease afflicts young Ugandans
(AP) — Augustine Languna's eyes welled up and then his voice failed as he recalled the drowning death of his 16-year-old daughter. The women near him looked away, respectfully avoiding the kind of raw emotion that the head of the family rarely displayed.
Lymphovascular invasion is independent predictor of survival
(HealthDay) -- In patients with invasive breast cancer, lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is a strong and independent predictor of both breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), according to a study published in the Aug. 1 issue of Cancer.
Discovery of new white blood cell reveals target for better vaccine design
Researchers in Newcastle and Singapore have identified a new type of white blood cell which activates a killing immune response to an external source – providing a new potential target for vaccines for conditions such as cancer or Hepatitis B.
Smell the potassium: Surprising find in study of sex- and aggression-triggering vomeronasal organ
The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is one of evolution's most direct enforcers. From its niche within the nose in most land-based vertebrates, it detects pheromones and triggers corresponding basic-instinct behaviors, from compulsive mating to male-on-male death matches. A new study from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, published online in Nature Neuroscience on July 29, 2012, extends the scientific understanding of how pheromones activate the VNO, and has implications for sensory transduction experiments in other fields.
Cell receptor has proclivity for T helper 9 cells, airway inflammation
A research team led by Xian Chang Li, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Transplantation Research Center, has shed light on how a population of lymphocytes, called CD4+ T cells, mature into various subsets of adult T helper cells.
Researchers discover elusive gene that causes Leber congenital amaurosis
Researchers from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Division and their collaborators have isolated an elusive human gene that causes a common form of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a relatively rare but devastating form of early-onset blindness. The new LCA gene is called NMNAT1. Finding the specific gene mutated in patients with LCA is the first step towards developing sight-saving gene therapy.
Gene discovery set to help with mysterious paralysis of childhood
Alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC) is a very rare disorder that causes paralysis that freezes one side of the body and then the other in devastating bouts that arise at unpredictable intervals. Seizures, learning disabilities and difficulty walking are common among patients with this diagnosis.
Scientists uncover gene variation linked to melanoma
(HealthDay) -- New gene mutations associated with the development of melanoma have been identified by scientists who conducted what is believed to be the largest DNA-sequencing study of the deadly disease to date.
Biology news
Indonesian rescuers free stranded whale
Rescuers and navy divers in Indonesia Saturday helped a sperm whale return to the sea after it was stranded in shallow waters off the coast of West Java province for four days.
Even Usain Bolt can't beat greyhounds, cheetahs... or pronghorn antelope
Even Usain Bolt, currently the fastest man in the world, couldn't outpace greyhounds, cheetahs, or the pronghorn antelope, finds a light-hearted comparison of the extraordinary athleticism of humans and animals in the Veterinary Record.
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