PhysOrg.com

R&D 100 Award for new NIST/UMD neutron detector
A new ultrasensitive, high bandwidth neutron detector developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland (UMD) will receive one of this year's "R&D 100 Awards," it was announced on July 1. The annual R&D 100 Awards program recognizes "the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the market" during the previous year, as selected by an independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine.

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Idle computers offer hope to solve cancer's mysteries through grid computing project
A biomedical engineering professor at The University of Texas at Austin is using a concept called "grid computing" to allow the average person to donate idle computer time in a global effort to fight cancer.

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First early-detection blood test for Parkinson's shows promise
A test that profiles molecular biomarkers in blood could become the first accurate diagnostic test for Parkinson's disease, new research shows.

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Regulating those raging (plant) hormones
The Biblical book of Amos describes the 8th-century BC prophet as a "gatherer" of sycomore figs. Some now think a more correct translation would be "piercer," because that's how ancient farmers got that type of fig to ripen. Centuries later, the Greek philosopher and botanist Theophrastus (371-286 BC) described this method: "It cannot ripen unless it is scraped, but they scrape it with iron claws; the fruit thus scraped ripens in four days."

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Genetic predisposition increases childhood asthma risk
Children who carry variations in specific genes that metabolize vehicle emissions are more susceptible to developing asthma, particularly if they live near major roadways, a study led by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) suggests.

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Research Peers Inside Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Thanks to a new and improved imaging instrument at the Commerce Department`s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), scientists now can conduct detailed surveillance on the comings and goings of water inside hydrogen fuel cells—a piece of intelligence key to making the technology practical for powering future automobiles.

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3D Model Reveals Secrets of Metastasis
A cancer cell breaks away from a primary tumor and settles in a new location, where it once again divides. Pharmaceutical companies typically use simplistic two-dimensional assays for this process, which is known as metastasis, to evaluate anti-cancer therapeutics. In these assays, cells crawl across the surface of a matrix, traveling in a single plane. But a new study indicates that this approach misses some crucial phenomena.

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Italian scientists find ancient Ur tablets
Italian archeologists working in Iraq have announced the discovery of numerous stone tablets from the ancient civilization of Ur.

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DNA contradicts Mormon scripture
The Mormon Church teaches American Indians are descended from a lost tribe of Israel, but modern DNA test results contradict that tenet.

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Resonance: A Life of Music, Physics, and Faith
Vanderbilt physics professor Norman Tolk is passionate about music, physics and faith.

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