Researchers at the Oklahoma University Cancer Institute have identified a new gene that causes cancer. The gene and its protein, both called RBM3, are vital for cell division in normal cells. In cancer cells, low oxygen levels in the tumors cause the amount of RBM3 to go up dramatically, leading to uncontrolled cell division, in turn leading to more tumors. They found RBM3 protein in every stage of many cancers, and the amount of protein increased... More

University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia researchers found that taking the SSRI antidepressant citalopram improves natural killer (NK) immune cell activity in both depressed and non-depressed women with HIV.NK cells, a type of white blood cell, are part of the body's first line of defense against infections such as HIV. The researchers had previously found that stress and depression impair NK cell function and accelerate the course of HIV/AIDS. ... More

Barack Obama said he may win enough delegates in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries to claim victory in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.``That will be an important day,'' Obama, 46, an Illinois senator, said in an int...Category: GovernmentYear: 2008Tags: president, us, uspresident, barackobama, obama, hillary, hillaryclinton

How's RIM's iPhone-killer BlackBerry 9000? Not bad! So says Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry.com, who managed to get his paws on a way-before-release test unit from eBay.Category: CommunicationYear: 2008Tags: rim, apple, iphone, researchinmotion, handheld

It was once considered the most dangerous object in the universe, heading for Earth with the explosive power of 84 Hiroshimas. Now an asteroid called 2000SG344, a lump of rock barely the size of a large yacht, is in the spotlight again, this time ...Category: SpaceYear: GeneralTags: asteroid, space, nasa

Electromagnetic signals from cell phones can change your brainwaves and behavior. But don't break out the aluminum foil head shield just yet. (via KurzweilAI)Category: TechnologyYear: GeneralTags: electromagneticsignals, cell, cellphone, mobilephone, mindcontrol, brainwaves, neuroscience, braincontrol

(Harvard University) Applied scientists at Harvard University in collaboration with researchers from the German universities of Jena, Gottingen, and Bremen, have developed a new technique for fabricating nanowire photonic and electronic integrated circuits that may one day be suitable for high-volume commercial production.

Transistors, lasers and solar-energy conversion devices may be easier to manipulate because of recent research by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists. The researchers defined the role high pressure plays in precisely tuning the fundamental properties of nanomaterials and, in particular, nanoparticle assemblies that are important for device applications.

Applied scientists at Harvard University in collaboration with researchers from the German universities of Jena, Gottingen, and Bremen, have developed a new technique for fabricating nanowire photonic and electronic integrated circuits that may one day be suitable for high-volume commercial production.

(Georgia Institute of Technology Research News) Lasers that emit ultrashort pulses of light are used for numerous applications, but the quality of the results is limited by distortions caused by lenses and other optical components that are part of the experimental instrumentation. Researchers have developed a system that tells researchers what types of aberrations are present, which allows them to create the desired pulse at the focus that's free ... More

The day may be getting a little closer when robots will perform surgery on patients in dangerous situations or in remote locations, such as on the battlefield or in space, with minimal human guidance.Category: BiotechnologyYear: GeneralTags: roboticsurgery

(University of Oklahoma) Researchers at the OU Cancer Institute have identified a new gene that causes cancer. The ground-breaking research appears in Nature's cancer journal Oncogene.

Construction has started on a city in Abu Dhabi that will house 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses but use extremely little energy, and what it does use will come from renewable sources.The city, which is expected to cost $22 billion, will implement an array of technologies, including thin-film solar panels that serve as the facades and roofing materials for buildings, ubiquitous sensors for monitoring energy use, and driverless vehicles powered b... More

CircuLite, an Australian company, is developing an implantable pump that weighs just one-sixth as much as its smallest predecessor. About the size of a AA battery, it could ultimately be implanted through a catheterization procedure that is far less invasive than the operations used to place today's pumps. It could thus be used to treat patients in earlier stages of heart failure, for whom implantation surgery had previously been too risky. (Sou... More

Loughborough University Sleep Research Centre researchers found that delta waves (in the range of one to four Hz) remained dampened for nearly one hour after a nearby cell phone was shut off. These brainwaves are the most reliable and sensitive marker of stage two sleep.Although the test subjects had been sleep-deprived the night before, they could not fall asleep for nearly one hour after the phone had been operating (without their knowledge).In ... More

MIT students are developing a prototype for a low-cost concentrating solar power system they think could revolutionize the field. It's a 12-foot-square mirrored dish capable of concentrating sunlight by a factor of 1,000, built from simple, inexpensive industrial materials selected for price, durability and ease of assembly rather than for optimum performance.They believe that in mass production, the dishes can be competitive in cost with other en... More

In trying to understand why some animals have evolved to be better at learning than others, Dr. Tadeusz Kawecki, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Fribourg, finds that one reason for the difference is that being smart can be bad for an animal's health. His studies found that the very act of learning takes a toll: forming neuron connections may cause harmful side effects. It is also possible that genes that allow learning to develop f... More

Scientists at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and MIT have developed nanometer-sized "nanoworms" that can cruise through the bloodstream without significant interference from the body's immune defense system and home in on tumors, reminiscent of the science fiction movie, Fantastic Voyage.The scientists constructed their nanoworms from spherical iron oxide nanoparticles that join together, like segments of an earthworm, to produce tiny gummy worm-l... More

To catch up on lost sleep, add on an extra hour or two of sleep a night, rather than attempt an extended sleep session, researchers from Stanford University Sleep Clinic and the Harvard-affiliated Sleep HealthCenters say."Sleep debt"--the difference between the amount of sleep one should be getting and the amount one actually gets--can require several months to repay. As people erase their sleep debt, their sleep patterns will return to what best ... More

St. George's Hospital researchers have identified specific genetic patterns that account for seven different subtypes of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).CSF is a condition with a diverse range of symptoms but particularly characterized by profound muscle fatigue after physical exertion. (Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7378440.stm)

University of Bristol and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute researchers have sequenced the genome of a newly emerging superbug commonly known as Steno. The bacteria has strains that are resistant to all available antibiotics. It flourishes in moist environments, and can form a "biofilm" on hospital catheters or ventilation tubes that protects the bacteria and makes it difficult to sterilize equipment. Having the genome should help researchers comba... More

Underwater cities have been a dream of futurists. Starting from Atlantis to the evasive Captain Nemo.Category: TechnologyYear: BeyondTags: ocean, city, future, technology, science

An interesting interview with biotechnology pioneer LeRoy Hood.Category: BiotechnologyYear: General

We can say for sure that Smoltz, Glavine, Maddux, Martinez, Schilling and Johnson will be in the Hall of Fame. But it?s a virtual certainty that all six will not get in en masse in 2013.Category: EntertainmentYear: 2013Tags: halloffame, baseball

Find out where Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain stand on key technology issues, such as privacy, net neutrality, stem cell research, and biofuels.Category: GovernmentYear: 2008Tags: usgovernment, politics, 2008election, presidentialelection, hillaryclinton, johnmccain, barakobama