New sensor exploits traditional weakness of nano devices

Ultimately, researchers believe this new “sniffer” will achieve a detection level that approaches the theoretical limit, surpassing other state-of-the-art chemical sensors. The implications could be significant for anyone whose job is to detect explosives, biological agents and narcotics.
http://www.physorg.com/news185221837.html

Scientists Explore the Future of High-Energy Physics

How much energy you can put into a particle per meter corresponds directly to how big the machine is,” says Steven Sibener, the Carl William Eisendrath Professor in Chemistry and the James Franck Institute at UChicago. This means that future accelerators must either grow to inconceivable sizes, at great costs, or they must somehow pump far more energy into each particle per meter of acceleration than modern technology will allow.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211135841.htm

Self-Cannibalizing Cancer Cells Targeted

A team of scientists from Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has embarked on a major new project to unravel the secret lives of cancer cells that go dormant and self-cannibalize to survive periods of stress. The work may help produce new cancer therapies to stem changes that render cancer cells dangerous and resistant to treatment.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211151649.htm

Why Is The Sun’s Atmosphere So Hot?

The 2006 launch of the multinational Hinode satellite changed the picture of the Sun for astrophysicists. For two astrophysicists in particular, the resulting imagery offered a voyage of discovery and the thrill of unraveling a long-held solar mystery.
http://www.livescience.com/space/sun-atmosphere-bts-100212.html

Drinking Milk During Pregnancy May Lower Baby’s Risk of Multiple Sclerosis

The risk of MS among daughters whose mothers consumed four glasses of milk per day was 56 percent lower than daughters whose mothers consumed less than three glasses of milk per month,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100209182345.htm

New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing

These nano-sized generators have “piezoelectric” properties that allow them to convert into electricity the energy created through mechanical stress, stretches and twists.
http://www.physorg.com/news185204588.html

Universal DNA Reader Will Advance Faster, Cheaper Sequencing Efforts

The broad goal of this “$1000 genome” initiative is to develop a next-generation DNA sequencing technology to usher in the age of personalized medicine, where knowledge of an individual’s complete, 3 billion-long code of DNA information, or genome, will allow for a more tailored approach to disease diagnosis and treatment.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211175212.htm

The Genetic Secrets To Jumping The Species Barrier

Scientists have pinpointed specific mutations that allow a common plant virus to infect new species, according to research published in the March issue of the Journal of General Virology. Understanding the genetics of the key interactions between viruses and hosts could provide insight to how some viruses manage to jump the species barrier and even give us a better idea of how animal diseases are generated.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1822768/the_genetic_secrets_to_jumping_the_species_barrier/index.html

Biaxial liquid crystal

Recent research at the DUBBLE beamline has proved the existence of liquid crystals with two main axes. Liquid crystals with a single main axis are already used in LCDs (liquid crystal displays), but crystals with two main axes can make computer monitors and optical switches much faster, as well as opening doors to new 3D technologies.
http://www.physorg.com/news185200898.html

Baked Rhubarb Could Help Fight Cancer

Researchers have found that baking British garden rhubarb for 20 minutes dramatically increases its levels of anti-cancerous chemicals. The findings from academics at Sheffield Hallam University, together with the Scottish Crop Research Institute, were published in the journal Food Chemistry.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211212117.htm