Three weeks ago I gave a plenary talk at the 2nd International Conference on New Frontiers in Physics, which was held in Kolymbari, in the greek island of Crete. The talk focused on some of the most interesting new results by the CMS Collaboration, but being just 30' long it only contained a summary of these. The purpose of the talk was primarily that of advertising the many talks on specific physics topics -Top, Higgs, Exotica, QCD- which were given by some of my colleagues in the parallel sessions; however I was able to show and discuss some nice new measurements myself.

Researchers at Université Pierre et Marie Curie in France have unveiled a new technique that allows microscope users to manipulate samples using a technology known as haptic optical tweezers.

The new technique allows users to explore the microworld by sensing and exerting piconewton-scale forces with trapped microspheres with the haptic optical tweezers, allowing improved dexterity of micromanipulation and micro-assembly. 

An environmentally-friendly electronic alloy consisting of 50 aluminum atoms bound to 50 atoms of antimony may be promising for building next-generation "phase-change" memory devices, which could be an alternative to slower speed, lower storage density flash memory for data storage applications.

Phase-change memory relies on materials that change from a disordered, amorphous structure to a crystalline structure when an electrical pulse is applied. The material has high electrical resistance in its amorphous state and low resistance in its crystalline state -- corresponding to the 1 and 0 states of binary data.

It often takes several weeks to feel the effect of newly prescribed antidepressants - a lingering mystery and a frustration to both patients and physicians.

CREB, and CREM to some degree, has been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression, as well as in the efficacy of antidepressants. However, whenever CREB is deleted, CREM is upregulated, further complicating the story.

A new study has found that not only does fish skin resemble the gut morphologically, but key components of skin immune responses are also akin to those of the gut. 

Fish skin is unique in that it lacks keratin, the fibrous protein found in mammalian skin that provides a barrier against the environment. Instead, the epithelial cells of fish skin are in direct contact with the immediate environment: water. Similarly, the epithelial cells that line the gastrointestinal tract are also in direct contact with their immediate milieu.

New thinking about the evolutionary nature of biological aging will profoundly affect medical research on age-related diseases – here’s why.

The cyclic wobble of the Earth on its axis, axial precession, controls the production of  "fixed" nitrogen, a nutrient essential to the health of the ocean, according to a new study.

Before there was life on Earth, there was a primordial soup of molecules, and at some point a specialized molecules began replicating. This self-replication kick-started a biochemical process that would lead to the first organisms.

How those molecules began replicating has been one of science's enduring mysteries.

In the early 1980s, researchers found that ribozymes — RNA enzymes — act as catalysts. It was evidence that RNA can be both the blueprints and the chemical catalysts that put those blueprints into action. This finding led to the "RNA World" hypothesis, which posits that RNA alone triggered the rise of life from a sea of molecules.

In previous articles, we've used the 555 test circuit as a hot liquid level indicator for the vision impaired and a cable tester as examples of some of the things that can be used as inputs to the 555 test circuit. In this article, we’ll take a look at one of the output signals that can be generated by the 555 test circuit.

Athletes are competitive, they are always looking for that extra edge. And the line of right versus wrong can get a little blurry - even in the case of sporting events held for impaired communities.

The Deaflympics, held between 26 July and 4 August this summer, had that concern. Do deaf people have a disadvantage in events like running? And if deaf people have a disadvantage, couldn't someone fake deafness to win a medal, the same way a guy could claim to be a girl inside and compete in a women's event? 

What about cochlear implants? Are those cheating?