The creation of large-area graphene using copper may enable the manufacture of new graphene-based devices that meet the scaling requirements of the semiconductor industry, leading to faster computers and electronics, according to a team of scientists and engineers at The University of Texas at Austin.

Graphene, an atom-thick layer of carbon atoms bonded to one another in a "chickenwire" arrangement of hexagons, holds great potential for nanoelectronics, including memory, logic, analog, opto-electronic devices and potentially many others. It also shows promise for electrical energy storage for supercapacitors and batteries, for use in composites, for thermal management, in chemical-biological sensing and as a new sensing material for ultra-sensitive pressure sensors.

astric ulcer is an illness that affects a considerable number of people worldwide. Although the introduction of proton-pump inhibitors to the classic anti-ulcer therapy has revolutionized treatment of peptic ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders, there is still no complete cure for this disease. It has been shown that long term use of these drugs leads to various adverse and side effects. Relapses of the malady, ineffectiveness of different drug regimens and even resistance to drugs are emerging. Thus, there is an urgent requirement to identify more effective and safe anti-ulcer agents.

I was fascinated by the discovery of the dwarfed hominin Homo floresiensis back in 2004 when it was first announced, but was skeptical that it was really a separate species. Later when I saw a cast of the skull, I admit to being more enthused with the possibility of a new species. Not being a anthropologist, I couldn't discount the possibility of microcephaly and/or dwarfism.

There's a line that politicians opposed to embryonic stem cell research have been peddling lately: recent breakthroughs in stem cell technology have now made ethically questionable embryonic stem cell research obsolete and unnecessary. This isn't a new line - for years, opponents of embryonic stem cell research have always claimed that the latest research (whatever it happens to be) has obviated the need for embryonic stem cells.

New research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) identifies three genes that specifically mediate the metastasis, or spread, of breast cancer to the brain and illuminates the mechanisms by which this spread occurs. The study was published online today in Nature. 

According to the study, COX2 and HB-EGF — genes that induce cancer cell mobility and invasiveness — were found to be genetic mediators in the spread of breast cancer to the brain. A third gene, ST6GALNAC5, was shown to provide cancer cells with the capability of exiting the blood circulation and passing through the blood-brain barrier to enter the brain tissue. 

Children who can stay focused and don't sweat the small stuff have a better shot at good health in adulthood -- especially girls, according to findings reported in the May issue of Health Psychology.

A detailed analysis of the feet of Homo floresiensis, the miniature hominins who lived on a remote island in eastern Indonesia until 18,000 years ago, may help settle a question hotly debated among paleontologists: how similar was this population to modern humans? A new research paper in Nature  may help answer this question.

While the so-called "hobbits" walked on two legs, they say, several features of their feet were so primitive that their gait was not efficient.

A new study from Northwestern University shows what many mothers already know: their babies are a lot smarter than others may realize.

Though only five months old, the study's cuties indicated through their curious stares that they could differentiate water in a glass from solid blue material that looked very much like water in a similar glass. 

The finding that infants can distinguish between solids and liquids at such an early age builds upon a growing body of research that strongly suggests that babies are not blank slates who primarily depend on others for acquiring knowledge. That's a common assumption of researchers in the not too distant past.

If you know anyone who grew up in Chicago or was raised there yourself, you've likely heard a classy, intellectual term applied to anyone exhibiting a wide variety of behaviors.

That's right, I'm talking about the deeb, or, in more vulgar terms, the douchebag. As urban dictionary so eloquently says, being a douchebag, or committing acts of douchebaggery, "is one of those things as easily understood by definition as it is by one's demonstrations of it." So, deebs, welcome to the scales of depravity.

Most people know Edwin Hubble as a famed astronomer, the namesake of the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (HST).  Most probably don't know he also starred as a forward on the University of Chicago Maroons' Big Ten-champion basketball teams in the early part of the 20th century.  

As an astronomer, Hubble showed that galaxies besides our own existed in the universe, and that the universe is expanding. These findings formed the cornerstone of the Big Bang theory of the universe's origin and opened the field of cosmology.  As a basketball player, the 6-foot-2 Hubble was a member of Chicago teams that posted records of 24-2 in 1907-08 and 10-3 in 1908-09.