A bacterium found in the remote Gobi Desert has shown talents for using the sun's light as energy, and now researchers reveal that it can be found in surprisingly many different places, including water treatment plants. The bacterium may become a valuable partner for researchers working with environmentally friendly biofuels.

Photosynthesis is one of the most fundamental biological processes on Earth. Normally photosynthesis is performed by plants, but a few bacterial phyla also have the talent.

A new method to determine if bacteria are susceptible to antibiotics within a few hours could slow the appearance of drug resistance and allow doctors to more rapidly identify the appropriate treatment for patients with life threatening bacterial infections.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic resistance causes two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths annually, costing the U.S. economy approximately $20-billion a year in direct health care costs and nearly eight million extra days in the hospital. Indeed, bacteria are evolving resistance to antibiotics much more quickly than global biomedical research efforts are delivering new drugs to market, leading to the appearance of infections caused by bacteria that are now resistant to every therapy.

In the early stages of life, peer play is an important factor in the developmental growth of a child. It is during play and children's interactions with peers when many essential and vital skills are learned, from social connections to emotional, language, and cognitive abilities.

Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami (UM) College of Arts & Sciences Dr. Rebecca J. Bulotsky-Shearer is fully aware of how interactive play is necessary for a child's growth; her research centers on social and emotional development in children - especially children living in poverty or adverse life circumstances.

Quantum computing will change lives, society and the economy and a working system is expected to be developed by 2020 according to a leading figure in the world of quantum computing, who will talk tomorrow Jan. 21, 2016 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Professor O'Brien, Director of the Centre for Quantum Photonics at the University of Bristol and Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, is part of a European Research Council (ERC) Ideas Lab delegation who have been invited to talk at the annual meeting to industrial and political leaders of the world, including Prime Minister David Cameron. The session will discuss the future of computing and how new fields of computer sciences are paving the way for the next digital revolution.

Research published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) introduced a new quantum phenomenon which the authors called the "quantum pigeonhole principle." Prior to this breakthrough, the pigeonhole principle was a basic tenet of conventional wisdom. It states that if you put three pigeons in two pigeonholes then at least two of the pigeons must end up in the same hole. It is an obvious yet fundamental principle of nature as it captures the very essence of counting. The research, conducted by members of Chapman University's Institute for Quantum Studies (IQS), violates this principle.

Nearly 60 percent of Americans, if they buy a new handgun, are willing to purchase a smart gun -- operable in the hands of an authorized user -- which is not really a surprise after the entertainment news program "60 Minutes" featured them in November. The claim is that smart guns will prevent accidents, suicides and stolen guns being used in crime because of the biometric technology involved. 

And the public supports them, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, even though the public doesn't know they don't actually work.