A discovery by Princeton researchers may lead to an efficient method for controlling the transmission of light and improve new generations of communications technologies powered by light rather than electricity.

The discovery could be used to develop new structures that would work in the same fashion as an elbow joint in plumbing by enabling light to make sharp turns as it travels through photonic circuits. Fiber-optic cables currently used in computers, televisions and other devi

The military’s next generation of airborne drones won’t be just small and silent – they’ll also dive between buildings, zoom under overpasses and land on apartment balconies.

At least, that’s what University of Florida engineers are working toward.

Funded by the U.S. Air Force and NASA, UF aerospace engineers have built prototypes of 6-inch- to 2-foot- drones capable of squeezing in and out of tight spots in cities — like tiny urban stunt planes. Their secret: seagull-in

X-rays yield pictures and chemical clues that may help trace contaminants, thwart terrorists

As part of the search for better ways to track and clean up soil contaminants, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a new way to “image” the internal chemistry of bacteria. The technique will allow scientists to “see” at the molecular level how soil-dwelling microbes interact with various pollutants. T

Tranquilizers work better than placebos at treating the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal syndrome but they may not work better than other drugs, according to a new review of recent studies.

The class of depressant drugs known as benzodiazepines are especially effective at treating seizure in withdrawal patients, say Dr. Christos Ntais of the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece and colleagues. People given benzodiazepines were 84 percent less likely to have wi

What is the mysterious dark energy that’s causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate? Is it some form of Einstein’s famous cosmological constant, or is it an exotic repulsive force, dubbed “quintessence,” that could make up as much as three-quarters of the cosmos? Scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Dartmouth College believe there is a way to find out.

In a paper to be published in Physical Review Letters, physicists Eric L

Complex chemotherapy cocktails offer about one extra month of life to patients with end-stage endometrial cancer but also can result in severe, possibly fatal, side effects, according to the first systematic review of studies addressing the topic.

“ The best drug treatment for women with advanced cancer of the womb is still not clear,” concludes the review, led by Dr. Caroline Humber of Walsgrave Hospital in England.

The review appears in the current issue of The Co

Thanks to the doggedness of a Cornell University marine biologist, researchers have discovered that one of Maine’s most important fishing areas has been invaded by an alien tunicate, or sea squirt, that could threaten the commercial fishing industry there.

A rapid assessment survey for marine invasive species in Cobscook Bay in August found a type of sea squirt — Didemnum sp. — that can damage ocean floor habitats and commercial species that live there. The survey was conceived

If you want to hear a little bit of the Big Bang, you’re going to have to turn down your stereo.

That’s what neighbors of MIT’s Haystack Observatory found out. They were asked to make a little accommodation for science, and now the results are in: Scientists at Haystack have made the first radio detection of deuterium, an atom that is key to understanding the beginning of the universe. The findings are being reported in an article in the Sept. 1 issue of Astrophysical Journal Lett

ESA’s Integral space observatory, together with NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer spacecraft, has found a fast-spinning pulsar in the process of devouring its companion.

This finding supports the theory that the fastest-spinning isolated pulsars get that fast by cannibalising a nearby star. Gas ripped from the companion fuels the pulsar’s acceleration. This is the sixth pulsar known in such an arrangement, and it represents a ’stepping stone’ in the evol

Aromatase inhibitor improves survival for some patients, reduces metastasis

The complete analysis of data from an international trial of the drug letrozole (Femara) confirms earlier reports that the drug reduced the recurrence of breast cancer in women previously treated with tamoxifen. It also finds that letrozole prevents the development of metastases, even in women whose cancer had originally spread to their lymph nodes. The report appears in the September 7 issue of the Journa

Despite the government’s £1bn commitment to increase the use of information technology in schools, few teachers make full use of computers in the classroom, according to ESRC funded research. The findings of the four-year project at the University of Bristol confirm recent reports by Ofsted and OECD, which found the use of ICT in schools was ‘sporadic’ and ‘disappointing’ in the UK and internationally. The ESRC study reveals that many teachers fear that computers would interfere with ‘genuine’

An international team of 53 researchers has offered the most convincing evidence so far linking bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, to two chromosomal regions in the human genome. The finding gives scientists refined targets for further gene studies.

“Even though bipolar disorder affects millions of people around the world-sometimes throughout their lifetimes-what we understand to be biologically relevant at the genetic level is not terribly characterized,” said Matth

University of Pittsburgh researchers first to report function of tunneling nanotubules

Immune system cells are connected to each other by an extensive network of tiny tunnels that, like a building’s hidden pneumatic tube system, are used to shoot signals to distant cells. This surprising discovery, being reported by two University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers in the September issue of the journal Immunity, may explain how an immune response can be so exquisit

ESA’s Mars Express mission has been extended by one Martian year, or about 23 months, from the beginning of December 2005.

The decision, taken on 19 October by ESA’s Science Programme Committee, allows the spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet to continue building on the legacy of its own scientific success. Co-ordinated from the beginning with the Mars science and exploration activities of other agencies, Mars Express has revealed an increasingly complex picture of Mars.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified three new genetic mutations in brain tumors, a discovery that could pave the way for more effective cancer treatments.

The Hopkins team, in conjunction with researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., discovered DNA abnormalities in two tyrosine kinase proteins already known to disrupt normal cell activity and contribute to tumor formation.

The discovery of these mutations is especially significant, t

Colliding compact stars likely cause of short but powerful gamma-ray bursts

An international team of scientists using three NASA satellites and a host of ground-based telescopes believes it has solved the greatest remaining mystery of the mysterious gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most powerful explosions in the universe. The shorter of two versions of these bursts appear to be caused by the collision of closely orbiting neutron stars or one of those compact stars and a black hole,

Two New Jersey research teams are reporting discoveries about the biological nature of psychiatric disorders that may bring them closer to the ultimate goal of finding cures for complex diseases, such as autism and schizophrenia.

Scientists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) have unveiled new information regarding the genetic, cellular and neurological bases of suscep

Discovery has implications for wide range of diseases

A team of international researchers has discovered that a specific gene on chromosome 15 regulates inflammation, a finding with implications for a wide range of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s, and infections. The findings are published in the October 9 online issue of Nature Genetics.

Investigators believe this discovery will be of great interest to biomedical

A novel vaccine targeted to multiple HIV subtypes found worldwide has moved into the second phase of clinical testing, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today. The study investigators plan to enroll a total of 480 participants at sites in Africa, North America, South America and the Caribbean to test the safety and immune response to the vaccine.

The experimental vaccine was developed by

A peptide identified in a fungus found in northern European pine forests possesses as much power as penicillin as well as vancomycin, according to an international team of researchers.

Reporting in the October 13 issue of Nature, a team from Denmark-based biotech company Novozymes, and researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, say they have isolated “plectasin,” the first defensin ever found in fungi. The research wa