- 23-06-2008 - Top Science News Stories from Firstscience.com

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- June 18, 2008
23 Jun 2008
Wastewater treatment plants do not reduce harmful proteins called prions that cause incurable brain infections, such as Mad Cow disease, scientists report. Click here for more information. ARTICLE #1 FOR IMMEDIATE...

Britain's last Neanderthals were more sophisticated than we thought
23 Jun 2008
Neanderthal blade. Click here for more information. An archaeological excavation at a site near Pulborough, West Sussex, has thrown remarkable new light on the life of northern Europe's last Neanderthals. It...

Discovery by UC Riverside physicists could enable development of faster computers
23 Jun 2008
Roland Kawakami's lab proposes a simple technique for controlling electron spin and current flow Sketch of a ferromagnet/semiconductor structure. When the MgO interface is very thin, spin up electrons, represented in this image...

Dry Tortugas show positive trends: Protected area slowly rebounding
23 Jun 2008
Multi-agency effort a collaborative success in integrated ecosystem assessment The goliath grouper is one of the species of fish in the Dry Tortugas that is protected from harvest and recognized as a critically endangered...

Gene silencer and quantum dots reduce protein production to a whisper
23 Jun 2008
Each of these jars contains the same substance. The difference is the size of the particles. Quantum dots, suspended in liquid, absorb white light and then reemit it in a... Click here for more information. More...

Tethered molecules act as light-driven reversible nanoswitches
23 Jun 2008
Illustration of the light-activated switch made by the Paul Weiss lab at Penn State. A bridge within the azobenzene molecule, made by two double-bonded nitrogen atoms, each also bound... Click here for more...

A look into the nanoscale
23 Jun 2008
LIVERMORE, Calif. - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have captured time-series snapshots of a solid as it evolves on the ultra-fast timescale. Using femtosecond X-ray free electron laser (FEL) pulses, the team, led by Anton...

Nasal spray using body's immune system provides hope of cure for common cold
23 Jun 2008
Hopes of cure for common cold on the horizon A nasal spray that mimics our own natural defense system may be the answer to beating the common cold, according to a report in the latest issue of the Society of Chemical Industry's (SCI) magazine,...