Miniscule magnets in ant antennae act as internal GPS

September 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered molecules that could confuse insects' ability to detect plants by interfering with their sense of smell, which could reduce damage to crops by insect pests and contribute to food security. Scientists at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) made the discovery.

September 9th, 2009 Internal probe in handling of Phila. voting caseWASHINGTON — The Justice Department has opened an internal inquiry into its handling of a case of alleged voter intimidation by self-proclaimed Black Panthers in Philadelphia.

August 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of predatory crustaceans in the Canary Islands, which have a head equipped with long antennae for eyes, powerful prehensile limbs and poisonous fangs. The species was found by an international team of scientists and cave divers in the Tunnel de la Atlantida, the world's longest submarine lava tube on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

August 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), or the 'Big Bang Machine', as it is popularly called, is fizzling out, as many of the magnets meant to whiz subatomic particles around the 17-mile underground machine outside Geneva have mysteriously lost their ability to operate at high energies. According to a report in New York Times, after 15 years and 9 billion dollars, and a showy "switch-on" ceremony last September, the LHC, the giant particle accelerator outside Geneva, has to yet collide any particles at all, thanks to thousands of bad electrical connections.

July 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A breakthrough in making miniscule brushes potentially opens the way to bio-fuel cells that can power pace-makers, cochlear implants and prosthetic limbs. University of Georgia (UGA) chemist Jason Locklin and graduate students Nicholas Marshall and Kyle Sontag grew polymer brushes, made up of chains of aromatic molecules sometimes used as solvents, attached to metal surfaces as ultra-thin films.

June 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An international team of researchers has achieved the first step in converting solar energy using an 'artificial leaf'. The researchers have modified chlorophyll from an alga so that it resembles the extremely efficient light antennae of bacteria.

June 20th, 2009 Report: Raid that killed dogs was 'acceptable'WASHINGTON — An internal review by a suburban Washington, D.C. sheriff's office says deputies acted appropriately during a raid in which they killed two dogs belonging to a local town's mayor.

June 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Astronomers have announced the discovery of new tidal debris stripped away from colliding galaxies. New debris images are of special interest since they show the full history of galaxy collisions and resultant starburst activities, which are important in 'growing' galaxies in the early Universe.

June 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Harvard University researchers have uncovered a fundamental feedback mechanism that the body uses to regulate clotting of blood. The researchers reach the conclusion by applying cutting-edge techniques in single-molecule manipulation.

May 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - What attracts silkworms to mulberry leaves, their primary food source, is no longer a secret because Japanese scientists have found that a jasmine-scented chemical emitted in small quantities by the leaves triggers an olfactory receptor in the insects' antennae. Kazushige Touhara, from The University of Tokyo, says that the new finding contrasts the notion that insects are generally attracted to their host plants through the recognition of a blend of volatile compounds by a combination of receptors.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - You can now use tiny magnets to clean your blood of pathogens, thus freeing yourself from the kind of septic infection that kills more than 200,000 people annually in the US, especially premature newborns and those with weakened immune systems. As existing treatments are ineffective, researchers at the Vascular Biology Programme at Children's Hospital Boston have hit upon magnets to free blood of pathogens.

March 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, has outrightly rejected suggestions that the US played a role in the latest political solution in Islamabad. Haqqani said that US as an ally might have concerns over Pakistan's emanating internal situation, but it had no role in the internal politics of Pakistan.

March 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army is developing an 'e-bomb' that would use electromagnetic radiation to destroy and disable electronic systems and their operators in one blast.

March 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at Caltech University, US, have discovered that fruit flies have evolved a specialized population of neurons in their antennae that let them know not only when the wind is blowing, but also the direction from which it is coming. The behavior of fruit flies in the face of a stiff breeze is remarkable in and of itself, according to David J.

March 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An International team of physicists has been able to prove the existence of a "spin battery", a battery that is "charged" by applying a large magnetic field to nano-magnets in a device called a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). Developed by researchers at the University of Miami and at the Universities of Tokyo and Tohoku, in Japan, the new technology is a step towards the creation of computer hard drives with no moving parts, which would be much faster, less expensive and use less energy than current ones.