(Phys.org) —In one of the tiniest switches ever made, five atoms appear to "dance" around each other in a complex choreographic sequence, with their final arrangement corresponding to one of two stable states. This concerted motion of multiple atoms is unlike that in other nano switches, which typically involve movement of only a single atom or molecule. The motion of multiple atoms gives the switch a major advantage: due to its stability, it is one of the few atomic-scale switches capable of operating at room temperature instead of cryogenic temperatures.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a unique single-step process to achieve three-dimensional (3D) texturing of graphene and graphite. Using a commercially available thermally activated shape-memory polymer substrate, this 3D texturing, or "crumpling," allows for increased surface area and opens the doors to expanded capabilities for electronics and biomaterials.

Compact, sensitive and fast nanodetectors are considered to be somewhat of a "Holy Grail" sought by many researchers around the world. And now a team of scientists in Italy and France has been inspired by nanomaterials and has created a novel solid-state technology platform that opens the door to the use of terahertz (THz) photonics in a wide range of applications.

Graphene, a single-atom-thick lattice of carbon atoms, is often touted as a replacement for silicon in electronic devices due to its extremely high conductivity and unbeatable thinness. But graphene is not the only two-dimensional material that could play such a role.

For the first time, scientists have succeeded in recording the current in membrane channels of contracting cardiac cells. To do this, the scientists combined an atomic force microscope with a widely used method for measuring electrical signals in cells.

Paul Simmonds looks at his molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system the way other guys do a candy apple red Porsche. The sci-fi looking machine used to design and create new materials at the atomic level lights his eyes with pure joy.

ICN2 Oxide Nanoelectronics Group has obtained conductivity values for stroncium iridate 250 times higher than in normal conditions by pressing it with nanometric needles. The results, published in Nanoscale, were obtained via an atomic force microscope (AFM) showing that the material could become a good candidate for future applications in sensors and electronics.

A new study published today in Scientific Reports has discovered that a material traditionally used in ceramics, glass and paint, can be manipulated to produce an ultra-sensitive UV light sensor, paving the way for improved fire and gas detection.

The hacker gang that looted as much as $1 billion worldwide from banks was unusual: It stole directly from the banks, instead of ripping off their customers.

Tech sites are talking about an explosives detector the size of a postage stamp. This is a wireless RFID (radio-frequency identification) sensor tag, battery-free. The tags are specially capable of chemical sensing. The company behind the tags is GE Global Research (the technology development arm of GE) in partnership with an inter-agency task force focused on anti-terrorism, the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), Quantum Magnetics, and with assistance of KemSENSE. The detection solution has numerous advantages, in cost, size and versatility. GE Global Research expects production costs for these sensors would range from 5 to 50 cents per sensor, depending on performance specs and fabrication volume. GE Global Research said the tags can be deployed on a variety of surfaces.

Green-car sceptics take note: Japan now has more electric vehicle charging spots than gas stations.

Redesigned Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy labels on cars for sale are likely ineffective in pointing out total savings of hybrid and electric plug-in cars over gasoline vehicles, according to new research involving two University of Kansas professors in the School of Public Affairs & Administration.

The backers of the Dutch Windwheel leave few superlatives behind. The most innovative 'windmill' in the world. A showcase for clean technology. Accelerator for renewable energy. A future icon for The Netherlands and future landmark in Europe's largest port city, Rotterdam. A presence in the architectural capital of the Netherlands making the skyline even more spectacular. Superlatives may be in order for the Dutch Windwheel, an ambitious idea under the umbrella of the Dutch Windwheel Corporation, a consortium of Rotterdam based companies. The wheel makes use of EWICON (Electrostatic WInd energy CONverter) technology. In this construct, a wind turbine converts wind energy with a framework of steel tubes into electricity without moving mechanical parts. No noise. No moving shadow.

A powerful cyberspying tool can tap into millions of computers worldwide through secretly installed malware, security researchers say, with many signs pointing to a US-led effort.

Upstart Xiaomi was the top smartphone company in China last year with a 12.5 percent market share, narrowly outpacing South Korea's Samsung, market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC) said Tuesday.

After the European Court of Justice ruled that there was a "right to be forgotten" from Google's search results, Google's Advisory Council embarked on a roadshow aimed at debating the issue. While this debate poses many interesting questions, Google's agenda is apparent in the way it has answered them – as revealed in the Advisory Council's recently published report.

Driverless cars could soon be cruising Australian roads if South Australia gives the go-ahead to reforms to its road legislation.

The final report of a major national study on how New Zealanders manage their personal information in online commercial transactions, online government transactions and on social networking sites, is being released today. Led by Professor Miriam Lips, Chair in e-Government, School of Government at Victoria University, and commissioned by the Department of Internal Affairs, the report is based on in-depth qualitative interviews and focus groups that delve deeper into the insights gained from a nationwide survey published last year.

Using new international measurement standards and technology not available in the past, NOAA's National Geodetic Survey has calculated the official architectural height of the Washington Monument to be 554 feet 7 11/32 inches—a highly precise measurement that makes it eligible for inclusion in official registers of the world's tallest structures. NOAA's NGS provides the framework for all positioning activities in the nation.

We often view hackers as evil geniuses, but perhaps a more accurate depiction would be a talented—though sometimes mischievous—craft worker, according to a Kansas State University researcher.

Aircraft designers and animators use different digital technologies to achieve the same goal: creating a three-dimensional image that can be manipulated. But a new method that links the two could vastly speed up how product designers create and simulate the performance of their products.

When readers describe the experience of a great novel, they might say the story "leaps off the page." But for assistant professor of French Morgane Cadieu, that phrase took on new meaning last fall when she and three of her students set out to create a 3D-printed train based entirely on descriptions from Emile Zola's 1890 novel "La Bête humaine" ("The Beast Within").

A new arrival into an extremely competitive market, the first Ubuntu-powered phone has finally gone on sale in Europe – two years after a failed attempt to generate crowdfunding nevertheless raised US$12m. A sleek, polished rectangle, it appears much like other smartphones, but promises a different experience.

Entrepreneurship can sometimes take people down unexpected paths.

A series of cyber attacks against Israel since mid-2013 appears to be coming from "Arab parties located in the Gaza Strip" and elsewhere, US security researchers say.

Recent high-profile security breaches, such as those at Target, Anthem Inc. and Sony Pictures, have attracted scrutiny to how the seemingly minor decisions of individuals can have major cybersecurity consequences.

The museum that houses the National Toy Hall of Fame announced Tuesday the creation of the World Video Game Hall of Fame to recognize the impact games like "Pong" and "Grand Theft Auto" have on culture and society.

A Russian citizen pleaded not guilty Tuesday to an 11-count indictment charging him and four others with running what authorities have called the largest criminal computer hacking scheme ever prosecuted in the United States.

Japan has made "significant progress" in cleaning up the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, a UN review mission said Tuesday as it again advised the country to consider discharging treated water into the sea.

Smartphone maker BlackBerry has revived a legal battle against a startup co-founded by Ryan Seacrest, saying its iPhone keyboard rips off the design from BlackBerry phones' physical keyboards.

Sony on Tuesday began taking orders for SmartEyeglass Internet-linked eyewear, moving ahead in the market as Google steps back to revise its Glass strategy.

The Obama administration is amending its regulations for weapons sales to allow the export of armed military drones to friendly nations and allies.

How to keep the "modern" in "Modern Family" in its sixth season? Create an episode that plays out completely on a computer and in the realm of social media.

(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers with members from institutions in the U.S. and Hong Kong has found that when people feel hunger, in addition to attempting to quash their pangs by eating, they will also acquire more non-food items. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes five laboratory and field studies they conducted that showed how people respond to non-food objects when they are hungry.

In Proust's novel Recollection of Things Past, the distinctive smell of a lemon madeleine launches the narrator on a long, involved reminiscence of his past that fills seven chapters.

The research, conducted at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), found that a slight regulation in the length of primary cilia, small hair-like projections found on most cells, prevented the production of fat cells from human stem cells taken from adult bone marrow.

New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that Fusobacterium necrophorum more often causes severe sore throats in young adults than streptococcus—the cause of the much better known strep throat. The findings, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggest physicians should consider F. necrophorum when treating severe sore throat, known as pharyngitis, in young adults and adolescents that worsens.

A molecular chaperone has been found to inhibit a key stage in the development of Alzheimer's disease and break the toxic chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells, a new study shows. The research provides an effective basis for searching for candidate molecules that could be used to treat the condition.

For 150 years, the iconic Broca's area of the brain has been recognized as the command center for human speech, including vocalization. Now, scientists at UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University in Maryland are challenging this long-held assumption with new evidence that Broca's area actually switches off when we talk out loud.

Scientists have made a major new discovery detailing how areas of the brain responsible for vision could potentially adapt to injury or trauma and ultimately prevent blindness.

Antibodies that protect against H7N9 avian flu, which emerged in China in 2013 and sparked fears of a global pandemic, have been isolated in individuals who received seasonal flu vaccinations. These antibodies account for a small percentage of the total immune response, but appear to broadly neutralize H7 viruses and represent promising new targets for therapeutic development against a wide range of influenza strains, report scientists from the University of Chicago and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the Journal of Clinical Investigation on Feb 17.

Research suggests that fetal exposure to chemicals or drugs can cause neurological problems. Babies whose mothers take the epilepsy drug valporic acid (VPA) during pregnancy, for example, appear to have an elevated risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder. In a new study, scientists who developed a tadpole model of this exposure directly observed deleterious effects on brain physiology and behavior. Understanding that connection could provide scientists with the opportunity to discover how to stop it.

A team led by Oxford University researchers was looking at how a protein, iASPP, might be involved in the growth of tumours. However, serendipitously they found that mice lacking this gene died prematurely of sudden cardiac death. More detailed investigations showed that these mice had an irregular conductance in the right side of the heart, a condition known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC).

Patients with bile duct cancer could be helped by a new class of experimental drug, a study has shown.

The pathological process amyloidosis, in which misfolded proteins (amyloids) form insoluble fibril deposits, occurs in many diseases, including Alzheimer disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). However, little is known about whether different forms of amyloid proteins interact or how amyloid formation begins in vivo. A study published in The American Journal of Pathology has found evidence that amyloid from the brain can stimulate the growth of fibrils in the murine pancreas and pancreatic-related amyloid can be found along with brain-related amyloid in human brain senile plaques.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer for men in the United States. Only one class of chemotherapy called taxanes is effective against the disease. A study published online this week (January 17th) in Clinical Cancer Research, researchers have found that a newer member of the taxane family called cabazitaxel, an FDA approved drug, has properties that could make it more effective for some patients - a hypothesis currently being tested in clinical trials. Researchers also found a genomic marker that could help physicians identify which patients might benefit most from cabazitaxel.

Nine Australians have contracted hepatitis A linked with eating contaminated berries from China, with the importer apologising Tuesday as the food scare spreads.

Among cigarette smokers not willing or able to quit smoking in the next month but willing to reduce with the goal of quitting in the next 3 months, use of the nicotine addiction medication varenicline for 24 weeks compared with placebo produced greater reductions in smoking prior to quitting and increased smoking cessation rates at the end of treatment and at 1 year, according to a study in the February 17 issue of JAMA.

Among previously untreated adults with Gaucher disease type 1, a genetic disease in which there is improper metabolism due to a defect in an enzyme, treatment with the drug eliglustat resulted in significant improvements in liver and spleen size hemoglobin level, and platelet count, according to a study in the February 17 issue of JAMA.

Although some public health organizations advise against the use of electric fans in severe heat, a new study published in the February 17 issue of JAMA demonstrated that electric fans prevent heat-related elevations in heart rate and core body temperature.

Among patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia and high initial inflammatory response, the use of the corticosteroid methylprednisolone decreased treatment failure, compared with placebo, according to a study in the February 17 issue of JAMA.

Patients who experienced a certain type of heart attack who received the anticoagulant fondaparinux had a lower risk of major bleeding events and death both in the hospital and after six months compared to patients who received low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), although both groups had similar rates of subsequent heart attack or stroke, according to a study in the February 17 issue of JAMA.

A discrepancy exists between the ethical standard codified in the pharmaceutical industry Codes of Practice and the actual conduct of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and Sweden, according to a study published by Shai Mulinari and colleagues from Lund University, Sweden in this week's PLOS Medicine.

A primary care nurse-delivered intervention can lead to sustained increases in physical activity (PA) among older adults, according to an article published by Tess Harris of St George's University of London, and colleagues in this week's PLOS Medicine.

New research led by the University of Southampton and Solent NHS Trust has found no evidence of a long term impact on students' mental health as a result of the rise in tuition fees, introduced in 2011.

Experiencing financial difficulties at university may increase the risk of female students developing an eating disorder, according to new research from the University of Southampton and Solent NHS Trust.

A pooled analysis of two recent clinical trials involving the use of devices to treat stroke-causing blood clots indicates that patients with the most severe strokes stand to benefit the most, new research presented by a University of Cincinnati (UC) neurologist indicates.

Scientists from Cardiff have used powerful X-ray technology to visualise how white blood cells interact with skin cancer cells, paving the way for the development of more accurate cancer vaccines.

Millions of African-Americans left the rural South during the 20th century in search of greater opportunities for work, education and overall quality of life in the urban North, Midwest and West.

The children file into the Penn State nutrition lab before taking their seats and being handed a tablet. A research assistant helps them turn the devices on and power up a game they're asked to play while the researchers look on. The kids guide their characters through the digital world—across platforms and into the air to collect items.

Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have discovered a promising new approach to treat multiple sclerosis (MS). In a new study, they've identified a previously unknown change in the spinal cord related to MS, and a way to alter this change to reduce the nerve cell damage that occurs with the disease.

The ability to assess cognitive impairment in multicultural older populations will become more important as demographics change worldwide. A new study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) reports that the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) is particularly effective in multicultural populations where English is not a patient's first language.

Around one in three Dutch doctors would be prepared to help someone with early dementia, mental illness, or who is 'tired of living' to die, reveals a small survey published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

How does the brain of a teacher work? New research has identified the parts of the brain involved in computing mistakes in other people's understanding, which is a key process in guiding students' learning.

Some good news in the face of climate change has emerged from health economists: a study into the health economics of combatting malaria in countries nearing elimination has shown that climate change will not have too great an effect and should not dissuade health organisations from continuing to scale- up their current elimination methods.

The makers of a twice-rejected pill designed to boost sexual desire in women are hoping a yearlong lobbying push by politicians, women's groups and consumer advocates will move their much-debated drug onto the market.

(HealthDay)—The care of type 1 diabetes has evolved rapidly over the past few decades, but not all racial and ethnic groups seem to be benefiting from the latest treatments, a new study indicates.

A team of leading international scientists on Tuesday called for new Ebola vaccines to be made available in months rather than years and warned against complacency after a reduction in infection rates.

Each year in the United States about 720,000 people have heart attacks and about 124,000 people in the UK and 55,000 people in Australia will have them as well. Since the 1980s, survival rates from heart attacks have improved – a lot of people get them, but more and more people are surviving. A recent study of patients in Denmark showed that in 1984-1988 31.4% of patients died within a month of having a heart attack. From 2004-2008 this was down to 14.8%.

Postmenopausal women susceptible to bone fractures may also be a higher risk for gum disease, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine and Case/Cleveland Clinic Postmenopausal Health Collaboration (CCCPOHC).

After studying cancer survivors and their family caregivers, researchers at Case Western Reserve University conclude that the period between the final cancer treatment and first post-treatment checkup may be an ideal time for the entire household to jumpstart a healthy lifestyle.

Alzheimer's disease is no respecter of fame or fortune. Former US president Ronald Reagan had it. Legendary AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young has been diagnosed. Hazel Hawke suffered until her death in 2013. And author and broadcaster Anne Deveson is experiencing the distressing progression of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, a group of brain disorders affecting thinking and memory.

Where there is mental illness, there's almost invariably social disapproval and discrimination. And a report released by the Australian Institute of Family Studies today shows fathers with mental illness can face unique hardships.

Are you well used to wearing studded shoes in winter? If so, you're probably ready for yet another step towards tackling the eternally icy winter streets.

Schizophrenia is not only associated with positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, but also with negative symptoms e.g. cognitive deficits and impairments of the emotional drive. Until now, the underlying mechanisms for these negative symptoms have not been well characterized. In the current edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) a German-American team of researchers, with the cooperation of the Goethe University, reports that a selective dopamine midbrain population that is crucial for emotional and cognitive processing shows reduced electrical in vivo activity in a disease mouse model.

(HealthDay)—In an environment where patients are increasingly aware of the costs of health care, physicians need to be prepared to address these issues with their patients, according to an article published Feb. 4 in Medical Economics.

(HealthDay)—Fear of corporate defamation lawsuits should not prevent medical journals from investigating corporate products, according to a perspective piece published online Feb. 16 in Pediatrics.

(HealthDay)—New research supports previous findings that erythromycin can increase the risk of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS). The research also indicates that azithromycin is associated with a higher risk of IHPS when given to infants under 6 weeks old. The findings were published online Feb. 16 in the Pediatrics.

After finishing his PhD in molecular genetics in the late 1990s, Daniel Anderson found himself conflicted about what to do next: He enjoyed science, but wanted to find a way to have a direct impact on human health.

The patient with the bad heart valve will be in his 60s, say, someone who tires easily because of impaired blood flow but is otherwise in pretty good health.

Sometimes, a smile can say everything. But has :-)—the emoticon version of a happy grin—crossed that line into becoming a socially acceptable way of communicating?

(HealthDay)—Migraines aren't just a problem for adults—about 6 percent of children and more than one-quarter of teens aged 15 to 17 have migraines, according to the American Migraine Foundation (AMF).

Many mental health therapists use treatments that have little evidence to support them. A new multi-institution study led by Penn Medicine has found that an organization's culture and climate are better predictors of the use of evidence-based practices than an individual therapist's characteristics in the treatment of children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. The study, published in the February 16th issue of JAMA Pediatrics, is the first comprehensive investigation of its kind.

Shy babies need to have a strong bond with their parents to avoid developing anxiety disorders in their teens, according to a new study co-authored at the University of Waterloo.

Cancer researchers at Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida, have identified a molecule they say is important to survival of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC)—a lethal tumor with no effective therapies. The molecule also seems to play a role in a wide range of cancers.

New research from The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) College of Business suggests women seek more options in dating partners near ovulation - when they are most fertile - which may lead them to also seek a greater variety of products and services.

It's well known that over the long run, a high-fat diet increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Students, faculty and staff at Oregon State University have largely embraced a new policy that prohibits smoking on the Corvallis campus, but the policy change hasn't completely eliminated secondhand smoke exposure, new research shows.

Health officials say the number of U.S. measles cases this year has risen to 141.

Personal or philosophical opposition to vaccines would not be an authorized exemption for the parents of school-age children under a measure that received a public hearing before a House committee on Tuesday, drawing at least two dozen opponents to the proposed change.

A recently published clinical trial report reviewing the first completed Phase III study in the ODYSSEY development program has shown that alirocumab showed significantly better LDL-C lowering than ezetimibe, with a comparable safety profile to ezetimibe.

A low cost eye-scanning instrument developed by Structured Eye Limited could transform the detection of eye diseases in the developing world as well on Western High Streets.

The risk of injury during competition matches is 12 times higher than during training sessions in players of the Professional Football League. The most common are muscular injuries and those resulting from overexertion, which imply recovery periods of around one week. These findings follow an extensive epidemiological study that analyses the characteristics of injuries to professional footballers in Spain conducted by researchers at the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón, the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the University of Exeter (UK). The results have been published in the scientific journals Sports Sci and Sports Med Phys Fitness.

Anyone who becomes seriously ill or has an accident while on holiday would like to be treated as well as they are at home. It is vitally important for the patient that the doctor has been well trained, in particular in intensive care medicine. A commission at the European Union under the leadership of Prof. Kai Zacharowski, the Director of the Clinic for Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy at the Goethe University Frankfurt is striving for uniform standards across Europe. This commission - shortened to MJC ICM for Multiple Joint Committee Intensive Care Medicine - has worked out general guidelines, which the member states are now expected to ratify. This will certainly not happen without compromises.

The 16-year-old Kenyan girl found out she was HIV-positive and pregnant at a clinic in the Korogocho slums two years ago. She still isn't sure how she contracted the virus—her mother died from AIDS-related complications when she was six years old, and she slept with various men after dropping out of school years ago to provide for herself and her two younger sisters.

Four Web-based training modules developed by Johns Hopkins Medicine for emergency department personnel who treat patients with infectious diseases are now available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) YouTube channel.

No more artificial flavors and colors in Butterfinger, Babe Ruth or any Nestle chocolate candies in the United States, because Americans want them gone, the Swiss food giant said Tuesday.

Boston Scientific will pay $600 million to settle with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson over the medical device maker's $27 billion acquisition of Guidant Corp. in 2006.

Toyota Central R&D Labs. in Japan have reviewed research that might be leading the way towards a new generation of automotive catalytic converters.

A revolutionary new ￡1M laser instrument in the UK is set to illuminate the innermost workings of DNA, protein, enzyme and other molecules that play a critical role in key natural processes in humans, animals and plants. Using synchronised ultrafast infrared lasers to explore how biomolecules react and interact when struck by light, LIFEtime will provide the basis for developing better medicines, innovative cell-imaging techniques and tiny biomolecular 'probes' that can be inserted into cells to gather information.

Recent research which has counted with the participation of the University of Granada Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences has yielded new data on chemical gardens, mysterious formations produced when certain solid salts (copper sulfate, cobalt chloride) are added to an aqueous solution of sodium silicate.

Commercially available hydrocarbons were used as templates to synthesize uniform nanographene sheets using a series of sheet extending agents and a new transition metal catalyst, which were developed by Kyohei Ozaki, Katsuaki Kawasumi, Mari Shibata, Hideto Ito, and Professor Kenichiro Itami at Nagoya University's Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) and of the JST-ERATO Itami Molecular Nanocarbon Project. Nanographenes, which are nanometer-sized graphenes, possess good semiconducting properties making them highly promising materials for the next generation of organic electronic devices. Itami and his team have developed a new catalytic one-shot annulative π (pi)-extension (APEX) reaction, which enables the rapid construction of nanographene in a single-step.