Applied Physics

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, January 17 /PRNewswire/ -- - Leading Research University is First in China to Purchase 100 Years of Web Of Science Comprehensive Backfile and Cited Reference Data Thomson Scientific, part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) and leading provider of information solutions to the worldwide research and business communities, today announced that Century of Science(TM) has been purchased by Peking University in China. Century of Science expands Web of Science with the most important scientific bibliographic and cited reference data covering the period…

LOS ANGELES, January 16 /PRNewswire/ -- - Industry veteran joins Bunkspeed team; sees company's rendering technology as 'provoking major change' in digital design Bunkspeed, Inc. announced today that Michael Check has joined the company as President of its Automotive and Transportation business. His focus will be to broaden Bunkspeed's already expansive roster of transportation customers, which includes Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, BMW, Pininfarina, Nissan, Honda, and others. With over 20 years experience, Mr. Check brings to Bunkspeed a deep understanding of the design process and a…

HOUSTON, January 15 /PRNewswire/ -- IDM Group, designers and manufacturers of world-class drilling systems for the international energy industry, today announces that it has named Byron Dunn as Chief Executive Officer of the company. Mr. Dunn brings to the company broad and unique experience in the global energy sector, most recently at Harvest Natural Resources and National Oilwell, and he will use that experience to further expand IDM's global operations. IDM Group provides complete land rig packages and rig equipment to the oil and gas industry from its primary facilities in Houston and…

SHENZHEN, China, January 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Solar energy companies increased worldwide output by over 50% in 2007. Experts believe that the sector has plenty of room to grow, especially as the increasing price of oil forces global leaders to seek alternative forms of energy. Asia's strong interest in renewable energies is translating into rising profit potential for Asian companies. As the world's leading location for photovoltaic (PV) investments, Germany is essential to helping Asian companies optimize research and development (R&D), manufacturing, and market access. This year's…

Researchers have found a way to selectively block the ability of white blood cells to “crawl” toward the sites of injury and infection when such mobility drives disease, according to a study published today in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. The results suggest a new treatment approach for autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis, and for conditions made worse by misplaced inflammation, like atherosclerosis, stroke and transplant rejection, researchers said. Where a single-celled amoeba moves to find food, human cells migrate as part of complex bodily…

An unusual dinosaur has been shown to have a skull that functioned like a fish-eating crocodile, despite looking like a dinosaur. It also possessed two huge hand claws, perhaps used as grappling hooks to lift fish from the water. Dr Emily Rayfield at the University of Bristol, UK, used computer modelling techniques – more commonly used to discover how a car bonnet buckles during a crash – to show that while Baryonyx was eating, its skull bent and stretched in the same way as the skull of the Indian fish-eating gharial – a crocodile with long, narrow jaws. Dr Rayfield said: “On excavation,…

University of Minnesota researchers have created a beating heart in the laboratory. By using a process called whole organ decellularization, scientists from the University of Minnesota Center for Cardiovascular Repair grew functioning heart tissue by taking dead rat and pig hearts and reseeding them with a mixture of live cells. “The idea would be to develop transplantable blood vessels or whole organs that are made from your own cells,” said Doris Taylor, Ph.D., director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair, Medtronic Bakken professor of medicine and physiology, and principal…

Many researchers have tried to create a mathematical model of how cells pack together to form tissue, but most models have many different complicated factors, and no model is universal. Researchers at Northwestern University have now created a functional equation -- using only two parameters -- to show how cells pack together to create the eyes of Drosophila, better known as the fruit fly. They hope that the pared-down equation can be applied to different kinds of tissues, leading to advances in regenerative medicine. Sascha Hilgenfeldt, associate professor of engineering sciences and applied…

When people in a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study were told that anorexia nervosa had a biological or genetics-based cause they were less likely to put any personal accountability on anorexics than when they were told it was personal or cultural. That makes sense. A disease that is egalitarian and exculpatory like a genetics or biological mutation is different than a syndrome. We can't blame kids with Autism for having Autism, though we do teach them to moderate their behavior - and that's a key point. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by an obsessive desire to be thin and…

LONDON, January 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has today named the UK's top young women engineers in its Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards. The Awards are the most prestigious of their type within the engineering profession and recognise success and talent among women engineers. This year the awards celebrate their 30th anniversary. The main prize, the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year, went to an electrical engineering programme co-ordinator with power company E.ON. Another winner began her career working on some of the world's most popular…