Despite the tradition-steeped pageantry this week when many of the world's tennis stars take the court in Queens, N.Y., the athletes' experiences may be quite distant from their predecessors' polite volleys in the championship first contested more than 125 years ago. U.S. Open fans will see players sporting sophisticated shoes and rackets with high-tech strings--and, perhaps unfittingly, also hear barbaric battle cries. (With some players now grunting at more than 100 decibels, they may very well be heard as far as Brooklyn.) To what extent are these changes putting players at a greater advantage? Is tennis going the way of swimming with technology making the difference between love and match? [More]

Researchers have developed an index scale to help physicians predict a patient's risk of dying from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The ADO index can help physicians assess the severity of a patient's illness to determine the appropriate level of treatment. COPD is a major public health problem and it is the fourth leading cause of death in the US.

A Japanese research group has found that after a cerebral stroke in one side of a mouse brain, another side of the brain rewires its neural circuits to recuperate from damaged neural function.

As scientists attempt to learn more about how galaxies evolve, an open question has been whether collisions with our dwarf galactic neighbors will one day tear apart the disk of the Milky Way. That grisly fate is unlikely, a new study now suggests.

Bluegrass hybrids ideal for pasture and for lawns could be developed faster using recently developed genetic markers.

A novel natural product yields potential new ways to fight diseases. Researchers have deciphered the highly unusual molecular structure of a naturally produced, ocean-based compound that is giving new understanding of the function of mammalian nerve cells.

Could President Obama, in the event of a massive cyber attack against government computers, be given the power to bring Internet traffic to a stop? [More]

Computer scientists have developed an inexpensive solution for diagnosing networking delays in data center networks as short as tens of millionths of seconds -- delays that can lead to multi-million dollar losses for investment banks running automatic stock trading systems.

New tools are now available for generating specifically targeted genetic mutations in bacteria, mammalian cells and mice. The new recombinase, Dre, is similar to its predecessor, Cre, but targets unique sites within DNA for recombination. It may be used in combination with currently available methods to produce more complex mouse models to understand disease.

A new study details how sandfish -- small lizards with smooth scales -- move rapidly underground through desert sand. In this first thorough examination of subsurface sandfish locomotion, researchers found that the animals place their limbs against their sides and create a wave motion like snakes to propel themselves through granular media.