The existence of "superbugs" like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas (MRSA) have raised public concern over bacterial infections. A mathematical model that looks at different strategies for curbing hospital-acquired infections suggests that antimicrobial cycling and patient isolation may be effective approaches when patients are harboring dual-resistant bacteria. --by Carol Hughes

One day soon a biosensing nanodevice may eliminate long lines at airport security checkpoints and revolutionize health screenings for diseases like anthrax, cancer and antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Even more incredible than the device itself, is that it is based on the world's tiniest rotary motor: a biological engine measured on the order of molecules. --by Margaret Coulombe (Read the full text in SOLS News)

Scientists using a Mars-orbiting camera have found the first evidence for deposits of salts in numerous places on Mars. These deposits show where water was once abundant and may also provide evidence for the existence of former Martian life. --by Robert Burnham

Scientists have long known that most compounds in living things exist in mirror-image forms. The two forms are like hands; one is a mirror reflection of the other. But amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, are all "left-handed," while the sugars of DNA and RNA are "right-handed." ASU scientists have found new evidence that extraterrestrial amino acids, found in meteorites, are also largely left-handed. Their work suggests that precursor molecules, the aldehydes, also carried an excess of left-handedness. --by Jenny Green

U.S. and Chinese high school students are taking aim at the Red Planet using an ASU-designed camera on a Mars-orbiting spacecraft. --by Robert Burnham

The “glassy state” is a sub-state of matter—glassy water and ice, for example, are chemically identical and are both solid, but have a different structure. Put another way, ice is crystalline, whereas glass is, well, chunky. Scientists know a lot about glasses that form from ordinary silicates, sugars and metals. But when water makes the transition to its glassy state, it behaves very oddly. ASU chemist C. Austen Angell has found a vital clue that helps explain water’s bizarre behavior at the glass transition and gained important insights into phases of liquid water, as well. --by Nicholas Gerbis

Quick: What’s the order of the planets in the solar system? It's Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, right? That's right today. But four billion years ago, Uranus and Neptune switched places. How do we know? With the help of a very Nice model, for starters. --by Nikki Staab

Scientists at ASU have developed the world’s first gene detection platform made up entirely from self-assembled DNA nanostructures. The structures are made using "DNA origami" techniques to create spatially addressable nanoarrays. The work could have broad implications for gene chip technology and may also revolutionize the way in which gene expression is analyzed in a single cell. --by Joe Caspermeyer

Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity continue to make new discoveries--like a deposit of silica--more than three years after landing. Meanwhile, NASA is planning where to send its next-generation rover, the Mars Science Laboratory. A promising site is Melas Chasma, a dried-up ancient lake that could hold evidence of microbial life.--by Robert Burnham

New research from the Deep Time Drilling Project indicates that traces of oxygen appeared in Earth’s atmosphere earlier than previously thought. The discovery places the traces at 50 to 100 million years before the “Great Oxidation Event.” --by Carol Hughes

For almost 40 years, the complete photographic record from the Apollo moon project sat in a freezer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Now, scientists at Arizona State University and NASA are working together to create a new digital archive. High-resolution scans of the original Apollo flight films will be available publicly on the Internet. --by Robert Burnham

Charon is very cold place. Frigid geysers spew material up through cracks in the crust of Pluto’s companion world. Charon just might be the equivalent of an outer solar system ice machine, according to Jason Cook. --by Robert Burnham

Nature, through the trial and error of evolution, has discovered a vast diversity of life from what we can only presume to have been a primordial pool of building blocks. Inspired by this success, a new Biodesign Institute research team, led by John Chaput, is now trying to mimic the process of Darwinian evolution in the laboratory by evolving new proteins from scratch. --by Joe Caspermeyer

A mosaic image made with data from ASU's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) shows a massive landslide in the Martian canyon Noctis Labyrinthus. --by Robert Burnham

Galaxy NGC 1672 is an active star-forming galaxy in Earth's cosmic backyard. ASU astronomer Rogier Windhorst uses pictures like this Hubble image to study the birth and evolution of these giant wonders.

Frustrated by frequently losing battery power in your laptop computer, digital camera, or portable music player? Take heart. A better source of “juice” is in the works. --by Joe Caspermeyer

Long used in spas as a beauty treatment, French green clay may have more power than people realize. ASU researchers are studying the antibacterial properties of this clay in the hopes that it may be used to heal as well as beautify. Here is some more dirt on the stuff we call clay. --by Margaret Coulombe

What do cancer clusters and galaxy clusters have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out. Astronomer Rogier Windhorst has discovered that software he uses to analyze telescopic images can also be used to effectively detect cancer cells and early signs of diabetes. --by Skip Derra

Rogier Windhorst has spent his entire career thinking big. He has to. He is an astrophysicist. He uses the most advanced telescope systems ever developed to peer into deep space, and essentially back in time. --by Skip Derra

What caused the mysterious dark spots, fan-like markings, and spider-shaped features on the icecap at the Martian south pole?

Clay has been associated with home cures since Roman times. But there have been very few scientific studies to investigate such claims--until now. Researchers at ASU have found that French green clay can kill pathogenic bacteria. --by Margaret Coulombe

Photosynthesis may hold the key to curing humans of their addiction to oil and other fossil fuels. --by Diane Boudreau