It turns out they do.* And it can tell us a lot about learning.

In fact, "competitive fandom" is such a growing field that University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professors Erica and Rich Halverson are spending their summer studying something they love - fantasy baseball, and why people play such games.

It's an area ripe for analysis. Sixteen million adults played fantasy sports in 2006, spending an average of just under $500 a year and generating an economic impact of more than $1 billion a year, according to the Fantasy Sports Industry Trade Association. The majority of those first began playing the game offline and spend about three hours per week managing their teams, according to the trade group.

White gold. That’s what some call one of the most-eaten seafoods because it's so lucrative. A.k.a. shrimp, the new gold rush has reached landlocked desert farms in Arizona.

“What heat-stroked dummkopf came up with that insane notion?” I find myself exclaiming at the thought of all that water. “Haven’t they heard the word drought? Or sustainability?”

Well, actually, it’s not quite as certifiable as it sounds.

For the first time, it can now be shown what enzyme copies the genetic make-up of cells. The discovery is being published in the journal Science by researchers at Umeå University in Sweden in collaboration with a team in the U.S. led by Thomas A. Kunkel.

The human genome has already been mapped, as have the genomes of several other organisms. On the other hand, little has been known how genes are copied and repaired so efficiently and precisely.

These processes always involve a so-called DNA polymerase, an enzyme that performs the actual new growth of genes. The genes consist of two DNA strands, but scientists have not known what polymerase copies the two DNA strands.

New technology could allow a CD to hold up to one hundred times more information by using terahertz radiation rather than visible light, even though the length of a terahertz wave is about 1000 times longer, say University of Michigan researchers.

Manipulating light waves, or electromagnetic radiation, has led to many technologies, from cameras to lasers to medical imaging machines that can see inside the human body and now scientists have developed a way to make a lens-like device that focuses electromagnetic waves down to the tiniest of points.

The breakthrough opens the door to the next generation of technology, said Roberto Merlin, professor of physics at U-M.

Many earthquakes in the deep ocean are much smaller in magnitude than expected. Geophysicists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have found new evidence that the fragmented structure of seafloor faults, along with previously unrecognized volcanic activity, may be dampening the effects of these quakes.

Researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering have uncovered a missing link in scientists' understanding of the physical forces that give DNA its famous double helix shape.

"The stability of DNA is so fundamental to life that it's important to understand all factors," said Piotr Marszalek, a professor of mechanical engineering and materials sciences at Duke. "If you want to create accurate models of DNA to study its interaction with proteins or drugs, for example, you need to understand the basic physics of the molecule. For that, you need solid measurements of the forces that stabilize DNA."

One of the major issues associated with longer life expectancy in man and his best friend is an increase in the incidence of cancer.

Dr Ali Mobasheri, an Associate Professor from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at The University of Nottingham, says that studying tumors in dogs and humans could give us a better understanding of their shared pathogenesis.

Cancer is the single biggest cause of death in dogs over the age of 2. The incidence of bone cancers, skin cancers, and lymphomas is increasing in humans and dogs and there are significant similarities between certain types of human and canine cancer – such as breast and prostate cancer.

A team of led by Norwich BioScience Institutes Professor Nick Harberd have discovered how plants evolved the ability to adapt to changes in climate and environment.

Plants adapt their growth, including key steps in their life cycle such as germination and flowering, to take advantage of environmental conditions. They can also repress growth when their environment is not favorable. This involves many complex signalling pathways which are integrated by the plant growth hormone gibberellin.

A semiconductor membrane designed by researchers at the University of Illinois could offer more flexibility and better electrical performance than biological membranes. Built from thin silicon layers doped with different impurities, the solid-state membrane also could be used in applications such as single-molecule detection, protein filtering and DNA sequencing.

“By creating nanopores in the membrane, we can use the membrane to separate charged species or regulate the flow of charged molecules and ions, thereby mimicking the operation of biological ion channels,” said lead researcher Jean-Pierre Leburton, the Stillman Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois.

Current strict environmental legislation demands advanced concepts to reduce the emission of harmful gasses by cars. Reducing the emission of nitrous oxides (NOx) emitted by diesel and lean-burn petrol engines is one of the challenges faced.

These economical engines produce exhaust fumes that are particularly rich in oxygen and therefore the conventional three-way catalytic converter is not suitable for converting the generated NOx into nitrogen. The current trend is therefore to add specific components such as barium to the catalytic converter to store the NOx formed.

Dutch researcher Karen Scholz has taken a careful look at the properties of a new type of catalytic converter.