URL Renaming

[cheatdeath]

Hi,
I was just wondering if it was possible to rename a url with variables like
http://www.example.com/index.php?go=forums
to something like
http://www.example.com/forums/
I've heard you can do this with .htaccess files. If you can is it possible to edit .htaccess files with php and change these.
For example:
http://www.example.com/index.php?go=article&articleID=12
to
http://www.example.com/article/test_article
Changing the 12 to test_article and maybe for all other articles on the site. If you submit a new article it is automatically changed to something like the above.