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Latest Articles: Science/Tech
Nanotechnology Breakthrough Could Dramatically Improve Medical Tests
Post Date: 2012-06-02 03:00:15 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily (May 31, 2012) — A laboratory test used to detect disease and perform biological research could be made more than 3 million times more sensitive, according to researchers who combined standard biological tools with a breakthrough in nanotechnology. The increased performance could greatly improve the early detection of cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other disorders by allowing doctors to detect far lower concentrations of telltale markers than was previously practical. The breakthrough involves a common biological test called an immunoassay, which mimics the action of the immune system to detect the presence of biomarkers -- the chemicals associated with diseases. ...
Digital Divide 2.0
Post Date: 2012-05-31 12:07:49 by Eric Stratton
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Digital Divide 2.0 Remember the worrying over “the digital divide”? During the “concern’s” heyday, I was more than a tad skeptical, as were many others. There’s only so much hand-wringing that a balanced, working person can stand. Now we learn that all the yammering “inspired many efforts to get the latest computing tools into the hands of all Americans, particularly low-income families.” I’m not aware of any government programs to accomplish this, but then I don’t follow the handouts economy as closely as I could. But I do know that some charities got involved, putting computers into rural libraries and computer centers, for instance. (The ...
New Properties of Carbon Material Graphene Discovered
Post Date: 2012-05-31 04:41:54 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily (May 30, 2012) — Graphene has caused a lot of excitement among scientists since the extremely strong and thin carbon material was discovered in 2004. Just one atom thick, the honeycomb-shaped material has several remarkable properties combining mechanical toughness with superior electrical and thermal conductivity. Now a group of scientists at Iowa State University, led by physicist Jigang Wang, has shown that graphene has two other properties that could have applications in high-speed telecommunications devices and laser technology -- population inversion of electrons and broadband optical gain. Wang is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and ...
Google’s 'polished' new Chromebooks: 4 key improvements
Post Date: 2012-05-31 00:42:04 by Tatarewicz
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The search giant introduces two new machines to its line of ultra-minimal computers, and critics like what they're seeing When Google unveiled a line of cloud-based, browser-only laptops called Chromebooks last year with Acer and Samsung, the machines were met with an underwhelmed "meh." Now the company has two new additions to the Chrome family: An updated $499 Samsung Chromebook with Wi-Fi only ($549 with 3G), and a $329 small desktop version named Chromebox that's similar to Apple's Mac Mini, which requires its own mouse, monitor, and keyboard. Surprisingly, critics are pleased with the updates. Some say that the experience feels "polished," and that ...
Researchers Have Created Glasses That Indicate Obstacles to Patients With Visual Handicaps
Post Date: 2012-05-30 07:50:06 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily (May 28, 2012) — People with moderate visual impairment, particularly those who have difficulty perceiving the full extent of their surroundings, could use the ingenious device that these UC3M scientists have created. "This device is aimed at people who would bump into everything that they fail to see because of their loss of visual field, caused by glaucoma, retinal pathologies, etc.," states the head of the project Professor Ricardo Vergaz, of UC3M's Electronics Technology Department. The prototype was developed using an HMD device (Head Mounted Display), a virtual reality helmet that includes two cameras to which a small computer has been attached; the ...
Don't Let John Yoo Talk You Into Domestic Drone Use by Police
Post Date: 2012-05-29 07:38:26 by Ada
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He says private drone use is more worrisome. That's because he's never adequately understood the need to restrain the state. Reuters As a Bush Administration lawyer, John Yoo employed flawed legal reasoning to facilitate torture and a view of executive power that would make the U.S. Constitution worthless if it were widely adopted. Despite his history of caring more about checks and balances when a Democrat is in the White House, he's been mostly comfortable with the excesses of the Obama era. And a recent item he published at Ricochet is yet another example of why he can't be trusted on questions concerning the federal government and the importance of restraining it to ...
End of the computer as we know it
Post Date: 2012-05-29 06:56:52 by Itistoolate
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The End the computer as we know it. This is unreal. However, go back 10 years or so and what were your thoughts about some of the things we have today? If you own Apple shares, keep a close eye on what's happening next. Don't believe the hype about Apple going to $600 per share and beyond Wonder why HP, Dell and other leading computer manufacturers believe the end of the computer as we know it is near It's not the iPad that has them concerned about the future, it is developments like the ones Corning is working on. CLICK on word "glass" below and be amazed!GLASS
Google Overtakes Microsoft in Browser Market Share
Post Date: 2012-05-27 05:48:22 by Tatarewicz
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It has taken a while, but Google Chrome is finally the top browser in the world, according to a recent study. According to Ireland-based Internet metric analysis company StatCounter, Google Inc.’s Chrome Web browser surpassed Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer as the world’s most used browser. Unlike shorter periods of time during March of this year, this latest milestone marks the first time Google Chrome held the global No. 1 position for an entire week–May 7 through 13–with 32.76 percent over Internet Explorer’s 31.94 percent market share. The other leading browsers are Mozilla’s Firefox with over 25 percent usage, and Apple’s Safari at nearly ...
Schoolboy cracks age-old maths problem
Post Date: 2012-05-27 01:14:44 by Original_Intent
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Schoolboy cracks age-old maths problemPublished: 23 May 12 07:03 CET A 16-year-old schoolboy has solved a mathematical problem which has stumped mathematicians for centuries, a newspaper report said. The boy put the historical breakthrough down to “schoolboy naivety.” Shouryya Ray, who moved to Germany from India with his family at the age of 12, has baffled scientists and mathematicians by solving two fundamental particle dynamics problems posed by Sir Isaac Newton over 350 years ago, Die Welt newspaper reported on Monday. Ray’s solutions make it possible to now calculate not only the flight path of a ball, but also predict how it will hit and bounce off a wall. ...
How Many Toothpicks Does it Take to Stop a Tiger?
Post Date: 2012-05-26 14:51:32 by James Deffenbach
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Poster Comment:I guess it takes millions to protect you from a tiger. And I would think considerably less--maybe 20?--to protect you from a pug. Right Turtle?
Interesting Moon pic from google earth
Post Date: 2012-05-26 14:34:22 by PSUSA2
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I was reading about Tycho crater and possible buildings and found this, by just playing around. Poster Comment:Interesting features. According to the ruler feature of google earth, the "buildings" are well within typical earth buildings dimensions.
Nanodevice demonstrates potential to distinguish between prostate cancer and benign enlarged prostate
Post Date: 2012-05-26 07:14:00 by Tatarewicz
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DUARTE, Calif., May 23, 2012 — Prostate cancer can be difficult to diagnose without an invasive procedure, such as a tissue biopsy, to confirm the presence of cancerous cells. City of Hope researchers validated that a nanodevice they developed could distinguish between prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Jennifer Linehan, M.D., a surgical fellow in City of Hope’s Division of Urology and Urologic Oncology is presenting findings from the study at the 2012 Annual Meeting for the American Urological Association in Atlanta. “The objective of our study was to compare how our nanodevice binds to stromal tissue found in prostate cancers versus tissue from benign ...
Small Modular Nuclear Reactors By 2022 -- But No Market For Them
Post Date: 2012-05-25 14:58:50 by Original_Intent
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The Department of Energy will spend $452 million—with a match from industry—over the next five years to guide two small modular reactor designs through the nuclear regulatory process by 2022. But cheap natural gas could freeze even small nuclear plants out of the energy market well beyond that date. DOE accepted bids through Monday for companies to participate in the Small Modular Reactor program. A number of reactor manufacturers submitted bids, including NuScale Power and a collaboration that includes Westinghouse and General Dynamic. “This would allow SMR technology to overcome the hurdle of NRC certification – the ‘gold standard’ of the ...
New chip 1,000 faster than Bluetooth
Post Date: 2012-05-25 06:00:35 by Tatarewicz
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The new microchip can transfer data the size of 80 MP3 song files wirelessly in the flick of a second. Here is a new microchip that can transfer data the size of 80 MP3 song files (or 250 megabytes) wirelessly between mobile devices, in the flick of a second. Or how about transferring a typical 2-hour, 8-gigabyte DVD movie in just half a minute compared to 8.5 hours on Bluetooth? Such unprecedented speeds on the wireless platform are now a reality as scientists from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and A*STAR’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R) have developed a revolutionary microchip that can transmit large volumes of data at ultra-high speeds of 2 Gigabits ...
Discoveries Into Perception Via Popular Magic Tricks
Post Date: 2012-05-23 03:12:25 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily (May 22, 2012) — Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center have unveiled how and why the public perceives some magic tricks in recent studies that could have real-world implications in military tactics, marketing and sports. Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD, of Barrow's Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, and Stephen Macknik, PhD, of Barrow's Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology are well known for their research into magic and illusions. Their most recent original research projects, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, offer additional insight into perception and cognition. One of the studies was ...
Silicene to Supersede Graphene in Computer Processors?
Post Date: 2012-05-23 02:40:58 by Tatarewicz
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Silicene-based transistors could provide the next big leap in computer processor performance, new research from Europe suggests, and could surpass graphene after silicon reaches its performance peak. Silicon transistors are tiny switches that alternate between on and off states, representing either 0 or 1—the binary language of computers. Millions of these perform complex calculations in current processors, but computers with silicene transistors could operate hundreds of times faster. The researchers describe silicene as “the graphene equivalent for silicon” in their paper. Graphene is the most highly conductive material known, conducting electrons at much faster speeds ...
Launch success for SpaceX mission
Post Date: 2012-05-22 06:19:54 by Tatarewicz
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California's SpaceX has launched on a mission to re-supply the space station - the first cargo delivery to the orbiting outpost by a private company. The firm's Falcon rocket, topped by an unmanned Dragon freight capsule, lifted clear of its Florida pad at 03:44 EDT (07:44 GMT; 08:44 BST). The initial climb to an altitude some 340km above the Earth lasted a little under 10 minutes. Within moments of being ejected, Dragon opened its solar panels. It will take a couple of days to reach the station. The plan currently is for the vessel to demonstrate its guidance, control and communications systems on Thursday, at a distance of 2.5km from the International Space Station (ISS). ...
Why Women Choose Bad Boys. (It's science in action)
Post Date: 2012-05-19 09:08:59 by PSUSA2
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Women choose bad boys because their hormones make them, new research suggests. When ovulating a woman's hormones influence who she sees as good potential fathers, and they specifically pick sexier men over obviously more dependable men. "Previous research has shown in the week near ovulation women become attracted to sexy, rebellious and handsome men like George Clooney or James Bond," study researcher Kristina Durante, of The University of Texas at San Antonio, said in a statement. "But until now it was unclear why women would ever think it's wise to pursue long-term relationships with these kinds of men." The study was published today, May 14, in the Journal ...
Smart pedal tells driver when to ease off gas
Post Date: 2012-05-19 07:51:59 by Tatarewicz
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Mercedes is developing a smart accelerator pedal which pushes back against drivers who threaten to ruin fuel efficiency by putting their foot down too hard. It promises to reduce fuel consumption by 10 percent, the firm said. The system uses an electric motor to generate resistance to a driver’s speed impulse, shifting the “bite point” of the pedal – and can be programmed to react to different degrees of pressure. There is even the option to make the accelerator vibrate against or tap the driver’s right foot to remind them to lay off the gas, news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Tuesday. The smart pedal would not give the driver such signals when pulling ...
Singapore scientists discover way to "starve" cancer cells
Post Date: 2012-05-18 05:26:21 by Tatarewicz
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SINGAPORE, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered a way to kill cancer cells by "starving" them of energy, and the discovery paves the way for more effective cancer treatment, NUS said on Thursday. The research revolves around a drug-led compound, BPTES. The scientists, who are from the Department of Biological Sciences and Mechanobiology Institute, said the compound can deprive cancer cells of energy and stop them from growing into a tumour. The compound is undergoing pre-clinical trials as a potential drug. NUS said this is the first time a research group has provided evidence showing how a drug-led compound suppresses ...
'Spell check' for DNA developed
Post Date: 2012-05-18 04:34:21 by Tatarewicz
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Machine errors in gene sequencing can cause biologists to misinterpret which genes or microbial species are in their samples. The new software will help to pick up these errors. A PhD student from CSIRO and The University of Queensland has found a better way to 'spell check' gene sequences and help biologists better understand the natural world. The student, Lauren Bragg, is a member of the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, which sits within UQ's School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences. Along with her co-authors, Lauren has contributed to the May issue of the prestigious journal Nature Methods highlighting her new approach and its software implementation called ...
Paralysed woman drinks coffee with thought-guided robot arm
Post Date: 2012-05-17 06:47:52 by Tatarewicz
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Scientists in the United States have enabled a paralysed woman to lift a drink to her lips with a thought-controlled robotic arm, boosting hopes that tetraplegics may regain their independence. On April 12 last year, 58-year-old Cathy Hutchinson made history by using only her thoughts to get a robotic arm to grasp a flask of coffee on a table, lift it and hold it to her lips for a sip, the researchers said. Fourteen years earlier, a stroke had left her paralysed and unable to speak, making her completely dependent on a caregiver. "This was the first time in nearly 15 years that she has been able to pick up anything solely of her own volition -- and the smile on her face when she did ...
Bacterial magnets and the bio-computer era
Post Date: 2012-05-16 15:11:10 by F.A. Hayek Fan
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MUMBAI - Scientists are working to have some of the world's smallest creatures carry the growing mountain-loads of information worldwide - the next generation of information technology and medical devices based on bacteria, biology and billions of years of evolution. Researchers from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and University of Leeds are studying bacteria that produce magnets, and how these can be used to produce faster, cheaper, environmentally friendly electronics and computers. Magnetospirilllum magneticum are the microbial heroes in this story. These underwater dwelling organisms use in-born magnetism to navigate across the Earth. When these bacterial creatures ...
Infinite Z Aims to Change How We Use Computers
Post Date: 2012-05-16 06:39:42 by Tatarewicz
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After enjoying close to 30 years of rule nearly unchecked, the mouse and keyboard are seeing new systems gathering at the gates, ready to overthrow their rule and move computing into a new age. Many have tried. There were pen tablets, then touchscreens, and more recently systems that can detect a user’s physical movements. But none pose such a threat to the archaic modules than the gadget just released from the labs of Infinite Z. ZSpace resembles something straight from a science fiction film. It uses augmented reality to create objects floating in space that the user can then pick up, move, and alter as if they were real. It does this using a custom-built 3D screen with super ...
Sulfur Finding May Hold Key to Gaia Theory of Earth as Living Organism
Post Date: 2012-05-16 03:48:56 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily (May 15, 2012) — Is Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts? A new discovery made at the University of Maryland may provide a key to answering this question. This key of sulfur could allow scientists to unlock heretofore hidden interactions between ocean organisms, atmosphere, and land -- interactions that might provide evidence supporting this famous theory. The Gaia hypothesis -- first articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s -- holds that Earth's physical and biological processes are inextricably connected to form a self-regulating, essentially sentient, system. One of the early predictions of this ...
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