|
Latest Articles: Science/Tech
House Passes Pilot's Bill of Rights, Sending Measure to President for Signature
Post Date: 2012-07-24 16:49:10 by X-15
0 Comments
Any pilot who has had the misfortune to become entangled in an enforcement action brought by the FAA would agree: The deck is stacked in the agency's favor. For example, the agency may not allow the airman to have access to the evidence against him, especially in an emergency certificate action. And if the airman chooses to appeal to the NTSB, which is tasked with hearing such cases, administrative law judges at the Safety Board usually will defer to the FAA. All that is set to change, thanks to the Pilot's Bill of Rights, legislation that passed the U.S. House of Representatives Monday, clearing the measure for the president's signature. First proposed by U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe ...
Ginseng-Fortified Milk Improves Cognition
Post Date: 2012-07-24 07:48:33 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — American ginseng is reported to have neurocognitive effects, and research has shown benefits in aging, central nervous system disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. The challenges of incorporating ginseng into food are twofold: it has a bitter taste, and food processing can eliminate its healthful benefits. Reporting in the August issue of the Journal of Dairy Science®, a group of scientists has formulated low-lactose functional milk that maintained beneficial levels of American ginseng after processing. An exploratory study found the product was readily accepted by a niche group of consumers. "Our goal was to develop low-lactose milk that ...
Boosting New Memories With Wakeful Resting
Post Date: 2012-07-24 07:33:16 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
s ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — Too often our memory starts acting like a particularly porous sieve: all the important fragments that should be caught and preserved somehow just disappear. So armed with pencils and bolstered by caffeine, legions of adults, especially older adults, tackle crossword puzzles, acrostics, Sudoku and a host of other activities designed to strengthen their flagging memory muscles. But maybe all they really need to do to cement new learning is to sit and close their eyes for a few minutes. In an article to be published in the journal Psychological Science, a publication of the Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientist Michaela Dewar and ...
Artificial jellyfish engineered from rat heart cells
Post Date: 2012-07-23 05:12:24 by Tatarewicz
1 Comments
Scientists have created a free-swimming 'jellyfish' out of silicone seeded with living heart muscle cells. The Harvard University and Caltech team say that their work marks a big step towards the development of an artificial heart - and suggests a broader definition of what counts as synthetic life. "I was surprised that with relatively few components - a silicone base and cells that we arranged - we were able to reproduce some pretty complex swimming and feeding behaviors that you see in biological jellyfish," says professor John Dabiri of Caltech. Jellyfish, believed to be the oldest multi-organ animals in the world, use muscles to pump their way through water. ...
German scientists create world's lightest material
Post Date: 2012-07-21 06:22:29 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
German scientists have invented the world's lightest material - which is also strong, regains its shape after being squashed and even conducts electricity. Scientists believe the material will have a wide range of uses. Aerographite made by scientists at Hamburg and Kiel universities, is 75 times lighter than polystyrene and four times lighter than the previous record holder for the world's lightest material. The jet-black, carbon-based material is causing a stir in scientific circles across the world, wrote Die Welt newspaper on Tuesday. “Our work is causing great discussions in the scientific community. Aerographite weights four times less than world-record-holder up to ...
Green Plants Reduce City Street Pollution Up to Eight Times More Than Previously Believed
Post Date: 2012-07-20 06:32:49 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (July 18, 2012) — Trees, bushes and other greenery growing in the concrete-and-glass canyons of cities can reduce levels of two of the most worrisome air pollutants by eight times more than previously believed, a new study has found. A report on the research appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Thomas Pugh and colleagues explain that concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and microscopic particulate matter (PM) -- both of which can be harmful to human health -- exceed safe levels on the streets of many cities. Past research suggested that trees and other green plants can improve urban air quality by removing those pollutants from the air. ...
Microsoft posts quarterly loss but beats Wall Street
Post Date: 2012-07-20 05:50:59 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp reported its first quarterly loss as a public company on Thursday as it took a previously announced hit for writing down the value of its ailing online unit, but held up better than expected in the face of stagnant computer sales. Excluding the multibillion-dollar write-down, which was signaled earlier this month, and factoring in some deferred Windows revenue, the world's largest software company actually exceeded Wall Street's expectations, boosting its shares in after-market trading. "It looks good, given the dicey economic environment and the weakness we already know about in PCs," said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest ...
Lower Ozone Standard Would Reduce Mortality and Morbidity
Post Date: 2012-07-19 06:46:41 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (July 18, 2012) — Establishing a more stringent ozone standard in the U.S. would significantly reduce ozone-related premature mortality and morbidity, according to a new study published online July 18 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. "Abundant evidence links exposure to ozone with adverse health effects, including impaired pulmonary function, asthma exacerbations, increased hospital and emergency room visits, and increased mortality, yet the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 75ppb is often exceeded," said lead author Jesse Berman, a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Our study shows that ...
Fuel Cell Treats Wastewater and Harvests Energy
Post Date: 2012-07-19 04:17:58 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
A new microbial fuel cell creates energy during wastewater treatment and also vastly reduces the amount of sludge produced. Israel-based company, Emefcy, named as a play on the acronym for microbial fuel cell (MFC), starts with the same principle as most wastewater treatment—water is aerated so bacteria in the liquid break down organic material in a closed series of containers known as a bioreactor. "We didn't invent anything scientifically new," says Ely Cohen, vice president of marketing and business development for the four-year-old company. The novelty factor: instead of using electricity to push air into the water, Emefcy uses a permeable filter that allows air in ...
Must See Japan Inside the Radiation Zone
Post Date: 2012-07-18 17:23:10 by tom007
4 Comments
http://www.youtube.com/v/R6BWbJZ...&feature=player_embedded" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360">
Race, IQ and Wealth
Post Date: 2012-07-18 08:07:19 by Ada
3 Comments
What the facts tell us about a taboo subject At the end of April, Charles Kenny, a former World Bank economist specializing in international development, published a blistering attack in Foreign Policy entitled “Dumb and Dumber,” with the accusatory subtitle “Are development experts becoming racists?” Kenny charged that a growing number of development economists were turning towards genetic and other intrinsic human traits as a central explanation of national economic progress, often elevating these above the investment and regulatory issues that have long been the focus of international agencies. Click for Full Text!
Think 4-um would like this?
Post Date: 2012-07-16 19:26:14 by tom007
3 Comments
www.revolvermaps.com/
Analysis: BASF to take on Asia's battery chemicals makers
Post Date: 2012-07-16 05:14:17 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
FRANKFURT, July 16, 2012 (Reuters) — BASF need not be worried by dominant Asian players' expertise in batteries as the world's largest chemicals maker looks to become a leading provider of materials at the heart of next-generation electric cars. The German group will invest roughly 500 million euros ($609 million) by 2016 trying to become a major force in a market that could be worth tens of billions of dollars in less than a decade. Analysts say it is a gamble worth taking as the car industry looks to develop electric vehicles (EVs) with a range up to 250 km from about 2017. The playing field is essentially level because all players, such as Japanese groups Hitachi ...
Controlling Your Computer With Your Eyes
Post Date: 2012-07-14 04:07:40 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (July 12, 2012) — Millions of people suffering from multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injuries or amputees could soon interact with their computers and surroundings using just their eyes, thanks to a new device that costs less than £40. Composed from off-the-shelf materials, the new device can work out exactly where a person is looking by tracking their eye movements, allowing them to control a cursor on a screen just like a normal computer mouse. The technology comprises an eye-tracking device and "smart" software that have been presented July 13, in IOP Publishing's Journal of Neural Engineering. Researchers ...
Solar storm barreling toward Earth this weekend
Post Date: 2012-07-14 03:19:41 by Tatarewicz
2 Comments
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The space weather forecast for Earth looks a bit stormy this weekend, but scientists said not to worry. A solar storm was due to arrive Saturday morning and last through Sunday, slamming into Earth's magnetic field. Scientists said it will be a minor event and they have notified power grid operators, airlines and other potentially affected parties. "This isn't the mother of all anything," said forecaster Joe Kunches at the government's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo. "We don't see any ill effects to any systems." The storm began Thursday when the sun unleashed a massive flare that hurled a cloud of highly ...
German scientists concoct new coolant for electric cars
Post Date: 2012-07-14 02:44:57 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
LONDON, July 13, 2012 (Reuters) — Scientists in Germany have come up with a new fluid for cooling the expensive batteries in electric cars and thereby extending their life, another potential step in improving the cost efficiency of electric propulsion. The fluid, dubbed CryoSolplus, absorbs heat more effectively than either air or water and could allow for tighter packing of batteries under the hood, according to a team of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology in Oberhausen. A new battery pack for an electric car can cost as much as half the total price of the vehicle and operating it at 45 degrees celcius, as in a normal drive on ...
About 400,000 Yahoo accounts hacked, company discloses
Post Date: 2012-07-13 04:35:17 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo confirmed Thursday that about 400,000 user names and passwords to Yahoo and other companies were stolen Wednesday. A group of hackers, known as the D33D Co., posted online the user names and passwords for what appeared to be 453,492 accounts belonging to Yahoo and several other websites. The hackers wrote a brief footnote to the data dump, which has since been taken offline: “We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat.” The breach comes just one month after millions of user passwords for LinkedIn, the online social network for professionals, were exposed by hackers ...
Giving Ancient Life Another Chance to Evolve: Scientists Place 500-Million-Year-Old Gene in Modern Organism
Post Date: 2012-07-13 03:54:01 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (July 11, 2012) — It's a project 500 million years in the making. Only this time, instead of playing on a movie screen in Jurassic Park, it's happening in a lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Using a process called paleo-experimental evolution, Georgia Tech researchers have resurrected a 500-million-year-old gene from bacteria and inserted it into modern-day Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. This bacterium has now been growing for more than 1,000 generations, giving the scientists a front row seat to observe evolution in action. "This is as close as we can get to rewinding and replaying the molecular tape of life," said scientist ...
Northern Lights Oddity: Strange Sounds of Auroras Explained
Post Date: 2012-07-13 00:41:42 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
The northern lights of Earth are more than just dazzling light shows — they also generate their own strange applause too, a new study reveals. The same energetic particles that create the dancing, dazzling northern lights high up in Earth's atmosphere also produce strange "clapping" noises just 230 feet (70 meters) from the ground, researchers said. The results vindicate folktales and reports by wilderness travelers, which have long described sounds associated with the northern lights (which are also known as the aurora borealis). "In the past, researchers thought that the aurora borealis was too far away for people to hear the sounds it made," Unto Laine, ...
Heat to electricity with no moving parts
Post Date: 2012-07-12 05:33:09 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (July 11, 2012) — Researchers who are studying a new magnetic effect that converts heat to electricity have discovered how to amplify it a thousand times over -- a first step in making the technology more practical. In the so-called spin Seebeck effect, the spin of electrons creates a current in magnetic materials, which is detected as a voltage in an adjacent metal. Ohio State University researchers have figured out how to create a similar effect in a non-magnetic semiconductor while producing more electrical power. They've named the amplified effect the "giant spin-Seebeck" effect, and the university will license patent-pending variations of the ...
Magnetic Sense: Why Powerlines Confuse the Internal Compass of Migrating Birds
Post Date: 2012-07-12 05:11:53 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (July 10, 2012) — Migratory birds and fish use Earth's magnetic field to find their way. LMU researchers have now identified cells with internal compass needles for the perception of the field -- and can explain why high-tension cables perturb the magnetic orientation. Although many animal species can sense the geomagnetic field and exploit it for spatial orientation, efforts to pinpoint the cells that detect the field and convert the information into nerve impulses have so far failed. "The field penetrates the whole organism, so such cells could be located almost anywhere, making them hard to identify," says LMU geophysicist Michael Winklhofer. Together ...
'Exploding iPhone' leaves Swedish man in shock
Post Date: 2012-07-12 04:03:48 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
An ex-Volvo engineer in Sweden who recently tried to change the battery on his iPhone got a shock and lost a tooth after the popular Apple smartphone exploded and caught fire. Hans Wellgren, a retired Volvo engineering analyst from Gothenburg, was gobsmacked when a recent attempt to fix his phone failed spectacularly. “It exploded, just like a flare, and filled the car with toxic smoke," the 74-year-old told The Local. "I couldn’t see anything and knocked my tooth out while throwing the damn thing out the window!” Wallgren has spent his life trying to make products safer and was shocked that the iPhone did not have a warning explaining the danger of removing ...
New Homeland Security Laser Scanner Reads People At Molecular Level
Post Date: 2012-07-11 21:07:00 by Buzzard
3 Comments
The Department of Homeland Security will soon be using a laser at airports that can detect everything about you from over 160-feet away. Gizmodo reports a scanner that could read people at the molecular level has been invented. This laser-based scanner – which can be used 164-feet away — could read everything from a person’s adrenaline levels, to traces of gun powder on a person’s clothes, to illegal substances — and it can all be done without a physical search. It also could be used on multiple people at a time, eliminating random searches at airports. The laser-based scanner is expected to be used in airports as soon as 2013, Gizmodo reports. The scanner is ...
DNA Research: - C2C recap
Post Date: 2012-07-11 04:22:12 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
On Monday's show, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford since 1997, Bryan Sykes, discussed some of his fascinating DNA research findings, including his study of American genetics. The United States' population contains a convergence of DNA from a number of continents, with interesting crossovers such as some African Americans having European genes. According to earlier research (not done by Skyes), Native Americans actually originated from Siberia, China, and even Europe, but the DNA blood testing that yielded these results was done without their consent, and thus raised controversy and ire, he detailed. Interestingly, some people from Britain have been found to ...
Metformin May Help Renew Neurons
Post Date: 2012-07-11 03:01:08 by Tatarewicz
1 Comments
— New research suggests that the widely used type 2 diabetes drug metformin may be useful in stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and other conditions involving injured or degenerating brain cells. Animal studies showed that metformin activates a key pathway (aPKC-CBP) that promotes neurogenesis and enhanced hippocampus-dependent spatial memory formation in study animals. Results also showed that the drug has similar activity on human neural precursors, increasing the likelihood that it might enhance neurogenesis in the human brain as well. These findings could provide the basis for a therapeutic strategy for human nervous system disorders, according to the study authors from the ...
Latest [Newer] 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 [Older]
|