|
Latest Articles: Science/Tech
Engineers Invent New Device That Could Increase Internet Download Speeds
Post Date: 2012-10-04 01:22:04 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (Oct. 2, 2012) — A team of scientists and engineers at the University of Minnesota has invented a unique microscale optical device that could greatly increase the speed of downloading information online and reduce the cost of Internet transmission. The device uses the force generated by light to flop a mechanical switch of light on and off at a very high speed. This development could lead to advances in computation and signal processing using light instead of electrical current with higher performance and lower power consumption. The research results were published October 2 in the online journal Nature Communications. "This device is similar to ...
Earth's magnetic field overdue a flip
Post Date: 2012-10-04 00:44:34 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
LONDON, Oct. 3, 2012 (Reuters) — The discovery by NASA rover Curiosity of evidence that water once flowed on Mars - the most Earth-like planet in the solar system - should intensify interest in what the future could hold for mankind. The only thing stopping Earth having a lifeless environment like Mars is the magnetic field that shields us from deadly solar radiation and helps some animals migrate, and it may be a lot more fragile and febrile than one might think. Scientists say earth's magnetic field is weakening and could all but disappear in as little as 500 years as a precursor to flipping upside down. It has happened before - the geological record suggests the magnetic ...
Eltanin meteor may have led to Ice Age
Post Date: 2012-10-04 00:28:48 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago in the southern Pacific Ocean it not only likely generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a new study suggests. A team of Australian researchers says that because the Eltanin meteor – which was up to two kilometres across - crashed into deep water, most scientists have not adequately considered either its potential for immediate catastrophic impacts on coastlines around the Pacific rim or its capacity to destabilise the entire planet’s climate system. “This is the only known deep-ocean impact event on the planet and it’s largely been forgotten because ...
China bringing hi-tech jobs to America
Post Date: 2012-10-03 03:04:02 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ONG KONG (Reuters) - Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's No.2 PC maker, will open its first PC production plant in the United States with operations expected to begin in 2013. The Whitsett, North Carolina, facility will manufacture Think-branded laptop and desktop PCs, tablets and servers aimed at the U.S. market, Lenovo said in a statement late on Tuesday. Lenovo did not provide any investment figures but said it would create 115 jobs. Over the past two years, Lenovo has invested in new plants and manufacturing joint ventures in China, Brazil and now the United States to produce PCs and mobile Internet devices such as smartphones, it said. Shares of Lenovo, which analysts said is set to ...
63,000-Year-Old Modern Human Skull Found in Laos
Post Date: 2012-10-01 21:23:34 by farmfriend
2 Comments
63,000-Year-Old Modern Human Skull Found in Laos Published: Aug 21st, 2012 Anthropology | By John Shanks According to an international team of anthropologists, an ancient skull collected from a cave in the Annamite Mountains in northern Laos is the oldest modern human fossil found in Southeast Asia. The skull pushes back the clock on modern human migration through the region by as much as 20,000 years and indicates that ancient humans out of Africa left the coast and inhabited diverse habitats much earlier than previously appreciated. The scientists, who found the skull in 2009, were likely the first to dig for ancient bones in Laos since the early 1900s, when a team found 16,000 ...
19 Signs That America Is Being Systematically Transformed Into a Giant Surveillance Grid
Post Date: 2012-09-28 08:56:37 by Ada
1 Comments
You are being watched. The control freaks that hold power in the United States have become absolutely obsessed with surveillance. They are constantly attempting to convince the American people that we are all "safer" when virtually everything that we do is watched, monitored, tracked and recorded. Our country is being systematically transformed into a giant surveillance grid far more comprehensive than anything George Orwell ever dreamed of. If you still believe that there is such a thing as "privacy" in this day and age, you are being delusional. Every single piece of electronic communication is monitored and stored. In fact, they know that you are reading this article ...
Barnes & Noble unveils its first hi-definition tablets
Post Date: 2012-09-27 04:28:56 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc's first hi-definition tablets, unveiled on Wednesday, were well received by analysts who said the devices keep the bookseller in the fight with Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Google Inc - for now. The largest U.S. bookstore chain introduced a $199 7-inch Nook HD tablet that will go up against similar, recently launched products by Google and Amazon.com this holiday season. The company also unveiled a $269 9-inch Nook HD+ tablet that will compete with the Apple iPad. "The devices are in improvement in important ways over the previous generations of the Nook, and they one-up Amazon in some areas," Forrester Research analyst Sarah ...
Buddhist ‘Iron Man’ found by Nazis is from space
Post Date: 2012-09-27 02:13:37 by farmfriend
0 Comments
Buddhist ‘Iron Man’ found by Nazis is from space 26 Sep 2012 | 17:39 BST | Posted by Daniel Cressey A Buddhist statue brought to Germany from Tibet by a Nazi-backed expedition has been confirmed as having an extraterrestrial origin. Known as the ‘iron man’, the 24-cm high sculpture may represent the god Vai[ravaṇa and was likely created from a piece of the Chinga meteorite that was strewn across the border region between Russia and Mongolia between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, according to Elmar Buchner of the University of Stuttgart, and his colleagues. In a paper published in Metoritics & Planetary Science, the team reports their analysis of the iron, ...
California has become the third state to welcome driverless cars
Post Date: 2012-09-26 03:31:30 by Tatarewicz
1 Comments
California has become the third state to welcome driverless cars with open arms. Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law today that officially legalized self-driving vehicles, following in the footsteps of Nevada and Florida. The signing event was held at the Google complex in Mountain View, Calif. where engineers have been working on driverless car concepts for years and employees routinely use them to commute to and from work. Such vehicles weren't technically illegal to operate before passage of the bill, but Google and others working on similar technology hope that by making their use explicitly legal it will clear up any confusion on the part of law enforcement and limit the ...
Two-Thirds of the World's New Solar Panels Were Installed in Europe in 2011
Post Date: 2012-09-25 03:46:04 by Tatarewicz
4 Comments
ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) — Europe accounted for two thirds of the world-wide newly installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 2011, with 18.5 GW. Its overall PV capacity totalled 52 GW. The yearly electricity produced by PV could power a country with the electricity demand of Austria, which corresponds to 2% of the EU's electricity needs. These are some of the highlights of the 2012 Photovoltaics Status Report published September 24 by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. The study summarises and evaluates the current activities regarding manufacturing, policies and market implementation world-wide. Over the past ten years, the PV industry grew in Europe by an ...
Two Cheers for Heresy on Global Warming
Post Date: 2012-09-24 07:04:31 by Ada
13 Comments
Climate change is a cycle—of faddish opinions, I first encountered the strong case for global warming in the early 1970s in an Isaac Asimov science column. As an elementary school student, I merely nodded my head, assumed that America’s political leadership would address the danger, and moved on to an explanation of quarks. Even in those days, the subject was hardly new. The Asimov column had originally run in the late 1950s, before I was even born, and the possibility that burning fossil fuels might raise the Earth’s temperature via the “Greenhouse Effect” had already been around for many decades, going back to the late 19th century. Whether it occurred in the ...
Apple Could Be Worth $1 Trillion Within a Year
Post Date: 2012-09-24 01:45:01 by Tatarewicz
2 Comments
Apple is currently worth something like zillion dollars (read: $656 billion) and it has no signs of slowing down. The question , when are they going to reach the unreachable summit? When is Apple going to break the trillion dollar ceiling? RELATED: According to Bilton, analysts and investors think a reasonable assumption given the current trends is that Apple will crack the $1 trillion plateau on April 9, 2015, at around 11 a.m., which seems strangely specific all things considered. But, Bilton warns, there are other analysts (read: more fun analysts) who think Apple could do it within the year. Yep, they think Apple could do it by August 16, 2013. No specific time was given. RELATED: ...
Cyber Securiity - a trillion dollar industry
Post Date: 2012-09-23 05:30:39 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
For our edutainment today we’re sniffing out the solution to the latest teaser ad from the Oxford Club — Steve McDonald, one of their analysts, spins a long story about cybersecurity that reminds us of several other past ditigal security teasers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that — this is, by all accounts, one of the “great” growth industries — nations, companies and individuals are continuing to be targeted by everything from everyday spam to identity theft to actual cyber “break ins” and online theft of confidential or strategic information and malicious wounding attacks to take down systems. This much is pretty clear to anyone ...
BG-12 Reduces Relapses, Disease Activity in MS
Post Date: 2012-09-20 02:00:51 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
September 19, 2012 — Full results of two phase 3 trials evaluating the effect of oral BG-12 (dimethyl fumarate, Biogen Idec) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) show the investigational agent reduced relapse rates, disease activity on imaging, and, in 1 trial, progression of disability. Full results of the Determination of the Efficacy and safety of oral Fumarate IN rElapsing-remitting MS (DEFINE) trial, and the Comparator and an Oral Fumarate in RRMS (CONFIRM) trial, are published in the September 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Both trials were funded by Biogen Idec. Gadolinium-enhancing lesions were also reduced significantly, as were new or enlarging ...
GPS shoes help you find your way home
Post Date: 2012-09-20 00:15:25 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
In the classic "Wizard of Oz" scene, Dorothy clicks the heels of her ruby slippers together saying, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home." This was the inspiration for British designer Dominic Wilcox's new GPS shoes that will actually help you find your way back home. The shoes are currently in the prototype stage, thanks to a commission by the Global Footprint project and some help from his friends at Stamp Shoes. Each shoe works wirelessly with the other to indicate GPS direction and proximity to the final destination. Programming your home location is as easy as plotting a point in the included software, then sending the info — ...
Northern chill produces Arctic ozone hole
Post Date: 2012-09-19 11:17:05 by farmfriend
3 Comments
Northern chill produces Arctic ozone hole Genelle Weule ABC A prolonged cold spell in the northern hemisphere has caused the largest recorded drop in ozone over the Arctic, a new international study has found. While the area has seen severe depletion of ozone levels in the past, this is the first time it has occurred at such a magnitude to be considered an ozone hole, says study co-author Dr Michelle Santee from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Ozone depletion was about twice that in both 1996 and 2005 - and those were the previous record setting Arctic ozone loss years," says Santee. The findings, gathered from NASA satellite measurements of polar stratosphere cloud ...
NASA working on faster-than-light space travel, says warp drives are ‘plausible’
Post Date: 2012-09-19 11:14:44 by farmfriend
10 Comments
NASA working on faster-than-light space travel, says warp drives are ‘plausible’ By Ed Oswald on September 19, 2012 at 8:54 am Trekkies rejoice: while real breakthroughs in warp drive design haven’t happened yet, we’re moving closer to making faster-than-light travel truly feasible. Researchers found that making adjustments to the design of a real-life warp drive first proposed by physicist Michael Alcubierre in 1994 significantly reduces the amount of energy required to power it. Alcubierre’s design called for an American football-shaped spacecraft with a flat ring attached to the ship. Space time would warp around it, accelerating the ship to as fast as 10 ...
Scientists grow drug for rare disease in corn
Post Date: 2012-09-19 06:05:22 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
LONDON, Sep. 18, 2012 (Reuters) — Scientists have grown a drug to treat a rare genetic disease inside corn plants, potentially offering a cheaper way to manufacture a treatment that currently costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for each patient. The move marks an advance for the emerging field of molecular farming, which could one day see complex biotech medicines being mass-produced in plants rather than factories. Researchers from Canada and Australia reported on Tuesday that they had created transgenic corn that could synthesize alpha-L-iduronidase, an enzyme used for a debilitating condition called mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS I). The disease causes progressive ...
LG Electronics unveils Optimus G smartphone to join top players
Post Date: 2012-09-19 02:09:12 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- LG Electronics unveiled on Tuesday its new flagship smartphone Optimus G that was expected to help the second-tier smarphone maker join the group of top players such as Samsung Electronics and Apple. The South Korean mobile phone maker, which was once one of the first-tier players in the mobile phone industry, had suffered from heavy losses due to its belated response to the smartphone boom. LG's mobile communication (MC) division turned into the black in the first quarter of 2012 after posting losses for six straight quarters, but the business shifted once again into the red in the second quarter due to an increase in marketing costs. Over the past year, ...
German watchdog warns of Internet Explorer breach
Post Date: 2012-09-18 05:41:06 by Tatarewicz
1 Comments
BERLIN (AP) — The German government agency overseeing IT-safety is warning of a security breach in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and recommending people use other browsers until the problem is fixed. The Federal Office for Information Security said in a statement late Monday the browser's "weak point is already being used for targeted attacks." It warns the code to attack computers running on Windows XP or Windows 7 operating systems through the browser is freely available online and might therefore spread rapidly. The agency says users of Internet Explorer versions 7, 8 or 9 should switch to alternative browsers until Microsoft updates its browser's security ...
New Gene Could Lead to Better Bug-Resistant Plants
Post Date: 2012-09-18 03:13:24 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — The discovery of a new gene could lead to better bug-resistant plants. Research led by Michigan State University and appearing on the cover of this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates that domestic tomatoes could re-learn a thing or two from their wild cousins. Long-term cultivation has led to tomato crops losing beneficial traits common to wild tomatoes. Anthony Schilmiller, MSU research assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, was able to identify a gene that is involved in one of these beneficial traits. Many tomato secrets are found in its hair. Trichomes, or hair-like protrusions, produce a ...
Predicting If Scientists Will Be Stars: New Formula Reveals If Young Scientists Will Have Brilliant Future
Post Date: 2012-09-15 04:03:42 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2012) — A medical school committee is weighing whether to hire a promising young neuroscientist. Will she have a brilliant future as a researcher, publish in top journals and nab abundant research funds? If only there were a crystal ball. Wait, now there is! A new Northwestern Medicine study published Sept. 13 in Nature offers the first formula that accurately predicts a young scientist's success up to 10 years into the future and could be useful for hiring and funding decisions. Currently, hiring decisions are made using the instincts and research of search committees. Universities are increasingly complementing this with a measure of the quality and ...
Global Warming Alarmists Seek More Power, Not Emissions Reductions
Post Date: 2012-09-15 00:48:48 by farmfriend
1 Comments
Global Warming Alarmists Seek More Power, Not Emissions Reductions James Taylor, Contributor As U.S. carbon dioxide emissions continue to decline, one would think global warming alarmists would celebrate the ongoing achievement. Instead, alarmists are ramping up their vitriol. The alarmists’ increasing vitriol reveals that for many alarmists, the true goal is not a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, but instead a transfer of wealth and power from individuals to government. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that U.S. carbon dioxide emissions during the first quarter of 2012 were the lowest since 1992. With more and more U.S. power plants switching from coal to ...
Big Ag Directly Funded Anti-Organics Stanford Study: Report
Post Date: 2012-09-14 20:24:10 by farmfriend
0 Comments
Big Ag Directly Funded Anti-Organics Stanford Study: Report Common Dreams staff A study released last week by Stanford scientists, which claims organic foods are no more healthy than non-organic foods, was funded by corporate agriculture and biotechnology giants, according to a new report by the Cornucopia Institute. "We were not one bit surprised to find that the agribusiness giant Cargill, the world’s largest agricultural business enterprise, and foundations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which have deep ties to agricultural chemical and biotechnology corporations like Monsanto, have donated millions to Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute, where some of the ...
Scientists Use Sound Waves to Levitate Liquids, Improve Pharmaceuticals
Post Date: 2012-09-14 05:57:41 by Tatarewicz
0 Comments
ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2012) — It's not a magic trick and it's not sleight of hand -- scientists really are using levitation to improve the drug development process, eventually yielding more effective pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a way to use sound waves to levitate individual droplets of solutions containing different pharmaceuticals. While the connection between levitation and drug development may not be immediately apparent, a special relationship emerges at the molecular level. At the molecular level, pharmaceutical structures fall into one of two categories: ...
Latest [Newer] 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 [Older]
|