Mother's Sensitivity May Help Language Growth in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

ScienceDaily (Feb. 25, 2010) — A new study by researchers from the University of Miami shows that maternal sensitivity may influence language development among children who go on to develop autism. Although parenting styles are not considered as a cause for autism, this report examines how early parenting can promote resiliency in this population.

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Dementia in Extreme Elderly Population Expected to Become Epidemic

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2010) — University of California researchers found that the incidence rate for all causes of dementia in people age 90 and older is 18.2% annually and significantly increases with age in both men and women. This research, called "The 90+ Study," is one of only a few to examine dementia in this age group, and the first to have sufficient participation of centenarians.

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US Air Force chief: Boeing laser "not operationally viable" as far as you know

By Thomas Ricker posted Feb 24th 2010 2:31AM

Seeing a Boeing 747 destroy a liquid-fueled ballistic missile with a megawatt-class laser is undoubtedly one of the tech highlights of the year so far. Unfortunately, as impressive as the demonstration was, it's unlikely to be militarized in its current state. While the Air Force's chief of staff, General Norton Schwartz, called the demonstration "a magnificent technical achievement," he has no intention of introducing the fat tub of chemical goo into the theater of war. Solid state lasers are the future "coin of the realm," according to Schwartz, not Boeing's chemical laser which he claims, "does not represent something that is operationally viable." Of course, the chemical core of the laser was just a single component of the ALTB that managed to track, target, and destroy a moving projectile from an airborne platform. And while the technology might not be viable for broad deployment, that doesn't mean that it won't be fitted into a special forces AC-130 Gunship for covert operations until solid state lasers (currently limited to about 100kW) achieve megawatt status. Just saying.

Darpa funds invisible, shoot-through shield

By Joshua Topolsky posted Jun 21st 2007 10:14PM

In a move seemingly influenced in equal parts by Halo and David Lynch's film Dune, Darpa has announced that it's ponying up $15 million to develop one-way-invisible, self-healing, shoot-through shields for use in urban combat. While the Pentagon's research division acknowledges that there are "significant technical obstacles" in the process, it's fairly gung-ho about developing a technology combining metamaterials, 'coded' obscurant systems, and a bunch of other stuff no one really understands. Tru

DARPA longs for magnetic body healers, crazy respawn camps

By Darren Murph posted Feb 24th 2010 4:22AM

Even DARPA understands that its futuristic bubble shield can be penetrated given the right circumstances, and when it does, the soldier behind it is going to need some serious healing. In a hurry. In the entity's newest budget, there's $6.5 million tucked away "for the creation of a scaffold-free tissue engineering platform, which would allow the construction of large, complex tissues in vitro and in vivo." As you well know, this type of mad science has been around for quite some time, and now it looks as if DARPA is ready for the next best thing: "non-contact forces." Put simply, this alludes to replacing scaffolds with magnetic fields or dielectrophoresis, which could purportedly "control cell placement in a desired pattern for a sufficient period of time to allow the cells to synthesize their own scaffold." It's still too early to say how close we are to being able to instantaneously heal soldiers on the battlefield, but frankly, the public is apt to never know for sure.

Google executives found guilty of violating privacy of student bullied on video

By Thomas Ricker posted Feb 24th 2010 6:33AM

Breaking News

Hold tight kids, internet privacy laws just got flipped upside down. An Italian judge found three Google executives guilty of violating the privacy of an Italian student who was bullied in a 2006 video posted on Google Video. The video resided on the site for two months before it was brought to Google's attention and pulled. None of the executives were involved in any way in the making of the abhorrent video. Nevertheless, Italian judge Oscar Magi sentenced the execs to a six-month prison sentence but cleared them of defamation charges. No jail time is expected, however, since any sentence of less than 3 years is typically commuted in Italy for those without a criminal record.

As you can imagine, Google has responded with vigor. In a post on Google's official blog, Google calls the decision "astonishing" citing the assistance it provided to local police in helping bring those who uploaded the video (and bullied the autistic child) to justice. More importantly, Google says that the decision "attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built." On the surface, we have to agree. Here's how Google describes the dystopian knock-on effect should this ruling take precedent:

"European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal content once they are notified of its existence. The belief, rightly in our opinion, was that a notice and take down regime of this kind would help creativity flourish and support free speech while protecting personal privacy. If that principle is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them - every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video - then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear."

Quantum Leap for Phonon Lasers

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2010) — Physicists have taken major step forward in the development of practical phonon lasers, which emit sound in much the same way that optical lasers emit light. The development should lead to new, high-resolution imaging devices and medical applications. Just as optical lasers have been incorporated into countless, ubiquitous devices, a phonon laser is likely to be critical to a host of as yet unimaginable applications.

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Better Snowfall Forecasting

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2010) — University of Utah scientists developed an easier way for meteorologists to predict snowfall amounts and density -- fluffy powder or wet cement. The method has been adopted by the National Weather Service for use throughout Utah -- and could be adjusted for use anywhere.

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OU professor submerses laptop in liquid nitrogen, smashes it to prove a point (video)

By Darren Murph posted Feb 21st 2010 2:54PM

Hey, students -- pay attention. Not to us, mind you, but to the syllabus provided by your professor. Kieran Mullen, a physics professor at the University of Oklahoma, has a fairly strict rule about gadgets in class: there won't be any, ever, under any circumstances. Balk all you want (understandable given his own clipped-on cellie), but if you sign up for this guy's class, you'll be flipping your phone to "off" and leaving your laptop in the dormitory. And if you try to blaze your own path and slip that netbook into the back row, you might leave bitterly disappointed. As you'll see clearly in the video past the break, Mr. Mullen sought to make a visual point that laptops weren't allowed in class (he calls them "a distraction"), and while it seems that the whole stunt was premeditated, most students acknowledged that his point was driven home. In short, he took a defunct machine, submerged it in liquid nitrogen, and proceeded to make the following statement:

"This is just liquid nitrogen, so it alone won't hurt the computer. But this will."

Find out exactly what "this" was by hitting that 'Read More' button there on the lower left.

[Thanks, studentatOU]

See more video at our hub!

Dry Winters Linked to Seasonal Outbreaks of Influenza

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2010) — The seasonal increase of influenza has long baffled scientists, but a new study published in PLoS Biology has found that seasonal changes of absolute humidity are the apparent underlying cause of these wintertime peaks. The study also found that the onset of outbreaks might be encouraged by anomalously dry weather conditions, at least in temperate regions.

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Biogas Climate Benefit Greater Than Previously Thought?

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2010) — Biogas from refuse produces 95 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline, according to a new research report. With a few simple improvements to the biogas plants, the figure can rise to 120 per cent -- i.e. biogas becomes more than climate neutral. This can be compared with the standard figures used today, which indicate that biogas produces 80 per cent lower emissions than gasoline.

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Midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity

If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/jo56vsuN_80/100221110338.htm

Immediate risk of suicide and cardiovascular death after a prostate cancer diagnosis

Being diagnosed with prostate cancer may increase a man's risk of suicide or cardiovascular death, especially right after diagnosis, according to a new study.

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/kff9k-yMDWI/100202171809.htm

Students Build 2752 MPG Hypermiling Vehicle

MikeChino sends along this awe-inspiring excerpt: "Think claims of electric vehicles that get over 200 MPG are impressive? Try this on for size: a group of mechanical engineering students at Cal Poly have developed a vehicle that can get up to 2752.3 MPG -- and it doesn't even use batteries. The Cal Poly Supermileage Team's wondercar, dubbed the Black Widow, has been under construction since 2005. The 96 pound car has three wheels, a drag coefficient of 0.12, a top speed of 30 MPH, and a modified 3 horsepower Honda 50cc four-stroke engine. It originally clocked in at 861 MPH and has been continuously tweaked to achieve the mileage we see today." It's not quite as street-worthy, though, as Volkswagen's 235 MPG One-Liter concept.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/A2JUbUwiYTQ/Students-Build-2752-MPG-Hypermiling-Vehicle