Friday, September 10, 2010

Frog Skin May Provide Antimicrobial Peptides Effective Against Multidrug-Resistant Infections

ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2010) — Antimicrobial peptides from the skin of frogs may protect against life-threatening, multidrug-resistant infections such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, say researchers from Italy.

Brain Needs to Remember Faces in Three Dimensions

ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2010) — In our dynamic 3-D world, we can encounter a familiar face from any angle and still recognize that face with ease, even if the person has, for example, changed his hair style. This is because our brain has used the 2-D snapshots perceived by our eyes (like a camera) to build and store a 3-D mental representation of the face, which is resilient to such changes.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Robots Taught to Deceive

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday September 09, @01:34PM
from the of-this-will-be-fine dept.
An anonymous reader found a story that starts"We have developed algorithms that allow a robot to determine whether it should deceive a human or other intelligent machine and we have designed techniques that help the robot select the best deceptive strategy to reduce its chance of being discovered," said Ronald Arkin, a Regents professor in the Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing."

Rackspace Shuts Down Quran-Burning Church's Sites

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday September 09, @08:47AM
from the that's-a-sticky-wicket dept.
theodp writes"In response to a complaint, Rackspace has shut down the websites of the Dove World Outreach Center, a small 50-member church which has received national and international criticism for a planned book burning of the Quran on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. The center 'violated the hate-speech provision of our acceptable-use policy,' explained Rackspace spokesman Dan Goodgame. 'This is not a constitutional issue. This is a contract issue,' said Goodgame, who added he did not know how long it had hosted the church's sites. Not quite the same thing, but would Kurt Westergaard's cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad also violate Rackspace's AUP? How about Christopher Hitchens' Slate articles? Could articles from one-time Rackspace poster child The Onion pass muster?"

Laws of Physics Vary Throughout the Universe, New Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2010) — A team of astrophysicists based in Australia and England has uncovered evidence that the laws of physics are different in different parts of the universe.

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New Compound Safely Reduces Plaques in Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease

ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2010) — A team of scientists, led by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers, has synthesized hundreds of new compounds with the potential of reducing the production of the A-beta 42 peptide, a primary component of Alzheimer's disease (AD).


Scientists Cut Greenland Ice Loss Estimate By Half

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 09, @04:57AM
from the not-so-bad-after-all dept.
bonch writes"A new study on Greenland's and West Antarctica's rate of ice loss halves the estimate of ice loss. Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the study takes into account a rebounding of the Earth's crust called glacial isostatic adjustment, a continuing rise of the crust after being smashed under the weight of the Ice Age. 'We have concluded that the Greenland and West Antarctica ice caps are melting at approximately half the speed originally predicted,' said researcher Bert Vermeeersen."

The Real "Stuff White People Like"

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 08, @11:27PM
from the taking-a-closer-look dept.
Here's an interesting and funny look at 526,000 OkCupid users, divided into groups by race and gender and all the the things each groups says it likes or is interested in. While it is far from being definitive, the groupings give a glimpse of what makes each culture unique. According to the results white men like nothing better than Tom Clancy, Van Halen, and golfing.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Narcissists, Insecure People Flock To Facebook

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday September 08, @01:50PM
from the nobody-likes-this dept.
Meshach writes"A study out of Canada claims that Facebook is a magnet for narcissists and people with low self-esteem. The theory is that these people use the site as a means of self promotion or to feel important."

Tractor Beams Come To Life

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday September 08, @12:26PM
from the da-da-da-dadada-dadada dept.
Jamie is helping bring our childhood fantasies/nightmares to life with a link that says"Andrei Rhode, a researcher involved with the project, said that existing optical tweezers are able to move particles the size of a bacterium a few millimeters in a liquid. Their new technique can move objects one hundred times that size over a distance of a meter or more."

Personality Predicts Cheating More Than Academic Struggles, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2010) — Students who cheat in high school and college are highly likely to fit the profile for subclinical psychopathy -- a personality disorder defined by erratic lifestyle, manipulation, callousness and antisocial tendencies, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. These problematic students cheat because they feel entitled and disregard morality, the study found.

Unusual Feed Supplement Could Ease Gassy Cows, Reduce Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions

ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2010) — Cow belches, a major source of greenhouse gases, could be decreased by an unusual feed supplement developed by a Penn State dairy scientist.

Scientists Create New Process to 'Program' Cancer Cell Death

ScienceDaily (Sep. 6, 2010) — Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have engineered a fundamentally new approach to killing cancer cells. The process -- developed by Niles Pierce, associate professor of applied and computational mathematics and bioengineering at Caltech, and his colleagues -- uses small RNA molecules that can be programmed to attack only specific cancer cells; then, by changing shape, those molecules cause the cancer cells to self-destruct.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Brain Speaks: Scientists Decode Words from Brain Signals

ScienceDaily (Sep. 6, 2010) — In an early step toward letting severely paralyzed people speak with their thoughts, University of Utah researchers translated brain signals into words using two grids of 16 microelectrodes implanted beneath the skull but atop the brain.

Short Nighttime Sleep Duration Among Infants, Young Children Associated With Obesity in Later Life

ScienceDaily (Sep. 6, 2010) — Insufficient amounts of nighttime sleep among infants and preschool-aged children may be a significant risk factor for developing childhood obesity, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Additionally, napping does not appear to be an adequate substitute for nighttime sleep in terms of preventing obesity.

Compounds in Non-Stick Cookware May Be Associated With Elevated Cholesterol in Children and Teens

ScienceDaily (Sep. 6, 2010) — Children and teens with higher blood levels of chemicals used in the production of non-stick cookware and waterproof fabrics appear more likely to have elevated total and LDL cholesterol levels, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Insect Brains Are Rich Stores of New Antibiotics

ScienceDaily (Sep. 6, 2010) — Cockroaches could be more of a health benefit than a health hazard, according to scientists from the University of Nottingham who have discovered powerful antibiotic properties in the brains of cockroaches and locusts.