Neat Stuff

Could Alzheimer's Disease Be Diagnosed With a Simple Blood Test?

2012-01-25T16:51:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) — A pilot study suggests infrared analysis of white blood cells is a promising strategy for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

MIT Media Lab Rolls Out Folding Car

2012-01-25T16:47:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 25, @01:33PM

from the sub-sub-compact dept.

kkleiner writes"You think European cars are small now, wait till the Hiriko takes to the roads in Spain's northern Basque country. The two-seater is about the size of a SmartCar, but when parked, the car can actually fold. After folding the car takes up about a third of a normal parking space. The Hiriko, Basque for 'urban car,' folds as the rear of the car slides underneath its chassis. Every square foot counts."

Turning the Hayden Planetarium Into a Giant Videogame

2012-01-25T16:40:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 25, @03:40PM

from the biggest-screen dept.

pigrabbitbear writes"Remember your first visit to the planetarium? Neil DeGrasse Tyson does — it was what inspired him to become an astrophysicist in the first place. That same planetarium, now under Tyson's direction, is currently undergoing a transformation the likes of which Neil's young self couldn't have possibly imagined: It's becoming a giant videogame."

How long do you REALLY have

2012-01-25T16:26:00.002-05:00

A distraught senior citizen phoned her doctor's office.

'Is it true,' she wanted to know,

'that the medication

You prescribed has to be taken

For the rest of my life?'

'Yes, I'm afraid so,' the doctor told her.

There was a moment of silence

Before the senior lady replied,

I'm wondering, then,

Just how serious is my condition

Because this prescription is marked

'NO REFILLS'.'

Food Fried in Olive or Sunflower Oil Is Not Linked to Heart Disease, Spanish Study Finds

2012-01-25T07:11:00.000-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) — Eating food fried in olive or sunflower oil is not linked to heart disease or premature death, finds a paper published in theBritish Medical Journal online (bmj.com).

Supreme Court says police must get search warrant to use GPS tracking devices

2012-01-23T12:30:00.001-05:00

By Donald Melanson posted Jan 23rd 2012 11:30AM

The US Supreme Court ruled today that police must first obtain a search warrant before using GPS devices to track a suspect's vehicle, agreeing with an earlier appeals court ruling but rejecting the Obama administration's position on the case. In delivering the decision, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the court holds "that the government's installation of a GPS device on a target's vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a 'search,'" and therefore violated the individual's Fourth Amendment rights. The case itself concerned a Washington DC nightclub owner and suspected drug dealer, Antoine Jones, who had his car's movements monitored for a month and was eventually sentenced to life in prison, only to see that conviction overturned by the aforementioned appeals court on the grounds that the police did not have a search warrant when they placed the GPS tracking device on his vehicle.

New Discoveries in Cell Aging

2012-01-23T12:28:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) — Researchers have quantified with precision the effect of protein aggregation on the cell aging processes using as models the Escherichia coli bacteria and the molecule which is thought to trigger Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have demonstrated that the effect can be predicted before it occurs. Protein aggregation is related to several diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases.

Group Settings Can Diminish Expressions of Intelligence, Especially Among Women, Study Finds

2012-01-23T11:08:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2012) — Research has found that small-group dynamics -- such as jury deliberations, collective bargaining sessions, and cocktail parties -- can alter the expression of IQ in some susceptible people.

The Coda Electric Car at the Detroit International Auto Show (Video)

2012-01-23T11:04:00.001-05:00

Posted by Roblimo on Monday January 23, @08:55AM

from the maybe-enough-battery-life-to-get-you-to-work-and-back dept.

Last week Timothy Lord looked at the Tesla Model S. He also took a quick look at the CODA electric car. Like Tesla, CODA is based in California. Like Tesla, CODA is building purely electric, "plug-in" cars. But unlike Tesla, CODA is making a bland but practical sedan that can go up to 150 miles on a charge and costs about $37,000. That's not exactly a Kia-competitive price, even though Tim says it looks kind of like a Kia. But it's 100% electric and costs less than a Tesla -- really, hardly more than a Nissan Leaf. And it has a fully-usable back seat and a decent-sized trunk. And unlike the Nissan Leaf, it's made right here in the good old USA.

YouTube hits 4 billion views per day, deals with 60 hours of uploaded content every minute

2012-01-23T11:03:00.001-05:00

By Mat Smith posted Jan 23rd 2012 7:45AM

It looks like that redesign was worth it. The Google-owned video site has recently revealed that it's now streaming 4 billion videos every day, up 25 percent on daily views from eight months earlier. According to Reuter's report, the site now has to deal with around 60 hours of uploaded video every minute. As long as those education videos are kept separate and the cat content keeps coming, we'll be happy.

Russian Scientist Claims Signs of Life Spotted On Venus

2012-01-23T10:56:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Monday January 23, @10:16AM

from the we-are-not-alone dept.

flergum writes"Leonid Ksanfomaliti, an astronomer based at the Space Research Institute of Russia's Academy of Sciences, analyzed photographs taken by a Russian landing probe during 1982 and claims to have found signs of life. Ksanfomaliti says the Russian photographs depict objects resembling a 'disk,' a 'black flap' and a 'scorpion.'"

Nano-Scale Terahertz Antenna May Make Tricorders Real

2012-01-23T10:49:00.002-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Monday January 23, @09:36AM

from the welcome-to-the-future dept.

MrSeb writes"Researchers from Imperial College London and A*STAR in Singapore have shown off a terahertz antenna that's just 100 nanometers across — about 30,000 times smaller than existing terahertz antennae — and two orders of magnitude stronger than other T-ray beam-forming techniques. T-rays are a lot like EHF (extremely high frequency), which is used by millimeter wave scanners in airports, medical imaging, and emerging wireless networking standards like WiGig — but stronger, faster, and more detailed. Where EHF radiation can see through your clothes, T-rays can penetrate a few millimeters of skin. Furthermore, because atoms and molecules have a unique terahertz-range signature, T-ray scanners can detect toxic substances, bombs, drugs — or even cancerous tumors under your skin. Most importantly, though, due to the nano scale of these antennae, it's possible to create huge antennae arrays on a single silicon chip, meaning hand-held T-ray scanners are now a possibility. In the not so distant future, every household might have a Star Trek-like tricorder capable of detecting cancer or other diseases."

What Happens To Your Files When a Cloud Service Shuts Down?

2012-01-23T10:49:00.000-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Friday January 20, @01:07PM

from the apocalypse-and-doom dept.

MrSeb writes"Megaupload's shutdown poses an interesting question: What happens toall the files that were stored on the servers? XDA-Developers, for example, has more than 200,000 links to Megaupload — and this morning, they're all broken, with very little hope of them returning. What happens if a similar service, like Dropbox, gets shut down — either through bankruptcy, or federal take-down? Will you be given a chance to download your files, or helped to migrate them to another similar service? What about data stored on enterprise services like Azure or AWS — are they more safe?"And if you're interested, the full indictment against Megaupload is now available.

CEOs of RIM Step Down

2012-01-23T07:17:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Monday January 23, @02:43AM

from the so-long-farewell-aufwiedersehn-goodbye dept.

An anonymous reader writes"After two decades of leading the BlackBerry maker, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balisillie are stepping downfrom their roles as Co-CEOs at Canada's Research In Motion Limited. Thorsten Heins, will now lead the BlackBerry maker as it attempts to beat the likes of Apple and Google."

Town Turns Off the Lights To See the Stars

2012-01-19T10:05:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 19, @08:05AM

from the we're-going-dark dept.

Hugh Pickens writes"Stargazing skies all over the world are disappearing, as the sky above New York City is Class 9 on the Bortle ranking and American suburban skies are typically Class 5, 6, or 7. But some places are making an effort to preserve their skywatching heritage as Exmoor National Park was granted International Dark-Sky Reserve status in November and people in the Exmoor town of Dulverton were challenged to switch off their lights as part of the BBC's Stargazing Live, demonstrating that you don't need special equipment to see the stars more clearly, if you have a decent pair of binoculars. 'The whole idea is to show that even a small town, which is still quite dark, can give off quite a lot of light,' says astronomer Mark Thompson. The event in Dulverton gained a lot of support from local residents and businesses. 'It needed a bit of organization to get everyone to say yes,' says town mayor Chris Nelder. 'We want people to just enjoy the night sky, to treasure the fact we have them and to look after them,' adds Claire O'Connor from Exmoor National Park Authority."

Jet Lag: What's Causing One of the Driest, Warmest Winters in History? The jet stream controls winter weather, but strange forces are controlling the jet stream this season

2012-01-19T08:12:00.002-05:00

A little snow and rain are falling in a few states today, but the 2011–12 winter has been extremely warm and dry across the continental U.S. Meteorologists think they have figured out why.

US Finally Backs International Space "Code of Conduct"

2012-01-19T08:09:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 19, @05:54AM

from the space-rules dept.

coondoggie writes"Perhaps it was the concern that the nearly 14 ton Russian Mars probe would land smack-dab on the White House or maybe they just come to their senses, but the U.S. State Department today said it would indeed work with the European Union and other countries to develop a formal space code of conduct. Of particular concern is the growing amount of space trash and how the world can go about eliminating or controlling the problem. There is also the desire to keep space free of military weaponry."

Supercomputer Cools Off Using Groundwater

2012-01-19T08:04:00.002-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 19, @03:41AM

from the refreshing-drink dept.

gManZboy writes"The Department of Energy is no stranger to supercomputers, and its Pacific Northwest National Lab has proven that it can continue to be an innovator in the field by using what the lab calls a unique groundwater-fed cooling system in the lab's newest supercomputer, Olympus. The novel cooling system translates normal groundwater into big savings for the new 162 teraflop supercomputer, which is being used in energy, chemical, and fluid dynamics research. The setup translates into 70% less energy use than traditionally cooled systems."

Spider Silk Cape Goes On Display

2012-01-19T06:44:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 19, @04:00AM

from the 1-million-thread-count dept.

fangmcgee writes"Before anyone asks, no, it's not bulletproof. But that doesn't mean that the glistening yellow cape—the world's largest garment made entirely from spider silk—isn't a massive feat of engineering to be marveled. Now on public display for the first time at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the textile gets its unearthly gleam from the undyed filaments of the golden orb spider, a species of arachnid commonly found in Madagascar."

Multicellular Life Evolves In Months, In a Lab

2012-01-18T12:45:00.002-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday January 17, @09:56PM

from the selecting-for-extroverted-cells dept.

ananyo writes"The origin of multicellular life, one of the most important developments in Earth's history, could have occurred with surprising speed, U.S. researchers have shown. In the lab, a single-celled yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) took less than 60 days to evolve into many-celled clusters that behaved as individuals. The clusters even developed a primitive division of labor, with some cells dying so that others could grow and reproduce. Multicellular life has evolved independently at least 25 times, but these transitions are so ancient that they have been hard to study. The researchers wanted to see if they could evolve multicellularity in a single-celled organism, using gravity as the selective pressure. In a tube of liquid, clusters of yeast cells settle at the bottom more quickly than single cells. By culturing only the cells that sank, they selected for those that stick together. After many rounds of selection over 60 days, the yeast had evolved into 'snowflakes' comprising dozens of cells."

New Mexico Is Stretching, GPS Reveals

2012-01-18T10:49:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday January 17, @08:45PM

from the too-many-tacos dept.

Velcroman1 writes"New Mexico's borders are gradually gaining girth, according to the Albuquerque Journal. It's not much, and it's not happening very fast — the state is getting about an inch wider every 40 years — but the state is unquestionably expanding, according to University of Colorado geophysicist Henry Berglund and his colleagues. Using a collection of 25 extra-precise GPS receivers planted across New Mexico and Colorado, Berglund determined that the cities of Albuquerque and Santa Fe are creeping away from each other. The rate of change seems ever so slow to the untrained ear, described as approximately 1.2 'nanostrains' per year."

Research In Motion To Be Sold, Possibly To Samsung

2012-01-18T10:47:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 18, @08:13AM

from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

New submitter ve6ay writes"The talk of the tech world over the past day is that RIM, struggling mightilyin these last months, was in talks to be bought either partially or wholly by Samsung. Sources at the Boy Genius Report indicate that while RIM may be trying to sell, it is asking way too much for itself."

California demands manufacturers ditch inefficient vampire chargers

2012-01-17T07:29:00.001-05:00

By Terrence O'Brien posted Jan 17th 2012 6:56AM

You've probably had it drilled into your head that your gadgets are doing terrible, terrible things to the environment -- and not just 'cause they end up as toxic landfill in poorer countries. Many of your chargers and electronics continue todraw power even when they're off or your device is disconnected. We've seen some ingenious solutions to the problem but, perhaps it would be best to avoid the issue all together. Starting next year California will require manufacturers to ship efficient chargers with their products, potentially saving $306 million in energy costs and cutting power usage by up to 13 percent in the state. The new rules are set to go into effect on February 1st, 2013, but we wouldn't be surprised if the law faced some road blocks before then.

Quick-Cooking Nanomaterials in Microwave to Make Tomorrow's Air Conditioners

2012-01-10T17:21:00.000-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2012) — Engineering researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method for creating advanced nanomaterials that could lead to highly efficient refrigerators and cooling systems requiring no refrigerants and no moving parts. The key ingredients for this innovation are a dash of nanoscale sulfur and a normal, everyday microwave oven.

Almost 1 In 3 US Warplanes Is a Drone

2012-01-10T16:09:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday January 10, @09:28AM

from the skynet-approved dept.

parallel_prankster writes"A recent Congressional Research Service report,titled U.S. Unmanned Aerial Systems, looks at the more-prominent role being played by drones. In 2005, drones made up just 5 percent of the military's aircraft. Today one in three American military aircraft is a drone. The upsides of drones being they are cheaper and safer — the military spent 92% of the aircraft procurement money on manned aircraft. The downside — they're bandwidth hogs: a single Global Hawk drone requires 500 megabytes per second worth of bandwidth, the report finds, which is 500 percent of the total bandwidth of the entire U.S. military used during the 1991 Gulf War."

Cambridge Scientists Create Huge Quantum Particles

2012-01-10T07:46:00.001-05:00

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Monday January 09, @10:30PM

from the quantum-mechanics-never-looked-so-good dept.

judgecorp writes"Researchers at Cambridge University have produced a quantum fluid thousands of times larger than previously, leading to the possibility ofpolaritons produced at lower power and at a broader temperature range. This could lead to quantum circuits, as well as applications such as more sensitive gyroscopes."

Too cute not to share...

2012-01-10T07:42:00.001-05:00

What Does Sunset On an Alien World Look Like?

2012-01-10T07:41:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Monday January 09, @03:12PM

from the forgot-my-camera dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes"Using real data from Hubble Space Telescope of a planet orbiting another star, exoplanetary scientist Frédéric Pont created a lovely imageof what sunset would look like from HD209458b, nicknamed Osiris, a planet 150 light years away. The Hubble data gave information on the atmospheric absorption of this hot Jupiter planet, and, coupled with models of how the atmosphere was layered, Pont was able to create a realistic looking sunset on the planet. The big surprise: the star looks green as it sets! Sodium absorption sucks out the red colors and blue is scattered away, leaving just the green hues to get through. It's a lovely application of hard scientific knowledge."

Carbon Emissions 'Will Defer Ice Age'

2012-01-09T16:16:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Monday January 09, @03:34PM

from the not-cool dept.

Sven-Erik writes"Due to subtle variations in the Earth's orbit, researchers have calculated that the next Ice Age is due within 1,500 years. However, a new study suggests greenhouse gas emissions mean it will not happen that soon(abstract). 'Dr Skinner's group ... calculates that the atmospheric concentration of CO2 would have to fall below about 240 parts per million (ppm) before the glaciation could begin. The current level is around 390ppm. Other research groups have shown that even if emissions were shut off instantly, concentrations would remain elevated for at least 1,000 years, with enough heat stored in the oceans potentially to cause significant melting of polar ice and sea level rise.'"

‘Time Cloaking’ remarkable experiment hides event in time Read more: http://www.zmescience.com/science/physics/time-cloaking/#ixzz1ii32lq57

2012-01-06T14:49:00.002-05:00

Cloaking used to be one of my favorite SciFi themes. James Bond supercars that would show up or disappear instantly at the flick of an alarm key, the hallow man, objects rendered completely invisible to the human eye and lost in the surroundings. I say used to be because spatial cloaking has transcended for some time now in the realm of reality, after researchers successfully created an invisibility cloak from metamaterials. Cornell University physicists have taken this concept, however, to a whole new level – temporal cloaking.

Remarkably, the Cornell scientists managed to basically create a wrinkle in time in which, albeit for a trillionth of a second, any objects that passed through it became invisible and events went unrecorded. Now this is far from being magic, of course, and like spatial cloaking, the time cloak experiment is based on the same principles of physics which discuss the manipulation of light.

Its hard to find a working analogy, but you could view this as a video tape with a missing frame, only that missing millisecond in video isn’t lost in the time cloak experiment, but hidden – physical information can never be lost, maybe except for black holes.

The team of researchers used a system of two half time-lenses connected with one another at their tips, thus forming a split time lens. A continuous beam of green light was fired from a laser which became slowed down when it passed through the first half lens, and sped up when it went through the second – a 50 picosecond gap in the beam was thus opened. During this exact window the researchers shot a stream or red light though through fiber optical cables thinner than a human hair which went on to be undetected.

“You kind of create a hole in time where an event takes place,” said study co-author Alexander Gaeta, director of Cornell’s School of Applied and Engineering Physics. “You just don’t know that anything ever happened.”

Sure using this tech won’t give you enough time to pull the perfect museum heist, however it’s truly an amazing first step. According to Cornell scientists, it’d take a machine 18,600 miles long to produce a time mask that lasts a single second. When data transmissions are concerned, this kind of temporal cloaking might prove to be incredibly useful for information security, as high speed packets of information might be able to travel undetected without disrupting the actual flow.

“We think of time in the way that other people think of space. What other people are doing in space, we can do it in time,” said Moti Fridman, a researcher at the School of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University .
“I think it’s a big step forward,” said Vladimir M. Shalaev, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, who has worked on spatial cloaking. “It’s another example of the beauty of ‘transformational optics,’ which is behind all these ideas.”

A few other funnies

2012-01-06T14:37:00.000-05:00

More Here

If

2012-01-06T13:37:00.002-05:00

Australian 'stolen car' parks itself in closed garage

2012-01-06T12:51:00.002-05:00

The car had been left in the wrong gear so rolled down an incline in the car park

A car reported as stolen from an Australian car park has been reunited with its owner, after apparently parking itself in a closed garage.

Adelaide police say they think the car rolled down an incline in the car park, across a street and into a garage forcing itself under the roller doors.

The door closed behind it and the car remained undetected for 17 days until the home-owners returned from holiday.

Fearing a burglary, they called police, who deduced the curious turn of events.

"Although the roller door was closed, it had been damaged slightly and pushed out of its tracks," a police spokesman is quoted in Australian media as saying.

Police believe that the car had not been left in the parking gear and so rolled though the car park and eventually "forced itself under the roller door, parking perfectly inside the garage where it remained safely under cover for 17 days".

The owner reported the car stolen after he parked it outside a shop in a suburb of Adelaide. Reports say that he had only bought the car two days earlier and only left it for a few minutes.

He told the police that he now recalls hearing a "bang", which may have been the car hitting the garage door, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Japan working on powerful cyber weapon, knows best defense is a good offense

2012-01-06T08:22:00.001-05:00

By Terrence O'Brien posted Jan 6th 2012 7:48AM

The Japanese government has been (relatively) quietly churning away on an advanced new cyber weapon. In the post Stuxnet age it's no surprise that a government would be working on powerful new tools to defend its digital borders, but this particular virus (developed with help from Fujitsu) is raising eyebrows with some over how it accomplishes its goals. Essentially, when it detects an intruding piece of malware, the program follows the virtual trail left behind back to the attack's source -- disabling every machine it encounters along the way. The goal, obviously, is to stop the spread of a malicious piece of code by finding and shutting down, not just the source, but all middleman PCs that are also now potential hosts. In some admitedly extreme scenarios this weapon could potentially spiral out of control, taking out far more computers than intended. Nightmarish hellscapes dominated by computers run amok aside, its definitely interesting and we understand how it might cause some concern. Check out the source for a few more details.

Leap Second Coming In June, 2012

2012-01-05T12:11:00.001-05:00

Posted by timothy on Thursday January 05, @09:52AM

from the they're-calling-it-a-time-step dept.

Zoxed writes"IERS have just announced a leap second due at midnight, June 30th this year. Are your systems ready?"The last leap second added was at the end of 2008.

Unemployment for specific degrees

2012-01-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

Top 10 Majors With Least Unemployment

2012-01-05T12:05:00.002-05:00

(Rank, Major, Unemployment Percent, Median Earnings)

1. Actuarial Science 0.0% $81,000

2. Pharmacology 0.0% $101,000

3. Educational Administration and Supervision 0.0% $89,000

4. School Student Counseling 0.0% $42,000

5. Geological and Geophysical Engineering 0.0% $101,000

6. Astronomy and Astrophysics 0.0% $101,000

7. Teacher Education: Multiple Levels 1.1% $48,000

8. Agricultural Economics 1.3% $99.000

9. Medical Technologies Technician 1.4% $74,000

10. Atmospheric Sciences and Meterology 1.6% $101,000

California State Senator Proposes Funding Open-Source Textbooks

2012-01-05T12:03:00.002-05:00

Posted by timothy on Thursday January 05, @11:35AM

from the benefit-the-commonwealth dept.

bcrowell writes"Although former Governor Schwarzenegger's free digital textbook initiative for K-12 education was a failure, state senator Darrell Steinberg has a new idea for the state-subsidized publication of college textbooks (details in the PDF links at the bottom). Newspaper editorials seem positive. It will be interesting to see if this works any better at the college level than it did for K-12, where textbook selection has traditionally been very bureaucratic. This is also different from Schwarzenegger's FDTI because Steinberg proposes spending state money to help create the books. The K-12 version suffered from legal uncertainty about the Williams case, which requires equal access to books for all students — many of whom might not have computers at home. At thesymposium where the results of the FDTI's first round were announced, it became apparent that the only businesses interested in participating actively were not the publishers but computer manufacturers like Dell and Apple, who wanted to sell lots of hardware to schools."

China Cuts 'Excessive Entertainment' From TV

2012-01-05T07:04:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 05, @02:11AM

from the not-too-much dept.

An anonymous reader writes"Chinese broadcasters have axed two-thirds of popular TV shows in line with a government directive to curb 'excessive entertainment.' From the article: 'The rule, first announced in October, is targeted at what Chinese regulators have called "excessive entertainment and a trend toward low taste," to address the rise of talent shows, dating shows and other such programming aired by China's tightly regulated, but increasingly competitive, regional satellite broadcasters. Authorities also encouraged broadcasters to air more news and educational programming.' according to local media reports."

Fish Mimics Octopus That Mimics Fish

2012-01-05T07:03:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2012) — Nature's game of intimidation and imitation comes full circle in the waters of Indonesia, where scientists have recorded for the first time an association between the black-marble jawfish (Stalix cf. histrio) and the mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus).

Dumb if it is true

2012-01-04T13:45:00.002-05:00

Nap-Deprived Tots May Be Missing out On More Than Sleep

2012-01-04T13:41:00.001-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 3, 2012) — A new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder could be a wake-up call for parents of toddlers: Daytime naps for your kids may be more important than you think.

'Lost World' Discovered Around Antarctic Vents

2012-01-04T07:14:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 3, 2012) — Communities of species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents.

Nokia: the Sun Can't Charge Your Phone

2012-01-04T07:12:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday January 03, @08:02PM

from the well-what-am-i-going-to-do-with-this-93M-mile-cord dept.

itwbennett writes"Nokia's research into solar-powered cell phones ended with a (barely audible) thud. Under the best of conditions researchers were able 'to harvest enough energy to keep the phone on standby mode but with a very restricted amount of talk time,' Nokia wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. Not surprisingly, the prototype phone, which had a solar panel on the back cover, performed better in Kenya than in other testing locations, like southern Sweden and the Arctic Circle."

Genetically Modifying Silk Worms For Super Silk

2012-01-04T07:10:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 04, @05:11AM

from the does-whatever-a-spider-can dept.

New submitter davidshenba sends this quote from the BBC:"U.S. researchers have created silkworms that are genetically modified to spin much stronger silk (abstract). In weight-for-weight terms, spider silk is stronger than steel. ... Researchers have been trying to reproduce such silk for decades. But it is unfeasible to 'farm' spiders for the commercial production of their silk because the arachnids don't produce enough of it — coupled with their proclivity for eating each other. Silk worms, however, are easy to farm and produce vast amounts of silk — but the material is fragile. Researchers have tried for years to get the best of both worlds — super-strong silk in industrial quantities — by transplanting genes from spiders into worms. But the resulting genetically modified worms have not produced enough spider silk until now. GM worms produced by a team led by Professor Don Jarvis of Wyoming University seem to be producing a composite of worm and spider silk in large amounts — which the researchers say is just as tough as spider silk."

Instead of a Wheel Chair, How About an Exoskeleton?

2012-01-03T15:21:00.001-05:00

Posted by timothy on Tuesday January 03, @12:19PM

from the yes-please dept.

New submitter the_newsbeagle writes"This year, Ekso Bionics will roll out its most sophisticated exoskeleton ever. The company's robotic walking suit, called the Ekso, allows paraplegics to get back on their feet and walk on their own. The first commercial model will be sold to rehab hospitals for on-site physical therapy, but the company plans to have a model ready for at-home physical therapy by the end of 2012. In a few years, they plan to sell an Ekso that a paraplegic person can wear to the post office, to work, etc."

Good anonymous quote

2012-01-03T13:38:00.002-05:00

"Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever."

Fictional attribution in the movie The Emperor's Club (2002), given by Kevin Kline (as William Hundert);^[2] also attributed to Diogenes, without sources;^[3] no published occurrences of this statement prior to the movie have been located in any of the Aristophanes Plays or Fragments.

Physical Activity, School Performance May Be Linked

2012-01-03T10:14:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Jan. 2, 2012) — A systematic review of previous studies suggests that there may be a positive relationship between physical activity and the academic performance of children, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of theJAMA/Archives journals.

The Car of Tomorrow Recognizes Your Butt

2012-01-03T07:46:00.001-05:00

27
inShare

By Chuck Squatriglia
Email Author
December 22, 2011 |
2:00 pm |
Categories: Autopia WTF? Dept.

Engineers from the Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology in Tokyo have developed a novel biometric automotive anti-theft system that uses the unique shape of your butt to identify you.

The driver’s seat is fitted with 360 sensors that measure pressure according to a scale of zero to 256. Each reading is plotted to create a 3-D image — essentially a topographic map of your ass — used as a personal identifier. Anytime someone gets behind the wheel, the system analyzes the shape of their behind. If it isn’t your rear end in the seat, the car isn’t going anywhere.

The engineers behind the gadget say it was able to identify six different testers with 98 percent accuracy. We can’t read the report (.pdf) because it’s in Japanese, so we don’t know how the system might react to, say, having a wallet in your pocket or packing on a few pounds during the holidays.

Business newspaper Nikkei says the researchers hope to commercialize “a highly reliable anti-theft system” through a collaboration with automakers within two or three years.

Image: Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology

Alzheimer's: Diet Patterns May Keep Brain from Shrinking

2012-01-03T07:28:00.000-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2011) — People with diets high in several vitamins or in omega 3 fatty acids are less likely to have the brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer's disease than people whose diets are not high in those nutrients, according to a new study published in the December 28, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Does 'Supersizing' Supershrink Your Brain?

2012-01-03T07:27:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 30, @10:15AM

from the food-for-thought dept.

Rambo Tribble writes"As reported by the BBC, the journal Neurology is set to release the findings of a study in Oregon on diet and brain shrinkage in Alzheimer's victims. The upshot is: a diet rich in vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids is beneficial; trans fat and fast food are detrimental."

British training 'Xbox generation' soldiers with tweaked games

2012-01-03T07:26:00.001-05:00

By Daniel Cooper posted Dec 29th 2011 2:51PM

Austerity means the military can't afford the big-budget training exercises to battle-harden new recruits, so it's relying more on computer simulations. Sadly, Virtual Battlespace 2 can't compete with the Hollywood-style excitement of Modern Warfare. That's why it's buying in game engines from the studios (VB2 was based on tech licensed from the makers of Operation Flashpoint) and cutting out the unrealistic physics -- such as rifle bullets flying three miles and vehicles that don't obey gravity. It's hoped the project will keep the attention of death-match hardened trainees and encourage them to play it in their own time: the team were told that two soldiers learned enough skills to stay alive during combat thanks to marathon sessions in the game. If you've just unwrapped an FPS for the holidays, you can now tell disapproving family members that it's educational.

Paint-On Solar Cells Developed

2011-12-22T06:35:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 21, 2011) — Imagine if the next coat of paint you put on the outside of your home generates electricity from light -- electricity that can be used to power the appliances and equipment on the inside.

US Chamber of Commerce Infiltrated By Chinese Hackers

2011-12-21T13:05:00.001-05:00

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday December 21, @08:56AM

from the security-through-insecurity dept.

SpzToid writes"The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that a group of hackers in China breached the computer defenses of the United States Chamber of Commerce. The intrusion was quietly shut down in May 2010, while FBI investigations continue. 'A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Geng Shuang, said cyberattacks are prohibited by Chinese law and China itself is a victim of attacks. ... Still, the Chamber continues to see suspicious activity, they say. A thermostat at a town house the Chamber owns on Capitol Hill at one point was communicating with an Internet address in China, they say, and, in March, a printer used by Chamber executives spontaneously started printing pages with Chinese characters.'"According the article, the group "gained access to everything stored on its systems" and may have "had access to the network for more than a year before the breach was uncovered."

The Hobbit Trailer posted!

2011-12-21T12:18:00.002-05:00

Superannuated Scientists Still Productive

2011-12-21T10:02:00.002-05:00

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 20, @10:53AM

from the anonymous-ice-floe-pictures-help dept.

An anonymous reader writes"Modern corporations seem to have devalued older scientists. They are all to happy to have their veteran employees, scientists included, take an early retirement so that they can be replaced by younger people who expect fewer benefits and will work for lower pay. Thomas Kuhn, philosopher of science and author of the influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, believed that revolution in science was forged only by younger scientists. Some older studies of small academic groups seemed to show that scientific productivity peaks at middle age and declines thereafter. A newer study of 13,680 university professors found that scientific productivity still increases up to age 50, and it then stabilizes from age fifty to retirement for the more industrious researchers. When 'high impact' publications are considered, researchers older than 55 still hold their own. A recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that the majority of Nobel Laureates in Chemistry from 1901 to 1960 did their prize-winning work by age 40. After 1960, chemistry laureates were more likely to have done their prize-winning work after age 40."

20 most popular Christmas songs graphed by decade of release

2011-12-21T07:44:00.002-05:00

New State of Metal Theorized To Be In the Earth's Lower Mantle

2011-12-21T07:36:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday December 21, @06:38AM

from the does-it-burn-as-well-as-dead-dinosaurs dept.

slew writes"This article talks about a study accepted to Physical Review Letters which theorizes that iron oxide goes through an insulator/metal phase change with high temperature and pressure. Originally it was thought to be a crystalline structure change, but now apparently it is theorized to be a new type of metallic state. This discovery might offer new insight on how the earth's magnetic field operates."

NASA finds smallest ever black hole by its 'heartbeat' (video)

2011-12-20T08:33:00.001-05:00

By Daniel Cooper posted Dec 19th 2011 3:07PM

NASA's found the smallest black hole it's ever seen, thanks to the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) -- weighing three times less than our own sun, it's near the bottom weight limit for the super-heavy phenomena. It was discovered by its unique "heartbeat", an X-Ray emission that takes place when gas sucked from a nearby star is swirled around the event horizon until friction causes it to super-heat. The disc then repeats the process every 40 seconds and when examined, looks just like the readout on anECG machine. After the break we've got a video that talks you through it all and we won't mind if you start booming "Space... the final frontier..." halfway through -- we did too.

Is Jupiter Dissolving Its Rocky Core?

2011-12-20T08:32:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Monday December 19, @02:06PM

from the told-you-not-to-drink-all-that-soda-pop dept.

sciencehabit writes"Jupiter is the victim of its own success. Sophisticated new calculations indicate that our solar system's largest planet, which weighs more than twice as much as all of the others put together, has destroyed part of its central core. The culprit is the very hydrogen and helium that made Jupiter a gas giant, when the core's gravity attracted these elements as the planet formed. The finding suggests that the most massive extrasolar planetshave no cores at all."

NASA Considers Sending Telescope To the Outer Solar System

2011-12-20T08:29:00.001-05:00

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Tuesday December 20, @05:01AM

from the research-base-on-ganymede dept.

Nancy_A writes"A mission that astronomers and cosmologists have only dreamed about — until now. A team at JPL and Caltech has been looking into the possibility of hitching an optical telescope to a survey spacecraft on a mission to the outer solar system. Light pollution in our inner solar system, from both the nearby glow of the Sun and the hazy zodiacal glow from dust ground up in the asteroid belt, has long stymied cosmologists looking for a clearer take on the early Universe."

Middle-Age Blood Pressure Changes Affect Lifetime Heart Disease, Stroke Risk

2011-12-20T07:01:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 19, 2011) — An increase or decrease in your blood pressure during middle age can significantly impact your lifetime risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to research in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Trends in hit songs

2011-12-19T08:47:00.002-05:00

The study found some interesting trends, such as:

Before the eighties, the danceability of a song was not very relevant to its hit potential. From then on, danceable songs were more likely to become a hit. Also the average danceability of all songs on the charts suddenly increased in the late seventies.
In the eighties slower musical styles (tempo 70-89 beats per minute), such as ballads, were more likely to become a hit.
The prediction accuracy of the researchers' hit potential equation varies over time. It was particularly difficult to predict hits around 1980. The equation performed best in the first half of the nineties and from the year 2000. This suggests that the late seventies and early eighties were particularly creative and innovative periods of pop music.
Up until the early nineties, hits were typically harmonically simpler than other songs of the era. On the other hand, from the nineties onward hits more commonly have simpler, binary, rhythms such as 4/4 time.
On average all songs on the chart are becoming louder. Additionally, the hits are relatively louder than the songs that dangle at the bottom of the charts, reflected by a strong weight for the loudness feature.

Can Science Predict a Hit Song?

2011-12-19T07:48:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2011) — Most people remember listening to the official UK top 40 singles chart and watching the countdown on Top of the Pops, but can science work out which songs are more likely to 'make it' in the chart?

Scientists create first solar cell with over 100 percent quantum efficiency

2011-12-19T07:47:00.001-05:00

By James Trew posted Dec 19th 2011 6:01AM

Researchers over at the National Renewable Energy Lab have reportedly made the first solar cell with an external quantum efficiency over 100 percent. Quantum efficiency relates to the number of electrons-per-second flowing in a solar cell circuit, divided by the number of photons from the energy entering. The NREL team recorded an efficiency topping out at 114 percent, by creating the first working multiple exciton generation (MEG) cell. Using MEG, a single high energy photon can produce more than one electron-hole pair per absorbed photon. The extra efficiency comes from quantum dots 'harvesting' energy that would otherwise be lost as heat. The cell itself uses anti-reflection coating on a transparent conductor, layered with zinc oxide, lead selenide, and gold. NREL scientist Arthur J. Nozik predicted as far back as 2001 that MEG would do the job, but it's taken until now for the concept to leap over from theory. The hope is, of course, that this will lead to more competitively priced solar power, fueling thetransport of the future.

Neat Christmas vid of Handal's Hallelujah chorus

2011-12-19T07:44:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=LyviyF-N23A

Heart Drug May Be Effective for Managing Certain Cancers, Study Suggests

2011-12-15T11:00:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2011) — Researchers at Queen's University have identified a new mechanism that could potentially explain why the body's immune system sometimes fails to eliminate cancer. The new findings shed light on the possible cause of immune resistance in cancer cells, and indicate that nitroglycerin, a relatively safe and low-cost drug used for more than a century to treat angina, may be effective for managing certain cancers.

Cheap electronic skin edges us closer to cyberpunk future

2011-12-15T10:59:00.002-05:00

By Peter Cohen posted Dec 15th 2011 6:13AM

Researchers working for the Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab have figured out how to create relatively inexpensive "electronic skin" comprising carbon nanotubes enriched with semiconductors. Their process involves an enriched single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) solution embedded in a honeycomb pattern of hexagonal holes to make it more flexible and stretchable - it's so limber, they wrapped it around a baseball, as you can see in the photo above. Combined with inkjet printing of electrical contacts, the technology paves the way for making flexible, wearable computers and a host of other cool things that William Gibson and other cyberpunk authors thought of back in the 1980s: smart bandages, flexible solar cells and electronic skin that can sense touch. Bring on the Zeiss eye implants and neural interface jacks!

Astronomers Find Gas Cloud About To Fall Into Black Hole

2011-12-15T10:56:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 14, @10:17PM

from the a-light-snack dept.

First time accepted submitter pigrabbitbear writes"Black holes are basically celestial Cookie Monsters, gobbling anything and everything in sight. But because that appetite includes light itself, it's incredibly rare for us to actually see a black hole suck back an interstellar treat. Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope have found just that: a mysterious, giant gas cloud that's rapidly been pulled into the maw of a supermassive black hole. The researchers, led by Reinhard Genzel of the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, discovered the cloud as part of a now 20-year ESO program tasked with tracking stars as they whirl around the supermassive black hole, known as Sgr A*, at the center of our galaxy."

Funny Quotes

2011-12-15T08:41:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have remained a virgin...'

- Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)

<><>

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: - 'No good in a bed, but fine against a wall.'

- Eleanor Roosevelt

<><>

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement..

- Mark Twain

<><>

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible

- George Burns

<><>

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.

- Victor Borge

<><>

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

- Mark Twain

<><>

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

- Socrates

<><>

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.

- Groucho Marx

<><>

My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe.

- Jimmy Durante

<><>

I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.

- Zsa Zsa Gabor

<><>

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat..

- Alex Levine

<><>

My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.

- Rodney Dangerfield

<><>

Money can't buy you happiness ... But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.

- Spike Milligan

<><>

Until I was thirteen, I thought my name was SHUT UP .

- Joe Namath

<><>

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.

- Bob Hope

<><>

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it..

- W. C. Fields

<><>

We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.

- Will Rogers

<><>

Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.

- Winston Churchill

<><>

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty .. But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out..

- Phyllis Diller

<><>

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.

- Billy Crystal

<><>

And the cardiologist's diet: - If it tastes good spit it out.

The Undeclared "Cyber Cold War" With China

2011-12-14T17:12:00.001-05:00

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 14, @03:25PM

from the consider-yourself-off-my-friends-list dept.

First time accepted submitter lacaprup writes"Chinese-based hacking of 760 different corporations reflects a growing,undeclared cyber war. From giants like Intel and Google to unknowns like iBahn, the Chinese hackers are accused of stealing everything isn't nailed down. Simply put, it is easier and cheaper to steal rather than develop the legal way. China has consistently denied it has any responsibility for hacking that originated from servers on its soil, but — based on what is known of attacks from China, Russia and other countries — a declassified estimate of the value of the blueprints, chemical formulas and other material stolen from U.S. corporate computers in the last year reached almost $500 billion"

'Green Routing' Can Cut Car Emissions Without Significantly Slowing Travel Time

2011-12-14T17:04:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2011) — The path of least emissions may not always be the fastest way to drive somewhere. But according to new research from the University at Buffalo, it's possible for drivers to cut their tailpipe emissions without significantly slowing travel time.

Channel Master TV review

2011-12-14T16:10:00.002-05:00

By Ben Drawbaugh posted Dec 14th 2011 4:00PM

Review

If you prefer your DVR with no strings attached, your choices are pretty limited these days. You can of course roll your own, but admittedly, that isn't for everyone. Channel Master does plan to change that, though, as it's currently accepting pre-orders for its over-the-air DVR with over-the-top features that doesn't require a subscription. The Channel Master TV ($399) should be hitting retailers and homes this week, and since we love DVRs, especially when they're free from commitments, we decided to take it for a spin. Click through to see how it stacks up.

The Ability to Love Takes Root in Earliest Infancy

2011-12-14T15:06:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2011) — The ability to trust, love, and resolve conflict with loved ones starts in childhood -- way earlier than you may think. That is one message of a new review of the literature in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. "Your interpersonal experiences with your mother during the first 12 to 18 months of life predict your behavior in romantic relationships 20 years later," says psychologist Jeffry A. Simpson, the author, with University of Minnesota colleagues W. Andrew Collins and Jessica E. Salvatore. "Before you can remember, before you have language to describe it, and in ways you aren't aware of, implicit attitudes get encoded into the mind," about how you'll be treated or how worthy you are of love and affection.

Judge Orders Man To Delete Revenge Blog

2011-12-14T11:06:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday December 14, @12:14AM

from the do-you-take-requests-your-honor dept.

nonprofiteer writes"A Minnesota man violated a restraining order obtained by his ex-girlfriend by blogging about her mental health and sexual issues, and sending links to posts on the blog to her family, friends, and co-workers. The judge then extended the restraining order by 50 years, ordered the guy never to write about his ex on the Internet and ordered him to delete the blog he created. Even though there was no evidence that what he had written was false, the judge said the ex-girlfriend's 'right to be free from harassment' outweighed the guy's 'right to free speech.' 'I believe it's rare, if not unprecedented, for a court to order an entire blog deleted,' says technology law professor Eric Goldman."

NASA Developing Comet Harpoon For Sample Return

2011-12-14T10:56:00.001-05:00

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday December 14, @02:15AM

from the thar-she-blows dept.

An anonymous reader writes"NASA appears to have decided that the best way to grab a sample of a rotating comet that is racing through the inner solar system at up to 150,000 miles per hour while spewing chunks of ice, rock and dust may be to avoid the risky business of landing on it. Instead, researchers want to send a spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet, then fire a harpoon to rapidly acquire samples from specific locations with surgical precisionwhile hovering above the target."

Fracking Disclosure Rules Approved In CO

2011-12-14T10:54:00.001-05:00

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday December 14, @10:15AM

from the quench-your-thirst dept.

ExE122 writes"Colorado has approved new measures taking a tough stance on the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking. The new law is 'requiring companies to disclose the concentrations of chemicals in addition to the chemicals themselves.' Fracking is a controversial method of natural gas extraction that raises concerns about health and safety issues to surrounding communities. This measure is said to be tougher than similar measures passed in Texas earlier this year."

Why Do People Defend Unjust, Inept, and Corrupt Systems?

2011-12-13T08:19:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2011) — Why do we stick up for a system or institution we live in -- a government, company, or marriage -- even when anyone else can see it is failing miserably? Why do we resist change even when the system is corrupt or unjust? A new article in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, illuminates the conditions under which we're motivated to defend the status quo -- a process called "system justification."

New Vaccine Attacks Breast Cancer in Mice

2011-12-13T08:18:00.005-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2011) — Researchers from the University of Georgia and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona have developed a vaccine that dramatically reduces tumors in a mouse model that mimics 90 percent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases-including those resistant to common treatments.

Study Debunks Myths About Gender and Math Performance

2011-12-13T08:18:00.002-05:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2011) — A major study of recent international data on school mathematics performance casts doubt on some common assumptions about gender and math achievement -- in particular, the idea that girls and women have less ability due to a difference in biology.

Quantum Dots Will Make Flexible Displays

2011-12-13T08:00:00.003-05:00

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Monday December 12, @10:30PM

from the quantum-ice-cream-of-the-future dept.

judgecorp writes"Quantum dots are small semiconductors, whose properties are defined by their size and shape. British nanotechnology firm Nanoco has found they are ideal for displays, allowing the possibility of screens that can be rolled up — and which also use far less of the hazardous chemicals found in normal screens."In addition to being Cadmium free (a problem in the EU where the exemption for Cadmium in displays expires in 2014), they directly emit light using less power than traditional filtered color LCDs.