Mercury - Another Reason to Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup

by PATRICIA MAYVILLE-COX
Jan 27th 2009 @ 6:29PM

Filed under: Health

Here's another reason to skip that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In a recent study, almost half of the high-fructose corn syrup tested contained mercury. Also, a third of commercial food products that contained HFCS as an ingredient also contained mercury.

The study was reported in Environmental Health. The researchers found detectable levels of mercury in nine out of 20 HFCS samples. They also tested 55 commercial foods. The most common foods with HFCS that contained mercury were dairy products, dressings and condiments.

High-fructose corn syrup is produced using chemicals and it is thought that the chemicals caused the contamination. According to Dr. David Wallinga, the lead author, "Mercury is toxic in all its forms," and considering the amount of HFCS that children consume, "It could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered."

Toward Autonomous Unmanned Aircraft Technology

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 27, @07:28PM

from the fly-by-wire-only-there-is-no-wire dept.

coondoggie writes with a NetworkWorld piece that begins,"Researchers at Purdue will soon experiment with an unmanned aircraft that pretty much flies itself with little human intervention. The aircraft will use a combination of global-positioning system technology and a guidance system called AttoPilot ... to guide the aerial vehicle to predetermined points. Researchers can be stationed off-site to monitor the aircraft and control its movements remotely. AttoPilot was installed in the aircraft early this year, and testing will begin in the spring, researchers said."

Windows 7 To Come In Multiple Versions

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 27, @09:38PM

from the win-7-ready dept.

Crazy Taco writes"Tom's Hardware reports on newly discovered screenshots that reveal Microsoft is planning to release their newest version of Windows in multiple confusing versions ... again. The information comes from the latest version of the Windows 7 beta, build 7025 (the public beta is build 7000), and shows a screen during installation that asks the user which version of the OS he or she would like to install. Who's up for guessing what the difference is between Windows 7 'Starter' and Windows 7 'Home Basic?'"

NES Controller Varsity Jacket would be more awesome with awesome models

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 28th 2009 at 4:37AM

At first glance, we actually gagged upon seeing the jacket pictured above. Immediately after regaining our composure, we wondered how on Earth such a magnificent piece of retro kit could have such a negative impact on our lives -- then, it hit us. It's the dude. Seriously. Strap this $200, limited run jacket on anyone even remotely beautiful and we'd bet you too would see things differently. Or maybe it is just obscenely tacky, but it'd be much less so on anyone other than this fellow.

Getting Diabetes Before 65 More Than Doubles Risk For Alzheimer's Disease

ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2009) — Diabetics have a significantly greater risk of dementia, both Alzheimer's disease — the most common form of dementia — and other dementia, reveals important new data from an ongoing study of twins. The risk of dementia is especially strong if the onset of diabetes occurs in middle age, according to the study.

Read More

Daily School Recess Improves Classroom Behavior

ScienceDaily (Jan. 28, 2009) — School children who receive more recess behave better and are likely to learn more, according to a large study of third-graders conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

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Cool Inagruation Pic

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

Britannica Goes After Wikipedia and Google

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday January 22, @09:15AM

from the let-us-know-how-that-works-out-for-ya dept.

kzieli writes"Britannica is going to allow viewers to edit articles. with changes to be editorial reviewed within 20 minutes. There is also a bit of a rant against Google for ranking Wikipedia above Britannica on most search terms."

School Performance And Body Weight Affects Kids' Self-esteem, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2009) — National statistics show one in four children in Canada are obese, yet very little research has been done to find out what effects, if any, being overweight has on their self esteem and well-being.

Read More

A few inappropriate funnies

One year, a husband decided to buy his mother-in-law a cemetery plot as a Christmas gift.
 
The next year, he didn't buy her a gift.
 
When she asked him why, he replied,  "Well, you still haven't used the gift I bought you last year!"

 

And that's how the fight started.....
 
************************************************************************
 
 My wife walked into the den and asked  "What's on the TV?"
 
I replied "Dust."
 
And that's how the fight started......
 ************************************************************************
 
A woman is standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror.
 
She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, 'I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.'
The husband replies, 'Your eyesight's damn near perfect.'
And that's how the fight started.....
 
 ************************************************************************
 
 My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.
 
She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 200 in about 3 seconds.
 
I bought her a scale.
 
And that's how the fight started.....
 ************************************************************************
 
I asked my wife, 'Where do you want to go for our anniversary?'
 
It warmed my heart to see her face melt; in sweet appreciation.
 
'Somewhere I haven't been in a long  time!' she said.
 
So I suggested, 'How about the kitchen?'
 
And that's when the fight started....
 ************************************************************************
 
My wife and I are watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, 'Do you want to have sex?'
 
'No,' she answered.
 
I then said, 'Is that your final answer?'
 
She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying 'Yes.'

So I said, 'Then I'd like to phone a friend.'
 
And that's when the fight started....
 ************************************************************************
 
I tried to talk my wife into buying a case of Miller Light for $14.95.
 
Instead, she bought a jar of cold cream for $7.95.  I told her the beer would make her look better at night than the cold cream.
 
And that's when the fight started.....
 *************************************************************************

I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my order first.
 
'I' ll have the strip steak, medium rare, please.'
 
 He said, 'Aren't you worried about the mad cow?'
 
'Nah, she can order for herself.'
 
 And that's when the fight started.

Hybrids Makings Some Noise

by SEA STACHURA
Jan 21st 2009 @ 5:00PM

Filed under: Cars and Transportation

Hybrids are some of the quietest cars around. Their electric motors barely make a peep, and when a hybrid roles to a stop, the engine shuts off. Surprisingly, this has become a problem. 

Earlier this year an 8-year old boy was riding his bike in the street when he was hit by a Prius. The boy went through an intersection without looking because he didn't hear any cars. The Prius in question was operating in its EV mode, and ran right into the boy. He was fine. But he's not the only one concerned about being struck by a stealthy hybrid. 

Blind organizations around the country are pushing for minimum noise standards, and a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives last year that would require hybrids to emit a sound while they are operating. 

One scientist is already on the case. Patrick Nyeste at North Carolina State University has tested 24 sounds for the hybrid. So far, the hum and white noise are the most popular. Lotus engineering is also looking at making an adjustable car sound for hybrids. When the vehicle was operating the hum of a gas engine would be emitted, but that noise could be turned down in quieter settings. 

[via Environment Report]

Nano-motors For Microbots

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 22, @01:54AM

from the big-things-in-micro-packages dept.

Smivs writes"The BBC are reporting on the development of tiny motors the size of a grain of salt which could power surgical Microbots. Some surgical procedures are hindered by the size or inflexibility of current instruments. For example, the labyrinthine network of blood vessels in the brain prevents the use of catheters threaded through larger blood vessels. Researchers have long envisioned that trends of miniaturisation would lead to tiny robots that could get around easily in the body. The problem until now has been powering them. Conventional electric motors do not perform as well as they are scaled down in size. As they approach millimetre dimensions, they barely have the power to overcome the resistance in their bearings. Now, research reported in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering has demonstrated a motor about 1/4mm wide, about the width of two human hairs."

The State of Video Game Regulation

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday January 22, @05:01AM

from the rather-overstated,-to-state-the-obvious dept.

Gamasutra is running an in-depth look at the regulation of video games in the US and other countries. They discuss the reasons for such legislation, such as child protection and intellectual property restrictions, as well as what gamers can expect to see in the coming years."Fairfield also points out combinations of laws, which, when put together make for strange outcomes. The biggest of these, for video games, is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In short, gaining unauthorized access to someone's computer and doing $500 in damages opens you up for criminal charges. It's good for prosecuting hackers, but it makes for a strange fit with social networking websites and user-generated content. That fit was especially strange when prosecutors weren't quite sure how to approach the widely publicized case of Megan Meier. The 13-year-old Meier committed suicide after being deceived and bullied by another girl and her mother, Lori Drew. Unable to find a good way to approach the issue, prosecutors charged Drew under MySpace's End User License Agreement, effectively giving MySpace the power to dictate criminal law."

Doomsday Called Off: Part 1 of 5

by KELLY LEAHY
Jan 21st 2009 @ 3:26PM

Filed under: Climate Change

Skeptics of man made global warming are getting a stronger foothold if the number of articles I've seen in the last week can be considered proof. Of course, it's hard to make a case for global warming in the dead of winter but what this video shows is some interesting work that's being done in Greenland.

Scientists have built a research station on ice several three kilometers thick and are carving out tubes of ice to study the temperature. Apparently, by extracting a sample, you can learn what the climate was in Greenland 100 or even 2,000 years ago.

The results? The coldest Greenland has ever been in the last 8,000 years was in 1875, just about when we started documenting temperature. The temperature has risen since but not nearly as high as to what it's been in the past. Samples taken from the viking age (around 1000 A.D.) show that temperatures were on average 1.5 Celsius degrees warmer than today. Is the melting ice in Greenland due to man's influence or are we merely coming out of a mini ice age?

[via: Ecology Newspaper]

I would love to do this

I don't have the guts but it would be really cool.

Earth's Radio Telescopes Combining Forces

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 15, @07:57AM

from the dark-side-of-the-moon dept.

Slatterz writes"I own a basic 70mm telescope, which I'm sure Galileo would have given his right arm for in 1609. In fact, this year marks exactly 400 years since Galileo first pointed a telescope at the skies — discovering the moons of Jupiter and helping to prove that the universe doesn't revolve around us. As a mark of respect, the United Nations has declared 2009 the International Year of Astronomy. Official festivities kick off this week in Paris and, to help start the celebrations, 17 radio telescopes in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Americas will track three quasars using something called "real-time Very Long Baseline Interferometry" — basically creating hi-res images by combining their data to simulate a telescope as large as the Earth. Sounds cool."

Smart Lighting: New LED Drops The 'Droop'

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2009) — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed and demonstrated a new type of light emitting diode (LED) with significantly improved lighting performance and energy efficiency.

Read More

Video: Kinstore-Z robot is easily the world's most bizarre

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jan 15th 2009 at 6:14AM

Oh, we get it alright; Kintore-Z is a robot designed to compete in Japan's Baca RoboCup (baka means "fooolish" or "stupid" in Japanese). But that doesn't explain why the child is absently holding a toothbrush now does it? Click through for one of the strangest, most bizarre videos you'll ever see on Engadget... or anywhere else for that matter.

3 Cups of Coffee Increases Hallucinations

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday January 14, @11:37AM

from the but-they-ARE-out-to-get-me dept.

PearsSoap writes"The Telegraph and other sources are pointing out a study on 200 students which has found that a high caffeine intake can cause visual and auditory hallucinations, and can make people think that others are 'out to get them.' The abstract (and full version if you have access) is available. 'The volunteers were questioned about their caffeine intake from products including coffee, tea, energy drinks, chocolate bars and caffeine tablets.'"

Possible New Alzheimer's Treatment? Destroying Amyloid Proteins With Lasers

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2009) — Researchers have found that a technique used to visualize amyloid fibers in the laboratory might have the potential to destroy them in the clinic. The technique involves zapping the fluorescently-tagged fibers with a laser, which can inhibit their growth and degrade them.

Read More

In-Depth With the Windows 7 Public Beta

Posted by kdawson on Monday January 12, @08:06PM

from the ctrl-alt-del-makes-him-blink dept.

Dozer writes"With the Windows 7 public beta out, Ars Technica has an in-depth look at the release. There's praise for Windows 7's UI changes and polish as well much-needed changes to UAC, but also a warning that those who have problems with Vista won't like Windows 7 much better. 'If you couldn't stand Vista's UI (whether it's because you didn't like Explorer, Aero, Control Panel, UAC, or anything else), Windows 7 is unlikely to do much to help, as it builds on the same UI. If Vista's hardware demands were too steep, Windows 7 will likely cause you the same grief, as its hardware demands match. And if Vista didn't work with a program or device you need to use, Windows 7 will offer no salvation, as its compatibility is virtually identical.'"

Harjacking

Tech Companies That Won't Survive 2009

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 12, @01:30PM

from the in-a-blaze-of-glory dept.

buzzardsbay writes"Fresh off their annual market survey, eWEEK channel folks have compiled the list of tech vendors their readers think will fail, falter, or be sold off in 2009. It's important to note that these aren't the opinions of the magazine or its editors. The list comes from folks who work in IT, mostly technology resellers, who are out in the field selling, installing and maintaining this stuff. If there were ever canaries in the tech coal mine, they'd be these service and solution providers who live and die by the slightest shift in the markets. Some of the companies on this list, like Sun and AMD, are shocking because of their size. Others, like CA and Symantec, not so surprising."What other companies are headed for implosion, or should be if all were right with the universe?

Comet Lulin Is Moving Closer To Earth

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday January 12, @08:51AM

from the space-sparkles dept.

goran72 writes"The comet is swinging around the Sun and approaching the Earth. The photogenic Lulin has a bright tail and an "anti-tail". At its closest approach in February, Comet Lulin is expected to brighten to naked-eye visibility, reaching a magnitude of six."

Flying Car Ready To Take Off

Posted by timothy on Monday January 12, @06:42AM

from the fill-up-on-windshield-fluid-please dept.

ChazeFroy writes"The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month. If it survives its first test flight, the Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater road car to a plane in 15 seconds, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months' time. Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of unleaded petrol at a cruising speed of 115mph. Even at $200,000 per automobile, they have already received 40 orders."