By Tim Stevens 
posted Jul 7th 2010 10:42AM
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Honda shows off conceptual, solar-powered station to refill your conceptual, hydrogen-powered car (video)
By Tim Stevens
IceCube Telescope Takes Shape Below Antarctic Ice
PabloSandoval48 writes"The world's largest telescope, currently under construction more than a mile beneath the Antarctic ice, is on schedule to be completed next year, according to a researcher at the University of Wisconsin, the lead institution for a scientific project called IceCube."
Want to Slow Aging? New Research Suggests It Takes More Than Antioxidants
ScienceDaily (July 6, 2010) — Don't put down the red wine and vitamins just yet, but if you're taking antioxidants because you hope to live longer, consider this: a new study published in the June 2010 issue of the journal Genetics casts doubt on the theory that oxidative stress to our tissues shortens lifespan.
Microsoft layoffs: the axeman cometh?
By Thomas Ricker posted Jul 7th 2010 5:40AM
SSDs vs. Hard Drives In Value Comparison
EconolineCrush writes"SSDs hardly offer compelling value on the cost-per-gigabyte basis. But what if one considers performance per dollar? This article takes a closer look at the value proposition offered by today's most common SSDs, mixing raw performance data with each drive's cost, both per gigabyte and as a component of a complete system. A dozen SSD configurations are compared, and results from a collection of mechanical hard drives provide additional context. The data are laid out in detailed scatter plots clearly illustrating the most favorable intersections of price and performance, and you might be surprised to see just how well the SSDs fare versus traditional hard drives. A few of the SSDs offer much better value than their solid-state competitors, too."
Rudeness at Work Causes Mistakes
ScienceDaily (July 6, 2010) — If someone is rude to you at work or if you witness rudeness you are more likely to make mistakes, says Rhona Flin, Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of Aberdeen, in an editorial published in this week's British Medical Journal.
Brain's Energy Restored During Sleep, Suggests Animal Study
ScienceDaily (July 7, 2010) — In the initial stages of sleep, energy levels increase dramatically in brain regions found to be active during waking hours, according to new research in the June 30 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. These results suggest that a surge of cellular energy may replenish brain processes needed to function normally while awake.
New Adhesive for Tape, Label Industry, Developed
ScienceDaily (July 6, 2010) — An incidental discovery in a wood products lab at Oregon State University has produced a new pressure-sensitive adhesive that may revolutionize the tape industry -- an environmentally benign product that works very well and costs much less than existing adhesives based on petrochemicals.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Netflix adds Relativity Media to its Instant queue, takes on HBO and Showtime
By Tim Stevens posted Jul 6th 2010 8:37AM
3D Displays May Be Hazardous To Young Children
SchlimpyChicken writes"Turns out 3D television can be inherently dangerous to developing children, and perhaps to adults as well. There's a malaise in children that can prevent full stereopsis (depth perception) from developing, called strabismus or lazy-eye. It is an abnormal alignment of the eyes in which the eyes do not focus on the same object — kind of like when you watch a 3D movie. As a result, depth perception is compromised. Acting on a hunch, the guys over at Audioholics contacted Mark Pesce, who worked with Sega on its VR Headset over 15 years ago — you know, the headset that never made it to market. As it turns out, back then Sega uncovered serious health risks involved with children consuming 3D and quickly buried the reports, and the project. Unfortunately, the same dangers exist in today's 3D, and the electronics, movie, and gaming industries seem to be ignoring the issue. If fully realized, 3D just might affect the vision of millions of children and, according to the latest research, many adults, across the country."
Friendships, Family Relationships Get Better With Age Thanks to Forgiveness, Stereotypes
ScienceDaily (June 27, 2010) — Part of what makes those relationships so golden during the golden years is that people of all ages are more likely to forgive and respect one's elders, according to research from Purdue University.
Novel Radiotracer Shines New Light on the Brains of Alzheimer's Disease Patients
ScienceDaily (June 26, 2010) — A trial of a novel radioactive compound readily and safely distinguished the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients from healthy volunteers on brain scans and opens the doors to making such imaging available beyond facilities that can manufacture their own radioactive compounds. The results, reported by a Johns Hopkins team in the June Journal of Nuclear Medicine, could lead to better ways to distinguish Alzheimer's from other types of dementia, track disease progression and develop new therapeutics to fight the memory-ravaging disease.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Chemical Element 114: One of Heaviest Elements Created
ScienceDaily (June 23, 2010) — At GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, an international team of scientists succeeded in the observation of the chemical element 114, one of the heaviest elements created until now. The production of element 114 is very difficult and requires dedicated particle accelerators. So far, this feat was achieved at only two other research centers, in the USA and Russia.
Brain Structure Corresponds to Personality
ScienceDaily (June 23, 2010) — Personalities come in all kinds. Now psychological scientists have found that the size of different parts of people's brains correspond to their personalities; for example, conscientious people tend to have a bigger lateral prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and controlling behavior.
Drug Mitigates Toxic Effects of Radiation in Mice
ScienceDaily (June 23, 2010) — While radiation has therapeutic uses, too much radiation is damaging to cells. The most important acute side effect of radiation poisoning is damage to the bone marrow. The bone marrow produces all the normal blood cells, and therefore a high dose of radiation can lead to low blood counts of red cells, platelets and white blood cells. Humans that receive a lethal dose of radiation as in the setting of an accidental exposure die of bone marrow failure. While there are a few drugs that will decrease toxicity when given before exposure to radiation ("radioprotectants"); currently, no effective therapy exists to mitigate bone marrow toxicity of radiation when given after radiation exposure ("radiomitigants"). The identification of successful human radiomitigants is a top research priority of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and National Institutes of Health.
Gut Bacteria Could Be Key Indicator of Colon Cancer Risk
ScienceDaily (June 22, 2010) — The human body contains more bacteria than it does cells. These bacterial communities can have a positive effect on our health, by training our immune systems and helping to metabolize the foods we eat. But they can also set us up to develop digestive disorders, skin diseases, and obesity.
Google Voice Free for All
Google opens its innovative Voice application to all comers, letting anyone get a single number to catch calls from their landlines, cellphones and work phone numbers.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
High Levels of Fructose, Trans Fats Lead to Significant Liver Disease, Says Study
ScienceDaily (June 23, 2010) — Scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have discovered that a diet with high levels of fructose, sucrose, and of trans fats not only increases obesity, but also leads to significant fatty liver disease with scar tissue.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
New method for producing graphene paves way for mass production of nanomaterial
Researchers have developed a simple new method for producing large quantities of the promising nanomaterial graphene. The new technique works at room temperature, needs little processing, and paves the way for cost-effective mass production of graphene.
http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/igw0t2gz2hc/100621122132.htm
Monday, June 21, 2010
Ford, Edison and the Cheap EV That Almost Was
Henry Ford and Thomas Edison both believed electricity was the future. Here's the story of the car they almost built.
Why Being Wrong Makes Humans So Smart
Hugh Pickens sends in an excerpt in last week's Boston Globe from Kathryn Schulz's bookBeing Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error."The more scientists understand about cognitive functioning, the more it becomes clear that our capacity to make mistakes is utterly inextricable from what makes the human brain so swift, adaptable, and intelligent. Rather than treating errors like the bedbugs of the intellect — an appalling and embarrassing nuisance we try to pretend out of existence — we need to recognize that human fallibility is part and parcel of human brilliance. Neuroscientists increasingly think that inductive reasoning undergirds virtually all of human cognition. Humans use inductive reasoning to learn language, organize the world into meaningful categories, and grasp the relationship between cause and effect. Thanks to inductive reasoning, we are able to form nearly instantaneous beliefs and take action accordingly. However, Schulz writes, 'The distinctive thing about inductive reasoning is that it generates conclusions that aren't necessarily true. They are, instead, probabilistically true — which means they are possibly false.' Schulz recommends that we respond to the mistakes (or putative mistakes) of those around us with empathy and generosity and demand that our business and political leaders acknowledge and redress their errors rather than ignoring or denying them. 'Once we recognize that we do not err out of laziness, stupidity, or evil intent, we can liberate ourselves from the impossible burden of trying to be permanently right. We can take seriously the proposition that we could be in error, without deeming ourselves idiotic or unworthy.'"
When Do Newborns First Feel Cold?
ScienceDaily (June 17, 2010) — Cold sensing neural circuits in newborn mice take around two weeks to become fully active, according to a new study.
Polar Oceans Key to Temperature in the Tropics
ScienceDaily (June 17, 2010) — Scientists have found that the ocean temperature at Earth's polar extremes has a significant impact thousands of miles away at the equator.
New Air Conditioner Process Cuts Energy Use 50-90%
necro81 writes"The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has announced that it has developed a new method for air conditioning that reduces energy use by 50-90%. The DEVap system (Desiccant-Enhanced eVaporative air conditioner) cools air using evaporative cooling, which is not new, but combines the process with a liquid dessicant for pulling the water vapor out of the cooled air stream. The liquid dessicant, a very strong aqueous solution of lithium chloride or sodium chloride, is separated from the air stream by a permeable hydrophobic membrane. Heat is later used to evaporate water vapor back out — heat that can come from a variety of sources such as solar or natural gas. The dessicants are, compared to typical refrigerants like HCFCs, relatively benign on the environment."
What US Health Care Needs
Medical doctor and writer Atul Gawande gave the commencement address recently at Stanford's School of Medicine. In it he lays out very precisely and in a nonpartisan waywhat is wrong with the institution of medical care in the US — why it is both so expensive and so ineffective at delivering quality care uniformly across the board."Half a century ago, medicine was neither costly nor effective. Since then, however, science has... enumerated and identified... more than 13,600 diagnoses — 13,600 different ways our bodies can fail. And for each one we've discovered beneficial remedies... But those remedies now include more than six thousand drugs and four thousand medical and surgical procedures. Our job in medicine is to make sure that all of this capability is deployed, town by town, in the right way at the right time, without harm or waste of resources, for every person alive. And we're struggling. There is no industry in the world with 13,600 different service lines to deliver. ... And then there is the frightening federal debt we will face. By 2025, we will owe more money than our economy produces. One side says war spending is the problem, the other says it's the economic bailout plan. But take both away and you've made almost no difference. Our deficit problem — far and away — is the soaring and seemingly unstoppable cost of health care. ... Like politics, all medicine is local. Medicine requires the successful function of systems — of people and of technologies. Among our most profound difficulties is making them work together. If I want to give my patients the best care possible, not only must I do a good job, but a whole collection of diverse components must somehow mesh effectively. ... This will take science. It will take art. It will take innovation. It will take ambition. And it will take humility. But the fantastic thing is: This is what you get to do."
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