Phoghat writes"Television's favourite Time Lord could not exist without his trusty sonic screwdriver, as it's proved priceless in defeating Daleks and keeping the Tardis in check. Now Doctor Who's famous cure-all gadget could become a reality for DIY-ers across the world, say engineers. Ultrasonic engineers at Bristol University and The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair are uncovering how a real life version of the fictional screwdriver — which uses sonic technology to open locks and undo screws — could be created."
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
NASA's 'Arsenic Microbe' Science Under Fire
radioweather writes"The cryptic press release NASA made last week that set the blogosphere afire with conjecture, which announced: 'NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.' may be a case of 'go fever' science pushed too quickly by press release. A scathing article in Slate.com lists some very prominent microbiologists who say the NASA-backed study is seriously flawed and that the finding may be based on something as simple as poor sample washing to remove phosphate contamination. One of the scientists, Shelley Copley of the University of Colorado said 'This paper should not have been published,' while another, John Roth of UC-Davis says: 'I suspect that NASA may be so desperate for a positive story that they didn't look for any serious advice from DNA or even microbiology people,' The experience reminded some of another press conference NASA held in 1996. Scientists unveiled a meteorite from Mars in which they said there were microscopic fossils. A number of critics condemned the report (also published in Science) for making claims it couldn't back up."
New Blood Test Could Detect Heart Disease in People With No Symptoms
ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2010) — A more sensitive version of a blood test typically used to confirm that someone is having a heart attack could indicate whether a seemingly healthy, middle-aged person has unrecognized heart disease and an increased risk of dying, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
Feeling Chills in Response to Music
ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2010) — Most people feel chills and shivers in response to music that thrills them, but some people feel these chills often and others feel them hardly at all. People who are particularly open to new experiences are most likely to have chills in response to music, according to a study in the current Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Road Test: Seeing Green in New Way With Nissan Leaf
The Nissan Leaf is not just an excellent all electric car. It's a flat-out excellent car that happens to be electric.
Read More
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Why Married Men Tend to Behave Better
ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2010) — Researchers have long argued that marriage generally reduces illegal and aggressive behaviors in men. It remained unclear, however, if that association was a function of matrimony itself or whether less "antisocial" men were simply more likely to get married.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Electronic neural bridge helps paralyzed mice walk again, human application might prove tricky
By Vlad Savov 
posted Dec 6th 2010 7:46AM
It's only been a week since we heard about age reversal in mice, yet already we've got another big advancement in rodent medical care: a solution for ameliorating the devastating effects of spinal cord injuries. A UCLA research team has shown off a new system that can restore walking motion to a mouse's hind legs, but not only that, it also grants control to the little fella by responding to its front legs' actions. Electromyography sensors detect when a mouse starts to walk up front, triggering electronic signals to be sent to the functional lower portion of its spine, which in turn starts up the rear muscles for a steady walking gait. It's only been tested on a treadmill so far, but the result seems to be a seamless restoration of walking capacity in rodents that doesn't require any outside assistance. The same will be pretty hard to replicate in humans, bipeds that they are, but that's why it's called research and not reobvious.Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Get Your Very Own Street-Legal Tron Light Cycle
By Keith Barry 
November 30, 2010 |
7:00 am |
Categories: Design, Motorcycles
Just in time for Tron: Legacy, a Florida bike shop put together 10 custom-built, street-legal Tron Light Cycle lookalikes. For a cool $55,000, you could be riding one to the Dec. 17 premier.
According to Jeff Halverson of Parker Brothers Choppers, each bike features a steel frame, fiberglass bodywork and a V-twin engine from a Suzuki TLR1000. Stopping power comes from a custom made friction drum that keeps the bike true to the look of Daniel Simon’s latest Light Cycle design. Customers have a choice between actual gauges and an iPad dock that displays vital statistics on the iPad’s touchscreen.
Though the bike looks like it drove straight off the movie screen, it’s not a replica or recreation since the Light Cycles in both Tron films were virtual. “We basically used the images we could get off the web in order to make the bike,” said Halverson. “Keep in mind, no one ever made this bike before.”
The bike weighs 474 pounds and is just over 100 inches long and 23 inches wide. The rider sits (lies?) 28.5 inches off the ground. Halverson said that it rides like any sportbike, though we’ve gotta wonder with that huge front tire. Still, we’d welcome the chance to ride one to find out.
Four Light Cycles are still available just in case anyone has us on their shopping list.
Photos, video (below): Parker Brothers Choppers
Earth's Water Didn't Come From Outer Space
sciencehabit writes"Where did Earth's oceans come from? Astronomers have long contended that icy comets and asteroids delivered the water for them during an epoch of heavy bombardment that ended about 3.9 billion years ago. But a new study suggests that Earth supplied its own water, leaching it from the rocks that formed the planet. The finding may help explain why life on Earth appeared so early, and it may indicate that other rocky worlds are also awash in vast seas."
US Army Unveils 'Revolutionary' $35,000 Rifle
rbrander writes"Don't call it a 'rifle,' call it the 'XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System' and get your $35,000 worth. Much more than a projector of high-speed lead, this device hurls small grenades that automatically detonate in mid-flight with 1-meter accuracy over nearly 800m. The vital field feature is the ability to explode 1m behind the wall you just lazed — the one with the enemy hiding behind it."
Monday, November 29, 2010
Being Too Clean Can Make People Sick
An anonymous reader writes"Young people who are overexposed to antibacterial soaps containing triclosan may suffer more allergies, and exposure to higher levels of Bisphenol A among adults may negatively influence the immune system, a new University of Michigan School of Public Health study suggests (abstract, full paper [PDF]). Triclosan is a chemical compound widely used in products such as antibacterial soaps, toothpaste, pens, diaper bags and medical devices. Bisphenol A is found in many plastics and, for example, as a protective lining in food cans. Both of these chemicals are in a class of environmental toxicants called endocrine-disrupting compounds, which are believed to negatively impact human health by mimicking or affecting hormones."
Causing Terror On the Cheap
jhigh writes"Bruce Schneier posts on his blog today about the value of terror with respect to cost-benefit for the terrorists. If you look at terror attacks in terms of what they cost the terrorists to implement, compared with what they cost the economy of the nation that was hit, the reward for terrorists is astronomical. Add in the insane costs of the security measures implemented afterward, particularly in America, and it's easy to see why the terrorists do what they do. Even when they're unsuccessful, they cost us billions in security countermeasures."
Methane-Powered Laptops? Materials Scientists Unveil Tiny, Low-Temperature Methane Fuel Cells
ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2010) — Making fuel cells practical and affordable will not happen overnight. It may, however, not take much longer.
Aging Reversed In Mice
Posted by samzenpus on Monday November 29, @04:56AM
from the pressing-the-reset-button dept.
from the pressing-the-reset-button dept.
Hugh Pickens writes"The Guardian reports that scientists claim to be a step closer to reversing the aging process after experimental treatment developed by researchers at Harvard Medical Schoolturned weak and feeble old mice into healthy animals by regenerating their aged bodies. 'What we saw in these animals was not a slowing down or stabilization of the aging process. We saw a dramatic reversal – and that was unexpected,' says Ronald DePinho, who led the study. The Harvard group focused on a process called telomere shortening where each time a cell divides, the telomeres are snipped shorter, until eventually they stop working and the cell dies or goes into a suspended state called 'senescence.' Researchers bred genetically manipulated mice that lacked an enzyme called telomerase that stops telomeres getting shorter causing the mice to age prematurely and suffer ailments, including a poor sense of smell, smaller brain size, infertility and damaged intestines and spleens. When the mice were given injections to reactivate the enzyme, it repaired the damaged tissues and reversed the signs of aging raising hope among scientists that it may be possible to achieve a similar feat in humans – or at least to slow down the aging process."
Cambridge Computer IDs World's Most Boring Day
Posted by samzenpus on Monday November 29, @01:52AM
from the because-they-can dept.
smitty777 writes"Scientists hard at work at Cambridge used a computer algorithm and nearly 300 million historical facts to identify the most boring day in history. The winner? On April 11, 1954, absolutely nothing happened. That is, unless you count the most boring day in the world happening."
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Students Banned From Bringing Pencils To School
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 24, @09:19AM
from the watch-how-you-play dept.
from the watch-how-you-play dept.
mernilio writes"According to UPI: 'A Massachusetts school district superintendent said a memo banning sixth graders from carrying pencils was written without district approval. North Brookfield School District interim Superintendent Gordon Noseworthy said Wendy Scott, one of two sixth-grade teachers at North Brookfield Elementary School, did not get approval from administrators before sending the memo to all sixth-grade parents, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported Thursday. The memo said students would no longer be allowed to bring writing implements to school. It said pencils would be provided for students in class and any students caught with pencils or pens after Nov. 15 would face disciplinary action for having materials 'to build weapons.'"
New Sleep Cycle Discovery Explains Why Fatty Diets During Pregnancy Make Kids Obese
ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2010) — The link between sleeping and obesity is drawn tighter as a new research published online in the FASEB Journalstudy shows that what your mother ate when she was pregnant may make you obese or overweight by altering the function of genes (epigenetic changes) that regulate circadian rhythm. In the report, pregnant primate females consuming a high-fat diet altered the function of fetal genes that regulate circadian rhythm (including appetite and food intake) during development. The offspring also had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
How Sunlight Shapes Daily Rhythms
ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2010) — Fresh insight into how biological clocks adjust to having less sunlight in the winter could help us better understand the impact of jet lag and shift work.
Spine Implant Helps Paralyzed People Exercise
An anonymous reader writes "British engineers have created the first muscle-stimulating microchip small enough that several can be implanted in a person's spinal canal. In addition to providing enough stimulation to, say, let users pedal a stationary bicycle, they could also be used for things like stimulating bladder muscles to help overcome incontinence. Their breakthrough is that the devices package everything into one tiny unit. Lasers cut tiny electrodes from platinum foil, which are then folded into a 3D shape that looks like the pages of a book. These pages, in turn, wrap around the nerve roots."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
High Alpha-Carotene Levels Associated With Longer Life
ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2010) — High blood levels of the antioxidant alpha-carotene appear to be associated with a reduced risk of dying over a 14-year period, according to a report posted online November 22 that will be published in the March 28 print issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Oxford Scientists Say Dogs Are Smarter Than Cats
Velcroman1 writes"This again: scientists at Oxford University claim canines are smarter than felines. And the reason, according to the researchers, is that dogs are more social animals and therefore have bigger brains than the more solitary-inclined cats. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, charted the evolutionary history of various mammals' brains over 60 million years and found a link between the size of an animal's brain in relation to its body and how socially active it was."
Pumpkin Pie increases Male Sex Drive
Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday November 23, @03:05PM
from the we're-going-to-need-more-whipped-cream dept.
from the we're-going-to-need-more-whipped-cream dept.
Dr. Alan Hirsch, Director of Chicago's Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Center, says the key to a man's heart, and other parts, is pumpkin pie. Out of the 40 odors tested in Hirsch's study, a mixture of lavender and pumpkin pie got the biggest rise out of men ages 18 to 64. That particular fragrance was found to increase penile blood flow by an average of 40%. "Maybe the odors acted to reduce anxiety. By reducing anxiety, it acted to remove inhibitions," said Hirsch.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Should Airplanes Look Like Birds?
ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2010) — Airplanes do not look much like birds -- unless you were to imagine a really weird bird or a very strange plane -- but should they? This question is exactly what a pair of engineers in California and South Africa inadvertently answered recently when they set about re-thinking the ubiquitous tube-and-wings aircraft architecture from scratch in order to make airplanes more fuel efficient.
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