Tuesday, December 14, 2010
New Evidence That Magnetism Is Driving Force Behind Superconductivity
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — European and U.S. physicists this week are offering up the strongest evidence yet that magnetism is the driving force behind unconventional superconductivity. The findings by researchers from Rice University, the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (MPI-CPfS) in Dresden, Germany, and other institutions were published online December 13 inNature Physics.
Protein Restores Learning, Memory in Alzheimer's Mouse Model
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Scientists at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio restored learning and memory in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model by increasing a protein called CBP. Salvatore Oddo, Ph.D., of the university's Department of Physiology and Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, said this is the first proof that boosting CBP, which triggers the production of other proteins essential to creating memories, can reverse Alzheimer's effects.
Why Video Game Movie Adaptations Need New Respect
Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday December 14, @03:25AM
from the no-more-fighting-game-movies-please dept.
from the no-more-fighting-game-movies-please dept.
An anonymous reader writes"Hollywood has yet to find any video game property it is willing to treat with the same respect as J.R.R. Tolkien or J.K.Rowling, arguably still following the principles that led to the appalling Super Mario Bros. movie in 1992: 'A game lacks the complexity that a movie requires.' Yet a modern gaming masterpiece such as Mass Effect has the depth and breadth to deserve better treatment in the proposed trilogy. Is Hollywood again going to disrespect fans who, in this case, have as much right to see a good plot respected as the readers of Lord Of The Rings? This article discusses why and how Hollywood should grow up regarding these adaptations."
Monday, December 13, 2010
A Bionic Leg That Rewires Stroke Victims' Brains
waderoush writes"A startup called Tibion in Sunnyvale, CA, has begun selling battery-powered robotic exoskeletons that help stroke victims with one-sided weakness relearn how to stand, sit, walk, and negotiate stairs. The leg isn't a permanent attachment; the company says patients who use the device for 45 minutes a week for four weeks experience significant gains in walking speed that persist and even improve months after the treatment. They believe that the $40,000 device — which includes sensors that respond to subtle signs of user intentions, such a shift in weight — provides feedback that triggers neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to rewire itself to repair damage."
Contorting Batteries: Charging Makes Nano-Sized Electrodes Swell, Elongate and Spiral
ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2010) — New high resolution images of electrode wires made from materials used in rechargeable lithium ion batteries shows them contorting as they become charged with electricity. The thin, nano-sized wires writhe and fatten as lithium ions flow in during charging, according to a paper in this week's issue of the journal Science. The work suggests how rechargeable batteries eventually give out and might offer insights for building better batteries.
Physicists Make Atoms and Dark Matter Add Up
ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2010) — UBC and TRIUMF physicists have proposed a unified explanation for dark matter and the so-called baryon asymmetry--the apparent imbalance of matter with positive baryon charge and antimatter with negative baryon charge in the Universe.
Scientists Create Programmable Bacteria
Posted by samzenpus on Monday December 13, @04:54AM
from the anti-coding-soap dept.
from the anti-coding-soap dept.
wilmavanwyk writes"In research that further bridges the biological and digital world, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have created bacteria that can be programmed like a computer. Researchers built 'logic gates' – the building blocks of a circuit – out of genes and put them into E. coli bacteria strains. The logic gates mimic digital processing and form the basis of computational communication between cells, according to synthetic biologist Christopher A. Voigt."
Next Generation of Algorithms Inspired by Ants
Posted by samzenpus on Sunday December 12, @01:49PM
from the bugs-for-bugs dept.
from the bugs-for-bugs dept.
letsurock writes"Ants' capability to find the shortest route through a maze in an hour, and to find the second shortest route when the first path was obstructed, has inspired researchers creating algorithms for the future. From the article: 'Finding the most efficient path through a busy network is a common challenge faced by delivery drivers, telephone routers and engineers. To solve these optimization problems using software, computer scientists have often sought inspiration from ant colonies in nature — creating algorithms that simulate the behavior of ants who find the most efficient routes from their nests to food sources by following each other's volatile pheromone trails. The most widely used of these ant-inspired algorithms is known as Ant Colony Optimization (ACO).'"
High-Tech War Games Help Save Lives
Posted by samzenpus on Sunday December 12, @09:34PM
from the more-real-than-real dept.
from the more-real-than-real dept.
An anonymous reader writes"CNN is reporting on the new training mannequins being used by The United States military. Advances in technology have allowed the training dummies to become ultra-realistic. From the article: 'New battery-operated, remote-controlled mannequins can simulate bleeding and breathing, and they have blinking eyes that dilate. Medics can test their skills on these life-like mannequins. The new units, which are packed with technology, are used at 23 US Army Medical Simulation Training Centers as part of a program to teach lifesaving techniques to medics and nonmedical personnel. A Pentagon study says the training program has saved 1,000 soldiers' lives in combat, said Lt. Col. Wilson Ariza, manager of the US Army Medical Simulation Project. '"
Friday, December 10, 2010
Living in Certain Neighborhoods Increases the Chances Older Men and Women Will Develop Cancer, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2010) — Older people who live in racially segregated neighborhoods with high crime rates have a much higher chance of developing cancer than do older people with similar health histories and income levels who live in safer, less segregated neighborhoods.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Bus Law Meant to Protect Kids Has Major Loophole
Richmond —
State code can sometimes be written in such a convoluted manner, it's hard to know what exactly a law means.But one thing is for sure about Virginia's 40-year-old bus safety statute that makes it illegal to pass a school bus while it's picking up or dropping off children: it's missing a word.
A very costly word.
A man in Northern Virginia was recently acquitted of a reckless driving charge because his attorney argued there's no evidence the man "failed to stop any school bus."
The wording in the Virginia state law should read, "a person is guilty of reckless driving who fails to stop....AT any school bus which is stopped on any highway, private road or school driveway."
But the state law omits the word "at," making it illegal to 'fail to stop a school bus."
State Delegate Joe Morrissey, D-74th, reviewed the Virginia code and sided with the judge for finding the man 'not guilty' of reckless driving.
"Quite frankly, the legislature in 1970 screwed up," said Morrissey. "They should have caught it, and my feeling is that people, citizens should be the beneficiaries if we screw up in a particular word."
Morrissey said another version of the law has already been drafted, and the corrected bill will gain passage in the 2011 General Assembly session in a couple of months.
The former prosecutor said it's hard to cast blame in a situation like this, which involves a complicated political process.
"Everybody's at fault," said Morrissey, "everybody voted on it, and it's not unusual when we're voting on a bill."
He added that the legislation goes through many different changes/evolutions between committees and both chambers, and sometimes typing mistakes just slip through the cracks.
Richmond parents concerned about the safety of their children did not agree with the judge's decision in this case, nor did they find the shrewd lawyer's discovery of the missing "at" very amusing.
"No, no," said Diana Nebille, shaking her head. "A simple typo. When you're talking the safety of our children, no. That's the wrong decision."
Another mom, Rebecca Wolf, worried about what the verdict would mean for future drivers who break the law.
"[The judge] should have been a little less shallow and realized what he was really doing by letting this person go," said Wolf. "It's setting a precedent for anyone else to get off that way too."
Read
$200B Lost To Counterfeiting? Back It Up
Posted by kdawson on Monday August 02, @09:35PM
from the pulled-from-some-orifice dept.
from the pulled-from-some-orifice dept.
An anonymous reader writes"Over the weekend, the NY Times ran a story about how the recession has impacted product counterfeiters. In it, the reporter regurgitates the oft-repeated claim that counterfeiting 'costs American businesses an estimated $200 billion a year.' Techdirt's Mike Masnick asks the Times reporter to back up that assertion, noting two recent reports (by the GAO and the OECD) that suggest the actual number is much lower, and quoting two reporters who have actually looked at the numbers and found (a) the real number is probably less than $5 billion, and (b) the $200 billion number can be traced back to a totally unsourced (read: made-up) magazine claim from two decades ago."
Tentacle-Like Prosthetic Arm Will Haunt Your Dreams
By Charlie Sorrel 
December 9, 2010 |
7:13 am |
Categories: R&D and Inventions
Kaylene Kau’s prosthetic arm is either a sweet modern update of the old-fashioned pirate’s hook, or a terrifying device that will turn its wearer into a Cthuloid-human mongrel. I favor the former, if only because I want to sleep at night.
The prosthesis is designed not to be a prehensile limb, but instead as an assistive appendage for the good arm. A simple motor drives two cables inside the tentacle, and the wearer controls it via a pair of switches on the upper section. Just put the “arm” in place, hit the switch and it curls around whatever you might want to carry. The other switch unfurls the arm.
It’s not Dean Kamen’s astonishing robot arm, but then it would also be a lot cheaper, and therefore available to many more people. And if a pirate were to swap this in for his current, eye-gouging hook setup, he’d certainly be keeping to an oceanic theme.
Kaylene Kau’s Prosthetic Arm [Coroflot via the Design Blog]
Proverbial Wallets make your metaphysical money a little more tangible
By Tim Stevens 
posted Dec 9th 2010 8:59AM
Goodbye, VGA
jones_supa writes"Leading PC companies have expressed their will to finally start kicking out legacy display interfaces. Intel plans to end support of LVDS in 2013 and VGA in 2015 in its PC client processors and chipsets. While the large installed base of existing VGA monitors and projectors will likely keep VGA on PC back panels beyond 2015, PC and display panel makers are in strong support of this transition. The DisplayPort connector interface provides backwards and forwards compatibility by supporting VGA and DVI output via certified adapters, while also providing new capabilities such as single connector multi-monitor support."
Kinect finally fulfills its Minority Report destiny (video)
By Vlad Savov posted Dec 9th 2010 8:35AM
Influenza Virus Strains Show Increasing Drug Resistance and Ability to Spread
ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2010) — Two new studies raise public health concerns about increasing antiviral resistance among certain influenza viruses, their ability to spread, and a lack of alternative antiviral treatment options. The findings are published in the January 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
'Secret Ingredient' in Religion Makes People Happier
ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2010) — While the positive correlation between religiosity and life satisfaction has long been known, a new study in the December issue of the American Sociological Review reveals religion's "secret ingredient" that makes people happier.
Scientists Create Mice From 2 Fathers
Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 09, @04:33AM
from the heather-has-two-mommies dept.
from the heather-has-two-mommies dept.
An anonymous reader writes"Using stem cell technology, reproductive scientists in Texas, led by Dr. Richard R. Berhringer at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, have produced male and female mice from two fathers. The study was posted today (Wednesday, December 8) at the online site of the journal Biology of Reproduction. The achievement of two-father offspring in a species of mammal could be a step toward preserving endangered species, improving livestock breeds, and advancing human assisted reproductive technology (ART). It also opens the provocative possibility of same-sex couples having their own genetic children, the researchers note."
Doubling of CO2 Not So Tragic After All?
Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 09, @12:03AM
from the let-the-flame-war-begin dept.
from the let-the-flame-war-begin dept.
carvalhao writes"The Register reports on a study from NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that claims that new climate models that account for the effects of increased CO2 levels on plant growth result on a 1,64 C increase for a doubling of CO2 concentrations, a far less gloomy scenario than previously considered."
Scientists Discover Solar Powered Hornets
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 08, @08:03PM
from the beware-of-the-electric-bees dept.
from the beware-of-the-electric-bees dept.
adeelarshad82 writes"The oriental hornet is more active during the day, and tends to become even more active as the temperature rises. And now scientists have discovered the reason: the hornets are solar powered. It turns out that the distinctive yellow stripe on the hornet's abdomen is actually full of tiny protrusions that gather sunlight and harness it for energy. The insect also features a special pigment, called xanthopterin, that helps with the process."
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
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