Sea Squirt Offers Hope for Alzheimer's Sufferers

ScienceDaily (Mar. 3, 2010) — Alzheimer's disease affects an estimated 27 million people worldwide. It is the most common form of age-related dementia, possibly the most feared disease of old age. There is no cure, and the available drugs only help to relieve symptoms without slowing progression of the disease. One of the characteristic changes in the brains of Alzheimer's patients is the accumulation of plaques and tangles; currently, the best hope for curing or at least slowing the disease lies in developing drugs that target this buildup. Some drugs are already in clinical trials, but there is still a pressing need for more research, and for more and better drugs directed against both known and novel targets.

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Chilean Quake Likely Shifted Earth’s Axis, NASA Scientist Says

By Alex Morales

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said.

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DIY: Build Your Own 40 Display Setup

Posted on Mar 2, 10 08:39 AM PDT

If you think you’ve got one of the coolest monitor setups in town, you’ll want to take a look at this jaw-dropping 40-monitor setup. While the initial idea was to set up 60 monitors, consisting of a mix of 19-inch and 24-inch monitors, but in the end the maker settled for 40 units of 24-inch monitors. 6 computers power the whole setup, and they’re powered by Intel’s Core i7 975 processors, 24GB of DDR3 memory, two SLC SSDs in RAID0 configuration, not to mention some NVIDIA NVS 420s and NVIDIA 9800GTs. In case you’re wondering what this is all for, it’s supposedly used for “intraday trading and development”, but you would be forgiven for thinking that it was the brain of a robot planning to take over planet Earth, after all, why would you see such a cool setup for mundane tasks, right?

An Exercise To Model a "Solar Radiation Katrina"

Posted by kdawson on Monday March 01, @08:17AM
from the transformer-fires dept.

earth

power

space

news

Hugh Pickens writes in with an update on the warnings we discussed a year back about the dangers of a "solar Katrina." Now NPR is reporting on a tabletop exercise mounted in Boulder, Colorado by government workers attempting to model the effects of a worst-case solar electromagnetic storm."...an exercise held in Boulder, Colorado, has investigated what might happen if the Earth were struck by a solar storm as intense as the huge storms that occurred in 1921 and 1859— a sort of solar Katrina — and researchers found that the impact is likely to be far worse than in previous solar storms because of our growing dependence on satellites and other electronic devices that are vulnerable to electromagnetic radiation. 'In many ways, the impact of a major solar storm resembles that of a hurricane or an earthquake,' says FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, except that a solar Katrina would cause damage in a much larger area — power could be knocked out almost simultaneously in countries from Sweden to Canada and the US. In the exercise, the first sign of trouble came when radiation began disrupting radio signals and GPS devices, says Tom Bogdan, who directs the Space Weather Prediction Center. Ten or 20 minutes later electrically charged particles 'basically took out' most of the commercial satellites that transmit telephone conversations, TV shows, and huge amounts of data we depend on in our daily lives. But the worst damage came nearly a day later, when the solar storm began to induce electrical currents in high voltage power lines strong enough to destroy transformers around the globe, leaving millions of people in northern latitudes without power."

Mother's Sensitivity May Help Language Growth in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

ScienceDaily (Feb. 25, 2010) — A new study by researchers from the University of Miami shows that maternal sensitivity may influence language development among children who go on to develop autism. Although parenting styles are not considered as a cause for autism, this report examines how early parenting can promote resiliency in this population.

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Dementia in Extreme Elderly Population Expected to Become Epidemic

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2010) — University of California researchers found that the incidence rate for all causes of dementia in people age 90 and older is 18.2% annually and significantly increases with age in both men and women. This research, called "The 90+ Study," is one of only a few to examine dementia in this age group, and the first to have sufficient participation of centenarians.

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US Air Force chief: Boeing laser "not operationally viable" as far as you know

By Thomas Ricker posted Feb 24th 2010 2:31AM

Seeing a Boeing 747 destroy a liquid-fueled ballistic missile with a megawatt-class laser is undoubtedly one of the tech highlights of the year so far. Unfortunately, as impressive as the demonstration was, it's unlikely to be militarized in its current state. While the Air Force's chief of staff, General Norton Schwartz, called the demonstration "a magnificent technical achievement," he has no intention of introducing the fat tub of chemical goo into the theater of war. Solid state lasers are the future "coin of the realm," according to Schwartz, not Boeing's chemical laser which he claims, "does not represent something that is operationally viable." Of course, the chemical core of the laser was just a single component of the ALTB that managed to track, target, and destroy a moving projectile from an airborne platform. And while the technology might not be viable for broad deployment, that doesn't mean that it won't be fitted into a special forces AC-130 Gunship for covert operations until solid state lasers (currently limited to about 100kW) achieve megawatt status. Just saying.

Darpa funds invisible, shoot-through shield

By Joshua Topolsky posted Jun 21st 2007 10:14PM

In a move seemingly influenced in equal parts by Halo and David Lynch's film Dune, Darpa has announced that it's ponying up $15 million to develop one-way-invisible, self-healing, shoot-through shields for use in urban combat. While the Pentagon's research division acknowledges that there are "significant technical obstacles" in the process, it's fairly gung-ho about developing a technology combining metamaterials, 'coded' obscurant systems, and a bunch of other stuff no one really understands. Tru

DARPA longs for magnetic body healers, crazy respawn camps

By Darren Murph posted Feb 24th 2010 4:22AM

Even DARPA understands that its futuristic bubble shield can be penetrated given the right circumstances, and when it does, the soldier behind it is going to need some serious healing. In a hurry. In the entity's newest budget, there's $6.5 million tucked away "for the creation of a scaffold-free tissue engineering platform, which would allow the construction of large, complex tissues in vitro and in vivo." As you well know, this type of mad science has been around for quite some time, and now it looks as if DARPA is ready for the next best thing: "non-contact forces." Put simply, this alludes to replacing scaffolds with magnetic fields or dielectrophoresis, which could purportedly "control cell placement in a desired pattern for a sufficient period of time to allow the cells to synthesize their own scaffold." It's still too early to say how close we are to being able to instantaneously heal soldiers on the battlefield, but frankly, the public is apt to never know for sure.

Google executives found guilty of violating privacy of student bullied on video

By Thomas Ricker posted Feb 24th 2010 6:33AM

Breaking News

Hold tight kids, internet privacy laws just got flipped upside down. An Italian judge found three Google executives guilty of violating the privacy of an Italian student who was bullied in a 2006 video posted on Google Video. The video resided on the site for two months before it was brought to Google's attention and pulled. None of the executives were involved in any way in the making of the abhorrent video. Nevertheless, Italian judge Oscar Magi sentenced the execs to a six-month prison sentence but cleared them of defamation charges. No jail time is expected, however, since any sentence of less than 3 years is typically commuted in Italy for those without a criminal record.

As you can imagine, Google has responded with vigor. In a post on Google's official blog, Google calls the decision "astonishing" citing the assistance it provided to local police in helping bring those who uploaded the video (and bullied the autistic child) to justice. More importantly, Google says that the decision "attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built." On the surface, we have to agree. Here's how Google describes the dystopian knock-on effect should this ruling take precedent:

"European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal content once they are notified of its existence. The belief, rightly in our opinion, was that a notice and take down regime of this kind would help creativity flourish and support free speech while protecting personal privacy. If that principle is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them - every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video - then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear."

Quantum Leap for Phonon Lasers

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2010) — Physicists have taken major step forward in the development of practical phonon lasers, which emit sound in much the same way that optical lasers emit light. The development should lead to new, high-resolution imaging devices and medical applications. Just as optical lasers have been incorporated into countless, ubiquitous devices, a phonon laser is likely to be critical to a host of as yet unimaginable applications.

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Better Snowfall Forecasting

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2010) — University of Utah scientists developed an easier way for meteorologists to predict snowfall amounts and density -- fluffy powder or wet cement. The method has been adopted by the National Weather Service for use throughout Utah -- and could be adjusted for use anywhere.

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OU professor submerses laptop in liquid nitrogen, smashes it to prove a point (video)

By Darren Murph posted Feb 21st 2010 2:54PM

Hey, students -- pay attention. Not to us, mind you, but to the syllabus provided by your professor. Kieran Mullen, a physics professor at the University of Oklahoma, has a fairly strict rule about gadgets in class: there won't be any, ever, under any circumstances. Balk all you want (understandable given his own clipped-on cellie), but if you sign up for this guy's class, you'll be flipping your phone to "off" and leaving your laptop in the dormitory. And if you try to blaze your own path and slip that netbook into the back row, you might leave bitterly disappointed. As you'll see clearly in the video past the break, Mr. Mullen sought to make a visual point that laptops weren't allowed in class (he calls them "a distraction"), and while it seems that the whole stunt was premeditated, most students acknowledged that his point was driven home. In short, he took a defunct machine, submerged it in liquid nitrogen, and proceeded to make the following statement:

"This is just liquid nitrogen, so it alone won't hurt the computer. But this will."

Find out exactly what "this" was by hitting that 'Read More' button there on the lower left.

[Thanks, studentatOU]

See more video at our hub!

Dry Winters Linked to Seasonal Outbreaks of Influenza

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2010) — The seasonal increase of influenza has long baffled scientists, but a new study published in PLoS Biology has found that seasonal changes of absolute humidity are the apparent underlying cause of these wintertime peaks. The study also found that the onset of outbreaks might be encouraged by anomalously dry weather conditions, at least in temperate regions.

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Biogas Climate Benefit Greater Than Previously Thought?

ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2010) — Biogas from refuse produces 95 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline, according to a new research report. With a few simple improvements to the biogas plants, the figure can rise to 120 per cent -- i.e. biogas becomes more than climate neutral. This can be compared with the standard figures used today, which indicate that biogas produces 80 per cent lower emissions than gasoline.

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Midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity

If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/jo56vsuN_80/100221110338.htm

Immediate risk of suicide and cardiovascular death after a prostate cancer diagnosis

Being diagnosed with prostate cancer may increase a man's risk of suicide or cardiovascular death, especially right after diagnosis, according to a new study.

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/kff9k-yMDWI/100202171809.htm

Students Build 2752 MPG Hypermiling Vehicle

MikeChino sends along this awe-inspiring excerpt: "Think claims of electric vehicles that get over 200 MPG are impressive? Try this on for size: a group of mechanical engineering students at Cal Poly have developed a vehicle that can get up to 2752.3 MPG -- and it doesn't even use batteries. The Cal Poly Supermileage Team's wondercar, dubbed the Black Widow, has been under construction since 2005. The 96 pound car has three wheels, a drag coefficient of 0.12, a top speed of 30 MPH, and a modified 3 horsepower Honda 50cc four-stroke engine. It originally clocked in at 861 MPH and has been continuously tweaked to achieve the mileage we see today." It's not quite as street-worthy, though, as Volkswagen's 235 MPG One-Liter concept.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/A2JUbUwiYTQ/Students-Build-2752-MPG-Hypermiling-Vehicle

Baker's Yeast: A Promising, Natural Therapy for Cancer?

ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2010) — A researcher at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science is investigating the potential use of non-pathogenic baker's yeast as a promising, natural therapy for cancer.

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Bill Gates Knows What You Did Last Summer

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday February 04, @12:30PM
from the tell-us-everything dept.

microsoft

patents

theodp writes"Give Bill Gates your 'pictures, videos, documents, e-mail, instant messages, addresses, calendar dates/scheduling information (e.g., birthdays, anniversaries, appointments), voice mail, phone logs, RSS feeds, subscriptions, bookmarks, mail lists, project management features, computing device data, tasks and location data,' and he'll improve your 'quality of life.' That's the promise behind a patent issued Thursday to Bill Gates and his 20 co-inventors for 'Personal Data Mining', which Microsoft notes 'can include a monetization component' that 'could initiate an auction to sell information to the highest bidder.'"

House Overwhelmingly Passes Cybersecurity Bill

Posted by timothy on Thursday February 04, @02:00PM
from the critical-mass-of-buzzwords dept.

government

security

internet

military

usa

eldavojohn writes"The Caucus, a NY Times Blog, is reporting on the overwhelming majority vote (422 yeas) the House gave a new cybersecurity bill. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, H.R. 4061has a number of interesting provisions. Representative Michael Arcuri, a Democrat of New York who sponsored the bill called cybersecurity the 'Manhattan Project of our generation' and estimated the US needs 500 to 1,000 more 'cyber warriors' every year in order to keep up with potential enemies. The new bill 'authorizes one single entity, the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to represent the government in negotiations over international standards and orders the White House office of technology to convene a cybersecurity university-industry task force to guide the direction of future research.'"

Pay It Forward: Elevation Leads to Altruistic Behavior

ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2010) — Seeing someone perform a virtuous deed (especially if they are helping another person), makes us feel good, often eliciting a warm, fuzzy feeling in our chest. This positive, uplifting emotion, known as "elevation," might make us feel great, but is it enough to get us to go out and perform good acts ourselves? According to new findings reported in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the answer may be yes.

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Mixed-Handed Children More Likely to Have Mental Health, Language and Scholastic Problems, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2010) — Children who are mixed-handed, or ambidextrous, are more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems in childhood than right- or left-handed children, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.

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Scientology Attacker Will Be Sentenced To Jail

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday January 27, @05:15AM
from the taking-one-for-the-team dept.

court

internet

OBG writes"A Nebraska native charged with taking part in a massive cyber-attack against the Scientology website will be spending the next year behind bars. 20-year-old Brian Thomas Mettenbrink will plead guilty to the charge of unauthorized access of a protected computer for his involvement in the denial of service attack, which was orchestrated by the online group 'Anonymous.' Mettenbrink's is the second successful prosecution connected to the 'Anonymous' attacks. Last year, Dmitriy Guzner of Verona, New Jersey, was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for attacks on Scientology sites."

China Will Lead World Scientific Research By 2020

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 26, @08:12AM
from the we-got-the-numbers-we-got-the-will dept.

education

news

Hugh Pickens writes"An analysis of papers published in 10,500 academic journals across the world shows that, in terms of academic papers published, China is nowsecond only to the US, and will take first place by 2020. Chinese scientists are increasing their output at a far faster rate than counterparts in rival 'emerging' nations such as India, Russia, and Brazil. The number of peer-reviewed papers published by Chinese researchers rose 64-fold over the past 30 years. 'China is out on its own, far ahead of the pack,' says James Wilsdon, of the Royal Society in London. 'If anything, China's recent research performance has exceeded even the high expectations of four or five years ago.' According to Wilsdon, three main factors are driving Chinese research. First is the government's enormous investment, with funding increases far above the rate of inflation, at all levels of the system from schools to postgraduate research. Second is the organized flow of knowledge from basic science to commercial applications. And third is the efficient and flexible way in which China is tapping the expertise of its extensive scientific diaspora in North America and Europe, tempting back mid-career scientists with deals that allow them to spend part of the year working in the West and part in China."Here's the Financial Times's original article.