If you need information, the Internet offers a wealth of resources. But if you're hunting down a person or a thing, a computer's not much help. That may soon change. Electronic tags promise to create what some call the "Internet of things," in which objects and people are connected through a virtual network. To see what this future world would be like, a pilot project involving dozens of volunteers in the University of Washington's computer science building provides the next step in social networking, wirelessly monitoring people and things in a closed environment.
A young scientist has discovered a previously undescribed species of parasite that infects farmed fish and produces serious disease. Single-celled parasites of the genus Spironucleus are known to produce serious illness in farmed and aquarium fish. In farmed salmon, these parasites create foul-smelling, puss-filled abscesses in muscles and internal organs. After the first outbreaks of this disease were described in farmed salmon in the late 1980's, it was assumed that the cause was Spironucleus barkhanus, which is a fairly common parasite in the intestine of wild grayling and Arctic char.
Kids with active father figures are less likely to suffer psychological and behavioral problems and having a father figure around can reduce crime and enhance cognitive skills like intelligence, reasoning and language, in low-income families. Researchers are calling for father figures to be more involved in health and policy makers to promote more father-friendly policies.
For children who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy can provide dramatic relief and is successful in solving sleep problems for 80 to 90 percent of children, a new study found.
According to the Chinese proverb, a bird sings because it has a song, not because it has an answer. A team of French and Brazilian researchers, however, may have the answer as to how the song of Brazilian white-browed warbler has become so well-adapted to the acoustic properties of the rainforest environment.
India is in the midst of a catastrophic epidemic of smoking deaths, which is expected to cause about one million deaths a year during the 2010s -- including one in five of all male deaths and one in 20 of all female deaths at ages 30-69, according to new research.
After the successful launch of ESA's Columbus laboratory aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on Feb. 7, it is now time to focus on the next imminent milestone for ESA: the launch of Jules Verne, the first Automated Transfer Vehicle to be sent to the International Space Station.
Arsenic poisoning did not kill Napoleon in Saint Helena, as affirmed by a new meticulous examination. The examination produced some surprising results. There were no significant differences in arsenic levels between when Napoleon was a boy and during his final days in Saint Helena. Another surprising finding was that the level of arsenic in all of the hair samples from 200 years ago is 100 times greater than the average level detected in samples from persons living today. At the beginning of the 19th people evidently ingested arsenic that was present in the environment in quantities that are currently considered as dangerous.
A mouse bred to have the same genetic mutation as people with myotonic dystrophy provides important clues about the cause of muscle wasting in the disorder, the most common form of muscular dystrophy that begins in adulthood. Unlike previous mouse models of the disease, these animals have a genetic mutation that causes the muscle wasting that is the most devastating element of this inherited disorder, said one of the researchers, who is also a professor of pathology and molecular and cellular biology.
Because of the importance of the gut to HIV disease, scientists hoped that long-term treatment with antiretroviral drugs could eradicate HIV from the gut-associated lymphoid tissue. A new study has found that this goal seems unlikely with current antiretroviral drugs.
ATHENS (Reuters) - An earthquake shook southern Greece just after 12 p.m. (5 a.m. EST) on Thursday and was felt as far away as the Egyptian capital Cairo but there were no reports of casualties.
KINSHASA (Reuters) - An earthquake shook the Lake Kivu region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, further damaging buildings hit by quakes earlier this month, a U.N. and local officials said.
LONDON (Reuters) - Black pepper could lead to better treatments for a disfiguring skin condition that affects about 1 percent of the world's population, British researchers said on Thursday.
Prince Charles tells Euro MPs the biggest ever public-private partnership is needed to tackle climate change. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 14 Feb 2008 | 11:38 am
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sydney's premier zoo is celebrating the news that its 9-year-old Asian elephant is pregnant, but animal rights groups are shocked that the zoo has let a juvenile elephant fall pregnant.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - German astronaut Hans Schlegel went walking in space on Wednesday, apparently recovered from an undisclosed ailment that forced him out of an earlier spacewalk to attach Europe's Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station.
Two previously unknown types of meat-eating dinosaur have been identified from Sahara desert fossils. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 14 Feb 2008 | 1:09 am
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fossils from two newly discovered meat-eating dinosaurs that lived in the Sahara Desert 110 million years ago paint a fearsome picture of life in Africa's Cretaceous period, which appears to have been teeming with unusual carnivores.
The monster-trashes-New-York film, produced by Lost creator JJ Abrams, is causing motion sickness and migraine in some viewers Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 14 Feb 2008 | 12:14 am
Cryonics - freezing the dead with the hope of reviving them - has always been a long shot. But, says Wendy M Grossman, advances mean it could be coming a little closer Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 14 Feb 2008 | 12:14 am
The government is to launch a review into whether there should be British astronauts to take part in space exploration. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 14 Feb 2008 | 12:06 am
US and European astronauts are preparing for their second spacewalk of the current shuttle mission. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 13 Feb 2008 | 11:10 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered a promising new method to fight a range of diseases by boosting the body's natural defenses against viruses.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have captured an image of an enzyme key to the progression of the deadliest cancers and said on Wednesday their findings may lead to new therapies against not only cancer, but HIV and diabetes too.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. scientists have developed a microfiber fabric that generates its own electricity, making enough current to recharge a cell phone or ensure that a small MP3 music player never runs out of power.
US scientists develop tiny energy- generating fibres that could be used to create self-powered smart fabrics. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 13 Feb 2008 | 6:15 pm
The UK's disaster management is inadequate, finds a government review into last summer's flooding. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 13 Feb 2008 | 6:13 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most primitive bat ever found fluttered around about 52 million years ago, but lacked a key feature seen in most bats -- the ability to echolocate, hunting and navigating using a kind of sonar.
A fossil found in Wyoming resolves a puzzle over when bats gained their sonar-like ability to navigate and locate food. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 13 Feb 2008 | 5:42 pm
The oldest fossilised bats ever discovered may represent a missing link between the flying mammals and their flightless ancestors Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 13 Feb 2008 | 4:03 pm
An engineer promises that within a year he will start selling a car that runs on compressed air. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 13 Feb 2008 | 11:33 am
