Researchers have devised a high-tech way to add anti-counterfeiting to plastic products as they are created in the molding process. The process could cost less than one percent of the total cost of manufacturing the product.
The American West is heating up more rapidly than the rest of the world, according to a new analysis of the most recent federal government temperature figures. The news is especially bad for some of the nation’s fastest growing cities, which receive water from the drought-stricken Colorado River. The average temperature rise in the Southwest’s largest river basin was more than double the average global increase, likely spelling even more parched conditions.
Whether you are a Mac person or a PC person, even the briefest exposure to the Apple logo may make you behave more creatively, according to recent research. Researchers found that even the briefest exposure to well-known brands can cause people to behave in ways that mirror those brands' traits.
If identical twins eat and exercise equally, must they have the same body weight? By analyzing the fundamental equations of body weight change, scientists find that identical twins with identical lifestyles can have different body weights and different amounts of body fat.
Last May, a widely reported study concluded that errant electronic noise from iPods can cause implantable cardiac pacemakers to malfunction. This just didn't sound right to the cardiac electrophysiologists at Children's Hospital Boston, who've seen hundreds of children, teens and young adults with pacemakers. Their own just-reported study finds no effect of digital music players on pacemaker function.
As steady increases in computing capability continue, some new technology will have to take over from silicon. Carbon nanotubes and superconductors may be the answer. The silicon chip, which has supplied several decades' worth of remarkable increases in computing power and speed, looks unlikely to be capable of sustaining this pace for more than another decade -- in fact, some say, the conventional silicon chip has no longer than four years left to run.
Researchers demonstrate both genetic and pharmaceutical evidence for the role of a protein called collagenase-2 in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), providing a potential new way to combat this debilitating disease.
On March 26, 2008, surgeons at UC-San Diego Medical Center removed an inflamed appendix through a patient's vagina, a first in the United States. The patient reported only minor discomfort. Key to these surgical clinical trials is collaboration with medical device companies to develop new minimally-invasive tools.
The mechanism behind different types of lightning may now be understood, thanks to a combination of direct observation and computer modeling. Most people see lightning strikes that go from clouds to the ground, but some lightning goes upward, forming blue jets and gigantic jets. Perhaps the most dangerous lightning appears as "bolts from the blue" -- lightning that begins upward, but then moves sideways and then downward to hit the ground as much as three miles from a thunderstorm.
A new method may help the medical community to determine the genetic basis of many common diseases. Thousands of human diseases originate from mutations in one or more genes. Identification of mutated genes is a crucial first step towards understanding the molecular mechanisms at the origin of diseases and devising a treatment. In many cases, we do not know the identity of the affected gene, only a chromosomal region (typically containing hundred of genes) in which the mutation is located.
Cities around the world, starting with Sydney, switch off the lights for an hour to highlight climate change. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 30 Mar 2008 | 2:55 am
Project will pick up clues from space on possible extraterrestrials and data on the early universe Source: guardian.co.uk Science | 30 Mar 2008 | 12:01 am
Europe's "Jules Verne" freighter demonstrates its navigation capabilities close to the International Space Station. Source: BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition | 29 Mar 2008 | 9:59 pm
