2007 July

Did you know that replacing your car’s air filter can improve gas mileage and improve performance? You can even upgrade to a high flowing performance air filter, such as K&N, with a million mile limited warranty.
Follow these steps to clean your air filter and get back on the road in no time.

Safely remove the air [...]

Push two magnets together and you’ll set off an avalanche of activity, forcing atoms on each magnet to align their polarity with the intruding magnetic field. It may sound like a party trick for physicists, but you do it every time you press “Save” on your computer.
New research brings models of magnetic avalanches much closer [...]

Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have efficiently injected a current of spin-polarized electrons from a ferromagnetic metal contact into silicon, producing a large electron spin polarization in the silicon. Silicon is by far the most widely used semiconductor in the device industry, and is the basis for modern electronics. This demonstration by NRL [...]

One of the cool things about new cars is all the new toys in them: the satellite radio, the heated seats, and the navigation systems that help you keep from getting lost. But not all of us can afford a new car with all the toys, so how do we upgrade our car if want [...]

A singing computer scientist wants to use cutting-edge technology to create Europe’s first successful Internet choir.
Dr. Barry Cheetham, a senior lecturer in The School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester, is seeking to combine his academic expertise in communications, networks and digital signal processing with his love of choral singing.
He is looking for [...]

Scientists investigating drug therapies for children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) have presented new data demonstrating for the very first time that a small molecule called ABT-737 can increase the effectiveness of standard therapies.
Dr Richard Lock, Head of the Leukaemia Biology Program at the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research, Sydney, along with collaborators [...]

A new study finds that diamonds probably don’t crystallize in the atmospheres of planets such as Uranus and Neptune. The conclusion is contrary to recent speculation that small diamonds would spontaneously form in carbon rich layers of the gas giant planets. White dwarf stars, according to the study, are veritable diamond factories.
Physicists at the Universteit [...]

Geckos are remarkable in their ability to scurry up vertical surfaces and even move along upside down. Their feet stick but only temporarily, coming off of surfaces again and again like a sticky note. But put those feet underwater, and their ability to stick is dramatically reduced.
Water is an enemy of adhesives, which typically do [...]

A diagnosis of type I diabetes means a life sentence of medical follow-up. While treatments have become simpler and less restrictive in recent years, they are still a burden, especially for young patients. The latest study published in the journal Nature by Dr. Constantin Polychronakos, Director of the Pediatric Endocrinology Department at the MUHC, in [...]

Using plastics to harvest the energy of the sun just got a significant boost in efficiency thanks to a discovery made at the Center for Polymers and Organic Solids at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Nobel laureate Alan Heeger, professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara, worked with Kwanghee Lee of Korea and a team [...]

A decade ago, scientists announced the ability to introduce foreign genes into the mosquito genome. A year ago, scientists announced the successful use of an artificial gene that prevented a virus from replicating within mosquitoes. But how does one apply what can be done with a small number of mosquitoes in a lab to the [...]

Manipulating light waves, or electromagnetic radiation, has led to many technologies, from cameras to lasers to medical imaging machines that can see inside the human body.
Scientists at the University of Michigan have developed a way to make a lens-like device that focuses electromagnetic waves down to the tiniest of points. The breakthrough opens the door [...]

An automated way of allowing cars to drive much closer to each other in heavy moving traffic, so-called platooning, could cut congestion, save fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to research published in Inderscience’s International Journal of the Environment and Pollution.
As populations grow and the number of vehicles on the roads in cities and [...]

Credit card firms and life insurance companies are the least trusted of all financial bodies in the UK, according to a unique new ‘Trust Index’ developed at The University of Nottingham by the Financial Services Research Forum.
The index, a wholly new approach to the measurement of trust among the general public, shows that brokers and [...]

A liquid that changes its color “on demand” and can take on any color of the rainbow one desires? A research team headed by Yadong Yin at the University of California, Riverside (USA) has now shared the secret of their wonderful liquid with the journal Angewandte Chemie: Nanoscopic particles made of tiny magnetic crystals coated [...]

One of the world’s tastiest and most popular cuisines, Mexican food also may be one of the oldest.
Plant remains from two caves in southern Mexico analyzed by a Smithsonian ethnobotanist/archaeologist and a colleague indicate that as early as 1,500 years ago, Pre-Columbian inhabitants of the region enjoyed a spicy fare similar to Mexican cuisine today. [...]

Computer graphics researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed systems for editing or altering photographs using segments of the millions of images available on the Web.
Whether adding people or objects to a photo, or filling holes in an edited photo, the systems automatically find images that match the context of the original photo so they [...]

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have found that less is more when it comes to online content. In a study that examined responses to pictures viewed online, the researchers found that people were able to pay more attention to pictures selected from a small array of choices than from a large array of choices. [...]

Finding the best workout program for your individual needs can be a very daunting task, so we hunted the Web to find the very best database of diverse workout programs. Click the link below to get the answer and, as always, feel free to submit one of your own.
Bodybuilding.com’s workout database allows you to search [...]

A genetically engineered herpes simplex virus, primarily known for causing cold sores, may help keep arteries “free-flowing” in the weeks following angioplasty or stent placement for patients, according to research published early in the online edition of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).
Christopher Skelly, MD, assistant professor [...]