2007 October

Researchers at Johns Hopkins’ McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine today are releasing newly generated genetic data to help speed autism research. The Hopkins data, coordinated with a similar data release from the Autism Consortium, aims to help uncover the underlying hereditary factors and speed the understanding of autism by encouraging scientific collaboration. These data provide [...]

Over 50 scientists of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies today declared the following statements unanimously:

We call on all societies and governments to immediately and substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Without targeted reductions, the ongoing damage to coral reefs from global warming will soon be irreversible.

Ocean acidification due to increased atmospheric CO2 [...]

A Florida State University researcher has helped solve a scientific mystery that stumped chemists for nearly seven decades. In so doing, his team’s findings may lead to the development of more-powerful computer memories and lasers.
Naresh S. Dalal, the Dirac Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at FSU, recently collaborated with three colleagues, Jorge Lasave, Sergio Koval [...]

Without sleep, the emotional centers of the brain dramatically overreact to negative experiences, reveals a new brain imaging study in the October 23rd issue of Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press. The reason for that hyperactive emotional response in sleep-deprived people stems from a shutdown of the prefrontal lobe — a region that normally [...]

After having great success with its high-end music/media players, SanDisk is venturing into entry-level music players that can really only be defined as “gym-ready.” These are music players that you don’t mind getting hot and sweaty with, and they can endure long sessions without giving up, thanks to their tough attitude and an equally low [...]

A major public health issue and economic problem has been addressed in experiments carried out by researchers from the University Denis Diderot in Paris, and the VEOLIA Research Center in Maisons-Laffitte (France).
Extremely chlorine-resistant parasites, known as Cryptosporidium, which cause a diarrheal disease in humans and can lead to significant mortality in immunodeficient patients, become virtually [...]

With the gift-giving season almost upon us and increasing concerns about the environmental effects of all those deliveries and pickups, it is timely that researchers should turn their attention to the so-called Traveling Salesman Problem. Writing in a forthcoming issue of the Inderscience publication the International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, researchers suggest a [...]

Earlier this week, we did a First Look at AT&T’s Tilt and shortly after publishing our quick thoughts, it arrived on our doorstep for a full, detailed analysis. As mentioned, AT&T’s Tilt is a mini notebook, and we are not just saying that because of the features it packs. The size is a key [...]

A project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council on a South London housing estate has developed ways of teaching people the skills they need to make the most of today’s information technology. NIACE, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, will use the findings of the Penceil (How People Encounter E-Illiteracy and how [...]

Australia and other owners of the Antarctic territories may be ill-prepared to face a major environmental challenge to the continent, according to a Queensland University of Technology academic.
QUT media and communication lecturer Dr Christy Collis said that, with its massive resources of fresh water and unknown quantities of oil, Antarctica could be ripe for exploitation [...]

The world’s oceans are becoming more acid, with potentially devastating consequences for corals and the marine organisms that build reefs and provide much of the Earth’s breathable oxygen.
The acidity is caused by the gradual buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, dissolving into the oceans. Scientists fear it could be lethal for animals with [...]

Using a little-known Google Labs widget, computer scientists from UC San Diego and UCLA have brought common sense to an automated image labeling system. This common sense is the ability to use context to help identify objects in photographs.
For example, if a conventional automated object identifier has labeled a person, a tennis racket, a tennis [...]

Researchers in California report development of the world’s first working radio system that receives radio waves wirelessly and converts them to sound signals through a nano-sized detector made of carbon nanotubes. The "carbon nanotube radio" device is thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. The development marks an important step in [...]

Forests in the nation’s Upper Midwest have changed greatly since the time of the early settlers. And more changes may be coming.
That’s according to research done by Lisa A. Schulte, assistant professor in Iowa State University’s department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and her team of researchers.
"There’s been a shift in the entire ecosystem," [...]

For the first time theoretical modeling has provided a glimpse into how promising dielectric materials are able to trap charges, something which may affect the performance of advanced electronic devices. This is revealed in a paper published on the 12th October in Physical Review Letters by researchers at the London Centre for Nanotechnology and SEMATECH, [...]

Eating garlic is one of the best ways to lower high blood pressure and protect yourself from cardiovascular disease. A new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) shows this protective effect is closely linked to how much hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is produced from garlic compounds interacting with red blood cells.
The UAB researchers [...]

A new report from the nation’s leading cancer organizations shows cancer death rates decreased on average 2.1 percent per year from 2002 through 2004, nearly twice the annual decrease of 1.1 percent per year from 1993 through 2002. The findings are in the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2004, Featuring [...]

Searching for digital photographs could become easier with a Penn State-developed software system that not only automatically tags images as they are uploaded, but also improves those tags by “learning” from users’ interactions with the system.
"Tagging itself is challenging as it involves converting an image’s pixels to descriptive words," said James Wang, lead researcher and [...]

A Princeton-led research team has created an easy-to-produce material from the stuff of computer chips that has the rare ability to bend light in the opposite direction from all naturally occurring materials. This startling property may contribute to significant advances in many areas, including high-speed communications, medical diagnostics and detection of terrorist threats.
A Princeton-led research [...]

The team of mathematicians that first created the mathematics behind the "invisibility cloak" announced by physicists last October has now shown that the same technology could be used to generate an "electromagnetic wormhole."
In the study, which is to appear in the Oct. 12 issue of Physical Review Letters, Allan Greenleaf, professor of mathematics at the [...]