2008 February

A traditional windmill that drives a pump: that is the simple concept behind the combination of windmill/reverse osmosis developed by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands. In this case, it involves a high-pressure pump which pushes water through a membrane using approximately 60 bar. This reverse osmosis membrane produces fresh water […]

Naval warships might look like all-powerful vessels but they are also highly vulnerable to being spotted by the enemy. That fear of being detected has led the military to develop new stealth technologies that allow ships to be virtually invisible to the human eye, to dodge roaming radars, put heat-seeking missiles off the scent, disguise […]

Social science plays an important part in all our lives. It shows that science is not just test tubes and technology but involves people and society too. It helps us to make sense of the key issues in the changing world around us such as the implications of climate change, nuclear power or nanotechnology; or […]

Many of the greatest inventions in modern medicine were developed by physicists who imported technologies such as X rays, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasound, particle accelerators and radioisotope tagging and detection techniques into the medical domain. There they became magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT) scanning, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, and various […]

The Apple iPod touch 8GB revolutionizes portable media players with its interface, features and versatility. The iPod touch utilizes the same multi-touch interface that has made the iPhone famous.
View your favorite media on the stunning 3.5″ widescreen display while the Wi-Fi web browsing capabilities will let your surf the web with Safari, watch YouTube […]

University of Missouri scientist Kattesh Katti recently discovered how to make gold nanoparticles using gold salts, soybeans and water. Katti’s research has garnered attention worldwide and the environmentally-friendly discovery could have major applications in several disciplines.
Gold nanoparticles are tiny pieces of gold, so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye. Researchers believe gold […]

Brent Christner, Louisiana State University professor of biological sciences, in partnership with colleagues in Montana and France, recently found evidence that rain-making bacteria are widely distributed in the atmosphere. These biological particles could factor heavily into the precipitation cycle, affecting climate, agricultural productivity and even global warming. Christner and his colleagues will publish their […]

A robotics expert at the University of Sheffield will today (27 February 2008) issue stark warnings over the threat posed to humanity by new robot weapons being developed by powers worldwide.
In a keynote address to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Professor Noel Sharkey, from the University’s Department of Computer Science, will express his concerns […]

Paul Tooby of UC San Diego News Center reports:
On January 26, 1700, at about 9 p.m. local time, the Juan de Fuca plate beneath the ocean in the Pacific Northwest suddenly moved, slipping some 60 feet eastward beneath the North American plate in a monster quake of approximately magnitude 9, setting in motion large tsunamis […]

Thalidomide, a drug blamed in the 1950s for causing birth defects, is now showing promise as a safe and effective treatment for women with recurrent ovarian cancer, according to a study led by a University of Minnesota Cancer Center researcher.
Levi Downs, Jr., M.D., principal investigator for the multicenter, randomized Phase II clinical trial, has published […]

Do you remember when the first generation of iPod shuffles were called small? When Apple’s designers were dreaming up the iPod shuffle 1GB MP3 Player 2nd Generation, they had one thing on their minds: how can we make this small and compact 1GB player even smaller? The next step in the shuffle generation is 1/3 […]

Overtaking on two-lane roads is easier if drivers use what is known as an overtaking assistant, a system which indicates when it is safe to overtake. This system prevents reckless drivers overtaking when it is not safe and can also aid cautious drivers in overtaking slower vehicles. This is the proposition of researcher ir. Geertje […]

A research team of the University of Granada has produced a monolithic carbon aerogel which absorbs benzene, toluene or xylene. These are organic solvents widely used in the hydrocarbon industry and generated by road traffic in cities.
This research team has been awarded with an award for Young Researchers during the 9th Spanish Coal Group Meeting, […]

Since the 1990s, online courses have provided an opportunity for busy adults to continue their education by completing courses in the comfort of their own homes. However, this may not be the best solution for everyone. A researcher at the University of Missouri has found some students may find success in these types of courses […]

The Sansa Connect MP3 Player from SanDisk mates a flash-based memory MP3 player with Wi-Fi connectivity for unlimited media options.
All you need is an open Wi-Fi network and a Yahoo! ID to listen to LAUNCHcast Internet radio. View your photos via MicroSD card or Flickr via Wi-Fi. The Sansa Connect also allows you see […]

A healthy individual loses around a hundred hairs a day. Nothing to worry about as long as they are constantly replaced and the losses occur evenly around the whole scalp. But when hair loss goes well beyond this level it can become quite a problem for those affected — not only superficially in terms of […]

An innovation called Carbon Hero may help reduce global warming by making people more aware of their carbon footprint. Regional prize winner in the 2007 European Satellite Navigation Competition, sponsored by ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme, the device uses satellite navigation technology to track journeys.
Concerned about global warming, many people are now looking for ways to […]

Researchers at the University of Maryland’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) have developed the SOMA Terror Organization Portal (STOP) allowing analysts to query automatically learned rules on terrorist organization behavior, forecast potential behavior based on these rules, and, most importantly, to network with other analysts examining the same subjects.
SOMA (Stochastic Opponent Modeling Agents) is […]

The Kodak EasyShare Z1275 Zoom Digital Camera incorporates a 5x all-glass zoom lens in a surprisingly compact camera body. The Camera records images with resolution up to 12.1 megapixels, and features a 2.5″ display. It also has Kodak Perfect Touch Technology for automated image enhancement, on-camera cropping, a histogram display, and a vast array of […]

“Antarctica is the ultimate destination for anyone interested in natural history but it also challenges those people who visit to think broadly about our responsibilities to all life on Earth.” That’s the view of Dr. Robert Lambert, a lecturer on Tourism and the Environment at The University of Nottingham, who has just returned from the […]