Would You Be Happy To Take The 'Naked' Body Scan?

From The Daily Mail:

Fears over airport security could leave millions of passengers facing the indignity of a 'naked' body scan and paying higher fares to fund it.

Hi-tech body scanners can see through clothes to detect hidden weapons or explosives such as those used in the failed Christmas Day plot.

Read more ....

A Decade Of Scientific Discovery

Dr Henry Gee, Senior Editor at Nature Magazine, holding the only cast of the Homo Floresiensis
Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith

From The Telegraph:

What were the most exciting scientific developments of the past 10 years – and what comes next?

Colin Blakemore - Professor of Neuroscience at the Universities of Oxford and Warwick and president of the Motor Neurone Disease Association

"My scientific moment of the last decade came on February 12, 2001, when the journal Nature published the 'working draft' of the entire three-billion-letter sequence of human DNA. One third of that massively expensive international enterprise – comparable in its significance to splitting the atom, or discovering radioactivity – was produced at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, near Cambridge.

Read more ....

Why Some Continue To Eat When Full: Researchers Find Clues

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Dec. 28, 2009) — The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief -- just ask those who cruise grocery store aisles on an empty stomach, only to go home with a full basket and an empty wallet.

Prior research studies have suggested that the so-called hunger hormone ghrelin, which the body produces when it's hungry, might act on the brain to trigger this behavior. New research in mice by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists suggest that ghrelin might also work in the brain to make some people keep eating "pleasurable" foods when they're already full.

Read more ....

Why Men Cheat: A Year Of Philandering

Photo: Tiger Woods and Wife

From Live Science:

Like years past, this one has been a whopper for high-profile philanderers. Psychologists aren't surprised, as guys are wired to want sex, a lot, and are more likely than gals to cheat. The behavior may be particularly likely for men with power, researchers say, though they point out that despite the genetic propensity to sleep around, cheating remains a choice, not a DNA-bound destiny.

The list of powerful individuals whose marital transgressions came out this year includes Tiger Woods, David Letterman, former senator John Edwards and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

Read more ....

Flying Blind: The Disappearance Of Flight 188

From Slate:

You've heard of planes that vanished into thin air? Here's a truer, scarier story: On Oct. 21, 2009, two pilots flying from San Diego to Minneapolis vanished into cyberspace.

Their plane was fine. Ground controllers tracked it the whole time. The passengers and flight attendants in the main cabin noticed nothing unusual. And the pilots' bodies stayed planted in their seats as though they were flying the aircraft. But they weren't flying it. Their minds had been sucked into a pair of laptops.

Read more ....

War Is Peace: Can Science Fight Media Disinformation?

From Scientific American:

In the 24/7 Internet world, people make lots of claims. Science provides a guide for testing them.

When I saw the statement repeated online that theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking of the University of Cambridge would be dead by now if he lived in the U.K. and had to depend on the National Health Service (he, of course, is alive and working in the U.K., where he always has), I reflected on something I had written a dozen years ago, in one of my first published commentaries:

Read more ....

The Science Behind The Explosives Used On Northwest Airlines Flight 253 And By The 'Shoe Bomber'

PETN

PETN - Hard To Detect And Just 100g Can Destroy A Car -- The Guardian

The science behind the explosive pentaerythritol trinitrate, used on Northwest Airlines flight 253 and by the 'shoe bomber'.

The explosive that nearly brought down Northwest Airlines flight 253 is extremely powerful, allowing terrorists to use only small quantities to cause enormous damage. And the colourless crystals of the substance, PETN or pentaerythritol trinitrate, are hard to detect if carried in a sealed container.

Read more ....

The Grouse's Wishes For A Happy, Techy 2010

From Popular Science:

There goes 2009, and what a year she was. Let’s see, the iTunes App Store eclipsed one billion downloads, Google surprised us all with the announcement of Chrome OS, Windows 7 sent Vista to the big Blue Screen of Death in the sky, Verizon and AT&T started fighting dirty and the e-reader market exploded. But instead of looking back at the year that was, we of course always find it a lot more fun to look forward. So, here’s what’s on my wish list for the year to come in gadgets and tech.

Read more ....

Women 'Can Sense Attraction In Men's Sweat'

The smell of a man's sweat differs according to what mood he is in Photo: AFP/GETTY

From The Independent:

Women can sense if men are attracted to them by the smell of his sweat, a new study has revealed.

The smell of a man's sweat differs according to what mood he is in and women can pick up on changes that indicate attraction, according to new research.

The study, led by Dr Denise Chen, assistant professor of psychology at Rice University, in Texas, America, involved introducing two types of male sweat to 19 women in their 20s - one type was labelled 'normal', the other 'sexual'.

Read more ....

Cao Cao: Chinese Archaeologists Uncover Vast Tomb Of Infamous 3rd Century Ruler

The austere interior of Cao Cao's tomb. He ruled the Kingdom of Wei from 208 to 220 AD.

From The Daily Mail:

Chinese archaeologists have found what could be the tomb of Cao Cao, a skilful general and ruler in the third century who was later depicted in popular folklore as the archetypal cunning politician.

Archaeological officials say Cao's 8,000 sq ft tomb complex, with a 130ft passage leading to an underground chamber, was found in Xigaoxue, a village near the ancient capital of Anyang in central Henan province.

Read more ....

2009 Review: Most Popular Articles Of The Year

New Scientist solves 10 mysteries of you

From New Scientist:

2009 was a year of economic austerity, worries about climate change and ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. It was, on the whole, a bit grim.

But you'd never know it from looking at our website monitoring software, which suggests that New Scientist readers were more concerned with how to decode ancient languages, the nature of female ejaculation and whether the cosmos is really a giant hologram.

In ascending order, here are the 12 most popular articles of 2009 – one for each of the days of Christmas.

Read more ....

Technology Changes 'Outstrip' Netbooks

Netbooks are under pressure as tech firms concentrate on mobile computing.

From The BBC:

Rising prices and better alternatives may mean curtains for netbooks.

The small portable computers were popular in 2009, but some industry watchers are convinced that their popularity is already waning.

"The days of the netbook are over," said Stuart Miles, founder and editor of technology blog Pocket Lint.

As prices edge upwards, net-using habits change and other gadgets take on their functions, netbooks will become far less popular, he thinks.

Read more ....

As The World Churns: Earth's Liquid Outer Core Is Slowly 'Stirred' In A Series Of Decades-Long Waves

By combining measurements of Earth's magnetic field from stations on land and ships at sea with satellite data, scientists were able to isolate six regularly occurring waves of motion taking place deep within Earth's liquid core, with varying timescales. (Credit: NASA/JPL)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Dec. 28, 2009) — Most of the time, at least from our perspective here on the ground, Terra firma seems to be just that: solid. Yet the Earth beneath our feet is actually in constant motion. It moves through time and space, of course, along with the other objects in the universe, but it moves internally as well.

Read more ....

Body Of Sea Urchin Is One Big Eye

A purple sea urchin, Credit: Claire Fackler, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries

From Live Science:

Sea urchins may use the whole surface of their bodies as compound eyes, scientists now suggest.

Although sea urchins don't have any problems avoiding predators or finding comfortable dark corners to hide in, they don't have eyes. The question then is how they see.

Genetic analysis of sea urchins has revealed they have light-sensitive molecules, mostly in their tube feet and in tiny stalked appendages found in among their spines. As such, "it looks like the entire surface of their bodies are acting as one big eye," said researcher Sönke Johnsen, a marine biologist at Duke University.

Read more ....

Google Netbook Specs Reportedly 'Leaked'

From eWeek:

The rumored Google Netbook, which Google has not confirmed it is working on, will reportedly feature Google’s Chrome OS, a 10.1-inch multi-touch display, a beefy ARM processor and 2GB of RAM, according to the U.K.’s IBTimes, which says it has received specs for the netbook.

Tech specifications for the netbook that Google is rumored to be creating have been “leaked,” according to England’s IBTimes.

Read more ....

The Top 9 Airplane Tech Advances Of The Last 10 Years

Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk

From Popular Mechanics:

The aughts capped 100 years of powered flight, pushing the technologies introduced in the 20th century to their limits. This past decade has seen the development of the biggest passenger airplanes, the fastest, most agile and stealthiest fighters, and the joy of flight brought to the amateur pilot as never before. The coming decade promises breakthroughs such as combat-ready unmanned aerial vehicles, commercial rocket planes, hypersonic jets, and more. Here's a look back at the aviation milestones of the aughts and a glimpse of what the coming decade might hold.

Read more ....

Your Guide To The Year In Science: 2010

Exclusive Patent Rights Countdown Coherentimages.com

From Popular Science:

A deeper look at polar ice. An electric-car renaissance. The death and rebirth of major scientific experiments. Read on to discover what this year has in store.

Our annual sci-tech forecast looks at what 2010 has in store for medicine, space, aviation, the environment, technology and entertainment.

Read more ....

Large Hadron Collider Failure Will Leave Science Back In The 'Wilderness'

Particle tracks of protons collided in CERN's Large Hadron Collider Photo: AP

From The Telegraph:

Science will be left back in a "nightmarish wilderness" if the Large Hadron Collider fails to find the elusive Higgs Boson, warns a rebel physicist.

Former Harvard research scholar, professor Shahriar Afshar said that failure to find the particle would bring current scientific theory tumbling down like a house of cards with nothing to replace it.

The controversial physicist, whose Afshar experiment has already found a loophole in quantum theory, said that unless the scientific community starts contemplating a "plan B", failure could lead to "chaos and infighting".

Read more ....

At Last! Apple Tablet Is Slated For Launch In January

Industry experts believe the 'iSlate' - a cross between an iPhone and a laptop - could signal the end of the keyboard and mouse system

From The Daily Mail:

Over the past decade the iPod has revolutionised the way we listen to music, and the iPhone is the must-have gadget when it comes to mobile phones.
So it seems entirely fitting that Apple should choose the start of a new decade to launch its latest product - which could entirely change the way we use computers.

Rumours are rife that Steve Jobs, the company's chief executive, is planning to unveil a touch screen computer known as the 'iSlate' at the end of next month.

Read more ....

Sugar-Free Satisfaction: Finding The Brain's Sweet Spot

The calorie-free version fails to activate a reward area of the brain
(Image: Patrick Norman/Fancy/Plainpicture)

From New Scientist:

CONTAINS zero calories! Countless soft drinks are emblazoned with that slogan as a come-on for those of us locked in a never-ending battle to rein in a spreading waistline. Calorie-free sweeteners certainly have a lot to offer. Food and drink manufacturers have become so good at blending sugar substitutes into their products that it can be almost impossible to tell them apart from the real thing - sucrose - in taste tests.

Read more ....