Dolphins Can Turn Diabetes On … And Off

Bottlenose dolphins may gives scientists clues into how to shut off diabetes type II, and provide an insight into a range of other human ailments. Credit: U.S. National Parks Service

From Cosmos:

SAN DIEGO: Healthy bottlenose dolphins appear to turn on and off a diabetes-like state: a trick that may open to door to a treatment for the disease in humans.

The ‘switch’ mechanism, discovered by researchers at the non-profit National Marine Mammal Foundation, is likely driven by the dolphins’ high-protein, low-carbohydrate fish diet.

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Scientists Unlock Mystery In Important Photosynthesis Step

This is Kevin Redding in his lab at Arizona State University. Together with coworkers from the Max Plank Institute, he has taken a significant step closer to unlocking the secrets of photosynthesis. (Credit: Mary Zhu)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 20, 2010) — An international team of scientists, including two from Arizona State University, has taken a significant step closer to unlocking the secrets of photosynthesis, and possibly to cleaner fuels.

Plants and algae, as well as cyanobacteria, use photosynthesis to produce oxygen and "fuels," the latter being oxidizable substances like carbohydrates and hydrogen. There are two pigment-protein complexes that orchestrate the primary reactions of light in oxygenic photosynthesis: photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII). Understanding how these photosystems work their magic is one of the long-sought goals of biochemistry.

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U.S. Bobsled Team Gets High-Tech Edge

Computer simulations of airflow and turbulence helped scientists redesign the U.S. bobsled.
Credit: Exa Corp.

From Live Science:

In Olympic bobsledding, hundredths of a second can mean the difference between winning and losing.

For the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the U.S. team might be just that much faster thanks to new sled designs based on complex models of airflow and turbulence.

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Shuttle Leaves Station As NASA Plans Last Flights

British born astronaut Nicholas Patrick, who is a former Harrow school boy, waves as he works on the Cupola far above Earth. Photo from the Daily Mail

From Reuters:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Endeavour sailed away from the International Space Station on Friday after delivering a final connecting hub and an observation deck, completing U.S. assembly of the orbital complex.

Four more shuttle missions remain to stock the station and deliver science experiments before NASA retires its three-ship fleet later this year. The station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations, has been under construction 220 miles above Earth since 1998.

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Cashing In On Internet Censorship

Photo: Scaling the wall: Firewall-breaching tools are booming in countries that are clamping down on Internet freedom.

From CNN:

(CNN) -- A growing number of software companies are capitalizing on an unexpected business opportunity: Internet censorship.

In countries where governments continue to ramp up Web filtering systems, more people are searching for tools that will allow them to access inaccessible information -- and they are willing to pay for them.

Such tools include virtual private networks (VPN), proxy servers and other workarounds that enable users to breach barriers to blocked information online.

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Pay For Hulu On The iPad? It May Be Your Only Choice

(Credit: All Things Digital)

From CNET:

Will Hulu come to the iPad? Probably. One day. But you had better get ready to pay for it.

Hulu and its owners, three of the big broadcast TV networks, want to bring some version of the Web video service to Apple's device.

But the most likely scenario is one in which access to Hulu on the iPad comes as part of a subscription package, multiple people familiar with the company tell me.

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Science Damaged By Climate Row Says NAS Chief Cicerone

Photo: NAS chief Ralph Cicerone says crisis is a 'wake-up call' for researchers

From The BBC:

Leading scientists say that the recent controversies surrounding climate research have damaged the image of science as a whole.

President of the US National Academy of Sciences, Ralph Cicerone, said scandals including the "climategate" e-mail row had eroded public trust in scientists.

His comment came at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Diego.

Dr Cicerone joined other renowned scientists on a panel at the event.

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Olympic Tech: Bobsled Aerodynamics, Curling Science, and More

From Discover Magazine:

We’re a week into the Vancouver Olympics, and if you haven’t had your fill of world-class athletes frolicking on the ice in frilly clothing, playing ice shuffleboard with 4o-plus-pound stones, or hurtling downhill at terrifying speed, don’t worry: There’s more than a week left to go. And there will be feats of dizzying daring and velocity, since Olympians don’t settle for just terrifying speed when there’s a chance to attain ridiculous speed, or even ludicrous speed. Thankfully, the Olympics are a bastion of technology, not just sport.

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Long-Promised Cancer Revolution Begins

From New Scientist:

A personalised blood test that can identify tumour DNA could be the first step towards a long-promised revolution in the way cancer is treated.

In the short term, the test - reported by Victor Velculescu of Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and his colleagues in Science Translational Medicine - could be used to spot cancer recurrence before tumour growth shows up on scans, meaning that treatment could be started earlier.

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Video: Half-Kilometer-Long Explosive Whip Clears IEDs The Explode-y Way

From Popular Science:

Clearing battlefield obstacles has pitted trapper against sapper since Roman times. But whereas the minefields and dragon teeth of previous conflicts merely slowed advancing armies, the IEDs favored by today's insurgents have become the number one killer in the Long War. Now, to ensure safe passage through trap laden Afghan paths, the British Army is fighting fire with even bigger fire in the form of their newly developed Python explosive whip.

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My Comment: Expect more "boom-booms" when this mine clearing platform is used.

Did Apple Just Undercut Amazon On E-Books?

From PC World:

The $10 bestseller e-book might not be dead yet: Apple reportedly can sell e-books on the iPad for the same prices Amazon once offered.

The New York Times reports that Apple worked a provision into its agreement with publishers, requiring them to occasionally sell bestselling books at a discount, possibly as low as $10 per book.

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Photosynthesis: A New Source of Electrical Energy? Biofuel Cell Works in Cactus

Photo: Biofuel cell inserted in a cactus and graph showing the course of electrical current as a function of illumination of the cactus (black: glucose, red: O2).

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 18, 2010) — Scientists in France have transformed the chemical energy generated by photosynthesis into electrical energy by developing a novel biofuel cell. The advance offers a new strategy to convert solar energy into electrical energy in an environmentally-friendly and renewable manner. In addition, the biofuel cell could have important medical applications.

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Memory-Erasing Drugs Could Result From New Brain Discovery

From Live Science:

A newfound brain mechanism erases memories on purpose to help make way for new ones. Scientists suggest it could lead to the development of memory-erasing drugs that make a person forget certain things.

Researchers have often debated about the reasons we forget — for instance, why newly acquired short-term memories are fleeting. One theory suggests that such memories are simply unstable, fading over time. Others contend interference causes short-term memories to be overridden as new data comes in.

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WHO: Combine H1N1, Regular Flu Vaccines

Natalie Matutschovsky for TIME.com

From Time Magazine:

(LONDON) — The World Health Organization is recommending that swine flu be added to regular flu vaccines next season.

The swine flu pandemic virus, or H1N1, emerged too late last year to be added to the regular flu vaccine, and a separate vaccine was needed.

For this year's northern hemisphere flu season, however, the two vaccines should be combined, WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said Thursday after the agency met this week to decide which strains should be recommended to drug makers for vaccines.

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Astronomers Discover Secret Of The Supernova

Supernovas are often used by astronomers as 'cosmic mile markers' to measure the expansion of the universe Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

From The Telegraph:

Nasa astronomers may have finally discovered what initially sparks a cosmic explosion, according to new research.

Scientists used Nasa's Chandra X-Ray laboratory to study supernovas in five nearby elliptical galaxies and the central region of the Andromeda galaxy, a spiral galaxy closest to our own, the Milky Way.

Marat Gilfanov of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany said: "It was a major embarrassment that we did not know how they worked. Now we are beginning to understand what lights the fuse of these explosions."

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Half The Planet's Primates In Peril Due To The Destruction Of Their Habitat And Trade In Bushmeat

From The Daily Mail:

Half the world's species of monkey, gorilla and chimpanzee could soon disappear, experts have warned.

The destruction of their habitats and a thriving trade in bushmeat have pushed many to the brink of extinction, according to a report spearheaded by Bristol Zoo.

In parts of the Far East the proportion of primates at risk is as high as 90 per cent.

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Coming Without Warning

From Discovery News:

Since the recent discovery of abrupt climate change -- that big changes can come quickly -- researchers have been looking for "warning signs" to help us avert "regime shifts" that could suddenly alter things we take for granted, such as storm tracks and weather patterns, sea levels and water supplies.

Greenland temperature profile, from Climate Crash: Abrupt Climate Change and What It Means for Our Future, Joseph Henry Press, 2005. Recognizing a warning sign is tricky, though, because in a system that is subject to abrupt change, small variations can lead to impacts that are all out of proportion. A widely recognized warning sign or "tipping point" is the recent unexpectedly high loss of Arctic sea ice, which could trigger major reorganizations of ocean and atmospheric circulation. This temperature profile derived from ice cores in Greenland (taken from a book I wrote on the subject), shows numerous abrupt climate changes during the past 100,000 years.

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Inside The Olympics' 'Mission Control'

Magnus Alvarsson, chief integrator for technology consultant Atos Origin, says that he is practically bored with all the computer systems running so smoothly. Photo by Ina Fried/CNET

From CNET:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--While the Winter Olympics have brought many headaches for organizers, the computing systems haven't been one of them.

In fact, things have been pretty quiet inside the low-rise building in east Vancouver where the technology operations are headquartered.

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Moon Dreams The Americans May Still Go To The Moon Before The Chinese

From The Economist:

WHEN America’s space agency, NASA, announced its spending plans in February, some people worried that its cancellation of the Constellation moon programme had ended any hopes of Americans returning to the Earth’s rocky satellite. The next footprints on the lunar regolith were therefore thought likely to be Chinese. Now, though, the private sector is arguing that the new spending plan actually makes it more likely America will return to the moon.

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What Happens At Absolute Zero?

The Boomerang Nebula is the coldest natural object known in the universe, seen here by the Hubble Space Telescope (Image: ESA/NASA)

From The New Scientist:

The curious things that happen at low temperatures keep on throwing up surprises. Last week, scientists reported that molecules in an ultra-cold gas can chemically react at distances up to 100 times greater than they can at room temperature.

In experiments closer to room temperature, chemical reactions tend to slow down as the temperature decreases. But scientists found that molecules at frigid temperatures just a few hundred billionths of a degree above absolute zero (−273.15°C or 0 kelvin) can still exchange atoms, forging new chemical bonds in the process, thanks to weird quantum effects that extend their reach at low temperatures.

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