How Rest Helps Memory: Sleepy Heads

From The Economist:

Researchers say a nap prepares the brain to learn.

MAD dogs and Englishmen, so the song has it, go out in the midday sun. And the business practices of England’s lineal descendant, America, will have you in the office from nine in the morning to five in the evening, if not longer. Much of the world, though, prefers to take a siesta. And research presented to the AAAS meeting in San Diego suggests it may be right to do so. It has already been established that those who siesta are less likely to die of heart disease. Now, Matthew Walker and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that they probably have better memory, too. An afternoon nap, Dr Walker has discovered, sets the brain up for learning.

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Yahoo Turns On The Twitter Firehose

From CNET:

Yahoo has agreed to purchase access to the Twitter firehose, adding real-time Twitter content to both search results and Yahoo profiles. The company has been featuring Twitter content in search results for some time but plans to augment those results now that it will receive content directly from Twitter rather than having to pull it from the service through public APIs, said Jim Stoneham, vice president of communities at Yahoo.

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Primitive Humans Conquered Sea, Surprising Finds Suggest

Surprisingly old hand axes have been found on the Greek island of Crete, at center in this composite of satellite images. Blue Marble image courtesy NASA

From National Geographic:

Prehistoric axes found on a Greek island suggest that seafaring existed in the Mediterranean more than a hundred thousand years earlier than thought.

Two years ago a team of U.S. and Greek archaeologists were combing a gorge on the island of Crete (map) in Greece, hoping to find tiny stone tools employed by seafaring people who had plied nearby waters some 11,000 years ago.

Instead, in the midst of the search, Providence College archaeologist Thomas Strasser and his team came across a whopping surprise—a sturdy 5-inch-long (13-centimeter-long) hand ax.

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The Present And Future Of Unmanned Drone Aircraft: An Illustrated Field Guide

The Avenger: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

From Popular Science:

Inside the wild kingdom of the world’s newest and most spectacular species of unmanned aircraft, from swarming insect ’bots that can storm a burning building to a seven-ton weaponized spyplane invisible to radar

New breeds of winged beasts are lurking in the skies. Bearing names like Reaper, Vulture and Demon, they look nothing like their feathered brethren. Better known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, these strange and wily birds are quietly infiltrating vast swaths of airspace, from battlefields to backyards.

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Thousands Of Authors Opt Out Of Google Book Settlement

From The Guardian:

Some 6,500 writers, from Thomas Pynchon to Jeffrey Archer, have opted out of Google's controversial plan to digitise millions of books.

Former children's laureates Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Jacqueline Wilson, bestselling authors Jeffrey Archer and Louis de Bernières and critical favourites Thomas Pynchon, Zadie Smith and Jeanette Winterson have all opted out of the controversial Google book settlement, court documents have revealed.

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Coral Reefs Will Dissolve Within 100 Years In Acidic Seas, Say Marine Experts

The Great Barrier Reef off Australia's coast (above) is known for its abundance of marine life.

From The Daily Mail:

The world's most stunning coral reefs will have dissolved within 100 years, a new study claims.

Scientists say rising levels of acid in the seas and warmer ocean temperatures are wiping out the spectacular reefs enjoyed by millions of divers, tourists and wildlife lovers.

The destruction would also be a disaster for tropical fish and marine life which use coral reefs as nurseries and feeding grounds.

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Does Coffee Kill The Benefits Of Vitamins?

From Live Science:

Any beverage or food containing caffeine such as coffee, tea, chocolate and some sodas can inhibit the absorption of vitamins and minerals and increase their excretion from the body.

This raises a more important question: What are the benefits of vitamins?

It’s very important to talk with your doctor before you take any vitamin and mineral pills, especially if you take prescription medicines, have any health problems or are elderly. Taking too much of a vitamin or mineral can cause problems with some medical tests or interfere with drugs you’re taking.

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Where Did Insects Come From? New Study Establishes Relationships Among All Arthropods

This animal, Speleonectes tulumensis, is from a group of rare, blind, cave-dwelling crustaceans called "remipedes." The new analysis in Nature shows that the remipedes are the crustaceans most closely related to the insects. Remipedes and insects together are now shown to be a sister group to all the other crustacea including the crabs, shrimps, and lobsters. (Credit: Simon Richards)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 22, 2010) — Since the dawn of the biological sciences, humankind has struggled to comprehend the relationships among the major groups of "jointed-legged" animals -- the arthropods. Now, a team of researchers, including Dr. Joel Martin and Dr. Regina Wetzer from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM), has finished a completely new analysis of the evolutionary relationships among the arthropods, answering many questions that defied previous attempts to unravel how these creatures were connected.

Their study is scheduled for publication in the journal Nature on Feb. 24.

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The Future Of Money: It’s Flexible, Frictionless And (Almost) Free

Cash in the clouds—neither paper nor plastic.
Illustration: Aegir Hallmundur; Benjamin Franklin: Corbis

From Wired Magazine:

A simple typo gave Michael Ivey the idea for his company. One day in the fall of 2008, Ivey’s wife, using her pink RAZR phone, sent him a note via Twitter. But instead of typing the letter d at the beginning of the tweet — which would have sent the note as a direct message, a private note just for Ivey — she hit p. It could have been an embarrassing snafu, but instead it sparked a brainstorm. That’s how you should pay people, Ivey publicly replied. Ivey’s friends quickly jumped into the conversation, enthusiastically endorsing the idea. Ivey, a computer programmer based in Alabama, began wondering if he and his wife hadn’t hit on something: What if people could transfer money over Twitter for next to nothing, simply by typing a username and a dollar amount?

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We Are Happiest At 74, Says New Report

From The Telegraph:

Seventy-four year-olds are the most contented people in the population, according to new research.

Fewer responsibilities, financial worries and more time to yourself leads to contentment previously unknown in earlier life.

According to the report from the teenage years until 40 happiness declines. It levels off until 46 and then starts to increase until peaking at 74.

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Coral Reefs Form On 'Ancient Template'

The honeycomb reef shape dominates the region.

From The BBC:

Red Sea coral reefs get their complex shape from an ancient 'seabed template', say scientists.

Their distinctive appearance can be seen clearly in satellite images of the region and has its origin in seabed erosion thousands of years ago.

The scientists say the corals have simply adopted and accentuated the pattern created in once-exposed rock moulded by heavy rains.

They presented the findings at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland, US.

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New Space Engines May Trade Fuel For Photons

From Popular Mechanics:

Interplanetary travel may soon be powered by propulsion systems lifted from sci-fi novels, as researchers reach for faster, lighter space engines.

Chemical combustion engines are an unbeatable technology for escaping Earth’s atmosphere and gravitational pull. In space, however, these rockets are inefficient—they burn through huge quantities of fuel while generating more thrust than necessary. That’s why researchers are increasingly turning to nonchemical propulsion systems, which could drastically lighten spacecraft while achieving higher speeds. Some of the ideas being researched, like antimatter engines, depend on established physics but go far beyond current technology. “Someone’s got to think beyond the obvious,” says Marc Millis, a propulsion physicist at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. “You have enough other people in the world doing the next obvious thing. By reaching beyond that, you can discover the breakthroughs other folks aren’t even looking for, and change everything.”

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Breakthrough in All-Optical Processing Could Bring Terabit Data Speeds

Toward Faster Signal Processing Georgia Tech professor Seth Marder, center, and his colleagues have worked for several years to optimize the right molecules with a unique set of properties that could open the door to blazing fast all-optical processing speeds. Rob Felt

From Popular Science:

Do you think your connection speed is fast? Do you tout your torrent bit rate? Perhaps your rig is swift, but there's no reason it couldn't be many times faster. The only thing standing in the way is some creative materials science, and researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology may have just found the key to converting everything from individual computers to data networks into blazing-fast, all-optical transmission devices.

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Plans For '.xxx' Porn Net Domain Revived

The debate about a .xxx domain for internet porn is back on. Photograph: Dan Chung

From The Guardian:

Judges say plans for a .xxx porn domain – blocked by Icann on moral grounds in 2007 – should be reconsidered.

Nearly three years after plans to create a new internet domain specifically for pornography were blocked, the idea could be back on the table once again.

An arbitration panel at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution has ruled that the original decision to prevent the introduction of a new adults-only domain, .xxx, should be reconsidered.

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Where Planes Go To Die: Massive £22bn Air Force 'Boneyard' Revealed In High Resolution By Google Earth

(Click Image To Enlarge)
Four of the numerous types of military aircraft kept at the site in Arizona

From The Daily Mail:

It's where old planes go to die - a 2,600-acre patch of U.S. desert where several generations of military aircraft are stored in what has been dubbed 'The Boneyard'.

The $35billion (£22billion) worth of outdated planes is kept as spare parts for current models at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.

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My Comment: The Google link is here.

Twitter Use Explodes, Hits 50 Million Tweets Per Day

From PC World:

Recent reports saying Twitter's popularity is declining might not be very accurate. Users of the micro-blogging social network are posting more messages than ever -- as many as 50 million 140 character-long messages every day, the company on Monday announced in a blog post.

Call it noise or information overload, but Twitter measured over 600 tweets per second from its users, Twitter's Kevin Weil blogged. The social network is just growing larger and larger, with more users joining every day, Twitter says.

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Bloom Box Generates Buzz, Skepticism With 60 Minutes Spot

From ABC News:

Could New Fuel Cell Technology Be a Game-Changer?

K.R. Sridhar, founder of the Silicon Valley clean tech start-up Bloom Energy, says he'd like to see his company's Bloom Box fuel cell technology lighting up most American households within the next 10 years.

That's a lofty promise from the Sunnyvale, Calif., company that doesn't officially launch until Wednesday. And many experts are quite skeptical about whether Mr. Sridhar, who has already raised about $400 million to produce his boxes, can bring expensive fuel cell technology to the masses.

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Apple Removes 5,000 Apps From App Store

Developers report that Apple has started an App Store crackdown
against apps featuring 'overtly sexual' content

From The Telegraph:

Apple has banned thousands of apps from the App Store, blaming inappropriate content.

Apple has removed around 5,000 apps from its App Store, including some that it claims feature "overtly sexual" content.

Dozens of developers received a message from Apple stating that the company was refining the guidelines under which the App Store operates, and that content that it had "originally believed to be suitable for distribution" were now no longer deemed appropriate, following "numerous complaints from customers about this type of content".

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Brain System Behind General Intelligence Discovered

The brain regions important for general intelligence are found in several specific places (orange regions shown on the brain on the left). Looking inside the brain reveals the connections between these regions, which are particularly important to general intelligence. In the image on the right, the brain has been made partly transparent. The big orange regions in the right image are connections (like cables) that connect the specific brain regions in the image on the left. (Credit: PNAS)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 23, 2010) — A collaborative team of neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the University of Iowa, the University of Southern California (USC), and the Autonomous University of Madrid have mapped the brain structures that affect general intelligence.

The study, to be published the week of February 22 in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds new insight to a highly controversial question: What is intelligence, and how can we measure it?

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Hourglass Figures Affect Men's Brains Like a Drug

From Live Science:

Watching a curvaceous woman can feel like a reward in the brain of men, much as drinking alcohol or taking drugs might, research now reveals.

These new findings might help explain the preoccupation men can have toward pornography, scientists added.

Shapely hips in women are linked with fertility and overall health. As such, it makes sense evolutionarily speaking that studies across cultures have shown men typically find hourglass figures sexy.

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Hacking Inquiry Puts China’s Elite In New Light

Shanghai Jiaotong University students won a programming competition this month, once again defeating colleges like Stanford. Jillian Murphy

From The New York Times:

SHANGHAI — With its sterling reputation and its scientific bent, Shanghai Jiaotong University has the feel of an Ivy League institution.

The university has alliances with elite American ones like Duke and the University of Michigan. And it is so rich in science and engineering talent that Microsoft and Intel have moved into a research park directly adjacent to the school.

But Jiaotong, whose sprawling campus here has more than 33,000 students, is facing an unpleasant question: is it a base for sophisticated computer hackers?

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Gemfields Discovers 6,225-Carat 'Elephant' Emerald In Zambia

The emerald has been named 'Insofu', which means 'elephant' in the language of the Bemba people indigenous to the region

From The Telegraph:

Gemstone producer Gemfields today announced the discovery of an "exceptional" 6,225 carat rough emerald in its Kagem mine in Zambia.

The emerald was recovered during normal mining operations on February 5, the company said in a statement, and is being examined by Gemfields' experts to establish a clearer understanding of its value and significance.

The emerald has been named "Insofu" (which means "elephant" in the language of the Bemba people indigenous to the region) due to its size and in honour of the World Land Trust's "Wild Lands Elephant Corridor Project", of which Gemfields is a participant.

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Study Links Violence To Take-Away Alcohol

From BBC:

US scientists have shown what they say is a direct link between the number of shops selling alcohol in an area and the violence occurring there.

The study was conducted in Cincinnati and considered all types of outlet, including bars and restaurants.

The more shops selling alcohol in an area, the scientists say, the more assaults were recorded there.

They presented the study at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.

Professor William Pridemore from Indiana University, who led the study, spoke at the meeting in San Diego.

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A Steady Buzz of Changes

From Technology Review:

Is there time for Google to salvage its social network after a botched launch?

Since the troubled launch of Google's new social network earlier this month, the company has introduced a flurry of changes in an effort to address user confusion and privacy concerns. Google says its engineers have been working nonstop to adjust features and incorporate user feedback. But the product, called Buzz, has already spurred criticism, a complaint to the FTC, and a lawsuit. While experts say there's no way to undo the damage done by botched privacy controls in the first few days after launch, some believe the service still has a chance to redeem itself.

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Bloom Energy Promises Cheap, Emissions-Free Power From A Small Box

Bloom Box Can these boxes do away with traditional power plants and the power grid? CBS

From Popular Science:

Google, eBay, FedEx have already started using Bloom Boxes.

A boxy power plant that could one day produce efficient, inexpensive, clean energy in every home might sound like a pipe dream, but it's the very real product of a Silicon Valley startup called Bloom Energy. Twenty large corporations that include Google, FedEx, Walmart and eBay have already purchased and begun testing the Bloom Boxes. 60 Minutes recently got a sneak peek at this possibly game-changing energy device.

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Doctors Urge Choking Warning Labels For Food

The American Academy of Pediatrics says the food industry should avoid shapes and sizes that pose choking risks. Getty Images

From Discovery News:

Although federal law requires choking warning labels on certain toys, no mandate exists for food.

* Choking kills more than 100 U.S. children 14 years or younger each year.
* Food, including candy and gum, is among the leading culprits, along with items like coins and balloons.
* Federal law requires choking warning labels on certain toys, but no mandate exists for food.

When 4-year-old Eric Stavros Adler choked to death on a piece of hot dog, his anguished mother never dreamed that the popular kids' food could be so dangerous.

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Many Ways To Activate Webcams Without School Spy Software

From CNET:

The Webcam spy case in the Lower Merion School District near Philadelphia has raised concern as to whether others with Webcams are vulnerable to remote spying. The school district admitted to activating the Webcams 42 times during a 14-month period, claiming that it did so only to track lost or stolen laptops.

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Healing Touch: The Key To Regenerating Bodies

From New Scientist:

YOU started life as a single cell. Now you are made of many trillions. There are more cells in your body than there are stars in the galaxy. Every day billions of these cells are replaced. And if you hurt yourself, billions more cells spring up to repair broken blood vessels and make new skin, muscle or even bone.

Even more amazing than the staggering number of cells, though, is the fact that, by and large, they all know what to do - whether to become skin or bone and so on. The question is, how?

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Ice Shelves Disappearing On Antarctic Peninsula: Glacier Retreat And Sea Level Rise Are Possible Consequences

This image shows ice-front retreat in part of the southern Antarctic Peninsula from 1947 to 2009. USGS scientists are studying coastal and glacier change along the entire Antarctic coastline. The southern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula is one area studied as part of this project, and is summarized in the USGS report, "Coastal-Change and Glaciological Map of the Palmer Land Area, Antarctica: 1947--2009" (map I--2600--C). (Credit: Image courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 22, 2010) — Ice shelves are retreating in the southern section of the Antarctic Peninsula due to climate change, according to new data. This could result in glacier retreat and sea-level rise if warming continues, threatening coastal communities and low-lying islands worldwide, experts say.

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More Liquor Stores Mean More Violence

From Live Science:

SAN DIEGO – The more bars and liquor stores in an area, the more violence there will be, a new study finds.

Researchers compared crime statistics and listings of liquor licenses in Cincinnati to determine the connection. Convenience stores and carry-out sites that sold alcohol were the most strongly associated with assaults, but bars and restaurants that serve alcohol are also correlated with violence.

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Climate Change Could Be Accelerated By 'Methane Time Bomb'

From The Telegraph:

Climate change could be accelerated dramatically by rising levels of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere, scientists will warn today.

Atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas, which is as much as 60 times more potent than carbon dioxide, appear to have risen significantly for the past three years running, scientists say.

Experts have long feared that vast amounts of the natural gas trapped in the frozen tundra of the Arctic could be unlocked as the permafrost is melted by rising temperatures, triggering a "methane time bomb" that could cause temperatures to soar.

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Stopping Stealthy Downloads

From Technology Review:

A new tool blocks files that try to install without alerting the user.

Researchers at SRI International and Georgia Tech are preparing to release a free tool to stop "drive-by" downloads: Internet attacks in which the mere act of visiting a Web site results in the surreptitious installation of malicious software. The new tool, called BLADE (Block All Drive-By Download Exploits), stops downloads that are initiated without the user's consent.

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An Astronaut Peeks Out from the Space Station's Lovely New 360-Degree Window

Cupola View: Why is this man smiling? Oh right NASA

From Popular Science:

Space shuttle Endeavour has landed safely after installing a new observation deck on the International Space Station. But the Endeavour astronauts didn't leave without first checking out the new view from the cupola window.

Here we get a view of George Zamka, NASA astronaut and STS-130 commander, peeking out from the newly-installed cupola on February 19 while the space shuttle remained docked with the space station. ISS resident Soichi Noguchi has already made good use of the cupola to take pretty Earth Twitpics with his 800mm lens camera.

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Fewer Cyclones, But More Violent

Rainfall could increase by 20 percent around the eye of intense storms, according to a recent study. Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, GSFC, NASA

From Discovery News:

Study calls for increased knowledge of the more extreme yet least understood aspects of climate change.

* Cyclones are known in the Atlantic as hurricanes and in eastern Asia as typhoons.
* Tropical storms are driven by warm seas, which maybe more common as temperatures rise.
* Storms could produce more powerful winds by an increase of between 2 percent and 11 percent.

Tropical cyclones may become less frequent this century but pack a stronger punch as a result of global warming, according to a new paper.

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Olympic timing a high-tech affair

From CNET:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--Less than a century ago, the timing of downhill skiing required someone at the top and bottom of the run, each with a stopwatch synchronized to the time of day.

Every few skiers, the timer at the top would send down a piece of paper with the start times of the last few skiers and then some math would ensue, eventually resulting in the time of the run being calculated.

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The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough?

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough? -- CBS News

60 Minutes: First Customers Says Energy Machine Works And Saves Money.

(CBS) In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard.

You'll generate your own electricity with the box and it'll be wireless. The idea is to one day replace the big power plants and transmission line grid, the way the laptop moved in on the desktop and cell phones supplanted landlines.

Read more ....

Back To The Drawing Board With Missile-Beating Laser

The Airborne Laser just can’t deliver a beam with enough power
(Image: Jim Shryne/USAF)

From New Scientist:

A laser-toting Boeing 747 blasted two missilesMovie Camera out of the sky earlier this month, but despite this apparent success the Pentagon is going back to the drawing board in its search for an anti-missile laser weapon.

The ABL's problem is that it can't deliver enough power over enough distance to be genuinely useful, so the culmination of a project begun in 1996 and costing an estimated $5 billion will be to downgrade the ABL to a "testbed". It will be handed over by the Missile Defense Agency to the US air force for general research use.

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Uncovering Secrets Of The Sphinx

Carved in place from limestone, the Sphinx is among the world's largest statues.
Sandro Vannini / Corbis

From the Smithsonian:

After decades of research, American archaeologist Mark Lehner has some answers about the mysteries of the Egyptian colossus

When Mark Lehner was a teenager in the late 1960s, his parents introduced him to the writings of the famed clairvoyant Edgar Cayce. During one of his trances, Cayce, who died in 1945, saw that refugees from the lost city of Atlantis buried their secrets in a hall of records under the Sphinx and that the hall would be discovered before the end of the 20th century.

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Pinch Away The Pain: Scorpion Venom Could Be An Alternative To Morphine

Researchers are investigating new ways for developing a novel painkiller based on natural compounds found in the venom of scorpions. (Credit: iStockphoto/John Bell)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 21, 2010) — Scorpion venom is notoriously poisonous -- but it might be used as an alternative to dangerous and addictive painkillers like morphine, a Tel Aviv University researcher claims.

Prof. Michael Gurevitz of Tel Aviv University's Department of Plant Sciences is investigating new ways for developing a novel painkiller based on natural compounds found in the venom of scorpions. These compounds have gone through millions of years of evolution and some show high efficacy and specificity for certain components of the body with no side effects, he says.

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Ancient Wall Possibly Built by King Solomon

Dr. Eilat Mazar, Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist, points to the tenth century B.C.E. excavations that were uncovered under her direction in the Ophel area adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem. Credit: Sasson Tiram, Hebrew University.

From Live Science:

A section of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem from the tenth century B.C.E. (between 1000 BC and 901 BC), possibly built by King Solomon, has been revealed in archaeological excavations.

The section of wall, about 230 feet long (70 meters) and 19 feet (6 meters) high, is located in the area known as the Ophel, between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

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Aids: Is The End In Sight?

From The Independent:

Mass prescription of anti-retroviral drugs could eradicate the disease within 40 years, scientist says.

Testing everyone at risk of HIV and treating them with anti-retroviral drugs could eradicate the global epidemic within 40 years, according to the scientist at the centre of a radical new approach to fighting Aids.

An aggressive programme of prescribing anti-retroviral treatment (ART) to every person infected with HIV could stop all new infections in five years and eventually wipe out the epidemic, said Brian Williams of the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis.

Read more ....

U.S. Pinpoints Code Writer Behind Google Attack: Report

A bird flies over Google China headquarters building next to a Chinese national flag in Beijing in this January 14, 2010 file photo. Credit: Reuters/Jason Lee

From Reuters:

BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. government analysts believe a Chinese man with government links wrote the key part of a spyware programme used in hacker attacks on Google last year, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

The man, a security consultant in his 30s, posted sections of the programme to a hacking forum where he described it as something he was "working on," the paper said, quoting an unidentified researcher working for the U.S. government.

Read more ...

On Thick Ice: Live From An Antarctic Drilling Trip

Integrated Oceans Drilling Program Operations Superintendent Ron Grout on deck with icebergs in the background. (Photograph by Etienne Claassen, IODP/TAMU)

From Popular Mechanics:

PM's far-flung geological correspondent, Trevor Williams, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, reports from the scientific research ship JOIDES Resolution. Part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, the Wilkes Land expedition has been drilling deep into the ocean floor around Antarctica to learn how the ice sheet reacted in warmer climates of the past, which will help scientists predict how it will respond to future warming.

Read more ....

Retreating Glaciers May Boost Dust Storms

A massive dust storm streaming from northern Africa across the
Atlantic Ocean in February 2006. Credit: SeaWiFS/NASA

From Cosmos:

SAN DIEGO: The retreat of glaciers and the loss of moisture from soil due to climate change will likely increase the number of large-scale dust storms, such as those that blanketed Sydney in 2009, scientists predict.

“Every year, hundreds of millions of tonnes of African dust are carried westward across the Atlantic to South America, the Caribbean and to the North America,” as well as across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, said Joseph Prospero, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Miami.

Read more ....

Climate Scientists Withdraw Journal Claims Of Rising Sea Levels

The Maldives could be hard hit by rising sea levels. Photograph: Reuters

From The Guardian:

Study claimed in 2009 that sea levels would rise by up to 82cm by the end of century – but the report's author now says true estimate is still unknown.

Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.

The study, published in 2009 in Nature Geoscience, one of the top journals in its field, confirmed the conclusions of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It used data over the last 22,000 years to predict that sea level would rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century.

Read more ....

New Role For Robot Warriors

From ABC News:

Drones Are Just Part of Bid to Automate Combat.

Science fiction sometimes depicts robot soldiers as killing machines without conscience or remorse. But at least one robotics expert today says that someday machines may make the best and most humane decisions on the battlefield.

Guided by virtual emotions, robots could not only make better decisions about their own actions but also act as ethical advisers to human soldiers or even as observers who report back on the battlefield conduct of humans and whether they followed international law.

Read more ....

My Comment: Another interesting article on the evolving role of unmanned weapons platforms.

High-Tech Armor Protects Olympic Skiers, Why Not Lugers?

From ABC News:

Protective Suits Feature Orange Goo That Instantly Hardens Upon Impact.

The Olympic alpine skiing course has seen its share of wipeouts the last couple of weeks.

But crashing U.S. and Canadian skiers have been well protected by a neon orange goo.

Made by the British firm d3o and adapted by U.S. ski wear designer Spyder for the U.S. and Canadian ski teams, the material is soft and flexible under most conditions, but instantly hardens when a skier hits a gate.

Read more ....

Sex Hormone Progesterone To Get Head Injury Trial

From The BBC:

Natural progesterone, the sex hormone used in the first contraceptive pills, is to be tested on patients with severe head injuries.

Scientists will begin a phase III clinical trial in March and say the drug could save patients' lives and reduce damage to their brains.

They announced the trial at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

It will involve 1,000 patients in 17 trauma centres across the US.

Dr David Wright, associate professor of emergency medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, will lead the trial.

Read more ....

Warmer Planet Temperatures Could Cause Longer-Lasting Weather Patterns

Tony Lupo, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Missouri, is studying atmospheric blocking and how this weather pattern could be increasing due to global warming. (Credit: University of Missouri)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 21, 2010) — Whether it's never-ending heat waves or winter storms, atmospheric blocking can have a significant impact on local agriculture, business and the environment. Although these stagnant weather patterns are often difficult to predict, University of Missouri researchers are now studying whether increasing planet temperatures and carbon dioxide levels could lead to atmospheric blocking and when this blocking might occur, leading to more accurate forecasts.

Read more ....

'The Biggest Loser' Has Big Problems, Health Experts Say

A biggest loser contestant during a weigh-in, which helps determine who stays and
who is booted off the show. Credit: NBC

From Live Science:

NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is all about records. In the past seasons, the weight-loss reality show has repeatedly set new benchmarks for heaviest contestant (454, 476 and 526 pounds), fastest 100-pound weight loss (seven weeks), and most weight lost in one week (34 pounds).

The show, which takes obese Americans and pits them against each other in a battle to lose the most weight and win $250,000, thrives on extreme numbers. But physicians and nutritionists worry the show's focus on competitive weight loss is, at best, counterproductive and, at worst, dangerous.

Read more ....

Take That Power Nap - You Could End Up Smarter

Medical researchers have shown that power naps not only refresh the mind,
they also make people smarter

From The Daily Mail:

It may not make you popular with your boss but a snooze in the middle of the day dramatically boosts your brain power.

Medical researchers have shown that the power naps favoured by Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Margaret Thatcher not only refresh the mind, they also make people smarter.

They found snoozing for just one hour in the day is enough to increase the brain's ability to learn new facts in the hours that follow.

Read more ....

Can Sophisticated Mathematical Models Help Police Fight Crime?

From Popular Mechanics:

Is it possible to predict crimes from studying human behavior? A new paper from researchers at the University of California shows how mathematical modeling may soon lead to truly predictive police work.

If television crime shows and Hollywood thrillers are to be believed, criminals are intelligent, complex people. It takes a crack team to catch these masterminds who usually elude the authorities time and again.

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Endeavour Set For Sunday Night Landing

Space shuttle Endeavour took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 8 for the International Space Station, and was scheduled to return Sunday evening. (Terry Renna/Associated Press)

From The CBC:

NASA pressed ahead with a Sunday night landing for space shuttle Endeavour, even though poor weather on both coasts threatened to scuttle any touchdown attempt.

Endeavour and its crew of six were returning from the International Space Station, which was hit by computer trouble that triggered temporary communication blackouts Sunday.

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Universal Therapy Could Contain Aids Epidemic In Five Years

From Times Online:

The global Aids epidemic could be contained within just five years by testing everybody in high-risk regions and immediately treating all those who are found to be HIV positive, according to a leading scientist.

Universal therapy with anti-retroviral drugs would not only save millions of lives, but would also prevent transmission of HIV by making people who carry the virus less infectious to others, said Brian Williams, of the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (Sacema).

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