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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