Chile Earthquake Moved Entire City 10 Feet To The West

From Wired Science:

The magnitude 8.8 quake that struck near Maule, Chile, Feb. 27 moved the entire city of Concepcion 10 feet to the west.

Precise GPS measurements from before and after the earthquake, the fifth largest ever recorded by seismographs, show that the country’s capital, Santiago, moved 11 inches west. Even Buenos Aires, nearly 800 miles from the epicenter, shifted an inch. The image above uses red arrows to represent the relative direction and magnitude of the ground movement in the vicinity of the quake.

Read more ....

'We Don't Know What 96% Of The Universe Is Made Of

Professor Brian Cox is helping us understand the solar system.
Photograph: Mike Hogan/Antonio Saba

From The Guardian:

Pop star-turned-physicist Brian Cox speaks about his new TV series on the solar system.

It's big space, isn't it?

It's 93 million miles to the Sun: that's a long way. It takes light eight minutes to do that. There are 100bn galaxies in the observable universe. If you take a 5p coin and hold it 75 feet away, the space in the sky it would obscure would hold 10,000 galaxies. It's mindblowing. I don't think anyone has a grasp of that other than to say: it's big.

Read more ....

Eating Breakfast And Fatty Diet During Early Pregnancy Increases Chances Of Having A Boy

Eating a high-fat diet around conception increases the odds of giving birth to a boy, while low fat consumption with periods of long fasts favours girls Photo: PHOTOLIBRARY

From The Telegraph:

What women eat while they are in the early stages of pregnancy influences the sex and health of their unborn baby, new research suggests.

Women who eat a full breakfast and a high fat diet at the time of conception are more likely to have a boy, scientists claim.

A low fat diet with periods of long fasts favours girls, the researchers have found.

Read more ....

The Shocking Truth About Tasers

The new long-range Taser rifle, which can immobilise a suspect for 20 seconds from 100ft away, with an X26 pistol mounted beneath it.

From The Daily Mail:

A commuter in a diabetic coma, an 89-year-old man and children as young as 12 - just some of the targets of British police armed with skin-piercing 50,000-volt Taser guns. As the Home Office investigates bringing an even more powerful rifle version to Britain, Jason Benetto reports on the slow creep of arms onto our streets.

The smartly dressed sales executive travelling on the number 96 bus across Leeds didn't notice his body descending into a state of severe hypoglycaemia.

He didn't have time to ask his fellow passengers for help, or press the bell. Instead he slumped back in his seat in a diabetic coma, his head lolling from side to side.

Read more ....

New Treatments And Good Skin Care Helping Patients Control Acne And Rosacea

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Mar. 8, 2010) — Acne and rosacea are two seemingly different skin conditions that have one important thing in common: both are chronic and extremely common skin conditions. However, dermatologists recommend that with proper diagnosis, treatment and a healthy dose of good, old-fashioned skin care, acne and rosacea can be less of a nuisance for patients.

Read more ....

iPhone Addictive, Survey Reveals

iPhone

From Live Science:

A new Stanford University survey confirms what many iPhone users may have long suspected: Apple's smartphone can be addicting.

The survey was administered to 200 students with iPhones, 70 percent of whom had owned their iPhones for less than a year.

Read more ....

Light-Speed Computing One Step Closer

Until now, infrared germanium lasers required expensive cryogenic cooling systems to operate (Source: iStockphoto)

From ABC News (Australia):

A new infrared laser made from germanium that operates at room temperature could lead to powerful computer chips that operate at the speed of light, say US scientists.

The research, by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, published in a forthcoming issue of Optics Letters

"Using a germanium laser as a light source, you could communicate at very high data rates at very low power," says Dr Jurgen Michel, who developed the new germanium laser.

"Eventually you could have the computing power of today's supercomputers inside a laptop."

Read more ....

Video: Boeing 747 Withstands Simulated What-If Underwear Bomber Blast

From Popular Science:

The bomb blast was meant to gauge what might have happened if the Flight 253 suicide bomber succeeded.

An explosion aboard Flight 253 on Christmas Day would not have crippled the Boeing 747, according to a recent test that simulated the success of would-be bomber Umar Abdulmutallab. Only the bomber and passenger next to him would have died, the BBC reports.

Read more ....

My Comment: I am sure that Al Qaeda is appreciative of this test .... it means that if they wish to do this in the future they will have to pack more explosive.

US Lifts Web Sanctions On Cuba, Iran And Sudan

From The Guardian:

The US yesterday said it will allow export of instant messaging, web browsing and other communications technology to Cuba, Iran and Sudan, in an effort to facilitate the flow of information and promote freedom of speech.

The move by the US Treasury department comes after Iranian anti-regime protesters used Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other sites to great effect in the aftermath of the disputed June elections. In the months since, anti-regime forces have used the technology to organise demonstrations, spread news and communicate with the outside world, including western journalists largely barred from covering the protest movement.

Read more ....

My Comment: Iran and Cuba have a tight lid on their citizens when it comes to having internet access, but if this can help spread the word .... I am all for it.

Amazon Is Building A Better Browser For Kindle

From Web Monkey:

Browsing the web on one of Amazon’s Kindle e-readers is like taking a step backwards in time. It’s clunky and has only limited support for web standards and bare-bones JavaScript capabilities.

But now Amazon may be looking to add browser engineers to the Kindle team, according to the job listings on the company’s website.

Read more ....

Humans Driving Extinction Faster Than Species Can Evolve, Say Experts

The IUCN lists west African giraffes as an endangered species. Conservationists say the rate of new species is slower than diversity loss. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

From The Guardian:

Conservationists say rate of new species slower than diversity loss caused by the destruction of habitats and climate change.

For the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world's experts on biodiversity has warned.

Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction" of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change.

Read more ....

'Pain Gene' Discovery Could Lead To Less Suffering

From The Telegraph:

The reason some people can feel more pain than others may have been explained by scientists.

Docors have struggled to explain why some people are more sensitive to and less able to tolerate pain.

Now scientists have discovered that a gene may be responsible.

Read more ....

Einstein's Manuscript Of Relativity Goes On Display

Professor Hanoch Gutfreund points to the manuscript of Einstein's theory of general relativity. RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS

From The Independent:

The original manuscript of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which helps explain everything from black holes to the Big Bang, yesterday went on display in its entirety for the first time. Einstein's 46-page handwritten explanation of his general theory of relativity, in which he demonstrates an expanding universe and shows how gravity can bend space and time, is being shown at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Jerusalem as part of the association's 50th anniversary celebration.

Read more ....

Could This Be The Robot Servant Who Will Serve You Breakfast In Bed?

From The Daily Mail:

Ever dreamed of having a robot servant who would do all the boring chores around the house? Well mechanised domestic staff have come one step closer, thanks to an android being developed in Japan.

Researchers at Tokyo University's JSK Robotics Laboratory, have created a humanoid called Kojiro, who is learning how to mimic how we walk.

Read more ....

Green Groups To Cameron: Be King Of The Environment!

This ancient willow tree is the epicenter of the Na'vi people.
WETA / 20th Century Fox

From Time Magazine:

James Cameron: nature filmmaker? It's a title even the director himself — a self-described tree hugger — might not have expected. After all, in his budget-busting moviemaking career, Cameron has engineered a planet-killing nuclear holocaust (The Terminator), created acid-blooded extraterrestrials (Aliens) and made a villain out of an iceberg (Titanic). His latest film, Avatar, the record-setting sci-fi epic filmed mostly with motion-capture cameras and computer graphics, is about as unnatural as a movie can get.

Read more ....

Tides, Earth's Rotation Among Sources Of Giant Underwater Waves

Scientists are gaining new insight into the mechanisms that generate huge, steep underwater waves that occur between layers of warm and cold water in coastal regions of the world's oceans. (Credit: iStockphoto/Hunor Tanko)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Mar. 7, 2010) — Scientists at the University of Rhode Island are gaining new insight into the mechanisms that generate huge, steep underwater waves that occur between layers of warm and cold water in coastal regions of the world's oceans.

David Farmer, a physical oceanographer and dean of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, together with student Qiang Li, said that large amplitude, nonlinear internal waves can reach heights of 150 meters or more in the South China Sea, and the effects they have on surface wave fields ensure that they are readily observable from space.

Read more ....

Ice Once Covered The Equator

Two ideas exist on the progression of glaciation on Earth from 716.5 to 630 million years ago. Current evidence suggests the top version: a dynamic snowball Earth in which at least two long-lived glaciations happened during which communication between the ocean and the atmosphere was cut off. In this scenario, as CO2 built up, a hot-house effect ensued resulting in an ice-free planet at 670 and 630 million years ago. Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation

From Live Science:

Sea ice may have covered the Earth's surface all the way to the equator hundreds of millions of years ago, a new study finds, adding more evidence to the theory that a "snowball Earth" once existed.

The finding, detailed in the March 5 issue of the journal Science, also has implications for the survival and evolution of life on Earth through this bitter ice age.

Read more ....

Fat: The Sixth Taste

Some people are more sensitive to the taste of fat than others. Credit: iStockphoto

From Cosmos/AFP:

SYDNEY: In addition to the five tastes already identified lurks another detectable by the palate, fat, and people's weight is linked to their ability to taste it.

"We know that the human tongue can detect five tastes - sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (a savoury, protein-rich taste contained in foods such as soy sauce and chicken stock)," said Russell Keast, from Deakin University.

"Through our study we can conclude that humans have a sixth taste - fat."

Read more ....

Ultra-Efficient Gas Engine Passes Test

Photo: Efficient exotic: Transonic Combustion put its new fuel-injection technology into this sports car, which weighs about as much as a Toyota Prius hybrid and has similar aerodynamics. It’s not a hybrid, but it gets better gas mileage than a Prius. Credit: Transonic Combustion

From Technology Review:

A novel fuel-injection system achieves 64 miles per gallon.

Transonic Combustion, a startup based in Camarillo, CA, has developed a fuel-injection system it says can improve the efficiency of gasoline engines by more than 50 percent. A test vehicle equipped with the technology gets 64 miles per gallon in highway driving, which is far better than more costly gas-electric hybrids, such as the Prius, which gets 48 miles per gallon on the highway.

The key is heating and pressurizing gasoline before injecting it into the combustion chamber, says Mike Rocke, Transonic's vice president of business development. This puts it into a supercritical state that allows for very fast and clean combustion, which in turn decreases the amount of fuel needed to propel a vehicle. The company also treats the gasoline with a catalyst that "activates" it, partially oxidizing it to enhance combustion.

Read more ....

Bacteria Rule Our Bodies, Our Planet

Image: The human gut is a virtual zoo, full of a wide variety of bacteria, a new study found. And scientists say that's a good thing. The first results of an international effort to catalog the millions of non-human genes inside people found about 170 different bacteria species thriving in the average person's digestive tract. (CBS/AP)

From CBS News:

Scientists Say the Human Gut is Full of Bacteria; Yes, That's a Good Thing.

(AP) The human gut is a virtual zoo, full of a wide variety of bacteria, a new study found. And scientists say that's a good thing.

The first results of an international effort to catalog the millions of non-human genes inside people found about 170 different bacteria species thriving in the average person's digestive tract. The study also found that people with inflammatory bowel disease had fewer distinct species inside the gut.

Read more ....