Tech posts and Interesting science blog articles

Physics Org

Sign of 'embryonic planets' forming in nearby stellar systems - Astronomers at the University of Rochester are pointing to three nearby stars they say may hold "embryonic planets"-a missing link in planet-formation theories.

Victimization for sexual orientation increases suicidal behavior in college students - The film and television series "M*A*S*H*" featured the song "Suicide is Painless," but new research refutes that idea and indicates that being victimized because of sexual orientation is a chief risk factor for suicidal behavior among gay, lesbian and bisexual college students.

New system makes any digital camera take multibillion-pixel shots - Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with scientists at NASA`s Ames Research Center, have built a low-cost robotic device that enables any digital camera to produce breathtaking gigapixel (billions of pixels) panoramas, called GigaPans.

Research cautions to catch-and-release in less than 4 minutes - A study on the effects of catch-and-release angling on bonefish which was conducted by a team led by University of Illinois researcher Cory Suski. Results from the study showed that both the duration of an exercise bout (the catch) longer than four minutes, as well as the length of exposure to air, will result in a proportional increase in negative effects on the fishes' physiological condition. The study also showed that the longer duration of the catch-and-release, the longer the time the fish needed to recover and the greater likelihood of the fish being caught by predators.

New material concept for aircraft wings could save billions - Building aircraft wings with a special aluminium fibre combination makes them nearly immune to metal fatigue. The CentrAl concept comprises a central layer of fibre metal laminate (FML), sandwiched between one or more thick layers of high-quality aluminium. This creates a robust construction material which is not only exceptionally strong, but also insensitive to fatigue.

BBC News | Science/Nature | World Edition

Chocolate 'aids fatigue syndrome' - A daily dose of specially-formulated dark chocolate may help cut chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms. Patients in a pilot study found they had less fatigue when eating dark chocolate with a high cocoa content than with white chocolate dyed brown. Researchers from Hull York Medical School said the results were surprising but dark chocolate may be having an effect on the brain chemical serotonin. Experts said patients should consume chocolate in moderation.

ScienceBlogs

The Divorce Myth [The Frontal Cortex] - There are lies, damn lies and statistics. Last week, the newspapers were filled with stories about rising divorce rates. It was widely reported that couples that married in the 1970's had a less than even chance of celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. But those statistics were misleading. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers report "...the divorce rate has been falling continuously over the past quarter-century, and is now at its lowest level since 1970. While marriage rates are also declining, those marriages that do occur are increasingly more stable." by Jonah Lehrer

Speaking of making stuff up [denialism blog] - Next for "making up disease" files, Ed Brayton brings us news of the latest crank idea from the masturbation-obsessed nuts over at World Nut Daily. It's the new plague of masturbation-induced impotence. by Mark Hoofnagle.

Uncertainty Reduction: Ambiguity Resolution Mechanisms in Language [Developing Intelligence] - Ambiguity is a constant problem for any embodied cognitive agent with limited resources. Decisions need to be made, and their consequences understood, despite the probabilistic veil of uncertainty enveloping everything from sensory input to action execution. Clearly, there must be mechanisms for dealing with or resolving such ambiguity. by Chris Chatham

The futile quest for the "perfect" breast [Aetiology] - Over at Respectful Insolence, Orac discusses an article where a scientist has spent his days shut away, slaving endlessly over a data set--of pictures of topless models. Why? To produce the perfect boob job, of course--or as the article puts it, "to help Hollywood look even more perfect." Great. Just what we need. by Tara C. Smith

This was supposed to go up yesterday

washingtonpost.com - Technology

New Service Eavesdrops on Internet Calls - A startup has come up with a new way to make money from phone calls connected via the Internet: having software listen to the calls, then displaying ads on the callers' computer screens based on what's being talked about. A test of Puddingmedia's beta software was a mixed success: Relevant ads appeared when this reporter talked about restaurants and computers, but the software was oddly insistent that he should seek a career as a social worker, showing multiple ads and links pointing to that field.

LiveScience.com

Eggshells Could Help Power Hydrogen Cars - Eggs give many of us the fuel we need to start the day, but leftover eggshells of the future could provide fuel to start hydrogen cars. The fragile leftovers can be ground up and used to filter out carbon dioxide, a pesky by-product of hydrogen production, engineers said. In fact, it's now the most effective carbon dioxide absorber ever tested.

New Scientist Tech - Technology

Quantum chip rides on superconducting bus - For the first time the components that underlie quantum computing's great potential – qubits – have been linked on chips like those in conventional computers. Two US research teams used superconducting circuits to make two of the quantum components linked by a quantum information cable or bus.

Technology Review Feed - Tech Review Top Stories

Gene Tests That Help People Quit Smoking - New research suggests that genetic testing could quickly distinguish which smokers would benefit from bupropion. The findings add to a growing number of studies linking genetics to nicotine addiction and the ability to quit, and raise the possibility that quitting strategies could be more effectively tailored to individual patients.

Slashdot

Internet Uses 9.4% of Electricity In the US - ribuck writes "Equipment powering the internet accounts for 9.4% of electricity demand in the U.S., and 5.3% of global demand, according to research by David Sarokin at online pay-for-answers service Uclue. Worldwide, that's 868 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The total includes the energy used by desktop computers and monitors (which makes up two-thirds of the total), plus other energy sinks including modems, routers, data processing equipment and cooling equipment."

Canadian Copyright Official Dumped Over MPAA Conflict - An anonymous reader writes "The Canadian government's top copyright policy maker has been moved aside after revelations that she was in a personal relationship with Hollywood's top Canadian lobbyist. The development is raising questions about how the MPAA got an anti-camcording bill passed in only three weeks and what it means for the introduction of a Canadian DMCA."

PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news

Why don't painkillers work for people with fibromyalgia? - People who have the common chronic pain condition fibromyalgia often report that they don’t respond to the types of medication that relieve other people’s pain. New research from the University of Michigan Health System helps to explain why that might be: Patients with fibromyalgia were found to have reduced binding ability of a type of receptor in the brain that is the target of opioid painkiller drugs such as morphine.

Babies raised in bilingual homes learn new words differently than infants learning one language - Infants who are raised in bilingual homes learned two similar-sounding words in a laboratory task at a later age than babies who are raised in homes where only one language is spoken. This difference, which is thought to be advantageous for bilingual infants, appears to be due to the fact that bilingual babies need to devote their attention to the general associations between words and objects (often a word in each language) for a longer period, rather than focusing on detailed sound information.

6 Die From Brain-Eating Amoeba in Lakes - It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die. Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it's killed six boys and young men this year. According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases - three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.

Childhood TV viewing a risk for behavior problems - Daily television viewing for two or more hours in early childhood can lead to behavioral problems and poor social skills, according to a study of children 2.5 to 5.5 years of age conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.