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Tech posts for 19-October-2007
Oct. 19th, 2007 07:30 amAmong the stories in today's tech post: believing gossip over truth, synthesizing God, relating Alzheimers and Diabetes, bionic nerves, conducting your own virtual orchestra, the dangers of mixing acetaminophen and coffee, a gene switch for Schizoprenia, a neural link to anorexia, easy online photo resizing, and the affects of marriage on testosterone levels.
| Reuters: Science |
| Gossip more powerful than truth, researchers say - Gossip is more powerful than truth, a study showed on Monday, suggesting people believe what they hear through the grapevine even if they have evidence to the contrary. (see also: Gossip more powerful than facts in shaping opinion: study) |
| Slashdot |
| Scientists Deliver 'God' Via A Helmet - Scientific American is reporting on scientific work done to map the euphoric religious feelings within the brain. As a result, it's now quite possible to experience 'proximity to God' via a special helmet. During the three-minute bursts of stimulation, the affected subjects translated this perception of the divine into their own cultural and religious language — terming it God, Buddha, a benevolent presence or the wonder of the universe. |
| Alzheimer's Could Be a Third Form of Diabetes - Insulin, it turns out, may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Research in the last few years has raised the possibility that Alzheimer's memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes. Scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling — crucial for memory formation — would stop working in Alzheimer's disease. |
| Technology Review Feed - Tech Review Top Stories |
 New Tricks for Online Photo Editing - A site called Rsizr (pronounced "resizer") has added a feature that isn't even in the newest version of Photoshop: the ability to shrink or enlarge pictures--horizontally and vertically--with relatively little distortion. For instance, Rsizr can compress a photo of students in a classroom without sacrificing resolution by removing the pixels between desks. Likewise, Rsizr can expand the picture to fill, say, an entire computer screen by adding extra pixels in certain places. |
| PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news |
| 'Bionic' nerve to bring damanged limbs and organs back to life - University of Manchester researchers have transformed fat tissue stem cells into nerve cells — and now plan to develop an artificial nerve that will bring damaged limbs and organs back to life. |
 Baton charge: Do-it-yourself conductors take over classical music - Instead of wielding a baton, the "conductor" wears an eWatch, a computer the size and shape of a large wristwatch that contains accelerometers and tilt sensors. Software then translates those actions into commands which tell a virtual orchestra -- a 3-D replication of a real-life performance by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra -- to play faster or slower, louder or softer. |
| Science Blog |
| How schizophrenia develops: Major clues discovered - Schizophrenia may occur, in part, because of a problem in an intermittent on/off switch for a gene involved in making a key chemical messenger in the brain, scientists have found in a study of human brain tissue. The researchers found that the gene is turned on at increasingly high rates during normal development of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in higher functions like thinking and decision-making – but that this normal increase may not occur in people with schizophrenia. |
| Unmarried men rule -- when it comes to testosterone - A fascinating new study is the first outside of North America to observe lower testosterone levels among married men. Supporting a growing body of research, the study reveals that even married men who are considered aloof spouses and provide minimal parenting have much lower testosterone levels than single, unmarried men. |
| Anorexic women taste different - Although anorexia nervosa is categorized as an eating disorder, it is not known whether there are alterations of the portions of the brain that regulate appetite. Now, a new study finds that women with anorexia have distinct differences in the insulta – the specific part of the brain that is important for recognizing taste – according to a new study by University of Pittsburgh and University of California, San Diego researchers currently on line in advance of publication in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. |
| Acetaminophen, caffeine mix may harm liver - Consuming large amounts of caffeine while taking acetaminophen, one of the most widely used painkillers in the United States, could potentially cause liver damage, according to a preliminary laboratory study reported in the Oct. 15 print issue of ACS’ Chemical Research in Toxicology. |