Lack of sleep can increase risk of forming false memories - According to a German study, people who spend a night awake are more likely to create false memories than those with a good night's sleep. The study consisted of volunteers memorizing a list of words linked to a common topic, then either being allowed a full nights sleep or being told to stay awake. The next morning they were presented with a list of words and asked which words were in the original list. The group that stayed awake all night generated more "false positives" (identified words as being on the original that were not) than those who had a good night's sleep.
Increased asthma risk in children linked to nut consumption of their mothers - A Dutch study seems to indicate that pregnant women who consume plenty of nuts and nut-like products increase by 50% the risk of their children having asthma. Moderate consumption was shown to have no effect.
Hawking plans to visit, not move to, Waterloo - A report that Stephen Hawking was pondering a move to Waterloo is, in a word, "overblown".
New microwaveable dish can speed cooking time - A collaboration between US and Japanese researchers has yielded a ceramic dish that absorbs microwaves and converts it into heat. The approach is expected to reduce energy use by 50% and increase cooking time.
How to build a warp drive - arXiv reports that scientists from Baylor University in Texas have worked out how to put Alcubierre's theory about how to create a warp drive into practice... sort of. Alcubierre had postulated that all that is required for a warp drive to avoid violating the speed of light is for the space ship to be stationary relative to local space. The key is to contract space in front of the ship and expand it behind, thus making it possible to exceed the speed of light without actually exceeding the speed of light. The solution, apparently, is to expand one of the extra curled up dimensions of our universe. The fine print? You would need to convert the mass of Jupiter into pure energy to provide enough power to drive a single space ship. Guess we need some dilithium crystals....
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