Science & TechnologyS


Laptop

Google says Gmail messages not private


RIA Novosti
Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:59 UTC
Image
© AFP 2013/ POOL/ Robert GalbraithGoogle's global headquarters in Mountain View, California
Google has made it official, casually acknowledging what many people already knew or at least suspected: emails sent through its free Gmail service will be "processed" with no guarantee of privacy.

"Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient's assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed," by the recipient's e-mail service provider in the course of delivery," said attorneys for Google in a court brief.

"Indeed, a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties," they added in the June motion to dismiss a class-action data-mining lawsuit.
Read More...
Cassiopaea

Bright new nova In Delphinus

Bob King
Universe Today
Wed, 14 Aug 2013 19:18 UTC
New Nova
© StellariumThe possible new nova is located in Delphinus alongside the familiar Summer Triangle outlined by Deneb, Vega and Altair. This may shows the sky looking high in the south for mid-northern latitudes around 10 p.m. local time in mid-August. The new object is ideally placed for viewing.
Looking around for something new to see in your binoculars or telescope tonight? How about an object whose name literally means "new". Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki of Yamagata discovered an apparent nova or "new star" in the constellation Delphinus the Dolphin just today, August 14.

He used a small 7-inch (.18-m) reflecting telescope and CCD camera to nab it. Let's hope its mouthful of a temporary designation, PNVJ20233073+2046041, is soon changed to Nova Delphini 2013!
Read More...
Magic Wand

2 left feet? Study looks to demystify why we lose our balance

Laura Bailey
University of Michigan
Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:19 UTC
It's always in front of a million people and feels like eternity. You're strolling along when suddenly you've stumbled - the brain realizes you're falling, but your muscles aren't doing anything to stop it.

For a young person, a fall is usually just embarrassing. However, for the elderly, falling can be life threatening. Among the elderly who break a hip, 80 percent die within a year.

University of Michigan researchers believe that the critical window of time between when the brain senses a fall and the muscles respond may help explain why so many older people suffer these serious falls. A better understanding of what happens in the brain and muscles during this lag could go a long way toward prevention.

To that end, researchers at the U-M School of Kinesiology developed a novel way of looking at the electrical response in the brain before and during a fall by using an electroencephalogram.

Findings showed that many areas of the brain sense and respond to a fall, but that happens well before the muscles react. Lead researcher Daniel Ferris likened the study method to recording an orchestra with many microphones and then teasing out the sounds of specific instruments. In the study, researchers measured electrical activity in different regions of the brain.

"We're using an EEG in a way others don't, to look at what's going on inside the brain," said Ferris, a professor in kinesiology. "We were able to determine what parts of the brain first identify when you are losing your balance during walking."
Read More...
Comet

Does one of these asteroids have our name on it? NASA reveals orbits of 1,400 potentially hazardous asteroids

Ellie Zolfagharifard
The Daily Mail,UK
Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:34 UTC
These asteroids are classified as 'hazardous' because they are at least 140 meters in size and could come within 4.7 million miles of Earth's orbit

However, none are considered a threat over the next hundred years

NEOCam mission will track these asteroids and other near-Earth objects

Image
This graphic shows the orbits of all the known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), numbering over 1,400 as of early 2013. These are the asteroids considered hazardous because they are fairly large (at least 460 feet or 140 meters in size), and because they follow orbits that pass close to the Earth's orbit
There are currently 1,400 potentially hazardous asteroids that could pass close to Earth, according to latest data revealed by Nasa.

An image mapping the orbits of all the potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) provides a graphic of the crowded cosmic activity.

These asteroids are considered hazardous because they are fairly large - at least 460 feet or 140 meters in size.

Comment: If such an asteroid were detected Earth bound, would NASA necessarily tell us about it?

See -

Military hush up: Incoming space rocks now classified

Read More...
Info

Could glow in the dark bunnies lead to better drugs?

Michael Harper
RedOrbit
Tue, 13 Aug 2013 16:39 UTC
Transgenic Mice
© Turkish Universities and John A. Burns School of MedicineUniversity of Hawaii Manoa collaboration with two Turkish Universities produced transgenic mice using the technique created at UH Manoa. Birth of Rabbits late July 2013 in Turkey.
What do you get when you cross jelly fish DNA with a cuddly bunny? If researchers from universities in Hawaii and Turkey have anything to say about it, the combination could result in cheaper, more effective drugs for genetic diseases.

Scientists have cloned a litter of rabbits which have been given a gene from a glowing jellyfish, effectively creating two glow-in-the-dark bunnies. Under normal light the rabbits appear just as normal and healthy as their siblings, but in a dark room the animals shine a bright fluorescent green.

The scientists say the transgenic bunnies aren't harmed at all by the foreign DNA and have only been created as a proof of concept. That 25 percent of the cloned rabbits glow tells the scientists they successfully incorporated another animal's DNA into their genome and, if it can be done here, it may be possible in humans as well. They hope that this approach might eventually be used in humans so people with genetic diseases could benefit from receiving a transplant of healthy DNA.

Associate professor Stefan Moisyadi with the University of Hawaii told the Independent the cloned bunnies shine as brightly as LED lights when the room goes dark.

"And on top of it, their fur is beginning to grow and the greenness is shining right through their fur. It's so intense," he said.
Read More...
Bulb

UCLA researcher invents new tools to manage 'information overload' threatening neuroscience

Elaine Schmidt
UCLA Newsroom
Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
© UCLA Health SystemAlcino Silva, professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
Before the digital age, neuroscientists got their information in the library like the rest of us. But the explosion of neuroscience research has resulted in the publication of nearly 2 million papers - more data than any researcher can read and absorb in a lifetime.

That's why a UCLA team has invented research maps. Easily accessible through an online app, the maps help neuroscientists quickly scan what is already known and plan their next study. The Aug. 8 edition of the journal Neuron describes these new tools.

"Information overload is the elephant in the room that most neuroscientists pretend to ignore," said principal investigator Alcino Silva, a professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. "Without a way to organize the literature, we risk missing key discoveries and duplicating earlier experiments. Research maps will enable neuroscientists to quickly clarify what ground has already been covered and to fully grasp its meaning for future studies." Silva collaborated with Anthony Landreth, a former UCLA postdoctoral fellow, to create maps that offer simplified, interactive and unbiased summaries of research findings designed to help neuroscientists in choosing what to study next. As a testing ground for their maps, the team focused on findings in molecular and cellular cognition.
Read More...
Ambulance

Werner Herzog's paralyzing case against texting while driving

James Hamblin
The Atlantic
Fri, 09 Aug 2013 10:53 UTC
Image
Warner Herzog
"He looked like he was asleep, until we rolled him over."

Bavarian polymath Werner Herzog's just-released film, From One Second to the Next (below), is 35 minutes of excruciating testimonials by people on the spectrum from affected to devastated by texting and driving. It's part of a campaign by AT&T to raise awareness. Expect it to do that.

Herzog did address the motive of the project in the context of the creeping intrusion of marketing in creative media. He told the Associated Press, "This has nothing to do with consumerism or being part of advertising products. This whole campaign is, rather, dissuading you from excessive use of a product."
Read More...
Eye 2

Best of the Web: NSA is commandeering the internet

Bruce Schneier
The Atlantic
Mon, 12 Aug 2013 09:05 UTC
Image
Technology companies have to fight for their users, or they'll eventually lose them.

It turns out that the NSA's domestic and world-wide surveillance apparatus is even more extensive than we thought. Bluntly: The government has commandeered the Internet. Most of the largest Internet companies provide information to the NSA, betraying their users. Some, as we've learned, fight and lose. Others cooperate, either out of patriotism or because they believe it's easier that way.

I have one message to the executives of those companies: fight.

Do you remember those old spy movies, when the higher ups in government decide that the mission is more important than the spy's life? It's going to be the same way with you. You might think that your friendly relationship with the government means that they're going to protect you, but they won't. The NSA doesn't care about you or your customers, and will burn you the moment it's convenient to do so.

We're already starting to see that. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others are pleading with the government to allow them to explain details of what information they provided in response to National Security Letters and other government demands. They've lost the trust of their customers, and explaining what they do -- and don't do -- is how to get it back. The government has refused; they don't care.

It will be the same with you. There are lots more high-tech companies who have cooperated with the government. Most of those company names are somewhere in the thousands of documents that Edward Snowden took with him, and sooner or later they'll be released to the public. The NSA probably told you that your cooperation would forever remain secret, but they're sloppy. They'll put your company name on presentations delivered to thousands of people: government employees, contractors, probably even foreign nationals. If Snowden doesn't have a copy, the next whistleblower will.
Read More...
Bulb

Researchers find 'grammar' plays key role in activating genes

Jeffrey Norris
University of California - San Francisco
Mon, 12 Aug 2013 18:23 UTC
Image
© UCSFUCSF molecular biologist, Nadav Ahituv, Ph.D., is senior scientist on the study.
Insight from UCSF-led study may advance gene and cell therapy.

Researchers have probed deep into the cell's genome, beyond the basic genetic code, to begin learning the "grammar" that helps determine whether or not a gene gets switched on to make the protein it encodes.

Their discovery -- that the ordering of specific DNA sequences in key regions of the genome affects the activity of genes -- might advance efforts to use gene and cell-based therapies to treat disease, said UCSF molecular biologist Nadav Ahituv, PhD, senior scientist on the study. The findings were published online in the journal Nature Genetics on July 28 and will appear in the September print edition.

In gene therapy, which is still experimental, specific genes are delivered to cells to make proteins that improve cellular physiology and fight disease. The new findings offer a way to activate these genes in specific tissues.

"Our work suggests a framework for the design of synthetic, tissue-specific DNA that could be used to control gene activation," said Ahituv, an associate professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy.
Read More...
Info

Deep Earth heat transfer lower than previously believed


RedOrbit
Sun, 11 Aug 2013 16:31 UTC
Earth's Core
© Leonello Calvetti/Shutterstock
Researchers have, for the first time, experimentally simulated the pressure conditions of the Earth's deep lower mantle - an achievement that could shed new light on the planet's evolution, according to a study published Friday in the online edition of the journal Scientific Reports.

Experts from the Carnegie Institution and the University of Illinois managed to use their simulation to measure thermal conductivity in this region of the mantle, which is located some 400 to 1,800 miles below the Earth's surface.

Using a newly-developed measurement technique, the study authors found heat transfer is lower than previous predictions had established. In fact, they report the total heat flow across the planet is approximately 10.4 terawatts, which is roughly 60 percent of the power used by people on a daily basis. They also discovered conductivity has less dependence on pressure conditions than had been previously predicted.

"The lower mantle sits on top of the core where pressures range from 230,000 to 1.3 million times the pressure at sea level," lead author Douglas Dalton said in a statement. "Temperatures are like an inferno - from about 2,800°F to 6,700 °F. The major constituents are oxides of magnesium, silicon and calcium. Heat transfer occurs at a higher rate across materials of high thermal conductivity than across materials of low thermal conductivity, thus these low thermal conductivity oxides are insulating."
Read More...