Science & TechnologyS


Question

Are some men predisposed to pedophilia?


Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:56 UTC
Height may point to a biological basis for pedophilia, according to new research released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The study found that pedophilic males were shorter on average than males without a sexual attraction to children.

The study, published in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, suggests that pedophiles may have been exposed to pre-birth conditions that affected their physical development. The researchers observed this height difference by analyzing the files of over 1,000 men who were assessed for pedophilia or other sexual disorders between 1995 and 2006 at the Kurt Freund Laboratory in Toronto, Canada.


Comment: What about conducting similar research on psychopathy?

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Rocket

China plans Wednesday launch for moon orbiter


Reuters
Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:39 UTC
China's preparations to launch its first lunar orbiter are on schedule for lift-off later this week, a Chinese official said on Monday, as the country steps up efforts in a new international race for the moon.

©REUTERS/China Daily
The Long March 3A rocket and a lunar orbiter, the Chang'e One, which are under wraps, sits on the launch pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, in southwest China's Sichuan province, October 20, 2007.
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Key

Carmakers seek spark for engine of the future

Marcel Michelson
Reuters
Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:51 UTC
Oil is getting scarce and the internal combustion engine adds to pollution, therefore the car of the not too distant future needs a new motor. But what?

Delegates at the Nikkei automotive conference here, in the week of the Tokyo Autoshow, reviewed the industry's sputtering progress towards new power systems in the knowledge that if they do not come up with a solution the sector may come to a halt.
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Cloud Lightning

Scientists a step closer to steering hurricanes

Tim Shipman
Telegraph
Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:59 UTC
Scientists have made a breakthrough in man's desire to control the forces of nature - unveiling plans to weaken hurricanes and steer them off course, to prevent tragedies such as Hurricane Katrina.

The damage done to New Orleans in 2005 has spurred two rival teams of climate experts, in America and Israel, to redouble their efforts to enable people to play God with the weather.
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Bizarro Earth

Pangaea, the comeback

Caroline Williams, Ted Nield
New Scientist
Sun, 21 Oct 2007 09:11 UTC
IT'S the year 250,000,000 and Earth is alive and well. Humans have long since perished, but the planet is still home to a bewildering array of life forms. Yet apart from a few mysterious fossils there is no trace that we ever existed.

©New Scientist
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Question

100 years later, laundry may be easier but have we saved any time?


Physorg
Sun, 21 Oct 2007 09:06 UTC
A century after the first electric washing machines promised to take the work out of laundry, it doesn't seem like today's multi-cycle magicians are saving us much time.

Sure we don't have to boil the water and lug it by hand over to big metal tubs. Nor do we have to strain our arms running sopping wet clothes through a wringer thanks the advent of the spin cycle.

But, somehow, the pile of washing has managed to grow ever larger with every seemingly time-saving advance.
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Laptop

Imagine Your Laptop Running for 30 Years -- On a Single Charge

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:09 UTC
According to Next Energy News, work funded by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory may produce batteries capable of fueling an electrical device, like a laptop, for about 30 years.

The breakthrough betavoltaic power cells are an alternative energy technology, similar to that of a solar panel, which converts photons (light) into electric current. The betavoltaic batteries are constructed from semiconductors that use radioisotopes as the energy source. As the radioactive material decays, it emits beta particles that transform into usable electric power.
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Evil Rays

'World's smallest radio' unveiled


BBC News
Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:05 UTC
The world's tiniest radio is a step closer to reality.
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Monkey Wrench

Scientists cross trees with rabbits to absorb environmental poisons

Lisa Stiffler
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:56 UTC
Super trees that suck up and destroy toxic chemicals from the air and water faster than regular trees are the latest creation by scientists at the University of Washington.

When the scientists stick a rabbit gene into poplar trees, the trees become dramatically better at eliminating a dozen kinds of pollutants commonly found on poisoned properties.
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Bizarro Earth

Canada celebrates International Polar Year with massive scientific odyssey

Peggy Curran
Montreal Gazette
Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:16 UTC
To better understand global warming -- and the role of largely man-made changes that began with the Industrial Age two centuries ago and are now galloping at breakneck speed -- scientists aboard the CCGS Amundsen hunt for clues in the mud and bedrock, peat moss and plankton and permafrost. Using sonars and CAT scans, radioactive isotopes like carbon 14 and other indelible markers, they seek to chart and date everything from where the seawater came from, and when, to how long sediment layers have rested undisturbed on the sea floor.

NACHVAK FJORD, Labrador -- Beneath their sheaths of ice and permafrost, those blustery islands at the top of the world hide souvenirs of a distant tropical past. Remnants of fossil forests are strewn across the ridges of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg in Canada's High Arctic. In Norway's Svalbard archipelago, the rocky cliffs of Spitsbergen are embedded with coral shells, relics from centuries spent somewhere south of modern-day Fort Lauderdale.
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