Science & Technology
A gene that helps control muscle development makes all the difference between an elite racing dog and a freak that is put down at birth, scientists reported on Tuesday.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has provided new data on the Jupiter system -- stunning scientists with never-before-seen perspectives of the giant planet's atmosphere, rings, moons and magnetosphere.
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| ©NASA/JHUAPL |
| Image of the planet Jupiter's moon, Io, as seen by the New Horizons spacecraft. A plume from a huge volcanic eruption can be seen at the north pole of the moon. |
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| ©Darpa |
| Darpa says a soldier's brain can be monitored in real time, with an EEG picking up "neural signatures" that indicate target detection. |
U.S. Special Forces may soon have a strange and powerful new weapon in their arsenal: a pair of high-tech binoculars 10 times more powerful than anything available today, augmented by an alerting system that literally taps the wearer's prefrontal cortex to warn of furtive threats detected by the soldier's subconscious.
What a person says is not necessarily an indication of what that person knows because speech is motivated by social circumstances and the desire to influence the listener. Two researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have applied this principle to local environmental knowledge by indigenous peoples and are urging other scientists to incorporate more observation and skepticism into their studies.
During the last 10,000 years climate has been seesawing between the North and South Atlantic Oceans. As revealed by findings presented by Quaternary scientists at Lund University, Sweden, cold periods in the north have corresponded to warmth in the south and vice verse. These results imply that Europe may face a slightly cooler future than predicted by IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The research group, currently consisting of Svante Björck, Karl Ljung and Dan Hammarlund, has retrieved cores of lake sediments and peat along a north-south transect of Atlantic islands and adjacent land areas: Greenland, Iceland, Faroes, Azores, Tristan da Cunha, Isla de los Estados, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Based on detailed analyses of geochemistry, mineral magnetism and pollen content, hitherto unknown details of Atlantic climate dynamics have been resolved. Extensive radiocarbon dating and rapid sedimentation rates in the terrestrial deposits allow a much higher temporal resolution of the data than provided by marine sediment cores.
The research group, currently consisting of Svante Björck, Karl Ljung and Dan Hammarlund, has retrieved cores of lake sediments and peat along a north-south transect of Atlantic islands and adjacent land areas: Greenland, Iceland, Faroes, Azores, Tristan da Cunha, Isla de los Estados, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Based on detailed analyses of geochemistry, mineral magnetism and pollen content, hitherto unknown details of Atlantic climate dynamics have been resolved. Extensive radiocarbon dating and rapid sedimentation rates in the terrestrial deposits allow a much higher temporal resolution of the data than provided by marine sediment cores.
Viacom Inc.'s copyright infringement suit against Google Inc. and its YouTube video-sharing unit strikes at the heart of how the Internet works, Google argued on Monday in a U.S. federal court filing.
Responding in the filing to Viacom's more-than-$1 billion lawsuit, the Web search leader denied virtually all the claims, including that the popular video-watching site was engaged in "massive intentional copyright infringement."
"By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Viacom's complaint threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression," Google said in answer to Viacom's March 13 suit.
Responding in the filing to Viacom's more-than-$1 billion lawsuit, the Web search leader denied virtually all the claims, including that the popular video-watching site was engaged in "massive intentional copyright infringement."
"By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Viacom's complaint threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression," Google said in answer to Viacom's March 13 suit.
Google Inc. on Monday filed a response to Viacom Inc.'s copyright infringement lawsuit over Google's massively popular video-sharing sharing site YouTube, arguing that the site's activities are legal.
Viacom had sued Google on March 13, claiming that YouTube has used digital technology to "willfully infringe copyrights on a huge scale," facilitating the unauthorized viewing of many pieces of Viacom's programing from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, such as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
Viacom had sued Google on March 13, claiming that YouTube has used digital technology to "willfully infringe copyrights on a huge scale," facilitating the unauthorized viewing of many pieces of Viacom's programing from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, such as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
- Recent studies carried out in Gorham's cave, on Gibraltar, proved to be definitive for this work.
- Results show that the Neanderthal extinction could have been greatly determined by environmental and climate changes and not by competitiveness with modern humans.
- The research work was recently published in Quaternary Science Reviews journal.
- Results show that the Neanderthal extinction could have been greatly determined by environmental and climate changes and not by competitiveness with modern humans.
- The research work was recently published in Quaternary Science Reviews journal.
Comment: That sounds pretty interesting even if highly speculative.
How did the climate know to target neanderthals and not cro-magnon?
A team of scientists announced today confirmation of a link between massive volcanic eruptions along the east coast of Greenland and in the western British Isles about 55 million years ago and a period of global warming that raised sea surface temperatures by five degrees (Celsius) in the tropics and more than six degrees in the Arctic.
The findings were reported in this week's edition of Science.
The findings were reported in this week's edition of Science.
A large retail chain had a problem. It sold three similar power drills: one for about $90, a purportedly better one at $120 and a top-tier one at $130. The higher the price, the more the store profited. But while drill know-it-alls flocked to the $130 model and price-fretters grabbed its $90 cousin, shoppers often ignored the middle one. So the store sought advice from a new breed of "price-optimization" software from DemandTec Inc. What followed offers us a clue about important shifts that technology is bringing to retail shopping.
After analyzing an array of variables, including sales history and competitors' prices, the software suggested cutting the middle drill to $110.
That might have made the top drill seem more expensive. But drill aficionados still were fine shelling out $130. Sales of that drill didn't change. However, now that the $90 version seemed less of a bargain, the store sold 4 percent fewer low-end drills -- and 11 percent more of the mid-range model. Profits rose.
After analyzing an array of variables, including sales history and competitors' prices, the software suggested cutting the middle drill to $110.
That might have made the top drill seem more expensive. But drill aficionados still were fine shelling out $130. Sales of that drill didn't change. However, now that the $90 version seemed less of a bargain, the store sold 4 percent fewer low-end drills -- and 11 percent more of the mid-range model. Profits rose.
Comment: Wonder how many new moons they counted that they just forgot to mention?