Insects who can scale walls are able to do so because of the thousands of tiny hairs that cover their feet and legs. The hairs have flattened tips that can splay out to maximize contact, even on rough surfaces. 

The ability of insects to run up walls and hang from ceilings have fascinated humans for centuries. Scientists from the Zoological Institute at the University of Kiel, in Germany, have created a dry tape similar to the hairs on insects that can be repeatedly peeled off without losing its adhesive properties. They presented their work at the AVS Symposium held last week in Nashville, Tenn.

Old-fashioned 'leatherhead' football helmets from the early 1900s were as effective, and sometimes better, than modern football helmets - at least when it comes to injuries during routine, game-like collisions.

The study in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine compared head injury risks of two early 20th Century leatherhead helmets with 11 top-of–the-line 21st Century polycarbonate helmets. 

Varices, commonly called varicose veins, are a cosmetic problem if they occur as spider veins but in their advanced stage they pose a real health threat. In those patients, the blood is no longer transported to the heart unhindered but instead pools in the veins of the leg because the vessel walls or venous valves no longer function adequately.

Estimates show that 2010 was by far a record year for CO₂ emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement manufacture. Globally 9,139 Teragrams, a teragram is a million metric tons, of oxidized carbon (Tg-C) were emitted from these sources.

Converted to carbon dioxide, so as to include the mass of the oxygen molecules, this amounts to over 33.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. The increase alone is about 512 Tg-C, or 5.9%, over the 2009 global estimate. The previous record year was 2008, with 8,749 Tg-C emitted; the 2010 estimate is about 104.5% of that, or 391 Tg-C more.

Physical activity is always good for you but a new analysis says it may patients reduce their risk of developing glaucoma. Higher levels of physical exercise appear to have a long-term beneficial impact on low ocular perfusion pressure (OPP), an important risk factor for glaucoma.

The analysis examined the relationship between physical activity and current OPP in 5,650 men and women aged 48-90 who live in the U.K. and were part of initial cohort from 1993-1997.

Chinese researchers have created a hypothesis for a quantum cloning machine able to produce several copies of the state of a particle at atomic or sub-atomic scale, or quantum state, which if produced could have implications for quantum information processing methods such as encryption systems.

Quantum cloning is difficult because quantum mechanics laws only allow for an approximate copy—not an exact copy—of an original quantum state to be made, as measuring such a state prior to its cloning would alter it. In their study, they demonstrate that it may be possible to create four approximate copies of an initial quantum state, a process called asymmetric cloning.