A new study from Northwestern University shows what many mothers already know: their babies are a lot smarter than others may realize.

Though only five months old, the study's cuties indicated through their curious stares that they could differentiate water in a glass from solid blue material that looked very much like water in a similar glass. 

The finding that infants can distinguish between solids and liquids at such an early age builds upon a growing body of research that strongly suggests that babies are not blank slates who primarily depend on others for acquiring knowledge. That's a common assumption of researchers in the not too distant past.

If you know anyone who grew up in Chicago or was raised there yourself, you've likely heard a classy, intellectual term applied to anyone exhibiting a wide variety of behaviors.

That's right, I'm talking about the deeb, or, in more vulgar terms, the douchebag. As urban dictionary so eloquently says, being a douchebag, or committing acts of douchebaggery, "is one of those things as easily understood by definition as it is by one's demonstrations of it." So, deebs, welcome to the scales of depravity.

Most people know Edwin Hubble as a famed astronomer, the namesake of the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (HST).  Most probably don't know he also starred as a forward on the University of Chicago Maroons' Big Ten-champion basketball teams in the early part of the 20th century.  

As an astronomer, Hubble showed that galaxies besides our own existed in the universe, and that the universe is expanding. These findings formed the cornerstone of the Big Bang theory of the universe's origin and opened the field of cosmology.  As a basketball player, the 6-foot-2 Hubble was a member of Chicago teams that posted records of 24-2 in 1907-08 and 10-3 in 1908-09.

The Fermi collaboration released yesterday a paper describing their measurement of the electron and positron flux of cosmic rays. Simultaneously, a second paper was published by the HESS collaboration on the very same topic. Together, these two important new articles provide the means for a significant advancement in our understanding of the spectrum of electrons and positrons from nearby sources.

It is especially meaningful to consider the two results together because the two instruments are as different as salt grains and tequila. Let me see where to start:

Engineering A Biological Pulse Generator

I've got my issues with synthetic biology. Either synthetic biologists do something trivial dressed up in elaborate engineering language, or they achieve something impressive and complex the old fashioned way (the way molecular biologists have been doing it for decades) - genetic engineering through trial and error, with very little principles-based engineering involved.

What I want to see is a result that falls somewhere in between these two extremes: genetic engineering that's non-trivial, but not so complex that it's impossible to use simulation and the rudimentary quantitative design principles that are useful in biology.

WASHINGTON, May 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- Brazilian Industry wants lower carbon emissions of its biofuels to be recognized

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) welcomed today's White House announcement that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will finally publish proposed rules to implement the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). UNICA confirmed that it would submit formal, detailed comments to the EPA in coming weeks.

MADRID, May 5 /PRNewswire/ --

The Brattle Group, a global economic consulting firm, announced today that it has expanded its international presence with the establishment of a new office in Madrid, Spain. The Madrid office will be led by Dr David Robinson, a principal of Brattle and an expert in competition, regulation and corporate strategy in energy and other regulated industries.

While I was napping, Jupiter became a 2nd sun. Although it was observed in January by STEREO, we forgot to tell people. Or perhaps we were hiding the truth. Also, it was so well covered on YouTube that we didn't think we had to bother with a press release.

And thus occurred the most benign conspiracy in the history of NASA.

See, usually NASA is accused of hiding evidence of aliens, moon landing hoaxes, flat Earths, and other things Too Dangerous For People To Know. But when Jupiter was seen igniting as a second sun, the response was... upbeat.

CHICAGO, May 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- Major release of column-oriented, MPP DBMS features dozens of enhancements driven by fastest growing customer base in analytic data management

Vertica announced a major release of the Vertica Analytic Database at the TDWI Conference with new performance, analytic and security features designed to make it the analytic data management workhorse of modern data centers.

PORTLAND, Oregon, May 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- Over 80 speakers connected in perfect harmony