Magicians could join composers and artists in finding new ideas for their performances by using computers to create new magic effects, according to computer scientists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).

Writing in the open access journal Frontiers in Psychology, the scientists, one of whom is also practicing magician, have looked at modelling particular human perceptual quirks and processes, and building computer systems able to search and find designs for new tricks based on these potential responses from the audience.

The rise of big data and advances in information technology has serious implications for our ability to deliver sufficient bandwidth to meet the growing demand.

Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are looking at alternative sources that will be able to take over where traditional optical communications systems are likely to fail in future.

In their latest research, published online today (10 June 2016) in the scientific journal, Scientific Reports, the team from South Africa and Tunisia demonstrate over 100 patterns of light used in an optical communication link, potentially increasing the bandwidth of communication systems by 100 times.

Sometimes we all just want to take a day off, be it from work or school. In the classic 1980s movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, the title character spent his day off gallivanting around Chicago, seeing the sights and even hijacking a parade.

Unlike the super-confident Ferris, most of us would probably worry about getting caught if we took off like that. But is that fear really justified?

Disclaimer: If you read this, don't blame me for whatever psychological damage that will inevitably follow.

This may not be the most dignified thing I've ever written, but I couldn't resist once I thought of the title. And, it also happens to be a real condition.

In fact, Cosmo, that bastion of science, has an article called 
"13 Problems Men Have With Their Balls," and this is one of the 13. If you've gotten this far, I'm guessing you're gonna read it, but don't expect to see something that is worthy of The New England Journal of Medicine. 

I am spending some time today at the Altarelli Memorial Symposium, which is taking place at the main auditorium at CERN. The recently deceased Guido Altarelli was one of the leading theorists who brought us to the height of our understanding of the Standard Model of particle physics, and it is heart-warming to see so many colleagues young and old here today - Guido was a teacher for all of us.

CHICAGO --- About 80 percent of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis saw their disease completely or almost completely cleared with a new drug called ixekizumab, according to three large, long-term clinical trials led by Northwestern Medicine.

The results of these phase III trials were compiled in a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"This group of studies not only shows very high and consistent levels of safety and efficacy, but also that the great majority of the responses persist at least 60 weeks," said Dr. Kenneth Gordon, a professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and first author of the paper.

How can you buy a new car and still appear socially responsible? Make it a hybrid or electric car. The manufacturing strain on the environment is the same, and the energy production strain is worse because the energy density is far less than combustion, but you can appear socially responsible to others.

Gut microbes are all the rage and scholars everywhere are latching onto the fad. If you are over the age of 30, you have seen this too many times to count. Sugar causes diabetes, salt causes heart disease, trans fats cause everything, saturated fats were bad until they were good. 

Now a paper in Nature claims an altered gut microbiota causes obesity. 

In an earlier study, Gerald I. Shulman, M.D., the George R. Cowgill Professor of Medicine, observed that acetate, a short-chain fatty acid, stimulated the secretion of insulin in rodents. To learn more about acetate's role, they conducted a series of experiments in rodent models of obesity. 

If we want to cut down on antibacterial resistance, we should certainly stop buying that stupid hand soap, but we should also stop doing symptom-based medicine when it comes to sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), which the regular medical community abandoned years ago.

Leave that kind of 'act first, think later' approach to homeopaths, naturopaths and chiropractors.

If we did, 75 percent of emergency department patients with symptoms of gonorrhea or chlamydia would not just be handed antibiotics only to test negative.  

Euthanasia with the use of physicians is supported by a majority of California and Hawaii residents, regardless of their ethnicity - as reliable as an Internet survey can be, that is.

Older people were more likely than younger people to feel it is acceptable for physicians, who obey the Hippocratic oath, to prescribe life-ending drugs for terminally ill patients who request them. Even among people who consider themselves spiritual or religious, about 52 percent supported the practice.