Hardware piracy - making knock-off microchips based on stolen blueprints - has long been a chronic problem in the electronics industry. Computer engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University have devised a comprehensive way to head off this costly infringement: Each chip would have its own unique lock and key. The patent holder would hold the keys. The chip would securely communicate with the patent-holder to unlock itself, and it could operate only after being unlocked.

The technique is called EPIC, short for Ending Piracy of Integrated Circuits. It relies on established cryptography methods and introduces subtle changes into the chip design process. But it does not affect the chips' performance or power consumption.

According to quantum mechanics, small magnetic objects called nanomagnets can exist in two distinct states (i.e. north pole up and north pole down). They can switch their state through a phenomenon called quantum tunneling.

When the nanomagnet switches its poles, the abrupt change in its magnetization can be observed with low-temperature magnetometry techniques used in del Barco’s lab. The switch is called quantum tunneling because it looks like a funnel cloud tunneling from one pole to another.

A new paper in Nature shows that two almost independent halves of a new magnetic molecule can tunnel, or switch poles, at once under certain conditions. In the process, they appear to cancel out quantum tunneling.

SAN DIEGO, March 5 /PRNewswire/ --

- The CDMA Certification Forum to announce its 2008 objectives including a new certification process.

The CCF (CDMA Certification Forum) a global non-profit organization dedicated to improving test efficiency in order to improve time to market and cost associated with CDMA device certification has announced its participation to the 2008 3G CDMA Middle East and Africa Regional Conference.

Research from ancient sediment cores indicates that a warming climate could make the world’s arctic tundra far more susceptible to fires than previously thought. The findings are important given the potential for tundra fires to release organic carbon – which could add significantly to the amount of greenhouse gases already blamed for global warming.

Montana State University post-doctoral researcher Philip Higuera is the lead author on the paper, which summarizes a portion of a four-year study funded by the National Science Foundation.

Butterflies and moths are well known for their striking metamorphosis from crawling caterpillars to winged adults. In light of this radical change, not just in body form, but also in lifestyle, diet and dependence on particular sensory cues, it would seem unlikely that learned associations or memories formed at the larval or caterpillar stage could be accessible to the adult moth or butterfly.

Now, scientists at Georgetown University have discovered that a moth can indeed remember what it learned as a caterpillar.

Just picture the scene: you’re at a cocktail party, talking to someone you would like to get to know better but the background noise is making it hard to concentrate. Luckily, humans are very gifted at listening to someone speaking while many other people are talking loudly at the same time. This so-called cocktail-party-phenomenon is based on the ability of the human auditory system to decompose the acoustic world into discrete objects of perception.

It was originally believed that the major acoustic cue used by the auditory system to solve this task was directional information of the sound source, but even though localisation of different sound sources with two ears improves the performance, it can be achieved monaurally, for example in telephone conversations, where no directional information is available.

NEW YORK, March 4 /PRNewswire/ --

- Reese Witherspoon and Suze Orman among the Featured Speakers at Global Summit for Better Tomorrow in Celebration of International Women's Day-

- The Largest One-Year Corporate Contribution Ever Received by the Fund-

RALEIGH, North Carolina, March 4 /PRNewswire/ --

DARA BioSciences(TM) (Nasdaq: DARA) announced today the appointment of David J. Drutz, MD to the Board of Directors. Dr. Drutz was appointed to fill a Board vacancy and will serve on the Company's Compensation Committee as well as Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. The appointment was effective February 26, 2008.

Richard Franco, Sr., DARA's Board Chairman, commented, "It is a pleasure to announce David's appointment. Considering his varied background and successful experiences, David will add another positive dimension to our Board."

DETROIT and LONDON, March 4 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Joint Venture Company is positioned to be a global leader in aerostructures engineering and design

- Will be the Preferred Delivery Center, for both organizations, for all aerostructures

INCAT, a global leader in engineering services outsourcing (ESO) and product development IT services and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Asia's premier aero structures manufacturer today announced a joint venture creating INCAT-HAL Aerostructures Limited. The new organization is immediately positioned to establish itself as a global leader in the engineering and design of aerostructures.

Girolamo Fracastoro (also known as Hieronymus Fracastorius), was born in 1478 in Verona, at that time still part of the Republic of Venice, to a noble family. He studied at Padua University, where he graduated in 1502. At the same University, he was assigned the chair of Logic and Philosophy.

His teacher was the doctor-philosopher Pietro Pomponazzi and his study colleagues were Andrea Navagero, who became a noted historian, along with Pietro Bembo and Gaspare Contarini, both of whom became Cardinals.

Medicine was his passion but he was also a humanist and a scientist, he was interested in astronomy, mathematics, physics, botany, geology, geography, and even composition of verses. He was contemporary and friend to Nicolaus Copernico (Copernicus).