Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new ion trap that enables ions to go through an intersection while keeping their cool. Ten million times cooler than in prior similar trips, in fact.

The demonstration described in Physical Review Letters is a step toward scaling up trap technology to build a large-scale quantum computer using ions (electrically charged atoms), a potentially powerful machine that could perform certain calculations—such as breaking today’s best data encryption codes—much faster than today’s computers.

The great thing about science is that we will converge on the correct answer eventually.  In something like climate change, there is rarely one correct answer and while greenhouse gases have long been center stage in discussions about global climate change, new NASA research suggests that much of the atmospheric warming observed in the Arctic since 1976 may be due to changes in tiny airborne particles called aerosols.

That doesn't mean mankind is off the hook.   Aerosols are emitted by both natural and human sources and, regardless of where they come from, they can directly influence climate by reflecting or absorbing the sun's radiation. The small particles also affect climate indirectly by seeding clouds and changing cloud properties, such as reflectivity.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas have shown that changing the chirality, or direction of spin, of a nanoscale magnetic vortex creates an electric pulse, suggesting that such a pulse might be of use in creating computer memory and writing information. 

Physicists Sergey Prosandeev and Laurent Bellaiche reported their findings in Physical Review Letters.

“This is new physics,” Prosandeev said. “There are many possibilities that can follow from this.”

A team of astronomers, led by Dr. Bo Wang from the Yunnan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have developed a new model which explains the formation of the most youthful type Ia supernovae. In a paper published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dr. Bo Wang and his team show how the transfer of material from a ‘helium star’ to a compact white dwarf companion causes these cataclysmic events to take place early on in the life of the galaxy they formed in.

'Herbal' doesn't always mean safe and buying diet pills on the internet seems like a higher order of risky behavior but people still do it.   Herbal supplement use has continued to rise as people have become aware that some natural products may be superior to synthetic ones, meaning a boost in reported herbal supplement use from 2.5% of people in 1990 to 18.6% in 2002.   

Herbal supplements with references to "traditional medicine" or "natural components" are widely exempt from FDA regulation because they don't contain ingredients in quantities that can do any harm but a new study tackles Chinese diet capsules that claimed to be purely herbal but nonetheless contain synthetic substances in concentrations far above the therapeutic range and may be a cause of poisoning.

A new study conducted at Mayo Clinic and published in the April issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings reports that one in six patients receiving therapeutic doses of certain drugs for Parkinson's disease develops new-onset, potentially destructive behaviors, notably compulsive gambling or hypersexuality.

That may make grandpa a lot more interesting in doses but hedonistic, destructive behavior can be life-altering for the family members no amused by those antics, like the wife who finds her house mortgaged to have gambling money.

Why are kids in  Italian prisons, you might be asking?   Italian law says sending kids to prison is a lot less traumatic than being away from their criminal mothers.   Italian fathers must be busy boun giorno-ing foreign women on the streets.   Whatever the reason,  mothers sentenced to prison or awaiting trial can bring their children and live in specific 'nest' areas of the jail. 

Physicians of the Institute of Paediatric Clinic of the Catholic University of Rome – Policlinico Agostino Gemelli entered the Casa di reclusione di Roma Rebibbia, the main prison of Rome, where the majority of these children live, to assess their health conditions. The paper has been published on the last issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health.

The Earth's original atmosphere held very little oxygen. This began to change around 2.4 billion years ago when oxygen levels increased dramatically during what scientists call the "Great Oxidation Event." The cause of this event has puzzled scientists, but researchers writing in Nature* have found indications in ancient sedimentary rocks that it may have been linked to a drop in the level of dissolved nickel in seawater.

"The Great Oxidation Event is what irreversibly changed surface environments on Earth and ultimately made advanced life possible," says research team member Dominic Papineau of the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory. "It was a major turning point in the evolution of our planet, and we are getting closer to understanding how it occurred." 

The problem of how to model a biological system has been staring me in the face every day in recent months, and I need a place to indulge in baseless speculation. So if you stick around here at Adaptive Complexity for the next few weeks, you are going to get treated to a dose of half-baked, semi-coherent (at best), partially thought-out musings on what it takes to model a biological system.

There isn't a lot that can pull me away from a hockey game.* Such is the power of Wired magazine, and really freaking cool science.

When people see the optical illusion known as "the hollow mask" - a concave face, like the back side of a hollow mask - they see a normal convex face, according to a Wired Science post (see photo below). But the approximately 1 percent of the population with schizophrenia see the concave face.