GENEVA, Switzerland, January 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A new International Standard from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) will help designers of audio-video and information technology equipment - such as laptops, mobile phones and TVs - to make the best decisions on energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact at the start of the design and development process.

The standard - IEC 62075 - makes designers consider the entire life cycle of a product - from the materials and energy used in its manufacturing, to its efficiency when switched on or in standby mode, through to the safe disposal of the product at the end of its life.

Using mice as models, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology traced some of the differences between humans and chimpanzees to differences in our diet.

Humans consume a distinct diet compared to other apes. Not only do we consume much more meat and fat, but we also cook our food. It has been hypothesized that adopting these dietary patterns played a key role during human evolution. However, to date, the influence of diet on the physiological and genetic differences between humans and other apes has not been widely examined.

By feeding laboratory mice different human and chimp diets over a mere two week period, researchers at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, were able to reconstruct some of the physiological and genetic differences observed between humans and chimpanzees.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, January 30 /PRNewswire/ --

3LCD today confirmed its support for the new Color Brightness metric. The Color Brightness metric is being submitted to the ISO for approval as an update to the International Standard for light output measurement. Color Brightness specifies a projector's ability to deliver color. The Color Brightness metric addresses the failure of current projector specifications to measure color performance, allowing purchasers to evaluate color performance at a glance. 3LCD joins a growing list of industry players supporting the new metric.

SAN RAMON, California, January 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- Public Availability of ZigBee Technology Foreshadows New Products Available From ZigBee Members This Year

The ZigBee Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, commercial and consumer applications, today announced the public availability of the latest version of the ZigBee Specification and the certification of the newest ZigBee Golden Unit platforms which implement the ZigBee PRO Feature Set.

A new International Standard from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) will help designers of audio-video and information technology equipment - such as laptops, mobile phones and TVs - to make the best decisions on energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact at the start of the design and development process.

The standard - IEC 62075 - makes designers consider the entire life cycle of a product - from the materials and energy used in its manufacturing, to its efficiency when switched on or in standby mode, through to the safe disposal of the product at the end of its life.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, which is used to treat Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, is now being studied for its potential to treat a variety of conditions. For example, DBS of the hypothalamus has been used to treat cluster headaches and aggressiveness in humans, and stimulating this area influences feeding behavior in animals.

A new study in the Annals of Neurology found that hypothalamic DBS performed in the treatment of a patient with morbid obesity unexpectedly evoked detailed autobiographical memories.

VICTOR, New York, January 30 /PRNewswire/ --

Kirtas Technologies, the leader in quality, high-speed, nondestructive book digitization, today announced the opening of a European subsidiary to capture and better service the considerable growth potential for book digitization in Europe.

Kirtas Europe, B.V., is located in Southeast Amsterdam and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kirtas Technologies. Beginning 1 February, the office will provide systems and service support to resellers, agents and end users providing mass digitization in the European market.

LONDON, January 30 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS pricing (http://www.icis.com/pricing), the global market pricing and intelligence service for the oil and chemical industries, and Chemease (http://www.chemease.com), a subsidiary of CBI China, China's domestic commodity market information leader, have joined forces to launch weekly English language pricing reports covering the Chinese market.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scientists have discovered that cocaine-related images trigger the emotional centers of the brains of patients addicted to drugs, even when the subjects are unaware they’ve seen anything - and the regions of the brain activated by drug images overlapped substantially with those activated by sexual ones.

A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, led by Dr. Anna Rose Childress and Dr. Charles O’Brien, showed cocaine patients photos of drug-related cues like crack pipes and chunks of cocaine. The images flashed by in just 33 milliseconds - so quickly that the patients were not consciously aware of seeing them.