Much of the predicted future of neurotechnology is grounded in the continuing success and development of nanotechnology. This field is broad, for sure, and is even a primary target of the US Federal Government (see the NNI).

Researchers at Edinburgh Napier’s Biofuel Research Centre have done something unthinkable - they have used Scotch to fuel cars instead of violence-filled weekends.

Well, not Scotch specifically, rather whisky manufacturing waste from Glenkinchie Distillery (The Edinburgh Malt). Whew, the culture dodged a bullet there.     But it's also a good idea.  Scotch is a $5.5 billion industry in Scotland and Edinburgh Napier hit on the idea that whisky by-products could be an excellent resource for developing biobutanol, a next-generation biofuel with 30% more output power than ethanol. 

To understand how it works, you need a quick primer on whisky.

It may surprise those who know of my Ulster Protestant background that I am something of a fan of Flannery O’Connor.  As yet, I have not delved into her novels, but I have read all her stories, and also Mystery and Manners : Occasional Prose, from which I take the following

Semantic: "of, pertaining to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols: semantic change; semantic confusion."

Pedantic: "overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, esp. in teaching."

Being still in the middle of a rather long vacation (now in the Italian eastern alps), my blogging power is limited. So today I will just offer you some thoughts on the recent measurements of a fundamental parameter of the Standard Model called "W boson width".

The W boson, like any unstable subatomic particle, has a very short lifetime, which depends on the strength of its couplings to lighter particles, on its own mass (generally the heavier a particle is, the faster is its disintegration), and on the availability of lighter bodies into which to decay without breaking any fundamental rule.

'Zombies', most famous from Haitian folklore, have actually been witnessed in nature and a new fossil study has them extending back 48 million years.
 
This sort of zombie control happens when a parasite takes control of its host and many types of animals are susceptible to the often deadly body invasion, but scientists have been trying to track down when and where such parasites evolved.  A molecular clock approach can be used to estimate where and when they developed and fossils are an important source of information to calibrate such clocks.

Does money make you happy?  Economists think so - the concept of 'utility' assumes that economic activity represents people consuming in ways that best supports their happiness.  And yet, high sales of Backstreet Boys CDs prove that this cannot be true.  What's going on here?

Happiness is a difficult thing to study scientifically

A study in the latest JAMA using data from two nationally representative surveys indicates that hearing loss among U.S. adolescents increased by about 30 percent in a 12 year period ending 2006, with 1 in 5 adolescents having hearing loss in the 2005-2006 results.

Hearing loss is a common sensory disorder, affecting tens of millions of people in the United States. Adolescent hearing loss is not well understood but some risk factors, like loud sound exposure from listening to music, may be of particular importance to both adolescents and parents.

Arctic Ice August 2010 - Update #3

The NSIDC has just issued an update report for August -

August 17, 2010
North by Northwest

The end of summer is approaching in the Arctic; temperatures are dropping and melt is ending in the high latitudes. Yet summer is not quite over in the lower latitudes of the Arctic Ocean, where sea ice extent continues to decline. Sea ice has melted out extensively in the northern route of the Northwest Passage, but the passage is not completely open.

Ah, summer, the time to neglect thinking and just build crap.  So, much as with the DIY Clean Room, I started gathering bits to make the DIY Vacuum chamber.

I'm building a vacuum chamber to make sure that my satellite doesn't go kablooey when it hits space. Vacuum is a nasty environment.  We have no pressure, we have outgassing, and (least we not forget) we have the simple removal of air.