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First Phase III Clinical Trial Results Of Safinamide In Advanced Parkinson's Disease To Be Presented At The Movement Disorder Society 13th International Congress

First Phase III Clinical Trial Results Of Safinamide In Advanced Parkinson's Disease To Be Presented At The Movement Disorder Society 13th International Congress

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and its partner Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. (SWX: NWRN) announced today that detailed results of the first Phase III clinical trial of safinamide as adjunctive treatment in mid- to late-stage Parkinson's disease (PD) (Study 016) will be presented at the Movement Disorder Society's 13th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders to be held in Paris, France, from June 7-11, 2009.

Air France Flight 447 Crash Circumstances Point To Terrorism, Says International Relations Professor

Air France Flight 447 Crash Circumstances Point To Terrorism, Says International Relations Professor

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

Speculation continues about the crash of Air France jetliner flight 447 on its transatlantic journey.  A University of Indianapolis international relations expert says recent events point to the possibility of terrorism.

Although there have been no claims of responsibility or specific indications of sabotage, the disappearance of a large airliner without warning is extremely rare and investigators say no potential causes have been ruled out. Today, aviation authorities revealed another Air France flight from Buenos Aires to Paris was grounded temporarily May 27 because of a telephoned bomb threat.
Altair Releases HyperWorks 10.0 With Powerful New Solver Capabilities And Technology Innovations

Altair Releases HyperWorks 10.0 With Powerful New Solver Capabilities And Technology Innovations

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

TROY, Michigan, June 3 /PRNewswire/ --

- New release broadens CAE platform for simulation-driven product development

Altair Engineering (www.altair.com), a global provider of technology and services empowering client innovation and decision making, today announced the release of Altair HyperWorks 10.0, an even more powerful version of its popular integrated computer-aided engineering (CAE) software suite. This new release builds upon the breadth of solver solutions and computation speed of RADIOSS, launches several first-to-market design optimization advancements, introduces a new mathematical analysis software technology, and extends its market leadership position in modeling and visualization technologies.

Kazakhstan's GSM Operator KaR-Tel Deploys RADWIN's Wireless Broadband Radios

Kazakhstan's GSM Operator KaR-Tel Deploys RADWIN's Wireless Broadband Radios

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

TEL AVIV, May 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Kar-Tel Uses RADWIN's Systems for Cellular Backhaul in the City

RADWIN (http://www.radwin.com), a leading provider of wireless broadband solutions, today announced that Kar-Tel - one of the largest mobile carriers in Kazakhstan - deployed its systems for cellular backhaul in the city of Almaty. KaR-Tel offers services in all Kazakhstan since 1999, and is a subsidiary of VimpelCom, Russia's second largest mobile operator.

Mood And The Visual System - Optimists Literally See Better

Mood And The Visual System - Optimists Literally See Better

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

Seeing the world through 'rose-colored glasses'  may be more biological reality than metaphor, according to a University of Toronto study that provides the first direct evidence that our mood literally changes the way our visual system filters our perceptual experience.

The U of T team used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine how our visual cortex processes sensory information when in good, bad, and neutral moods. They found that donning the rose-coloured glasses of a good mood is less about the colour and more about the expansiveness of the view. 
Copying The Cochlea - MIT Radio Chip Mimics Human Ear

Copying The Cochlea - MIT Radio Chip Mimics Human Ear

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

An ultra-broadband, low-power radio chip, modeled on the human inner ear could enable wireless devices capable of receiving cell phone, Internet, radio and television signals.   Rahul Sarpeshkar, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and graduate student Soumyajit Mandal designed the chip to mimic the inner ear, or cochlea. The chip is faster than any human-designed radio-frequency spectrum analyzer and also operates at much lower power. 

Quantum Entanglement In The Mechanical World

Quantum Entanglement In The Mechanical World

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated entanglement—a phenomenon peculiar to the atomic-scale quantum world—in a mechanical system similar to those in the macroscopic everyday world. The work extends the boundaries of the arena where quantum behavior can be observed and shows how laboratory technology might be scaled up to build a functional quantum computer. 

The research involves a bizarre intertwining between two pairs of vibrating ions (charged atoms) such that the pairs vibrate in unison, even when separated in space. Each pair of ions behaves like two balls connected by a spring , vibrating back and forth in opposite directions. Familiar objects that vibrate this way include pendulums and violin strings. 
Rammed Earth Ancient Building Technique Could Be In Our Eco-Friendly Future

Rammed Earth Ancient Building Technique Could Be In Our Eco-Friendly Future

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

Nothing makes modern progressives happy like hoping mankind regresses and nothing makes modern conservatives happy like hoping progress in the future will clean up the environment.

Both sides may win, according to research led by Durham University.   The secret of a successful sandcastle could aid the revival of an ancient eco-friendly building technique in the future.  Parts of the Great Wall of China and the Alhambra at Granada in Spain were built using 'rammed earth', which means it lasts a long time and is sustainable, pleasing one side, and both of those have military applications, pleasing the other.
Sleeping Pills Linked To Suicide In Older Patients

Sleeping Pills Linked To Suicide In Older Patients

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

Sleeping pills have been associated with a four-fold increase in suicide risk in the elderly but is it just bad correlation, in that sleeping pills are just a convenient way to commit suicide?   Researchers writing in the BMC Geriatrics say that  after adjusting for the presence of psychiatric conditions sedatives and hypnotics were both associated with an increased risk of suicide.

Anders Carlsten and Margda Waern from Gothenburg University carried out a case control study to determine whether specific types of psychoactive drugs were associated with suicide risk in later life.
Brain Radiation For Lung Cancer?

Brain Radiation For Lung Cancer?

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

A national Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) study led by a Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center physician at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee has found that a course of radiation therapy to the brain after treatment for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer reduced the risk of metastases to the brain within the first year after treatment. The study was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Orlando.
Phylogenetics Of Emotion? The Evolution Of Laughter In Apes

Phylogenetics Of Emotion? The Evolution Of Laughter In Apes

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

Like human infants, young apes are make noises when you tickle them.  Is that really laughter? The answer to the question is yes, say researchers in Current Biology.

The researchers analyzed the recorded sounds of tickle-induced vocalizations produced by infant and juvenile orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos, as well as those of human infants. A quantitative phylogenetic analysis of those acoustic data found that the best "tree" to represent the evolutionary relationships among those sounds matched the known evolutionary relationships among the five species based on genetics. The researchers said that the findings support a common evolutionary origin for the human and ape tickle-induced expressions.
Blog About Science Summertime Event

Blog About Science Summertime Event

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

It's summertime, so Scientific Blogging is hosting a worldwide "Blog About Science" event for the science writing community.   Making money writing about science beats getting a job.  In June, July and August we will pay $300 to the best science article we receive.    You can make a little money but also get exposure to a million people who may not have discovered your work yet.    We'll solicit submissions during the month and then publish them during the last week.



The rules are simple:

Submissions must be at least 500 words.
Yankee Stadium - The House That Bernoulli Built

Yankee Stadium - The House That Bernoulli Built

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

Quick, who was the feared hitter that legendary baseball numbers guru Bill James says lost more career home runs due to playing in his home park than any player in history?   
The Daytime Astronomer Builds A Drawbridge

The Daytime Astronomer Builds A Drawbridge

Jun 03 2009 | comment(s)

In two hours, under my guidance, a small group of 5th and 6th graders built a drawbridge. We were operating using a plan essentially sketched on the napkin, with the napkin left at home. We had a stack of wood, rope, 2 hammers, a drill, a hacksaw, and a box of nails. I had access to as many kids as we needed as labor. And, again, we built a portable, freestanding, working drawbridge in under 2 hours. And assembled it outside a classroom 'medieval museum' to serve as its entrance for the rest of this week.

Just which skills of a computational astrophysicist made me especially suited for such a task?


  1. my knowledge of geometry and trigonometry


  2. my background in space-borne CCD camera assembly

Little Pigeon-Boxes

Little Pigeon-Boxes

Jun 02 2009 | comment(s)

Little Pigeon-Boxes

It seems to be a universal characteristic of humans that we like to label each other, often in simplistic binary fashion.  Friend or foe, left-wing or right-wing, smart or dumb, sane or psycho, we never seem to run out of pigeonholes into which we can stuff people like socks in a drawer.

Like socks in a drawer?  What is the connection between socks in a drawer and pigeon-holes?
On Miracles

On Miracles

Jun 02 2009 | comment(s)

As I’ve often mentioned in this blog, philosopher David Hume famously said that “No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours to establish,” setting the bar for believing in miracles properly high.
TechWeb's Light Reading Communications Network Acquires The RCR Wireless Subscriber Database

TechWeb's Light Reading Communications Network Acquires The RCR Wireless Subscriber Database

Jun 02 2009 | comment(s)

NEW YORK, June 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- Addition of 60,000 Qualified Wireless Communications Decision Makers Will Fuel Growth Of Light Reading's Unstrung Website, Live Events, Webinars, and Research

TechWeb's Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com), the leading integrated publishing, events, and research company serving the global communications marketplace, today announced that it has acquired RCR Wireless' database of more than 60,000 qualified email addresses. The company plans to use the list to fuel growth for the Webinars, events and Website of Unstrung, Light Reading's authority on wireless communications technologies, and for research services from Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research.

Global Crossing Announces Close Of Excess Cash Offer

Global Crossing Announces Close Of Excess Cash Offer

Jun 02 2009 | comment(s)

LONDON, June 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Global Crossing (UK) Finance Plc (GCUK Finance), a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC), today announced that it has completed the annual excess cash offer for its 11.75 percent Sterling-denominated and 10.75 percent Dollar-denominated senior secured notes due in 2014.

Frontier Technology And Binary Tree Collaborate To Offer Weekend Express Migrations To Microsoft Online To The European Market

Frontier Technology And Binary Tree Collaborate To Offer Weekend Express Migrations To Microsoft Online To The European Market

Jun 02 2009 | comment(s)

NEWARK, New Jersey, June 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- Now European Organizations that are Running Lotus Notes Can Migrate Up To 5,000 Users to Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS Standard) In as Little as One Weekend

Binary Tree announced today a collaborative partnership with Frontier Technology in the United Kingdom to offer Binary Tree's Weekend Express(TM) migration offering to the European market. Hosted at Frontier Technology's data center based in the UK, Weekend Express migrations will enable organizations in Europe that are running Lotus Notes to migrate up to 5,000 users to Microsoft Exchange Online and the Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS Standard) in as little as one weekend.

Internet World And Technology For Marketing Advertising Develop Conference Looking At How Companies Are Turning Twitter 'Hype' Into Cash

Internet World And Technology For Marketing Advertising Develop Conference Looking At How Companies Are Turning Twitter 'Hype' Into Cash

Jun 02 2009 | comment(s)

LONDON, June 2 /PRNewswire/ --

With the Twitter population topping six million, a 600% increase in the last 12 months, Twitter is the hottest social media tool for individuals and companies alike. Internet World (IW) and Technology for Marketing Advertising (TFMA) have developed this unique conference to look beyond the hype of Twitter and provide practical guidance for all digital marketing, online sales and customer experience managers on how to deliver ROI on Twitter activity.

Twitter is already being actively used for competitive advantage in the US. A broad range of UK industries such as tourism, utilities, charities, media, music, retail and more are now starting to discover how they too can use this free-of-charge tool for optimum benefit.