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'Hydra' Middleware Makes Saving Energy Easier

'Hydra' Middleware Makes Saving Energy Easier

Jan 15 2010 | comment(s)

New technology developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Sankt Augustin, Germany may soon help consumers save energy by allowing them to track which devices in their homes are using the most energy. The basis for the technology is the "Hydra" middleware,
which is extended by an energy protocol. A middleware reduces the workload of programmers: in Hydra's case, by administering the communication between devices.

Each device in the home is given a power plogg, which is a small adapter located between the power plug and the power outlet. It reports the power consumption at any given time to a PC via a radio signal. People can tell which device is guzzling the most energy by taking a look at the computer monitor.
Protein Kinase Inhibitors Hault Skin Cancer Growth

Protein Kinase Inhibitors Hault Skin Cancer Growth

Jan 15 2010 | comment(s)

 A new study conducted by Loyola University researchers could lead to new treatments for skin cancer that would shrink the tumors with a class of drugs called protein kinase inhibitors. The drugs would work by turning on a gene called protein kinase C (PKC), which prevents skin cells from becoming cancerous, said senior author Mitchell Denning, Ph.D. The study was published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

More than 1 million people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer each year. In the new study, researchers examined a type of skin cancer, called squamous cell carcinoma, which accounts for between 200,000 and 300,000 new cases per year.
What Parents Don't Teach You, Siblings Will

What Parents Don't Teach You, Siblings Will

Jan 15 2010 | comment(s)

What we learn from our siblings when we grow up has a considerable influence on our social and emotional development as adults, according to researchers from the the University of Illinois and the University of California, Davis. The team says that a clearer understanding of how siblings function as "agents of socialization" will help answer critical societal questions such as why some children pursue antisocial behavior. Their volume on the subject appears in a recent issue of New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development.
Cancer Stem Cells Stifle Immune Response To Glioblastoma Multiforme

Cancer Stem Cells Stifle Immune Response To Glioblastoma Multiforme

Jan 15 2010 | comment(s)

Cancer-initiating stem cells that launch glioblastoma multiforme, the most lethal type of brain tumor, also suppress an immune system attack on the disease, say scientists from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

In a paper featured in the Jan. 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, the researchers demonstrate that this subset of tumor cells stifles the immune response in a variety of ways, but that the effect can be greatly diminished by encouraging the stem cells to differentiate into other types of brain cell.
Practical Invisibility - An Earthquake Cloak

Practical Invisibility - An Earthquake Cloak

Jan 15 2010 | comment(s)

'Invisibility' has long been a staple of science fiction.  The ability to go unseen has benefits, mostly involving mischief, but there are some ways where being invisible need not involve the optical realm - it could involve the physical.   In a poor country like Haiti, where it would be impossible to retrofit all of the buildings to withstand an earthquake, it may soon be possible to make earthquakes simply pass them by.  
Filtering Information In The Information Age

Filtering Information In The Information Age

Jan 15 2010 | comment(s)

Filtering Information In The Information Age

The Fortean Times appears never to have been mentioned on scientific blogging.com, much less cited as a reference source.  Now, when you have quite finished falling about laughing, I would like, in all seriousness, to draw your attention to a recent Fortean Times article:

The New Information Order
How the Internet is freeing conspiracy theories from the control imposed by traditional media.
By Robin Ramsay, Fortean Times, December 2009.
Mailspam, Webspam, And Freedom Of Speech.

Mailspam, Webspam, And Freedom Of Speech.

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

Mailspam, Webspam, and Freedom of Speech.

"given that the e-mail system has gone largely unchanged since 1965,
perhaps we should be grateful that it works at all. " -  David A. Karp
PCmag.com

Spam is the biggest single threat to the continued operation of the entire internet.  I'll explain shortly why I think it's such a big threat, but first, I'll explain what I mean by the term 'spam'.

What Is Spam?

To my way of thinking, spam is just another variant of malware.  Even though most spam emails don't fire up software, they fit the simplest definition of malware.
Go give the Rugbyologist a pat on the back

Go give the Rugbyologist a pat on the back

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

Yesterday evening, he succeeded in convincing his thesis committee to let him out with his PhD in hand. It's now Dr. Rugbyologist - if you thought he was belligerent before, just wait...


Hopefully he'll be back to blogging when the hangover wears off (and he finishes moving to his new position). Read the feed:
Wrapped like an Egyptian

Wrapped like an Egyptian

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

The strangest idea for a reality TV show that I've heard to date comes courtesy of Slashdot this morning. "Terminal illness got you down? Does your future seems bleak? Channel 4 and production company Fulcrum TV would like to brighten your day by making you the star of an upcoming documentary."

A British TV station and production company are "currently keen to talk to some one who, faced with the knowledge of their own terminal illness and all that it entails, would nonetheless
consider undergoing the process of an ancient Egyptian embalming," according to an advertisement.
Ten years after, in home computing

Ten years after, in home computing

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

To start off 2010, we're invited to join a new “Hot Topics” feature, which will periodically focus the bloggers on a particular topic. The first Hot Topic is this:

The Upcoming Decade in Science

What will the new decade bring in the world of science? What will happen by 2020 in your field?

Making predictions is always a dicey thing, and perhaps most so in the field of computer science. The good thing about knowing that is that one can pretty much “wing it”. If one gets it right, it’s cool. If not, well, no one really expected one to.

So let’s put on some wings, and see whither we fly.

The Say Of The Week

The Say Of The Week

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

"The threat is much stronger than its execution"

Aaron Nimzovich (complaining to the arbiter of a chess match that his opponent had put a cigar in his mouth, after the arbiter had pointed out that the cigar was unlit).
News Flash !!

News Flash !!

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

 Exciting news just in from Oxford University. A previously obscure lecturer in cinematography has published a book titled The Selfish Dot, in which the author challenges the established view that films are the most important feature in the history of filmmaking.  He says the most important element is not the camera or the subject or the film or the images, but the dots that make up the images! His reason for this revolutionary view of film production is simple yet profound and undeniable – images on the film come and go, but the dots remain! The film, the author explains, is merely a vehicle used by dots to perpetuate their existence.
How Desires Influence Our Perception

How Desires Influence Our Perception

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

Writing in Psychological Sciences, researchers from New York University and Cornell University say they've demonstrated that our desires influence how we see our environments. According to the new research, we view things we want as being physically closer to us than they actually are. The authors say this bias exists to encourage us to pursue things that we want by making them appear close. When we see a goal as being close to us (literally within our reach), it motivates us to keep on going to successfully attain it.
How Cultural Values Shape The Debate Over HPV Vaccination

How Cultural Values Shape The Debate Over HPV Vaccination

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

 People's tendency to match their risk perceptions about policy issues with their cultural values may explain the intense disagreement over proposals to vaccinate young girls against human-papillomavirus (HPV), according to a new study in Law and Human Behavior. The study also indicates people's values shape their perceptions of expert opinion on the vaccine.
Parenthood Is Good For Your Blood Pressure

Parenthood Is Good For Your Blood Pressure

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

Children have a reputation for driving their parents crazy, so chances are that most people don't become parents for the health benefits. But maybe they should. According to a study conducted by researchers at Brigham Young University, raising children is associated with lower blood pressure, particularly so among women.
Alligators' Bird-Like Respiration Sheds Like On Reptile Evolution

Alligators' Bird-Like Respiration Sheds Like On Reptile Evolution

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

 Air flows in one direction as it loops through the lungs of alligators, just as it does in birds, and this breathing method may have helped the dinosaurs' ancestors dominate Earth after the planet's worst mass extinction 251 million years ago, according to scientists from the University of Utah.
Self-Control (Or Lack Thereof) Might Be Contagious

Self-Control (Or Lack Thereof) Might Be Contagious

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

In a just-published series of studies involving hundreds of volunteers, University of Georgia and Duke University psychologists say that watching or even thinking about someone with good self-control makes others more likely exert self-control. The research found that the opposite holds, too; people with bad self-control influence others negatively. The effect is so powerful, in fact, that seeing the name of someone with good or bad self-control flashing on a screen for just 10 milliseconds changed the behavior of volunteers.
Researchers Map Auditory Feedback Pathway For Vocal Learning

Researchers Map Auditory Feedback Pathway For Vocal Learning

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have identified neurons in the songbird brain that convey the auditory feedback needed to learn a song. Their research, published in Neuron, lays the foundation for improving human speech, for example, in people whose auditory nerves are damaged and who must learn to speak without the benefit of hearing their own voices.

"This work is the first study to identify an auditory feedback pathway in the brain that is harnessed for learned vocal control," said Richard Mooney, Ph.D., Duke professor of neurobiology and senior author of the study. The researchers also devised an elegant way to carefully alter the activity of these neurons to prove that they interact with the motor networks that control singing.
Excess Serotonin Receptors Undercut Effectiveness Of Antidepressants

Excess Serotonin Receptors Undercut Effectiveness Of Antidepressants

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

An excess of a particular serotonin receptor in the center of the brain may explain why antidepressants fail to relieve depression symptoms for 50 percent of patients, indicates a new study published in Neuron.

The authors say the study is the first to find a causal link between receptor number and antidepressant treatment and may lead to more personalized treatment for depression, including treatments for patients who do not respond to antidepressants and ways to identify these patients before they undergo costly, and ultimately, futile therapies.
Geologist Explains Why Haiti Earthquake Was Such A Disaster

Geologist Explains Why Haiti Earthquake Was Such A Disaster

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

The disastrous magnitude 7.0 earthquake that triggered destruction and mounting death tolls in Haiti this week occurred in a highly complex tangle of tectonic faults near the intersection of the Caribbean and North American crustal plates, according to a geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Jian Lin, a WHOI senior scientist in geology and geophysics, said that there were three factors that made the quake particularly devastating: First, it was centered just 10 miles southwest of the capital city, Port au Prince; second, the quake was shallow—only about 10-15 kilometers below the land's surface; third, and more importantly, many homes and buildings in the economically poor country were not built to withstand such a force and collapsed or crumbled.