Scientists aren't sure what causes clogs in flowing macroscopic particles, like corn, coffee beans and coal chunks. But new experiments suggest that when particles undergo shear strain, they jam sooner than expected. 

Shear strain is sort of like cupping sand between your hands, and then, without changing the width between them, moving one hand forward and the other hand backward. Not much sand flows between your hands with a force like this.

Type Ia supernovae, the extraordinarily bright "standard candles" astronomers use to measure cosmic growth which led to the theory of dark energy in 1998 and 13 years later to a Nobel Prize  "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe" have remained mysterious – how they detonate and what the star systems that produce them actually look like before they explode -  has been unknown.

Green solutions have made lofty claims in the last few decades but they have been optimistic hope more than reality. Simulations from the University at Buffalo may change that; they say it's possible for drivers to cut their tailpipe emissions without significantly slowing travel time. 

In computer models of traffic in Upstate New York's Buffalo Niagara region, they found that green routing could reduce overall emissions of carbon monoxide by 27 percent for area drivers, though they did it by increasing the length of trips an average of 11 percent. 

It isn't just Americans concerned about science, though Europeans seem a little dramatic about it.   Currently, America can only employ 16% of its Ph.D.s in academia, what most academics regard as 'science', so there is a glut of post-docs and not enough grants to give them all jobs, but Europeans have a different sort of problem - young people are not going into science at all.

Is there still a gender gap in math?  There is if you are selling cultural drama but in actuality, not so much.  Complaints aside, the No Child Left Behind program accomplished its mission; by focusing on the same sort of educational system other countries use that allowed them to beat American kids in standardized tests - namely, teaching to the test - American children performed better in each international test and for the first time in history boys and girls achieved math parity.  That's a win.

But perceptions die hard - some people still insist Republicans are more anti-science than Democrats, for example, and some (not surprisingly the same people) use words like 'dismal' and 'failure' about American girls and math.  

BMC Neurology has published the results of the HYPNOS I clinical trial demonstrating the sedative action of the Cefaly medical device (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22035386).

The results show, in a statistically highly significant manner using four clinical measurement methods, a pronounced reduction in vigilance induced by the action of the Cefaly(R) Hypnos medical device, by comparison to a placebo.

This sedative action on the central nervous system is observed after application for 12 minutes in 83% of individuals whose mean increase in tiredness was of 73%.