A disease spread simulation has emphasized that flu interventions must be imposed quickly, if they are to be effective. Researchers writing in BMC Public Health have shown that staying at home, closing schools and isolating infected people within the home should reduce infection, but only if they are used in combination, activated without delay and maintained for a relatively long period.

An extremely deep Chandra X-ray Observatory image of a region near the center of our Galaxy has resolved a long-standing mystery about an X-ray glow along the plane of the Galaxy. The glow in the region covered by the Chandra image was discovered to be caused by hundreds of point-like X- ray sources, implying that the glow along the plane of the Galaxy is due to millions of such sources.

This image shows an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope of the central region of the Milky Way, with a pullout showing a Chandra image of a region located only 1.4 degrees away from the center of the Galaxy.

Ultrafast, light-sensitive video cameras are needed for observing high-speed events such as shockwaves, communication between living cells and a Usain Bolt sprint. To catch such elusive moments, a camera must be able to capture millions or billions of images continuously with a very high frame rate. Conventional cameras have not been up to the task but researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science say they have developed a novel, continuously running camera that captures images roughly a thousand times faster than any existing conventional camera.
 

Quantum cryptography, a completely secure means of communication, is much closer to being used practically as researchers from Toshiba and Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory have now developed high speed detectors capable of receiving information with much higher key rates, thereby able to receive more information faster.

Published as part of IOP Publishing's New Journal of Physics' Focus Issue on 'Quantum Cryptography: Theory and Practice', the journal paper, 'Practical gigahertz quantum key distribution based on avalanche photodiodes', details how quantum communication can be made possible without having to use cryogenic cooling and/or complicated optical setups, making it much more likely to become commercially viable soon.

For over three decades, globes of Mercury were blank on one side. Though Mariner 10 explored the small planet in three flybys in 1974 and 1975, no more than half was ever seen.   Of the four terrestrial planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars - we knew the least about Mercury.

On Oct. 6, 2008, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft, better known as MESSENGER, made its second close-approach flyby of Mercury. 30 years after man's first look, MESSENGER has revealed Mercury in its entirety - well, mostly.

Do you like being stereotyped?   Maybe not, though everyone does it to some extent (and some have more than stereotypes than others; being a white, male,southern, Catholic, Republican is 5 way open season for ridicule by people who otherwise claim to be loving and tolerant - editor) but it's usually okay if the stereotype makes you feel better about yourself.

American regard Mexicans as more outgoing, talkative, sociable and extroverted - actual Mexicans think they are less.   Turns out stereotypes are right more often that not once again - that's probably how they became stereotypes.