July 31, 2009 • Posted by: sb
A new approach to windows that could let in more light and cut indoor lighting needs by up to 99% in buildings in Tropical regions without losing the cooling effect of shades. Details are reported in the International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation this month.
July 31, 2009 • Posted by: sb
A system that allows biometric data to be used to create a secret key for data encryption has been developed by researchers in South Africa. They describe details of the new technology in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics this month.
July 31, 2009 • Posted by: sb
Ever since graphene was discovered in 2004, this one-atom thick, super strong, carbon-based electrical conductor has been billed as a “wonder material” that some physicists think could one day replace silicon in computer chips.
July 31, 2009 • Posted by: sb
Ladies and Gentlemen! Head on over to Beyond The Short Coat for the Skeptics’ Circle: your fortnightly romp through skeptical posts, be they about the Obama birth certificate conspiracy, the latest pseudoscientific concoction, or whatever else people need a dose of evidence-based evaluation about today. You may also find a link to my first ever post! A cup of skepticism about the promises of green tea for prostate cancer.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. — Migraine headaches are a drain — not only on the estimated 30 million Americans who suffer from them, but on the economy, too. Because pain and other symptoms caused by migraine headaches can be quite severe, it is projected that nearly $13 billion is spent every year in headache treatment and loss of time from work, which no one can afford these days.

July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
SUMMARY: Professor Shavell’s paper on copyright abolition conflates (i) books with journal articles, (ii) Gold OA with Green OA, and (iii) the problem of Open Access with the problem of copyright reform. Although copyright reservation by authors and copyright reform are always welcome, they are unnecessary for universal Green OA; and needlessly suggesting that copyright reservation/reform is or ought to be made a prerequisite for OA simply slows down progress toward reaching the universal Green OA that is already fully within the global research community’s grasp.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
CLEVELAND — July 30, 2009 — Bing-Cheng Wang, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine professor of pharmacology and senior staff scientist at MetroHealth Medical Center, and Sudha K. Iyengar, Ph.D.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
You probably hadn’t noticed — but the head shape and overall size of rodents has been changing over the past century. A University of Illinois at Chicago ecologist has tied these changes to human population density and climate change.
The finding is reported by Oliver Pergams, UIC research assistant professor of biological sciences, in the July 31 issue of PLoS One.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (31 July 2009) -Scientists are racing to arm Afghanistan against a new invader-a deadly, airborne wheat rust disease that threatens wheat production and food security in this war-torn nation and the region that stretches east across neighboring Pakistan and into India.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
A new approach to statistical analysis may be better suited to study the relationship between higher “dose” of dialysis and survival time for patients with advanced kidney disease, according to an upcoming paper in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) can significantly lessen patients’ quality of life, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). Certain types of patients — women, diabetics, and those with a history of heart complications — are most affected.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
Short-term complications and death rates were low following bariatric surgery to limit the amount of food that can enter the stomach, decrease absorption of food or both, according to the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS-1). The study was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
Engineers have developed a new method for creating high-performance membranes from crystal sieves called zeolites; the method could increase the energy efficiency of chemical separations up to 50 times over conventional methods and enable higher production rates.
The ability to separate and purify specific molecules in a chemical mixture is essential to chemical manufacturing.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
An international team of scientists with divergent views on ocean ecosystems has found that efforts to rebuild many of the world’s fisheries are worthwhile and starting to pay off in many places around the world. Their study puts into perspective recent reports predicting a total collapse of global fisheries within 40 years.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
Scientists have joined forces in a groundbreaking assessment on the status of marine fisheries and ecosystems.
The two-year study, led by Boris Worm of Dalhousie University and Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington and including an international team of 19 co-authors, shows that steps taken to curb overfishing are beginning to succeed in five of the 10 large marine ecosystems that the
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
ROCHESTER, Minn. — The incidence of a rare and deadly tumor called primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is two times higher in black Americans, ages 20 to 49, than in white Americans, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in the June issue of Journal of Neuro-Oncology. In patients older than 49, the results were reversed.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
As both a science and a journalism major, I have many appalling moments while watching broadcast news – moments when the reporter on television is stating some very obviously erroneous or exaggerated scientific facts.
July 30, 2009 • Posted by: sb
Certainly there is strength in numbers, but only if those numbers can effectively communicate with one another. Now, a new study finds that administration of a novel small molecule which effectively disrupts a key bacterial communication process protects an animal host from infection.