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New flexible classroom design

February 8, 2013

Classroom (credit:

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a classroom design that gives instructors increased flexibility in how to teach their courses and improves accessibility for students, while slashing administrative costs.

The new flexible approach acknowledges the fact that students are now bringing their own laptops to class. The classrooms also include mobile infrastructure, where whiteboards, desks and tables can be reconfigured according to the… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Social Networking/Web/Education

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Blocking this molecule in the brain could prevent age-related cognitive decline

February 8, 2013

neurogeneis-branching-thumbnail

Researchers have discovered a molecule that accumulates with age and inhibits the formation of new neurons. The finding might help scientists design therapies to prevent age-related cognitive decline.

The investigators identified the molecule, called Dickkopf-1 or Dkk1, in the brains of aged mice. By blocking production of Dkk1, “we released a brake on neuronal birth, thereby resetting performance in spatial memory tasks back to levels observed in… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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A building block for optical quantum networks

February 8, 2013

Quantum device (credit: New Journal of Physics)

Another approach to creating optical quantum networks has been developed by Cal Tech, HP, and University of Washington researchers. (See The quantum internet,)

In an optical quantum network, information is carried between points by photons. It could enable quantum computers that are millions of times faster at solving certain problems than what we are used to today.

This new device, which combines a single… read more

Topics: Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

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Nanoscale capsule kills cancer cells without harming healthy cells

February 8, 2013

Treatment of apoptin nanocapsules resulted in tumor growth retardation from apoptosis (green)

A degradable nanoscale shell to carry proteins to cancer cells and stunt the growth of tumors without damaging healthy cells has been developed by a team led by researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Tiny shells (about 100 nanometers in length, roughly half the size of the smallest bacterium) are composed of a water-soluble polymer that safely delivers a protein… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Biotech | Nanotech/Materials Science

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‘Mind reading’ to predict the success of online games

February 8, 2013

mind_reading_online_games

On a first date, couples scrutinize each other’s facial expressions for a clue as to whether the date will turn into a long-term relationship. Game publishers and designers might start doing the same thing.

By analyzing the movements of gamers’ smile and frown muscles in the first 45 minutes of play, Taiwanese researchers have found a way to predict a game’s addictiveness, reports IEEE Spectrum.

“Such… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Entertainment/New Media | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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A cheap and easy plan to stop global warming

February 8, 2013

Phytoplankton bloom as a form of geoengineering (credit: Wikimedia Media)

Here is the plan. Customize several Gulfstream business jets with military engines and with equipment to produce and disperse fine droplets of sulfuric acid. Fly the jets up around 20 kilometers-significantly higher than the cruising altitude for a commercial jetliner but still well within their range. At that altitude in the tropics, the aircraft are in the lower stratosphere, reports MIT Technology Review.

The planes spray the… read more

Topics: Environment/Climate

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The quantum internet

Quantum information stored in an atom is converted into a photon for transmission
February 7, 2013

The atom’s quantum information is written onto the polarization state of the photon (credit: Harald Ritsch)

A University of Innsbruck research team has directly transferred the quantum information stored in an atom onto a particle of light for the first time.

Background

Thanks to the strange laws of quantum mechanics, quantum computers would be able to carry out certain computational tasks much faster than conventional computers. Among the most promising technologies for the construction of a quantum computer are… read more

Topics: Internet/Telecom | Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

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Treatment to prevent Alzheimer’s disease moves a step closer

February 7, 2013

RI-OR2-TAT reduces the β-amyloid plaque load and levels of Aβ soluble oligomers in the brains of APP/PS1 transgenic mice. Representative images show amyloid deposits in the cortex region of mouse brains as shown by β-amyloid immunostaining in animals treated with 0.9% saline (left) or 100 nmol/kg RI-OR2-TAT in 0.9% saline (right).

A new drug designed to prevent the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease could enter clinical trials in a few years’  time, according to scientists.

Alzheimer’s disease begins when a protein called amyloid-β (Aβ) starts to clump together in senile plaques in the brain, damaging nerve cells and leading to memory loss and confusion.

Professor David Allsop and Dr Mark Taylor at Lancaster University have… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Listening to cells: scientists probe human cells with ultrasound pulses

February 7, 2013

Generation and detection of picosecond strain pulses in an opaque thin film with ultrashort optical pulses (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Researchers from the University of Bordeaux in France used high-frequency sound waves to test the stiffness and viscosity of the nuclei of individual human cells to help answer questions such as how cells adhere to medical implants and why healthy cells turn cancerous.

“We have developed a new non-contact, non-invasive tool to measure the mechanical properties of cells at the sub-cell scale,” says Bertrand Audoin, a professor… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Electronics | Nanotech/Materials Science

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With evolved brains, robots creep closer to animal-like learning

February 7, 2013

aracna

Get ready for four-legged bots of all shapes and sizes — and for all sorts of uses — that learn how to maneuver through landscapes with the grace of a cheetah, Fast Company reports.

The most nightmare-inducing characteristic of Big Dog, DARPA’s robotic military mule, might be the way it moves so stiffly, yet unrelentingly, over treacherous battleground. Turns out the repetitive mechanical gait that… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics

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Stroke damage in mice overcome by training that ‘rewires’ brain centers

Study findings suggest physical and pharmacological solutions for human stroke victims
February 7, 2013

 

Mice can recover from physically debilitating strokes that damage the primary motor cortex, the region of the brain that controls most movement in the body if the mice are quickly subjected to physical conditioning that rapidly “rewires” a different part of the brain to take over lost function, Johns Hopkins researchers have found. The research uses precise, intense and early treatment.… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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First test of seismic invisibility cloak

February 7, 2013

Seismic_metamaterial_test

Engineers and physicists are developing acoustic versions of metamaterials that steer sound, which could be used to steer seismic waves around high-value buildings such as nuclear power stations or airports.

The Institut Fresnel in Marseille and the ground improvement specialist company, Menard, both in France, say they’ve built and tested a seismic invisibility cloak in an alluvial basin in southern France, MIT Technology Review reports.

The… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology

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Earth-like planets are right next door

Life on such a planet would be "much older and more evolved than life on Earth"
February 7, 2013

cfa_exoplanet_art

Six percent of red-dwarf stars have habitable, Earth-sized planets, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have found.

Red dwarfs are the most common stars in our galaxy; about 75 percent of the closest stars are red dwarfs. The closest Earth-like planet could be just 13 light-years away, Harvard astronomer and lead author Courtney Dressing calculated.

“We thought we would have to search… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Space

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Criminals and terrorists can fly drones too

February 6, 2013

uav_drone

Drones are no longer the sole domain of the military, and just as with many new technologies, they can easily fall into the wrong hands,  global security advisor, writer and consultant  reports in Time.

Criminal organizations are early adopters of technology, and some have already used UAVs and other forms of robotics to violate the law… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Survival/Defense

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The threat of silence

Meet the groundbreaking new encryption app set to revolutionize privacy and freak out the feds
February 6, 2013

silent_circle_zimmerman

For the past few months, some of the world’s leading cryptographers have been keeping a closely guarded secret about a pioneering new invention. Today, they’ve decided it’s time to tell all, Slate Future Tense reports.

Back in October, the startup tech firm Silent Circle ruffled governments’ feathers with a “surveillance-proof” smartphone app to allow people to make secure phone calls and send texts… read more

Topics: Internet/Telecom | Social/Ethical/Legal | Survival/Defense

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