Article Archive for July 2008
Read more…
Law and order is one of the cornerstones of a civilized society. Establishing rules of conduct, spelling out acceptable and objectionable behavior, defining the consequences for anyone who violates those laws and deciding who …
Read more…
In work that may help solar panels become a more viable source of mainstream power, a research group has created a dye-based solar cell with a high efficiency and high stability, and that lacks …
Read more…
Low levels of naturally occurring antibodies may represent an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke in men. This discovery, published in the academic journal Atherosclerosis, has now led to attempts to develop …
Read more…
The convergence of Web 2.0 technologies is rapidly making its way into more traditional forms of media such as print and TV. This paradigm shift has caught some educational institutions off guard with journalism …
Read more…
A massive project to redesign and rebuild the Internet from scratch is inching along with $12 million in government funding and donations of network capacity by two major research organizations.
Read more…
UC Irvine researchers have identified the brain mechanism that switches off traumatic feelings associated with bad memories, a finding that could lead to the development of drugs to treat panic disorders.
Read more…
A North Carolina State University engineer has been awarded a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to learn more about the microbiology, genetics and genomics behind how and why heat-loving bacteria …
Read more…
You have to hand it to the economics team at Goldman Sachs. It was they who came up with the concept of the "BRICs": the four big economies, in Brazil, Russia, India and China, …
Read more…
A weaker dollar and slumping stock prices of U.S. companies have created a window of opportunity for international buyers to snatch up iconic American companies like the brewer Anheuser-Busch and even landmarks like the …
Read more…
European service producers used to lure customers with free mobiles. Now they’re throwing in computers, too.
Read more…
Kiwifruit lovers can look forward to new, novel forms of their favourite fruit thanks to the release this week of crucial genetic data which fruit breeders say will help them naturally breed new varieties …
Read more…
The airline is also raising fees for checking special items, like surfboards, as well as additional luggage beyond two bags. Bags that exceed Delta’s weight allowance will also cost more.
MP3… Influential futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil explains to Science correspondent James Randerson why technology can overcome everything from climate change to poverty. [Guardian Science]
Read more…
David McGoran cradles his baby in his arms. As he looks down into its big, dark eyes, it turns its head towards him and blinks, looking contented as it curls a bony white finger …
Read more…
Paleontologists in 2005 hailed research that apparently showed that soft, pliable tissues had been recovered from dissolved dinosaur bones, a major finding that would substantially widen the known range of preserved biomolecules.
Read more…
The American Medical Association recommends that people apply a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 to reduce their risk of developing skin cancer
Read more…
Studying the way bumblebees search for food could help detectives hunt down criminals, scientists believe.
Read more…
Ultra-miniature bialy-shaped particles called nanobialys because they resemble tiny versions of the flat, onion-topped rolls popular in New York City could soon be carrying medicinal compounds through patients’ bloodstreams to tumors or atherosclerotic plaques.
Read more…
The Los Angeles City Council has approved a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a low-income area of the city.
Read more…
The proliferation of user-generated content on popular Web 2.0 sites has opened the door for hackers to plant malware, says Websense report.
Read more…
Aging impairs the consolidation of memories during sleep, a process important in converting new memories into long-term ones, according to new animal research in the July 30 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The …
Read more…
This isn’t how a jet pack is supposed to look, is it? Hollywood has envisioned jet packs as upside-down fire extinguishers strapped to people’s backs. But Glenn Martin’s invention is far more unwieldy – …
Read more…
Carnegie Mellon University’s Christopher L. Weber argues that China’s new title as the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter is at least partly due to consumption of Chinese goods in the West.
Read more…
K scientists have developed a drug which may halt the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
Read more…
Despite investor fears about the leftist bent of its president, the country is riding its biggest economic expansion in three decades.
Read more…
Japan, under pressure to meet emission reduction targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, approved an October start for the trial trading of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse …
MP3… Interview with Misti Burmeister, CEO of Inspirion, Inc. and one of America’s top generational experts (and she’s only 29). She is the author of the new book From Boomers to Bloggers: Success …
Read more…
A wave of entrepreneurs are using free software to buy niche Web sites and fix them up with the hope of reselling them for far more than they paid.
Read more…
South Africa will move away from its coal-fired energy – the cheapest in the world – to wind, solar and nuclear power, according to a new cabinet policy.
Read more…
Virgin Galactic rolled out the mothership aircraft of its private space tourism business, a white four-engine plane designed to launch a passenger spaceship into low-Earth orbit.
Read more…
They don’t want to talk about it, but several U.S. carriers are closing some of their airport lounges in the United States and internationally.
Read more…
As seven years of global trade talks approach another nervy climax, China is emerging as a central player – and coming under heavy criticism from the United States and others for its tough tactics.
Read more…
Genetic science, stem-cell research and extreme caloric restriction are all part of a burgeoning ‘immortality industry’ that could soon point the way to a fountain of youth with the potential to stretch the human …
Read more…
One of the biggest world wide threats to honey bees, the varroa mite, could soon be about to meet its nemesis. Researchers at the University of Warwick are examining naturally occurring fungi that kill …
Read more…
A team of researchers at the University of Toyama in Japan, led by Masahiko Inouye, claim to have created the world’s first stable artificial DNA molecules, made from synthesized nucleosides that resemble their natural …
Read more…
The airline, battered by fuel costs, warned that it could have a full-year loss of up to
Read more…
AOL splashes images of Bollywood celebrities on its new home page for India. MySpace accepts sign-ups from mobile phones in Japan. Google departs from its customarily spartan home page and peppers its Korean site …
Read more…
To understand why fuel prices in the U. S. have soared over the last year, it helps to get an idea of how foreign governments are subsidizing energy prices at home.
Read more…
China is bucking the global trend toward smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and the country’s demand for gas is much of the reason for the dramatic run-up in global oil prices.
Read more…
Struggling to recover from multibillion-dollar losses, banks are curtailing loans to U.S. businesses, depriving even healthy companies of money for expansion and hiring.
Read more…
In a conventional sewage works, nanoparticles should really be bound in the sludge and should not represent a major problem in the aqueous effluent. This is not true, however, as shown by a new …
Read more…
A robot with empathy sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies, but with the aid of neural networks researchers are developing robots in tune with our emotions. Feelix Growing is developing software empowering robots …
RealAudio / WindowsMedia… Paul Ehrlich warned of a looming ecological crisis in his 1968 best-selling book, “The Population Bomb.” Forty years later, he’s back with a new look at how the impact …
Read more…
Anna Patterson’s last Internet search engine was so impressive that industry leader Google Inc. bought the technology in 2004 to upgrade its own system.
Read more…
The Medpedia Project calls on doctors, PhDs to edit a new Wikipedia of medical information.
Read more…
Software engineer Keith Brown was conducting a meeting by teleconference at home when he had to call an abrupt halt. Dido, one of the family’s two dogs, had just brought in a dead opossum.
Read more…
The new way of doing business, marked by a series of industry alliances that have taken shape in recent months, is one of the most visible signs of an overdue shake-up of Japan’s electronics …
Read more…
The Senate sent the housing bill to the White House for signing, with provisions that potentially put taxpayers on the hook for tens of billions of dollars.
Read more…
With the old gas-guzzler in the garage, you’ve got your bicycle ready and your sneakers laced up. Now all you need is a map of the quickest, safest routes for riding around town. Well, …
Read more…
A year ago James Hansen, director of NASA
Read more…
China sells about 40 percent of its furniture output overseas, with half its exports shipped to the United States, according to the China National Furniture Association.
Read more…
The inventor of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee, minted an intriguing term recently: "pixel wallpaper." The idea is that any object, any surface, can potentially be a canvas for displaying information.
Read more…
Facing soaring electricity demands, Kenya is opting to go full steam ahead with geothermal energy to boost its production while preserving its rich environmental heritage.
Read more…
Fewer Australians are getting married and those who do are leaving it until later in life.
Read more…
If one researcher has his way, you may soon be buying bottles of water brimming with the life-sustaining coenzyme CoQ10 at your local Costco. Like vitamin C, CoQ10 is a compound that’s vital to …
MP3… In this digital age, we have many tools — wikis, webcams, IM, videoconferencing, and other technologies of telepresence — and yet we still seem to want to be in the same place …
Read more…
A close-up look at the creators of the likes of Facebook and YouTube.
MP3… Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with media futurist Gerd Leonhard about the next stage of online music, and asks him to give a peek into the future of online media distribution. [Tech Nation]
Read more…
Much like the probe in The Empire Strikes Back, smart bots will find and send info back to Earth.
Read more…
EPA’s voluntary safety scheme undersubscribed as deadline approaches.
Read more…
Proposals to reign in wallet-draining gasoline prices by curbing speculation in oil markets would likely increase costs at the pump instead of trimming them, a University of Illinois economist says.
Read more…
The possibility of blending entertainment and marketing and spreading it through chain letter-style links has gotten many marketers excited about social networking.
Read more…
Scientists suggest microbes from Venus could be blown to Earth by powerful winds.
Read more…
Once prohibitively expensive, Japan is now drawing soaring numbers of newly affluent visitors from across the region.
Read more…
BEIJING – China aims to attain the world level in space technology development by building a comprehensive aerospace industry by 2015, the country’s Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) said.
Read more…
Thermoelectric material offering double efficiency in converting heat into electricity, developed by researchers at Ohio State University, has an obvious application for cars.
Read more…
The automaker, hit by abysmal sales of its most profitable vehicles and a shift in consumers’ tastes, suffered its worst quarter ever.
RealAudio / WindowsMedia… Across America, big cities and small towns are experimenting with municipal broadband projects. Some provide free service in select hot spots; others tried massive build-outs of wireless networks citywide. …
RealAudio / WindowsMedia… The Internet has revolutionized how we search for all kinds of information. But some wonder whether increasingly powerful search engines and the wealth of information on the Web are …
Read more…
Researchers have taken a first snapshot of how a class of highly reactive molecules inflicts cellular damage as part of aging, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and Alzheimer’s disease to name a …
Read more…
A new study predicts that climate change will create devastating drought in this state and throughout the Southwest and continue to drop the levels of already low Lake Mead and Lake Powell, threatening the …
RealAudio / WindowsMedia… A look at how mobile and on-line communication — from youtube and myspace to cell phones and text-messaging — is changing our language. [Diane Rehm]
MP3… Dave Snowden reflects on the dynamic hyperlinked digital infrastructure commonly known as Web 2.0, and how it will usher in important new ways of working with information and knowledge. [Wirearchy]
Read more…
Converting livestock manure into a domestic renewable fuel source could generate enough electricity to meet up to three per cent of North America’s entire consumption needs and lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse …
Read more…
Google Inc. is taking the wraps off an Internet encyclopedia designed to give people a chance to show off — and profit from — their expertise on any topic.
Read more…
Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors from networks of carbon nanotubes, a technology that could make it possible to print circuits on plastic sheets for applications including flexible displays and an …
Read more…
The electricity drawn by plasma televisions is easing the minds of utility company executives as they plan for what is likely to be a conversion of much of the country’s vehicle fleet from gasoline …
Read more…
A professor of planetary science says humans could be living on Mars within 25 years.
Read more…
Ever since the human genome was sequenced less than 10 years ago, researchers have been able to access a dizzying plethora of genomic information with a simple click of a mouse.
Read more…
Tired of tripping over the cables in your house? You may be in luck. New technology is bringing the reality of wireless electric power closer than ever. TODAY’s gadget guy Paul Hochman explains.
Read more…
Across the United States, women in their prime earning years, struggling with an unfriendly economy, are retreating from the work force, either permanently or for long stretches.
Read more…
Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists working on a plan to pool the region’s renewable energy
Read more…
A team of researchers at the University of Toyama in Japan, led by Masahiko Inouye, claim to have created…
Read more…
General Motors is working with utility companies to make sure its next-generation plug-in hybrid has a smooth rollout in 2010. GM is pushing utilities to move forward on so-called "smart-metering."
Read more…
Researchers have discovered that a frog that lives near noisy springs in central China can tune its ears to different sound frequencies, much like the tuner on a radio can shift from one frequency …
Read more…
More than 700 scientists meet in Brazil to draw up an action plan to protect the world’s wetlands.
Read more…
Elvira Fortunato and colleagues from the Centro de Investiga
Read more…
Qantas boss Geoff Dixon has tipped the world’s airlines to consolidate into a few, very big players as carriers struggle with higher fuel costs.
Read more…
A decade of quantum technological leaps mean today’s designers have in their hands a virtually bottomless toy box of new materials and methods.
Read more…
The fear is that all the easy-to-reach crude has been found. These may be ‘the good old days,’ one expert says. With gasoline and oil costing once-unthinkable barrels of cash, the notion that things …
Read more…
The Web is an extremely fickle place. A Web service can be hot today, and dead in the water tomorrow. While there’s no true science for determining exactly what makes one stick while another …
Read more…
The company, which devoted itself for nearly 20 years to pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles, is about to drastically alter its focus to building more small cars.
Read more…
Scientists have identified the primary immune sensor that detects the presence of stomach viruses in the body. They show that the sensor — a protein called MDA-5 — triggers an immune response that revs …
Read more…
The same researcher who is helping rovers navigate on Mars is leading a new effort to help humans navigate on the moon. When NASA returns to the moon — the space agency has set …
Read more…
Technology has matured to the stage where it is often practical, affordable and more productive to move bits instead of bodies.
Read more…
Scientists who develop new drugs are closely following the progress through clinical trials of a cache of drugs developed with counter-intuitive strategy that defies conventional wisdom, according to an article scheduled for the July …
Read more…
The mass of gold atoms has been calculated using a tiny vibrating tube of carbon
Read more…
China and Russia signed an agreement Monday that ended a decades-long territorial dispute and finally determined their borders, in the latest sign of warming ties between the former Cold War foes.
Read more…
Some countries in the region import 90 percent or more of their staples, but the worldwide food crisis is making many of them rethink that math.
Read more…
The challenge newspapers must meet immediately is to find more revenue on the Internet, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s study, called "The Changing Newsroom: What is Being Gained and What is …
Read more…
A four-year college degree, seen for generations as a ticket to a better life, is no longer enough to guarantee a steadily rising paycheck.
Read more…
A new and potentially deadly infectious disease emerges somewhere in the world every year, threatening "devastating consequences" across the globe, a parliamentary committee has warned.
Read more…
The market for carbon-trading is still in its early days, but software firms are developing the equivalent of accounting and project management packages for carbon.
Read more…
Companies are in search of the next Webkinz, finding a way to combine the traditional play of toys and the lure of the new electronics.
Read more…
A British company may have the answer to soaring petrol prices after it claimed yesterday to have become the first to have found a way to make fuel from rubbish.
Read more…
People around the world are experiencing sticker shock at the grocery store, the result of runaway economic forces that show no signs of abating. Here in the United States, the price of eggs jumped …
Read more…
New methods of Internet access are boosting usage, study shows.
Read more…
Up to a million people in Australia could face a shortage of drinking water if the country’s drought continues, a report on the state of the nation’s largest river system revealed.
Read more…
It’s not true that you must work 80-hour weeks, trash competitors and gouge your customers to get ahead in today’s dog-eat-dog business world. Rich Sheridan and his gang of computer programmers and high-tech anthropologists …
Read more…
Bill Gross, an engineer whose company, Idealab, created a slew of Web businesses in the 1990s, is again building solar power projects.
Read more…
The approval of the planned web of transmission lines that will run from remote parts of Texas to major cities is a major lift to the development of wind energy in the state.
Read more…
Using a laptop, cell phone headset, building access badge, credit cards, or even a passport can make you a walking target for data thieves and other criminals, a security expert warned at the Last …
Read more…
A relatively small number of places all in wealthy countries or in China and India create nearly every important technological advance. But some in Nairobi are hoping to change that.
Read more…
Practices that produced record profits for many banks have led millions of Americans to the brink.
Read more…
Jayant Baliga is a man of average size, but he probably has the world’s smallest footprint.
Read more…
We’ve heard a lot about the "wisdom of crowds" in recent years, mostly in relation to Internet sites that let their readers make key decisions. Digg.com, for instance, is a news site that lets …
Read more…
The much talked about middle class of the world, in midst of an unprecedented growth phase, is expected to pick up further pace in the coming years, while leading to a fall in the …
Read more…
The engineer behind many electric-car advances says oil’s days may be numbered.
Read more…
Indian innovation is increasingly centred around what is known as Web 2.0, the Internet
Read more…
Judith Kung Fu may be just one of more than 14 million computer-generated characters in the 3-D virtual world Second Life. But with her help, her creator may one day save your life. In …
Read more…
Forget hydrogen. The car of the future has an extension cord and a great big laptop battery. The next evolution of the automobile will be plug-in hybrids that get their juice from a household …
Read more…
Billionaire shareholders, backed by Moscow, are stepping up pressure to force out the British company’s managers.
Read more…
Viruses achieve their definition of success when they can thrive without killing their host. Now, biologists Pamela Bjorkman and Zhiru Yang of the California Institute of Technology have uncovered how one such virus, prevalent …
Read more…
Unable to cope with the soaring cost of feed, American catfish farmers across the South are draining their ponds and wondering what comes next.
Read more…
Craig Grimes, a professor of Electrical Engineering at Penn State, has created a very practical gadget.
Read more…
Consider it the modern equivalent of Noah’s Ark: scientists say policy-makers should consider moving species outside their historic ranges to prevent extinction caused by climate change.
Read more…
The U.S. Air Force is using Web 2.0 technologies to better support its missions despite wariness about security.
Read more…
The best-case scenario for a transition to vehicles that run on hydrogen
Read more…
A grunting fish helps scientists to date the origins of vocal sounds to about 400 million years ago.
Read more…
A robot with empathy sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies, but with the aid of neural networks European researchers are developing robots in tune with our emotions. The tantalising work of the Feelix …
Read more…
Since the G-8 last assembled in June 2007, food prices have reached unprecedented heights, threatening to push millions into poverty.
Read more…
Water was once widespread on Mars, data show, raising the prospect the planet could have supported life.
Read more…
Services to seven airports in mainland Europe will be halted for 45 days in November and December, the airline said in a separate statement.
Read more…
A salmonella outbreak that forced stores across the country to pull tomatoes from their shelves this summer was the latest motivation to buy locally grown produce.
Read more…
Blind people generally use computers with the help of screen-reader software, but those products can cost more than $1,000, so they’re not exactly common on public PCs at libraries or Internet cafes. Now a …
Read more…
lmost everything that consumers spent money on last month – from food to electricity and gasoline – took a bigger piece of their paychecks.
Read more…
Hybrid world: From avatar assistants to telehealth…
Read more…
Purdue University scientists have taken a page from air conditioner technology in their quest for a new way to cool down ever-more powerful computer chips. Their experimental system, which flushes a refrigerant through tiny …
Read more…
As mortgage foreclosures continue to rise, owners are opening their homes as a way to make ends meet.
Read more…
Why isn’t globalization making the interconnected world more stable?
Read more…
In this book, the author Philip P. Pan notes the huge obstacles facing China despite its booming economy and the growing prosperity of its citizens. Democracy and political and religious freedom remain elusive.
Read more…
The Australian government announced plans Wednesday for a carbon emissions trading scheme by 2010 that it described as the biggest economic reform for a generation.
Read more…
Engineering researchers have narrowed the search for the source of X-rays emitted by lightning, a feat that could one day help predict where lightning will strike.
Read more…
Exelon’s savings in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 would come largely from new efficiencies, not investments in renewable energy.
Read more…
Technology research company Forrester predicts that by 2013, social software, the application of Web 2.0 for the enterprise, will grow at an annual rate of 43 per cent per year. This is quickly becoming …
Read more…
Surrey University researchers have discovered a way to use the spherical
Read more…
Regular columnist Bill Thompson says the virtual world still needs a lot of work if it is to replace the real world.
Read more…
Colorado River trip sees effects of years of US drough.
Read more…
The old globalisation model is unsustainable. The world economy awaits its new Keynes. The world economy has seen globalisation collapse once already.
Read more…
Long DNA sequences, or palindromes, change the shape of the molecule from double helix to hairpin-like formation, which causes replication to stall. Altered or stalled replication causes chromosomal breaking, resulting in cancers and diseases.
Read more…
A $52 billion takeover of the U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch by Brazilian-Belgian rival InBev demonstrates how tough modern business is for many family-run companies.
Read more…
Schizophrenia is a disease that strikes an average of 4000 Belgians every year. The causes of this psychiatric disorder are not yet clear. But now, VIB researchers connected to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven have …
Read more…
A group of experts from around the world will Thursday hold a first of its kind conference on global catastrophic risks.
In this breakthrough book, customer service expert Bob Livingston gives you practical tools for transforming your approach to serving clients by strengthening “how you do what you do.” Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a business leader, …
Rapidly developing changes in technology, scientific knowledge, and domestic and international environmental issues force analysts to constantly reevaluate whether current public policy is effective. Are governments leading, following, or falling behind other societal actors? This …
Get ready to radically change the way you think about your markets and products. In The Age Curve, Ken Gronbach will open your eyes to a remarkably simple yet consistently ignored fact: Demographic numbers — …
A revolution is under way in today’s organizations. As Peter Senge and his coauthors reveal in The Necessary Revolution, companies around the world are boldly leading the change from dead-end “Business as usual” tactics to …
Read more…
One of the world’s best-known economists, Jeffrey Sachs, has warned Australia against using an emissions trading scheme to tackle climate change, saying it would never win global support.
Read more…
The most advanced robot butler yet can carry out simple tasks in a real kitchen, helped by electronic ID tags and, eventually, an online databas.
Read more…
The Bush administration, dismissing the recommendations of its top experts, rejected regulating the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming Friday, saying it would cripple the U.S. economy.
Read more…
One of the nation’s largest correctional institutions is spending $3.3 million to install an RFID inmate tracking system to track and monitor over 2,000 of its inmates
Read more…
An explosion of Western magazines has hit newsstands in India in the past year, pitching a familiar mix of gossip, relationship advice and expensive goodies.
Read more…
In a country that holds itself up as a citadel of free enterprise, Washington has morphed from being the lender of last resort into effectively the only resort for millions of Americans engaged in …
Read more…
Demand for land to grow food and fuel crops is set to outstrip supply, leading to forest destruction, a report warns.
Read more…
Gordon Brown yesterday spoke of his desire to see Britain become a major centre for the mass production of electric cars in a drive to reduce the nation’s dependency on oil.
Read more…
Now that diesel prices have jumped well beyond $4 a gallon, the volunteer rescuers who protect most of the United States have begun rethinking how they respond to emergencies.
Read more…
Canada could play a crucial role in helping to alleviate the current international energy crisis if it continues to expand Alberta oilsands production and considers allowing exploration off B.C.’s pristine coastline, according to a …
Read more…
Implementing the NextGen satellite positioning system, which updates a plane’s precise location every second, could allow controllers to put more planes in the sky.
Read more…
Among leading possible candidates as fuel feedstocks are algae; halophytes, a group of salt-tolerant plants; and jatropha curcas, a bush native to Central America that can grow in poor soils.
Read more…
The gloom that has descended on much of the world’s aviation industry is far from affecting everybody, and some Asian low-cost airlines are drawing up expansion plans, looking at opportunities where others see losses.
Read more…
A year after the introduction of bicycles for rent known as V
Read more…
Judith Kung Fu may be just one of more than 14 million computer-generated characters in the 3-D online game Second Life . But with her help, her creator may one day save your life. …
Read more…
A team of Auburn University researchers has won a decisive battle in the war against germs.
Read more…
Environment, science & technology: Robert Booth examines Gordon Brown’s utopian vision for housing in the 21st centur.
Read more…
A new genetic discovery and chelation therapy are in the news this week.
Read more…
The Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) business is set to undergo a fundamental transformation during the next 10 years, courtesy of the coming wireless social networking revolution.
Read more…
Humanity stands on the threshold of a peaceful and prosperous future, with an unprecedented ability to extend lifespans and increase the power of ordinary people
Read more…
Call it a diplomatic fandango. Heavy-duty Chinese bulldozers groan day and night, building motorable roads that will connect towns with cities in Kazakhstan.
Read more…
A natural compound from magnolia cones blocks a pathway for cancer growth that was previously considered "undruggable," researchers have found.
Read more…
To get to the front door of the Elias family, the inhabitants of the new Dream Home at Disneyland, you must step onto a revolving walkway and glide past Tom Morrow, a Nathan Lane-voiced …
Read more…
President Bush and other leaders of the Group of Eight pledged this week to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2050. A key consideration in evaluating climate policies is the economic …
Read more…
With the arrival of peak oil production, the oil coming out of the oilfields is of lesser quality and costs more energy to obtain, says Pedro Prieto .
Read more…
LSU scientist Huiming Bao, along with colleagues from UCLA and China, recently discovered some of the first atmospheric evidence in support of the Snowball Earth hypothesis. This theory suggests that Earth was entirely covered …
Read more…
The company is making an effort to raise its security profile with open-source tools such as Ratproxy.
Read more…
For apple growers like Abby Jacobson, making or losing money depends as much on what they don’t do as what they do.
Read more…
A modern financial tale of what might bring about the collapse of an economic system.
Read more…
A silicon device with thousands of slats of tiny mirrors lined up to resemble a jalousie window could speed the efficiency of NASA’s next generation space telescope, the Constellation-X Observatory, according to a team …
Read more…
Is this the first step in unifying virtual worlds.
Read more…
China may be accused of placing business above human rights in Africa but the World Bank says in a new report that the Asian giant is spearheading a massive infrastructure revolution in the continent …
Read more…
Many scientists picture a future of mankind making love to robots and marrying them, to boot.
Read more…
Researchers have discovered a new way to make use of drugs’ unwanted side effects. They developed a computational method that compares how similar the side effects of different drugs are and predicts how likely …
Read more…
The price of petrol could increase to $8 a litre within 10 years, according to a CSIRO-sponsored report.
Read more…
ew patterns are emerging in the higher education choices of Indian students seeking admission to universities abroad, even as the volume of student traffic from India to Europe, America and Australia races northward.
Read more…
Credit card companies know what you’ve bought. Phone companies know whom you’ve called. Electronic toll services know where you’ve gone. Internet search companies know what you’ve sought.
Read more…
pace officials set a date of 2018 for launching an unmanned mission to return samples of Martian soil to Earth.
Read more…
You can now socialize in 3D places on the Web! Lively by Google has interactive 3D places on Web pages where visitors can see each other’s avatars and chat. Customize your avatar and decorate …
Read more…
Ever since the rise of the automobile in the 1950s, the American Dream has featured a home in the suburbs and two cars in the garage.
Read more…
Scientists make an important advance in their efforts to predict earthquakes, the journal Nature says.
Read more…
Genesis the start of new Web 2.0 initiative. Adobe is developing a mashup interface code-named ‘Genesis’ that will allow business users to pull together "workspaces" that combine assets like business application data, documents and …
Read more…
Executives from major Internet players — Microsoft Corp. , Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. — are due for a grilling about online privacy in a Senate committee, but the company likely to get the …
Read more…
The world’s richest nations and emerging powers joined together for the first time to commit themselves to long-range cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions, although they were split on how to achieve that goal.
Read more…
UK firm offers greener way to drive and a home-brewed refuel station to keep the hybrid car going.
Read more…
Obesity levels in China are rising fast, with more than a quarter of the adult population overweight or obese, as people add more meat and dairy products to their diet, causing serious health problems, …
Read more…
Steve Snyder, TransAlta Corporation’s, President and CEO, today applauded the Alberta government’s commitment to provide $2 billion in funding for the development of Carbon Capture and Storage technology, saying CCS is vital if Canada …
Read more…
The future looks bleak for many of the twenty-somethings caught between the old China and the new
Read more…
Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is putting his clout behind renewable energy sources like wind power.
Read more…
Researchers have created the world’s first artificial DNA strand, with hopes it will be used in DNA computing and nanotechnology.
Read more…
Austrian Airlines said it will end service to Chicago and London’s City Airport and cut back on flights to New York, Washington, Mumbai and other destinations because of soaring jet fuel costs.
Read more…
Microorganisms once reigned supreme on the Earth, thriving by filling every nook and cranny of the environment billions of years before humans first arrived on the scene. Now, this ability of microorganisms to grow …
Read more…
The ruling by a Japanese labor bureau was the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.
Read more…
Biology professor Joseph Ayers is expanding his research on animals’ nervous systems that produced the RoboLobster and RoboLamprey to include a study on tactile sensory perception in jellyfish and lobsters.
Read more…
Carbon dioxide has been captured at a power station for the first time in Australia but it will take another 17 years before it’s commercially viable, says the CSIRO.
Read more…
A decade-long drought in Australia’s most important crop-growing region is worsening and there is little hope for relief from either saving rains or a new government conservation plan, officials said
Read more…
Imagine having your own personal fuel pump outside your house which you can use to turn your ordinary car into an eco-friendly machine each morning before you head off to work.
Read more…
A new treatment strategy using targeted nanoparticles to block metastasis with anti-cancer drugs leads to good results using significantly lower doses of toxic chemotherapy, with less collateral damage to surrounding tissue, according to a …
Read more…
A Brown-led research team has for the first time found evidence of water deep within the moon. Researchers believe the water was contained in lunar magmas ejected more than 3 billion years ago. The …
Read more…
General Motors and Ford reported first-half sales grew strongly in China’s booming auto market Tuesday, a rare bright spot for global automakers.
Read more…
US scientists design robots that can climb wall.
Read more…
The G8 changes the length of the global warming racetrac.
Read more…
Toyota’s ecological Prius gas-electric hybrid will become even greener next year with solar-powered air-conditioning on some models, the Nikkei reported Monday. The solar panels on the roof will provide 2 to 5 kilowatts of …
Read more…
A new way to help technologists develop efficient and inexpensive plastic electronic devices, such as plastic solar cells and a new type of transistor was showcased by physicist Andrea Liscio, who is supported by …
Read more…
A Lehman Brothers analyst downgraded the entertainment industry Monday and slashed forecasts for its five major companies, saying digital downloads of movies and TV shows posed a huge threat to profits from DVD sales …
Read more…
As the Group of 8 nations get down to business at their annual summit meeting, Asia finds itself confined to the fringes, asking how long it must wait for political power to flow east …
Read more…
Extremophiles create, collect and store power in ways once reserved to the realm of comic book superheroes. Can they teach us how it’s done.
Read more…
The UK will continue to expand the use of biofuels in petrol and diesel for transport but will slow down their introduction in line with the recommendations of a new government review, transport secretary …
Read more…
With fuel protests breaking out across Europe and U.S. consumer confidence at levels not seen since the stagflation days of the 1970s, inflation has clearly become a hot political issue.
Read more…
China wants clean technology; Japan has it to sell. On the eve of the G-8 summit, two traditional rivals have reasons to heal old wounds.
Read more…
Microsoft challenged the rules on competition and antitrust law. Now, it’s Google’s turn.
Read more…
Biodegradable plastic products are full of potential, but there is a lot of misunderstanding about them.
Read more…
Automakers and designers are mapping out a new generation of lighter, sleeker vehicles that could give a radical new look to urban streets.
Read more…
Climate change could cut South Africa’s maize crop by 20% within 15 to 20 years as the west of the country dries out while the east is afflicted with increasingly severe storms, its environment …
Read more…
Dr Peter Cook holds sandstone from the Otway Basin, where 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide has been stored underground.
Read more…
As the cost of fuel soars and the pressure mounts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, several schemes for a new generation of airship are being considered.
Read more…
As the Web has become an irreplaceable part of life, users have become less forgiving of even occasional outages.
Read more…
At the Lotusengineering works in Norfolk, researchers are working on an idea that seems almost too good to be true: a car that runs on CO2 The very gas that comes out of exhausts …
Read more…
Isabel Hilton reports on the explosion of capitalism that is transforming China’s ancient capital.
Read more…
Can a pacemaker-like device help curb the urge to eat? Volunteers at U and Mayo will try this summer.
Read more…
Having to make due with less water, California farmers are reassessing their planting of tomatoes, cotton, corn and other water-intensive crops.
Extra gene stops boys being boys (Daily Telegraph)
How English Is Evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand (Wired News)
Read more…
Food has always been considered as big as heaven by the Chinese people and it is particularly so for China today when the ever-improving living standards for its 1.3 billion people are pushing up …
Read more…
Nobel Laureate Sir John Sulston says medical profits are taking precedence over the needs of patients.
Read more…
The number of hungry people increased by about 50 million in 2007 as a result of high food prices, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said addressing a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Read more…
China is willing to discuss the setting of medium- and long-term goals for reducing emissions of polluting gases at a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations next week in Japan, a climate …
Read more…
Brazil is looking to triple exports to China through a new program aimed at making the country’s goods more competitive in the Asian market, officials said.
Read more…
Boston researchers have developed a test that can identify minute amounts of tumor cells floating in the blood of cancer patients, a discovery that could lead to better treatments with fewer side effects.
Read more…
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is today publishing a report which identifies the CO2 emissions created by goods and services imported into the UK.
Read more…
Kids turn to a virtual world where they can create a digital version of themselves.
Read more…
Guy Riba, the deputy director of the French national institute for agricultural research (INRA), highlights the many challenges the world will have to meet by 2050 if it wants to feed its nine-billion inhabitants …
Read more…
Carbon capture and storage (CSS) is fast becoming the oil industry
Read more…
American Airlines expects to cut nearly 7,000 employees by the end of the year, or about 8 percent of its worldwide work force, as it reduces flights and grounds aircraft because of high fuel …
Read more…
There is a new tool in the fight against copper theft in east Texas.
Read more…
Tiny slivers of diamond discovered in Australia may contain the earliest traces of life on Earth, a study finds.
Read more…
The US state of Georgia blocks construction of a new coal power plant based on concerns over carbon emissions.
Read more…
Chinese farmers are facing the same inflation in farm production costs as their global counterparts. Beijing has tried to shield consumers from inflation.
Read more…
Nanoelectronics researchers discover a bizarre shaped molecule in one of their devices can acts as first known quantum state-manipulable atom…
Read more…
America’s largest private-sector union will be joining up with Britain’s Unite, to form the world’s first transatlantic union.
Read more…
Legal process outsourcing is rapidly growing and is expected to become a $4 billion industry globally by 2015 with India occupying a significant chunk of it, industry players and analysts said.
Read more…
How innovation is transforming care in the NHS
Read more…
Many experts say the dearth of highly skilled labor, particularly engineers and tradesmen, will jeopardize Brazil’s economic and political rise.
Read more…
A new invention promises mobility for even the most severe spinal cord injuries or neuromuscular diseases. Researchers in the U.S. have discovered that the tongue is the perfect mechanism to control a powered wheelchair …
Read more…
Oil supplies will remain tight over the next five years despite record high prices and reduced demand, the International Energy Agency said.
Read more…
In this year’s Global Competitiveness Report, Nordic and Asian countries in general did well while the United States lagged behind.
Read more…
These days a slowdown or recession in China could be almost as important for global growth as one in the United States.
Read more…
The work by the researchers from Indiana University, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Ecole Polytechnique F
Read more…
A Japanese firm began accepting reservations for couples who really want to make the big leap — by blasting into space to exchange their wedding vow.
Read more…
Cancer starts when key cellular signals run amok, driving uncontrolled cell growth. But scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine report that lowering levels of one cancer signal under a specific threshold reverses …
Read more…
As it takes over the EU’s rotating presidency, France says it wants to give European space policy a new political direction.
Innovation Watch and Futurepedia are registered trademarks