Article Archive for February 2010
In recent years, climate change seems to have elbowed out other environmental issues to become the No. 1 global problem. But the alarming worldwide water scarcity is an equally important issue, and an even more …
European Union Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn will likely push Greece to do more to cut its budget deficit today as governments craft a possible rescue package for the cash-strapped nation. … Read …
The study of modern languages could die out within the next 20 years because of the government’s focus on science subjects, leading academics have warned. … Read more
People have been asking for a while now whether there are too many charities—either too many focused on accomplishing the same things, or too few able to prove social impact. … Read more
Acting as a microscope for sound, a new device called a micro-ear could make objects on the micro-scale audible. The device could enable scientists to listen to the sounds that cells and bacteria make as …
New sensors built using nanotechnology could read and write information directly into the brain. … Read more
A journey from Earth to Mars could in the future take just 39 days — cutting current travel time nearly six times — according to a rocket scientist who has the ear of the US …
Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move to prized higher ground, putting the cash crop at risk. … Read more
A single cell in the human body is approximately 10,000 times more energy-efficient than any nanoscale digital transistor, the fundamental building block of electronic chips. In one second, a cell performs about 10 million energy-consuming …
Microsoft on Thursday said it combined technology with an “extraordinary” legal maneuver to cripple a massive network of hacked computers that had been flooding the Internet with spam. … Read more
Scientists have discovered an area of the North Atlantic Ocean where plastic debris accumulates. … Read more
European researchers are creating technology that will treat neighbourhoods like a miniature power grid, sharing energy generated at each house according to need. Allied to a host of other developments, the concept promises huge energy …
For years science fiction writers and astronomers have speculated about the feasibility of terraforming other planets. One dream is to make Mars habitable for humans by warming the planet and therefore building up a wetter …
Many technologists and entrepreneurs have argued that mobile phones can empower people in the developing world by providing civic and commercial resources where traditional infrastructure is lacking. But what actually happens when people start using …
When a gene implicated in human autism is disabled in mice, the rodents show learning problems and obsessive, repetitive behaviors, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. … Read more
In the near future, you might not even have to visit a bank or an ATM to deposit a check. You’ll simply snap a couple of photos of it with your cell phone. … Read …
A collaborative team of neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology, the University of Iowa, the University of Southern California, and the Autonomous University of Madrid have mapped the brain structures that affect general intelligence. …
In a matter of months, bioengineer Markus Covert, PhD, expects to unveil the first “whole-cell” computer model of an organism. … Read more
Semantics and slicing aside, it’s clear the clients want lower legal costs. And it’s clear that shifting work location and improving processes achieve that result. After negative press about LPO several years ago, it’s ironic …
The civilisation that gave “Greek tragedy” to the world has done it again – but with dramatically different results, making it clear, perhaps for the first time, how serious a factor Greece really is in …
The impact of global warming on food prices and hunger could be large over the next 20 years, according to a new Stanford University study. Researchers say that higher temperatures could significantly reduce yields of …
Leading scientists say that the recent controversies surrounding climate research have damaged the image of science as a whole. … Read more
Some say the world’s population will swell to 9 billion people by 2030 and that will present significant challenges for agriculture to provide enough food to meet demand, says University of Idaho animal scientist Rod …
Policy makers in Europe and United States are markedly underestimating the changes needed to mitigate CO2 emission required to prevent dangerous climate change because they work in ’silos’, according to pioneering research. … Read …
Experts fear if air goes out of Beijing market, the world economic recovery may go flat. … Read more
Allan Greg talks to Craig Kielburger about his new book The World Needs Your Kid, which offers tips for raising compassionate and caring children with a uniquely Canadian perspective. (27m 7s)
An engineering professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia is developing an acoustic resonant sensor smaller than a human hair to test bodily fluids for a variety of diseases, including breast and prostate cancers. …
Leaving aside the obvious effects of the global recession — namely, unemployment and tighter budgets in much of the developed world — how does the average person relate to the global economy? The answer might …
The German Digital Library wants to make millions of books, films, images and audio recordings accessible online. More than 30,000 libraries, museums and archives are expected to contribute their digitized cultural artifacts. The idea, in …
Drones are just part of a bid to automate combat. Can virtual ethics make machines decisionmakers? … Read more
It can’t devalue its currency. The rest of Europe isn’t wild about a bailout. What can Greece do? Action Economics suggests taking a page out of Germany’s early 1990s playbook. … Read more
Waters from warmer latitudes — or subtropical waters — are reaching Greenland’s glaciers, driving melting and likely triggering an acceleration of ice loss, reports a team of researchers led by Fiamma Straneo, a physical oceanographer …
As efforts such as The Cancer Genome Atlas and others generate vast quantities of information about the genetic makeup of different types of cancer, it is becoming increasingly clear that such information has great potential …
In a new MIT project called Flyfire, tiny robotic helicopters with LEDs can act as flying pixels, moving together to create transient images in three-dimensional space. If it sounds like something out of a Disney …
A new study led by Nadine Unger of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City offers a more intuitive way to understand what’s changing the Earth’s climate. Rather than analyzing impacts …
Britain’s national newspaper companies, which are already experiencing severe financial difficulties from the growth of the internet and the downturn in advertising during the recession, are furious that the BBC is preparing to compete with …
A team of chemists led by Ken Suslick from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, have developed a coffee analyzer than can distinguish between ten well-known commercial brands of coffee and can also make a …
Energy, healthcare and media executives could benefit by rethinking their industry business models, says Innosight chairman Mark Johnson. … Read more
With the rapid adoption of a North American “smart grid” aimed at helping consumers conserve electricity, it’s also possible that smart appliances will be able to transmit information about their activities (and yours) through the …
A judge questioned whether Google and lawyers for authors and publishers went too far when they struck a deal that would let the gigantic search engine make money presiding over the world’s largest digital library. …
Just as Europe is trying to boost its competitiveness through improved higher education, the economic crisis has led to divisive funding cutbacks for universities. …
Multinational companies in China need to consider new strategies to manage Gen Y employees, now half of China’s working-age population. … Read more
An international team of researchers has created a genome-scale map of 26 different cancers, revealing more than 100 genomic sites where DNA from tumors is either missing or abnormally duplicated compared to normal tissues. The …
Jeremy Rifkin is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the author of seventeen bestselling books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and …
Evolution’s Edge explains not only why the collapse of our violent and destructive global system is inevitable, but also why a new type of sustainable civilization has begun to emerge. Because the …
In years past, Jiang, who hails from the central province of Hubei, might have had his future decided by match-making relatives in his rural hometown. But now he logs on each day to jiayuan.com — …
A report out of Britain funded by Virgin Airlines owner Richard Branson and other British business leaders warns that peak oil is looming in 2015. The controversial idea that growing oil demand will soon outstrip …
Global metal prices have had a rollercoaster ride in recent years – and they are rising strongly again. … Read more
Foreign demand for US Treasury bonds and notes fell by a record amount in December as China reduced its holdings. … Read more
The ranks of cell phone subscribers will swell to five billion people this year thanks to the growth of smartphones in developed nations and mobile services in poor nations, a UN agency said. … Read …
The Obama campaign’s mastery of social media for everything from fundraising to volunteer coordination has been widely reported. Until now, there hasn’t been an in-depth analysis of how they did it. …
A nanoscale material developed in Britain could one day yield wafer-thin cellphones and light-weight, long-range electric cars powered by the roof, boot and doors, researchers have reported. … Read more
Nobel laureates, technology titans, artists, scientists, and academics spent five days here grappling with how best to reboot the world. … Read more
A new model, capable of assessing the rate at which the oceans are acidifying, suggests that changes in the carbonate chemistry of the deep ocean may exceed anything seen in the past 65 million years. …
It is mind-boggling to consider what it takes to produce the products we depend on — critical drugs like blood thinners, plastic-based products such as syringes, isotopes for medical imaging, and …
A new way of using the genetic code has been created, allowing proteins to be made with properties that have never been seen in the natural world. The breakthrough could eventually lead to the creation …
What do the recent successes of Amazon.com, Wikipedia, IBM, and Novartis AG have in common with the behavior of insects? What does it take to throw a successful party? How can we make …
As retirement funds shrink and savings disappear, now is a good time to ask a question for which every human civilization has had an answer: why do things cost what they do? Examining …
BeBionic hands feature naturally compliant grip patterns combining innovative technology with life-like appearance. Functions of the hand such as speed, grip force and grip patterns may be custom programmed to suit individual …
Is it still possible to “read” markets fast enough to respond to them? A world of discrete parts is now one interconnected web of ceaseless calculation and response. Marketing has become …
The airborne laser program – part Star Wars (the sci-fi flick) and part Star Wars (the Strategic Defense Initiative) – has taken years of work and billions of dollars it get here. But the Pentagon …
Neurologists are employing brain electrodes to try to establish contact with people in vegetative and minimally conscious states. This could be the last hope for Belgian Rom Houben, who has been trapped in his own …
MP3… The World’s Laura Lynch reports that British consumers are finding two labels now on their food — one for nutritional facts, the other on the food’s carbon footprint. [The World] (5m 29s)
Google is stuck between something of a rock and a hard place. The company, which rose to prominence and fortune on the basis of its highly popular search service, has been expanding out from its …
A team of MIT physicists has developed a system that can wirelessly transfer power to multiple electronic devices simultaneously with high efficiency. The system takes advantage of electromagnetic resonance coupling, and could be implemented by …
Copenhagen’s failure to deliver a legally binding deal has created an opportunity for individuals to fill the void left by politicians, says Sir David King. He explains how small-scale projects can move the world towards …
As the social networking train gathers momentum, some riders are getting off. Their reasons run the gamut from being besieged by online “friends” who aren’t really friends to lingering concerns over where their messages and …
Jaron Lanier’s book, You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto, has ruffled feathers in the US. The book takes a swipe at Web 2
.0, accusing it of destroying individuality, destroying creativity and destroying middle-class professions. …
Let the mind-bending begin! A TED conference that attracts brilliant minds and challenges them to solve humanity’s ills got underway in the southern California city of Long Beach. … Read more
Silicon Valley, facing a slowdown in innovation and a shortage of funding, may lose its competitive advantage to emerging U.S. technology hotbeds such as Huntsville, Alabama, and Washington, D.C., a study found. … Read more
Google Inc.’s effort to offer Internet access at speeds 100 times faster than those available today raises the bar for U.S. cable and phone companies as the government readies a national broadband plan. … Read …
Stammering has long been recognised to run in families, but scientists now say they have identified three genes which may cause the problem in some people. … Read more
Researchers are closer than ever to having a first draft of a complete sequence of the genome of a Neanderthal woman who lived some 30,000 years ago, and this means it may one day be …
Can war be fought by lots of well-behaved machines, making it “safer for humans”? That is the seductive vision, and hope, of those manufacturing and researching the future of military robotics. … Read more
Spanish telecoms operator Telefonica says it is considering charging Internet search companies like Google and Yahoo for network use. … Read more
Gene variants that might show how fast people’s bodies are actually ageing have been pinpointed by scientists. … Read more
A mobile phone that can act as an interpreter is being developed by Google. The firm says its device will convert spoken words into another language almost instantly. … Read more
The centuries-long history of capitalism is rich and eventful. Approaching capitalism as a culture, as important for its ideas and values as for its inventions and systems, Joyce Appleby gives us a fascinating introduction to …
In bestsellers such as Purple Cow and Tribes, Seth Godin taught readers how to make remarkable products and spread powerful ideas. But this book is different. It’s about you – your choices, your future, and …
We live in a world of innovation overdrive. Companies with talent can generate innumerable ideas for new or improved products every day. Ideas layer upon ideas; success begets success. But every layer of creativity, every …
In Watching YouTube, Dr. Strangelove, the Governor General Literary Award-nominated author that Wired Magazine called a ‘guru of Internet advertsing,’ describes how online digital video is both similar to and different from traditional home-movie-making and …
Back for the second the at Mobile Monday Amsterdam, Joe Pine II speaks about the Multiverse. He defines the universe by 3 axes: time, matter and space. But what happens if we look at the …
MP3… Within a single generation, digital media and the World Wide Web have transformed virtually every aspect of modern culture, from how we learn and work to how we communicate and even conduct war. Frontline …
MP3… A new study by British and Belgian scientists has raised provocative questions about the inner life of patients in what doctors call a vegetative state. They’re seemingly unconscious or unaware. The new research published …
MP3… Nathan Myhrvold, CEO of Intellectual Ventures and author of the HBR article “Funding Eureka,” talks about new model for invention. [Harvard Business IdeaCast] (14m 40s)
MP3… Stock markets in the U.S. and Europe have taken a beating in recent days because of worries about the debt crisis in Greece, Portugal, Spain and some other European countries. Financial Times reporter Stacy-Marie …
A growing number of Britons are sceptical about global warming, a poll has revealed. It found around 26 per cent – a rise of 10 per cent in just three months – do not believe …
Whether the measure is wages, earnings, or total compensation, the inflation-adjusted pay narrative remains the same: Workers have seen their inflation-adjusted pay go up only a little during the past four business cycle expansions while …
The entry of oil companies into the realm of renewable energy could present major obstacles for the development of a sustainable economy that is not based on carbon resources, according to a report in the …
Australians must prepare for a fundamental shift in the way we live because the country cannot afford to cope with 36 million people. … Read more
The Toyota recall may be a harbinger of things to come in the auto industry, where vehicle electronics are getting more and more complex. … Read more
Hawaiian officials have concluded that the resource-rich tropical state has little choice but to pursue green ambitions, reports the Los Angeles Times. Their goal is to transform the nation’s most energy-dependent state into its cleanest …
Using lasers and nanoparticles, scientists at Rice University have discovered a new technique for singling out individual diseased cells and destroying them with tiny explosions. The scientists used lasers to make “nanobubbles” by zapping gold …
The battery, which has powered our lives for generations, may soon be consigned to the dustbin of history. British scientists say they have created a plastic that can store and release electricity, revolutionising the way …
Using the same quantum principles that enable the teleportation of information, a new proposal shows how it may be possible to teleport energy. By exploiting the quantum energy fluctuations in entangled particles, physicists may be …
Though America’s cybervulnerability has long been a concern of intelligence agencies, the Google episode has catapulted it to a national security priority. … Read more
A University of Miami doctor recently removed two cancerous tumors from a patient’s liver using only three needle-like probes, a computer and a powerful burst of electricity. … Read more
The head of the largest climate change study ever undertaken in Canada says the Arctic sea ice is thinning faster than expected. … Read more
Google Inc., aiming to expand beyond advertising tied to Internet search results, plans to start an online store that will sell business software developed by other companies, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday. …
University of Toronto researchers have observed quantum mechanics, an endeavour usually reserved for the high-energy physics lab, working in the biological molecules that algae use to make food out of light. … Read more
A world without Google? They can imagine it just fine in China. After all, it’s not like losing “World of Warcraft.” … Read more
Nobody worried about cold-weather performance of electric vehicle battery packs when it was warm outside, but now that Old Man Winter has descended, the problem is beginning to surface. When cars have a range of …
Once all processes are electronic, digitized, portable and in cyberspace, then what is the point of a regimented 9-to-5 Monday to Friday working society? Free at last! If everyone were working and thinking while connected …
The Copenhagen Climate Accord was a failure of historic proportions that is hardly worth the paper it is printed on, says Malini Mehra. In this week’s Green Room, she says climate negotiations need to adopt …
Erico Guizzo – Great little movie by Honda. It’s a short documentary film called “Living with Robots,” which debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival last month. … Read more
Law enforcement officials say gangs are making greater use of Twitter and Facebook, where they sometimes post information that helps agents identify gang associates and learn more about their organizations. … Read more
Effective leadership is more crucial than ever before. In fact, the link between effective leadership and corporate health is backed up by hard data, as best-selling author Judith M. Bardwick explains in her contributed article …
Like many celebrated companies, Harley-Davidson has soared, faltered, nearly died, and come back to life as a robust, iconic institution. And like all enduring companies, it learned that the constant push to improve and innovate …
China, the world’s largest metal consumer, will add to last year’s record $32 billion spending on resource acquisitions as demand for iron ore, copper and oil soars with the fastest economic growth since 2007. Chinese …
Scientists at UC Berkeley have created smart nanoprobes that may one day be used in the battle against cancer to selectively seek out and destroy tumor cells, as well as report back on the mission’s …
The Obama administration wants to increase taxes on Americans earning more than $200,000 by almost $970 billion over the next decade and take in an additional $400 billion from businesses even as it retooled a …
China’s property market “bubble” is set to burst as the government curbs credit growth and clamps down on speculation, according to independent economist Andy Xie. … Read more
Could humans one day walk on walls, like Spider-Man? A palm-sized device invented at Cornell that uses water surface tension as an adhesive bond just might make it possible. … Read more
Britain must prepare to use military power to protect its energy supplies as it becomes increasingly dependent on imported oil and gas, according to the Conservatives. Nato should help to police sea lanes to keep …
Researchers excavating an ancient Roman cemetery made a surprising discovery when they extracted ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from one of the skeletons buried at the site: the 2,000-year-old bones revealed a maternal East Asian ancestry. …
The search for new drug compounds is probably worse than looking for a needle in a haystack because scientists are limited in the size of the haystacks they can rummage through—time and money make it …
Using computers based on the mind-boggling physics of the quantum world, researchers now hope to simulate reality on the molecular scale better than ever before. … Read more
Northwestern University researchers are the first to design a bioactive nanomaterial that promotes the growth of new cartilage in vivo and without the use of expensive growth factors. Minimally invasive, the therapy activates the bone …
Speed is not a word typically associated with trees; they can take centuries to grow. However, a new study to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found evidence that …
Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips are among companies facing as much as $45 billion in costs under President Barack Obama’s budget plan to eliminate oil and gas industry preferences and tax loopholes. … …
Painting the roofs of buildings white has the potential to significantly cool cities and mitigate some impacts of global warming, a new study indicates. The research, which is the first computer modeling study to simulate …
The quickest way to cut emissions from aircraft could be better flight management rather than new technology, an Oxford University study has found. … Read more
European legislation covering the protection of private data is being dragged into the digital age in a potential threat for social networking sites like Facebook where users display foibles, often without a thought for consequences. …
One of the most startling and chilling revelations related to the global economic downturn pertains to a link between the current crisis and a phenomenon known as “demographic winter”, which refers to a worldwide decline …
China lashed out with a raft of reprisals Saturday after Washington announced a 6.4-billion-dollar arms package for Taiwan, escalating the biggest Sino-US crisis yet under President Barack Obama. … Read more
There is a growing consensus among world oil experts that the planet has an abundance of oil – “enough oil for at least 100 years,” claims a top executive at Italian oil giant ENI SpA. …
It’s time for the world to get optimistic about AI again. … Read more
Researchers have made a breakthrough in HIV research that had eluded scientists for over 20 years, potentially leading to better treatments for HIV, in a study published today in the journal Nature. … Read …
It may sound like a prop from a sci-fi movie, or some garage inventor’s holy grail: a device that converts a computer file into a three-dimensional physical object. But the technology known as 3-D printing …
A leading figure in the information technology sector believes virtual doctors can help raise health standards in the developing world. Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, says growth in the world’s population …
Large, complex societies may have tamed parts of the Amazon centuries before Spanish explorers sailed across the Atlantic. … Read more
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