March 8, 2010 – 12:22 pm | Comments Off

Windows Media | Real Audio … Can an injection help you stop smoking? Or end a drug addiction? We hear about a new approach to curing addiction that works like the flu vaccine. How your …

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Can We Lower Earth’s Thermostat? (Discovery)
February 23, 2010 – 8:46 pm | Comments Off

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 …

Banking on Mobile Money (PhysOrg)
February 23, 2010 – 8:41 pm | Comments Off

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 …

Gene Mutation is Linked to Autism-Like Symptoms in Mice (PhysOrg)
February 23, 2010 – 8:35 pm | Comments Off

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

Check This Out: Deposit Money by Taking a Photo (Boston Globe)
February 23, 2010 – 8:33 pm | Comments Off

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 …

Neuroscientists Find Brain System behind General Intelligence (PhysOrg)
February 22, 2010 – 2:08 pm | Comments Off

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. …

‘Virtual Cell’ Could Bring Benefits of Simulation to Biology (PhysOrg)
February 22, 2010 – 2:06 pm | Comments Off

In a matter of months, bioengineer Markus Covert, PhD, expects to unveil the first “whole-cell” computer model of an organism. … Read more

Law Firms Now Outsourcers? (LLRX)
February 22, 2010 – 8:51 am | Comments Off

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 …

Crisis Should Necessitate Greek Rethink of How Society is Organised (Irish Times)
February 22, 2010 – 8:47 am | Comments Off

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 …

Impact of Global Warming on Food Prices Would Likely Drive Many into Poverty (Medical News)
February 22, 2010 – 8:22 am | Comments Off

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 …

Science Damaged by Climate Row Says NAS Chief Cicerone (BBC)
February 21, 2010 – 5:25 pm | Comments Off

Leading scientists say that the recent controversies surrounding climate research have damaged the image of science as a whole. … Read more

Biotech, Nanotech and Synthetic Biology Roles in Future Food Supply Explored (Science Daily)
February 21, 2010 – 5:24 pm | Comments Off

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 …

Governments ‘Misjudging’ Scale of CO2 Emissions (PhysOrg)
February 21, 2010 – 5:22 pm | Comments Off

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 …

David Olive: China’s Building Bubble About to Burst (Toronto Star)
February 21, 2010 – 6:55 am | Comments Off

Experts fear if air goes out of Beijing market, the world economic recovery may go flat. … Read more

Craig Kielburger: The World Needs Your Kid (Allan Greg)
February 20, 2010 – 8:55 am | Comments Off

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)

Tiny Sensor May Lead to Home Cancer Detection Kits (CNET)
February 20, 2010 – 8:34 am | Comments Off

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. …

The Global Economy and Me (The Globalist)
February 20, 2010 – 8:19 am | Comments Off

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 …

A German Library for the 21st Century (Spiegel)
February 20, 2010 – 8:04 am | Comments Off

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 …

New Role for Robot Warriors (Christian Science Monitor)
February 20, 2010 – 7:58 am | Comments Off

Drones are just part of a bid to automate combat. Can virtual ethics make machines decisionmakers? … Read more

Greece’s Painful Choice (BusinessWeek)
February 20, 2010 – 7:45 am | Comments Off

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

Team Finds Subtropical Waters Flushing through Greenland Fjord (PhysOrg)
February 20, 2010 – 7:41 am | Comments Off

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 …

Rapid, Inexpensive DNA Sequencing Moves Closer to Reality (PhysOrg)
February 20, 2010 – 7:38 am | Comments Off

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 …

Synchronized Flying Robots Could Paint Pictures in the Sky (PhysOrg)
February 20, 2010 – 7:35 am | Comments Off

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 …

Cars Emerge as Key Atmospheric Warming Force: Study (PhysOrg)
February 20, 2010 – 7:33 am | Comments Off

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 …

Newspapers’ Fury at BBC’s Mobile Push (Independent)
February 19, 2010 – 9:27 am | Comments Off

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 …

Artificial Nose Can Distinguish between Coffee Brands (PhysOrg)
February 19, 2010 – 9:21 am | Comments Off

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 …

Stuck? Take a Look at Your Business Model (BusinessWeek)
February 18, 2010 – 9:55 pm | Comments Off

Energy, healthcare and media executives could benefit by rethinking their industry business models, says Innosight chairman Mark Johnson. … Read more

Smart Grid Could Turn Appliances into Spies, Experts Warn (CBC)
February 18, 2010 – 9:48 pm | Comments Off

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 …

NYC Judge Expresses Some Doubts about Google Deal (PhysOrg)
February 18, 2010 – 9:43 pm | Comments Off

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. …