gizmag: Research Watch

Specific brainwave patterns occur prior to a “Eureka Moment”

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:53:00 +1000

September 9, 2008 “Eureka” (Greek for "I have found it") is an exclamation used as an interjection to proclaim an epiphanic discovery. Famously pronounced in the bathtub by Archimedes when he suddenly understood that the volume of irregular objects could be calculated with precision through the displacement of water, a previously intractable problem. Real-world problems come in two broad types: those requiring sequential reasoning and those requiring transformative reasoning: a break from past thinking followed by an insight. It is this moment, where a problem solver makes a quantum leap of understanding with no conscious forewarning, that we term the “Eureka moment.” A new university study in which brainwaves of humans were measured as they attempted to solve puzzles that call for intuitive strategies and novel insight has found an array of specific brainwave patterns occur several (up to 8) seconds before the participant is consciously aware of an insight...

Tags: Brain, Thinking

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Why some men cheat – genetic link to relationship difficulties

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:02:54 +1000

September 4, 2008 Comedian Robin Williams once defined the key issue of fidelity as being that men had a brain and a penis and only enough blood to run one at a time. We all know some guys are faithful, and some are not, but until now, it all appeared random behaviour. Now new research suggests that men who carry a certain gene behave differently in relationship. The incidence of the gene has been statistically linked to the incidence of a marital or relational crisis in the past year ,how strongly the man felt he had bonded with his partner, and what their respective partners thought about their relationship. One wonders if perhaps one day we’ll see genetic screening for prospective partners?..

Tags: Genetics

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The weather really does have weekly cycles

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:13:58 +1000

August 31, 2008 Impirical evidence gathered by countless millions of people chained to a desk indoors during weekdays would suggest that the weather on the weekends is different to that during the week. As much as it might seem like a nonsense that the weather could possibly fall into a cycle based on an arbitrary human measurement of time, Spanish researchers have found evidence that in some parts of Europe the weather really does follow a weekly cycle. Evidence has been mounting over the years that the weather in certain parts of the world, including the US, Japan and China, can be driven by the weekly cycle of human activity. This is because we tend to produce more air pollution during the week and less at the weekend. Evidence that such an effect occurs in Europe is controversial and has been harder to come by...

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ESF initiative to re-energise mathematics teaching

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:21:47 +1000

August 30, 2008 Mathematics is the only truly universal language. It describes the world and facilitates the vast majority of our advances in understanding. Mathematics underpins education: the only surefire cure to the world’s ills. Mathematics teaching is as vital as ever both in support of key fields such as life sciences, alternative energy development, or information technology, and also through its unique ability to develop problem solving skills. It should be highly relevant not just for the elite few but for all people in education. Recent research has shown that school students’ mathematical achievement is directly influenced by the students’ beliefs about mathematics and its teaching, teachers’ beliefs about mathematics and its teaching, and the ways in which teachers initiate and sustain learning opportunities. An attempt to re-energise mathematics teaching in Europe is being made in a new European Science Foundation (ESF) project examining a range of factors thought to influence achievement. ..

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Our naked planet - the OneGeology project

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:52:04 +1000

August 28, 2008 For a science that measures time in millions of years, Geology has seen some significant developments in the last year. Over the last twelve months, Earth and computer scientists from 79 nations have been working together on a global project called OneGeology to produce the first digital geological map of the world. This project is doing the same for the rocks beneath our feet that Google has done for maps of the Earth’s surface, quite appropriately given that 2008 is the UN International Year of Planet Earth. ..

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Invisibility metamaterials research breakthrough

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:54:21 +1000

Development in metamaterials - the so called “left handed” composite materials that negatively refract light waves and promise the sci-fi scenario of rendering objects invisible - is accelerating with news this week of two breakthroughs from scientists at the University of California, Berkeley. ..

Tags: Invisibility, Predictions

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Electronic wine-tasting tongue tests grape variety and vintage

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:34:35 +1000

Could this new electronic wine-tasting tongue challenge the finest wine tasters in the world? Invented by European scientists, this handheld device has a multi-sensor chip which senses distinctive characteristics of wine varieties. By analyzing the sugar content, acidity and alcohol, the machine can also determine the year and grape variety of the sample and instead of waiting days for laboratories to analyze wine samples, wine industry specialists will be able to get a sample result at the touch of a button...

Tags: Wine

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Light powered motor utilizes shape-shifting plastic

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:34:21 +1000

A research team at the Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed a plastic motor that is powered solely and directly by light. Unlike solar-powered motors, which use photovoltaic cells to convert light to electric power and therefore require wires and batteries to deliver and store the power, the light activated motor converts light directly into mechanical energy. The first of its kind motor achieves this by using a belt made from a special elastomer whose molecular structure expands or contracts when illuminated, depending on the wavelength of light. An 0.08-millimeter thick belt coated with the shape-shifting plastic is able to turn a pair of wheels measuring 10 millimeters and 3 millimeters in diameter at 1 rpm, and although the device is still quite inefficient in terms of converting light into energy at this stage, the idea throws up an amazing number potential applications...

Tags: Alternative Energy Sources, research watch

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Mobile revolution drives US$700 Billion Global CE sales

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:14:28 +1000

July 22, 2008 The mobile revolution sweeping the world and changing the way it does business is unfolding rapidly despite the economic uncertainties surrounding the American dollar. Worldwide revenue for consumer electronics (CE) will grow US$42 billion (around ten percent), hitting the US$700 billion mark in 2009. The compelling benefits of unwired access to information and person-to-person communication are driving the biggest societal transformation in history – global unit sales of mobile products will top a staggering 1.5 billion units in 2008 – roughly one mobile device for every four people on the planet THIS YEAR, be it a portable navigation devices (worldwide revenue growth of nearly 20 percent in 2008), laptop computer (up 15 percent) or smartphone (up 14 percent)...

Tags: Consumer Electronics

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CONET aims to promote Ubiquitous Computing

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:13:05 +1000

An EU funded project called CONET, or “Cooperating Objects Network of Excellence”, aims to promote networking technology that can be subtly integrated into all aspects of our lives – from the supermarket, to the pub, airport and ski slopes. The three prime objectives of CONET are to create a community of researchers on cooperative obejects, promote awareness on the topic, and stimulate cooperation between researchers. ..

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Multitasking and why it's not good for you

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:13:23 +1000

With mobile computing offering 24/7 access to the internet and email, many of us have become perpetual multitaskers, paying continuous partial attention to many things, constantly scanning for opportunities and staying on top of contacts, events, and activities in an effort to miss nothing. Never in history has the human brain been asked to track so many data points. New research suggests that multitasking is not good for you and unquestionably supports limiting the amount of multitasking we do...

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Hydrogen storage breakthrough

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:56:16 +1000

Hydrogen offers many benefits as a renewable and sustainable fuel of the future as its combustion emits only water. The main problem to now is that it must be stored as a gas, which is potentially dangerous for everyday use, and it can only be stored as a liquid under cryogenic conditions. Now there may be another alternative. Chemists in the US have developed a simple reaction to make ammonia borane (AB) – a powder more hydrogen-dense than even liquid hydrogen. AB is a stable white powder which releases hydrogen gas upon heating. Its use as a hydrogen storage material has been hampered by difficulties in making the powder in reasonable yield, but the new research further increases its promise...

Tags: Hydrogen

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Seven practices to develop a coaching managerial style

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:44:31 +1000

Jun 18, 2008 Traditional order and control management is being replaced by a coaching management style, asserts new research from the BI Norwegian School of Management. Good economic results alone are no longer adequate. In addition to generating results, organizations have become a values workshop, helping employees develop a meaningful life. The school has developed seven practical tools to assist managers develop a coaching style...

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Metamaterials could create sonar-invisible vessels

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:45:21 +1000

June 16, 2008 Research into the cloaking properties of “left handed” metamaterials is continuing, with the latest news coming from scientists at the Polytechnic University of Valencia who have proven that these man-made substance can make objects impervious to sound waves. A proposed "acoustic cloak" would use sonic crystals, a class of metamaterial, to bend sound waves around an object, and could be used to render vessels Sonar-invisible... perhaps even bring to life that staple of spy technology: the Cone of Silence...

Tags: Invisibility

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Understanding thought: new computational modeling sheds light on how the brain works

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:21:07 +1000

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computational model that can predict the unique brain activation patterns associated with concrete nouns with a mean accuracy of 77 percent...

Tags: Brain, Computer Human Interface

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Scientists develop spray-on explosive detector

Tue, 27 May 2008 12:06:40 +1000

Scientists at the University of California have developed a spray-on explosive detector that glows blue under UV light in the presence of nitrogen-containing explosives. The silafluorene-fluorene copolymer is sensitive enough to detect just a billionth of a gram of explosive...

Tags: Explosives, Security

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First living computer used for flipping pancakes

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:24:15 +1000

May 20, 2008 US researchers have genetically engineered the bacterium E. coli to coax its DNA into computing a classic mathematical puzzle. Molecules of DNA have the natural ability to store and process information, in fact DNA represents the highest storage density of anything on Earth - French cytogeneticist Jerome LeJeune showed that the amount of information in one strand of human DNA is the same as that in 1,000 books of small print, each around 500 pages thick. Scientists have been performing computations with bare DNA molecules in lab dishes since the mid-1990s, but the new research, reported online in the Journal of Biological Engineering, is the first to do DNA computation in living cells. ..

Tags: Computers, research watch

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Experimental Xerox Paper erases itself for re-use

Wed, 07 May 2008 12:59:46 +1000

May 7, 2008 The promised age of the paperless office has largely failed to eventuate, thanks in part to improvements in printers and photocopiers that have made it easier than ever to produce hard copies of documents, but primarily because many of us remain addicted to the tangibility, portability and sheer convenience of paper. Now Xerox Corporation scientists have invented a way to make prints that last only a day before disappearing, meaning paper can be used again and again. The "erasable paper" technology, which is still in a preliminary state, blurs the line between paper documents and digital displays and could ultimately lead to a significant reduction in paper use...

Tags: Environmental, Xerox

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Raydiance announces ultrashort laser breakthrough

Fri, 02 May 2008 10:38:38 +1000

Raydiance has demonstrated ultrashort laser (USL) technology that has potential applications in genomics, homeland security, advanced manufacturing and medical applications, including cancer cell removal, tattoo removal, eye surgery, and cosmetic treatments. ..

Tags: Medical

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HP Labs “memristor” discovery could lead to computers that never need to be booted up

Thu, 01 May 2008 15:42:41 +1000

May 1, 2008 Researchers from HP Labs have proven the existence of what had previously been only theorized as the fourth fundamental circuit element in electrical engineering. The “memristor” (short for memory resistor), could make it possible to develop computer systems that have memories that do not forget, do not need to be booted up, consume far less power and associate information in a manner similar to that of the human brain. ..

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World’s thinnest material used to create world's smallest transistor

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:51:26 +1000

April 21, 2008 In recent decades, manufacturers have crammed more and more components onto integrated circuits, roughly keeping pace with Moore’s Law. But for this to continue the semiconductor industry must overcome the poor stability of materials if shaped in elements smaller than 10 nanometres in size. At this spatial scale, all semiconductors, including silicon, oxidize, decompose and uncontrollably migrate along surfaces like water droplets on a hot plate. Now researchers at the University of Manchester, reporting their peer-reviewed findings in the latest issue of Science, have shown that it is possible to carve out nanometre-scale transistors from a single graphene crystal. Unlike all other known materials, graphene remains highly stable and conductive even when it is cut into devices one nanometre wide...

Tags: Computers, research watch

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Electric solar sail moves closer to reality

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:22:01 +1000

April 16, 2008 It's a striking image made popular in sci-fi classics like the recent Star Wars films - a spacecraft hurtles through the galaxy propelled by gigantic reflective sails that use of solar radiation in place of on-board fuel . Space organizations around the world including NASA are pursuing this technology, but a rapidly evolving project from the Finnish Meteorological Institute has taken a radically different approach by using long metallic tethers and a solar-powered electron gun to create an "electric sail" that looks very different from the depictions of pressure sails with which we have become familiar. ..

Tags: NASA, Solar, Space Travel

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The smallest black hole ever

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:04:43 +1000

April 7, 2008 Using measurements taken by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite, NASA scientists have identified the smallest known black hole in the universe. At 3.8 times the mass of our Sun and estimated at only 15 miles in diameter, the black hole known as XTE J1650 is also close to the smallest size thought to be theoretically possible for such an object...

Tags: Astronomy, NASA, Satellite

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You're a lucky cow Wilhelmina!

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:48:12 +1000

It helps to have friends in high places, even when you’ve got four legs, as a Kansas dairy cow named Wilhelmina recently found out. The 8-year-old Jersey cow ruptured the cruciate ligament in her right knee in a breeding injury but thanks to her owner, she was about to receive a knee reconstruction. Dr. Anderson, professor and head of agricultural practices at Kansas State College of Veterinary Medicine replaced the cow’s cruciate ligament using synthetic material called monofilament nylon and dubbed the "Wildcat Power Cord". ..

Tags: Agriculture, Medical

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Padova University scientists declare quantum leap in quantum communications

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:50:40 +1000

Physicists at Padova University, Italy, are one step closer to constructing a quantum channel between space and Earth – the first step in establishing a truly secure quantum communications system. The Institute of Physics’ New Journal of Physics published the results of an experiment in which individual photons were reflected off a space satellite in orbit almost 1500 kilometers above the Earth, and identified back on the ground. ..

Tags: Satellite

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