Dear Reader ,
Here is your customized Phys.org Newsletter for November 18, 2012:
Spotlight Stories Headlines
- New study gives insight into subtle genomic differences among our own cells- Qeexo screentouch experience puts knuckles and nails to work (w/ video)
- Fujifilm will introduce 1TB optical disc in 2015
- New nanoparticle halts multiple sclerosis, now being tested in Type 1 diabetes and asthma
- Semiconducting graphene: Fabrication on patterned silicon carbide produces bandgap to advance graphene electronics
- New algorithm greatly improves speed and accuracy of thought-controlled computer cursor
- Optogenetics illuminates pathways of motivation through brain, study shows
- 'Do Not Track' privacy effort at crossroads
- Call to modernize antiquated climate negotiations
- Research discovers likely basis of birth defect causing premature skull closure in infants
- Robotic explorers may usher in lunar 'water rush'
- Hubble traps galactic fireflies
- Solar vehicles in Chile race across world's driest desert
- Wii U: New console launches in a sea of gadgets
Space & Earth news
Research comes home to roost: six years later, Revelle returns
After a six-year voyage on the high seas, braving crashing waves and typhoon-force winds around the world in the name of science, research vessel (R/V) Roger Revelle is coming home to San Diego today.
Middle schoolers to explore sky with robotic telescopes
Approximately 1,400 middle schoolers will explore the universe with research-grade robotic telescopes over the next three years, thanks to a $1.6 million program funded by the National Science Foundation. The University of Chicago will lead the effort, in partnership with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, W.Va.; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and 4-H.
Europe juggles ambitions, constraints in talks on space
Europe faces key decisions this week about its role in space, pondering plans for a new rocket and its involvement in the International Space Station at a time of money crunch.
Hubble traps galactic fireflies
(Phys.org)—Luminous galaxies glow like fireflies on a dark night in this image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The upper central galaxy in this image is a gigantic elliptical galaxy designated 4C 73.08. A prominent spiral galaxy seen from "above" shines in the lower part of the image, while examples of galaxies viewed edge-on also populate the cosmic landscape.
Robotic explorers may usher in lunar 'water rush'
(Phys.org)—The American space program stands at the cusp of a "water rush" to the moon by several companies developing robotic prospectors for launch in the near future, according to a NASA scientist considering how to acquire and use water ice believed to be at the poles of the moon.
Call to modernize antiquated climate negotiations
The structure and processes of United Nations climate negotiations are "antiquated", unfair and obstruct attempts to reach agreements, according to research published today.
Technology news
Hackers down hundreds of Israeli sites over Gaza
Online activist group Anonymous said on Saturday it had downed the websites of dozens of Israeli state agencies and a top bank in protest over the Jewish state's deadly air assault on Gaza.
Israel facing 'millions' of cyber-attacks over Gaza (Update)
Israel admitted Sunday it has been targeted in a mass cyber-warfare campaign that has witnessed millions of attempts to hack state websites since the start of its Gaza offensive four days ago.
Aging nuke plants add to Europe's economic woes (Update)
(AP)—The parking lot outside the atomic power plant is weedy and potholed. Bus stops that once teemed with hundreds of workers are eerily empty.
Google's Android is eating Apple's lunch
Smartphones and tablets powered by Google's Android software are devouring the mobile gadget market, eating into Apple's turf by feeding appetites for innovation and low prices, analysts say.
China's home-grown plane rises to the challenge
China's home-grown passenger plane was only a model at the country's premier airshow, but a growing number of orders show Beijing's drive to challenge the dominance of Boeing and Airbus.
Pinball wizard puts Facebook users on Yellow Brick Road
Pinball and slot machine wizard Joe Kaminkow is working his magic on the social games scene pioneered by Zynga and taking Facebook users along the yellow-brick road as his opening move.
'Do Not Track' privacy effort at crossroads
A movement by privacy activists to curb tracking of Internet users' browsing habits scored a major victory last month when Microsoft launched its new browser with "do not track" as the default, or automatic setting.
Solar vehicles in Chile race across world's driest desert
Fifteen solar panel vehicles, some that look like small space ships, raced across Chile's Atacama desert as part of a contest to build low-cost environmentally-friendly cars.
Fujifilm will introduce 1TB optical disc in 2015
(Phys.org)—Fujifilm is working on a new recording method for optical discs. It has developed the new method through the use of two-photon absorption in order to generate heat, and the report in TechOn! notes that this two-photon method is suited for multilayer discs. As the reaction caused by two-photon absorption can be limited to the small area of the focal point of a laser light, it is possible to increase the number of recording layers. The nuance is that Fujifilm has combined a two-photon absorption method with a "heat-mode recording" method. The latter refers to technology that makes the most of a phenomenon where a change is caused by applying a laser light with a high energy density to instantaneously increase the temperature of a minute area of a recording material. Two-photon absorption refers to the simultaneous absorption of two photons of identical or different frequencies to excite a molecule from one state to a higher energy electronic state.
Qeexo screentouch experience puts knuckles and nails to work (w/ video)
(Phys.org)—Touchscreen computing as an "experience" has only just begun. Working on ideas they seeded at Carnegie Mellon, computer-human interaction researchers have started a San Jose, California, company Qeexo, that features technology called FingerSense. With FingerSense, the computer user can perform tasks with more than just the finger's tips, expanding the use of the finger over to using knuckles and nails. Each part of the finger can order up different tasks, such as managing e-mail content, managing objects in computer games and rubbing-in features when sketching a face. They have managed to expand the concept of fingerpad as the sole interface that can be used on the touchscreen.
Medicine & Health news
Daycare has many benefits for children, but researchers find mysterious link with overweight
Young children who attend daycare on a regular basis are 50% more likely to be overweight compared to those who stayed at home with their parents, according to a study by researchers at the University of Montreal and the CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Centre. "We found that children whose primary care arrangement between 1.5 and 4 years was in daycare-center or with an extended family member were around 50% more likely to be overweight or obese between the ages of 4-10 years compared to those cared for at home by their parents," said Dr. Marie-Claude Geoffroy, who led the study. "This difference cannot be explained by known risk factors such as socioeconomic status of the parents, breastfeeding, body mass index of the mother, or employment status of the mother."
Research discovers likely basis of birth defect causing premature skull closure in infants
An international team of geneticists, pediatricians, surgeons and epidemiologists from 23 institutions across three continents has identified two areas of the human genome associated with the most common form of non-syndromic craniosynostosis ― premature closure of the bony plates of the skull.
New algorithm greatly improves speed and accuracy of thought-controlled computer cursor
Stanford researchers have designed the fastest, most accurate algorithm yet for brain-implantable prosthetic systems that can help disabled people maneuver computer cursors with their thoughts. The algorithm's speed, accuracy and natural movement approach those of a real arm, and the system avoids the long-term performance degradations of earlier technologies.
New study gives insight into subtle genomic differences among our own cells
Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have demonstrated, in a study conducted jointly with researchers at Yale University, that induced-pluripotent stem cells—the embryonic-stem-cell lookalikes whose discovery a few years ago won this year's Nobel Prize in medicine—are not as genetically unstable as was thought.
Optogenetics illuminates pathways of motivation through brain, study shows
Whether you are an apple tree or an antelope, survival depends on using your energy efficiently. In a difficult or dangerous situation, the key question is whether exerting effort—sending out roots in search of nutrients in a drought or running at top speed from a predator—will be worth the energy.
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