Windows allow brilliant natural light to stream into homes and buildings. Along with light comes heat that, in
The post ‘Smart windows’ have potential to keep heat out and save energy has been published on Technology Org.
The U.S. banned some phthalates from children’s toys, but the plastic additives that have been associated with health
The post Heat boosts phthalate emissions from vinyl crib mattress covers has been published on Technology Org.
Direct Observation of Negative Capacitance in Ferroelectric Material Reported by CITRIS Engineers and Materials Scientists at UC Berkeley An
The post Discovery advances ferroelectrics in quest for lower power transistors has been published on Technology Org.
Łμβοmίr Trίfδήφv originally shared:
Exercise helps stave off depression. Swedish researchers genetically engineered mice to have high levels of a protein that builds up in muscles during exercise, then subjected these mice and a control group to sustained, low-level stress. After five weeks, the normal mice showed signs of depression, whereas the engineered mice did not. The researchers believe that the protein, PGC-1[alpha]1, helps turn a metabolite linked to depression into an acid that can be passed more easily out of the body. Co-author Jorge Ruas says the study proves that exercise should be prescribed for "the prevention and...
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In these polarized times, it's always a relief to find something liberals and conservatives have in common — even if it has nothing to do with politics. New research suggests that, at least in Europe, people who lean decisively right or left get considerably more exercise than those in the center.
"Busy people at both ends of the political spectrum do not seem to have as much time for idleness," writes a research team led by Adrian Bauman of the University of Sydney's School of Public Health. In contrast, centrists do more sitting, "both on the fence and elsewhere."
Bauman's study, published...
MoreA bit over a week ago, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry posted an open letter declaring that "Deniers are not Skeptics." To the Committee, skepticism is central to its goals, and it defines the activity as a careful analysis of evidence. As such, the group has been rather annoyed that people who doubt climate change have labelled themselves as skeptics, even if they have never taken the time to come to grips with any evidence.
The letter called for the news media to stop allowing doubters of climate change to use the label "skeptic" and instead label them deniers, based on the root "denial," which was defined as "the a priori rejection of ideas without objective consideration." In doing so, the Committee had the support of scientists and science communicators such as Bill Nye and Ann Druyan, the woman behind the latest version of Cosmos.
There's no shortage of denial when it comes to climate change—the public proclamations of Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), which the letter cites, are classic examples. And there's also genuine skepticism of individual scientific claims, as we saw by the response to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on California's recent drought. But there are a whole host of things in between that make using any single label problematic.
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MIT researchers have discovered a new mathematical relationship — between material thickness, temperature, and electrical resistance — that
The post New law for superconductors has been published on Technology Org.
Results: Cleaning up polluted soil and growing crops for biofuels benefit from a deeper understanding of how microbes
The post Bacterial proteins that transform iron and other minerals for energy and growth has been published on Technology Org.
Early Sunday morning, negotiators in Lima, Peru, came to an agreement that set a deadline of next year for countries to come up with a plan for reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases. Although the agreement is non-binding, recent developments, such as the US-China emissions agreement, suggest that there will be substantial international pressure for every country to come through with a plan.
192 countries are party to the Lima agreement, which asks the group to come up with what are being called "Nationally Determined Contributions." These will include things like inventories of greenhouse gases and the sources that produce them, as well as the methods nations used to obtain these numbers. The nations will also have to produce a detailed plan for how these emissions will be reduced. All of this is due by March of next year, and the results will serve as a foundation for the continuing negotiations toward a binding treaty.
Unfortunately, there's nothing binding about the current agreement. Those pushing for it are effectively hoping that all the signatories will be too embarrassed to show up at future meetings empty-handed.
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Quantum computers, looked to as the next generation of computing technology, are expected to one day vastly outperform
The post Quantum Code-Cracking: An Interview with Thomas Vidick has been published on Technology Org.
Researchers in Spain have discovered that if lead atoms are intercalated on a graphene sheet, a powerful magnetic
The post Lead islands in a sea of graphene magnetize the material of the future has been published on Technology Org.
A project by students from The University of Western Australia and Mars One astronaut candidate Josh Richards has
The post Engineering students aim to generate first breathable air on Mars has been published on Technology Org.
