 Australian and American physicists have built a working transistor from a single phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon crystal.
The group of physicists, based at the University of New South Wales and Purdue University, said they had laid the groundwork for a futuristic quantum computer that might one day function in a nanoscale world and would be orders of magnitude smaller and quicker than today’s silicon-based machines. Add Comment USB power sockets on every wall 02/19/2012
 The nationwide electrical grid is probably the most important feat of modern engineering — but actually dealing with that electricity through power cables, plugs, transformers, and sockets is the biggest bane of my life. Whether I’m plugging in a smartphone, managing the battery life on my laptop, connecting my breakout soundcard via USB, looking for a plug converter for an upcoming trip, or scrabbling around behind my PC trying to find the right orientation for a power lead, my life virtually revolves around electricity.
 Picture it: You're dating a man who's articulate enough, but in the past couple of days he's been especially witty. Has he been hiding his verbal prowess from you? Why has he suddenly upped his linguistic game? According to a recent study, it may have less to do with him than with you, your menstrual cycle specifically.
In research published on February 8th in the journal PLoS ONE, Jacqueline M. Coyle and Michael P. Kaschak found that men's linguistic patterns are affected by a woman's fertility.  A compound in marijuana may be a potent anti-inflammatory agent that won't get people high, scientists say. The finding could be a boon to sufferers of arthritis, cirrhosis, and other diseases. Existing drugs can be less effective for some people and can carry side effects, from stomach ulcers to increased risk of heart attacks.
Marijuana supporters have long argued that the plant's active ingredients, known as cannabinoids, are safe and effective treatments for pain, nausea, and other ailments. The most active cannabinoid—delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC—is known to have anti-inflammatory properties. But it is also responsible for the plant's psychotropic effects.  Here’s a brain teaser: Your task is to move a single line so that the false arithmetic statement below becomes true.
IV = III + III Did you get it? In this case, the solution is rather obvious – you should move the first “I” to the right side of the “V,” so that the statement now reads: VI = III + III. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of people (92 percent) quickly solve this problem, as it requires a standard problem-solving approach in which only the answer is altered. What’s perhaps a bit more surprising is that nearly 90 percent of patients with brain damage to the prefrontal lobes — this leaves them with severe attentional deficits, unable to control their mental spotlight — are also able to find the answer.  The world's greatest snow-capped peaks, which run in a chain from the Himalayas to Tian Shan on the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, have lost no ice over the last decade, new research shows.
The discovery has stunned scientists, who had believed that around 50bn tonnes of meltwater were being shed each year and not being replaced by new snowfall. The study is the first to survey all the world's icecaps and glaciers and was made possible by the use of satellite data. Overall, the contribution of melting ice outside the two largest caps – Greenland and Antarctica – is much less than previously estimated, with the lack of ice loss in the Himalayas and the other high peaks of Asia responsible for most of the discrepancy.  After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years — a lake that may hold life from the distant past and clues to the search for life on other planets. Reaching Lake Vostok is a major discovery avidly anticipated by scientists around the world hoping that it may allow a glimpse into microbial life forms, not visible to the naked eye, that existed before the Ice Age. It may also provide precious material that would help look for life on the ice-crusted moons of Jupiter and Saturn or under Mars' polar ice caps where conditions could be similar.
Blue Marble: The New Version 02/03/2012
 Last week, NASA released its 2012 version of the famous “Blue Marble” image. By using a planet-pointing satellite, Suomi NPP, the space agency created an extremely high-resolution photograph of our watery world.
The photo centered on the western hemisphere, highlighting North and Central America. It went viral and got even more hits on Flickr than the iconic “Situation Room” photo, taken at the time of the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Now, responding to public demand, the agency has created a companion image: this time focusing its lens toward the East and showing Africa, Saudi Arabia and India. Trisomy 18 ( or Edwards Syndrome) 01/31/2012
 Trisomy 18 is a genetic disorder in which a person has a third copy of material from chromosome 18, instead of the usual two copies.
Causes, incidence, and risk factorsTrisomy 18 is a relatively common syndrome. It is three times more common in girls than boys. The syndrome is caused by the presence of extra material from chromosome 18. The extra material interferes with normal development. Magic mushrooms may help treat depression 01/25/2012
 Psychedelic mushrooms may point to new ways to treat depression, suggest two small brain imaging studies that seem to show how psilocybin -- the active ingredient in such mushrooms -- affects the brain.
One study included 30 healthy people who had psilocybin inserted into their blood while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners measured changes in their brain activity. The scans revealed that psilocybin caused decreased activity in what the researchers described as the brain's "hub" regions -- areas especially well-connected with other areas. |
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