Pig embryos could provide sources of new organ and tissue transplants for people, and they may pose fewer risks than using material from adult animals
Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant. He can perform mind-boggling mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds. But unlike other savants, who can perform similar feats, Tammet can describe how he does it. He speaks seven languages and is even devising his own language. Now scientists are asking whether his exceptional abilities are the key to unlock the secrets of autism.
Tammet is calculating 377 multiplied by 795. Actually, he isn’t
calculating: there is nothing conscious about what he is doing. He arrives at the answer instantly. Since his epileptic fit, he has been able to see numbers as shapes, colours and textures. The number two, for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder.When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That’s the answer. It’s mental imagery. It’s like maths without having to think…
A survey by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility has found hundreds of US Fish and Wildlife Service scientists have been instructed to change findings to favour business interests
Scientists from around the world launched a project on thursday to genetically identify species using bar codes. By taking a snippet of DNA from all the known species on Earth and linking them to photographs, descriptions and scientific information, the researchers plan to build the largest database of its kind
A rare oarfish washed up on a beach in Perth, Australia on Monday. It’s oddly the sixth oarfish to be found on a Western Australia beach in recent months
Ophthalmologists have implanted Artificial Silicon Retina microchips in the eyes of five patients to treat vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa. The implant is a 2mm chip that contains about 5,000 microscopic solar cells that convert light into electrical impulses. Already some patients have experienced improvements such as not bumping into objects around the house, and being able to read the time on a clock
Some Optus customers are facing a $179 charge for a new modem following the storms that lashed the Victoria and NSW this week. Australian IT understands that the carrier has been called on to replace a large number of modems used for its HRC cable broadband service since the storms hit on Wednesday. Customers whose equipment is out of warranty will be charged $179 to replace their modems, which are only available from Optus
CSIRO Minerals has found a way to reduce waste from car recycling, recycle materials that are currently thrown away, and make the end waste less harmful for disposal. In the age of environmental responsibility, old cars no longer rust away disgracefully, overgrown by weeds in remote country paddocks. Today they disappear into the jaws of huge shredding machines in metal recycling plants, along with broken washing machines, refrigerators and other metal wastes
If you’ve ever had the urge to take up alchemy in the kitchen, as always, there’s a site with detailed instructions available for using your microwave to melt up to 250g of bronze, silver, white metal or iron:
Domestic microwave appliances are based on the magnatron; an electronic device which converts electrical energy to microwave energy, which is fed via a waveguide to the cooking chamber. Since the conversion is somewhat less than perfectly efficient, the magnatron has to be cooled by a stream of air from a fan. This air is then led to the oven to help remove steam produced during cooking. Once in the chamber, the microwaves are reflected by the metal walls until they are absorbed, (usually by water-containing food), their energy being converted to heat. Should absorption not take place — if, for example, the oven is activated when empty, some energy will re-enter the waveguide and cause over-heating of the magnetron. Usually a safety switch turns the machine off when this happens. Note that the reflecting walls and the constant frequency of the microwaves set up standing waves in the chamber. This results in some areas being much more active than others and is the reason why food must be rotated through the varying field to cook evenly.
To be of use for metal casting, a domestic microwave oven rated D or E (850W or 1000W) needs two slight modifications: the rotating glass plate must be removed and the holes which admit air to the cooking chamber must be taped over (masking tape works reasonably well). The air from the magnetron cooling will then be re-directed to the exterior. No other modifications should be made. Microwaves are potentially dangerous and the uninitiated should treat the oven with respect.
It’s worth noting that you shouldn’t be using your microwave for food once you’ve used it to melt metal
What does it say about the CIA that its agents can crack the secret codes of enemy nations but can’t unravel a coded sculpture sitting outside their cafeteria window? It says, perhaps, that artist Jim Sanborn, who created the cryptographic sculpture named Kryptos that sits on CIA grounds, could have a career in covert operations if he ever grows tired of stumping the experts — via MemoryBlog
Everyone knows that falling into a black hole spells doom. Or does it? In the past few years, cracks have started to appear in the conventional picture. Researchers on the quest for a more complete understanding of our universe are finding that black holes are not so black, and perhaps not holes either — via Warren Ellis
Greenpeace accused Tony Blair of a betrayal
after leaked documents [PDF] revealed the Prime Minister was boasting about global warming commitments in keynote speeches while his government was simultaneously trying to ditch them at European meetings — via MemoryBlog
British researchers have found chemicals produced by the human body that repel mosquitoes, which could lead to a natural, odourless bug spray
A bus driver in Asia faced with the problem of a python coiled around the undercarriage of his vehicle may, on the face of it, have little in common with a Bristol nightclub owner trying to deter customers from snorting cocaine in the lavatories. But for both, the solution lay inside the distinctive yellow and blue can of WD-40. Avon and Somerset Police are encouraging pub landlords and club managers to use the famously versatile spray to coat toilet lids to prevent customers using them to snort cocaine from. When the drug comes into contact with a light coating of WD-40, it congeals, making it impossible to sniff
The lotus plant, otherwise known as the water lily, has been a source of inspiration for centuries. But this time, people are mostly interested in the bumps on the surface of its leaves. Researchers at Ohio State University have created computer models of materials that, arrayed with tiny bumps, will repel water or allow microscopic machines to operate with far less friction. In a few years, the development could lead to far cheaper wide-screen televisions, chips that can analyze blood samples or windshields that clean themselves
It sounds like the perfect excuse to quaff more beer. New research with mice shows the beverage protects against the effects of some cancer-causing chemicals. But there’s a catch: it was non-alcoholic beer. Nonetheless, if the scientists can pinpoint the protective compounds involved, brewers may be able to produce beer particularly rich in them. While drinking too much alcohol increases the risk of cancer, for now it remains a mystery whether moderate tippling of alcoholic beer has any anti-cancer benefits
Researchers at Cornell University have devised a process to make plastic from citrus fruits and carbon dioxide. They developed a catalyst to cause a reaction between oil from orange peels and carbon dioxide that produces a new polymer with characteristics similar to polystyrene — via boingboing
Tiny robots powered by living muscle have been created by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles. The devices were formed by growing
rat cells on microscopic silicon chips, the researchers report in the journal Nature Materials. Less than a millimetre long, the miniscule robots can move themselves without any external source of power. Muscles like these could be used in a host of microscopic devices — even to drive miniature electrical generators to power computer chips
Not so very long after the Ig Nobel event at the University of Tasmania, students there engaged in a nano-lecture competition. Wayne Goninon reports that The idea was that students would describe their school in seven words
:
Agricultural Science: We take cows and make ’em better
Aquaculture: Red fish, blue fish, breeding new fish
Architecture: The unholy union of art and engineering
Chemistry: Too much acid, explosives and stinky stuff
Computing: Coffee and pizza make for happy coding
Earth Sciences: Geology is not geography, you cretaceous cretin!
Engineering: Bridges are good but beer is better
Geography & Environmental Science: Geography is not geology, cabbage for brains!
Maths & Physics: Evaluating pi — Galactic nuclei — why oh why?
Plant Science: It’s okay officer, it’s for scientific use
Psychology: It’s all about getting a girlfriend, mate!
Zoology: We know who heads the food chain
The Engineering entry is frighteningly accurate
The amount of solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface has declined significantly between the 1950s and the 1990s, apparently due to particulate air pollution. Scientists are worried that this global dimming may be disrupting the pattern of the world’s rainfall. Most alarmingly, it may have led us to greatly underestimate the greenhouse effect: with particulate pollution being brought under control, a global temperature rise of 10°C by 2100 could be on the cards, rendering many parts of the world uninhabitable
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