The world’s first brain prosthesis is about to be tested in California. The brain region to be replaced is the hippocampus, which encodes
experiences for storage as memories. Unlike devices like cochlear implants, which merely stimulate brain activity, the new silicon chip implant will take over the tasks of the damaged part of the brain
The cost of oil dependence has never been so clear. What had long been largely an environmental issue has suddenly become a deadly serious strategic concern. Oil is an indulgence we can no longer afford, not just because it will run out or turn the planet into a sauna, but because it inexorably leads to global conflict. Enough. What we need is a massive, Apollo-scale effort to unlock the potential of hydrogen, a virtually unlimited source of power
Robert Park is a professor of physics at the University of Maryland at College Park and the director of public information for the American Physical Society, wrote a list of warning signs to help federal judges detect scientific nonsense
A physics grad student in the UK has come up with the mathematical formula for how to flip a pancake and have it land correctly back in the pan
Fifty years to the day from the discovery of the structure of DNA, James Watson causes a furore by suggesting that stupidity is a genetic disease should be cured
Genetic material has been used to store information for around five billion years. Now scientists have discovered a way to use it to store the information we desire
Dr Klaus Lackner has invented an artificial tree designed to do the job of plants. But the synthetic tree does not much resemble the leafy variety
Now teachers may want to rewrite the lesson about oil and water not mixing. If you first remove any gas that is dissolved in the water, it will mix spontaneously and even stay that way indefinitely, according to chemist Ric Pashley of the Australian National University in Canberra
Australian entrepreneur, Bernard Palmer, has created what may be the first antispam service that lets its users charge for the privilege of sending them email
Spheral Solar has created a flexible, power-generating material that looks like denim can be draped over almost any shape — via Slashdot
GE has a new polymer called Sollx that covers plastic surfaces and is more resistant to scratches and random chemicals compared to conventional paint — via Slashdot
Ageing television satellites in orbit could become part of a European digital radio service for drivers
Engineering Professor Susumu Tachi, from the University of Tokyo, claims he and his research team have developed a system that can make you invisible
The Bush administration is drafting a proposal that would greatly increase logging in national forests in the Sierra Nevada and effectively jettison an elaborate set of environmental protections adopted in 2000 after years of study and analysis
British scientists at the National Physical Laboratory in London have invented the darkest material on Earth. The key to the nickel and phosphorous coating’s blackness is that its surface is pitted with microscopic craters — via Slashdot
Scientists have been shocked to discover that four dormant volcanoes in South America are in fact active
Australian and US researchers have moved much closer to finding effective anti-malaria drugs by identifying 500 points in malaria DNA where drugs could shut the parasite down
Melbourne scientists, from the CSIRO and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, have made a landmark discovery that could lead to new drugs able to stop the spread of diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis
Children in the UK who were conceived from donated sperm and eggs will be able to find out limited
information on their genetic parents
Take a desktop printer, wash out its ink cartridge, refill it with a suspension of cells, and what do you get? The answer, according to Vladimir Mironov and Thomas Boland, is a breakthrough in tissue engineering. They have successfully produced three-dimensional tubes of living tissue using just such a technique. Their work is a first step towards printing complex tissues or even entire replacement organs
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