Science & Technology
Tricks of the trade
By JAMES DERK
Sunday, October 22, 2006
A column full of tips and tricks for you today.
_ My computer shop often is full of computers that shut off for no good reason. One great toy around the shop is the Thermohawk 200, a small touchless infrared thermometer.
Another day at the office, another day of Martian revelations
By BRYAN ROURKE
Friday, October 20, 2006
It's just another day at the office for Michael Wyatt.
Every day for nearly three years, the assistant professor of geological sciences at Brown University participates in a conversation over millions of miles with two Mars rovers that just keep going and going.
Adult stem cells may not be needed for successful animal cloning
By ANITA SRIKAMESWARAN
Friday, October 20, 2006
In a surprising experiment that suggests adult stem cells may not be needed for successful animal cloning, for the first time two mice pups were made from a kind of blood cell that cannot replicate.
The findings, published in Nature Genetics, open up new avenues in cloning research, said scientists from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Connecticut and Yale University.
It appears that "differentiated cells are better than adult stem cells for cloning," said investigator Xiangzhong "Jerry" Yang, director of the University of Connecticut's Center for Regenerative Biology.
NASA aims to find out what's pushing planets farther apart
By SUE VORENBERG
Thursday, October 19, 2006
"Stuff" isn't a very scientific word, but its use grows common when scientists try to describe dark energy _ an unseen force pushing all the bodies in the universe apart at ever-faster speeds.
Considering that dark energy could one day tear the entire universe apart, the scientific community would like to understand that "stuff" better, said Tom Vestrand, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Last month, NASA selected the lab to be part of a team competing to develop a mission that would study the enigmatic force.
"We can't see this mysterious stuff _ that's why we call it 'dark energy,' " Vestrand said.
Spam security brigade becoming image conscious
By CATHERINE McLEAN
Thursday, October 19, 2006
A few months ago, York University's e-mail boxes began filling up with unwanted messages touting can't-miss stocks and cheap medicine.
Like other institutions and businesses, the Toronto university's information technology department has many ways of fighting spam.
Hydrogen may be crucial to fueling future cars
By DON HAMMONDS
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Forget ethanol or biodiesel. The next big thing in automotive fuel may very well be hydrogen.
Automakers rapidly are closing in on making hydrogen fuel cell vehicles an everyday fact of life, with several test models set to debut over the next few years.
Big demand for .mobi addresses
By CLINT SWETT
Thursday, October 19, 2006
More than 75,000 ".mobi" domain names were snapped up this week as officials began taking registrations for the new Internet addresses aimed at cell phones and small mobile devices.
Mobile Top Level Domain, the Irish company behind the dot-mobi addresses, released such names this week as sportsnews.mobi, sun.mobi and other potentially popular addresses that had been held in reserve since registration began last May, said a spokeswoman for MTLD.
On Oct.
Memos: Power failures, evacuations at nuke lab
By KEAY DAVIDSON
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Power and ventilation failures at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico forced a half-dozen evacuations over the past four months from a building where radioactive plutonium is handled, according to a federal investigator.
No one was hurt in the employee evacuations, which date back to June 1, but the incidents point to continuing concern about the handling of radioactive materials for nuclear bombs at the lab, which is jointly run by the University of California, Bechtel Corp.
Science center unveils its new star
By ADRIAN McCOY
Monday, October 16, 2006
Carnegie Science Center has unveiled its new Buhl Digital Dome, one of about 100 worldwide.
The new high-definition projection system will deliver cutting-edge imagery _ from distant galaxies and black holes to brain cells _ and expand the kind of material presented in the planetarium's programs to other scientific disciplines.
To reflect this expanded potential, the Henry Buhl Jr.
Moving into the fast lane
By MIKE BERMAN
Friday, October 13, 2006
It has become a wireless world and, for us to survive as players, we must continue to create and implement new ways to take advantage of all that it has to offer.
