Science & Technology News.

[SekrutYakhni]

This thread will push the limits of PDF to new heights.

 

[U-571]

thanks to mods for making it a sticky thread
......

please post some thing interesting

for me newscientist is the best science magazine and howstuffworks is really helpful

 

[TruthSeeker]

Chimpanzees mourn their dead like humans do

By Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2010

Some chimpanzees seem to grieve similarly to humans in the face of a fellow chimp's death, two new studies have found, appearing to comfort the dying, experience trauma after death and have trouble letting go.

The research, published Monday in the journal Current Biology, provides a window onto a less public aspect of primate life, the authors said.

In one study, researchers at the University of Stirling and at Blair Drummond Safari Park in Britain watched how three chimpanzees, kept in heated indoor quarters during the winter, reacted as a fourth chimp, an elderly female named Pansy, sickened and died.

Park officials had separated Pansy from the other chimpanzees for treatment when she became ill in November 2008. But when her breathing became erratic a few weeks later, the other three chimps were allowed to join her.

In the 10 minutes before she died, the three animals – an elderly female named Blossom, Blossom's adult son Chippy and Pansy's adult daughter Rosie – frequently groomed and caressed Pansy. They crouched in close, and Chippy shook her arm, apparently testing for signs of life.

When they got no reaction, "they appeared to arrive at a collective decision that something had changed, and she was no longer the same as she was beforehand," said lead author James Anderson, who studies primate behavior at the University of Stirling. "It seems they are clearly able to distinguish the difference between being alive and unresponsive."

Soon, both Blossom and Chippy left Pansy's side. Even though it was not her usual sleeping area, Rosie stayed by her mother's corpse almost the entire night, sleeping fitfully.

Sixteen hours after Pansy's death, zookeepers removed the body, with the three chimps watching quietly. For several days afterward, the group was subdued, refusing to make a nest on the platform where Pansy had died. They also demanded more attention from the keepers.

"I'm not going to say chimpanzees have a human understanding of death – chimps are chimps and humans are humans – but we were immediately struck during the video by the phenomena we observed," Anderson said, "because we know chimpanzees are capable of a wide range of emotions very much akin to human emotions."

Anderson said he hoped this would prompt zookeepers to reevaluate the common practice of removing terminally ill animals from a group. In some ways, he said, it may be more humane to allow the group to remain together until a sick animal dies, to give the ailing animal comfort and allow the group a sense of closure.

In the second study, chimpanzee mothers were observed in the forests of Bossou, Guinea, after a disease swept through a clan of 19 chimpanzees, killing five, including two infants. The mothers of those infants continued to carry the corpses around, even as the bodies swelled, then gradually dried out.

Other studies had described this phenomenon, researchers said, but this was unique in the length of time it took for the mothers to abandon the bodies. One mother carried her baby for 19 days; another mother carried hers for 68 days.

"We have two explanations here – one is that there is a very, very strong bond between chimpanzee mothers and chimpanzee infants," said lead author Dora Biro, a biologist at the University of Oxford. Biro theorized that chimpanzee mothers had evolved to become extremely attached to their babies "because chimpanzee primates are born completely helpless, like humans."

"Another possibility is that they were aware of the death and this was just their way of dealing with it," Biro added, pointing to humans' inability to let go of objects that remind us of people we have lost.

To better understand the mothers' awareness of death, Biro said, the researchers would have had to witness the infants' actual moment of death. "It's possible there would have been some response, like stress or fear or anger, but we weren't there to see it."

Craig Stanford, co-director of the USC Jane Goodall Research Center, called the studies' findings interesting, but said that although humans and chimpanzees shared similar emotions to some degree – fear, anger, empathy – it would be dangerous to extrapolate too much about chimps' perception of death.

He recalled a time he saw a few chimpanzees come across an antelope with its belly sliced open, its contents devoured. Stanford said "they used the empty rib cage … as a playhouse for a couple hours. So if they're pushing a corpse around, it's not something understood."

Chimpanzees mourn their dead like humans do, research finds - latimes.com

 

[jagjitnatt]

Finally there's something science related. I will surely put up some of my great experiments and some really cool stuff that people can do in their daily lives to have some fun and show off their coolness to people.

Experiment 1:
Sulphur Hexaflouride Tank

This is the easiest experiment.

Things required:
a clear glass tank or vessel
SF6 gas

Procedure:
Get some SF6 gas. It is a very heavy gas that has density five times higher than air. Not only is it heavier than air but even solid objects, this is what makes it interesting.
Pour the gas in the clear glass tank. Fill it half.
Now cover the tank for some time. Let the gas settle properly and let it get to rest.
Now you can throw in a paper boat or a plastic ball or any paper object and you'll see that the gas is so heavy that these objects start to float on it. The gas is colorless and invisible to eyes. It look like the objects are floating in air.

Cheap antigravity trick for you.


Will post some great articles soon. Try the above till then. Here's a video to give you an idea what it will be like.

 

[TruthSeeker]

NH farm births six pound miniature horse

BARNSTEAD, NH (NBC) -- His name is Einstein...and he may be the tiniest horse in the world.

The newborn miniature horse was born last week, weighing just six pound and measuring only 14 inches in height. And right now, he's the talk of a New Hampshire farm.

"He was born and he was so tiny," said Judy Smith, Owner of Tiz a Miniature Horse Farm.

"He started wiggling around and we started rubbing him with a towel and he became active and in 20 minutes he stood up and he was trying to nurse," continued Smith.

But even nursing can be hard for a pint size pony.

"We had to help him at first b/c he couldn't reach, he was so little," Smith said.

Smith says the average baby miniature horse stands about 21 inches tall. Einstein's mother is 32 inches tall and his father is 30 inches tall, so Smith says he's just exceptionally small.

The small stud caught the eye of Charlie Cantrell and Dr. Rachel Wagner who are now Einstein's proud owners.

"Oh my goodness, I couldn't believe a horse was this small and it wasn't premature, it was three days after term, so this little baby horse was so beautiful," said Cantrell.

The couple says Einstein will continue to live on the farm where he was born and where he is clearly gaining attention.

"We have at least 10-thousand hits on the youtube video that Charlie put out," Dr. Wagner said.

There is no way to know how much Einstein will grow, but despite his small size, his owners say he's got a large personality.

"When you hold him he'll just put his head down on your arm and close his eyes, he just loves the attention," said Dr. Wagner.

And it's clear that even though he's just a few days old, this short stature stud is becoming quite the star.

"He's bringing joy internationally right now and that makes me really excited, like a proud parent," Dr. Wagner explained.

A horse named Thumbelina is the current Guinness World Record holder as the tiniest horse. She weighed about 8 1/2 pounds at birth.

 

[U-571]

when a bottle filled with water is vertically positioned such that the water comes jutting out, but when the same vertically positioned bottle is covered by a chalni(tea filter), even though it seems the water can come out but the water doesnt flow downwards at all and stops right there. amazing haan.

 

[xenia]

Amazing Technology from Japan!

I must have one of these

Look closely and guess what they could be...

Are they pens with cameras?

Any wild guesses? No clue yet?

Ladies and gentlemen... congratulations!
You've just looked into the future... yep that's right!

You've just seen something that will replace your PC in the near future.

Here is how it works:

In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with bluetooth technology...

This is the forthcoming computers you can carry within your pockets

This "pen sort of instrument" produces both the monitor as well as the keyboard on any flat surfaces from where you can carry out functions you would normally do on your desktop computer.

good bye laptops!!

The series of attached photographs show a new concept in personal computing - a pen-shaped miniaturized PC that users operate via a virtual monitor and keyboard that the device projects onto any available flat surface. The message suggests that these handy pen-sized computers may be set to replace existing PC's and laptops in the near future.

However, although a conceptual prototype of the "pen" computer was built in 2003, such devices are not yet available to consumers. The prototype device, dubbed the "P-ISM", was a "Pen-style Personal Networking Gadget" created in 2003 by Japanese technology company NEC. The P-ISM was featured at the 2003 ITU Telecom World held in Geneva, Switzerland. An article about the device published on the Wave Report website in 2004 explains:
At ITU Telecom World we got a sample of another view by NEC. It is based on the pen and called P-ISM. This concept is so radical that we went to Tokyo to learn more.

The design concept uses five different pens to make a computer. One pen is a CPU, another a camera, one creates a virtual keyboard, another projects the visual output and thus the display and another a communicator (a phone). All five pens can rest in a holding block which recharges the batteries and holds the mass storage. Each pen communicates wireless, possibly Bluetooth.
A write-up about the P-ISM that was previously available on an NEC website notes:
A Pen-style Personal Networking Gadget Package

It seems that information terminals are infinitely getting smaller. However, we will continue to manipulate them with our hands for now. We have visualized the connection between the latest technology and the human, in a form of a pen. P-ISM is a gadget package including five functions: a pen-style cellular phone with a handwriting data input function, virtual keyboard, a very small projector, camera scanner, and personal ID key with cashless pass function. P-ISMs are connected with one another through short-range wireless technology. The whole set is also connected to the Internet through the cellular phone function. This personal gadget in a minimalistic pen style enables the ultimate ubiquitous computing.
However, the prototype displayed at ITU Telecom World was apparently the only sample that was built and reportedly cost $30,000. Thus, while the prototype may have proved that such technology is feasible, it is currently unclear when - or even if - personal computers of this type will become available to the public. Several years on from the initial launch of the P-ISM conceptual prototype, there seems to be little information available about future plans for such products. Saying "goodbye" to our current laptop computers might therefore be just a tad premature at this point.

While consumers can not yet purchase "pen" computers like the P-ISM, virtual projected keyboards like the ones shown in the photographs are already available from various companies including Lumio and Virtual Devices Inc.

It should be noted that the last two virtual keyboard photographs in the sequence were apparently added later and do not depict the original P-ISM set up.

Status:
Photographs are genuine but show a prototype computer. These devices are not yet available to consumers

 

[U-571]

can some body explain ITER technology here

 

[lhuang]

thanks to mods for making it a sticky thread
......

please post some thing interesting

for me newscientist is the best science magazine and howstuffworks is really helpful

Really?

Please, I could write better articles than those.

Look up research articles from specific websites.

 

[Skies]

'Tissue Paper' Could Stop Bullets, Harness Solar Energy

Who wouldn't want a shirt that could stop a bullet and power your iPod? A new fabric can do just that.



THE GIST:

# A new fabric made from germanium is nearly as strong Kevlar.
# The material is as soft and flexible as tissue paper.
# The fabric could lead to solar powered, bulletproof clothing.



A soft "tissue paper" made from normally brittle germanium and silicon contains individual fibers as strong as bulletproof Kevlar. Woven into traditional fabric or embedded in hard plastics, the new nanowires could stop bullets, harvest solar energy or perform dozens of other tasks.

"Paper is made of wood fibers compressed together," said Brian Korgel, a scientist at the University of Texas at Austin and co-author of a new paper in ACS Nano that describes the germanium nanowires. "In this case, we took bulk semiconductors, turned them into nanowires and compressed them together to make a material with a tissue paper consistency."

Germanium is usually quite hard and brittle. "When I handle a block of the bulk material, I have to handle it very carefully so it doesn't break," said Korgel.




Although it will be some time before the new germanium-based fabric has the same stopping power as this bulletproof vest, scientists are now exploring the possibility of using it to harness solar power.
iStockphoto


ue paper is flexible and won't break when bent. The individual nanowires that make up the tissue paper are also incredibly strong, having a similar strength-to-weight ratio as Kevlar. They can even absorb blows that would ordinarily shatter a block of germanium.

The germanium wires have the strength of Kevlar, but that doesn't mean they will make ordinary clothing bulletproof -- at least not immediately.

Kevlar stops bullets because not only are individual fibers strong, but so are the bonds between the fibers. However, individual germanium nanowires are not there yet. Korgel compares the bonds between his strong germanium nanowires with the proteins spiders use to make drag line silk as strong as steel.

"Scientists know how to make the proteins spiders use in test tubes," said Korgel. "But you have to take those proteins and spin them into a web to match their mechanical properties."

Even after decades of research, scientists still can't match the spider's silk exactly. It will likely be years before scientists can bond germanium nanowires tightly enough to make next generation body armor.

In the meantime, however, Korgel and his colleagues plan to use the new fabric's semiconducting properties for another use: solar power.

Germanium absorbs light that the human eye can see, as well as infrared light that are invisible. Woven into a soft shirt or surrounded by hard plastic, germanium nanowires could then turn solar power into electrical energy to power embedded sensors or other electrical devices.

A germanium-based photovoltaic won't absorb light as well as its more widely used cousin, silicon. Luckily, the University of Texas scientists have also developed a similar tissue-like fabric made from silicon nanowires.

Besides turning more sunlight into electricity, individual silicon nanowires are about 35 percent stronger than the germanium nanowires. They are also more resistant to corrosion.

Korgel and his colleagues are currently preparing a more detailed paper describing their silicon nanowires for peer review.

Jillian Buriak, a scientist from the University of Alberta, said that Korgel's work bridges the gap between nanotechnology research and practical applications.

"(Korgel and his team) have really brought nanotechnology to the level where other people can use it," said Buriak. Electrically conductive paper, ultra thin LED displays, flexible batteries, biomedical implants and any number of other devices could result from the germanium and silicon tissue paper.

"It's so neat when people do what nanoscience is supposed to do: cramming these well known materials into very small dimensions to got entirely new properties out of them," said Buriak. "It's like teaching an old dog new tricks."

 

[Skies]

Brain Games Won't Boost I.Q.

Although they may be entertaining, brain games probably won't make you smarter.


THE GIST:

# Playing brain games may not actually improve your intellect.
# I.Q. tests reveal that brain game players didn't get any smarter.
# These games are probably as effective as Super Mario in boosting I.Q.

People playing computer games to train their brains might as well be playing Super Mario, new research suggests.

In a six-week study, experts found people who played online games designed to improve their cognitive skills didn't get any smarter.

Researchers recruited participants from viewers of the BBC's science show "Bang Goes the Theory." More than 8,600 people aged 18 to 60 were asked to play online brain games designed by the researchers to improve their memory, reasoning and other skills for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week.

They were compared to more than 2,700 people who didn't play any brain games, but spent a similar amount of time surfing the Internet and answering general knowledge questions. All participants were given a sort of I.Q. test before and after the experiment.



Can a little exercise keep your brain fit?
AP Photo Illustration/Jacky Myint/Game photos from Happy Neuron


Researchers said the people who did the brain training didn't do any better on the test after six weeks than people who had simply been on the Internet. On some sections of the test, the people who surfed the Net scored higher than those playing the games.

The study was paid for by the BBC and published online Tuesday by the journal Nature.

"If you're (playing these games) because they're fun, that's absolutely fine," said Adrian Owen, assistant director of the Cognition and Brain Sciences unit at Britain's Medical Research Council, the study's lead author. "But if you're expecting (these games) to improve your I.Q., our data suggests this isn't the case," he said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

One maker of brain games said the BBC study did not apply to its products. Steve Aldrich, CEO of Posit Science, said the company's games, some of which were funded in part by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, have been proven to boost brain power.

"Their conclusion would be like saying, 'I cannot run a mile in under 4 minutes and therefore it is impossible to do so," Aldrich said in a statement.

Posit Science has published research in journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing their games improved memory in older people.

Computer games available online and marketed by companies like Nintendo that supposedly enhance memory, reasoning and other cognitive skills are played by millions of people worldwide, though few studies have examined if the games work.

"There is precious little evidence to suggest the skills used in these games transfer to the real world," said Art Kramer, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Illinois. He was not linked to the study and has no ties to any companies that make brain training games.

Kramer had several reservations about the BBC study's methodology and said some brain games had small effects in improving people's cognitive skills. "Learning is very specific," he said. "Unless the component you are trained in actually exists in the real world, any transfer will be pretty minimal."

Instead of playing brain games, Kramer said people would be better off getting some exercise. He said physical activity can spark new connections between neurons and produce new brain cells. "Fitness changes the building blocks of the brain's structure," he said.

Still, Kramer said some brain training games worked better than others. He said some games made by Posit Science had shown modest benefits, including improved memory in older people.

Other experts said brain games might be useful, but only if they weren't fun.

"If you set the level for these games to a very high level where you don't get the answers very often and it really annoys you, then it may be useful," said Philip Adey, an emeritus professor of psychology and neuroscience at King's College in London.

If people are enjoying the brain games, Adey said they probably aren't being challenged and might as well be playing a regular video game.

He said people should consider learning a new language or sport if they really wanted to improve their brain power. "To stimulate the intellect, you need a real challenge," Adey said, adding computer games were not an easy shortcut. "Getting smart is hard work."

 

[SekrutYakhni]

 

[SekrutYakhni]

Test tube baby.

On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world's first successful "test-tube" baby was born in Great Britain. Though the technology that made her conception possible was heralded as a triumph in medicine and science, it also caused many to consider the possibilities of future ill-use.

Previous Attempts

Every year, millions of couples try to conceive a child; unfortunately, many find that they cannot. The process to find out how and why they have infertility issues can be long and arduous. Before the birth of Louise Brown, those women who were found to have Fallopian tube blockages (approximately twenty percent of infertile women) had no hope of becoming pregnant.

Usually, conception occurs when an egg cell (ovum) in a woman is released from an ovary, travels through a Fallopian tube, and is fertilized by the man's sperm. The fertilized egg continues to travel while it undergoes numerous cell divisions. It then rests in the uterus to grow.

Women with Fallopian tube blockages cannot conceive because their eggs cannot travel through their Fallopian tubes to get fertilized.

Dr. Patrick Steptoe, a gynecologist at Oldham General Hospital, and Dr. Robert Edwards, a physiologist at Cambridge University, had been actively working on finding an alternative solution for conception since 1966. Though Drs. Steptoe and Edwards had successfully found a way to fertilize an egg outside a woman's body, they were still troubled by problems after replacing the fertilized egg back into the woman's uterus. By 1977, all of the pregnancies resulting from their procedure (about 80) had lasted only a few, short weeks.

Lesley Brown became different when she successfully passed the first few weeks of pregnancy.

Lesley and John Brown

Lesley and John Brown were a young couple from Bristol who had been unable to conceive for nine years. Lesley Brown had blocked Fallopian tubes. Having gone from doctor to doctor for help to no avail, she was referred to Dr. Patrick Steptoe in 1976. On November 10, 1977, Lesley Brown underwent the very experimental in vitro ("in glass") fertilization procedure.

Using a long, slender, self-lit probe called a "laparoscope," Dr. Steptoe took an egg from one of Lesley Brown's ovaries and handed it to Dr. Edwards. Dr. Edwards then mixed Lesley's egg with John's sperm. After the egg was fertilized, Dr. Edwards placed it into a special solution that had been created to nurture the egg as it began to divide.

Previously, Drs. Steptoe and Edwards had waited until the fertilized egg had divided into 64 cells (about four or five days later). This time, however, they decided to place the fertilized egg back into Lesley's uterus after just two and a half days.

Close monitoring of Lesley showed that the fertilized egg had successfully embedded into her uterus wall. Then, unlike all the other experimental in vitro fertilization pregnancies, Lesley passed week after week and then month after month with no apparent problems. The world began to talk about this amazing procedure.

Ethical Problems

Lesley Brown's pregnancy gave hope to hundreds of thousands of couples not able to conceive. Yet, as many cheered this new medical breakthrough, others were worried about future implications.

The most important question was whether this baby was going to be healthy. Had being outside the womb, even for just a couple of days, harmed the egg? If the baby has medical problems, did the parents and doctors have a right to play with nature and thus bring it into the world? Doctors also worried that if the baby wasn't normal, would the process be blamed whether or not it was the cause?

When does life begin? If human life begins at conception, are doctors killing potential humans when they discard fertilized eggs? (Doctors may remove several eggs from the woman and may discard some that have been fertilized.)

Is this process a foreshadowing of what is to come? Will there be surrogate mothers? Was Aldous Huxley predicting the future when he described breeding farms in his book Brave New World?

Success!

Throughout Lesley's pregnancy, she was closely monitored, including the use of ultrasounds and amniocentesis. Nine days before her due date, Lesley developed toxemia (high blood pressure). Dr. Steptoe decided to deliver the baby early via Cesarean section.

At 11:47 p.m. on July 25, 1978, a five-pound 12-ounce baby girl was born. The baby girl, named Louise Joy Brown, had blue eyes and blond hair and seemed healthy. Still, the medical community and the world were preparing to watch Louise Brown to see if there were any abnormalities that couldn't be seen at birth.

The process had been a success! Though some wondered if the success had been more luck than science, continued success with the process proved that Dr. Steptoe and Dr. Edwards had accomplished the first of many "test-tube" babies.

Today, the process of in vitro fertilization is considered commonplace and utilized by infertile couples around the world.

First Test-Tube Baby - Louise Brown

I have also watched a documentary on it.
It is called Test Tube Babies.

 

[U-571]

my uncle has 2 tube babies bcoz of obvious reason

 

[Thomas]

thanks to mods for making it a sticky thread
......

please post some thing interesting

for me newscientist is the best science magazine and howstuffworks is really helpful

Popular science is nice as well.....

Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now