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(03/23/11 5:41am)
What: Fast Food, a dining table car, recently broke the record for the world's fastest furniture speed, traveling at 113.8 mph during two runs on a 500 meter track at Santa Pod in Northamptonshire, England. The car consists of an actual dining table mounted on a small sportscar, and uses a nitrous system to remove excess air. The dining table car also featured real dishware, as well as authentic-looking foods on its tabletop.\nWho: Perry Watkins, a sales director from Wingrave, England, currently holds records for the world's smallest and lowest street legal cars. In approaching the world's fastest furniture speed, Watkins simply wanted to beat the previous world record of 92 miles per hour.
(03/23/11 5:39am)
Researchers at University of Leeds' School of Healthcare have found that laughter and good nursing care may be the more effective in healing the body than the latest medical technologies available, specifically for leg ulcers. Venous leg ulcers commonly are found in individuals with varicose veins or mobility problems, in which blood in the feet and calves have difficulties propelling back to the heart. These leg ulcers can be painful and disfiguring, negatively affecting people's health and quality of life. In a five-year study of 337 patients suffering from leg ulcers, published in the British Medical Journal, researchers have shown a hearty laugh can stimulate the diaphragm and thereby help move blood around the body. Other studies of leg ulcers previously have shown that low-dose ultrasound potentially could clear these ulcers. Prof. Andrea Nelson, lead researcher of the study, has shown that the use of ultrasound did not significantly increase the speed of healing, nor did ultrasound decrease the recurrence of ulcers. Instead, Nelson said the crucial aspect of care is stimulating blood flow from the legs to the heart, including through laughter. This study follows previous research findings showing the benefits of laughter in reducing the risk for heart disease and stress hormone levels.
(03/23/11 5:36am)
As Japan continues to cope with the aftermath of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and the resulting tsunami, officials from National Aeronatics and Space Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Geological Survey report the earthquake has had changed Japan's coastline and the balance of the planet. Japan sits on the "Ring of Fire," a line where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common in the Pacific Rim area. Because of the earthquake's impact, a tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean is undergoing a process of subduction. The Pacific Plate is being pulled down underneath Japan while it moves westward toward Eurasia. Consequently, Japan's coastline may have shifted as much as 13 feet to the east, making parts of Japan geographically closer to the United States. Moreover, NASA scientist Richard Gross calculated that the Earth's rotation has increased by 1.6 microseconds, which has condensed the length of a day by 1.6 millionths of a second. Gross also explained the rearrangement of the Earth's total mass as a result of the earthquake has shifted the Earth's axis by 6.5 inches, creating a slight tilt.
(02/09/11 5:42am)
Who: Boeing's spy plane development team was awarded an $89 million contract for its design of SolarEagle as a part of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's Vulture II Program. DARPA officials said technology from the Vulture II Program will revolutionize solar energy collection and surveillance systems, leading to many applications in other existing missions and flight studies.
(02/09/11 5:41am)
The Hubble Space Telescope has detected a new galaxy that could be the oldest ever witnessed by humans, according to reports from scientists around the world. This galaxy is thought to be more than 13 billion years old and to have come into existence about 480 million years after the Big Bang. Garth Illingworth, a Hubble principal investigator at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told the National Post the galaxy is equivalent in size to about 1 percent of the Milky Way. The discovery of the galaxy suggests there was rapid change in the rate of star births during the universe's early beginnings, between 480 and 650 million years after the Big Bang. Illingworth said he believes by looking even further back in time, it may be possible to see a greater amount of change in the early universe, when the first galaxies were just beginning to form.
(02/09/11 5:40am)
British researchers at the University of East Anglia have identified a cancer-promoting gene, suggesting that blocking this gene would prevent the spread of cancers. The gene, WWP2, is found in all humans, but can become dysfunctional and subsequently help cancer cells proliferate and spread. When the WWP2 gene malfunctions, it induces the breakdown of a group of inhibitor proteins called SMADs, which usually keep cell growth in check. In fact, recently conducted cell cultures showed that without the inhibitor SMAD7, cancer progressed and spread very quickly. By blocking the WWP2 gene and suppressing its function, scientists were able to block that cancer spread.
(11/03/10 4:30am)
South African wildlife conservationists have developed an anti-poaching initiative. Global positioning system microchips are inserted into the dead part of rhinoceros' horns to help stop the illegal hunting of this endangered species. Five rhinos received the GPS chip for rangers to monitor the rhinos' movements continuously. These rhinos are further protected with an alarm system that alerts rangers to attacks. For instance, the alarm signals if the rhino is immobile for longer than six hours, starts running or leaves the game park.
(11/03/10 4:29am)
What: Despite the U.S. military's extensive funding for novel bomb detection devices such as drones, metal detectors and spycams, bomb dogs and their sensitive sense of smell are still the most effective form of bomb detection technology. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, a Pentagon's military task force with a $19 billion budget since 2004, reported that mechanical devices only locate about 50 percent of explosives in Afghanistan and Iraq. This detection rate increases to 80 percent when bomb dogs are taken into the field and allowed to sniff the area on the walk.
(11/03/10 4:28am)
Researchers recently found taste receptors in the lungs that react to bitter substances, which could provide novel therapies for asthma sufferers. These taste receptors only communicate with muscle cells, unlike taste buds on the tongue that signal to the brain.
(09/22/10 5:31am)
A firm handshake could be an indicator of a long life, according to a decades-long study of more than 50,000 people conducted by the British research organization Medical Research Council.\nResearchers found a correlation between measures of grip strength, such as the strength of a handshake, and mortality. When studying an elderly population age 60 and older - whose members were not living in managed care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes - researchers determined that mortality rates for individuals with the weakest grip strength were 67 percent higher than those for individuals with the strongest grip strength. Researchers also examined other physical capability measures - such as walking rate, balance and ability to get up from a chair independently - that allow for the frail elderly to be evaluated in a quick, non-invasive manner. Although the study focuses on the elderly, researchers still can find grip strength differences within a younger population, which may contribute to preventative medicine tools.
(09/22/10 5:29am)
What: Human body heat generated from commuters waiting underground for the metro will warm an environmentally friendly public housing project located in the center of Paris. Drawing on geothermal technology, the project is designed to shift heat from passengers and train tracks through a stairwell that leads from the metro to heat exchangers in the building. The heat exchangers push the warm air into pipes that circulate the air.
(09/22/10 5:29am)
In an attempt to study energy consumption and develop solutions for greater energy efficiency, British researchers at the University of Salford are building an "energy house" that can simulate weather. The Salford Energy House is designed to resemble a type of terrace-style house in which 2 million Britons reside, but it will also have a three-story snow globe shell that can simulate rain, snow, wind and different humidity levels. The globe will allow researchers to control environmental conditions needed to test building materials and systems that can support low carbon emissions in the energy house. In addition, researchers plan to collaborate with psychologists, sociologists and health experts to create sustainable solutions for overall energy use. They hope to investigate if a person's assessment of temperature changes with different colors and wall coverings and if real-time energy usage meters lead to different energy consumption practices. In the context of the United Kingdom's current policy focus on energy, findings from the Salford Energy House may help address how the country will move on to a new energy future.