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168,089 articles from ScienceDaily

See What I See: Machines With Mental Muscle

The way we use and interact with machines is undergoing a profound change as computers are programmed to learn from experience and see more how we see. European research into machine learning is pushing back the boundaries of computer capabilities.

Surgeons Evaluate Treatment Options For Traumatic Aortic Injury, Including Minimally Invasive Technique

A blunt traumatic injury to the aorta is one of the leading causes of death following a vehicle crash. University of Maryland Medical Center surgeons have published a review of treatments for this devastating injury in the the New England Journal of Medicine. The physicians have had success with a minimally invasive technique, which spares patients the trauma of a traditional operation, which...

Gold Nanostars Outshine The Competition

Scientists used surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to demonstrate that gold nanostars exhibit optical qualities that make them superior for chemical and biological sensing and imaging. These uniquely shaped nanoparticles may one day be used in a range of applications from disease diagnostics to contraband...

Alternative Theory Of Information Processing In The Cortex

With remarkable precision, neurons in the sound-processing part of the brain's cortex fire electrochemical pulses or "spikes" in sync with cues they receive from other neurons. Neuroscientists have demonstrated that "spike timing" in cortical neurons can influence behavior in rats when signals are separated by as little as three milliseconds. This discovery helps make the case for an alternate...

Buckypapers Clarify Electrical, Optical Behavior Of Nanotubes

Using highly uniform samples of carbon nanotubes, materials scientists have made some of the most precise measurements yet of the concentrations at which delicate mats of nanotubes become transparent, conducting sheets. Their recent experiments point up the importance of using relatively homogeneous nanotubes for making high performance conducting...

Worms' Nervous System Shown To Alert Immune System

The nervous system and the immune system have something in common. Each has evolved to react quickly to environmental cues. Because the nervous system is able to detect some of these cues at a distance, it sometimes can sense trouble earlier than the immune system, which has to wait until the pathogen invades the organism. Now, geneticists have shown that, indeed, the two systems talk to one...

'A Dinosaur Dance Floor'

Geologists identified an amazing concentration of dinosaur footprints and tail-drag marks that they call "a dinosaur dance floor," located in a wilderness on the Arizona-Utah border where there was a sandy desert oasis 190 million years ago.

Alternative Fuels May Drain Dwindling Water Supplies

As the search for new fuels intensifies, researchers in Texas report that switching to certain alternative fuels to power cars, trucks, and SUVs may require the use of much more water than conventional petroleum-based gasoline and diesel. The findings suggest that producing alternative fuels could strain already limited water supplies in some regions of the...

LEDs May Help Reduce Skin Wrinkles

Researchers in Germany are describing a potential alternative to Botox and cosmetic surgery for easing facial wrinkles. Their study reports that high intensity visible light from light emitting diodes (LEDs) applied daily for several weeks resulted in "rejuvenated skin, reduced wrinkle levels, juvenile complexion and lasting resilience." LEDs are the miniature lights used in an array of products,...

Less Ice In Arctic Ocean 6000-7000 Years Ago

Recent mapping of a number of raised beach ridges on the north coast of Greenland suggests that the ice cover in the Arctic Ocean was greatly reduced some 6000-7000 years ago. The Arctic Ocean may have been periodically ice free.


SUNDAY 19. OCTOBER 2008


Achilles Heel Of Common Childhood Tumor Identified

Researchers have, for the first time, found a mechanism for the rapid growth of the benign blood vessel tumor known as infantile hemangiomas, the most common tumor found in children. The findings implicate gene mutations that facilitate the abnormal activity of a hormone called VEGF, and suggest that anti-VEGF therapies -- already approved for other conditions -- may be an effective...