Worldmapper Draws Attention To The World's Health Inequalities

Jan 31 2007 | comment(s)

When it comes to the inequality in people's health across the globe, says Professor Danny Dorling (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom) "you can say it, you can prove it, you can tabulate it, but it is only when you show it that it hits home."

Public Health Spending: Worldmapper Poster 213. Source of data used to create map: United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 2004. (Credit: Worldmapper)

Researchers Achieve Major Breakthrough In Laser Diode Development

Jan 31 2007 | comment(s)

A team of researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara led by Shuji Nakamura, winner of the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize, has reported a major breakthrough in laser diode development.

The photograph shows the far-field pattern of the world's first gallium nitride (GaN) nonpolar blue-violet laser diodes. The bright spots illustrate clear lasing modes. (Credit: UCSB Solid State Lighting and Display Center)

"No One Is Going To Drop The ISS"

Jan 31 2007 | comment(s)

The International Space Station will likely remain operational until 2025, the head of the Russian spacecraft manufacturer Energia said Tuesday.

"No one is going to sink or drop the ISS, as all countries realize that the station is becoming a full-scale industrial facility in space.

MiG-29 K/KUB Fighters For India

Jan 31 2007 | comment(s)

The first MiG-29KUB carrier-based fighter developed for the Indian Navy took off at the Russian Zhukovsky aircraft test centre on January 22.

How Many Cups Of Coffee Do You Need This Morning In Order To Be Functional?

Jan 30 2007 | comment(s)

I'm off the wagon. And when I fall, I fall hard.

It's not just the regular this time—I'm into the hard stuff, like cappuccino and those Starbucks drinks with nifty, pseudo-European names (ah, my soul for one sip of sweet, sweet Moccachino...). I would like to blame my current baby-induced insomnia and resulting massive accumulated sleep debt, or my wife's enabling addiction to Arnold Palmers (half lemonade, half iced-tea) from the new coffee shop down the street, but really these are just lame excuses for my own weakness. And so I'm back to living life by the drop, or more precisely, by the shot of Cafe Estima Blend.

Wanted: Used Car Salesman- Must Have 2D:4D Ratio Less Than .9

Jan 30 2007 | comment(s)

Conservationists Blast India, China For Rampant Tiger Trade

Jan 30 2007 | comment(s)

Demand from rich Chinese for Indian tiger pelts and parts used in traditional medicine fuels poaching and may lead to the extinction of the species in the wild, conservationists have warned.

Trade of tiger pelts from India into Chinese-ruled Tibet was flourishing despite laws banning the move, a report released in New Delhi by two conservation groups said Wednesday.

The Wildlife Protection Agency and Environment Investigation Agency estimate only 1,500 to 2,000 wild Royal Bengal Tigers are left in India.

Earliest Semitic Text Revealed In Egyptian Pyramid Inscription

Jan 30 2007 | comment(s)

The first public revelation of the earliest continuous Semitic text ever deciphered has taken place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Spell from the Egyptian pyramid text states in a Semitic language, but written in hieroglyphics: "Mother snake, mother snake says mucus-mucus." (Image courtesy of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Mutant Gene May Have Affected Abe Lincoln

Jan 30 2007 | comment(s)

If you bend a knee or an elbow, the nerves in your limbs stretch but do not break. A University of Utah study suggests why: A gene produces a springy protein that keeps nerve cells flexible. When the gene was disabled in tiny nematode worms, their nerve cells literally broke.

Nerve cells glow fluorescent green in these microscope photographs showing part of a cross section of a tiny nematode worm. The horizontal green linear feature near the bottom of each photo is the worm equivalent of the spinal cord, while a secondary nerve cord is the horizontal green line near the top.