News Articles

News Account

News Account

News Releases From All Over The World, Right To You
RSS Feed
Small, Modular Fusion Plant Proposed Thanks To Superconducting Tapes

Small, Modular Fusion Plant Proposed Thanks To Superconducting Tapes

It's an old joke: Practical nuclear fusion power plants are just 30 years away -- and always will be.
Maybe sooner, this time. Advances in magnet technology have led researchers at MIT to propose a new design for a practical compact tokamak fusion reactor that might be realized in as little as a decade, they say. Practical fusion power, should it ever happen, could offer a nearly inexhaustible energy resource.
The key is new commercially available superconductors, rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) superconducting tapes, to produce high-magnetic field coils "just ripples through the whole design," says Dennis Whyte, a professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center. "It changes the whole thing."

Research Examines Relationship Between Autistic Traits And Creativity

Research Examines Relationship Between Autistic Traits And Creativity

A new psychology paper finds that people with high levels of autistic traits are more likely to produce unusually creative ideas.
The authors examined the relationship between autistic-like traits and creativity. While they found that people with high autistic traits produced fewer responses when generating alternative solutions to a problem - known as 'divergent thinking' - the responses they did produce were more original and creative. They say they are the first paper to claim a link between autistic traits and the creative thinking processes.

Found: 11 Security Flaws In Popular Internet Browsers

Found: 11 Security Flaws In Popular Internet Browsers

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing developed a new cyber security analysis method that discovered 11 previously unknown Internet browser security flaws. Their findings were honored with the Internet Defense Prize, an award presented by Facebook in partnership with USENIX this week at the 24th USENIX Security Symposium.
Ph.D. students Byoungyoung Lee and Chengyu Song, with Professors Taesoo Kim and Wenke Lee, of Georgia Tech received $100,000 from Facebook to continue their research and increase its impact to make the Internet safer.

New Combination Treatment Effective Against Melanoma

New Combination Treatment Effective Against Melanoma

n findings never before seen in melanoma, a novel combination therapy was found to be highly effective at treating patients with skin metastases, new research has shown. 
The research found that Interleukin (IL)-2 combined with imiquimod and topical retinoid therapy in patients with so-called "in-transit metastases" is a promising therapeutic option. 
The authors note that the study has limitations in that the records of only 11 patients were analyzed, and there were no experiments conducted to determine the effects of the therapeutic regimen on the systemic immune response.

Why The Greenwich Prime Meridian Moved

Why The Greenwich Prime Meridian Moved

In 1884, a delegation of international representatives convened in Washington, D.C. to recommend that Earth's prime meridian (the north-south line marking zero degrees longitude) should pass through the Airy Transit Circle at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.
(A transit circle is an instrument for measuring star positions, and could be used for determining local time; this one was named for its designer, British Astronomer Royal George Airy.)

Machine Learning? No, Machine Teaching

Machine Learning? No, Machine Teaching

Human learning is a complex, sometimes mysterious process. Most of us have had experiences where we have struggled to learn something new, but also times when we've picked something up nearly effortlessly.
What if a fusion of computer science and psychology could help us understand more about how people learn, making it possible to design ideal lessons?
That long-range goal is moving toward reality thanks to an effort led by professors in the University of Wisconsin-Madison departments of computer sciences, psychology and educational psychology. Their collaborative research aims to break new ground in what computer scientist Jerry Zhu calls "machine teaching"-- a twist on the more familiar concept of machine learning.

Thanks To Vaccination, Chickenpox Continues To Decline

Thanks To Vaccination, Chickenpox Continues To Decline

Since the chickenpox vaccine became available in the U.S. in 1995, there has been a large reduction in chickenpox cases. Hospitalizations and outpatient visits for chickenpox have continued their decline after a second dose of the vaccine was recommended to improve protection against the disease, according to a new study.

Trans Fats, But Not Saturated Fats, Linked To Greater Risk Of Heart Disease

Trans Fats, But Not Saturated Fats, Linked To Greater Risk Of Heart Disease

In another reversal of claims that saturated fats were killing people and their replacement, trans fats, were healthier, another study has found that saturated fats are not associated with an increased risk of death, heart disease, stroke, or type 2 diabetes. Instead, trans fats are associated with greater risk of death and coronary heart disease. This is a dramatic change and vindicates organizations like the American Council on Science and Health, which had stated decades ago that saturated fats in moderation were not harmful and that groups that scare the public to raise money were simply exaggerating flawed animal studies to worry people.

Why It's Not  Religion Behind Conservative Opposition To Same-Sex Marriage

Why It's Not Religion Behind Conservative Opposition To Same-Sex Marriage

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has effectively ended any chance of same-sex marriage in this term of parliament. Public opinion in Australia is in clear support of same-sex marriage. So how have opponents had so much success in blocking change?
Prominent arguments against same-sex marriage have been based on history, tradition, human rights, and social scientific research into health and welfare. The role of religion in opposition has been less explicit.
Religion, history and tradition

Our Visual System Is A 'Sensitive Lie Detector'

Our Visual System Is A 'Sensitive Lie Detector'

The consistency of the whole appearance rather than the attractiveness of the parts is not just  saying, it's science, according to a study where participants were shown schematic point-light displays that depict a person using 15 moving dots.
The representation conveyed both the individual characteristics of a person's movements and their individual body shape. 

The team isolated these two areas and separately measured the attractiveness of individual movement styles as well as individual body shapes based on ratings obtained from his research participants. The researchers then combined the movement style of one person with the body shapes of another person and collected attractiveness ratings from these "hybrid walkers".

Global Warming Floods: Wealthy People Impacted Most

Global Warming Floods: Wealthy People Impacted Most

Today, many wealthy countries are able to mitigate, to some degree, their risk of delta flooding through vulnerability-reducing investments, but a new model suggests that this mitigation may not be sustainable in the long-term.
Ultimately, wealthy countries could be feeling the strain of floods to a similar degree as developing countries.