Rubik's Cube to Reveal Octopus Handedness [Image Gallery]
9 Jul 2008 5:00am GMT [More]
Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows Brighter Than Expected [News]
8 Jul 2008 11:00pm GMT A new study casts doubt on a long-standing belief about the power behind gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic explosions in the universe. [More]
Minor Quakes Rattle Japan and Peru [News]
8 Jul 2008 10:00pm GMT A late-afternoon earthquake hit the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, about 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) from Tokyo, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says. About an hour and a half later, the USGS also reports, an earthquake shook Peru, 450 miles (725 kilometers) southeast of Lima.Don Blakeman, an earthquake analyst at the USGS, told ScientificAmerican.com that the two Pacific Rim tremors are probably unrelated. "We don't really see evidence for one triggering the other at those...
World Wide Wellness: Online Database Keeps Tabs on Emerging Health Threats [News]
8 Jul 2008 7:30pm GMT News travels fast--especially online--and a group of scientists intends to put this to good use by monitoring and trying to stop infectious diseases in their tracks.Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School have launched a data-mining project called HealthMap. This automated system scours news services and online discussion forums, pooling information about emerging health threats worldwide. [More]
Pot Boiler: A New, Faster Way to Heat Water [News]
8 Jul 2008 7:00pm GMT Many recipes and procedures call for bringing water to a roiling boil--from making the perfect cup of tea to generating electric power. But the bubbles that denote the rapid transformation of water from a liquid to a vapor, otherwise known as steam, actually slow the process. The normal, microscopic imperfections--holes, gaps and voids--on the surfaces of everything from industrial boilers to pots and pans create pockets where air is trapped and liquid water can become steam. But the process in...