Tech

The sad thing about people insisting a Prius would save the environment is that they had short-term memory. Acid rain was an issue 20 years ago and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are a huge culprit. Manufacture and disposal of batteries is damaging to the environment and there were no legitimate studies to show that the benefit in reduced greenhouse gases was worth the damage.

Quantum cryptography is a technology that allows one to distribute a cryptographic key across an optical network and to exploit the laws of quantum physics to guarantee its secrecy. It makes use of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle – observation causes perturbation – to reveal eavesdropping on an optical fiber.

CINCINNATI – Scientists have identified a genetic basis for determining the severity of allergic asthma in experimental models of the disease.

The study may help in the search for future therapeutic strategies to fight a growing medical problem that currently lacks effective treatments, researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report in the Aug. 29 Nature Immunology.

Controlling juniper trees by cutting them down and burning them where they fall keeps invasive cheatgrass at bay and allows native perennials to become re-established, according to findings by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) rangeland scientists Jon Bates and Tony Svejcar conducted a study at a site dominated by a stand of invasive western junipers to assess different management strategies after the junipers have been cut down. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

Researchers at New York University have developed an innovative way to look at the development of osteoarthritis in the knee joint—one that relies on the examination of sodium ions in cartilage. Their work, which appears in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance, may provide a non-invasive method to diagnose osteoarthritis in its very early stages.

AURORA, Colorado (August 27, 2010) – Rare but devastating, eye cancer can strike anyone at any time and treating it often requires radiation that leaves half of all patients partially blind.

But a new technique developed by Scott Oliver, MD, assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, may change all that.

Oliver has discovered that silicone oil applied inside the eye can block up to 55 percent of harmful radiation, enough to prevent blindness in most patients.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., August 27, 2010 -- Technology developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory that extends the life of light-emitting diode lamps has been licensed to LED North America.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Vitamin A and beta-carotene supplements are unsafe for HIV-positive women who breastfeed because they may boost the excretion of HIV in breast milk---thereby increasing the chances of transmitting the infection to the child, a pair of new studies suggest.

BOSTON, Aug. 25, 2010 — An unusual substance known as "dry water," which resembles powdered sugar, could provide a new way to absorb and store carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, scientists reported here today at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

LIVERMORE, Calif. – Radiocarbon dating is used to determine the age of everything from ancient artifacts to prehistoric corals on the ocean bottom.

But in a recent study appearing in the Aug. 26 edition of the journal, Nature, a Lawrence Livermore scientist and his colleagues used the method to trace the pathway of carbon dioxide released from the deep ocean to the atmosphere at the end of the last ice age.

BOSTON, Aug. 24, 2010 — Crafting a fragrance for detergents that leaves laundry smelling clean and fresh. Developing a room freshener, scented oil, or scented candle that whispers "cool spring air." Giving toothpaste or mouthwash a refreshing aftertaste that lingers and lingers.

The process for putting the smell that sells into thousands of consumer products is much like composing a symphony, according to maestro fragrance designer Michael Papas, who spoke here today at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

In the new age of coalition governments, the question of whether two heads are better than one is more relevant than ever. A study published today in the journal Science, neuroscientists from UCL (University College London) and Aarhus University, Denmark, shows that two heads can be better than one – but only if you have the right partner.