Tech

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have constructed a light-emitting transistor that has set a new record with a signal-processing modulation speed of 4.3 gigahertz, breaking the previous record of 1.7 gigahertz held by a light-emitting diode.

But, the researchers didn't stop there. By internally connecting the base and collector of a light-emitting transistor, they created a new form of light-emitting diode, which modulates at up to 7 gigahertz, breaking the speed record once again.

WASHINGTON -- Evidence exists that people who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune Marine Base in North Carolina between the 1950s and 1985 were exposed to the industrial solvents tricholorethylene (TCE) or perchloroethylene (PCE) in their water supply, but strong scientific evidence is not available to determine whether health problems among those exposed are due to the contaminants, says a new report from the National Research Council. The report adds that further research will unlikely provide definitive information on whether exposure resulted in adverse health effects in most cases.

The economic importance of rural and cultural tourism in countries such as Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Portugal stems from their particular sites, which have maintained their architectural style and rich heritage. This spurred interest in carrying out a research study, published in the latest issue of Tourism Management, which focuses on tourism in Spanish villages with no more than 2,000 inhabitants and great architectural, cultural or historical value.

Westchester, Ill. –A multi-ethnic study in the June 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine reports that there is a statistically significant relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) episodes occurring during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and type 2 diabetes.

Rice University scientists warned that the United States must be careful that the new emphasis on developing biofuels as an alternative to imported oil takes into account potential damage to the nation's water resources.

"The ongoing, rapid growth in biofuels production could have far-reaching environmental and economic repercussions, and it will likely highlight the interdependence and growing tension between energy and water security," said a report titled "The Water Footprint of Biofuels: A Drink or Drive Issue?"

Could an entirely new approach to online security, based on distributed sanctions, help prevent cybercrime, fraud and identity theft? A report in the International Journal of Intercultural Information Management suggests it could.

Susan Brenner of the University of Dayton School of Law, in Dayton, OH, and Leo Clarke of the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law, in Lansing, MI, suggest that government could control cybercrime by requiring anyone accessing cyberspace to employ reasonable security measures but without infringing on civil liberties.

Palo Alto, CA—In the future, will wind power tapped by high-flying kites light up New York? A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution and California State University identifies New York as a prime location for exploiting high-altitude winds, which globally contain enough energy to meet world demand 100 times over. The researchers found that the regions best suited for harvesting this energy match with population centers in the eastern U.S. and East Asia, but fluctuating wind strength still presents a challenge for exploiting this energy source on a large scale.

Liver disease that results as a consequence of alcohol abuse is a major medical problem worldwide. Ethanol consumption leads to a variety of liver alterations including the accumulation of fat, inflammation of the liver, as well as the presence of scar tissue. However, how these events happen after drinking alcohol are not well understood. It is known that ethanol-related liver alterations involve impairments to the hepatocyte cell in the liver that includes the induction of cell death mechanisms.

Researchers at New York University have created a method to precisely bind nano- and micrometer-sized particles together into larger-scale structures with useful materials properties. Their work, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Nature Materials, overcomes the problem of uncontrollable sticking, which had been a barrier to the successful creation of stable microscopic and macroscopic structures with a sophisticated architecture.

BATON ROUGE – LSU's WAVCIS, or Wave-Current-Surge Information System for Coastal Louisiana, has a few new tricks up its sleeve in preparation for the 2009 hurricane season.

Renewable energy resources – solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass – could potentially offer local, sustainable sources of electrical power in the U.S. Tapping into these resources requires new technologies, some of which are still in development. One issue facing the renewable-energy field is determining when the technologies that convert these resources into power can be ready for large-scale use, and estimating what it will take to get there.

The University of Houston is being credited with playing a pivotal role in the creation of the Houston Ship Channel Security District, which was approved unanimously by Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday morning.

The development of the security district, a public-private partnership that will fund enhancements to security technology, infrastructure and processes along the ship channel, was done in large part by Pat Bellamy, chairman of the Houston Ship Channel Security Council and director of UH's Southwest Public Safety Technology Center (SWTC).

(WASHINGTON, June 12, 2009) – A study involving 678 individuals who apply pesticides, culled from a U.S. Agricultural Health Study of over 50,000 farmers, recently found that exposure to certain pesticides doubles one's risk of developing an abnormal blood condition called MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance) compared with individuals in the general population.

Copenhagen, Denmark, Friday 12 June 2009: Individuals diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in lower gross domestic product (GDP) countries (GDP below $11,000) are more likely to continue working despite higher disease activity and functional disability scores compared to their counterparts in higher GDP countries (GDP >$24,000) according to a new multinational study presented today at EULAR 2009, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Copenhagen, Denmark.

A new type of robot being developed will make it easier to detect drugs, weapons, explosives and illegal immigrants concealed in cargo containers.

Dubbed the 'cargo-screening ferret' and designed for use at seaports and airports, the device is being worked on at the University of Sheffield with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The ferret will be the world's first cargo-screening device able to pinpoint all kinds of illicit substances and the first designed to operate inside standard freight containers.