Tech

For a long time it was thought that only humans had the ability to anticipate future actions, whereas animals are caught in the here and now. But in recent years, clever experiments with great apes in zoos have shown that they do remember past events and can plan for their future needs. Anthropologists at the University of Zurich have now investigated whether wild apes also have this skill, following them for several years through the dense tropical swamplands of Sumatra.

Orangutans communicate their plans

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 11, 2013 — "Biofuel" has become a global buzzword, with cars and trucks powered by fuel made from corn, corncobs and stalks, switchgrass and even waste oil from cooking french fries, envisioned as a way to stretch out supplies of crude oil and cope with global warming.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- For small and midsize organizations, the outsourcing of demanding computational tasks to the cloud — huge banks of computers accessible over the Internet — can be much more cost-effective than buying their own hardware. But it also poses a security risk: A malicious hacker could rent space on a cloud server and use it to launch programs that hijack legitimate applications, interfering with their execution.

Researchers from North Carolina State University used airbrushing techniques to grow vertically aligned carbon nanofibers on several different metal substrates, opening the door for incorporating these nanofibers into gene delivery devices, sensors, batteries and other technologies.

The citrus flavor and aroma of grapefruit — already used in fruit juices, citrus-flavored beverages, and prestige perfumes and colognes — may be heading for a new use in battling mosquitoes, ticks, head lice and bedbugs thanks to a less expensive way of making large amounts of the once rare and pricey ingredient, a scientist said here today.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – In a new study looking at toddlers and preschoolers with autism, researchers found that children with better motor skills were more adept at socializing and communicating.

Published online today in the journal Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, this study adds to the growing evidence of the important link between autism and motor skill deficits.

CORAL GABLES, FL (September 9, 2013) — Recently, the global financial market experienced a series of computer glitches that abruptly brought operations to a halt. One reason for these "flash freezes" may be the sudden emergence of mobs of ultrafast robots, which trade on the global markets and operate at speeds beyond human capability, thus overwhelming the system. The appearance of this "ultrafast machine ecology" is documented in a new study published on September 11 in Nature Scientific Reports.

High adherence to antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is associated with a high level of protection from HIV acquisition by HIV-uninfected partners in heterosexual couples where only one of the partners is HIV positive, according to a study published in this week's PLOS Medicine.

"Monitoring of linear growth is a well-established part of pediatric health care in the developed world. Although monitoring aims to support early diagnosis and timely treatment of disorders affecting growth, such disorders are often diagnosed late," write Ulla Sankilampi, M.D., Ph.D., of Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland, and colleagues.

Coral Gables, FL (September 10, 2013) - Liberals and conservatives are looking for the same thing when they join online dating websites, according to new research co-authored by University of Miami political scientist Casey Klofstad. The study, published in Political Behavior, shows that both liberals and conservatives are looking for a partner who is like themselves.

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 10, 2013 — Unlikely as it may sound, giant pandas Ya Ya and Le Le in the Memphis Zoo are making contributions toward shifting production of biofuels away from corn and other food crops and toward corn cobs, stalks and other non-food plant material.

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 10, 2013 — Nature has provided the food industry with the perfect packages to imitate in the drive to embrace a new genre of boxes, bottles, fast-food clam shells and other sustainable packaging material for the 21st century, according to a presentation on the topic here today.

This news release is available in French.

Montreal, September 10, 2013 — Dreams of washboard abs and toned arms may seem to be the main motivation for the average teen to lace up their running shoes. But over 1,000 Montreal high school students disagree. Teens, it seems, are smarter than their parents when it comes to approaching exercise as something that affects one's whole body.

Farmers can now get a birds-eye view ­of their fields – in full HD – thanks to Michigan State University landing its first drone.

MSU researchers are using its first unmanned aerial vehicle to help farmers maximize yields by improving nitrogen and water management and reducing environmental impact such as nitrate leaching or nitrous oxide emissions.

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 10, 2013 — One of the first analyses of laws banning disposal of electronic waste (e-waste) in municipal landfills has found that state e-waste recycling bans have been mostly ineffective, although California's Cell Phone Recycling Act had a positive impact on cell phone recycling. However, e-waste recycling rates remain "dismally low," and many demographic groups remain unaware of their alternatives for properly disposing of e-waste, according to the study.