Tech | Page 1438 | Science Codex

Moral dilemma: Would you kill 1 person to save 5?

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Imagine a runaway boxcar heading toward five people who can't escape its path. Now imagine you had the power to reroute the boxcar onto different tracks with only one person along that route.

Would you do it?

That's the moral dilemma posed by a team of Michigan State University researchers in a first-of-its-kind study published in the research journal Emotion. Research participants were put in a three dimensional setting and given the power to kill one person (in this case, a realistic digital character) to save five.

Supercomputers take a cue from microwave ovens

As sophisticated as modern climate models are, one critical component continues to elude their precision—clouds. Simulating these fluffy puffs of water vapor is so computationally complex that even today's most powerful supercomputers, working at quadrillions of calculations per second, cannot accurately model them.

Blood cell test for HIV treatment monitoring is cheaper but just as effective

A cheaper laboratory test that helps guide anti-retroviral drug treatment for people with HIV/AIDS may be just as effective as a more sophisticated test, a group of international researchers has found – a discovery that could be particularly important in rural Africa.

While the findings by researchers in the United States, Canada and Uganda must still be confirmed through additional clinical trials, the authors said, they suggest that the more expensive method—called viral load testing—may not provide a substantial benefit over the cheaper and older one, known as CD4+ testing.

Study: Working moms multitask more and have worse time doing so than dads

WASHINGTON, DC, November 28, 2011 — Not only are working mothers multitasking more frequently than working fathers, but their multitasking experience is more negative as well, according to a new study in the December issue of the American Sociological Review.

UCLA researchers demonstrate fully printed carbon nanotube transistor circuits for displays

Since the invention of liquid crystal displays in the mid-1960s, display electronics have undergone rapid transformation. Recently developed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have shown several advantages over LCDs, including their light weight, flexibility, wide viewing angles, improved brightness, high power efficiency and quick response.

Publicly releasing inspection data on meat processing facilities could have 'substantial benefits'

WASHINGTON — Publicly posting enforcement and testing data corresponding to specific meat, poultry, and egg products' processing plants on the Internet could have "substantial benefits," including the potential to favorably impact public health, says a new report from the National Research Council. The report adds that the release of such data could contribute to increased transparency and yield valuable insights that go beyond the regulatory uses for which the data are collected.

Artificial leaf could debut new era of 'fast-food energy'

Technology for making an "artificial leaf" holds the potential for opening an era of "fast-food energy," in which people generate their own electricity at home with low-cost equipment perfect for the 3 billion people living in developing countries and even home-owners in the United States. That's among the prospects emerging from research on a new genre of "electrofuels" described in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News, the American Chemical Society's weekly newsmagazine.

Yale researchers develop a way to monitor engineered blood vessels as they grow in patients

Bethesda, MD—Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nanoparticle technology, researchers from Yale have devised a way to monitor the growth of laboratory-engineered blood vessels after they have been implanted in patients. This advance represents an important step toward ensuring that blood vessels, and possibly other tissues engineered from a patient's own biological material, are taking hold and working as expected. Until now, there has been no way to monitor the growth and progress of engineered tissues once they were implanted.

A revolutionary new 'dry ink' for laser printers and photocopy machines: Prized Science

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2011 — Imagine someone inventing a "super-toner," a revolutionary new "dry ink" for copiers and laser printers that produces higher-quality, sharper color images more economically, cutting electricity by up to 30 percent. One that also reduces emissions of carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas – in the production of tens of thousands of tons of toner produced each year. One that reduces the cost of laser printing, making it more affordable in more offices, schools and homes.

New type of solar cell retains high efficiency for long periods: ACS podcast

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2011 — The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions" podcast series features a new solar cell with high efficiency in converting sunlight into electricity and the durability to last and last.

Researchers find some smartphone models more vulnerable to attack

New research from North Carolina State University shows that some smartphones specifically designed to support the Android mobile platform have incorporated additional features that can be used by hackers to bypass Android's security features, making them more vulnerable to attack. Android has the largest share of the smartphone market in the U.S.

Drexel expert: Efficiency metrics for energy storage devices need standardization

PHILADELPHIA -- Solving the mystery of prematurely dead cell phone and laptop batteries may prove to be a vital step toward creating a sustainable energy grid according to Drexel researcher Dr. Yury Gogotsi. In a piece published in the November 18 edition of Science, Gogotsi, who is the head of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute, calls for a new, standardized gauge of performance measurement for energy storage devices that are as small as those used in cell phones to as large as those used in the national energy grid.

A smarter way to make ultraviolet light beams

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Existing coherent ultraviolet light sources are power hungry, bulky and expensive. University of Michigan researchers have found a better way to build compact ultraviolet sources with low power consumption that could improve information storage, microscopy and chemical analysis.

UI engineers conduct residential soils study, one of few such US studies ever done

UI engineers conduct residential soils study, one of few such U.S. studies ever done

University of Iowa engineers have published their findings from a study of residential soils in the city of Cedar Rapids, making it one of only a few such U.S. urban soil studies ever conducted.

ONR-funded guided rockets hit fast-moving boat targets in test

ARLINGTON, Va. -- A weapon prototype developed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) successfully hit two high-speed boat targets during recent testing in Point Mugu, Calif.

"It's a fire-and-forget weapon," said Ken Heeke, the ONR program officer for the Low-Cost Imaging Terminal Seeker (LCITS). "No longer do you have to continue to monitor the target after you've fired the weapon. You can move on to the next threat with the assurance that the rocket will hit the target."