Latest science news in Mathematics & Economics
Oracle expects EU to approve Sun deal next month
(AP) -- Oracle Corp. says that its profit jumped 13 percent in the latest quarter and that it expects the European Union will finally approve its $7.4 billion purchase...
Top US lawmaker skeptical of new space funding
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was personally skeptical of manned space missions and warned that NASA's future funding could depend on whether it was likely to create jobs.
Biking 2.0: MIT's big wheel in Copenhagen (w/ Video)
Yesterday, Dec. 15, at the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, MIT researchers debuted the Copenhagen Wheel -- a revolutionary new bicycle wheel that not only boosts power, but can keep...
Costa Rican boosts tech spending
Costa Rica’s spending on science and technology increased by 20 per cent in 2008, largely thanks to the academic sector, says a study.
Wind Mobile launches service
Wind Mobile, the company that aims to become Canada's fourth major cellphone provider, has launched service in Toronto, with a Calgary opening slated for Friday.
Virginia Tech Team to Build Battlefield Robots for 2010 Competition
The roving, walking robotic soldiers of the "Terminator" films are becoming less sci-fi and more certain future every day. Now, a team of robotics researchers from the Virginia Tech College...
Filtering truth?
(PhysOrg.com) -- Plans for mandatory internet filtering in Australia may see a wide range of material disappear from computer screens, according to research led by a UNSW academic.
UB researcher develops formula that can ID music industry payola
A University at Buffalo researcher has invented a statistical method that can detect payola-like corruption in the music industry, a system that gives law enforcement an inexpensive statistical guide to...
Gene identified as cause of some forms of intellectual disability
A gene involved in some forms of intellectual disability has been identified. The gene is called TRAPPC9 and may be associated with hundreds of thousands of cases of intellectual disability...
Alcohol Industry Designing It's Own Regulations In Sub-Saharan Africa
Before the tobacco industry gave up the fight over the health effects of smoking, it was common for major cigarette manufacturers like Phillip Morris to fight advertising restrictions on their...
Microsoft suspends Juku amid plagiarism charges
Microsoft has suspended MSN Juku, its new microblogging service in China, amid allegations that much of the code was lifted from a Canadian startup, Plurk.
Efforts under way to make Web more accessible
(AP) -- Imagine not being able to use a mouse to open a Web browser or a keyboard to type an e-mail. What if you couldn't distinguish colors on...
Pharma’s year of merger mania
Our round-up of the pharmaceutical industry in 2009 shows the fallout from this year’s mega-mergers has swept across the sector
Sign language puzzle solved
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have known for 40 years that even though it takes longer to use sign language to sign individual words, sentences can be signed, on average, in the...
New Algorithm Ranks Sports Teams like Google's PageRank
(PhysOrg.com) -- Sports fans may be interested in a new system that ranks NFL and college football teams in a simple, straightforward way, similar to how Google PageRank ranks webpages....
A social network that ballooned
On Tuesday, Dec. 1, members of the MIT Media Lab’s Human Dynamics Laboratory received an e-mail with a $40,000 proposition. The U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was holding a...
Computing with a wave of the hand
The iPhone’s familiar touch screen display uses capacitive sensing, where the proximity of a finger disrupts the electrical connection between sensors in the screen. A competing approach, which uses embedded optical sensors to...
Economy sickens poorest most
A recent study suggests that New Zealand’s poorer people will have their health badly affected by the economic downturn.
Brainstorming works best in less specialized efforts, study finds
Applying brainstorming techniques to new product development works best when the collaboration employs participants from varied specialties gathering to develop a less complex product, according to new research.
Air Force grant to tighten online encryption
(PhysOrg.com) -- Computer scientist Rafael Pass is seeking new approaches to cryptographic security with a $600,000, five-year grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Video: How Private is Private?
Sending a private text message using a phone, pager or computer supplied by an employer is raising questions whether these messages are really private. Nancy Cordes has more.
The Evidence Supports A Federal Ban On Flavored Cigarettes?
Even though flavored cigarettes make up less than two-tenths of 1 percent of all tobacco sales in the United States and the FDA doesn't actually know how many underage smokers...
Smoking continues gradual decline among U.S. teens, smokeless tobacco threatens a comeback
(PhysOrg.com) -- Teen smoking reached its recent peak levels around 1996 and 1997, followed by a sharp decline for about six years and a continued more gradual decline ever since,...
Ending the cycle of poverty
(PhysOrg.com) -- While many academically talented high-school students in Providence, Rhode Island, are figuring out what outfit to wear to school on a particular day, other top grade-earners are busily...
Cases: Exam-Room Rules: What’s in a Name?
Choosing between first names or titles in a doctor-patient relationship sets the tone for all communication.
Google Ponders Risky Solo Act
Company Set To Take Page Out Of Apple's Playbook With Upcoming "Nexus One" Phone
Researcher studying ways to handle huge quantities of biomass
(PhysOrg.com) -- As scientists scramble to develop ways to generate enormous amounts of energy from cleaner-burning, renewable fuels to replace coal and oil, promising agricultural crops such as switchgrass have...
Shopping study: Do free samples really make you buy products?
(PhysOrg.com) -- As you do your holiday shopping this year, you'll probably encounter plenty of free sample stands at the big warehouse stores and grocery stores. Common sense might tell...