epee1221 writes "The Clay Mathematics Institute has announced its acceptance of Dr. Grigori Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture and awarded the first Millennium Prize. Poincaré questioned whether there exists a method for determining whether a three-dimensional manifold is a spherical: is there a 3-manifold not homologous to the 3-sphere in which any loop can be gradually shrunk to a single point? The Poincaré conjecture is that there is no such 3-manifold, i.e. any boundless 3-manifold in which the condition holds is homeomorphic to the 3-sphere. A sketch of the proof using language intended for the lay reader is available at Wikipedia."

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parallel_prankster writes "Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is a professor of politics at New York University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California. In his new book, The Predictioneer (The Predictioneer's Game in the US), he describes a computer model based on game theory which he — and others — claim can predict the future with remarkable accuracy. The website also has a game page where he provides an online version of the game and information on how to play." The (semi-paywalled; may need to register) New Scientist has a story on de Mesquita, too; a snippet: "Over the past 30 years, Bueno de Mesquita has made thousands of predictions about hundreds of issues from geopolitics to personal problems. Overall, he claims, his hit rate is about 90 per cent."

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An anonymous reader writes "D-Shape, an innovative new 3-D printer, builds solid structures like sculptures, furniture, even buildings from the ground up. The device relies on sand and magnesium glue to actually build structures layer by layer from solid stone. The designer, Enrico Dini, is even talking with various organizations about making the printer compatible with moon dust, paying the way for an instant moonbase!"

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SpuriousLogic writes "A team of researchers have created a 'quantum state' in an object billions of times larger than ever before. From the article: 'Such states, in which an object is effectively in two places at once, have until now only been accomplished with single particles, atoms and molecules. In this experiment, published in the journal Nature, scientists produced a quantum state in an object billions of times larger than previous tests. The team says the result could have significant implications in quantum computing.'"

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Garrett Fox writes "University of Cincinnati researchers describe a method of getting photosynthesis from a high-surface-area foam containing enzymes that produce sugar using light and CO2 (abstract). Oddly, the foam itself is derived from a species of frog. More interesting is that the technique doesn't use whole cells or apparently even chloroplasts. The researchers claim 'chemical conversion efficiencies approaching 96%,' as well as tolerance for deliberately high-CO2 environments."

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An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on have released research detailing how molecules in chips can self-assemble, potentially reducing manufacturing costs. The researchers have developed a technique in which polymers automatically fall into place to create an integrated circuit."

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Kilrah_il writes "The linked article provides a short summary of the problems scientists have with statistics. As an intern, I see it many times: Doctors do lots of research but don't have a clue when it comes to statistics — and in the social science area, it's even worse. From the article: 'Even when performed correctly, statistical tests are widely misunderstood and frequently misinterpreted. As a result, countless conclusions in the scientific literature are erroneous, and tests of medical dangers or treatments are often contradictory and confusing.'"

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ByronScott writes "Want eyesight that could put your neighborhood cyborg to shame? Well, University of Washington professor Babak Amir Parviz and his students are working on solar-powered contact lenses embedded with hundreds of semitransparent LEDs, letting wearers experience augmented reality right through their eyes. If their research proves successful, the applications — from health monitoring to gameplay to just plain bionic sight — could be endless."

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Lanxon writes "The guy behind Ultima Online once bought an old Russian rover, despite it being lost on the moon somewhere. And now, using images released by NASA, it has been located on the moon's surface after nearly four decades of being MIA, reports Wired. Richard Garriott, who created the Ultima Online multiplayer game, bought the Lunokhod 2 in a Sotheby's auction in New York in 1998. And so new was the discovery of his lost possession, he hadn't even heard that the craft had been discovered when Wired spoke to him." (Richard Garriott is also well known as Lord British.)

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Chroniton writes "NASA ice scientists have found a shrimp-like creature and a possible jellyfish 'frolicking' beneath 600 feet of solid Antarctic ice, where only microbes were expected to live. The odds of finding two complex lifeforms after drilling only an 8-inch-wide hole suggests there may be much more. And if such life is possible beneath Earth's oceans, why not elsewhere, like Europa?"

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davecl writes "The Planck satellite has released its first new science images, showing the large scale filamentary structure of cold dust in our own galaxy. This release coincides with the completion of its first survey of the entire sky a couple of weeks ago. There's lots more work to be done, and more observations to be made, before results are ready on the Big Bang, but these images demonstrate Planck's performance and capability. More information is available on the Planck mission blog (which I maintain)."

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telomerewhythere writes "A quest that began over a decade ago with a chance observation has reached a milestone: the identification of a gene that may regulate regeneration in mammals. The absence of this single gene, called p21, confers a healing potential in mice long thought to have been lost through evolution and reserved for creatures like flatworms, sponges, and some species of salamander. 'Unlike typical mammals, which heal wounds by forming a scar, these mice begin by forming a blastema, a structure associated with rapid cell growth and de-differentiation as seen in amphibians. According to the Wistar researchers, the loss of p21 causes the cells of these mice to behave more like embryonic stem cells than adult mammalian cells, and their findings provide solid evidence to link tissue regeneration to the control of cell division. "Much like a newt that has lost a limb, these mice will replace missing or damaged tissue with healthy tissue that lacks any sign of scarring," said the project's lead scientist.' Here is the academic paper for those with PNAS access."

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kkleiner writes "Robotic surgery is experiencing explosive growth in America's operating rooms, and the unquestioned industry leader in this field is the DaVinci robot, made by Intuitive Surgical. Only 14% of prostate surgeries in the US last year took place not using the DaVinci. Installations have grown from 210 systems seven years ago to 1,395 today. Although typically used for smaller surgeries like prostate removal and hysterectomies, the system was recently used for a kidney transplant, and more complicated procedures are expected in the future. The DaVinci is really just the first wave of robotic surgery as technology continues to push clumsy human hands out of the operating room." The article mentions some of the downsides, or perhaps the growing pains, of DaVinci robotic surgery: "According to a large study of Medicare patients, robotic prostate surgery led to fewer in-hospital complications, but had worse results for impotence and incontinence ..." Another company makes a simulator to train surgeons on the DaVinci. Embedded in the article is a 2009 TED talk on DaVinci by a surgeon.

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indiavision writes "A host of young Japanese are drawn to the allure of 'therapeutic ringtones' — a genre of melodies that promises to ease a range of day-to-day gripes, from chronic insomnia to a rotten hangover. Developed by Matsumi Suzuki, the head of the Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory, an eight-year-old subsidiary of the Japan Acoustic Laboratory, the tones are a hit with housewives as well as teenagers."

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Zen found this story about a blind soldier using a lollypop-sized tongue sensor to 'see.' The system actually enables him to walk and read unaided. The guy says, "It feels like licking a nine-volt battery or like popping candy. The camera sends signals down onto the lollypop and onto your tongue, you can then determine what they mean and transfer it to shapes."

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The projected start of the ITER fusion reactor in France looks set to slip by another 10 months. The new completion date is now November 2019.

Author: Daniel Clery

Scientists say there is clear evidence that the high levels of silicon found in the anthrax used in the 2001 letter attacks came not from anything added to "weaponize" the anthrax spores but from the culture in which the spores were grown. So why did the mailed anthrax have such a high proportion of spores with a silicon signature in comparison to most other anthrax samples?

Author: Yudhijit Bhattacharjee

Harnessing knowledge gained from modern research in neuroscience and genetics to improve the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders was a major impetus for undertaking a revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

Author: Greg Miller

A tight budget and unanticipated safety problems are threatening to kill plans to convert an abandoned gold mine in South Dakota into a $750 million deep underground science and engineering laboratory.

Authors: Adrian Cho, Lauren Schenkman

The dean of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Subra Suresh, is in line to become the next director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Science has learned.

Author: Jeffrey Mervis

Monsanto has revealed that a common insect pest has developed resistance to its flagship genetically modified (GM) product in India. Monsanto claims that the finding "is the first case of field-relevant resistance to Cry1Ac products, anywhere in the world."

Author: Pallava Bagla

In a nod to rising public expectations, China's government work plan for 2010, rolled out last week at the country's two major annual political powwows, puts the environment front and center.

Authors: Hao Xin, Richard Stone

Science won high praise and a hefty budget boost at last week's meetings of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Central government spending on science and technology is slated to rise 8% to $24 billion in 2010.

Author: Richard Stone

ScienceNOW reported this week that psychopaths may be hypersensitive to rewards, which may create a pathological drive for money, sex, and status; a proposed carbon-capture method could poison oceans; a way to finger criminals from their skin bacteria; and the successful identification of the memory a person is recalling by analyzing their brain activity; among other stories.

The Polish Parliament this month began voting on legislation creating a new national agency charged with distributing competitive grants for frontier research.

Author: Elisabeth Pain

Two papers published by Science this week, one on work in ants and bees and the other on work in fruit flies, demonstrate that sperm competition between males continues even after the sperm enters the female.

Author: Elizabeth Pennisi

ScienceInsider reported this week that congressional supporters of stem cell research have introduced legislation to codify President Barack Obama's 2009 executive order, which lifted restrictions on the number of human embryonic stem cell lines available to federally funded researchers, among other stories.

Climate change and damming the Nile are threatening Egypt's agricultural oasis.

Author: John Bohannon

At the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, scientists flying a ground-penetrating radar on India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter reported a distinctive radar signature from the interiors but not the surroundings of more than 40 small craters in the north polar region, suggesting ice.

Author: Richard A. Kerr

At the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, team members of the Genesis mission, which returned atomic bits of the sun and thus samples of the solar system's primordial material, confirmed their measurement of the isotopic composition of the solar wind's oxygen and reported an isotopic composition for solar-wind nitrogen.

Author: Richard A. Kerr

At the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, there was talk of resurrecting the Spirit rover, which has been stuck since January, or at least a realistic prospect of a return to limited mobility. NASA missions are indeed hard to kill.

Author: Richard A. Kerr

Snapshots from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference include the discovery of its first candidate bits of mineral born around distant stars and considerable progress in making sense of the odd shape of the moon.

Author: Richard A. Kerr

Delegates at a conference on endangered species in Doha, Qatar, rejected the U.S.-backed measures.

A zoo where 11 rare Siberian tigers recently starved to death is fast becoming a symbol of the mistreatment of animals in China.

Some environmentalists said the nuclear industry would be risking its green record if it adapted smaller nuclear reactors, like those once used in submarines, to light a city.

“Hubble 3D” is dazzling to look at of course. But such ponderous, cliché-heavy narration.

Astronauts from the United States and Russia landed safely on Thursday after spending almost six months on the International Space Station.

A discovery strengthens the link between the first animal to enter human society and the subsequent invention of agriculture about 10,000 years ago.

A Turkish builder argues for rebuilding a megacity facing an inevitable disaster.

American companies with factories in China are now building high-tech research labs there as well.

The Alta Velocidad Española, or AVE, has made train travel in Spain the way to go, both environmentally and in comfort and convenience.

Chinese archaeologists unearthed a 4,000-year-old cemetery in Xinjiang Province that seemed to be a vanished people’s paean to the pleasures or utility of procreation.

From a helium balloon, Felix Baumgartner, no stranger to high jumps, intends to break the speed of sound in free fall.

The autonomous underwater vehicle, which had come out of semi-retirement to help researchers study the seafloor off the coast of Chile, was lost at sea.

Researchers trying to decipher the drug’s effects have discovered surprising clues to how normal limbs develop.

A new book is as inventive, wide ranging and full of astonishing surprises as the insect world itself.

Democrats unveiled the completed version of the health care legislation they intend to bring to a vote, saying that it would extend insurance coverage to most of those who lack it.

Experts see a gap in treatment between pediatric and adult care.

The former New York City health commissioner has rapidly reversed many of the Bush administration’s policies at one of the world’s top health agencies.

A generic anti-inflammatory drug from the aspirin family helped patients in a clinical trial lower their blood sugar.

Stigmatizing fat people has become not just acceptable but, in some circles, de rigueur.

Open defecation is on the decline in many countries, according to a report released Monday by the W.H.O. and Unicef. Nonetheless, about 1.1 billion still practice it.

A new study of kidney donors found that having only one kidney did not affect long term survival and that the risk of dying from the surgery itself was very low.

Recent figures from the C.D.C. showed one in six Americans have genital herpes, prompting concern among health officials because people with the virus are at greater risk of H.I.V. infection.

Research found that when the price of a two-liter bottle went up, people consumed less, which was associated with a drop in weight and a lower risk for pre-diabetes.

Science museums experiment in their struggle to define themselves.

Long-term hominin evolution is the main concern of the impressive David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, which opened this week at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

The Large Hadron Collider has smashed the record for highest-energy particle collisions again in its quest to uncover new physics.

A Franco-German consortium will enter into negotiations for a 1.5bn-euro contract to build Europe's next weather satellites.

Europe's Cryosat spacecraft is set to launch on 8 April on a mission to map the world's ice fields.

Researchers discover a new species of dinosaur that was very closely related to the Velociraptor.

US researchers using genetically engineered fruit flies with glowing sperm track the seed's progress inside the female in real time.

A US study says electrical deep brain stimulation is a promising therapy for epileptics who do not respond to drug treatment.

The harsh winter may have had a devastating impact on UK wildlife, British Waterways warns as it launches its annual survey.

Plans for a major wind farm development in Dumfries and Galloway are submitted to the Scottish government.

Scientists create the first cloaking device to render an object invisible in three dimensions.

Octopuses respond to high-definition television (HDTV), but seem to ignore normal standard television, scientists discover.

Riding the strangest rocket in the world

Behind the scenes at London's Natural History Museum

Tuna defeat carries whiff of cordite and hypocrisy

Can brain scanning tell companies how to sell us more?

Harsh winter delays this year's spring blooms

More reason than ever to deal with the climate debacle

Europe is set to release its first non-native "biological control" species to curb the spread of Japanese knotweed.

Commercial and political interests are abusing historical whaling rights of indigenous people.

Habitat loss and deforestation are now endangering the survival of Asia's flat-headed cat, a diminutive and little studied feline species.

Populations of many species living in the high Arctic have declined by one quarter, according to a new assessment.

New tool discoveries push back the date for the earliest human occupation of Flores Island, home of the famous hobbit species.

Europe's Planck space telescope pictures the colossal swathes of cold dust that spread through the Milky Way galaxy.

A new temperate planet, found 1,500 light-years away from Earth, has similarities to planets within our own Solar System.

Scientists have created the largest-ever "quantum state", a result that has implications for quantum physics and computing.

The first U.S. exhibit of the well-preserved mummies, discovered in western China, opens March 27 in Santa Ana, Calif.

Operators of the world's largest atom smasher say they have ramped up the machine to three times the energy ever achieved in a run up to experiments probing secrets of the universe.

The overall number of animals in the Arctic has increased over the past 40 years ago, according to a new international study. But those who live closest to the North Pole are disappearing.

Workers at a Nevada research lab were checking on a primate room when they came across a ghastly sight: Thirty dead monkeys were essentially cooked alive after someone left the heater on. Two others were near death and had to be euthanized.

The USA, China and South America have largely embraced biotechnology in crops, while Europeans are opposed. Where will Africa and Asia fall?

In a surprising discovery about where higher life can thrive, scientists for the first time found a shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish frolicking beneath a massive Antarctic ice sheet.

Purdue University researcher David Waters hopes a bunch of old dogs will be able to teach scientists news tricks about aging and cancer.

Big, hairy, bloodthirsty vermin. If you've seen one tarantula, you've seen them all, right?

How do sun spots and solar flares affect the Earth's weather? How do I track the national and worldwide high temperatures each day? Why is snow so bright at night? These and many more weather questions are answered in our online weather Q and A column.

Saltwater pumped into the earth to release natural gas offers a "plausible," but not definitive, explanation for small quakes in 2008 and 2009.

Obesity scientists dig deep to find the connection between body fat, white blood cells and a cascade of diseases.

Aaron Cohen, the former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center who helped create the space shuttle program, has died in College Station after a long fight with cancer. He was 79.

"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you," then, with apologies to Kipling, you might not be a climate scientist.

The potent greenhouse gas appears to be seeping through the Arctic Ocean floor and into the Earth's atmosphere, research shows.

An international team Thursday concluded that it was an asteroid, not volcanoes, that wiped out dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago.

The Association of Medical Media (AMM) is pleased to recognize Joe Dennehy of Cleveland Clinic and Megan Boorjian of Quadrant/Pulmonary Reviews as the winners of the 18th Annual AMM Nexus Representatives of the Year Awards. The winners were announced today during the Nexus Awards Reception in New York City. This year’s event was presented at a new location, Inside Park at St. Bart’s, and for the first time in a new cocktail reception format. (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3745304.htm

BASF today announced that it is the first chemical company to become a member of The Sustainability Consortium, an independent organization of diverse global participants that work collaboratively to build a scientific foundation that drives innovation to improve consumer product sustainability. (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/BASF/Sustainability_Consortium/prweb3748084.htm

Dickson Testing, a USA-based metal testing company, is one of a number of engineering firms adopting the free Drumlin PDF security software and service to protect their IPR. They were particularly impressed with the simplicity and quality of the software, and the excellent support they received, helping them choose exactly the right solution for their requirements. And the software and service they adopted was provided entirely free-of-charge! (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3742014.htm

When renovating a kitchen, most people could spend four months making the kitchen functional. Professional renovators can easily take four weeks and a crew of renovators could do the job in four days. But a new kitchen in four hours? (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3743204.htm

“The key to deep relaxation and a renewed sense of purpose is to engage in therapeutic methods that involve and stimulate the use of all our senses,” explains Monique Rodriguez; a relaxation expert and founder of the new website indulgemysenses.com, also known as "The Sensory Awakening Shop." (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/stress/therapy/prweb3743384.htm

Dotster is one of the few .CO-accredited registrars that offers the new .CO domain in all phases of availability. Customers can now step to the front of the line and pre-register for the .CO introduction. .CO is a new domain extension that gives businesses and individuals more choice in branding their online presence with a truly global, recognizable and credible domain name. (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/CO_domain_registration/land_rush/prweb3743564.htm

LC Sciences today announced the launch of its new Seq-Array services designed to take full advantage of both the latest deep sequencing capabilities and the proven genomics tool – microarray. This combination of technologies advances microRNA research to the next level of depth and understanding that was not possible before with either of the technologies alone. LC Sciences has been a leading provider of microRNA discovery and profiling services since 2005. (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3744624.htm

Prominent female identities around the world lead Earth Hour's call for action on climate change (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3747234.htm

Seven titles recognized as the most valuable publications of the year. (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3744734.htm

A second team from Pope John XXIII High School of Sparta, NJ has qualified for the FIRST Robotics World Championship by winning the New York City Championships held on March 13 at Jacob Javits Convention Center. Team 247 won all ten of their matches to take first place in a field of 47 teams. The FIRST Robotics World Championship will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from April 14-17, 2010. (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3742454.htm