Archive for January, 2008
Marijuana Withdrawal As Bad As Withdrawal From Cigarettes
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Research by a group of scientists studying the effects of heavy marijuana use suggests that withdrawal from the use of marijuana is similar to what is experienced by people when they quit smoking cigarettes. Abstinence from each of these drugs appears to cause several common symptoms, such as irritability, anger and trouble sleeping - based on self reporting in a recent study of 12 heavy users of both marijuana and cigarettes.
3D tissue printer
Friday, January 25th, 2008
3D printers have been around for a few years now. They work by printing a structure in layers, one on top of the other, to form complex 3D shapes. Now James Yoo at the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, US, says he can do the same thing with living cells.
Yoo uses a standard inkjet printing mechanism to create layers of viable cells, which can then be built into 3D structures. He says the structures may comprise of several different types of cells, just as conventional image printers use several different colours of ink.
The system could also print dyes to make the structure easily visible and growth factors to encourage healthy development. Yoo says his printer can make almost anything from skin and bone to pancreatic or nerve tissue – an exciting idea with huge potential.
Read the full tissue printer patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
Yoo uses a standard inkjet printing mechanism to create layers of viable cells, which can then be built into 3D structures. He says the structures may comprise of several different types of cells, just as conventional image printers use several different colours of ink.
The system could also print dyes to make the structure easily visible and growth factors to encourage healthy development. Yoo says his printer can make almost anything from skin and bone to pancreatic or nerve tissue – an exciting idea with huge potential.
Read the full tissue printer patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
New study focuses on eye movement
Friday, January 25th, 2008
A scientist has uncovered one of the "missing links" in understanding visual signals that determine where and why we move our eyes to focus on details in our environment.
A good fight may keep you and your marriage healthy
Friday, January 25th, 2008
A good fight with your spouse may be good for your health, research suggests.
Good Mood Foods. Chocolate
Thursday, January 24th, 2008One of the most powerful mood elevators is chocolate, says psychologist David Benton of Britain’s University of Wales.
In studies, he played music that put students into a depressed mood. Then he offered them either milk chocolate or carob, an imitation chocolate. Chocolate improved their moods; carob didn’t.
Also, chocolate cravings rose as moods sank. Benton says chocolate contains not just serotonin-boosting sugar and mind-soothing fat, but also other chemicals that favorably affect brain messengers controlling mood.
The bad news is that there are critics of this theory. They say that the benefits of eating chocolate are offset by the fact that eating chocolate gives a quick fix, of short duration, because of the rapid release of energy from the refined sugars and fats, and you can just as quickly experience a flat period until your next meal, or snack. They prefer that you eat low GI food and snacks that will provide a gradual release of energy and level out the highs and lows of feel-good and feel-tired moods.
Everything needs to be taken in moderation, even natural cures for depression. Take care, as too much chocolate may cause weight gains that could cause depression. Luckily, you can enjoy some chocolate and keep your weight under control as only small amounts are needed to produce the desired effect.
Other ways to combat depression naturally can be found here.
Cheap desalination
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
About 25% of the world's population is affected by water shortages. Desalination plants can help, but they tend to be hugely expensive to build and run. Even then, relatively small quantities of water often have to be transported to remote areas creating significant logistical problems.
So a way of desalinating relatively small amounts of water at reasonable cost would be hugely useful.
One technique that shows promise for small-scale desalination is called humidification-dehumidification (HDH), in which a stream of hot air is humidified to saturation point by bubbling it through salt water. This air stream is then cooled causing pure water to condense out of it.
Behdad Moghtaderi at the University of Newcastle in Australia says one of the biggest problems with this technique is the relatively small amount of water that saturated air can hold.
This means that large amounts of air must be heated and circulated, making the process is expensive. Instead, he and a colleague suggest using hydrogen or helium to carry evaporated water.
"Gases like hydrogen and helium can accommodate larger quantities of water vapour while exhibiting much better heat and mass transfer rates than air," Moghtaderi says. That should make HDH more cost-effective for small communities.
Read the full patent application for cost effective desalination.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
So a way of desalinating relatively small amounts of water at reasonable cost would be hugely useful.
One technique that shows promise for small-scale desalination is called humidification-dehumidification (HDH), in which a stream of hot air is humidified to saturation point by bubbling it through salt water. This air stream is then cooled causing pure water to condense out of it.
Behdad Moghtaderi at the University of Newcastle in Australia says one of the biggest problems with this technique is the relatively small amount of water that saturated air can hold.
This means that large amounts of air must be heated and circulated, making the process is expensive. Instead, he and a colleague suggest using hydrogen or helium to carry evaporated water.
"Gases like hydrogen and helium can accommodate larger quantities of water vapour while exhibiting much better heat and mass transfer rates than air," Moghtaderi says. That should make HDH more cost-effective for small communities.
Read the full patent application for cost effective desalination.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
What gives us fingertip dexterity?
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
Quickly moving your fingertips to tap or press a surface is essential for everyday life to, say, pick up small objects, use a BlackBerry or an iPhone. But researchers at the University of Southern California say that this seemingly trivial action is the result of a complex neuro-motor-mechanical process orchestrated with precision timing by the brain, nervous system and muscles of the hand.
The Look of a Leader
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
According to new research a CEO's appearance can reveal a lot about how successful he or she is.
Kids learn more when mom is listening
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
Kids may roll their eyes when their mother asks them about their school day, but answering her may actually help them learn. New research from Vanderbilt University reveals that children learn the solution to a problem best when they explain it to their mom.
Implantable camera
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
Light-sensitive chips that sit at the back of the eye have great potential to help people with certain types of vision loss. They work by converting light into an electrical signal that can then be fed directly to the brain via nerve cells at the back of the eye.
The eye's lens normally projects an image onto a curved surface called the retina at the back of the eye. This creates problems for light-sensitive chips since they have to be flat.
One way around this is to use a camera outside the eye to record images and send them via a wire to the chip at the back of the eye.
But Armand Tanguay and Patrick Nasiatka at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, US, say a better idea is to implant the camera directly within the eye, but avoiding the retina.
They and colleagues have come up with a design that is small enough to be implanted within the lens of the eye, and takes into account the effect of the cornea on incoming light.
The device transmits images to a chip at the back of the eye, which passes the image signals on to the nerve cells.
Read the full intraocular camera patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant
The eye's lens normally projects an image onto a curved surface called the retina at the back of the eye. This creates problems for light-sensitive chips since they have to be flat.
One way around this is to use a camera outside the eye to record images and send them via a wire to the chip at the back of the eye.
But Armand Tanguay and Patrick Nasiatka at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, US, say a better idea is to implant the camera directly within the eye, but avoiding the retina.
They and colleagues have come up with a design that is small enough to be implanted within the lens of the eye, and takes into account the effect of the cornea on incoming light.
The device transmits images to a chip at the back of the eye, which passes the image signals on to the nerve cells.
Read the full intraocular camera patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant