Clipmarks | arifsali's clips

Modern ceramics help advance technology

Thu, 08 May 2008 21:27:22 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Lausanne, Switzerland – May 8, 2008 – Many important electronic devices used by people today would be impossible without the use of ceramics. A new study published in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society illustrates the use of ceramic materials in the development of technological devices, including mobile communication and ultrasonic imaging.

Researchers led by Paul Muralt of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology reviewed the field of ceramic materials and explored the critical role that piezoelectric materials play in advancing technology.

Piezoelectric materials are functional ceramic materials that play a special role in telecommunication and ultrasonic imaging since they have the ability to efficiently transform electrical signals into mechanical vibrations, and vice versa.

Piezoelectricity refers to the ability of some materials, notably crystals and ceramics, to generate electricity when compressed.

Tags: ceramics, technology

Egyptian elite tombs accessible for all

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:52:08 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

A number of elite tombs from Ancient Egypt are now accessible to all thanks to the launch of the Mastabase. The Mastabase is a CD-ROM containing descriptions and hieroglyphic inscriptions of scenes of daily life from 337 Mastaba tombs. This resource will make research into these elite tombs a lot easier. On 13 May 2008, Dutch Egyptologist René van Walsem will officially present the MastaBase in Leiden.

A Mastaba is an elite tomb from the Memphite area in Ancient Egypt (2600-2150 BC). The tombs contain scenes depicting daily life, often accompanied by inscriptions. Elite tombs are extremely complex works of art. They contain various main themes, which are further divided into sub-themes. Main themes are, for example, scenes depicting offerings, farming, fishing, et cetera. The theme fishing, for instance, can then be broken down into various sub-themes, such as fishing with a dragnet or seine, the transportation of fish and the processing of fish.

Tags: egypt

Justice in the brain: Equity and efficiency are encoded differently

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:50:21 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: An interest in such issues kept the study subjects in the scanner, despite the pain of grappling with difficult choices, Hsu said. “Quite a few came out saying: ‘This is the worst experiment I’ve ever been in. I never want to do anything like this again!’ ”

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Which is better, giving more food to a few hungry people or letting some food go to waste so that everyone gets a share" A study appearing this week in Science finds that most people choose the latter, and that the brain responds in unique ways to inefficiency and inequity.

The study, by researchers at the University of Illinois and the California Institute of Technology, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of people making a series of tough decisions about how to allocate donations to children in a Ugandan orphanage.

The researchers hoped to shed light on the neurological underpinnings of moral decision-making

“Morality is a question of broad interest,” Hsu said. “What makes us moral, and how do we make tradeoffs in difficult situations"”

Tags: brain, study, science

New evidence from oldest human settlement in the Americas

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:45:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.vanderbilt.edu

N ew evidence from the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile confirms its status as the earliest known human settlement in the Americas and provides additional support for the theory that one migration route followed the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago.

The study was conducted by a team of anthropologists, geologists and botanists headed by Vanderbilt University's Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Tom Dillehay and is reported in the May 9 issue of the journal Science.

The paper, which includes the first new data reported from the site in 10 years, includes the identification of nine species of seaweed and marine algae recovered from hearths and other areas in the ancient settlement. The seaweed samples were directly dated between 14,220 to 13,980 years ago, confirming that the upper layer of the site, labeled Monte Verde II, was occupied more than 1,000 years earlier than any other reliably dated human settlements in the Americas.

Tags: america, archealogy, discovery

"Weird" Pygmy Whale Dissected

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:38:43 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

A young pygmy right whale that stranded itself in New Zealand has given scientists a rare chance to study the little-known species.

The 7.5-foot-long (2.31-meters-long) specimen, probably a six-month-old male, was found dead at Spirit's Bay in the country's far north.

Pygmy right whales, the world's smallest baleen whales, can reach lengths of up to 21 feet (6.5 meters), said Anton van Helden, a marine mammal scientist at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Paleontologists and anatomists from New Zealand, Australia, and the United States met at Te Papa to begin dissecting the whale—only the second ever examined—on Tuesday.

Updates posted today on the museum's blog suggest that the young animal carried scars from tiny cookie-cutter sharks.

The team was also surprised to find that the whale had hair on its body. Most whales lose their hair within a few weeks of birth, the blog posting said.

Tags: whale, science, sea, study

Project goes high-tech to unearth ancient history

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:57:30 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.princeton.edu

There is a small hill in a remote part of Turkey that looms large in the mind of John Haldon, a professor of history at Princeton. It likely is the ruin of an ancient fortress, but for Haldon the site is an inspiration to find new ways to unearth the history of a particular landscape.

A specialist in Byzantine history, Haldon is the director of an archaeological and historical survey project based around the modern village of Beyözü in the north-central Anatolian region of Turkey. The site, originally known as Euchaita, then Avkat in Ottoman times, is a prime example of a provincial setting in Asia Minor. By deploying innovative technologies and multidisciplinary insights, Haldon hopes his study will reveal the big picture of an area that has thus far been unexamined.

John Haldon (seated), a professor of history, consults a map of the Avkat Project in Turkey with Zachary Chitwood

Tags: history, technology, turkey, archealogy

An Uninsured Doctor in the House

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:54:26 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

When Steve Kagen became a member of Congress, he declined health insurance coverage. Now he has a plan to provide it for everyone

One of the first things U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen (D–Wisc.) did when he took office last year was to nix his congressional health care coverage. The move stunned a human resources staffer, who, the lawmaker says, looked at him as though he were insane.

"I'll respectfully decline until you can make that same offer for all of my constituents," he says he told her, explaining his decision to turn down what many say is the Cadillac of U.S. health plans.

Kagen, 58, is now one of millions of Americans, including at least nine million children, without health insurance. "I have absolutely no health coverage at all," he told ScientificAmerican.com during a recent interview. "I have no health conditions and am pretty darn healthy." And if he gets sick? "I'd be just like the 47 [million] to 50 million American citizens who don't have coverage,"

Tags: health, insurance, congress, politics, medical

Discover history through postcards

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:52:00 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.ox.ac.uk

The Bodleian Library is launching a new book series, Postcards from…, depicting some of the most defining events in the history of the 20th century through postcards.

Reforms or Revolution, from 'Postcards from the Russian Revolution'

The first two titles in the series features images drawn from a collection of postcards which has recently been donated to the Bodleian Library. The collection is the work of John Fraser, who began assembling it at the age of 12. Over the past sixty years, he amassed a remarkable collection of thousands of cards from around the world, particularly rich in political propaganda.

Clip Source: www.ouls.ox.ac.uk

Postcards] are of great historical and social interest… [They] can also be a profound artistic medium as well as projecting powerful political propaganda. At their best, they can recreate the immediacy, excitement and emotion of great historical events. – Andrew Roberts

Tags: history, post cards, library