Exploring the implications of nanotechnology:
When Arizona State University researchers talk about the nanorevolution, they mean more than something limited to the technological realm. The manufacture, manipulation and use of materials at the nanoscale – at atomic or molecular levels – have implications far beyond science and engineering labs. CSPO Affiliate Jonathan Posner is working with the Center for Nanotechnology in Society to explore the potential ramifications of nanotechnology’s emergence.
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March 3, 2010
Internet, TV main news sources for Americans:
The Internet is now the third most-popular resource for Americans' daily news, behind local and national television news, and about a third of cell phone owners are using their devices to catch up on the latest information, according to a new study.
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March 1, 2010
White House, NIST launch online forum about smart grid:OSTP and NIST launched on Tuesday (2/23/10) an online
forum to collect feedback from the public, as part of the Obama
administration's open government initiative, on deploying a consumer interface
for the smart power grid.Read More
Robot Bartenders Sling Cocktails for Carbon-Based Drinkers:
The secret to a great cocktail has something to do with the ice, the liquor, the glass — and the bartender. But what if the bartender is a cold, soulless machine? At a bar in San Francisco, a group of artists, engineers and tinkerers sought the answer with their creations: robots designed specifically to pour out a nice drink.
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February 20, 2010
Cell Phone Data: Can You Track Me Now?:
A new study used cell phone billing data to show that people's travel patterns are extremely predictable. The study shows the emerging power of using cell phone data for social science research.
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Revising Book on Disorders of the Mind:Many
revisions have been proposed for psychiatry’s encyclopedia of mental disorders –
the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
due in 2013 – the guidebook that largely determines where society draws the
line between normal and not normal, between eccentricity and illness, between self-indulgence
and self-destruction — and, by extension, when and how patients should be
treated.It also will have implications for
pharmaceutical marketing, research and the legal system.Read More
A Day in Crow's Nest:
A day spent with ASU President Michael Crow, including co-teaching Science, Technology and Public Affairs with Dan Sarewitz.
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Bin Laden Rebukes U.S. on Climate Change:
In his latest statement, Osama bin Laden blamed the and developed countries for not halting climate change: “Talk about climate change is not an ideological luxury but a reality.”
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January 29, 2010
Don't Bogart that Bandwidth:
Mobile Device-Use Constrained By Bandwidth. More people these days are using mobile devices. That means they are
downloading more videos, more software and other big chunks of data that are clogging up the wireless pipes. One thing that may help is tiered data plans. People who use more bandwidth would pay more than someone who just checks emails.
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January 29, 2010
UN climate controversy:London’s The
Sunday Times reports on the new controversy facing the United Nations
climate science panel for wrongly linking global warming to an increase in the
number and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods and basing
the claims on an unpublished report that had not been subjected to routine
scientific scrutiny.Read More
January 25, 2010
The 10% Solution--How to Respond to the Haitian Earthquake:Brian Tucker, founder of GeoHazards International, advises that itis not enough to "build back better"; after the victims have been treated, we should quickly focus attention and resources on reducing the consequences of the earthquakes that we know will hit Haiti in the future.Read More
To scroll, take a deep breath and blow:
New user interfaces, such as touch and voice recognition, are changing how we interact with computers. But how about controlling devices with just your breath?
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January 13, 2010
Everything Old is New Again:
Vinyl record sales have surged as baby boomers try to recreate the 70s and younger listeners are wooed by extras from current bands. Read More
In an Associated
Press-Stanford University poll, more Americans believe steps taken to reduce
global warming pollution will help the U.S. economy than say such measures will
hurt it.
Fear memories erased without drugs:
According to a study reported on NatureNews.com, a temporal twist to a therapeutic technique that exploits the way the human brain stores and recalls memories, could block old terrors. Read More
December 15, 2009
Climate notes show the ugly side of science:
Hacked emails show scientists behaving badly, but don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to a review by the Associated Press. Read More
December 13, 2009
Robotic Bambi takes aim at poachers:
It’s not easy to bust poachers for hunting a protected species or
out-of-season buck without letting them actually shoot a protected
species or out-of-season buck. Unless, of course, you happen to have a
remote-controlled zombie decoy.
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December 10, 2009
Cyberbegging takes panhandling online:
How desperate would you need to be before you begged for money on the street? What about begging online? In these hard times, the Internet is becoming a place where people in need can ask for a handout.
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December 9, 2009
Robot hand moved by thought:
An Italian who lost his left forearm was successfully
linked to a robotic hand, allowing him to feel sensations in the
artificial limb and control it with his thoughts.
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December 3, 2009
Scientists have high hopes for corn genome:
Now the scientific world has at hand the complete genome sequence of corn - which researchers hope will lead to hardier plants and higher yields in the face of climate change and greater understanding of genetic mechanisms, including ones operating in human disease.
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NASA finds 'significant' water on moon:
NASA said Friday it had discovered water on the moon, opening "a new
chapter" that could allow for the development of a lunar space station - but don't start packing just yet.
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British scientists challenge government:
Scientists who act as government advisers must be free to discuss their
findings and recommendations in public, even if they disagree with
government policies, say top British scientists. Read More
November 6, 2009
Murderer with 'agression genes' gets sentence cut:
A judge's decision to reduce a killer's sentence because he has genetic
mutations linked to violence raises a thorny question – can your genes
ever absolve you of responsibility for a particular act? Read More
November 4, 2009
Promises, Promises:
Ill judged predictions and projections can be embarrassing at best and, at worst, damaging to the authority of science and science policy. Read More
November 3, 2009
CSIRO denies censoring climate paper:
A government environmental economist says he is being told not to
publish a paper on climate change because it challenges Government
policy. Sound familiar? Check out the twist. Read More
November 2, 2009
Study argues U.S. needs fewer, not more science students:
It's an article of faith: the U.S. needs more native-born students in science and other technical fields. But a new paper contradicts the notion of a shrinking supply of native-born talent, noting that the supply has actually remained steady over the past 30 years.
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October 28, 2009
Electronic medical records not see as cure-all:
In a health-care debate characterized by partisan bickering, most
lawmakers agree on one thing: American medicine needs to go digital. But such bipartisan enthusiasm has obscured questions about the effectiveness of health information technology products.
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October 25, 2009
Small Minds:
Using genetic manipulation and light beams,
scientists created a memory in a fly’s brain that made a tennis shoe
smell something to avoid. Read about it in October 19, 2009, article in The New York Times. Read More
Moon Shot Not Much to See, but Data Could Prove Exciting:
NASA's mission Friday morning was a scientific success, according to
one of the agency's top officials, but it was anticlimactic for those
watching the Internet feed or attending a special viewing on the big
screen at the Newseum in downtown Washington. The moon didn't blow up
-- or even flinch, as far as anyone could see.
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Public Must be Involved in Nanotechnology Debate:
Decision making on science - especially emerging technologies such as nanotechnology - must become more democratic as current governance activities are limiting public debate, argues a new report on 'Reconfiguring Responsibility' by leading European researchers. Read More
Raytheon looks to the future:
Raytheon Missile Systems' latest development sounds like science fiction. How about radio waves that can make a person feel like he is on fire? Or an invisible microwave dome that blocks missiles headed toward an airplane during take off? Read More
September 17, 2009
Democracy 2.0 awaits an upgrade:There is a lively debate in progress about what some
call Gov 2.0.Is Internet democracy part
of a larger cultural evolution toward the expectation that we be consulted
about everything, all the time?Or does it
create a falsely reassuring illusion of equality, openness and universality?And, who is actually participating?Read the article in The New York Times by Anand
Giridharadas.Read More
September 11, 2009
Web monitor sells info in kids' chats to marketers:
Parents who install a leading brand of software to monitor their kids' online activities may be unwittingly allowing the company to read their children's chat messages - and sell the marketing data gathered. Read More
