Researchers Solved 140-Year-Old Math Problem
Academic makes key additions to the Schwarz-Christoffel formula
A problem which has defeated mathematicians for almost 140 years has been solved by a researcher at Imperial College London.
Professor Darren Crowdy, Chair in Applied Mathematics, has made the breakthrough in an area of mathematics known as conformal mapping, a key theoretical tool used by mathematicians, engineers and scientists to translate information from a complicated shape to a simpler circular shape so that it is easier to analyse.
Popularity: 25% [?]
March 3, 2008 | Filed Under Mathematics | Leave a CommentBad Grades? Working Memory is to Blame!
British scientists have found that under-achievement at school is caused by a poor working memory and not low intelligence or laziness.
Scientists from Durham University studied 3,000 children at primary schools and discovered 10 percent had poor working memory.
Popularity: 5% [?]
March 3, 2008 | Filed Under Humans | Leave a CommentKilogram Lost Weight
The kilogram is losing weight!
Scientists all around the world come to an agreement that it’s time to redefine it.
They will do that by basing kilogram on standards of universal constants rather than on an artifact standard.
Popularity: 25% [?]
March 2, 2008 | Filed Under Physics | Leave a CommentAlcohol Doesn’t Drown Sorrow
Numerous people believe that alcohol can help people drown their sorrows.
However, a Japanese study found that drinking alcohol only makes bad memories hang around.
After conducting tests on rats, researchers at the University of Tokyo concluded that ethanol - an intoxicating agent in alcohol - locks memories in place.
Popularity: 6% [?]
March 1, 2008 | Filed Under Humans | Leave a CommentThe Mystery of Antarctic Has Been Solved?
Scientists think they may have solved some of the mystery surrounding the creation of the Antarctic ice sheet 34 million years ago.
Scientists from Cardiff University and National Museum Wales have been studying ice sheet formation in the frozen continent.
Popularity: 15% [?]
February 29, 2008 | Filed Under Geology | Leave a CommentBacteria Are Common in Rain and Snow
Snowflakes and raindrops have a surprise inside - bacteria.
Researchers at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge found that sky-high bacteria, typically in harmless varieties, spurs creation of snowflakes and raindrops.
Snow and rain usually forms in cold conditions high in the sky. However, the moisture needs some kind of particle (called ice nucleator) to cling to in order to condense.
Popularity: 27% [?]
February 29, 2008 | Filed Under Weather | Leave a CommentScientists Discover How Cigarette Smoke Causes Cancer
Everyone has known for decades that that smoking can kill, but until now no one really understood how cigarette smoke causes healthy lung cells to become cancerous.
In a new research report published in the March 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), researchers from the University of California, Davis, show that hydrogen peroxide (or similar oxidants) in cigarette smoke is the culprit.
Popularity: 13% [?]
February 28, 2008 | Filed Under Health | Leave a CommentLZR Racer - World’s Fastest Swimsuit
A highly specialised computer modelling technique developed at The University of Nottingham has been instrumental in the design of a revolutionary new swimsuit which is now being hailed as the fastest in the world.
Dr Herve Morvan, a lecturer in fluid mechanics in the School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, is working as an advisor to the AQUALAB, Speedo’s competition research and development department, responsible for the development of Speedo’s new LZR Racer swimsuit.
Popularity: 12% [?]
February 28, 2008 | Filed Under Technology | Leave a Comment15 Metre Long Sea Monster Found in Arctic
The fossil of a 15 metre (50ft) long sea monster found in Arctic Norway is the biggest of its kind known to science. It was twice as big as a killer whale.
The monster had 60 dagger-like teeth in a mouth large enough to bite a small car, researchers say. The lower jaw was about 3 meters (10 ft) long.
Popularity: 30% [?]
February 28, 2008 | Filed Under Archeology | Leave a CommentNow We Know Why Do We Love Babies
Scientists may have discovered a biological basis for parental instinct.
The discovery may explain why do we instinctively treat babies as special and protect them. It’s all in the brain.
Researchers at Oxford University used a neural scan to find that a specific region of the brain (the medial orbitofrontal cortex, located just above the eyeballs) associated with emotion light up with activity within a seventh of a second of subjects seeing images of infants’ faces.
Popularity: 21% [?]
February 27, 2008 | Filed Under Medical | Leave a Comment
