Researchers discover a simpler way to send data faster

September 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have developed a new computing tool that could help scientists predict how plants will react to different environmental conditions in order to create better crops, such as tastier and longer lasting tomatoes. The tool will form part of a new 1.7 million pounds Syngenta University Centre at Imperial College London, which will see researchers from Imperial and Syngenta working together to improve agricultural products.

September 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered a previously unknown species off Brazil's Bahia coast, which is more than six feet long, has small teeth, and has no scales covering its gelatinous body. According to a report in National Geographic News, the fish that has a long tail, was found floating in the sea by researchers from the TAMAR Project, a sea turtle conservation project.

August 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Positive thoughts and expectations can help people recover from serious injuries like whiplash, claim two University of Alberta researchers and a colleague from Sweden. In three different studies, the researchers found the correlation between positive expectations and the recovery.

August 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers in South Africa have come up with a system that allows biometric data to be used to create a secret key for data encryption. Describing the new technology in the International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, Bobby Tait and Basie von Solms of the University of Johannesburg have shed some light on how biometrics-fingerprints, iris pattern, etc.-can be used to encrypt and decrypt data, so that Internet users do not have to remember endless, complicated passwords.

July 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Forming an international team with US experts, an IIT Kharagpur researcher is developing a new in-car yawn-detection system that will keep an eye on a driver while behind the wheel. Aurobinda Routray and his colleagues - including Indian-origin researchers Aurobinda Mishra of Vanderbilt University and Mihir Mohanty of ITER - say that their system will warn a drive to pull over and take a break when he/she starts to yawn.

July 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Its music, not electromechanical valves, that controls a novel lab-on-a-chip device designed at the University of Michigan (UM). The new system could significantly simplify the process of conducting experiments in microfluidic devices.

July 23rd, 2009 LONDON - A new study has confirmed what many parents already knew - running around in the day means your child may fall asleep faster at night. The study of 500 children also found that children who fall asleep faster tend to stay asleep for longer.

July 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Beware, emails or Facebook posts or pictures can resurface months after they are deleted -- in the wrong hands or at the wrong time, according to researchers. "If you care about privacy, the internet today is a very scary place," said University of Washington (UW) computer scientist Tadayoshi Kohno.

July 13th, 2009 Happy or hungry? Cat purrs send different messagesNEW YORK — A cat's purr normally says, "I'm happy." But a new study suggests some purrs send cat owners a much different message: "Feed me!" Researchers found that purrs of hungry cats included a higher-pitched sound, somewhat like a cry or meow. They played recordings of these purrs from 10 cats to 50 human volunteers.

July 11th, 2009 LONDON - Using high-speed cameras, a team of scientists is attempting to discover exactly what makes cheetahs the fastest running animals on the planet. According to a report by BBC News, a Royal Veterinary College (RVC) team is using high-speed cameras and a sensitive track to monitor the big cats as they sprint.

June 29th, 2009 SYDNEY - Among animals, many species seem to slip naturally into their dominant role while others resign themselves to play the part of lowly subordinates. But why do the latter embrace this fate so readily instead of putting up a fight? A University of Sydney (U-S) team is trying to answer this question by studying the interactions between male mosquito fish to see if their behavioural strategy can be traced to their physical skills.

June 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Delving deep into the social hierarchy among male mosquitofish, researchers at the University of Sydney are trying to find out why some fishes seem to slip naturally into their dominant role but others resign themselves to play the part of lowly subordinates. The researchers studied the interactions between male mosquitofish to see if their behavioural strategy can be traced down to their physical skills.

June 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - While studying consumer behaviour, Montreal researchers have found that emotions connected with asking for favours can actually drive people to market. For instance, you want to move your apartment but are reluctant to call your family or friends to come over and help.

June 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that the Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than expected, and is consequently responsible for nearly 25 percent of global sea rise in the past 13 years. The study, carried out by Sebastian H.

June 11th, 2009 LONDON - Meteorologists may be miscalculating how much it rains, for a new study has found that many raindrops travel at "super-terminal" velocities, faster than was thought possible. Scientists previously thought that all raindrops fall at terminal velocity, a constant maximum speed that is determined by the interplay of gravity and drag.