Science

How smart is your pooch? Many of us have often wondered how Rover, Rex, or Cocoa interpreted and understood the wider world around them. Now, a recent psychological study has pinpointed just how smart our dogs are, and the results are surprising. ... The report was part of a presentation called "How Dogs Think," staged in front of a Toronto crowd this past weekend. The presenter: University of British Columbia emeritus professor of psychology Stanley Coren, perhaps the leading expert in the examination of dog intelligence. Canines Think Like Toddlers Coren's finding: that the best way to study ... (view more)

Imagine scanning the pages of a new cookbook and finding a recipe for an appetizing dish. You take note of the preparation time and ingredient blend, questioning whether the finished product will be worth all of the hassle. If only there was some ... way to ensure that you could sample a taste of the dish before taking the time to prepare it. As strange as it may sound, a new hi-tech cookbook is attracting worldwide attention for its amazing ability to allow would-be chefs the chance to sample the same dishes seen in the illustrations of the book. Print, Sample a Taste using Flavor Cartridges ... (view more)

In a strange turn of events, Canadian geese have been pinpointed as the cause of US Airways' Flight 1549 crash into the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. According to reports, a flock of birds collided with the airbus shortly after take off. An ... investigation into the crash has been underway for months. Leading the charge are researchers from the Smithsonian Institution, who sent samples of bird feathers found on the plane to the Feather Identification Laboratory at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. (Source: latimes.com ) Planes Present Real Threat to Bird Populations ... (view more)

At the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California last week, the most powerful laser ever made was readied for a variety of important tasks, from monitoring nuclear weapons to studying deep space planets and solar systems. The official ... name of the new super laser is the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and late last week it was unveiled with much fanfare at the Livermore laboratory in Livermore, California. World's Strongest Laser State governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who scared the beejezus out of us all with his futuristic, laser-eyed cyborg routine back in the 1990s, was on hand ... (view more)

Will astronomers some day find an unspoiled planet where we can all move when this dying rock is kaput? It seems scientists are getting closer, having discovered a planet very close to earth's size -- and it's only 20 light years away. The discovery ... was recently announced at a conference at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, with more details submitted in a paper to the journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The planet in question lies way, way off in the distance, orbiting around a dim red star called Gliese 581 in the Libra constellation. The new planet, now dubbed Gliese 581e by ... (view more)

The solution to the age-old problem of weakening battery capacity may soon emerge thanks to tech wizzes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT. Scientists there have discovered an efficient way of powering electronic devices using ... bacteria-infused batteries. No, this isn't a late April Fool's joke or a long-lost X-Files plot. It's true; the new batteries use a kind of bacteria that can construct an anode after being protected by a layer of cobalt oxide and gold. Once this process is complete, the bacteria batteries can be formed into a nanowire . This makes them drastically ... (view more)

Smokers wanting to kick their addiction might receive a helping hand from a neat little tech gizmo called the "electronic cigarette" or "e-cig" for short. The device runs on a rechargeable battery and requires a nicotine cartridge. E-cigs only have ... four ingredients: water, propylene glycol, a special added flavoring, and nicotine. The liquid substance is transformed into a smoke-like vapor that is then inhaled by the smoker. Once the smoker takes a drag, nicotine is released into the mist and the sensation of hitting the lungs is almost identical to actual cigarettes. All The Flavor, Without ... (view more)

Research suggests that global warming could have a significant impact as sea levels continue to rise. True, it was hard to tell last month that global warming was ever a problem. However, it is having an impact, even if we haven't yet seen any 70 ... degree Fahrenheit January mornings. Instead, the effect could drastically change what a summer is like in New York City and the rest of the heavily-populated Northeast and it won't necessarily be limited to temperature -- it could have a direct impact on all weather in this part of the country. Among the Most Vulnerable Regions According to Florida ... (view more)

An ophthalmologist at the University of Tennessee has unveiled a new imaging technique used to diagnose diabetes over the Internet. A specialized camera is used on a potentially diabetic patient to analyze the inner surface of their eye. The photo ... is then uploaded to a database of thousands of other images (a mix of healthy and diseased pictures) for comparison. Algorithms then assign a disease level to the uploaded image by taking into account similar factors such as damaged blood vessels and discoloration. (Source: whytewolf.us ) While the creator of the system, Andrew Chaum, still ... (view more)

It seems the abnormally low number of exhibitors at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been paralleled by a startling slide in attendance by Joe Techie. With the recession on and consumer spending down, overall attendance is even lower than ... first expected. About a week ago, we reported that CES organizers expected the number of visitors for 2009 to be down slightly from last year's 141,000, perhaps between 130,000 and 135,000. That was evident the weekend prior to the event, when it was alarmingly easy to find a hotel room in Las Vegas, CES' annual host city. That's usually not the case ... (view more)