Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Terrorist-resistant ‘source’ of moly-99 hits the U.S.
Molybdenum-99 is the radioactive feedstock for the most widely used diagnostic nuclear-medicine isotope. On December 6, the first commercial batch of moly-99 that had been produced using a terrorist-resistant process arrived in the United States from a reactor in South Africa.
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Heavier crudes, heavier footprints
BLOG: Refining heavy oils and tar sands could greatly exaggerate the greenhouse gases associated with fossil-fuel use, a new study finds.
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Newfound water risk: Lead-leaching valves
Hidden elements in drinking-water lines can shed large amounts of lead, a toxic heavy metal. And it's quite legal, even if it does skirt the intent of federal regulations.
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Lots of blame over BP well blowout, panel reports
Crews responsible for drilling BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, this past spring, missed plenty of signs that a catastrophic accident was looming, according to a November 17 interim report by the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council.
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BPA: EPA hasn’t identified a safer alternative for thermal paper
Some researchers and public interest groups have been arguing that BPAfree thermal receipts paper is a preferable alternative, at least from a health perspective. But is it really? That’s what Environmental Protection Agency scientists want to know. And to date, they maintain, the jury’s still out.
- Tech
Seeing red: Next installment in BPA-paper saga
Consumers now have a way to identify cash register tape that is free of endocrine-disrupting chemical.
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Election projections for science investments
The November 2, mid-term election results are in (mostly) and pundits are billing it as a historic turnabout. With a divided Congress, passing legislation — never an easy task — risks becoming harder still. And with fiscal austerity having been a leading campaign issue for the newbies, R&D is unlikely to see a major boost in federal funding during the next two years.
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Coming soon: Holographic Skype
The creators of the fastest telepresence system to date predict real-time 3-D TV in a decade.
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Plenty of foods harbor BPA, study finds
Some communities have banned the sale of plastic baby bottles and sippy cups that are manufactured using bisphenol A, a hormone-mimicking chemical. In a few grocery stores, cashiers have already begun donning gloves to avoid handling thermal receipt paper whose BPA-based surface coating may rub off on the fingers. But how’s a family to avoid exposure to this contaminant when it taints the food supply?
- Tech
Trading places
As the pace of financial transactions accelerates, researchers look forward to a time when the only limiting factor is the speed of light.
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- Tech
Robots can use coffee as a picker-upper
A gripper made of a bag of loose grains has advantages over grasping devices that use individual digits.
