Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Computing
First programmable quantum computer created
System uses ultracold beryllium ions to tackle 160 randomly chosen programs.
- Tech
House passes medical isotopes bill
A spot of encouraging news emerged yesterday on the medical-isotope front. The House of Representatives voted 440 to 17 in favor of a bill to reestablish domestic production of molybdenum-99. It’s the feedstock for the most heavily used nuclear agent in diagnostic medicine.
- Tech
Large Hadron Collider suffers carb attack
Efforts to get the Large Hadron Collider up and running just encountered a temporary snag, according to yesterday's online edition of The Times of London. A crusty chunk of bread “paralysed a high voltage installation that should have been powering the cooling unit.”
- Earth
Nanoparticles’ indirect threat to DNA
Tiny metal nanoparticles can damage DNA, essentially by triggering toxic gossip.
- Computing
Quantum computers could tackle enormous linear equations
New work suggests that the envisioned systems would be powerful enough to quickly process even trillions of variables.
- Chemistry
Concerned about BPA: Check your receipts
Some cash register receipts offer the potential for relatively large exposures to an estrogen mimic.
- Tech
Nobel Prize in physics awarded for work with light
Charles K. Kao wins for discoveries enabling fiber-optic communication, and Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith win for inventing the charge-coupled device
- Humans
Flu: Grim stats
Though risk of death from conventional flu strains escalates dramatically, beginning around age 45, a new study finds that masks do a fair job of slowing the infection's transmission.
- Animals
Spider men weave silken tapestry
It took herculean effort, but Madagascar crafters created an extraordinary piece of woven art from spider silk.
- Physics
Neutrons for military and medical imaging
An accelerator-based neutron-production system is being designed to cull bombs at risk of exploding prematurely — and make the feedstock for a major isotope used in nuclear medicine.
- Life
Locust wings built for the long haul
Flexible wings help locusts maximize efficiency in flight, new research shows.
- Earth
Cell phones: Precautions recommended
Scientists make a case for texting and using hand-free technologies with those cell phones to which society has become addicted.
