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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Obama’s new directive on energy efficiency
New appliance standards are coming, the president reported today.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Federal R&D downturn preceded ‘08 economic crash
Federal R&D spending looks grim — until you compare it to the U.S. economy in general.
By Janet Raloff - Tech
Book Review: The Inner History of Devices by Sherry Turkle, ed.
Review by Elizabeth Quill.
By Science News - Life
Whipping fluids along in microlabs
Researchers have detailed one way for hairlike structures to drive liquid in a "lab on a chip."
- Earth
Water-cleanup experiment caused lead poisoning
Featured blog: Lead concentrations spiked in many children living in the nation's capital after the local water authority altered the treatment used to disinfect drinking water.
By Janet Raloff - Quantum Physics
Quantum information teleported between distant atoms
A team is the first to transfer a qubit, which contains quantum information, from one atom to another, a feat that could aid quantum computing and secure communication.
- Computing
Computing Evolution
Scientists sift through genetic data sets to better map twisting branches in the tree of life.
- Tech
Stimulus bill doesn’t ignore R&D
Featured blog: Here's where the economic-stimulus bill would attempt to revamp and reinvigorate federally financed research.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Steven Chu’s Senate Confirmation Looks Certain
Senate energy committee appreciates Obama's pick for Secretary of Energy.
By Janet Raloff - Computing
Googling: Your Cup of Tea?
In aggregrate, Internet searches can be fairly polluting.
By Janet Raloff -
- Earth
Obama administration should lead energy transition
R.K. Pachauri, an engineer and economist by training, is director-general of The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, India, and a corecipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his role as chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC periodically issues consensus reports on the science of climate change. Senior editor Janet Raloff spoke with him about changes he hopes to see from the Obama administration.