news 2009

Not so long ago, our computers had a single core which had to be boosted for performance - making each machine into a great central heating system.

The focus is to understand the three-dimensional evolution of thin electrical current layers where magnetic reconnection initially develops. Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in physics, the continuous breaking and rearrangement of magnetic field lines in a plasma Los Alamos, New Mexico, October 30, 2009—Although physicists have made considerable progress understanding magnetic reconnection, many important questions are still being debated.

Through these simulations, scientists are developing a better understanding of how materials behave at the size scale of a nanometer, or one-billionth of a meter Los Alamos, New Mexico, October 29, 2009— Very tiny wires, called nanowires, made from such metals as silver and gold, may play a crucial role as electrical or mechanical switches in the development of future-generation ultrasmall nanodevices.

To achieve fusion scientists must put as much laser energy on target as possible, a task complicated by energy loss due to laser backscatter, or reflection Los Alamos, New Mexico, Oct 28, 2009—For years scientists have struggled with the difficult physics of inertial confinement fusion. This is the attempt to compress a target capsule containing isotopes of hydrogen with high-powered lasers to high enough pressure and temperature to initiate fusion burn.

Mapping Darwinian evolutionary relationships results in an HIV family tree that may lead researchers to new vaccine focus areas. Los Alamos, New Mexico, October 27, 2009 — Supporting Los Alamos National Laboratory's role in the international Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI) consortium, researchers are using the Roadrunner supercomputer to analyze vast quantities of genetic sequences from HIV infected people in the hope of zeroing in on possible vaccine target areas.

World?s fastest supercomputer used to create first-of-a-kind computer codes and simulations of the biggest of the big and smallest of the small Los Alamos, New Mexico, October 26, 2009—The world's fastest supercomputer, Roadrunner, at Los Alamos National Laboratory has completed its initial "shakedown" phase doing accelerated petascale computer modeling and simulations of a variety of unclassified, fundamental science projects.

Robots of the future could have fingertips as sensitive as those of people, thanks to research by the University of Sheffield into the way brains interpret senses. Researchers at the University, along with experts at the University of Edinburgh, connected artificial mouse whiskers to a robotic brain to better understand how the brain processes information relayed by our sense of touch.

October 15, 2009 — Coral Gables — University of Miami Law Professor Lili Levi has recently authored a research paper titled "A 'Pay or Play' Experiment to Improve Children's Educational Television." Levi's article addresses both the constitutionality and the efficacy of the FCC's current rules that effectively require broadcasters to air three hours per week of what the Commission defines as "core" children's educational programming.

BERKELEY — "Practice makes perfect" is the maxim drummed into students struggling to learn a new motor skill — be it riding a bike or developing a killer backhand in tennis. Stunning new research now reveals that the brain can also achieve this motor memory with a prosthetic device, providing hope that physically disabled people can one day master control of artificial limbs with greater ease.

PA 106/09 A relatively low dietary intake of vitamins A and C boosts the risk of asthma, suggests a systematic analysis of the available evidence published ahead of print in the journal Thorax. These findings clash with a large review of the evidence, which was published last year. Observational studies in recent years have pointed to a link between dietary antioxidant vitamins — A,C, and E — and asthma.

'Sophia' has just published its second issue, featuring articles on subjects as diverse as deep-space chemistry, fibromyalgia in 'The Princess and the Pea' and the measurement of global happiness, as well as images produced in the course of research. The new issue also includes an article by Professor Donald Gillies (UCL Science & Technology Studies) on how peer-review based assessment exercises such as the RAE 'risk ending the careers of truly talented researchers yet to be recognised by the academic community at large'.