Deep Brain Stimulation May Hold Promise for Mild Alzheimer’s Disease

A study on a handful of people with suspected mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suggests that a device that sends continuous electrical impulses to specific “memory” regions of the brain appears to increase neuronal activity. Results of the study using deep brain stimulation, a therapy already used in some patients with Parkinson’s disease and depression, may …

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Next-generation Toyota Small Hybrid Concept

Toyota Motor Corp unveiled the “FT-Bh” a lightweight, next generation small gasoline-electric hybrid concept car, here today at the 82nd Geneva International Motor Show By pursuing weight reduction, a more-efficient powertrain and reduced air resistance, the FT-Bh boasts a fuel efficiency of 2.1 liters per 100 kilometers under the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), with …

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Stephen Colbert Polls Higher Than John Huntsman in South Carolina and Considers running in Primary

Ny Daily – Stephen Colbert, a South Carolina native, pulled in 5% in a recent Public Policy Polling survey of the Palmetto State. While that was well behind Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich — who were at 27% and 23%, respectively — he placed a point ahead of Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, who …

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Internet usage at the end of 2011 for the world and countries

the International Telecommunications Union estimates that at the end of 2011 there were 2.42 billion internet users in the world (an increase from 2.04 billion internet users at the end of 2010) There were just short of 6 billion active mobile subscribers in the world. There are more than 500 million internet users in China, …

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Accelerating Adoption of Agricultural Technology

Research shows that it takes about eight years from the time public research funds are invested in technology development to the time the technology is first implemented. However, in the agricultural sector it can take as long as 15 years before full adoption by stakeholders occurs. Because many technologies in the agricultural world become obsolete …

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A Square Mile of B-52s

A guest article for Next Big Future by Joseph Friedlander When history, tech and industrial capacity studies collide, you get an awesome venue for geeky statistical comparisions. I was just comparing the bomber forces of the USA during World War II and the Cold War and trying to come up with a measure of just …

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Olympic Dam expansion gets environmental approvals

Olympic Dam (in Australia) is the world’s fourth largest remaining copper and gold deposit and the largest known uranium deposit. The expansion plan would see ore recovered from an open pit which would operate alongside the existing underground mine. It would be implemented progressively over a period of about 11 years and the project would …

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Two new brown dwarfs at estimated distances of only 15 and 18 light years from the Sun

False-colour images of the two brown dwarf discoveries WISE J0254+0223 and WISE J1741+2553. (Credit: AIP, NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive) Arxiv – Two very nearby (less than 5 parsecs) ultracool brown dwarfs detected by their large proper motions from WISE, 2MASS, and SDSS data WISE provides an infrared all-sky survey which aims at completing our knowledge …

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25 Tesla World-record Split Magnet system

Split Coil magnet Optics, nanoscience and semiconductor research will receive a boost this summer with the debut of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory’s Split Magnet system, a custom-built, $2.5-million instrument with the potential to (literally) open up high-field magnet research. The magnet is successfully operating at 25 tesla; the standing record for this type …

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2G HTS Wire for High Magnetic Field Applications

2G HTS Wire for High Magnetic Field Applications (37 pages, May 27, 2011) 10-fold improvement by combination of higher self-field critical current and improved retention of in-field performance through technical innovations. Even at 4.2 K, 15 T, 2G HTS wire is comparable now with Nb3 Sn wire. Opportunity to improve to be 10X better than …

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