Need to do some serious multitasking? Some training in meditation beforehand could make the work smoother and less stressful, new research from the University of Washington shows.
Work by UW Information School professors David Levy and Jacob Wobbrock suggests that meditation training can help people working with information stay on tasks longer with fewer distractions and also improves memory and reduces stress.
Their paper was published in the May edition of Proceedings of Graphics Interface.
Simulating weather and water conditions before a race could give sailors the advantage they need to win, new research reveals.
The study, carried out by the Yacht and Superyacht Research Group (YSRG) at Newcastle University, UK, with the Yacht Research Unit of the University of Auckland and the Italian super-computer centre CILEA, looked at how accurately we can predict the way a yacht will behave during a particular race using parameters such as sea conditions and currents.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have proposed a method to automatically detect a new class of software glitches in smartphones called "no-sleep energy bugs," which can entirely drain batteries while the phones are not in use.
"These energy bugs are a silent battery killer," said Y. Charlie Hu, a Purdue University professor of electrical and computer engineering. "A fully charged phone battery can be drained in as little as five hours."
Because conserving battery power is critical for smartphones, the industry has adopted "an aggressive sleep policy," he said.
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2012 — The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes the world's first "electrified snail," which now joins the menagerie of cockroaches, rats, rabbits and other animals previously implanted with biofuel cells that generate electricity —
A phenomenon first observed by an ancient Greek philosopher 2,300 years ago has become the basis for a new device designed to harvest the enormous amounts of energy wasted as heat each year to produce electricity. The first-of-its-kind "pyroelectric nanogenerator" is the topic of a report in ACS' journal Nano Letters.
When the smell of french fries wafts through the airplane cabin, is it from that guy in 24D scarfing down a fast-food meal — or the jet engines? That question certainly could be food-for-thought for imaginative passengers, as airline companies develop a bigger appetite for the fuels described in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
North-East Passage soon free from ice again? Winter measurements show thin sea ice in the Laptev Sea, pointing to early and large-scale summer melt
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In today's manufacturing plants, the division of labor between humans and robots is quite clear: Large, automated robots are typically cordoned off in metal cages, manipulating heavy machinery and performing repetitive tasks, while humans work in less hazardous areas on jobs requiring finer detail.
Most people don't think twice about how Internet search engines work. You type in a word or phrase, hit enter, and poof – a list of web pages pops up, organized by relevance.
Insects can use plants as 'green phones' for communication with other bugs. A new study now shows that through those same plants insects are also able to leave 'voicemail' messages in the soil. Herbivorous insects store their voicemails via their effects on soil fungi. Researchers from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and Wageningen University (WUR) discovered this unique messaging service in the ragwort plant. The influential journal Ecology Letters will soon publish these results.
SALT LAKE CITY, June 12, 2012 – University of Utah engineers designed microscopic mechanical devices that withstand intense radiation and heat, so they can be used in circuits for robots and computers exposed to radiation in space, damaged nuclear power plants or nuclear attack.
The researchers showed the devices kept working despite intense ionizing radiation and heat by dipping them for two hours into the core of the University of Utah's research reactor. They also built simple circuits with the devices.
MINNEAPOLIS – A new study shows that changes in walking speed in late life may signal the early stages of dementia known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The research is published in the June 12, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– An 18-member international team of researchers that includes James Kennett, professor of earth science at UC Santa Barbara, has discovered melt-glass material in a thin layer of sedimentary rock in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Syria. According to the researchers, the material –– which dates back nearly 13,000 years –– was formed at temperatures of 1,700 to 2,200 degrees Celsius (3,100 to 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit), and is the result of a cosmic body impacting Earth.
Irvine, Calif. – June 11, 2012 -Vast stores of carbon in U.S. forest soils could be released by rising global temperatures, according to a study by UC Irvine and other researchers in today's online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
The scientists found that heating soil in Wisconsin and North Carolina woodlands by 10 and 20 degrees increased the release of carbon dioxide by up to eight times. They showed for the first time that most carbon in topsoil is vulnerable to this warming effect.
The event, "RoboCity12: Robots para los ciudadanos" (Robots for the people), hosted by the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales (School of Industrial Engineering - ETSII) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), gathered nearly 40 robots "made in Spain" for two days. The objective was to present the most recent advances in robotics that have been developed in the Community of Madrid, as well as the main innovations that have appeared on the national and international scenes.