The researchers asked healthy people to solve a math problem only when the correct answer to a yes or no question was shown to them on a screen. The mental load associated with solving that problem caused an automatic increase in pupil size, which the researchers showed they could measure and translate into an accurate answer to questions like "Are you 20 years old?"
Heavens
Employment gaps may promote but also reduce cognitive function in older age, as new research from the University of Luxembourg has shown. In particular, some of the findings suggest that leaves reported as unemployment and sickness are associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment indicating that these kinds of employment gaps may decrease cognitive reserve in the long run. Strongest evidence was found for training and maternity spells being related to slower cognitive decline, suggesting beneficial associations of these kinds of leaves on cognitive function.
Quantum computation, quantum communication and quantum cryptography often require entanglement. For many of these upcoming quantum technologies, entanglement – this hard to grasp, counter-intuitive aspect in the quantum world – is a key ingredient. Therefore, experimental physicists often need to verify entanglement in their systems. "Two years ago, we managed to verify entanglement between up to 14 ions", explains Thomas Monz. He works in the group of Rainer Blatt at the Institute for Experimental Physics, University Innsbruck.
Shergottites are the most common type of martian meteorite. Their composition is basaltic, similar to igneous rocks from Iceland and Hawaii, but with some important differences.
When the shergottites are dated using common isotope-decay techniques, they generally are found to be only a few hundred-million years old. On Mars, the only sources of igneous rocks of that age are the large volcanoes, such as Olympus Mons, which are also made of basalt.
Research from the University of Copenhagen has revealed the effects of a decade of decentralised wage negotiations in the private sector. In an article in the Journal of Labor Economics, researchers conclude that wages have risen for all employees and that companies are now better able to retain key personnel.
"Average wages rise when employees and managers negotiate on an individual basis, without a collective-bargaining agreement dictating fixed rates for all," explains Jakob Roland Munch, professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen.
WASHINGTON -- The United States lags behind other international plans to evaluate obesity prevention efforts, and the country needs to know whether these efforts are having their intended impact, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The committee that wrote the report concluded that more systematic and routine evaluations could help determine how well obesity prevention programs and policies are being implemented and which interventions work best. The committee also recommended specific national and community plans for evaluation of obesity prevention efforts.
The Eastern Pacific Ocean has kicked into high gear on Aug. 2 and NOAA's GOES-15 satellite is watching Hurricane Gil and two developing tropical low pressure areas on both sides of Gil.
TORONTO, ON – University of Toronto Engineering professor Ben Hatton is turning to nature to find a way to cut down on the energy leaks from windows.
Researchers at the University of Basel have successfully replaced the rare element iodine in copper-based dye-sensitized solar cells by the more abundant element cobalt, taking a step forward in the development of environmentally friendly energy production. The journal «Chemical Communications» has published the results of these so-called Cu-Co cells.
At NASA's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M., a sounding rocket is being readied for flight. Due to launch on Aug. 8, 2013, the VERIS rocket, short for Very high Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, will launch for a 15-minute trip carrying an instrument that can measure properties of the structures in the sun's upper atmosphere down to 145 miles across, some eight times clearer than any similar telescope currently in space.
On July 31, NASA's TRMM satellite saw Tropical Storm Gil intensifying and the storm became a hurricane. NASA's Aqua satellite and NOAA's GOES-15 satellite captured views of Gil on Aug. 1 as it was being chased by another developing tropical system.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Hurricane Gil on August 1 at 10:11 UTC or 6:11 a.m. EDT. Strongest storms and heaviest rains appear around the center where cloud top temperatures exceed -63F/-52.
Tropical Storm Jebi developed on July 31 and NASA satellite data on Aug. 1 shows the storm filling up at least half of the South China Sea.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Tropical Storm Jebi on August 1 at 6:11 UTC or 2:11 a.m. EDT when it passed overhead from space. Strongest storms and heaviest rains appeared south of the center and in a large band of thunderstorms wrapping into the center from the southwest. Additionally, fragmented bands of thunderstorms are also east of the center of the system.
Scientists have identified a molecule that enables starfish to carry out one of the most remarkable forms of feeding in the natural world.
A starfish feeds by first extending its stomach out of its mouth and over the digestible parts of its prey, such as mussels and clams. The prey tissue is partially digested externally before the soup-like "chowder" produced is drawn back into its 10 digestive glands.
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT), with first lights at nine new 1-meter telescopes since April of 2012, achieved another critical milestone by capturing the first on-sky image with a production Sinistro camera. In development for over six years, the camera is arguably more important than the telescopes that will use them. "A telescope is really nothing more than a large camera lens," explained Joe Tufts, instrumentation scientist on the Sinistro project. "A large, precise, stable, and very expensive camera lens."
A University of Colorado Boulder team has developed a radically new technique that uses the power of sunlight to efficiently split water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen, paving the way for the broad use of hydrogen as a clean, green fuel.