“Planning for a summer delivery for your child? You might want to choose an ophthalmologist along with an obstetrician…Babies born in June and July had a 24% greater chance of becoming severely myopic than those born in December and January the group with the least number of severely myopic individuals…“It is probably a long-term effect of early-life exposure to natural light that increases the chances of a child becoming short-sighted…A more thorough laboratory analysis of myopia in young chickens suggested that the body has a mechanism that causes the eyeball to lengthen (short-sighted eyes are longer than normal) when it is exposed to prolonged illumination. This mechanism is associated with melatonin, a pigment secreted by the pineal gland, though scientists are not sure exactly how it operates. This is the same gland that sets our body’s internal clock or permits it to participate in “Circadian rhythms.”…” Full Slice

“Reduce, recycle and rebuild is as important to the most basic component of the human body, the cell, as it is to the environment.

And a [university] study shows just how much the body benefits when it “goes green,” at least if you’re a rat: Cutting calories helps rodents live longer by boosting cells’ ability to recycle damaged parts so they can maintain efficient energy production.

“Caloric restriction is a way to extend life in animals. If you give them less food, the stress of this healthy habit actually makes them live longer,”…” Full Slice

“…Once in the tubes, it’s a quick dash for the burritos across San Francisco Bay. Propelled by powerful bursts of compressed air, the burritos speed along the same tunnel as the BART commuter train, whose passengers remain oblivious to the hundreds of delicious cylinders whizzing along overhead. Within twelve minutes, even the remotest burrito has arrived at its final destination, the Alameda Transfer Station, where it will be prepared for its transcontinental journey.

Ever since Isaac Newton first described the laws of gravity in 1687, scientists have known that the quickest route between two points is along a straight line through the Earth’s interior. Through the magic of gravity, any object dropped into such a “chord tunnel” at one end will emerge exactly 42 minutes later at the other end, no matter the distance…” Full Slice

“An international team of researchers has detected low-energy solar neutrinos–subatomic particles produced in the core of the sun–and measured in real-time the rate the particles hit our planet.

The researchers also obtained fresh evidence that neutrinos oscillate (transform from one state to another) before arriving at Earth, adding weight to present theories about the nature of neutrinos and the inner workings of the sun and other stars…” Full Slice

“Astronomers have spotted a space oddity in Earth’s neighbourhood - a dead star with some unusual characteristics.

The object, known as a neutron star, was studied using space telescopes and ground-based observatories.

But this one, located in the constellation Ursa Minor, seems to lack some key characteristics found in other neutron stars…Exactly what type of neutron star Calvera is remains a mystery…there are no widely accepted alternative theories to explain objects such as this that are bright in X-rays and faint in visible light…Calvera’s location high above the plane of our Milky Way galaxy is also a mystery. The researchers believe the object is the remnant of a star that lived in our galaxy’s starry disc before exploding as a supernova…” Full Slice

“…The team of scientists mapped over 1,500 square miles, exploring the deep sea creatures living in the depths of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They used the latest technology to learn more about what is living in this remote and relatively unexplored deep-sea environment using remotely operated vehicles equipped with digital cameras.

With a suite of eight deep sea cameras they were able to capture images of life on the peaks and valleys of very rugged terrain. Colourful sponges and corals encrust rocky cliffs, whereas areas of soft sediment are populated by starfish, brittle-stars, sea cucumbers and burrowing worms. Fishes, crabs and shrimps forage over the ridge exploiting whatever they can find. Trawls, traps and corers have brought back thousands of specimens for study back in the laboratory…” Full Slice

“…“There is no indication of an MOC slowdown. And the large fluctuations explain why previously it was diagnosed that a slowdown had already happened. By chance, measurements were taken at a time when the MOC happened to be quite weak.”

With the instrument array it is feasible to monitor the annual average MOC to a resolution of about 1.5 Sverdrups, or about 8 percent of the mean value. This would be sufficient to detect any large, abrupt changes in the circulation, critical to planning for future climate change.”

“IT’S a speed record that is supposed to be impossible to break. Yet two physicists are now claiming they have propelled photons faster than the speed of light. This would be in direct violation of a key tenet of Einstein’s special theory of relativity that states that nothing, under any circumstance, can exceed the speed of light…The pair say they have now tunnelled photons “instantaneously” across a barrier of various sizes, from a few millimetres up to a metre. Their conclusion is that the photons traverse the barrier much faster than the speed of light. Full Slice

“…“In each ocean, water flows around anticlockwise pathways or ‘gyres’ the size of ocean basins…These gyres are the mechanism that distribute nutrients from the deep ocean to generate life on the continental shelves and slopes. They also drive the circulation of the world’s oceans, creating currents and eddies and help balance the climate system by transferring ocean heat away from the tropics toward the polar region.”…Completed as part of the BLUElink ocean forecasting project, this research provides the missing deep-flow connection between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It has long been known that north of Australia a system of currents in the ocean’s upper 300m, called the Indonesian Throughflow, drains water from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean through the Indonesian archipelago – a process which influences Australian rainfall…Tasmania figures as a critical converging point providing a northern boundary to the mid-water funnel that is bordered at latitudes near 50°S…” Full Slice

“In the first large scale, multiethnic study of its kind, researchers…have confirmed the role played by three particular molecules known as cytokines as a cause of Type 2 diabetes, and further, have identified these molecules as early biological markers that may be used to more accurately predict future incidences of diabetes among apparently healthy individuals…” Full Slice

“A little known school of scholars in southwest India discovered one of the founding principles of modern mathematics hundreds of years before Newton – according to new research…the ‘Kerala School’ identified the ‘infinite series ’- one of the basic components of calculus - in about 1350.

The discovery is currently - and wrongly - attributed in books to Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibnitz at the end of the seventeenth centuries.

The team from the Universities of Manchester and Exeter reveal the Kerala School also discovered what amounted to the Pi series and used it to calculate Pi correct to 9, 10 and later 17 decimal places.

And there is strong circumstantial evidence that the Indians passed on their discoveries to mathematically knowledgeable Jesuit missionaries who visited India during the fifteenth century.

That knowledge, they argue, may have eventually been passed on to Newton himself…” Full Slice - sounds like another 1421 type of story.

“…the provider of lithium-ion batteries for the two Mars rovers, the Phoenix Mars Lander (launched 4 August 2007) and the future Mars Science Laboratory mission (2009), has received two federal awards totaling $200,000 for developing lithium-ion batteries for use in hybrid electric vehicles.

The first Phase I award from the Department of Energy’s Small Business Innovation Research program is to support the development of a novel lithium-ion battery with advanced silicon nanoparticle-based anodes. The resulting batteries are to demonstrate improved energy density, long cycle life, high rate capability and low-temperature performance…” Full Slice

“…What I saw was Clearview, the typeface that is poised to replace Highway Gothic, the standard that has been used on signs across the country for more than a half-century. Looking at a sign in Clearview after reading one in Highway Gothic is like putting on a new pair of reading glasses: there’s a sudden lightness, a noticeable crispness to the letters.

The Federal Highway Administration granted Clearview interim approval in 2004, meaning that individual states are free to begin using it in all their road signs. More than 20 states have already adopted the typeface…” Full Slice

Freeman Dyson on the need for heresy in science.

As a scientist I do not have much faith in predictions. Science is organized unpredictability. The best scientists like to arrange things in an experiment to be as unpredictable as possible, and then they do the experiment to see what will happen. You might say that if something is predictable then it is not science. When I make predictions, I am not speaking as a scientist. I am speaking as a story-teller, and my predictions are science-fiction rather than science.

“…Urban Challenge teams are attempting to develop vehicles that can maneuver a 60-mile course of simulated military supply missions in less than six hours — with no human intervention allowed past the starting line. The vehicles will have to obey California traffic laws, merge into moving traffic, navigate traffic circles, negotiate intersections, and avoid a variety of obstacles…“The drive-by-wire system allows the computers to control the throttle, brake, steering, and shifting and to drive the vehicle…This system was custom developed by the team and is unique in that it is completely hidden from view, enabling Odin to retain full passenger capabilities.”…” Full Slice - all they are missing of an Intelligent Transport System setup at this point is Mr. Botts` dots with embedded smarts & wireless networking capability