Technology – Page 932 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Yale Engineers Invent Novel Way to Sort Microparticles – By Size

Engineers at Yale University have developed a new, highly efficient technique for separating, sorting, and concentrating synthetic microscopic particles within complex fluids based on size.

The new technique suggests the possibility of significant clinical, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical applications, such as isolating rare liquid-borne pathogens, monitoring tumor cells in bloodstreams, and rapidly assessing blood cell counts, for example. (more…)

NASA Probe Data Show Liquid Water Evidence on Europa

PASADENA, Calif. — Data from a NASA planetary mission have provided scientists evidence of what appears to be a body of liquid water, equal in volume to the North American Great Lakes, beneath the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa.

The data suggest there is significant exchange between Europa’s icy shell and the ocean beneath. This information could bolster arguments that Europa’s global subsurface ocean represents a potential habitat for life elsewhere in our solar system. The findings are published in the scientific journal Nature. (more…)

W3C Announces First Draft of Standard for Online Privacy

*Do Not Track Approach Balances User Preferences with Personalized Web Experiences*

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – 17 Nov 2011: To address rising concerns about privacy on the Web, W3C has published two first drafts for standards that allow users to express preferences about online tracking:

Tracking Preference Expression (DNT), which defines mechanisms for users to express cross-site tracking preferences and for sites to indicate whether they honor these preferences.
Tracking Compliance and Scope, which defines the meaning of a “Do Not Track” preference and sets out practices for websites to comply with this preference.

These documents are the early work of a broad set of stakeholders in the W3C Tracking Protection Working Group, including browser vendors, content providers, advertisers, search engines, and experts in policy, privacy, and consumer protection. W3C invites review of these early drafts, which are starting points of work to come. W3C expects them to become standards by mid-2012. (more…)

Gamburtsev Mountains Enigma Unraveled in Interior East Antarctica

The birth of the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains buried beneath the vast East Antarctic Ice Sheet – a puzzle mystifying scientists since their first discovery in 1958 – is finally solved. The remarkably long geological history explains the formation of the mountain range in the least explored frontier on Earth and where the Antarctic Ice Sheet first formed. The findings are published this week in the journal Nature. (more…)

Statistical Models Inspired from Facebook could help endangered Animals, UF Researchers say

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Some endangered animals may live in smaller habitats than scientists realize, leading to inflated estimates of their ability to survive, according to a new University of Florida study. (more…)

‘The History of Angels’

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Angels are everywhere today—on lapel pins, magnetic dashboard figures, keepsake ornaments and in a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. But interest in angels is more than a contemporary fad. According to a University of Michigan historian, angels stirred intense interest in the early years of Christianity as well.

“Just as many people today think of pets as part of their families, many people in the first 500 years of Christianity were convinced that angels were part of their lives,” said Ellen Muehlberger, assistant professor of Near Eastern studies and history at the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. (more…)

Researchers Reap a Sweet and Sustainable Harvest

Known as the sugarcane of the desert, sweet sorghum could be a sustainable and ecological future biofuel crop for Arizona.

Researchers in the University of Arizona’s department of agricultural and biosystems engineering recently reaped the reward of six years of planning, testing and trials and harvested 40 acres of experimental sweet sorghum at the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Red Rock Agricultural Research Center. (more…)

Xtranormal: Movie-Making for Everyone

Microsoft BizSpark One startup aims to make animated movies as easy as typing

REDMOND, Wash. — Xtranormal’s tagline, “If you can type, you can make movies,” describes both the company’s mission and how to use its text-to-speech system to create animated movies. The Microsoft BizSpark One member is working to transform movie-making into an everyday activity, as simple and commonplace as composing a text message. (more…)