A new shape-changing metal crystal is reported in the journal Nature, by scientists at University of Minnesota. It is the prototype of a new family of smart materials that could be used in applications ranging from space vehicles to electronics to jet engines.
Called a "martensite", the crystal has two different arrangements of atoms, switching seamlessly between them. It can change shape tens of thousands of times when heated and cooled without degrading, unlike existing technology.
New shape-shifting metals discovered
US scientists boycott Nasa conference over China ban
Nasa is facing an extraordinary backlash from US researchers after it emerged that the space agency has banned Chinese scientists, including those working at US institutions, from a conference on grounds of national security.
Nasa officials rejected applications from Chinese nationals who hoped to attend the meeting at the agency's Ames research centre in California next month citing a law, passed in March, which prohibits anyone from China setting foot in a Nasa building.
NSA and GCHQ target Tor network that protects anonymity of web users
The National Security Agency has made repeated attempts to develop attacks against people using Tor, a popular tool designed to protect online anonymity, despite the fact the software is primarily funded and promoted by the US government itself.
Top-secret NSA documents, disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, reveal that the agency's current successes against Tor rely on identifying users and then attacking vulnerable software on their computers. One technique developed by the agency targeted the Firefox web browser used with Tor, giving the agency full control over targets' computers, including access to files, all keystrokes and all online activity.
'Tobacco-free' plan for Republic of Ireland
Dr James Reilly has defined a "tobacco-free Ireland" as a state where less than 5% of the population smoke.
According to the latest figures, 22% of people aged 15 and over regularly smoke cigarettes in the Republic of Ireland.
The plan makes 60 recommendations to significantly reduce smoking over the next 12 years. Tobacco would still be available, but at an increased cost.
Bruce Enberg: And I saw a Pale Horse
Obama is talking to Wall Street about the Government Default as in (the end of the F'n world) being a very real possibility. We'll see what that does to the markets starting in Asia in just a couple of hours. Is he really talking about a Pale Horse who's rider said unto him, "Come and see"....
Maybe we're just talking about the Federal Reserve going all QE666 and buying up all the outstanding dollar denominated debt on the planet. They could actually do that. It would put an awful lot of cash into circulation.... I'm not sure what that would really do.... Since all that cash would be in only a relatively few hands, maybe nothing would happen.
Fracking Study: Gas Production In Pennsylvania May Be Polluting Creek With Radioactive Waste
Fracking may be contaminating a Pennsylvania river with radioactive waste, a Duke University study to be published this week shows.
Scientists found elevated levels of radioactivity in river water at a site where treated fracking wastewater from oil and gas production sites in western Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale is released into a creek.
Alex Baer: On Exhausting All of One's Possibilities
Well, after more than a decade of heavy use and pushing their certified load limits, it's finally happened: I've broken the backs on all my expletives. They're in traction, up at Lingua Franca University Hospital, in Esperanto.
I blame the current GOP-created-and-sponsored government shutdown as much as I do the amount of overwork my profane and explicit oaths and exclamations have been subjected to, ever since Reagan slipped through the cracks of the founding fathers' notions of a wise and informed populace, and a watchdog press, keeping a close and good eye on its leaders and their use of power.
Majority of US executions come from just 2% of counties, report finds
The arbitrary nature of the death penalty as practiced in the US is laid bare in a new study that shows that just 2% of counties across the nation have generated most of the executions in the past 40 years.
A new report from the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington shows that of the 1,348 executions that have taken place in the US since the death penalty restarted in 1976, more than half originated in only 2% of counties. Under the US judicial system, the decision to launch a capital case lies with district attorneys at the county level.
Shutdown keeps 10 children with cancer from clinical trials
Ten U.S. children with cancer won't be able to begin their clinical trials due to the government shutdown, officials at the National Institutes of Health said.
John Burklow, a spokesman for the NIH, told ABCNews.com more than 1,400 ongoing clinical trials will continue at the NIH Clinical Center, which is the largest research hospital in the world, but it won't be able to add new patients or start any new trials during the shutdown.
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