Science

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Virtual Rat to Cure Human Diseases

The National Institutes of Health is investing $13 million in a Virtual Rat Project--not to save rats, but to develop analytics that cure human diseases.

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Researcher Daniel Beard of the Medical College of the University of Wisconsin

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Unusual Fault Pattern Surfaces in Earthquake Study

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This 3-D view of the surface rupture of the April 4, 2010, El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake (red line) reveals a new fault line connecting the Gulf of California with the Elsinore fault, which could become a major part of the boundary between the Pacific and the North America Plates.

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Synthetic Biology Redefining Life

Genetic engineering got an uptick recently when biologists began creating synthetic organisms that will henceforth compete with humans for natural resources, prompting a Presidential Commission to advise "prudent vigilance."

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The three pillars of Synthetic Biology according to the European Conference on Synthetic Biology.

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IntraLinks SaaS Community Roadmap Unveiled

Premiere business-to-business deal- and process-management SaaS maker IntraLinks reveals its roadmap for a transformation into a real-time collaboration network.

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IntraLinks' community-building efforts permit the user base to interact by maintaining profiles, contact lists and analytics regarding opportunities to participate in upcoming projects.

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XSEDE Cyber-Science to Exceed Teragrid

The Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) exceeds its predecessor--the Teragrid project--by linking the most advanced U.S. supercomputers into a cyber-infrastructure provisioned with simplified user-access software enabling researchers to address more diverse projects extraordinaire.

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XSEDE will create immersive 3D simulations like this one of a blowout similar to that which destroyed the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico where "ribbons" of color indicate flows.

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Without Science, There Will Be No Civilization

We're in a situation, in which science has virtually died in the United States, and in Europe. The scientific technology is being destroyed, and therefore, we're in a situation in which we have to, by other means, revive and maintain physical science and its related things.

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NASA's WISE Mission Finds First Trojan Asteroid Sharing Earth's Orbit

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This artist's concept illustrates the first known Earth Trojan asteroid, discovered by WISE. The asteroid is gray and its extreme orbit is shown in green.

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Authentication Chips Combat Rampant Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting has spread from credit cards to microchips to circuit boards and entire networking appliances, prompting semiconductor makers worldwide to pioneer a new billion dollar market for smart authentication microchips.

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The authentication microchip market is small today, but will grow rapidly in a diverse anti-counterfeiting market expected to be worth $6 billion by 2016.

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"Watermark Ink" device identifies unknown liquids instantly: New 3D-nanostructured chip offers a litmus test for surface tension (and doubles as a carrier for secret messages)

Materials scientists and applied physicists collaborating at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have invented a new device that can instantly identify an unknown liquid.

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The "W-Ink" technology has only become possible due to a seamless fusion and interaction between chemistry, optics, condensed matter, and fluidics. (A) In the prototype device discussed in JACS, the chip appears blank in the air. When dipped in varying concentrations of ethanol, however, it reveals new markings. (B) Because all liquids exhibit a surface tension, this indicator has the potential to be used to differentiate between liquids of any type.

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Data Furnaces Use Servers to Heat the Home

A recent paper by Microsoft Research suggests using servers and data centers to heat buildings, including homes, offices, and college campuses. The method could cut the costs and energy waste traditionally associated with big server farms.

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Big server farms are a major consumer of electricity in the United States. Using their heat to warm homes and offices could cut costs and save energy.