Science

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Tracking Cholera Outbreaks in Post-Earthquake Haiti

Cholera has recently returned to Haiti, where it poses a deadly threat. A new computer-forecasting tool is enabling researchers to predict how the disease is spreading in order to contain it.

Technological tools have recently helped track epidemics of influenza and tropical diseases such as dengue fever. With a new project, researchers are using computer forecasting to predict outbreaks of cholera, a highly contagious and deadly disease.

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Social Net Saves Fuel With Smartphone

Crowd-sourcing the state of traffic-lights from dash-mounted smartphones enables smart social networkers to keep cars rolling through green lights, thus cutting fuel consumption by up to 20 percent.

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Where previous experimental traffic-light advisory systems used GPS data or data from traffic sensors, SignalGuru uses visual data from cellphone cameras.

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Smart Cities Will Require Smarter Sensors

A team of German scientists is working to create better sensors in order to enable “smart cities.” In such cities, all major aspects of infrastructure would be connected to increase efficiencies, cut costs, and save energy.

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In a smart city, all aspects of city infrastructure would be connected.

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New Pipe Simulation Could Have Predicted Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Researchers recently applied car-crash models to oil pipes in order to better predict dangerous explosions. In a simulation of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, the team accurately predicted the location and spread of damage.

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The team’s simulation (bottom) closely matches real pictures taken from the Deepwater Horizon site (top).

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Five Steps to Securing Internet-Enabled Devices

So far the most serious security breaches have been from PCs, but embedded system designers are working to prevent Internet-enabled consumer devices from being used as backdoors for future intrusions.

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Wind River suggests taking a five-prong approach to securing Internet-enabled devices.

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Channel Case Study: The Value of Cold Calls

Sure, being the trusted advisor is important. But first you need to get in the door. Here's a look at how a single cold call turned into a giant wireless networking deal at Dean College.

It was the cold call that turned into a half-a-million dollar business deal.

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Speed Bump on the Way to Exascale Computing

The next stop on the road to exascale computing is systems that perform in the 10-petaFLOPS or greater range. But a planned system to test many of the needed technologies to reach that goal has been put on hold.

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Argonne National Laboratory will use IBM's next-generation Blue Gene/Q supercomputer, a system touting a peak performance of 10 petaFLOPS.

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Quantum Tunneling Enables 3D Touch

Spiked nanoparticles ease quantum tunneling to allow the third-dimension to be sensed by touch-screen users.

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Spiked nanoparticles aid in quantum tunneling to allow Peratech's film to sense a continuum between feather-light and heavy touches, thereby enabling 3D gestures.

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VA spent $717 million on a drug deemed as effective as a placebo

Over the past decade, the Veterans Affairs Department spent $717 million for an anti-psychotic drug to treat post-traumatic stress disorder that a recent study shows is no more effective than a placebo.

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Era of the PC Waning

Personal computers were once considered a bottomless market, but the rise of tablets, smart TVs and other Internet-connected devices has finally established an anchor-point to vault over the PC.

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The PC market will be eclipsed by the Internet-enabled consumer devices by 2013.

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