(PhysOrg.com) -- A synthetic bone matrix offers hope for babies born with craniosynostosis, a condition that causes the plates in the skull to fuse too soon. Implants replacing some of the infant`s bone with the biodegradable matrix could eliminate some of the operations currently used to treat the condition.

Google, in a significant development for the deaf, announced on Thursday it was adding automatic caption capability to videos on YouTube.

The planet soaks up excess carbon dioxide via oceans, plants and soils, among other natural systems, locking away some of the greenhouse gases emitted by burning fossil fuels . In fact, every year these natural "sinks" absorb a larger and larger tonnage of emissions--but thanks to the increasing amount of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases dumped in the atmosphere by human activity, the proportion that is reabsorbed is beginning to dwindle, according to new studies. [More]



Fossil fuel - Greenhouse gas - Carbon dioxide - Global warming - Climate change

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networking has emerged as a vastly popular way for computer users to democratize the transfer of information, allowing faster and easier sharing of images, documents and other files without the need for a centralized server. Unfortunately, and ironically, P2P is a little too democratic for the U.S. government, which has been victimized several times by the public disclosure of sensitive documents via file-sharing networks. [More]



File sharing - Peer-to-peer - Federal government of the United States - U.S. government - Web Applications

We are approaching the millennial anniversary of the first meaningful written description of how lenses and light could be used to magnify objects. It was in 1011 that Arab scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) began writing the Book of Optics , which described the properties of a magnifying glass, principles that later led to the invention of the microscope. The entrants in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition provide fitting tribute to nearly 1,000 years of making the invisible visible.

Optical microscopy, energized by generation after generation of technological advance, continues to furnish dazzling proof that beyond the resolution of the human eye resides a sweepingly large world of small things, both around and within us. The artistic beauty of the microcosm can be witnessed in these photographs of the beadlike band of toxin-carrying compartments on the tentacle of the Portuguese man-of-war, the gemlike quality of row on row of single-celled algae and the red-and-yellow patterning of a Triceratops bone, reminiscent of a loud necktie. A selection of winning and honorable mention images that particularly appealed to us at Scientific American follows.

[More]

We are approaching the millennial anniversary of the first meaningful written description of how lenses and light could be used to magnify objects. It was in 1011 that Arab scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) began writing the Book of Optics , which described the properties of a magnifying glass, principles that later led to the invention of the microscope. The entrants in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition provide fitting tribute to nearly 1,000 years of making the invisible visible.

Optical microscopy, energized by generation after generation of technological advance, continues to furnish dazzling proof that beyond the resolution of the human eye resides a sweepingly large world of small things, both around and within us. The artistic beauty of the microcosm can be witnessed in these photographs of the beadlike band of toxin-carrying compartments on the tentacle of the Portuguese man-of-war, the gemlike quality of row on row of single-celled algae and the red-and-yellow patterning of a Triceratops bone, reminiscent of a loud necktie. A selection of winning and honorable mention images that particularly appealed to us at Scientific American follows.

[More]



Light - Alhazen - Book of Optics - Optical microscope - Triceratops

The entrants in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition provide fitting tribute to nearly 1,000 years of making the invisible visible. These 15 photos were our staff favorites from the "Honorable Mentions" winners, listed in alphabetical order by photographer.

> 15 Scientific American Staff Selected Honorable Mentions [More]



Photographer - Photography - Art - Contests - Shopping

The entrants in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition provide fitting tribute to nearly 1,000 years of making the invisible visible. These six videos include one winner and five Honorable Mentions.

[More]



Contest - Arts - Shopping - Videos and DVDs - Adult

Graphene has been a hot topic in physics and materials science since its discovery five years ago . The sheets of carbon, just an atom thick, have a host of intriguing properties , including transparency, strength and a structure that lets electrons zip through almost unimpeded. Graphene's characteristics and near two-dimensionality recommend it for use in next-generation displays, electronics or structural composites , but like many materials du jour, it has yet to find applications on a significant scale. [More]

A NASA rover mired in soft soil on Mars made its first escape attempt in months Tuesday, but the maneuver lasted less than a second before safety precautions shut it down. [More]

A NASA rover mired in soft soil on Mars made its first escape attempt in months Tuesday, but the maneuver lasted less than a second before safety precautions shut it down. [More]



Mars - NASA - Mars rover - Spirit rover - Space

Volcanic activity more recent than expected, MESSENGER flyby shows

Extending a bird-watching system, a team devises method for real-time spotting of potentially dangerous debris during launch

By detecting gamma rays, a new generation of telescopes bolsters theory that supernovas are origin of some cosmic rays