Gizmorama
May 2, 2011
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Clearance Sale - Electronics, DVDs, Housewares and more...
http://pd.gophercentral.com/u/3839/c/186/a/474
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Good Morning,
Apple has singled out some bugs in its iPhone product and
is eager to announce that these glitches are "being dealt
with." Check out the third article for more information on
what is going on with the popular device.
Until Next Time,
Erin
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New test has a 'nose' for bacteria
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - U.S. researchers say they have developed
a quick, simple method of identifying infectious bacteria by
one of their telltale characteristics -- they stink. Using a
low-cast array of printed pigments that react to the distinct
odor of many kinds of bacteria, researchers at the University
of Illinois say they can identify bacterial infections by an
aromatic "fingerprint," a university release said Wednesday.
Blood cultures have been used as the standard test for
identifying blood-borne bacterial infections for more than a
century, but they have serious drawback, researchers said.
"The major problem with the clinical blood culturing is that
it takes too long," UI chemistry Professor Ken Suslick said.
"In 72 hours they may have diagnosed the problem, but the
patient may already have died of sepsis. "Our approach to
this problem has been to think of bacteria as simply micron-
sized chemical factories whose exhaust is not regulated by
the EPA. Our technology is now well-proven for detecting and
distinguishing among different chemical odorants, so applying
it to bacteria was not much of a stretch." The artificial
nose is an array of 36 reactive pigment dots that change
color when they sense chemicals in the air. The pattern of
color change over time is unique to each bacterium, resear-
chers said. In only a few hours, the array can not only
confirm the presence of bacteria, but identify a specific
species and strain, and can even recognize antibiotic resis-
tance, a key factor in treatment decisions, they said.
Scientists looking at 'erasing' memories
LOS ANGELES - U.S. scientists say a discovery could lead to
the ability to "alter" traumatic memories in war veterans,
rape victims and others troubled by horrific memories. Re-
searchers at UCLA say they've been able to eliminate, or at
least substantially weaken, long-term memory in both a marine
snail and in neurons in a lab dish, a university release said
Wednesday. Doing so has yielded important insights into the
cell biology of long-term memory, the study's authors said.
"I think we will be able to alter memories someday to reduce
the trauma from our brains," said senior author David
Glanzman, a professor of biology and physiology and neurobio-
logy. Researchers discovered long-term memory in the marine
snail known as Aplysia can be erased by inhibiting the activ-
ity of a specific protein kinase, one of a class of molecules
that modifies proteins by chemically changing their structure
and activity. The findings have potential implications for
the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as
drug addiction, in which memory plays an important role, and
perhaps Alzheimer's disease and other long-term memory dis-
orders, the researchers said. "The brain is the most compli-
cated organ in the body," Glanzman said. "The research is
complex, but this is the way we are going to understand how
memories in our brains last a lifetime, or at least part of
the way. It will take a lot of research, but I think it will
be feasible."
Apple says it is fixing iPhone bugs
CUPERTINO, Calif. - Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, Calif.,
promised Wednesday to fix a bug in its software that allows
location data from iPhones to be stored for a year. The com-
pany said in a fact sheet posted on its Web site that another
bug keeps iPhone users from turning off the tracking of cell
towers and WiFi. Both bugs will be dealt with promptly, the
company said. Apple said it does not track iPhone users and
that all location data arrives anonymously and encrypted.
"Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location in-
formation while preserving their security and privacy has
raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to
communicate in a sound bite," the company said. "Users are
confused, partly because the creators of this new technology
(including Apple) have not provided enough education about
these issues to date." Privacy advocates welcomed the Apple
statement. "This all demonstrates the complexity of privacy
protection with locational services," Marc Rotenberg, exec-
utive director of the Electronic Information Privacy Center,
told The New York Times in an e-mail. "Apple is moving in the
right direction, but there is more that needs to be done."
'Explosive' evolution rate seen in fish
DAVIS, Calif. - Two groups of small fish, one from the Cari-
bbean and one in Mexico, exhibit some of the fastest rates
of evolution known in any organism, U.S. researchers say.
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, say most
of the 50 species of pupfish found from Massachusetts to
Venezuela are much the same in looks and behavior, except
for fish in the two places studied, a university release
said Wednesday. Most of the species "look the same and they
act the same," eating detritus and algae off rocks, UC Davis
researcher Chip Martin said. However, Martin found one of
the three pupfish species in shallow, salty lakes on San
Salvador island in the Bahamas lives by biting the scales
off other fish, while another eats small snails and clam
shrimp. No other pupfish is known to eat scales, Martin said.
Among pupfish originally from the Yucatan area, one eats
other fish and another feeds on plankton, and both have evo-
lved changes to their jaws to match their specialized diets.
In constructing an evolutionary map for the species, Martin
said, he found the San Salvador Island and Yucatan show ex-
plosive rates of evolution, changing as much as 130 times
faster than other pupfish. It's not clear why the pupfish in
the two locations are evolving so rapidly, so Martin is
expanding his research by taking lab-bred fish, including
hybrids, back to the lakes to see whether they thrive. He
hopes to see which fish succeed out of a spectrum of hybrids,
he said.
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