Chad's News

The title of this post isn’t really accurate, but friends make hills appear to be easier to climb. Researchers asked test subjects to assess the steepness of a hill. Those who were with friends believed the hill was 10-15 percent less steep, compared to subjects who were alone. And those who were told to just think about a friend assessed the hill 20% less steep, compared to others. What I’m wondering, though, is how did they think up this study in the first place?

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/…

A recent study found, among other things, that people thought more creatively if they viewed the Apple logo before performing a task. This is an example of priming, and it really seems to work. I remember hearing of a study where women were reminded of the stereotype that females can’t do math, and they performed worse on a math test than women who had not been reminded of the stereotype. The interesting thing about the current study is that the subjects were exposed to brands—apparently the huge amount of money put into brand awareness is having an effect.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

The path to complete female domination of the world has officially been opened. Scientists are attempting to create human sperm from a woman’s bone marrow, which they’ve already done with mice.

With men being obsolete, I wonder when the takeover will occur? Maybe they’ll just kill us all in our sleep.

Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…
(via Slashdot)

This video shows a model train that uses a superconductor to levitate over a magnetic track. The only thing slowing it down is air resistance. My favorite part is when he turns the track upside down and it makes no difference.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/…
(via Neatorama)

It has been known for some time that the advent of quantum computers will completely destroy our existing public key encryption system, which depends on the difficulty of factoring a very large number. The appropriate quantum factoring algorithm already exists—we simply need to develop a functioning quantum computer on which to run it. Two research groups have moved the technology forward by creating very small proof-of-concept quantum computers that perform a modified version of the factoring algorithm. Their quantum computers are not scalable but do demonstrate that some of the core technology is working.

For those interested, the technical writeups are available here and here.

The main lesson from this is that you cannot encrypt data with today’s technology and expect it to be safe for more than a few decades at most (who knows—it could be years instead of decades). Also, I wonder if cryptologists are looking for something other than factoring to replace the one-way algorithm essential to public key encryption.

Link #1: http://it.slashdot.org/…

Link #2: http://arstechnica.com/…

Researchers have determined that the brain functions differently for liberals than for conservatives. Yet to be shown is whether the political orientation causes the different brain functioning, or whether the different brain functioning causes the political orientation.

Link: http://www.latimes.com/…
(via Slashdot)

Update: Here’s another study that finds a psychological difference between liberals and conservatives. This time it’s how they respond to threats.

Previously only in the domain of science fiction, IBM is doing some fundamental research into saving a data bit in a single atom and also into making an electronic switch out of a single molecule (thus replacing transistors). Right now it’s at the research level, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it out in the wild within the next decade or two.

Link: http://science.slashdot.org/…

Listen to this audio clip with headphones (or hold the speakers up to your ears like I did). It’s eerie how they manage to make the sounds come from different directions and distances. Apparently it’s just a matter of correctly placing two microphones, and your brain does the rest.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/…
(via news.com.au)

From the article: “Boys with the longest ring fingers relative to their index fingers tend to excel in math, according to a new study. In girls, shorter ring fingers predict better verbal skills. The link, according to the researchers, is that testosterone levels in the womb influence both finger length and brain development.”

Link: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/…
(via Slashdot)

Researchers were recently able to factor a specially formed (but hard to factor) 1039-bit number in a mere 11 months. It shouldn’t be too long before those 1024-bit encryption keys can be broken in a realistic amount of time. My key is 4096 bits, which was specifically discouraged by the key generation software because it was considered to be massive overkill. Maybe it pays to be paranoid. Of course quantum computers, if they ever become a reality, will make existing encryption methods obsolete.

Link: http://actualites.epfl.ch/…
(via Slashdot)

It’s been known for some time now that maggots are quite good at clearing dead tissue out of a wound while leaving the live tissue alone. This latest study suggests they can also remove antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which is becoming more and more of a concern.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Researchers have developed a prototype plastic-based blood substitute. It’s less perishable than real blood and doesn’t need to be refrigerated, making it ideal for the battlefield and other emergency situations. I guess as long as something transports oxygen to the cells, it doesn’t really matter what it’s made from.

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…
(via Neatorama)