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LONDON: IBM researchers have shown the possibility of using a network of tiny pipes of water to cool next-generation PC chips.

Experts at the firm have created a prototype device that has thousands of “hair-width” cooling arteries, which they believe may be a solution to the increasing amount of heat pumped out by chips as they become smaller and more densely packed with components.

The researchers demonstrated the technology in IBM's 3D chips, where circuits are stacked one on top of the other.

They say that vertical laying of chips, rather than side by side, reduces the distance data has to travel, enhances performance and saves critical space.

"As we package chips on top of each other....we have found that conventional coolers attached to the back of a chip don't scale. In order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking, we need interlayer cooling," the BBC quoted Thomas Brunschwiler at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory as saying.

He said that conventional cooling techniques, which involve the use of fans and heat sinks, do not work as well with the 3D technology, particularly as heat has to be drawn away from between the individual chips.

According to him, piping water through sealed tubes just 50 microns in diameter between individual layers of the chip seems to offer a solution to the problem.

The researchers suggest that water is much more efficient than air at absorbing heat, and thus even with tiny amounts of liquid flowing through could show a dramatic effect.

IBM experts believe that its water-cooling technology could be available as a product in five years.

source: TOI

LONDON: If clumps of your hair suddenly start falling out due to a common form of premature baldness, please don't fret -- scientists have pioneered a treatment to clone hair.

According to them, the technique, known as follicular cell implantation, works by replicating remaining hair strands and it could eventually help bald people to regain a full head of their own hair, The Daily Telegraph reported.

In fact, the technique has the potential to re-grow a limitless supply hair for individuals who have become bald during cancer treatment, from suffering severe burns, or the onset of age, the researchers said.

However, the treatment may require more than 1,000 tiny injections to produce that number of hair in extensively bald patients, but it promises to be quicker and less invasive than current hair transplant techniques.

The procedure is being developed by Intercytex, a British company based in Manchester, which is among many competing to find a cure for hair loss -- a condition which affects 40 per cent of men over 50.

Trial results have indicated that the cell therapy can increase hair count in at least two thirds of patients after six months, and four out of five if the scalp is stimulated beforehand through gentle abrasions which encourage growth.

The therapy could be made available to patients within five years, the researchers hoped.

source: TOI

WASHINGTON: Those who find it difficult to tell their partners how much they love them need not worry anymore, thanks to a new ‘Cyrano Suit’ that can provide enough confidence to a shy man to express his feelings confidently.

The suit has been designed to give its wearer the scripts/notes to act and perform as sensible and gentlemen with confidence.

It also provides the wearer the lines that may help him reveal his un-shown true feelings.

Apparently, the suit is also capable of suggesting what topics one should discuss with the woman in front of him.

Its designer Eugene Ahn claims that she has embedded a series of sensors in the suit’s arms and chest, which detect physical interaction with a woman.

She says that the system also uses a hacked receipt printer to deliver romantic lines straight to the breast pocket of the wearer.

“What it prints depends on the distance to the woman,” Wired News quoted her as saying.

JERUSALEM: A fascinating study has suggested that children who speak more than one language may protect the brain against the effects of aging.

The study published in the journal Psychology and Aging found that kids who speak a second or third language may have an unexpected advantage over monolingual later in life. Knowing and speaking many languages may protect the brain against the effects of aging, suggested the research at the Tel Aviv University.

The team of researchers led by Dr Gitit Kav, a clinical neuro-psychologist from the Herczeg Institute on Aging at Tel Aviv University, discovered that senior citizens who speak more languages test for better cognitive functioning.

The research, which surveyed people between the ages of 75 and 95 and compared bilingual speakers to tri-and multilingual speakers, found that the more languages a person spoke, the better his or her cognitive state was, the ScienceDaily online reported.

A person who speaks more languages is likely to be more clear-minded at an older age, Kav says, in effect exercising his or her brain more than those who are monolingual. However, she advised caution, saying: There is no sure-fire recipe for avoiding the pitfalls of mental aging. But using a second or third language may help prolong the good years.

While the controversy continues as to whether or not parents should introduce their young children to a second language, Kav thinks that learning a new language is only a good thing, even if it isn’t intended to stave off mental decline in old age.

SYDNEY: Like humans, little fish also diet - not to look more presentable, but out of dire necessity. They don't want to get on the wrong side of more dominant fish and risk being gobbled up.

A new study, by researchers at James Cook University, has also found that bigger fish use the threat of punishment to keep competitors in line.

It has been noticed that among goby fish only the largest two individuals, a male and female, have mating rights within a group. All other group members are non-breeding females, each being consistently 5-10 per cent smaller than its next largest rival.

The new study sought to find out how they maintain this precise size separation, ScienceAlert reported.

The reason for the size difference was easy to see, explained Marian Wong, who led the study.

“Once a subordinate fish grows to within 5-10 per cent of the size of its larger rival, it provokes a fight which usually ends in the smaller goby being expelled from the group - and the safety of the coral it occupies. More often than not, the evicted fish is then gobbled up by a predator.”

It appeared that the smaller fish were keeping themselves small in order to avoid provoking the big fish. Whether they did so because of stress caused by the bullying of larger fish or voluntarily - by restraining how much they ate - was not clear.

While the habits of gobies may seem a little arcane, Wong explained that understanding the relationships between dominant and subordinate animals is important to understanding how hierarchical societies remain stable.

Source: TOI

WASHINGTON: No matter how graphic the sex animations may be on the virtual playground, they can't compete with the movement of the human body.

But soon people will be able to slip into motion-capture suits to capture those natural moves and engage the entire body in online sexual adventures, rather than limping along with a keyboard and mouse.

Kevin Alderman, who's already infamous for the sex animations his company Strokerz Toyz creates for Second Life, is developing a wireless, consumer-level motion-capture suit that's expected to hit shelves in 2009.

"Right now only a dozen or so sites on the web offer downloadable mocap files,"he said.

"You have to wait until some studio becomes benevolent enough to make the animations you want, or you have to engage them for your specific needs,"he added.

Personal motion-capture suits will enable residents to contribute sex animations to the world of their choice, and to develop scenarios tailored to their own deepest desires, especially if they team up with others who also have the suits.

Source : TOI

LONDON: French scientists have reported the successful development of an artificial mouth that chews apples like humans.

Researchers led by Gaelle Arvisenet at ENITIAA in Nantes, France, have designed an artificial mouth that mimics the first vital steps of human digestion ie chewing, saliva release and the initial breakdown of food.

The team says that the development could form part of a robotic taste-tester designed to improve food quality and our understanding of flavour.

Earlier groups have developed artificial mouths that can study soft foods or sets of robotic jaws to test teeth. However, until now, none has been able to recreate what happens when a human chows down on hard foodstuffs.

In the study, Arvisenet and colleagues point out that a number of factors are involved in the release of aromatic and flavour compounds in the mouth.

Chewing, the release of saliva, the rate of food breakdown and the temperature all affect the flavour and smell of food before it's swallowed.

To accurately mimic the effects of chewing, Arvisenet's team needed to build a machine that could imitate several of these subtle processes.

"Previous models were simpler and did not take into account all processes involved in perception of food. Our artificial mouth allows the study of hard foods like apples," New Scientist magazine quoted Arvisenet, as saying.

The munching device reproduces the first steps of digestion - chewing, saliva release and food breakdown. About five times the size of a human mouth inside, the steel container is kept at a steady 37ºC by an electrical element. Its internal surfaces are coated with a chemically resistant plastic used for medical implants.

The ceiling and floor of the cylindrical chamber are attached to variable speed motors. Food is placed on the floor, which is able to revolve, while the ceiling coated spiky "teeth" moves up and down like a plunger.

The compression and rotation simulate the mechanical forces food undergoes in the mouth. The process is made more realistic by the addition of enzyme-containing artificial saliva through a pipe in the base of the chamber.

Helium supplied through another inlet flows through the "mouth" to reproduce the effect of breathing and carry volatile compounds away for analysis.

The researchers compared apples chewed by their machine and by human mouths. The resulting apple pulp was scrutinized for texture, colour and aromatic compound release. "The (results) were very close," Arvisenet said.

Source : The Times Of India

NEW YORK: If a man's mother is highly educated, chances are the woman he marries will have a similar education, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Iowa found that nearly 80% of high-achieving men who were sons of mothers with college degrees married women with a similar education.

And 62% of men whose mothers had graduate degrees tied the knot with a graduate degree holder. "These young men look up to their mothers as role models. They grew up in a family where their mothers were educated women," sociologist Christine Whelan, who conducted the study, said.

"For an increasing number of these men ... when they make their own choices about someone who they think will be a good wife in the future or a good mother, they go back to their role models."

Whelan and her colleague Christie Boxer studied data on 3,700 people who took part in a survey about men and the educational level of the women close to them. All the men surveyed were considered to be high achievers in their 20s and 30s who earned salaries in the top 10% for their age group.

The researchers found that more than 70% of the men had mothers who worked while they were growing up, and that the same group was twice as likely to marry women who made $50,000 or more a year. Whelan, who interviewed more than 100 men and has written a book entitled 'Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women', found many men welcomed the idea of a working spouse.

Source : The Times Of India

CANBERRA: Smartening up and smiling are key tactics for job-seekers, but a simple well-delivered handshake could trump them both, according to a new study.

Research by the University of Iowa found applicants with a firm handshake are far more likely to get the job than candidates with a limp grip.

A solid handshake was found to be more important than dress or physical appearance as it set off the interviewer's impression of that person.

"We found that the first impression begins with a handshake that sets the tone for the rest of the interview," said researcher George Stewart, associate professor of management and organizations in the Tippie College of Business, in a statement.

Stewart said this was the first study to quantify the importance of a good handshake in a job interview. The study, to be published in September in the Journal of Applied Psychology , was conducted with 98 students in the Tippie College of Business participating in mock job interviews with local business representatives.

The interviewers graded each student's overall performance and hireability while five trained handshake raters also scored students on their handshake. The scores were then compared.

Stewart said the experts found that those students who scored high with the handshake raters were also considered to be the most hireable by the interviewers and seen as having more extroverted personalities and greater social skills.

The students with wimpy handshakes were judged to have less gregarious personalities and were less impressive. "We probably don't consciously remember a person's handshake or whether it was good or bad," Stewart said.

The key to a good handshake? A complete, firm grip, eye contact and a vigorous up-and-down movement, said Stewart.

This may work against women, however, because their grips tend to be not as strong. But other research finds women tend to be stronger in other nonverbal communication skills that seemed to offset their less brawny grips, Steward said.

And in the study, women who did have a strong handshake seemed to have an advantage over men.

A similar study in 2000 found that women who are more liberal, intellectual and open to new experiences had a firmer handshake and made a more favorable impression than women who were less open and had a less firm handshake.

Source: The Times Of India

Frequent masturbation may help men cut their risk of contracting prostate cancer, Australian researchers have found. It is believed that carcinogens may build up in the prostate if men do not ejaculate regularly, BBC News reported on Wednesday.

The researchers surveyed more than 1,000 men who had developed prostate cancer, and 1,250 men who had not. They found that men who had ejaculated the most between the ages of 20 and 50 were the least likely to get cancer. Men who ejaculated more than five times each week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer.

Sexual intercourse may not have the same effect because of the higher risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, which could in turn raise the risk of cancer. "Had we been able to remove ejaculations associated with sexual intercourse, there should have been an even stronger protective effect of ejaculations," Graham Giles of the Cancer Council Victoria, who led the researchers, said in the article.

The prostate produces a fluid that is incorporated into ejaculation, which activates sperm and prevents them from sticking together. Studies on animals have shown that carcinogens

like 3-methylchloranthrene can be harboured in the prostate. Frequent ejaculation encourages the cancer-inducing fluids to "flush out."

Source : The Times Of India