Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team has removed a major obstacle to engineer quantum systems that will play a key role in the computers, communication networks, and even biomedical devices of the future.

Did you ever get the giggles during a religious service or some other serious occasion?

In the hard drive industry, the rapid growth of storage density has been propelled in part by developments in the sensors used to read the magnetic "bits" on the disk. Recently, the use of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in such sensors, with current flowing in the plane of a multilayer film, has given way to the use of tunneling magnetoresistance, where current flows perpendicular to the plane of the multilayer through a tunnel barrier.

After 26 years, 230 million kilometers, and a combined year in orbit, space shuttle Discovery is headed home one last time. The oldest, most utilized shuttle in NASA's fleet is inbound from its final visit to the International Space Station and is scheduled to touch down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida just before noon Eastern Standard Time on March 9. But Kennedy, the traditional home of the shuttle program, may not be the final destination for Discovery this time around

Wine can help keep conversation flowing at a dinner party. And now it looks like that wine may aid in materials science as well. Japanese researchers discovered that hot alcoholic beverages induce superconductivity in iron-based compounds.

By Matt Kaplan A genetic analysis of modern hunter-gatherer populations in Africa suggests that humans evolved in the south of the continent, rather than the east, as has been thought. [More]

By Jo Marchant Whoever saves Egypt's endangered antiquities, it will not be Zahi Hawass. [More]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department said on Monday that it will create a single task force to oversee all aspects of its criminal investigation into last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A department spokesman said the task force will be led by a criminal division senior counsel, John Buretta, and will be supervised by Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who is in charge of the department's criminal division.

By Zeeya Merali Researchers have developed a multifunctional catheter fitted with malleable electronics that has many of the necessary tools for cardiac surgery. [More]

Vocal cord paralysis can strike as a result of a stroke, disease or trauma to the head or neck, thereby making breathing, swallowing and speaking difficult.

Reading this at your desk? Chances are you have both Scotch tape and Post-it notes somewhere in your drawers. Both are made by an adhesive company, 3M, but the sticky stuff on Post-it notes was actually a mistake

Obese people who participate in a weight loss program based on exercise and lifestyle changes end up less depressed, according to a new review.

"One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one's greatest efforts." --Albert Einstein While Einstein was not a neuroscientist, he sure knew what he was talking about in regards to the human capacity to achieve. He knew intuitively what we can now show with data--what it takes to function at your cognitive best.

The crash Friday of NASA's Glory satellite couldn't have come at a worse time. The incident is a blow for climate science and the space agency's efforts to rebuild an Earth observation program weakened by years of lean budgets