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

By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - At least 150 people in Cambodia and southern Vietnam have died in the worst flooding along the Mekong River in 11 years after heavy rain swamped homes, washed away bridges and forced thousands of people to evacuate. [More]

I promised I’d cover all the winners, and here we go! Beginning with this year’s IgNobel prize in Biology, which goes to a study on the Australian Jewel Beetle. Poor Australian Jewel Beetle. For his is a tragic story of mistaken identities and forbidden lust.

By Yoko Kubota TOKYO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Japan will let children and [More]

Nanotechnology is a cutting-edge advancement within science and engineering. It is not a single field but an intense collaboration between disciplines to manipulate materials on the atomic and molecular level.

Did scientists and public officials encourage residents of L'Aquila to let their guard down prior to a tragic April 2009 earthquake that killed 309 people in that central Italian city? That is what an Italian court will consider Saturday as it resumes an unprecedented manslaughter trial of six Italian geophysicists and one former government official. [More]

By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's government suspended on Friday a controversial $3.6 billion, Chinese-led dam project, a victory for supporters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and another sign of apparent reform in one of Asia's most repressive states. [More]

Makers of the microchips found in smartphones, tablets and other gadgets are figuring out something that urban planners learned a long time ago--when you can no longer build out, you need to build up. [More]

They say all roads lead to Rome. Unfortunately that ain’t all that roads lead to. A new study shows that roads can promote the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The death toll from listeriosis infections linked to contaminated cantaloupes is expected to rise in the coming weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today. So far, the outbreak has sickened 72 people and killed at least 13, the CDC said.

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Summer monsoons that provide up to 80 percent of the water South Asia needs have gotten drier in the past half century, possibly due to aerosol particles spewed by burning fossil fuels, climate scientists said on Thursday. [More]

An industrial add-on to geothermal power plants near the Salton Sea in California could one day produce the lithium that is required for electric car batteries . Already, Simbol Materials , the company behind the process, has begun purifying lithium from conventional mining operations in Argentina, Chile and elsewhere for the global battery market at a demonstration facility in Brawley, Calif.

Recent exploration of rare volcanic rocks in the rugged, dangerous desert of southern Afghanistan has identified world-class concentrations of rare earth elements, the prized group of raw materials that are essential in the manufacture of many modern technologies, from electric cars to solar panels. So far, geologists say, they have mapped one million metric tons of these critical elements, which include lanthanum, cerium and neodymium

The top U.S. particle collider, now eclipsed by a more powerful European machine, will be switched off September 30 [More]

Image courtesy of Flickr/Ted Abbott In 2009 California took in $839 million in taxes from the sale of cigarettes. And with its--and many other states’--budget in dire straights, it is hard to turn down any extra income. [More]

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - EU lawmakers recommended on Thursday including a call for global targets on renewable energy and energy efficiency in the European Union's negotiating position for next year's Rio+20 sustainability summit in June. "We should aim at globally binding targets," said Karl-Heinz Florenz, a member of the European Parliament who helped draft the resolution. [More]