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

When a researcher asks a volunteer to slide head-first into the open eye of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, the expectation is that the device's magnetic field will penetrate the skull to produce a faithful picture of the brain without changing its behavior. A new study suggests, however, that MRI machines do, in fact, manipulate brain activity--and they change the brain in a way that helps treat depression. In other words, MRIs may be unintentional antidepressants

Vast newly discovered natural gas resources and the expectation that demand for the fuel will rise substantially in fast-growing economies are ushering in a "Golden Age of Gas," according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. Ratcheting up its projections about natural gas consumption, an IEA report yesterday said gas's share of the global energy mix will surpass coal's in the next two decades and by 2035, gas demand will increase by more than 50 percent

1. Late yesterday Facebook revealed a surprisingly green core to its computer operation--efficient server and infrastructure designs that consume less energy than comparable data centers, and are 38% more energy efficient and 24% more cost effective than its previous configuration. Better yet, for the ecologically minded, Facebook is making the design of its infrastructure open source to encourage other folks to use it--it's called the Open Compute Project