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

By Nicola Jones of Nature magazine When audiences saw dramatic scenes of people setting their tap water on fire in the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland, hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," was thrown into the spotlight. [More]

* Work often involves picking winners and losers * Decisions not always popular with civilians [More]

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Thousands of teenagers from around the world have submitted a science project to the Google Science Fair . Now it's your turn to participate

For capturing the sun's copious energy, there are basically two available engineering models: photovoltaic (PV) cells that turn it into flowing electrons or photosynthetic plants that turn it into plant food. So which does the job better? After all, such a judgment might help inform whether policymakers pursue biofuels or solar electricity

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May 12 (Reuters) - Heavy flooding in the U.S. Midwest continued to shutOhio River terminals, limited barge movements and threatened to disrupt [More]

The sale of bear bile for use in traditional medicine is rampant throughout 12 Asian countries, despite national and international laws banning or limiting the practice, according to a new report from TRAFFIC International, the wildlife trade monitoring network. Bile, also known as gall, is a fluid produced in the liver and stored in the gall bladder to help with digestion.

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. task force examining the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant expects to find ways to improve safety at the country's 104 U.S. nuclear plants but has not found any major problems in its first 30 days of work

We’re a seasick crew. Sara, Nastassja and I take turns leaning over the railing while the three surfers on board--JP, Justin and Mary--lay supine on the deck trying to move as little as possible. When the boat jolts from side to side I grip the railing tighter, fending off images of capsizing

By James Pomfret NEW BEICHUAN, China (Reuters) - China has hailed reconstruction efforts since a massive earthquake leveled parts of Sichuan province three years ago as a major victory, but a lack of jobs and crippling debts to pay for new homes are making life difficult for many. [More]

Key concepts Cells [More]

Most forms of cancer still must be spotted visually to be diagnosed. But if a newly devised virus can do the job, it could track down cancer cells too small or well hidden to be seen in scans. It might also help shrink tumors , too.

With the market for hybrid automobiles picking up steam , it makes sense for tomorrow's engineers to get a feel for designing and building cars powered by a combination of internal combustion and electricity. Hybrid technology is far from an exact science, however, as student engineers found out last week at the Formula Hybrid International competition held at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. [More]

By Marian Turner of Nature magazine When a research team started analyzing the genetics of micro-organisms from their university pond, they might have expected to find a couple of new species. [More]