Trans fat: Avoid this cholesterol double whammy

When it comes to fat, trans fat is considered by some doctors to be the worst of them all because of its double-barreled impact on your cholesterol levels. Unlike other fats, trans fat — also called trans fatty acids — both raises your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol and lowers your “good” (HDL) cholesterol.

Prophetic 1999 Times Article on Financial Deregulation

On November 5, 1999, Congress repealed the Glass-Steagall Act at the behest of Phil Gramm and a bunch of banks. The Glass-Steagall Act had been passed in the wake of the Great Depression to prevent banks from getting into certain riskier businesses and investments.

Making Sense of the Financial Mess

Financial Crisis Infographics

Jonathan Jarvis’s two-part infographic (a static adaptation of his video about the credit crisis) is a “clear, concise explanation of what happens inside the magic box that is a collateralized debt obligation and the fallout we all feel when the contents go bad.”

Seawater: Our Only Hope for a Drink

Desalination of seawater has become a necessity, but it has to be done right.

As any globe will reveal, there’s no shortage of water on Earth. Unfortunately, over 97 percent of it is too salty for us humans to drink, and only a tiny fraction of what remains is in the rivers, lakes, and groundwater that we’re able to easily access.

Einstein’s unpublished lecture on relativity theory

In 1922 the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) Council approved a motion to send an invitation to Albert Einstein to visit Argentina and give a course of lectures on his theory of relativity. The motion was proposed by Jorge Duclout (1856-1927), who had been educated at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, Zurich (ETH). This proposal was the culmination of a series of initiatives of various Argentine intellectuals interested in the theory of relativity. In a very short time Dr. Mauricio Nirenstein (1877-1935), then the university’s administrative secretary, fulfilled all the requirements for the university’s invitation to be endorsed and delivered to the sage in Berlin. The visit took place three years later, in March-April 1925.

Plastic X-Ray Imager could bring down the cost of medical imaging

Researchers at Siemens have discovered a way to print polymer x-ray-sensing panels that work just as well as expensive silicon ones. Using a new printing method, which is similar to the way that cheap plastic solar cells are made, the researchers believe that the approach could bring down the cost of medical imaging systems and be used to make lightweight, flexible imaging panels for procedures such as more comfortable mammograms.

Electrically active polymers hold potential as a cheap alternative to silicon for devices including light sensors, solar cells, and transistors.

Crawling the Web to Foretell Ecosystem Collapse

The Interwebs could become an early warning system for when the web of life is about to fray.

By trawling scientific list-serves, Chinese fish market websites, and local news sources, ecologists think they can use human beings as sensors by mining their communications.

Open Source Hardware Hackers Start P2P Bank

Getting a business loan in this economy can be more difficult than landing a reservation at French Laundry in Napa, California. Now try selling the loan officer on an open source hardware project where the blueprints will be given away.

First rule of ant traffic: no overtaking

Ever seen an ant traffic jam? Researchers studying ant traffic are beginning to understand why

The emerging science of DNA cryptography

If DNA computing can be used to break codes, then the machinery of life can be exploited to encrypt data too