Paolo Rossi, the historian of ideas who passed away at the beginning of the year, claimed that modern science began in the 17th century when a paradigm was broken down: the «paradigm of secrecy». Communicate everything to everyone. Thus enabling everyone to criticize everyone.
Which is
the highest resolution that can be obtained for colour printing?
It is
determined by the diffraction limit of visible light, and it requires colour
elements (pixels) with a pitch of 250 nm. That is, a resolution of
~100,000 dots per inch (d.p.i.). For a comparison, inkjet and laserjet printers
have a 10,000 d.p.i. resolution. The highest
resolution limit was recently achieved by a research group from the Agency for
Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore.
Over the last months some epistemologically worrying events have occurred in the scientific community. The first concerns the prohibition to publish the experimental methods concerning how the virus N5H1 has been modified; the second regards published scientific papers with totally or partially non-disclosed data; and the third a potential step back with open access policies for scientific publishing.
According to the State of the Climate Global Analysis recently published by NOAA- the National Atmosphere and Ocean Administration -, the globally-averaged land surface temperature for May 2012 was the all-time warmest on record, at 1.21°C (2.18°F) above average (fig.1). It also broke a record as the warmest May in the Northern hemisphere, closely following the global record of May 2010. The consequences are evident all across the Northern hemisphere.
Chris Mullin, a retired American basketball player, teams up with Vaccine for Teens to help educate parents and their teenager children about the need to get vaccinated. In a video recently released on Youtube, the NBA Hall of Famer and member of the 1992 Dream Team stressed the importance of vaccination as the best defence against serious and life-threatening diseases like influenza, pertussis and meningitis.
How do you create the perfect flame?
This video from the Ontario Science Centre, explains the evolving technology that keeps the flame burning from its lighting to the closing ceremonies.
The mysterious disease that killed 14 people in Uganda since the beginning of July 2012 has finally been identified as the Ebola virus. The Ministry of Health (MoH) of Uganda and a World Health Organisation (WHO) representative reported the news after laboratory confirmation was done by the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe. A total of 20 total cases have been confirmed in Kibaale district, in the western part of Uganda, nine of which have occurred in a single household. Ebola virus causes haemorrhagic fever and internal bleeding; it is highly infectious as well as contagious.
The july 2012 issue of the Journal of American Medical Association goes further into the key topic of the potential risks following administration of H1N1 vaccine by publishing two studies on this subject. The first is an assessment of the fetal safety of vaccination against influenza A(H1N1) in pregnancy, conducted by a team of researchers from the Statens Serum Institut, in Copenhagen. They estimated prevalence odds ratios of adverse fetal outcomes, comparing infants exposed and
Chemistry By Design is an interactive virtual flashcard that allows everyone to test their skills using known synthetic sequences. The goal is to display the reagents, starting materials and products for every single step used in constructing a natural product or pharmaceutical.
