House of Rubbish
A scheme to turn rubbish into building material could solve two problems at once: increase
housing and reduce waste. A pilot plant in Britain is using household waste, dredge
sludge, treated sewage, and incinerator bottom ash to produce coated pellets that can be
used in a variety of construction applications. "The beauty of this process is that
it takes waste that would otherwise got to a landfill and, using energy in the waste,
turns it into useful building materials that would otherwise have to be quarried,"
says Darryl Newport of the University of East London, which is developing the pilot
project. "It is a win-win-win situation."
Source: University of East London, Press Office, Longbridge Road,
Dagenham RM28 2AS, United Kingdom. Web site www.uel.ac.uk.
CPR Made Easy
A new device may help would-be rescuers perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation
faster and more effectively. The LifeBelt, developed by Deca-Medics Inc. of Columbus,
Ohio, offers a 2.5-to-1 mechanical advantage so that a consistent and effective force can
be applied to the victim's chest, no matter what the rescuer's physical capabilities may
be. Rapid response with CPR has been shown to improve survival rates of cardiac arrest
patients by 63%. Potential markets for the LifeBelt include paramedics, hospitals, nursing
homes, doctors' offices, and even home users.
Source: Deca-Medics Inc., 1885 West 5th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43212.
Telephone 1-614-488-6500.
Computers Will Master Their Masters' Needs
Personal digital assistants may become as flexible and astute as their human
counterparts in the future. A project under way at Carnegie Mellon University, will study
human-computer interaction, machine learning, and the behavior of managers to develop PDAs
that not only keep their masters organized but also learn how to increase their
productivity. The project is named RADAR, which stands for Reflective Agents with
Distributed Adaptive Reasoning. By interacting with the user, RADAR will determine how he
or she reacts to various events, such as an incoming e-mail or a request to schedule a
meeting. RADAR will learn, for instance, when to interrupt its master or when to postpone
asking a question. Ultimately the RADAR PDAs will handle routine tasks by themselves,
leaving their masters to accomplish greater things.
Source: Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania 15213. Web site www.cmu.edu.
Better Music through Science
Neurofeedback techniques designed to help improve memory may also help musicians improve
their performances. In a study at London's Royal College of Music, students receiving
neurofeedback training that emphasized deep relaxation significantly improved their scores
on a standard evaluation in comparison with students receiving other forms of
performance-enhancing training and those who received no additional (nonmusical) training.
The average skill improvement was the equivalent of one grade or class of honors.
Neurofeedback is commonly used to help people with attention deficit disorder, epilepsy,
and other conditions, but now it shows promise in helping healthy people improve a
complete set of skills, notes study co-author Tobias Egner of Imperial College London.
Source: Imperial College London, Press Office, Sheffield Building, South
Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom. Web site www.ic.ac.uk.
Is the Universe Hitting Menopause?
The universe may be passing out of its starbearing years. Astronomers studying
the fossil records of galaxies believe that star formation has been slowing down for the
past 6 billion years and that the age of star births is near its end. Young stars produce
blue light while older stars appear more red. Because many galaxies appear more reddish
than blue, most star formation happened long ago, and there are no longer enough new stars
emerging to replace the old ones dying off, conclude astronomers Raul Jimenez of the
University of Pennsylvania and Alan Heavens and Ben Panter of Edinburgh University, who
used spectrum observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Source: Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London
W1J 0BQ, United Kingdom. Web site www.ras.org.uk.
