Popular Science articles about Mathematics & Economics

Commonly used pesticide turns honey bees into 'picky eaters'

Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a small dose of a commonly used crop pesticide turns honey bees into "picky eaters" and affects their ability to recruit their nestmates to otherwise good sources of food.

Researchers improve fast-moving mobile networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) allow people in multiple, rapidly-moving vehicles to communicate with each other -- such as in military or emergency-response situations. Researchers from North Carolina State University...

CQ Researcher examines distracted driving

More than 5,000 people die each year in vehicle crashes caused by distracted driving, many who were texting and talking on cellphones behind the wheel, according to the May 4...

Smart phones are changing real world privacy settings

With endless applications, high-speed wireless Internet access, and free messaging services, smart phones have revolutionized the way we communicate. But at what cost? According to researchers at Tel Aviv University,...

New research reveals challenges in genetically engineered crop regulatory process

A new innovation can completely reshape an industry-- inspiring both optimism and debate. The development of genetically engineered (GE) crops in the 1980's ignited a buzz in the agricultural community...

Georgia Tech/Microsoft study shows bandwidth caps create user uncertainty, risky decisions

Recently, many U.S. Internet service providers have fallen in line with their international counterparts in capping monthly residential broadband usage. A new study by a Georgia Tech researcher, conducted during...

'Game-powered machine learning' opens door to Google for music

Can a computer be taught to automatically label every song on the Internet using sets of examples provided by unpaid music fans? University of California, San Diego engineers have found...

Spot a bot to stop a botnet

Computer scientists in India have developed a two-pronged algorithm that can detect the presence of a botnet on a computer network and block its malicious activities before it causes too...

A 100-gigbit highway for science

Climate researchers are producing some of the fastest growing datasets in science. Five years ago, the amount of information generated for the Nobel Prize-winning United Nations International Panel on Climate...

Selenium impacts honey bee behavior and survival

Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside have a "proof of concept" that selenium, a nonmetal chemical element, can disrupt the foraging behavior and survival of honey bees.

Anti-tobacco TV ads help adults stop smoking, study finds

Anti-tobacco television advertising helps reduce adult smoking, according to a study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Health Research and Policy -- but some ads...

Cell network security holes revealed, with an app to test your carrier

Popular firewall technology designed to boost security on cellular networks can backfire, unwittingly revealing data that could help a hacker break into Facebook and Twitter accounts, a new study from the University of Michigan shows.

University of Nevada, Reno, scientists design indoor navigation system for blind

University of Nevada, Reno computer science engineering team Kostas Bekris and Eelke Folmer presented their indoor navigation system for people with visual impairments at two national conferences in the past...

A practical guide to green products and services

A new report published May 14 by the European Commission's in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), provides key information for policy makers and business managers on how to...

Feeding without the frenzy

Like their human cousins, orangutans enjoy food and don't mind working a little to get it. If the menu's right, giraffes are even less picky.

Best websites balance self-expression and functionality

Giving people the freedom -- but not too much freedom -- to express themselves may help designers build more interactive web portals and online communities, according to Penn State researchers.

Picking the brains of strangers helps make sense of online information

People who have already sifted through online information to make sense of a subject can help strangers facing similar tasks without ever directly communicating with them, researchers at Carnegie Mellon...

Carnegie Mellon researchers create dynamic view of city based on Foursquare check-in data

The millions of "check-ins" generated by foursquare, the location-based social networking site, can be used to create a dynamic view of a city's workings and character, Carnegie Mellon University researchers...

Stun guns not safe for citizens, but benefit police, study finds

The use of stun guns by police significantly increases the chances of citizen injury, yet also protects the officers more than other restraint methods, according to the most comprehensive research...

'Cloud' computing technology should make sharing medical images easier and more efficient

Patients find "cloud" technology a faster, more efficient way to store and distribute their medical images than current options, according to the preliminary findings of an image sharing project led...

Robots fighting wars could be blamed for mistakes on the battlefield

As militaries develop autonomous robotic warriors to replace humans on the battlefield, new ethical questions emerge. If a robot in combat has a hardware malfunction or programming glitch that causes...

MP3 song-searching can increase risk for drivers

Consumers are increasingly using MP3 players in their vehicles, and auto makers have responded: Data show that 90% of new vehicles sold in the United States have MP3 connectivity. Makers...