Popular Science articles about Mathematics & Economics

UB geographers help map devastation in Haiti

In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, University at Buffalo geography students are participating in a global effort to enhance the international response and recovery effort by helping to assess damage, using images hosted by Google Earth and the...

MWC 2010: FlashFind -- lightning-fast search on mobile devices

The suitcases are in the boot, the kids in the back seat – the only thing left to do as you get in the car is to quickly check the...

'Zen' bats hit their target by not aiming at it

New research conducted at the University of Maryland's bat lab shows Egyptian fruit bats find a target by NOT aiming their guiding sonar directly at it. Instead, they alternately point...

Democratic, republican presidents have had similar economic records, says political scientist

In his recent book "Unequal Democracy," noted Princeton political scientist Larry Bartels reaches the controversial conclusion that Democratic presidents have generally done a better job in handling the economy.

Electronic health records need better monitoring, UT prof reports

The push is on for healthcare providers to make the switch to electronic health records but it is hard to tell how well these complex health information technology systems are...

Innovative technique can spot errors in key technological systems

An innovative computational technique that draws on statistics, imaging, and other disciplines has the capability to detect errors in sensitive technological systems ranging from satellites to weather instruments. The patented...

Research shows profit, not politics, drives sovereign wealth fund

Investment funds owned by national governments – known as "sovereign wealth funds" – now wield trillions of dollars in investment power globally, raising concerns that the funds could be used...

Congressional leaders urged to reach agreement on health reform

The American College of Physicians (ACP) today urged Congressional leaders to "reach agreement on a legislative pathway to provide affordable care to all Americans and ensure that they have access...

Financial crisis in news: Government financial support of news media continues steep decline

Government financial support that has bolstered this country's commercial news business since its colonial days is in sharp decline and is likely to fall further, according to a report released...

Don't privatize banks too soon

The research, led by Professor Panicos Demetriades of the University of Leicester, suggests that privatising government owned banks without having an effective system of regulation in place can result in...

New simulation tool could shorten manufacturing design process

Novel research on improving the simulation performance of hardware models created in a language called SystemC, often used to shorten manufacturing design cycles to improve the time it takes to...

Study: Cell-phone bans while driving have more impact in dense, urban areas

Sheldon H. Jacobson, right, a professor of computer science at Illinois, says legislation banning cell phone use while has more of an impact in densely populated urban areas that have a higher number of licensed drivers. Matthew J. Robbins, left, was one of two students who conducted the study with Jacobson.

Soft intelligence for hard decisions

An approach to decision making based on soft metrics could allow problems to be solved where no definitive "yes-no" answer is possible in fields as diverse as healthcare, defense, economics,...

U of I faculty assist in evaluating US food security programs

On Tuesday, representatives of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank shared results of a national study sponsored by Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization. The study is completed every four...

More study needed to halt Illinois job slump, economist says

Illinois is mired in a deep employment recession that could linger for years unless the state unravels the roots of its nearly decade-long job slump, a new study by a...

Story tips from the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory February 2010

Maximizing mammography . . .

The new civil defense: UC researchers look at public's role in national cybersecurity

University of Cincinnati researchers say the nation's cybersecurity is being threatened because an important element in establishing it is not being emphasized enough – citizen awareness and participation.

Bees recognize human faces using feature configuration

Going about their day-to-day business, bees have no need to be able to recognise human faces. Yet in 2005, when Adrian Dyer from Monash University trained the fascinating insects to...

Fewer honey bee colonies and beekeepers throughout Europe

Cardiff/Halle/S./Bern. The number of bee colonies in Central Europe has decreased over recent decades. In fact, the number of beekeepers has been declining in the whole of Europe since 1985....

Scientists map changes in science and beyond

How has the structure of scientific research changed over the past decade? A team of researchers from Umeå University, Sweden, and the University of Washington, USA, aims to...

Signing contracts on the telephone

Internet telephony has developed from a niche product into standard technology in recent years. Most telephone providers switched their background technology to Voice over IP, or VoIP for short, long...

Carnegie Mellon releases data on Haitian Creole to hasten development of translation tools

In response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute (LTI) have publicly released spoken and textual data they've compiled on Haitian Creole so...