Computer scientists in Taiwan have devised a neural network program that can successfully classify a computerized music file based on its beat and tempo. The system could be a boon for music archivists with large numbers of untagged recordings and for users searching through mislabeled mp3 libraries. Details of tests on ballroom dancing music are reported this month in the International Journal of...

A team of U.S. and Japanese scientists has shown for the first time that the spectroscopic "fingerprint" of high-temperature superconductivity remains intact well above the super chilly temperatures at which these materials carry current with no resistance. This confirms that certain conditions necessary for superconductivity exist at the warmer temperatures that would make these materia...

More than six million people in the U.S. suffer from persistent wounds — open sores that never seem to heal or, once apparently healed, return with a vengeance. The bedridden elderly and infirm are prone to painful and dangerous pressure ulcers, and diabetics are susceptible to wounds caused by a lack of blood flow to the extremities. "The problem is chronic," says Prof. Amihay Fre...

Does an exciting but controversial new model of quantum gravity reproduce Einstein`s theory of general relativity? Scientists at Texas A&M University in the US explore this question in a paper appearing in Physical Review Letters and highlighted with a Viewpoint in the August 24th issue of Physics. "If it ain`t broke, don`t fix it," sums up fairly well how many scientists have viewed...

A new image of the Trifid Nebula, shows just why it is a firm favorite of astronomers, amateur and professional alike. This massive star factory is so named for the dark dust bands that trisect its glowing heart, and is a rare combination of three nebula types, revealing the fury of freshly formed stars and presaging more star birth. Smouldering several thousand light-years away in the constellati...

A planet has been discovered with ten times the mass of Jupiter, but which orbits its star in less than one Earth-day. The discovery, reported in this week’s Nature by Coel Hellier, of Keele University in the UK, and colleagues, poses a challenge to our understanding of tidal interactions in planetary systems. The planet, called WASP-18b, belongs to a now-common class of extrasolar planets k...

A new and likely controversial paper has just been published online in Nature Geoscience by LSU Department of Geography and Anthropology Chair Patrick Hesp and United States Geological Survey scientist David Rubin. The paper, "Multiple origins of linear dunes on Earth and Titan," examines a possible new mechanism for the development of very large linear dunes formed on the surface of Tit...

A team of scientists has found a new planet which orbits the wrong way around its host star. The planet, named WASP-17, and orbiting a star 1000 light years away, was found by the UK`s WASP project in collaboration with Geneva Observatory. The discovery, which casts new light on how planetary systems form and evolve, is being announced August 12 in a paper submitted to Astrophysical Journal. Since...

Today, anyone who looks into the Messel Pit, about 20 kilometres southeast of Frankfurt, Germany, will see scattered groups of trees, bushes and grasses. Underlying the vegetation, however, are richly fossiliferous shales. Some astonishingly well-preserved fossil finds were recently recovered by scientists from these deposits, laid down in the former volcanic lake, and add exotic colour and divers...

Candomblé, a religion practiced primarily in South America and inspired by older African beliefs, makes much use of animal sacrifice. Researchers writing in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine carried out interviews with priests, priestesses and adherents of the religion, documenting the role sacrifice plays in their beliefs. Nivaldo Léo Neto, from the Universidade Estadual...